C.U.S. technique

CUS is an acronym that stands for:

I’m concerned….

I feel uncomfortable…

I feel scared….

It originated as a technique for staff to use with physicians as a way to

express their level of disagreement or discomfort with an action or inaction affecting patient safety.  


Try using it in your business or organization - it can work anywhere:

“Tell me what concerns do you have about this new phone?

“I want you to be comfortable as possible, tell me is there anything about the phone that makes you uncomfortable?”

“I want to do all I can to ease your mind.  Is there anything that is making you feel anxious about this purchase – please tell me?

www.retainloyalcustomers.com

 Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within  an organization.  Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success.  Through her presentations, workshops  and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.

Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees.  Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.  

Be On Time

Customers don't like to wait beyond the scheduled timeframe.  If you tell a customer you will deliver something to their home between a timefram - then make sure you can DO IT!  70% of adults surveyed by TOA Technologies regarding time spent waiting for in-home services and appointments said they would recommend a company simply because the representative was on time.  That dropped to 43% who would recommend a company if they have to wait an extra 15 minutes for someone to show up. 

Reason given for the huge drop in percentage for recommendations:  customers think compannies who aren't showing up on time is because they "don't care about my time."  Customer referrals are as good as it gets.  You are losing a huge opportunity for not showing up when promised. 

 Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within  an organization.  Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success.  Through her presentations, workshops  and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.

Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees.  Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book. 

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Telephone/Cell Phone Top Service - Teri's Tip #47

1. Answer the phone with Good morning, or Good afternoon followed by your name. Always use your first and last name when answering.

2. Return calls by sundown. Even if you don’t have the answer or time to talk, let the caller know you received their call and will get back to them when you do.

3. When transferring a call, tell the caller whose voice that person can expect to hear on the other end. Introduce the caller to the person receiving the transferred call and explain the reason for the transfer.

4. If you must put a caller on hold, first ask the caller if they want to be placed on hold or leave a message on voicemail.

5. Act fresh all day long when answering your phone.

6. Always ask permission if you need to put a caller on speakerphone. Also, identify to the caller that there are others in the office who will hear the conversation.

7. When talking on your cell phone, be aware of another person’s space.

8. Don’t be condescending such as, “Oh, it’s you again.”

Put Your Best Hand Forward - Teri's Tip #46

Sometimes great customer service begins with a handshake. Here’s how to make the best impression:



1. Extend your right hand out and shake your customer’s hand firmly. Don’t entwine your fingers, shake their palm with fingers closed. Be careful not to squeeze too hard or too soft. Too hard and it looks like you are trying to be dominant, too weak and you appear wimpy.


2. Give eye contact and smile as you shake your customer’s hand.


3. After a couple of shakes, let their hand go as you begin your conversation.

At the end of your conversation, you may shake their hand again while telling them what a pleasure it was to meet them. If it has been a particularly engaging conversation and you believe they have thought so too, you may put your left hand on top of their hand briefly while shaking.  This expresses a warmer relationship and you look forward to meeting or talking with them again.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Tires Ain't Pretty - Teri's Tip #44

The commercial says "tires ain't pretty", but the service I received from Tire Kingdom in Altamonte Springs,Florida last week was "beautiful".  The acronym ACT sums it all up.

A - Accurate work (did what they said they would do)
C - Complete (identified my brake pads they were almost metal to metal that needed replacing)
T - Timely (completed the job when they said they would.)

Remember this phrase no matter what kind of service or product you provide your customer and sometimes its just the basics that end up WOWing the customer these days.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Lens of the Customer - Teri's Tip #40

Looking through the lens of the customer makes the customer feel they are being watched out for and important.  Its very simple to do - two steps:
1.  Read the emotion
2.  Meet the need

Last week at a Magic basketball game, my husband and I entered the huge entry area with lights flashing, escalators going in all directions, music blaring and were immediately overwhemed by it all.  A staff member obviously read our faces and approached us first by saying:  "Are you looking for your seats?"  Obviously, she had been trained to read emotions and be the first to respond whether than waiting for us to have to walk up to her and ask "where are our seats?"

It's a small detail, but a big one if done consistently.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Deadline Dodgers - Teri's Tip #39

There are some people who consistently never complete their tasks on-time.  This holds everyone else up and creates discontent among those who are waiting for the work of this person in order to do their job.  Management's action must be to determine why the person is chronically missing the deadlines:  is it lack of urgency and giving it their all or are they overburdened and incapable of completing all their assigned work?

Quality is conformance to requirements and deadlines are a requirement.  Action:  Sit down with the deadline dodger, together set realistic requirements, get agreement to the requirements, make sure the process is capable of meeting the requirements, and then hold the individual accountable. 

Excellent customer service starts with Quality.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Complainers are Drainers - Teri's Tip #38

Complainers sap the energy out of everyone around them. And if the complaint resonates with those around them, the complainer becomes the center of attention.  This refocuses the work of the group and productivity suffers as others start to join in and the complaints keep growing.  The complaint train can spin out of control very quickly.  Customers don't like to hear employees complaining about their boss, co-workers, long hours, etc.  It ruins their experience.

How to stop the complainers:  ask them to come up with a solution to the issue.  Get them involved in the situation surrounding the issue so they have more complete knowledge and then turn them into problem solvers vs. problem announcers.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

6 Steps to Delivering Bad News - Teri's Tip #35

Delivering bad news is not pleasant or fun, but there are times when it must be done.  Here are six steps to follow when the situation requires you to be the bearer of bad news:


1.  Apologize for the situation and be sincere.
2.  Give a brief synopsis of the situation and then stop talking.
3.  Let the customer vent, while you actively listen.
4.  Ask the customer if they are ready to hear their options for the future.  (they may want others involved, they may want to process the bad news further, they may not be prepared to think of next actions and so you would be wasting their time and others at this point)
5. Explain options or alternatives, give advice if requested.
6. Apologize again and offer reassurances of the future if appropriate.

Applying good communication skills and being courteous will always pave the way for delivering bad news.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Accept Returns with a Smile - Teri's Tip #28

Customers have already lined up to do returns and Christmas hasn't even occured yet.  Advice to customer service representatives working the Return counters:  accept returns with a smile and with as little hassle to the customer as you can. It will create a Wow when they walk away at the ease and pleasantness of the experience.

 Customers will remember how you treated them when they saw a need to return an item for whatever reason.  You may feel you are losing out on revenues that were in the pocket, but in the  long-run, customers are more apt to do future business with a business they know will take care of them and want them to be happy with what they were sold.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Customer Service is Not An Option - Teri's Tip #25

Customer Service is not an either/or proposition for a business.  Customer Service is not an add-on for a business.  Customer Service is the way to do business.

In order to be effective and consistent, Customer Service must be engrained into the culture of the organization.  Leadership actions to create this culture are sytematic and process-oriented to be sustainable over time.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book.

Trigger Phrases and Calming Phrases - Teri's Tip #23

There are words and phrases that tend to incite more frustration and anger with the customer than other words and phrases.  Below are two ways to say the same thing, but the Calming Phrases are a much better way.

TRIGGER                           CALMING
I can’t                                 Here’s what I can do

Let me transfer you             Let me connect you
I don't know                       I will find out
No                                     Let’s look at our options
You should have                 I appreciate why you
The only thing we can do    I believe the best option
You have to                       Let’s do this first….then

It is always important to look through the lens of the customer and ensure you are customer focused to read their emotions and appropriately choose your wording. 


http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Looking for a speaker or workshop to improve and enhance your customer service?
Contact Teri at:  ty@retainloyalcustomers.com

Consistent and Insistent - Teri's Tip #22

As a manager, you must be consistent with your employees in holding them accountable for excellent customer service behaviors.  As a customer, you must be insistent in receiving excellent customer service delivery from the employees of the business you are interacting.

Competent and confident in knowledge, plus accuracy, availability, partnership and advice will delight your customers.

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/
Teri Yanovitch is a leading speaker, trainer and consultant on creating a culture of customer service within an organization. Her firm T.A.Yanovitch, Inc. provides a clear and proven process on how to create this culture of service and helps guide organizations to ensure their success. Through her presentations, workshops and training, Teri has assisted organizations from all industries to differentiate their business through the competitive edge of the customer experience.


Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to “ Ultimate Customer Service” has sold over 32,000 books and is recognized as a practical, hands-on approach to providing a seamless extraordinary service experience to retain customers and employees. Contact Teri at ty@retainloyalcustomers.com for your next speaking engagement or for a copy of her book

Teri's Tip #18

When hiring a new employee, look for customer service friendly people.  It is much easier to train someone on the mechanics of the job vs. trying to train them to be friendly and courteous.

Watch for the following in the interview:
Does the applicant make appropriate eye contact?
Does the applicant demonstrate appropriate enthusiasm?
Does the applicant smile often?
Does the applicant use positive, upbeat language?



http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri's Tip #16

Listening to customers helps to understand their needs better.  Through active listening, a business can determine how they can best help the customer.  Listening makes customers feel important and leaves them with the feeling that you care.  It keeps them coming back.  http://bit.ly/aCAxVK

Three steps to Active Listening:
1.  Focus
2.  Acknowledge
3.  Rephrase


http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri's Tip #15

Using energy and enthusiasm in your voice communicates confidence.  Confidance translates into TRUST for your customers.  Customers want to hear someone who is speaking in a voice that sounds strong.  Put more effort into your voice tone, inflection and level especially over the phone. 

Remember, it's the little things that make a difference in delivering excellent customer service.



http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri's Tip #13

Try customizing and incorporating Jet Blue's version of "Jetitude" into your employees' attitudes.  They usually hold the number one spot in customer service among the value airlines.  And they recently posted profit up 50% for second quarter 2010!

1.  Always be in the blue
2.  Be personal
3.  Attempt to solve a problem right away
4.  Be engaging
5.  Be thankful to every customer

Attitudes are contagious and can be passed along throughout the entire customer experience.  Read more
 http://bit.ly/cunq5x 


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Teri's Tip # 12

Recognize that all employees are different and are motivated by various means.  Baby boomers are driven to act the way they do because of the era they lived in and the environment.  Generation Y employees are motivated in different ways from them because of the times they have grown up in and the environment.  Stop, study and talk to your employees to better understand what they see as important to delivering great customer service.

For more tips on how to handle your Generation Y employees, check out The Service Coach blog on this topic.


http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri's Tip #11

It's the little things you do that help to build customer loyalty.  Listen, observe and anticipate your customer's needs.

Becoming  truly customer focused, will build relationships that will keep your customers coming back time and time again. 

http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/

Teri's Tip #10

Smiling is contagious.  It is one of the best ways to create a positive impression.  No one wants to interact with a grumpy, cranky or sad person.  While you may sometimes feel that way, remember when you are at work, you are always "on stage".

Customers really don't care that you don't feel well or happy.  They expect you to look like you enjoy your job and enjoy being where you are.  So, put on a smile and maybe it will make you feel better too!


http://www.retainloyalcustomers.com/