I’m a curious boy. I like asking questions and I certainly use my social media as a vehicle for that. Recently, I thought it would be interesting to boil down what great interactions between a business and its customers is, all summed up and to the point. So I asked you to answer the question…
“WHAT IS ONE WORD FOR GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE?”
I threw the question out on a podcast to listeners and guests, and online through Twitter and Facebook and I heard back from authors, customer experience strategists, product managers, communicators, writers, public servants, sales people, public relations, podcasters and radio hosts. What surprised me most was the variety in responses…though one certainly stood out.
- Tricia Morris – Time Saving
- Warren Pickard – Engagement
- Addy Saucedo – Thoughtful
- Jordi Williams – Sincerity
- Kevin Grout – Listen
- Bill Quiseng – Interaction
- Michel Falcon – Effortless
- Hotel Evaluations – Manners
- Colleen McClean – Appreciation
- Jeannie Walters – Proactive
- Barry Dalton – Simple
- Micah Solomon – Flexible
- Shep Hyken – Helpful
- Ted Coine – Pride
- New Chapter Learning – Personal
- Kate Nasser – Adaptive
- Get Cloud Cherry – Empathy
- Scott McDonald – Empathy
- Matt Diederichs – Empathy
- Marsha Collier – Empathy
- Jeanne Bliss – Human
Well it’s certainly a trend for empathy. But, I left Jeanne Bliss for last because she beat me to my own answer. Human. Be human, and know that the person you are engaging with over the counter, on the phone, on social media or through your website is a person too. There’s emotions involved. There’s a face and a name and a history. There’s an opportunity to build a relationship and trust, not a time to be challenging and narcissistic as a brand.
I can’t argue with any of these “one words”. And it’s a good reminder that this is how customers want their businesses to act and behave. I don’t see “forced” or “promotional” or “pushy” here.
As a business, it’s important to know who your customers are and how they want to be served. And if they can sum it up in one word, it’s hard for a business to say it doesn’t understand them.
What’s your one word?
[kkstarratings]
4 Comments
This was a very cool survey. Lots of great words to describe customer service. Easy to do in a sentence, but the word really makes you think. Thanks for including me in the survey!
Thanks for the kudos and the support, Shep. It was an honour having you be a part of it. Thank YOU, sir.
Love the insightful but diverse answers! Great idea to poll this crowd, IMHO!
Thanks Jeannie! I was honoured they contributed and really enjoyed, as you said, the diverse answers. Fun exercise.