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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

 ‘People who need people’ once were ‘the luckiest people in the world’

In the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl, star Barbra Streisand introduced the song “People.” In part, the lyrics went, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” From live phone customer service support to grocery checkout, increasingly the default is to push everything to technology: email, chatbots, text, grocery scanners. When it […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

 Bob Burger Recreation Center scores customer service victory

Lafayette, Colorado’s Bob L. Burger Recreation Center is the best community fitness facility I’ve visited in 45 years. And I’ve had some type of fitness membership—from private clubs to community rec centers and everything in between—during that entire time. The delightful customer service experience was even more impactful given the current trend toward stupid, inattentive, […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

Customer service, employee empowerment, and pro-planet movements coalesce around B Corp 

As Mark Lusky Communications celebrates 40 years in business and the fourth anniversary of the happycurmudgeon.com Customer Service blog, we pause to honor the evolution of the international B Corp movement, and one of B Lab’s Global Stewards, thought leader Jared Meyers. He founded Legacy Vacation Resorts (B Corp); is a Co-Founder of Florida for […]

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Customer Service Kudos Opinion Social Media

Grocery stores step up to the customer service plate

I’m so accustomed to citing Costco’s legendary customer service that it’s hard to fathom that other retailers are making their own contributions. Two grocery store experiences over the last couple weeks deserve high praise for service above and beyond. While vacationing in Florida, I went to Publix (largest employee-owned US company according to Forbes) in […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Kudos Opinion Tips

Customers and customer service: Perform random acts of kindness this holiday season…and beyond

Kind words. Acknowledgement. A big “thank you for all you do.” These are a few of the many random acts of kindness that both customers and customer service can perform to honor each other this holiday season. Then, pay it forward into the New Year. While this is the time of year when we pause […]

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Customer Service Kudon'ts Kudos

Product reliability valuable only IF you can get the product

In the last two months, I’ve experienced shipping mistakes and delays with FedEx, USPS, and UPS. Initially, FedEx never delivered a client check because they never picked up the check from the drop-off box. When the second delivery supposedly was sent with overnight priority, it showed up several days later. A one-day USPS check delivery […]

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Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Kudon'ts Kudos

Consumer confidence is a many splendored, and easily shaken, commodity

Great products are part of a great customer experience. Costco has figured this out. In addition to favorable pricing and excellent treatment, Costco has earned a reputation for carrying reputable products. While it’s not a perfect system, more often than not customers can buy products with confidence—figuring that only the crème de la crème will […]

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Customer Service Kudos

T-Mobile and Siggi’s share emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence can take many forms, from admitting a mistake to giving consumers an enlightening experience. Siggi’s Yogurt did the former. T-Mobile gets a shout-out for the latter. Within a week of starting to consume Siggi’s Yogurt, I received the following email: “We heard you loud and clear…In our never ending quest to lower sugar, […]

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Customer Service Kudos

Costco optical department specialist earns ‘emotional intelligence’ kudo

As anyone who hangs with me knows, I love Costco. For two-plus decades, they have personified emotionally intelligent customer service across the board. That’s due to a caliber of the people they hire, and how they train them. During a recent visit to the Parker, CO store to get my new glasses adjusted, I was […]

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Building Bridges Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Kudon'ts Kudos Opinion

Tale of two companies: Nova Home Loans displays emotional intelligence in contrast to loan servicer emotional ignorance

A key tenet of successful customer service is the level of emotional intelligence or ignorance that prevails. This pervades all facets of customer service, but one where much improvement is needed is the written word. Especially now, amid major stress, anger, and frustration, corporate America could do itself proud by communicating positively and supportively. Instead, […]