Featured Article

Are You Ready for National Customer Service Week?

Each year during the second week of October, thousands of businesses around the world celebrate Customer Service Week. This year it is the week of October 4-8.

This international event is devoted to recognizing the importance of customer service and honoring the employees who are directly responsible for taking care of customers.The purpose of Customer Service Week is to send a positive message to your customers and to generate a strong company-wide commitment to customer service excellence. Customer Service Week is the perfect time to recognized and reward all employees for a job well done.

Here are tips to help you celebrate Customer Service Week 2010:

  • Announce your celebration plans to your customers and employees through email,  newsletters, posters and even voice-mail messages.
  • Create a schedule of events for the week and post it on the Intranet and throughout the company.
  • Invite a group of your best customers for lunch to meet your customer service reps in person.
  • Decorate your building with posters, banners, balloons and flowers to create a festive atmosphere.
  • Give away free candy bars or cookies to customers who come in.
  • Enclose candy kisses or another type of non-perishable treat with every order you ship during that week.
  • Send a hand-written thank you note to every customer who orders a product or does business with your company. Have the cards signed by employees throughout the company, even those who only deal with internal customers. Be sure to have them include their title after their signature.
  • Surprise your employees with bonuses, gift certificates, a day off with pay and other unexpected awards to recognize their commitment to customer service.

Schedule a daily theme or celebration to keep the enthusiasm strong.

For example:

Monday: Kick-off breakfast with a guest speaker
Tuesday:  Pizza party with a funny movie or skits
Wednesday: Stress-buster session with games, fitness tips and team building activities
Thursday:   Hollywood day. Everyone dresses as their favorite celebrity
Friday:  Trick or Treat. Each department serves up a special treat. Employees receive plate or bag and make the rounds to collect the goodies and meet their fellow workers.

 

  

 

  

   

Whether you work for a small or large company, you can celebrate Customer Service Week with a one day event or a whole week of activities. Don't miss the opportunity to ignite enthusiasm for customer care.

101 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty is the little book with big ideas. It makes a great employee gift to reinforce customer service principles during Customer Service Week. Discounts are available on quantities of 50 or more.


Quote of the Day


"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle."

~Albert Einstein


Webinar

How to Build Loyalty With Angry Customers

Thursday, September 23
Noon - 1:00 p.m. Eastern
Presented by Debra Schmidt

In every business, mistakes happen and customers get angry. During this Webinar, you'll learn why customers get angry, even when you're being nice. You'll discover new ways to manage complaints. When a customer complains, it means he or she cares enough about your business to give it a second chance. Angry customers are like gold because when a problem is fixed properly and stays fixed, customer loyalty actually increases!

You'll learn:

  • Startling statistics about customer complaints
  • 6 reasons why customers leave
  • The #1 customer loyalty killer
  • How to stop committing the 7 sins of customer service
  • The top 3 loyalty destroyers and how to avoid them
  • The secrets of calming down an angry customer
  • How to build loyalty even when you transfer a customer's call or put them on hold
  • 12 ways to stop kissing customers goodbye
  • How to take care of yourself when dealing with a nasty customer
  • How to turn customer anger into customer loyalty


    • This Webinar can benefit the whole team! Your registration entitles you to one registration per site and you may gather as many people as you want to listen in using a computer or speakerphone. This provides your whole team with cost-effective, high impact training that includes tips they can start using immediately after participating in the Webinar.


    Meet the Loyalty Leader

    Debra J. Schmidt, a.k.a. the Loyalty Leader®, will be the featured speaker at these events. An * indicates that the program is open to the public:

    September 9: Workshop
    Advanced Negotiations Skills
    GMR Marketing, LLC
    New Berlin, Wisconsin

    September 9: Workshop
    Super Greeters and Super Service
    Fox Point Lutheran Church
    Fox Point, Wisconsin

    September 13-16: Management Coaching
    Waukesha Foundry
    Waukesha, Wisconsin

    *September 23: Webinar
    How to Build Loyalty With Angry Customers
    Web-based training You can participate from your home or office
    Registration

    September 22: Webinar
    How to Manage Your Customers' Moments of Truth
    Arbella Insurance Group
    Quincy, Massachusetts

    September 29 & 30: Seminars
    Customer Service: Tools, Techniques and Applications
    Northwestern Mutual
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin


    Article Reprint Guidelines


    You will need to contact Debra J. Schmidt directly in order to receive permission to reprint any of her articles in any print or electronic format.

    Once you have obtained permission, you must use the entire original article, list Debra's byline under the title and include this identifier paragraph:

    Debra J. Schmidt is known as the Loyalty Leader® and is the author of Building Customer Loyalty from the Inside Out. As a consultant, trainer and professional speaker, Debra helps companies boost profits by leading the way to greater customer loyalty. Visit www.LoyaltyLeader.com to subscribe to Debra's free online newsletter or learn how you can hire her to deliver on-site training in your organization.






    Loyalty Leader Inc.
    P.O. Box 170954
    Milwaukee, WI 53217-8086
    414-964-3872
    newsletter@loyaltyleader.com


    For more tips and resources, please return to LoyaltyLeader.com.


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