Introduction Since the inception of business, customer service has fallen into three categories: passive, average and proactive. Passive and average people wait for things to happen, and, in general, do the bare minimum. Proactive people make things happen and create positive situations. Proactive people are naturally inquisitive. They use their personality. They are friendly, warm […]

One of the most abrupt and shocking forbidden phrases you can say to a customer is, “We can’t do that.” These words close the door on the customer’s request as quickly as does its close cousin  — “That’s our policy.” Everyone has heard the “We can’t” phrase before, and we’ve heard it used in situations […]

Everyone has had the experience where they meant to send a private response to someone in a group email, but accidentally hit “reply-to-all.” If we were lucky, it was a limited mistake and only a minor annoyance. If we were less fortunate, it might have been the type of mistake that was extremely embarrassing. We’ve […]

Research shows that one “bad apple” – an employee with a negative attitude – can impact your entire team. It doesn’t take long before the gloomy team member infects others with their defeatist behavior. First, we need to understand why anyone would adopt an attitude that seemingly has no professional payoff. The answer is because […]

By Nancy Friedman, Keynote Speaker, Customer Service Expert, President of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training We’ve all heard the saying: “Hey, customer service is just plain old common sense.” But then we all know, too, common sense is NOT that common.  Decided to make a quick list of a few common sense things that aren’t so common. […]

by Nancy Friedman Do you know what the number one skill in sales and service is? I gave you a hint in the title. Listening skills. Doesn’t everyone know how to LISTEN? Sort of. Most of us ‘hear’ just fine but truly listening requires more effort? Are there any methods, tricks, ideas, tips or techniques […]

By Nancy Friedman, The Telephone Doctor Most business owners know that customers will walk – take their business elsewhere if they’re not treated as they’d like to be. But how does a business owner or manager find out what the customer really likes or dislikes? Well, your customers have told us what they may not […]

I love to read short blogs sometimes…and I love to write them too. This is one of those short ones; Blogs don’t always need to be long. It’s about strangers. And Customers We know we have paid customers We know we have internal customers We know we have potential – future customers We even know […]

By Nancy Friedman, Keynote Speaker, Customer Service Expert & Engagement Specialist.   A short, but ongoing course. Are you really engaged? Do you and your staff really know how to engage and interact with the customers? Do they even know what it means.  Seems as though every year there’s a “new” word in Customer Service. […]