Everyone aims to deliver proactive customer service. Whether you refer to it as cross-selling, up-selling, suggestive selling, or – as we like to say — “soft question” selling, a basic component of effective customer service is to offer your customers additional choices. Some customer service representatives might fear being perceived as pushy or assuming. No […]

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Life is a series of roles.” What does that mean exactly? It means we act and speak in different ways when we face different situations. We speak one way to our family and another way to our friends and still another way to our coworkers. We speak in yet another […]

Do you remember the old adage, “Actions speak louder than words”? That saying rings true, because it is. What we do tells our customers and our prospective customers a lot more about our company and values than anything we can ever say. In a great online article at Inc., Why the Best Companies Always Have […]

When you take the “friendly” out of Business Friendly, the only thing you have left is business – business as usual. And we all know that’s just not good enough. You may be asking yourself, “What exactly is Business Friendly customer service?” We define it as the middle ground between being too cold, impersonal and uncaring, and […]

Open-ended and Closed-ended Questions “The key to wisdom is knowing all the right questions.” —John A. Simone, Sr., Writer We each ask dozens of questions every day, but how many of us have given any thought to questions as a topic? They’re important communication tools, so we decided to study them. Did you know that […]

Writing is part of almost everyone’s work day. It’s a task that is harder for some and easier for others, but everyone can improve their business writing skills. Proficient writing takes practice and as with any skill “practice makes perfect.”  The best communications stand out because they are clear, concise and effective. “You can have […]

Irate, rude, unhappy and sometimes abrasive customers can drain you emotionally. Do any of these challenging customer interactions sound familiar? “The information you sent me is wrong! What’s the matter with you people? Can’t you read?” “My bill isn’t RIGHT! And this is NOT the first time, either! You all NEVER get anything right!” “I […]

Wasting time online is one of the primary ways workers can drain productivity from your team. Some employees kill time mindlessly surfing the Web throughout the work day. Others do their personal business online rather than taking care of your business. Access to social media has increased the temptation to check out at work and […]

Effective teamwork is critically important for excelling in a highly competitive marketplace. Dysfunctional teams are bad for business. Not getting along with a team member at work is unpleasant for everyone and harms productivity. An ongoing personality clash may be unspoken but obvious, and the disagreements that result can cause other team members to take […]