At my training last week we did an exercise on IMPACT Points with the entire team, and it was an impactful exercise for them. I had them become a customer or prospect in their company and they walked through it, as well as looked at it online in that way. Then, I asked them to write down (both positive and negative) everything they saw, heard, smelled, touched, as well as how they felt. We divided their thoughts into 3 categories. I call it the GOOD, COULD, SHOULD CHECKLIST-

Do your customers and prospects think your customer service is blah or Black Tie? Let me explain these two notions with two real-life scenarios I just experienced—both on the same day! The “just good enough” or Blah experience My wife and I spent a weekend away and stayed at a so-called resort during their off-season. Our experience started with challenges with check-in and the location of our room (but that is another story). The main challenge came at the end of the first d

In describing the Black Tie Customer Experience in my seminars, I tell people it is changing your mindset to focus on the power of Hospitality and Service Excellence. If you can do the little things to go “above and beyond” when working with a customer or prospect, you have a much better opportunity to turn them into a loyal customer for your business. Then you have the opportunity to make them into a Brand Ambassador for your business. What’s a Brand Ambassador? For me, it i

I had an unbelievable customer experience at a quick service restaurant. I know you may be surprised, but I think it happens more than you know. Especially if there are more Deborah’s in the world. Now, I will preface my comments by saying that I don’t eat a lot of food from the quick-service restaurants. But in this instance, I was headed to an overnight business retreat and stopped for a quick lunch because my hotel room was not yet ready. When I walked into the restaurant,