We all notice great customer service. But why is it so hard to deliver it consistently? Because you need to understand and anticipate customers’ anxieties and insecurities, notice what’s actually going on with them at any given moment, and actually care about helping out. Unleashing this basic human drive to be helpful is what makes the biggest difference between a memorable experience and a terrible one.

This week, Ronni Marshak describes a fairly ordinary “day in the life” of a few women conducting a business meeting over lunch. She uses the examples from our mundane encounters to illustrate this really important, and oft forgotten, point: If both your front line people and your management don’t care more about your customers’ situation than you do about your own moods or pressures, you can’t provide great service and win repeat business.

Gimme That Old Time Customer Service
A Little Special Attention Can Entice New Customers
By Ronni T. Marshak, EVP & Sr. Consultant/Analyst, Patricia Seybold Group, November 1, 2013

(Read the short sample and download the full article in PDF.)