It's fitting to discuss "giving thanks" since we are in the midst of celebrating the many things we are thankful for during this month of Thanksgiving.  In business, the #1 thing we should be thankful for is our customers, which is rather obvious since they are the reason that we are staying in business, and they help us to afford putting a turkey feast on our tables (figuratively and literally).  It's a given that we are thankful for them, but do they feel appreciated?  Before I give you tips for taking your thankfulness beyond just saying "thank you," let me tell you about an experience that we are currently having with one of our vendors (crossing my fingers that they will read this and finally choose to be different)...

Customers come in all shapes and sizes.  Each has its own unique characteristics (and demands), and how you care for each customer is important not only for their satisfaction, but also for the morale of your team.  You have seen it before- just one customer can disrupt your company's entire day by making an unrealistic demand, and your team can be sent into a tailspin trying to figure out how to satisfy this ridiculous request and to make this customer happy.  Or, how about the customer that calls and asks for a solution, but has no suggestions for how and what should be implemented?  All of these details are then left up to you and your team, which can lead to uncertainty and a bit of insecurity since all of you might think you understand what is best, but you have nothing to guide you on how close to the mark you wil be.  Neither of these scenarios are fun, so for the betterment of our business and employees, you and I need to learn how to navigate through each type of customer relationship and characteristic.  

There are many compelling and rather obvious reasons why you should survey your customers. For example, they help you to:

• Increase Satisfaction
• Enhance Loyalty
• Open Up Communication
• Recognize Successes and Opportunities
• Pinpoint Trends
• Identify Areas of Additional Leverage for Growth
• ...and many more!

But, today consumers are bombarded with surveys, and often times we can't hang up a call fast enough when the oh-so-pleasant automated recording says, "please stay on the line for our 2-minute survey..."  So how do we pull off creating an engaging survey that can result in those benefits listed above?  Zendesk has some great tips, which are here in an excerpt from one of their infographics (click on it to see the whole graphic and article):

First impressions are paramount since they are highly accurate; how you are instantly evaluated can make or break your success. And you have heard before that a first impression is made within 5 seconds, but I believe it’s faster. Why? Personal experience– I get a feeling about something or a situation within 2 seconds (don’t you?). The science- 20 million billion bits of information move around our brains every second, and it calculates sounds, sights, smells, taste, touch, and thoughts in every moment at the same time (from The Phenomenal Experience). This means we need to up our game and make sure that we control the impressions that we are making.

Customer service is measured by how you "show up," and how you present yourself in graphics impacts your service impression.  So what if you aren’t a Graphic Designer and have zero experience with editing image files and creating something that is visually attractive.  I have a simple solution for you that requires very little learning, and it does not depend upon the use of expensive software. Microsoft PowerPoint (yes, PowerPoint!) gives you just what you need to do some very basic design. What’s better? In less than 6 minutes, I can show you how to do some of the basics in 3 very quick videos.

We've all had this happen.  You show up to a store, ready to make a purchase that thrills you, and within moments of arrival, all of that great energy you had gets sucked right out of you.  What happened?  More than likely, you walked into an environment that had negativity and unhappiness hovering, and the associate(s) you encountered had bad energy spewing from their pores.  (We can likely assume that these associates are unhappy with their jobs and don't have the tools/training they need to do their jobs well so they feel good.)  This negativity wildfire nearly engrosses you, and that excitement you had about your purchase is depleted.  Think about all that could be done differently by the company/associates in this situation.  Now, take a look at a very funny (very bad!) customer service exchange that takes place during Meet the Parents when Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is attempting to board a flight.