In the course of our consulting work, we've helped hundreds of companies.  With each new client, we often start by asking one simple question: "What do you want your customers to feel and experience when they are interacting with you?"  Seems easy enough to answer, right?  Perhaps - but here's the catch: We ask people to limit their answer to three words.

- Roy Barnes and Bob Kelleher, Customer Experience for Dummies

Everything's better when you can smile and laugh. So why not incorporate this cheer and humor into your customer service and sales efforts?  And as Victor Borge said:

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." 

We want to connect with our customers, and when we do, there will be so much for you to be happy about, especially your bottom-line.  Additional benefits of adding humor to your customer service and sales conversations:

Never assume you know what your customers want. 

-Renee Evenson, Customer Service Training 101

While this tip seems so obvious, it's a lesson we can all keep refreshing ourselves on.  It's still so easy to get it wrong, plus it pertains to so many areas: customer service, sales, marketing, problem resolution, and on and on.

Let's looks at a couple of specific sample scenarios to see how it applies.

It remains interesting to me the surprise I will get when a company will do an unexpected service Wow! The overall positive impact that this level of service has on their customers can completely change their business platform, as well as their customer loyalty. In the service industry, awareness is a must. You have to be fully aware and fully present to give the level of service that makes people take notice and want more ~ not to mention, tell their friends. 

How aware is your company/business in regards to service awareness?  

Albert Einstein has many famous quotes, but this quote said by the "mad scientist" is one of my favorites since it is applicable in both our personal and professional lives:

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." 

This concept is well, so simple, and should give you pause to consider how exactly it can be applied to your business, specifically your customer service practices.  Generally speaking, here are thoughts and ideas for you to consider and implement...

It’s no coincidence that companies that deliver rockin' customer service are industry leaders and innovators. So why aren’t companies focusing on improving the service that they deliver?  It seems like this is a no-brainer; however, companies get too lazy, caught up in the day-to-day, and/or don’t want to invest the time and money on mandating a focus on service excellence. Don’t be one of these companies- it’s careless and brainless.  We want you to ROCK at customer service!

Still need some convincing about why customer service should be a top priority?  From a Salesforce blog post by Kendall Thorton, “18 Interesting Stats to Get You Rethinking Your Customer Service Process,” here are 8 powerful statistics that are very telling...