Hello Reader! Right from my first job as a babysitter as a 16 year old where I prided myself on turning up on time, listening to the needs of the parents, ensuring the 'baby's' had what they needed and getting them to bed on time to giving the parents a warm and reassuring welcome back to working at Harrods, then in fundraising roles and latterly school / college marketing and admissions roles, I have enjoyed helping people and making people feel happy.  For me it is the most

Last week, was incredible. Not only did my place of work celebrate its 10th anniversary on Friday night with a celebratory event and awards - more about that later in the blog - but we had an all staff development day on the Wednesday which allowed the full team of marketing and learner recruitment the chance to get together. This is so rare as my team look after our receptions and visitors, students and prospective students and we are all about customer first. We took the

I have just finished reading Geoff Ramm's new book, Celebrity Sauce and wow did it explore 'Going the Extra Mile' with amazing celebrity service. I especially loved the story about the retired taxi driver in America...... you are going to have to read it to find out more! Customers want to be wowed..... we as customers want to be wowed too. So why would you not go the extra mile for your customers. That extra mile is not a crowded place and you won't find many of your competi

I saw this on Pinterest recently and thought how clever it was. If we all considered this phrase a little more, the world would certainly be a much nicer place.  So consider this phrase when it comes to customer service: 1 - Always tell the truth to help create trust between you and the customer. 2 - Always be helpful - and in fact this is something I always talk about - being proactive and listening well allows you to be helpful and get the purchase process and experience ri

For decades, marketing was a game of visibility. Whoever shouted the loudest, spent the most, or mastered the newest channel usually won. Billboards, TV ads, search rankings, social media campaigns—success was about grabbing attention. That era is fading fast. Today, customers are drowning in options, messages, and promises. Attention is no longer scarce—trust is. And trust isn’t built by clever taglines or perfectly targeted ads alone. It’s built (and broken) through experie

Kindness is crucial in life. If you have watched 'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse' you will know when asked what he wants to be when he grows up, replies "Kind". (Note: if you decide to watch this film, a box of tissues is required!) If you ever watched that amazing channel 4 series - Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds - you will remember that parents of the four year olds were keen for their children to learn kindness to others, which this show certainly had in abun

I have realised this week that when people go into negotiations over issues with a relationship or product it should not be a battle: you don’t have to put your battle armour on to have an effective conversation with a customer.  When dealing with a customer that is not happy with the product or service, it's easy to fall into one of two modes: defensiveness or just giving everything away just to get the person off the phone or out of the meeting! It is important to note that

Last week, I included the following stats in my blog: 60% of Baby Boomers want excellent customer service 71% of Gen X want excellent customer service 77% of Millennials require excellent customer service.....!!!!!!! I added that Millennials are the worst at giving great customer service even with all the competition out there whereas Boomers who grew up with no competition - a sort of 'you'll get what you're given' range of options and are the best. It got me thinking (and I

I am always thinking about customer service - the good and the bad - and I was looking at customer service videos and images and I was reminded of the following information: 60% of Baby Boomers want excellent customer service 71% of Gen X want excellent customer service 77% of Millennials require excellent customer service.....!!!!!!! Because, they way I see it, why are many more young people / millennials than more mature staff so bad at customer service if they expect it m

For my first blog in 2026, I wanted to focus on Power Skills which are closely aligned to giving the best customer service. I am a huge advocate for developing these skills. What are Power Skills? Power Skills - formerly known as soft skills - are essential, transferable "soft skills" like communication, problem-solving , team-working, leadership, decision making skills and presentation skills crucial for workplace success, enabling effective teamwork, navigating change, and

Since it is the middle of the twelve days of Christmas and the ever popular twelve days of Christmas rings out everywhere, I thought I would do a blog on the top twelve skills a person going into customer service needs ready for the New Year!  So here they are (in my order of important to least important): 1) Passionate and enthusiastic about the product / service and helping customers - as I mentioned in a previous blog, Disney only recruits a certain type of person to be a

A one team approach to customer service is vital in an organisation. I often refer to this statistic but not a lot of people believe it, so here it is: Which of the following is the biggest single reason a business loses customers: a) competition b) indifference of one employee c) word of mouth d) Dissatisfaction with the product ... well, its 'b', the indifference of one employee!!! I know what you are all thinking... how can it be? Well, I wondered this myself until it happ

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you are a Jane Austen fan you will be celebrating her 250th today! Why do I write about Jane Austen in a customer service blog you ask? Well, it is also a truth universally acknowledged that her most famous book's original title was called 'First Impressions'. She later changed it to Pride and Prejudice (I think she liked a little alliteration in her titles!) First impressions are crucial..... as Darcy and Elizabeth can testify t

This year, I was lucky enough to finally make a holiday trip to Japan. I have always wanted to go there to enjoy the countryside and cities, temples and memorials, food and fuji and bullet trains and bento boxes. It was a fantastic eight days crammed full of the above plus more! I can honestly say the experience of Japan has left an indelible mark in me, one of five countries to date that has done that and a country that I could seriously consider living in. So when I saw Mar

An experience I had over the weekend made me decide to write about the importance to people about the details in customer service. I was celebrating a friends big birthday this weekend. I had booked a specific table and explained about the occasion. We turned up to the table I had requested with flowers, sparkling table ornaments and a banner celebrating the big birthday - none of which I had asked for! Instantly we felt welcome and special. The birthday girl and all of us to

Customer experience may be the new marketing battleground but it's the old communication methods that work the best when it comes to relationship building. Shep Hyken is one of my favourite customer experience authors and speakers and he has hit the nail on the head. The human touch is crucial. In a world where email, WhatsApp and other messaging and communication etc rules in terms of communication in the workplace, what happened to just getting up from your desk and speakin

In 2022, nearly 2000 business leads were surveyed and they said the number one priority for 2023 and the next five years for their business was enhancing the Customer Experience. Not only that here are five fun facts... 1 - 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience 2 - 49% of buyers have made impulse purchases after receiving a more personalised experience 3 - 57% of customers won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile and

I saw this image on the internet again recently whilst pondering customer service. I have been thinking recently about customer service a lot - well more than I usually do - after hearing Geoff Ramm talk recently. The image made me realise that we can measure this in the product itself: how focused on the customer is the product? Does the product - as well as the promotion - meet the needs of the customer, or the organisation? This image shows that although the one on the lef

Teamwork is the collaborative effort of a group to achieve a common goal or to complete a task in an effective and efficient way . My quote attached to this blog is from Shep Hyken, a customer service hero of mine who references Ace Hardware as his go to brand. Last week, at work, we had Geoff Ramm speak to us about team work and how the important focus is the team and helping each other out. I recently enjoyed a weekend away with my mother. We both needed some catch up time

You will probably know - if you read my blogs - that I am a firm believer in good customer service. In fact if you know me at all then you will know that customer service and customer experience are my favourite subjects and that I believe in the best customer service ... actually five star, red carpet customer service.  I have worked in many organisations where I have witnessed the power of great customer service and good relationship building to grow customers and thus reve