What's the difference between knowledge, skills, and abilities?

Many trainers are familiar with the acronym KSA.

It stands for the three things that training can develop:

• Knowledge

• Skills

• Abilities

Training can help improve performance if someone lacks one of those three things. Knowledge is generally understood as information, such as the steps in a procedure or different product attributes.

But what about skills and abilities?

Those two are frequently confused, but the distinction is important. This post breaks it down for you and explains why ability is the ultimate goal.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities defined

Let’s start with some basic definitions for each of these key terms. That will allow us to get into the differences, and why these distinctions are important.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines knowledge this way:

the factor or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association

In training, we often think of knowledge as memorized information that helps us do our job. An example is being able to recall the three elements of a heartfelt apology.

Knowledge isn't just one dimensional. Psychologist Benjamin Bloom created a taxonomy that helps explain the various levels we can possess knowledge:

Graphic showing a revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Image shared courtesy of Vanderbilt University.

One challenge for every trainer is deciding what level a learner needs to acquire knowledge so they can effectively do their job. Each subsequent level takes more effort, and more time, to reach.

There's a vast difference between reciting the three elements of a heartfelt apology (remember) and being able to explain the difference between a good and bad example (evaluate).

Knowledge is just one element of KSA. Here's how the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines skills:

the ability to use one's knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance

Skills move toward the practical. There’s often a gap between what we know and what we do.

For example, you might know the three steps to a heartfelt apology, but actually apologizing to a real customer is a skill. You must follow the steps correctly in a potentially difficult situation where a customer is upset and frustrated.

Other common examples of skills include:

• Operating a machine

• Using computer software

• Listening to a customer

• Troubleshooting a faulty product

• Brewing a cup of coffee

So what about ability? Once again, let's start with a definition from Merriam-Webster:

1. competence in doing something: SKILL

2. natural aptitude or acquired proficiency

Admittedly, this is where the distinction between a skill and ability gets confusing. Isn't Merriam-Webster saying ability is a skill?

Yes and no.

How is an ability different than a skill?

Look closely at the definition of ability, and you'll see that it consists of three things:

1. Skill

2. Natural aptitude

3. Acquired proficiency

All of these things combined translate into outcomes.

Going back to the apologizing to customers example, ability is what we need to make the apology actually work. In a customer service context, we want the customer to forgive us. (Us personally, and/or our company.)

As a trainer, I help learners develop KSAs, but I'm most interested in helping people develop their abilities. This is what helps them increase their performance at work.

So let’s break it down.

Skill: we’ve already covered this one.

Natural aptitude: There's not much we can do about natural aptitude. People have natural aptitude in various amounts. Some customer service professionals will be naturally great at apologizing to customers, while some will really struggle at first. A few will never be able to develop the ability.

Acquired proficiency: This is what we get from good practice and feedback.

For instance, think of the very first upset customer you ever served. Mine is indelibly seared into my memory, because the experience launched my career.

Now think about the last upset customer you served.

Chances are, you've learned hard lessons from serving countless upset customers about what works and what doesn't. You’ve probably made mistakes and learned from those lessons. And you likely can deliver a heartfelt apology much more smoothly now than the first time you did it.

That, my friend, is ability.

Why do these distinctions matter?

Trainers need to pay attention to all three KSA elements when developing employees, but each element is developed in a slightly different way.

Knowledge typically comes through content. We deliver information in some way and then engage participants in activities to make sure it sticks.

Skills are developed through practical application. This is when we introduce hands-on exercises so learners can try doing the thing they're learning to do.

Ability is developed through repetition and feedback. It can take a lot of practice to develop new abilities, and it's common to struggle at first.

One of the greatest challenges for trainers is they spend too much time on knowledge, and not enough time on skills or abilities.

Think about most training classes you attended (or facilitated). There's a good chance there was a heavy emphasis on delivering new content (knowledge), but not much time for hands on skill-development and barely any time devoted to practicing those skills so you could build abilities.

Conclusion

Ability is what ultimately matters the most.

It's not enough for a customer service representative to understand the theory behind a good apology or to be able to stumble through the steps. They need the ability to use an apology to get a customer to feel better and be willing to reconcile after a service failure.

Learn more about what training can, and cannot fix from this short video.

Is this a training issue? from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

How to keep customers coming back | Shep Hyken interview

Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.

You don't need to be convinced that customer loyalty is important.

If you're reading this, you know that already. The real challenge is achieving it. How do you get customers to keep coming back?

That's the question I posed to New York Times bestselling author, Shep Hyken. He's written a new book on customer loyalty called I'll Be Back.

I've previously interviewed Hyken and he always provides a lot of great insights. Check out our conversations about the importance of convenience and how to create an amazing customer experience.

I'll Be Back is now available on Amazon.

Hyken answered a number of important questions in our interview:

• Why do customers leave a business? (:48)

• What is the difference between repeat business and loyalty? (2:05)

• How do customers develop an emotional connection with a business? (4:23)

• Why is it dangerous to copy the competition? (8:26)

• How do you identify what's so great about your business? (13:47)

You can watch the full interview or scroll down to read the highlights.

Why do customers leave a business?

Hyken shared some insights from the 2021 Achieving Customer Amazement survey. The study found some of the top reasons customers leave a business include:

• Rudeness or apathy

• Not easy to do business with

• A competitor is even easier to do business with

Listen to Hyken share more at :48 in the interview.

What is the difference between repeat business and loyalty?

A customer who repeatedly gives you their business might appear to be loyal, but Hyken makes a clear distinction between a repeat customer and a loyal one.

A repeat customer is someone who continues to buy from you. The danger is they can easily be swooped up by a competitor.

This makes intuitive sense to me.

There's a car wash near my house. It's fairly convenient, but the car wash is frequently closed for maintenance. So I can't always count on getting my car cleaned.

I was a repeat customer until another, more reliable carwash opened a mile away.

Hyken described customer loyalty as an emotional connection. You might go out of your way to do business with this company, and price is no longer as important.

Hear more about repeat business versus loyalty at the 2:05 mark in the interview.

How do customers develop an emotional connection with a business?

If customer loyalty comes from an emotional connection, then it makes sense for a business to try and create one.

Hyken explained that consistency is at the heart of that emotional connection. Customers can count on a business to be consistently good, so the backbone of that connection is trust.

Go to the 4:23 mark to hear more.

Why is it dangerous to copy the competition?

Hyken argues that copying a competitor won't set you apart, because you'll be doing the same thing someone else is doing. Even worse, you might not be able to do it as well, which might set you back.

So what should you do instead?

Hyken shares six steps to help you stand out. You can get the book and read them in Chapter 15 or go to 8:26 in the interview.

How can you identify what's so great about your business?

Successful businesses are really good at leveraging their strengths. In our interview, Hyken shared that finding the strength of your business starts with understanding the problem your customer is trying to solve.

For example, there are a lot of delis in Portland, Oregon. Many of them seem pretty much the same.

One way that Elephants Delicatessen wins loyal customers in a crowded market is by focusing on fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

You can hear more from Hyken at 13:47 in the interview.

Conclusion

Even though I've been a customer service trainer for many years, I always learn something valuable from Shep Hyken.

I think you will, too.

Check out the interview and the be sure to grab a copy of I'll Be Back.

How to keep customers informed about shipping delays

"The shipping container is stuck in customs."

That's the best update I could get from our buyer and it wasn't encouraging. We had been waiting for a replenishment order from our overseas supplier for weeks.

Backorders were piling up and customers were getting agitated at the wait. We had been getting a slew of angry phone calls and emails from customers who wanted to know why their order hadn’t arrived.

This might seem like a modern story, but it happened to me over 20 years ago.

I was managing a customer service team for a catalog company. Keeping customers informed about shipping delays was a real struggle. My employees were bearing the brunt of our customers' frustration, so it wasn't easy on them, either.

Today, customer service teams everywhere are experiencing similar supply chain challenges. Several Customer Service Tip of the Week subscribers have emailed me asking for advice.

Here are five tips I learned the hard way—through my own, difficult experience.

#1 Use the pre-emptive acknowledgement

The pre-emptive acknowledgement works by recognizing a situation where a customer is likely to get upset—such as a delay that will make their order take longer to arrive than expected.

You pre-empt the customer's anger by contacting them before they become aware of the issue, apologize for the problem, and offer a solution.

The biggest mistake I made 20 years ago was waiting for customers to check on the status of their order. By then, they were already frustrated. They had expected their order to arrive sooner, and when it hadn't, they took time out of their busy day to contact us.

I eventually learned to check inventory reports every day for inventory problems. As soon as we identified a delay, we launched an outbound campaign (phone, email, and mail) to inform customers.

The amazing thing was most customers were much less frustrated when we used the pre-emptive acknowledgement.

Using the preemptive acknowledgment technique from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister

#2 Offer alternatives

Whenever possible, I like to pair the pre-emptive acknowledgement technique with options. Sometimes, customers are willing to be a little flexible to avoid a wait.

At the catalog company, we tried to identify alternatives before contacting a customer to inform them of a delay. Sometimes, we had a similar item or the same item in a different color that was immediately available.

Finding options gives you an opportunity to contact customers with modestly good news:

• Is there a similar item or a different color available?

• Can you source materials from a different supplier?

• Are you able to expedite shipping for a modest fee?

Sometimes, customers are just happy to have a choice. Customers will be less frustrated with waiting for an order if they know they chose to wait longer over an alternative that was available sooner.

#3 Share the worst-case scenario

It can be difficult to predict exactly when a shipment will arrive. When that happens, you can avoid future frustrations by sharing the worst-case scenario.

For example, a friend of mine works for a company that sells fresh produce direct to consumers. It's hard to tell customers exactly when a crop will ripen and the farmer will harvest it. She is usually given a range of time, such as "between June 10 and July 7."

Unfortunately, customers tend to hear the best-case when we give people a range of time. So if my friend told them their order will arrive between June 10 and July 7, many customers will hear "June 10" and start to get anxious when June 10 comes and goes with no update.

Anxious customers create lots of contacts. It’s far better to give the worst-case scenario and say, “Your order will arrive by July 7” and then the customer will be pleasantly surprised if it arrives early.

There are a couple of caveats.

First, be sure that an early shipment won’t cause any problems. For instance, a customer might be traveling when an early shipment arrives. It’s best to keep customers update on early shipments, too.

Second, when creating a shipping estimate, don't forget to include the total time it takes to deliver something to a customer. At the catalog company, we'd often get updates on when a container ship with new merchandise would arrive in port, but it could take several more weeks for the shipment to get to the customer.

The language you use to communicate these delays to customers has a huge impact on how those delays will be received.

Use clear language to avoid surprises from Customer Service: Managing Customer Expectations by Jeff Toister

#4 Show your hustle

Customers often feel better about a problem when they realize you are working hard on their behalf to solve it.

When sharing a shipping delay, start with the bad news up front. Let customers know clearly and directly that their order is delayed.

Now you can soften the blow by offering alternatives (see tip #2) and telling customers what you are doing to solve the problem.

• Are you sourcing new suppliers?

• Have you paid for expedited delivery of critical components?

• Are you adding more staff to be ready for a large shipment?

Anything you can do to demonstrate your hustle might make customers feel a little better. Sometimes, just providing frequent updates shows the customer you care.

#5 Commit to an update

One of the most frustrating things about supply chain disruptions is when the delay is out of our control. A supplier might promise a shipment within two weeks, but if they fail to deliver, we won't be able to keep our promises to our customers.

When you encounter a situation like this, a great strategy is to focus on what you can control. In this case, you can't commit to a specific deliver date, but you can commit to giving your customer an update.

I learned to use that technique at the catalogue company.

My team would give customers a date when we would contact them again, say 30 days out. We would then set a reminder in our customer service software to follow-up with the customer.

Customers appreciated hearing the updates. It was our chance to build trust by following up exactly when we said we would. This helped customers believe that we were on top of the issue and would keep them informed.

It also prevented a lot of angry calls.

Conclusion

The best solution to a shipping delay is to make the delay go away. Get the shipment in faster and the problem is solved.

But that's not always possible. When you can't make the shipment appear faster, your next best option is to retain customers' trust so they know you are working hard on their behalf and keeping them informed.

Ultimately, great customer experience is about keeping your promises. This means making sure you do what you say you’re going to do, such as deliver orders on time. When something does go wrong, the way you communicate goes a long way to retaining your customers’ trust.

You can learn more about making, and keeping, experience promises from The Guaranteed Customer Experience.

Lessons from The Overlook: 5 things vacation rental guests should know

Note: Lessons from The Overlook is a periodic update on lessons learned from owning a vacation rental property in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. It's a hands-on opportunity to apply some of the techniques I advise my clients to use. You can find past updates here.

My wife, Sally, and I own a vacation rental cabin called The Overlook Idyllwild. 

In addition to staying in our own cabin on a regular basis, we often stay in vacation rentals ourselves when we travel. This has given us first-hand experience as a guest.

It has also given us insight into what other owners do, and do not do well. We’ve used some of those lessons to improve our own guest experience, but we’ve also discovered a few things guests can do to have a better time.

With that in mind, here are five tips to make your next vacation rental more enjoyable.

Sunset view from the deck of The Overlook. It’s the perfect place to relax after a day of hiking.

#1 Book Direct

Airbnb and VRBO charge booking fees of 5-10%. You can avoid these by booking directly with the owner or property management company whenever possible.

There are two ways to do this. One is to avoid the big sites like Airbnb and VRBO and do a Google search for vacation rentals in the city you’d like to visit.

Try searching for “Idyllwild vacation cabins” and the first non-sponsored result you’ll see is our property manager, Idyllwild Vacation Cabins.

You can also find a listing on Airbnb or VRBO that you like, then Google the name of the property and the city. You'll often find a separate website for the property where you can book direct without the fees.

Sally and I recently rented a condo in Napa for 28% less than the listed rate on VRBO by booking directly through the property manager.

We only rent our cabin via Idyllwild Vacation Cabins so our guests don't have to pay these fees.

#2 Check the HVAC filter

The HVAC filter cleans the air for the heater and air conditioner and helps the system run more efficiently. Unfortunately, many vacation rental owners don't change these often enough.

I've had to get the filter replaced at 3 of the last 4 vacation homes I've stayed in.

Here's one example from a vacation rental in Palm Springs where Sally and I stayed in July. Imagine the air conditioner running air nonstop through this dirty filter:

We check the filter once per month at The Overlook.

#3 Contact management with issues

Speaking of dirty HVAC filters, be sure to contact the property manager right away if you spot a problem that interferes with your stay.

Every home has it's own quirks, such as how to operate the tv or the spa. I once struggled to get an oven to work due to user error (I'm dumb). A quick call to the property manager saved dinner.

There's also a good chance you'll spot something during your stay that needs attention. It could be a cracked dish, a burned out light bulb, or a bigger problem like a leaky faucet.

Don't assume the property manager knows about this—it's easy to miss small items when a property is inspected between visits. Some issues are only noticed when you are staying in a home for a few days.

A quick call to the property manager can resolve many issues quickly and prevent the next guests from being inconvenienced.

#4 Bring dish towels

Don't ask me why, but vacation rentals almost never include good dish towels.

If you're particular about lint on your glassware, then the fluffy hand towels they usually provide just won't cut it. I always bring a few of my own.

#5 This is someone's home

Remember you are a guest in someone's home.

Many vacation rentals are owned by individual families who also use the home themselves. They take great care to provide accommodations and have to pay money out of their own pockets to replace worn or damaged items.

Be sure to treat the house with respect, just as you would if you were staying with a friend.

Please keep noise to a minimum as well. Vacation rentals are often located in residential neighborhoods and are surrounded by neighbors who live there full time.

There are organized efforts to ban or severely restrict vacation rentals in many cities because neighbors are tired of dealing with unruly guests next door.

Don't be those guests.

Bonus tip

Relax and have fun!

Vacation rentals often provide more privacy, amenities, and unique charm than a hotel. At The Overlook, we offer our guests sweeping sunset views, two game rooms, a spa, a large deck, and a wood burning fireplace for cozy evenings.

It's a perfect place to enjoy a mountain retreat. At least my wife and I think so—we were just there for a few days with family and had a wonderful time.

5 types of misleading data that hurts customer service

How long does it take to create a merchandise display?

This was an important question for a retailer with thousands of stores. Each week, stores received instructions to create new merchandise displays along with the estimated time they took to build.

Staffing decisions were centralized. The corporate office estimated how much labor each store needed for the week and created a staffing plan. The estimated time to create new displays was included in the plan.

The estimates were almost always wrong.

In reality, the displays took much longer to build than planned. Managers weren't allowed to deviate from the staffing plan, so they pulled employees away from other tasks like helping customers.

The retailer was plagued by many examples like this, where misleading data led to poor decisions. It eventually went bankrupt.

You can avoid a similar fate by identifying misleading data. Here are five types to watch out for.

#1 Anecdotes

Stories can be powerful ways to communicate ideas, but they can also be misleading.

One CEO expressed confidence that his business was customer-focused because he had recently received several compliments from friends. These stories were reassuring, and the CEO rebuffed attempts to find more data about service quality.

Had the CEO dug deeper, he would have discovered a growing number of unhappy clients. There were critical gaps in hiring, training, and customer service that needed to be addressed.

Without data to support this, the CEO refused to invest in necessary improvements. The company was soon blindsided by a wave of lost business that it should have seen coming.

Lesson: Always look for data to prove or refute anecdotal evidence before making critical decisions.

#2 Generalizations

Data is often generalized. This means it is accurate in many cases, but might not be accurate in others.

Years ago, many customer service teams shifted from one computer monitor to two. The rationale was that "studies show" two monitors improve productivity.

This was true in many cases, but not always.

Those studies were largely commissioned by companies that made monitors. The authors had a vested interest in downplaying another discovery: one monitor is sometimes better than two.

This meant that some customer service teams hurt productivity when they added a second monitor.

Lesson: Make sure data is applicable to your situation before using it.

#3 Contextless

Data gains new meaning when you add some context around it.

One CEO balked at a plan to raise wages for customer service employees from $12 to $14 per hour. What the CEO saw was a 17 percent increase at a time when the company was already paying 50 percent more than the minimum wage ($8 per hour).

The problem with this analysis is it didn’t consider the broader job market. Prospective employees might be considering job offers from other companies.

See what happens when you put proposed increase in context with the overall job market.

The company was paying well below the market average for comparable jobs. Raising the starting wage to $14 per hour would still be below market, but it would give the company access to more talent.

There was one more piece of context that was helpful.

The CEO's chief concern was converting customer service inquiries into sales. A quick calculation showed that a 6 percent improvement in the conversion rate would pay for the $2 per hour wage increase.

Armed with more context, the CEO agreed to raise wages. It quickly became easier to hire good employees. Thanks to better hires, the sales conversion rate increased 36 percent.

Lesson: Add context to give data more meaning.

#4 Manipulated

Data is often manipulated by unscrupulous employees who have a direct incentive to make it look better.

Some cashiers emphasize a survey to happy customers, but fail to mention it when a customer is grouchy. This manipulation is one of at least nine ways unscrupulous employees can boost survey scores without providing better service.

The end result is voice of customer data that makes customer service look far better than it really is. Meanwhile, complaints go unnoticed or unreported.

Why do employees do this?

Because they either get an incentive for good survey scores or they get in trouble if too many customers complain. Sometimes, it's both.

Lesson: Avoid giving employees incentives that might cause them to manipulate data.

#5 Perfect

Some executives won't use data to make a decision until they're convinced the data is perfect. Unfortunately, perfect data does not exist.

First contact resolution (FCR) is a great example.

The idea is to solve customer issues on the first contact so the customer doesn't have to repeatedly contact a company. Repeated contacts frustrate customers and cost the company extra money.

The challenge is FCR is notoriously difficult to measure.

• What counts as a repeat contact?

• Can those contacts be easily tracked?

• How can you tell a repeat contact from a contact about a new issue?

• How do you determine whether an issue is fully resolved?

• What if a customer uses multiple channels to contact a company?

So the trouble with FCR is you can't craft a perfect measure, but you can still work towards improving FCR by taking a few specific actions.

Lesson: Don't wait for data to be perfect because you'll end up doing nothing.

Conclusion

Executives are easily deceived when they don’t question the data they use to make decisions. When in doubt, ask a few more questions.

For example, think about the time it takes to make retail store displays. A few questions could have fixed the company's data problem:

• Are we accurately estimating how long it takes to build the displays?

• What's the impact of an inaccurate estimate?

• How can we improve the accuracy of our estimates?

You can imagine a different outcome if someone had asked those questions.

Five advanced customer service techniques to raise your game

Advanced techniques are one of the top requests I receive as a customer service trainer. Many people feel the basics are, well, too basic.

If that's you, I have five advanced techniques to share. But first, a word from our sponsor: basic skills.

The basic skills never go out of style. Customer service professionals who master the basics will always do well.

My top three skills:

• Rapport: make customers feel at ease.

• Listening: understand what customers need.

• Empathy: help customers feel better.

You can build these skills by taking my LinkedIn Learning course, Customer Service Foundations.

The free Customer Service Tip of the Week email is another way to build and maintain your basic skills. It’s also available as a book.

Still looking for the advanced stuff? Okay, here you go.

#1 Get customers to remember your name

Calling customers by name is a basic customer service skill. The advanced version is making sure customers remember your name.

I stumbled on this on by accident while analyzing survey results for a client. When a customer mentioned an employee by name in the survey comments, the survey was 60 percent more likely to be positive.

My friends at Zendesk helped me test this theory with a larger data set. Look at the difference when a survey mentions an employee by name in the comments, versus surveys that do not.

Why does this work?

Because customers tend to humanize employees more when they know your name. They look at you as a person and not just an employee. That means they tend to like you better, and be more forgiving of small mistakes.

Here are a few tips to help customers remember your name:

1. Introduce yourself.

2. Repeat your name at key moments.

3. Follow-up with customers to share your name again.

#2 Stop multitasking

Paying attention to customers is a basic customer service skill. The advanced version is blocking out the numerous distractions that tempt you to multitask and divide your attention among multiple things.

Multitasking is really about attention. If you are trying to pay attention to two things at once, neither is getting your full attention.

Here are some common examples that happen while serving a customer:

• Reading and responding to messages from other people.

• Allowing another customer or colleague to interrupt you.

• Refocusing on alerts and notifications on your computer or phone.

• Trying to do another task while partially listening to the customer.

• Playing with your phone.

It gets worse.

The more multitasking we do, the harder it gets to focus. Multitasking is also highly addictive, making the habit difficult to stop.

My best advice?

1. Remove distractions to set yourself up for success.

2. Be intentional about focusing on your customers.

#3 Use the partner technique when serving upset customers

Empathizing with upset customers is a basic skill. A more advanced version is the partner technique, which helps customers feel like you are on their side.

I learned this one from watching airline gate agents enforce carry-on bag size limits. Most struggle with this situation or avoid it entirely, but a few used the partner technique to keep customers happy.

Here's how it works:

Standing face-to-face with a customer can feel confrontational, so the agent positioned themselves on the passenger's side. This created a feeling of partnership, like they were approaching the issue together.

Next, the agent used partnership language, such as, "Let's see if your bag fits in the sizer."

If the bag didn't fit, the gate agent carefully avoided any language that might sound confrontational. They continued partnering with the passenger to help sort it out.

• They made suggestions for shrinking the size of a bag.

• They offered to hold the passenger's place in the boarding line.

• They used a soothing tone (rather than a commanding one).

All of these actions put passengers at ease and made them more likely to comply and less likely to argue or get upset.

Later on, I realized you can use this technique even when you aren't face-to-face.

#4 Take care of emotional needs first

Listening to a customer's problem and then solving it is a basic customer skill. Identifying and responding to a customer's emotional needs is an advanced technique.

A rational need is the specific service a customer is requesting. For example, a customer might call a software company for technical support because they can’t get their software to work properly.

An emotional need is how the customer feels about the situation. They might be frustrated that the software isn’t working. Perhaps they’re anxious because the problem is preventing them from getting important work done.

It’s the emotional needs that can make or break the customer’s experience. If the technical support rep can successfully validate the customer’s frustration by empathizing with them and then reassure the customer that they can help them, the customer will likely feel better.

Use this technique by tuning in to your customers' emotions. Make sure you empathize with them to soothe any negative feelings before moving on to their rational needs.

#5 Say "Thank you" instead of "I'm sorry"

Apologizing to customers is a basic skill. Knowing when to say "thank you" instead of "I'm sorry" is an advanced technique.

Small issues, such as a minor error or short delay, usually don't cause any real problems for customers. However, it can still hurt a customer's self-esteem to be made to "endure" a short wait.

In these cases, thanking the customer for their patience can be more effective than apologizing.

An apology is still warranted for more severe service failures that potentially cost customers time, money, and a lot of effort. In those situations, the best apologies are heartfelt and sincere.

Conclusion

Professional athletes can sometimes make their sport look easy. They appear so effortless and graceful that we forget that what they're doing is very, very hard.

Customer service is the same way. Many advanced techniques seem easy, but they take a lot of careful practice to master.

You can learn more advanced skills from the book, Getting Service Right, which uncovers hidden and counterintuitive customer service obstacles. A few might surprise you.

Discover even more advanced concepts from my LinkedIn Learning course, Innovative Customer Service Techniques. Here's a short preview.

Help your team unlock their potential from Innovative Customer Service Techniques by Jeff Toister

Why customer success is the secret to revenue growth

"We had $1 million in preventable returns last year."

The executive who shared this shocking figure explained that his company had recently entered the consumer market for home improvement tools. The preventable returns were tools that worked perfectly well, but confused customers couldn't figure out how to use them.

The company had failed to anticipate that consumers wouldn’t be savvy users like the professionals who had used its tools for years. So it neglected to invest in customer success.

Here's a definition of customer success, why it's important, and how you can use it to win and retain more business.

What is customer success?

Customer success is a customer service function that helps customers achieve their goals using your product or service.

A retail sales associate who helps you pick out the perfect item is an example. They might advise you on the correct sizing, garment care, and the latest fashion trends.

Here are some more common examples:

• Chat agents who answer pre- and post-purchase product questions.

• Online instruction guides and how-to videos.

• “Quick Start” guides included with product packaging.

Warning: some software companies would have you believe that customer success is separate from customer service. That's only because these companies have organized customer success into a distinct department. In reality, customer success is by definition a subset of customer service.

Customer success is often a combination of multiple resources. Here's an example:

I wanted to buy a pair of lightweight camp sandals to take backpacking. A friend recommended Xero Shoes and I found a pair online that I liked.

My challenge is I wear an extra-wide shoe, so sizing can be tricky. Fortunately, each product page had a link to a sizing guide.

The sizing guide is an example of customer success. It helps me achieving my goals—getting shoes that fit.

The guide includes a helpful downloadable template you can use to measure you foot. It also explains how to adjust the size by cutting the sandals to fit your foot shape.

I measured my foot with the guide, bought the right size, and the sandals fit perfectly.

Why is customer success important?

Marketing might get customers interested in your product or service, but it's often customer success that gets customers to stay.

One reason marketing gets so much more attention than customer success is marketing generates a lot of data to prove its value.

Here's a typical email I get from New Balance, a shoe company I have been loyal to for many years. Try to imagine what sort of data the marketing team is tracking:

They likely have quite a bit of information they can use to measure the success of this email campaign:

• Email open rate

• Click-through rate

• Purchase rate

New Balance can also identify whether individuals like me clicked through and made a purchase. That's a treasure-trove of data that can signal whether email campaigns like this one are working.

Campaigns like this are primarily focused on incentives. The email is encouraging me to use my New Balance points for a discount and is offering an extra 25% off certain items. It also uses the headline “Don’t Miss It,” to encourage me to buy.

Despite all this data, New Balance missed a pretty big buying signal.

I recently planned a trip to Boston, where New Balance's flagship store is located. New Balance offers an in-store shoe fitting service, so I thought it would be fun to visit the store, get fitted, and buy some new shoes.

Here's what I found on the New Balance website:

There's not much information here and I still had questions.

• How does the fitting process work? (Ex: will I be running, walking, etc.?)

• Do I need an appointment or will there be a wait?

• Are stores still offering fittings given the pandemic?

So I emailed New Balance's customer service team to get more information. I shared my questions, explained I was planning a trip to Boston, and describe my intent to visit the flagship store.

This was a powerful buying signal: an inbound email with an intent to purchase.

My consumer study of over 3,200 customers shows that companies should respond to emails like mine within one hour. It took several days for New Balance to respond.

The eventual response was unhelpful:

Bailey failed to answer any of my questions or even acknowledge my comment that the website information was incomplete. The message essentially read: “That’s not my department.”

This poor experience made me decide not to visit the store.

New Balance lost an easy sale, but it lost more than it. It had an opportunity to create a memorable, in-person fitting experience that could have deepened my loyalty.

Instead, the brand seemed inept and uncaring.

What makes customer success great?

An effective customer success function is there for customers when they need help with your product or service. This could be pre-purchase, when they're trying to decide what to buy. It might also be post-purchase, when they're trying to use your product or service.

Keith Amaker, Director of Customer Success at ZenBusiness, described it this way:

If your customers trust and believe that you will be there for them when they need or want you, there is a high probability that they will look for your brand first and promote your brand given a chance.

So the starting point is to figure out when customers need you. Identify critical moments along the customer journey where a customer is easily confused or needs extra help.

Some companies slap a chatbot on their website and call it a day. That’s not a great idea:

• Research shows customers don't like chatbots.

• Self-service works better when a human is readily available.

The challenge is making sure those humans are responsive and helpful.

Living Spaces is a furniture brand that I've purchased from many times. I recently went to its website to select a rug.

I had some questions about how to care for the rug before I purchased it, so I decided to chat. The Living Spaces website promised an impressive 10 second response time.

In reality, it took more than 10 minutes to get connected with someone.

When I finally reached a live agent, it felt like Roxanna was shooting from the hip. The response felt like a guess and didn’t give me the confidence to make a purchase.

Osprey is brand that gets customer success right. It effectively helps convert prospective buyers into loyal customers.

I recently visited the Osprey site to find a new backpack for bicycling. My starting point was Osprey's super-helpful Packfinder tool.

The tools asks questions to help narrow down your choices:

I was able to find a few options that looked promising. Each backpack has a detailed description, multiple product images, and a helpful explainer video, like this one.

I still felt like I needed some help, so I clicked on the handy chat button:

It took less than 30 seconds to get connected to Jennifer who had ESP-like abilities to answer my questions and quickly suggest packs. Notice Jennifer sensed the first suggestion might be too large:

By the end of the brief chat, Jennifer had given me several great suggestions to explore. This helped me build a wish list for my inevitable trip to REI.

Osprey's focus on customer success doesn't end on its website. It works extensively with retail partners like REI to make sure retail associates can help customers select the correct pack and get it properly fitted.

My trip to REI convinced me to purchase the Raptor, Jennifer’s first suggestion. The ability to try it on in person, and compare it to other models, was extremely helpful.

You can learn more about Osprey's incredible retail support in chapter six of The Guaranteed Customer Experience.

Conclusion

Customer success fills an important role in helping customers use your products or services. It can mean the difference between winning and retaining new business—or losing out.

Never forget you are competing with other companies. When my current accounting software provider raised its prices, I found a competitor that was highly rated and cost 50 percent less.

It should have been an easy win for the new company, but it hadn't invested in customer success. 

• Instructions for migrating my data from the old platform were outdated.

• Contact information for support was hard to find.

• When I finally found a contact page, email was the only option.

• It took more than 15 hours to receive a response to my question.

• The response I received was unhelpful.

This experience gave me time to contact the old company.

A helpful rep helped me pick a new plan that was a better fit for my business and offered me a 50 percent discount on top of that. Now I was paying 82 percent less than before.

No need to keep trying to get help from the other company. I cancelled the new account.

How customer service employees can survive a bad boss

Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

"We have totally lost control."

A Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber sent me that message. He explained that his new manager lacked leadership skills and played favorites. A once strong team was now struggling.

Customer complaints were rising and missed calls had increased ten-fold.

Surviving a bad customer service boss is never easy, but I had one suggestion. Here's the advice I shared and how you can use it, too.

But first, what exactly makes a boss a bad one?

What makes someone a bad boss?

There are a lot of things that can make a customer service leader a bad boss. They can be difficult and challenging. They might micromanage. Some give conflicting direction or no direction at all. Sometimes, they're unkind.

I’ve witnessed many treat employees as disposable commodities. They fail to provide any training or guidance and then fire employees the first time they do something wrong.

Bad bosses all have one thing in common: they don’t give employees what they need to do a good job.

Emily Guendelsberger wrote about the challenges of working with unsupportive bosses in the excellent book, On the Clock. It chronicles Guendelsberger's experience working at Amazon, Convergys (an outsourced contact center), and McDonald's.

There's one type of boss I'm leaving out: the illegal boss.

This is a person who breaks the law. They steal employee wages, harass, discriminate, and otherwise violate employees’ rights. This post isn't about that type of boss.

With an illegal boss, you’re options are limited: 

1. Report them.

2. Quit.

3. Remain silent.

It's a difficult, no-win situation. Reporting them can be a long process. It's not easy, and you might find yourself subjected to illegal retaliation. Quitting isn't easy, either.

And remaining silent and continue to be subjected to the bad boss’s poor treatment might be the worst option of all.

I really hope you don't have an illegal boss.

What do you need to know about your boss?

There's one thing you should know about your boss if you work in customer service. This applies whether they're a great boss, a mediocre one, and especially if they're terrible.

You need to discover their hot button.

A boss's hot button is the one thing they care about the most. They talk about it constantly and probably fear it. The hot button is often how their performance is evaluated by their boss.

The way to get through the experience is to make sure that your boss's hot button is always being addressed.

They're calm when their hot button is handled. They're bad behavior often gets better. Many stop micromanaging once their hot button is handled.

Bad bosses worry when when their hot button issue isn't going well. A bad boss will take out those worries on their employees.

Every boss has a different hot button. It's usually not something generic like make more money, cut costs, or keep customers happy.

Hot buttons are usually very specific. Here are a few I’ve experienced:

• One boss cared most about image because she had lost influence with the executive team.

• Another was hyper-focused on cashflow because a new investment went poorly.

• One boss worried about getting fired because revenue was down.

The way to survive a bad boss is to take care of their hot button.

For example, I learned to eliminate risk with the manager who was afraid of being fired. I found a way to shorten lead times for my biggest customer, which would increase our revenue. I made sure my manager’s boss got excited about the idea so my boss would be fully onboard.

Keep in mind that you work for your boss, not the other way around. You’re inviting trouble if you ignore your boss’s hot button issue or actively work against it.

Why do bosses go bad?

Let's take a moment to empathize, so we can better understand bad bosses. It's not easy being a customer service manager. Otherwise good people can suddenly find themselves becoming a bad boss and failing to give employees the support they need.

A study by West Monroe found that managers face several challenges:

• 44% feel overwhelmed

• 43% of new managers receive no training

• 23% spend 5+ hours per day on administrative tasks

Many face overwhelming pressure from their own bosses to get results. That pressure is often the source of their hot button issue.

Managers who have never received training don't know how to help their employees perform better. And far too many spend the majority of their time on administrative work, which means they aren't able to focus on their employees anyway.

You remove some of the burden when you address your boss’s hot button issue.

Conclusion

Find out your boss's hot button issue and then make sure you address it. Sometimes, your boss’s hot button is obvious. Other times, it helps to ask your boss to tell you directly what they care about most.

The subscriber who emailed me had that conversation with his boss.

He learned his new boss was overwhelmed and was looking for employees to step up and proactively take on new responsibilities. The boss wanted employees to operate with autonomy and not come to him with small issues.

The boss's hot button was time—he didn't think he had enough to get everything done.

And just in case you're a boss reading this, I've assembled a couple of resources just for you.

The first is Getting Service Right, a book that identifies the reasons why good customer service employees underperform and shares proven solutions to help them do better.

The second is my LinkedIn Learning course, How to Manage a Customer Service Team.

You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to watch the entire course, but a 30-day trial is available. You can also watch a short preview.

Elevating a customer service team from Managing a Customer Service Team by Jeff Toister

How to win back your customer's heart with an apology

"You shouldn't have to experience this."

The words just blurted out of my mouth. A customer had called, upset about receiving the wrong item. I saw past their anger and empathized with the inconvenience it was causing them.

"I'm really sorry about the mistake. We need to do better. I'm going to make sure we send you the correct item."

Then, something mysterious happened.

The customer instantly went from red to green. Their frustration evaporated and suddenly they were trying to comfort me!

"It's okay," the customer said. "These things happen. I really appreciate your help."

I had just discovered the magic of a real, heartfelt apology. And this wasn't a one-time fluke. The technique worked again and again. Customers calmed down and became more cooperative nearly every time I sincerely apologized.

Here's the science behind a great apology and how you can offer a great one, too.

Why do we apologize to customers?

The ultimate goal of an apology is to earn your customer's forgiveness. It's best used in situations where you made a mistake or your company broke a promise and you’re apologizing on behalf of your organization.

What if you or your company is clearly not at fault?

In those cases, a healthy dose of empathy is warranted, but not an apology. (See my guide to building your empathy super powers.)

However, beware of the murky gray area where the customer holds you or your company responsible, even if you don't believe you caused the issue.

It might be wise to seek forgiveness in those situations, too.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines forgiveness as the act of forgiving, which is "to cease to feel resentment against (an offender)."

In a study on forgiveness, authors Michael E. McCullough, Steven J. Sandage, and Everett L. Worthington Jr. take this further by suggesting three specific goals when seeking forgiveness.

Forgiveness occurs when the injured party is:

1. Less motivated to retaliate.

2. Less motivated to remain estranged.

3. More motivated to reconcile.

All of these are incredibly important in customer service.

Angry customers find ways to retaliate against companies, even if they don't leave for a competitor. Here are a few examples:

• Negative online reviews (Yelp, Google, etc.)

• Negative social media posts (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

• Sharing negative stories with family and friends.

• Spending less money.

• Stop buying certain products or services.

Estranged customers leave your company and don't come back, while customers who are motivated to reconcile are willing to give your business another chance.

How can an apology lead to forgiveness?

Service failures can cause customers to experience negative emotions. Apologies help soothe negative feelings and make customers more open to conciliatory gestures.

Small issues, such as a minor delay, might not cause any tangible damage, but they can still hurt a customer's pride. An apology can help restore a customer's self-esteem. Strangely, thanking the customer can work even better.

Larger issues or repeated service failures can lead to something psychologists call emotional hijacking. When this occurs, a customer's strong negative emotions make it difficult for them to think clearly.

Emotional hijacking can create several challenges.

• Customers can become more judgmental.

• They're less open to your ideas for resolving the issue.

• Sometimes, they just rage and trigger your fight or flight instinct.

Apologies do a number of things to help a customer feel better:

1. They convey empathy by validating the customer's negative emotions.

2. They restore a customer's self-esteem by signaling remorse.

3. They renew a customer's confidence when you take responsibility.

They also do one more thing that's essential to forgiveness.

In their forgiveness study, McCullough, Sandage, and Worthington Jr. found that apologies help the injured party feel empathy and compassion towards the person (or company) that wronged them.

That's exactly what happened when I apologized so profusely to a customer for the incorrect shipment. The apology caused them to empathize with me!

What makes a good apology?

Beverly Engel, author of The Power of Apology, suggests apologies contain three elements:

1. Regret

2. Responsibility

3. Remedy

I accidentally stumbled upon that model when I apologized to the customer over a shipping error.

• Regret: "You shouldn't have to experience this. I’m really sorry about the mistake."

• Responsibility: "We need to do better."

• Remedy: "I'm going to make sure we send you the correct item."

Apologies must also be sincere.

Customer service writing expert, Leslie O'Flahavan, cautions against making "nonpologies." These are insincere statements such as "We regret any inconvenience this may have caused."

O'Flahavan suggests being much more direct when apologizing. For example, you might tell a customer experiencing a billing issue, "I'm sorry you've had to spend time trying to resolve this problem."

Conclusion

Apologizing is an important skill for customer service professionals. We're there to help customers feel better when things go wrong and it's our job to seek forgiveness on behalf of the company we represent.

This short video shows you an example of what a good apology looks like in action.

Apologizing effectively from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister and Madecraft

How to rapidly improve customer service by finding your Betty

Early in my career, I lucked into a solution to a challenging project.

My department was asked to create a training program to help contact center agents pitch the company credit card to customers who called in to place an order from our catalog.

A computer program ran in the background during each call to determine if the customer was eligible for the company credit card. When they were, a little box popped up on the agent's screen that prompted the agent to offer the card.

Our success rate averaged averaged five percent. It needed to be 20.

The instinctive move would be to gather the management team in a conference room and invent something. That's how the request came to me: "Let's call a meeting to talk about what needs to be in the agent sales training program."

I'm glad I didn't do that.

Something told me to look at the numbers. You see, 5 percent was just the average. That meant some agents did worse, but a few did better.

One agent, Betty, really stood out.

Betty successfully pitched the credit card 40 percent of the time. Even better, she did it consistently, shift after shift. Nobody else was even close.

So I spent some time with Betty.

That conversation forever changed how I solve customer service problems. From that point forward, I always tried to start by finding a Betty.

Here's all you need to know about finding Betty in your own organization.

Who is a Betty?

Betty is an employee who already knows a solution to the problem.

It could be how to solve a complicated technical issue, calm down an upset customer, or pitch a company credit card.

Their knowledge is often not contained in official policies, procedures, or training programs. In many cases, the solution runs counter to the established way of doing things.

Bettys are often eager to share what they know. They can also be frustrated if they don't get the opportunity to pass the solution along to the rest of the team.

My Betty certainly felt frustrated.

She enthusiastically shared her credit card pitching secrets with me, but she also expressed disappointment that nobody else had asked her about it. Her team never met as a group and her boss was always too busy.

Betty cared deeply about doing a great job, and wanted to help others succeed as well.

How can you find your Betty?

There are a few ways to find your Betty when trying to solve a customer service problem. The important thing is to look for an employee who consistently generates great results.

Performance reports will sometimes make it easy.

There were over a thousand contact center agents pitching the credit card, but I found my Betty on a report. She was easy to find because her credit card pitch success rate was tremendous.

There are other times when you have to work a little harder. Here are a few things that have worked for me:

• Visit employees on various shifts at various locations.

• Talk to employees who encounter the problem most often.

• Ask employees for input in team meetings.

When in doubt, I often start with the most experienced employees. Yes, some employees become set in their ways over time. Other employees, like Betty, use their experience to anticipate solutions to new problems.

What do you do once you find Betty?

Go spend time observing Betty doing the job. The goal is to discover their secrets so you can share them with the rest of the team.

Your role here is to observe and listen. A few things stood out as I watched Betty.

• She made each offer with enthusiasm.

• Every offer included a brief explanation of the credit card's benefits.

• Betty closed the offer by inviting the customer to use the card right away.

Another thing I noticed was that Betty got excited and said, "Congratulations!" when offering the card.

It's helpful to ask questions while doing an observation like this, so I asked Betty why she used the word, "Congratulations." She explained that she wanted the customer to feel special, like getting approved for the credit card was a big deal.

Some people worry that employees won't be honest or forthcoming when you observe them. That's not been my experience at all.

I've found that Bettys are usually eager to share what they know. They generally want other employees to benefit from their discovery and are willing to share if they believe you are there to help spread the word.

What do you do after spending time with Betty?

It's often helpful to find out what other employees are doing so you can compare their process to Betty's. This often makes the differences even clearer.

For the credit card project, I spent time with other agents who did well, some agents who were average, and a few agents who never got customers to accept the credit card.

This really crystalized what Betty did so well.

The agents who had a five percent success rate simply read the offer to the customer when it popped up on the screen. "You've been pre-approved for our credit card. Would you like to sign up?"

Most of them didn’t know the features and benefits that came with the card, so they weren’t sure why a customer would want it. That led to an unenthusiastic sales pitch.

By contrast, Betty used a slightly different approach.

"Congratulations! You've been pre-approved for our credit card! It's a great way to keep track of all your purchases with us. Would you like to use it on today's order?"

[Note: this was before online ordering, when it was much more difficult to keep track of the orders you placed with a company. Using a company credit card to track your purchases was a big benefit back then.]

The contrast between Betty's approach and the agents whose success rate was zero was even more clear. Those agents told me they felt uncomfortable pitching the card, so they didn't.

I asked them if their supervisor ever talked to them about it and they all said no. One agent pointed out that the credit card offer wasn't on their quality assurance scorecard, so they weren't held accountable for the results.

If you had been there, you would have seen a lightbulb appear above my head.

How can you share what you learned from Betty?

The final step in the process is to share Betty's solution with the rest of the team. This could be a short update to the team, a new process, or even a training program.

In my case, I compiled a list of solutions that went beyond just a training program.

• Add "Congratulations!" to the screen pop telling agents to make the offer.

• Give agents a job aid with the credit card's features and benefits.

• Add the credit card offer to the quality assurance form.

The training program I created lasted just 30 minutes.

Some agents were initially reluctant to try the techniques I shared with them, but almost all of them changed their tune when they learned the techniques came from Betty, not management. That’s another bonus that comes with finding your Betty: more credibility.

And the best part? Our average credit card success rate quickly climbed to 20 percent.

You can learn about using techniques like this from my LinkedIn Learning course, Quick Fixes to Attain Excellent Customer Service.

A LinkedIn Learning subscription is required to view the entire course, but you can watch a short preview here.

Welcome from Quick Fixes to Attain Excellent Customer Service by Jeff Toister