Customer service poem

Customer Service Poem

Be Versed in Good Service

For really top service beyond all compare,

You have to let customers know that you care,

Right from first contact, the seeds will be sown,

So take time to smile when you pick up the phone,

 Be professional, courteous, clear and concise,

When talking of colour, delivery and price,

Don't rush through your work, or do jobs on the cheap,

And don't make a promise you know you can't keep,

If a customer phones, and is feeling uptight,

Do all that you can to make every thing right,

Sympathise, listen, and let them explain,

You can turn things around, so they'll come back again,

Customer service is just like a poem,

If it's good you will smile, if it's bad you'll just groan.

©Jan Jack’s Perfect Verse 2011 

http://www.perfectverse.co.uk/

In this new world, where AI is making its presence felt more and more, we asked Bard to have a go at writing a customer service poem. Here is one of the attempts made in June 2023. Please leave a comment stating which version you prefer, human or AI generated.

A Customer Service Poem

When I call for help, I want to hear a poem, Not just a list of things I'm not allowed to do. I want to feel like I'm talking to a poet, Not a robot that's programmed to say "no".

So please, when you answer my call, Be creative and be bold. Use your words to paint a picture, And make me feel like I'm not alone.

Tell me a story about your day, Or about the time you wrote a poem. Make me laugh, or make me cry, But whatever you do, don't make me feel like I'm just a number.

I'm a person, and I deserve to be treated with respect. So please, give me a customer service poem, And make my day.

I know that you're busy, And that you have a lot of calls to make. But please, take a moment to be poetic, And to give me a poem.

It doesn't have to be long, Or even very good. Just something that shows that you care, And that you're not just a machine.

So please, next time I call, Give me a customer service poem. It will make my day, And it might even make yours.

Customer farming

customer service farm

The farming community knows a thing or two about delivering real results despite unpredictable and changing market conditions. The parallels which exist between agriculture and customer service and marketing are not used enough and yet they could assist in the design and delivery of a clear customer-focused strategy. Chose the best food to grow, select the crops, prepare the soil, plant the seeds, use (or not) fertilizers, provide water when needed, harvest, select, calibrate, taste, store... Wouldn't it be great if our local farmers could engage in workshops to develop these simple concepts and help us adapt them to the way we handle customers. Unfortunately they are far too busy producing tangible results.....the first lesson maybe?

Picture courtesy of http://www.berryscrumptious.co.uk with our thanks

Customer service skills: what kind of animal are YOU?

Customer service skills

Irrespective of our actual customer service skills, many of us have an opinion about how customer service should be and what to do in order to deliver good customer service. However intuitive this may be, one should take a step back and see what we can learn from our recent experience. One of the best learning point is to reflect on how we individually behaved when someone complained about our own level of service. What were our customer service attributes? Did we become defensive? Scared? Opinionated? Aggressive? Rude? Cheeky? Suddenly the customer was not right any more, was he? Wouldn't it be worth writing down our own customer service skills set and reading it again before complaining about others?


Update - March 2013

We have put together a list of what we believe are the essential customer service skills. As always, we are very happy to take your suggestions on new skills which you believe should be added to your page. http://blog.verygoodservice.com/customer-service-skills/

Spinning the customer service wheel of fortune?

Wheel of Fortune Customer Service

Delivering good customer service should not be like spinning the Wheel of Fortune. Companies have to find a way to make sure that customers win at all times. It might require educating clients and make them appreciate the value of all prizes. Above all, they should not leave disappointed and certainly not feel as if they were victims of the luck of the draw. The customer service lottery is definitely one  to avoid...

The future of customer service

The Future of Customer Service

The world is moving so rapidly under the influence of technology that it is very hard to predict the future and in particular have any ideas about what customer service will look like in 100 years time. Two questions arise: what view do we have of customer service practices from 100 years ago? Did the expression "customer service" even exist? And more interestingly how will today's customer service skills withstand the test of time?

customer service and social media: mix the old and the new

Social media customer service

With the exponential growth of social networks, social media and customer service are now closely associated. The challenges are numerous and require significant investment in platforms, people and procedures. Whilst the first interaction with customers is now very public it is little different in practice from the handling of a belligerent customer on the shop floor. "Would you kindly come to my office Sir/Madam?"  aka " Let us deal with this off-line". Nothing new. Companies which are able to mix the well established customer service skills with the new technology-based tools will excel and dominate the new world of social media customer service.


Update November 2013
For those of you who are interested to learn more about social media and customer service, we found an interesting infographic with plenty of statistics. The ground is moving rapidly in social media so if we find additional useful applications for customer service we will post them here. The information is contained in an infographic posted by EConsultancy covering the future of social media and customer service: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8937-the-future-of-customer-service-and-social-media-infographic
An interesting piece of research was also published by social bakers on the best social media customer service by UK brands. The research can be found here: http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1308-the-best-and-worst-uk-brands-in-social-customer-service?

We are also always on the look-out for examples of best use of social media for customer service so do not hesitate to share them with us.