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Jeff Mowatt Articles

Written by: Jeff Mowatt

Stop Being so Nice! - Customer service tips when people are stressed - Click To Read Article
What happens when your customers are tired, rushed, or angry? When that’s the case, employee perkiness is likely to be perceived as annoying. That’s why I encourage employees to go beyond friendliness to create trust. Here’s how…

How to Hire Customer Service Stars - Click To Read Article
What are some tips to ensure I’ll hire the best customer service people?” That was the question the golf course owner asked me when she was about to begin hiring for another season. I don’t profess to be an expert in running a golf course, but when I speak at conferences about customer service, I’ll occasionally also facilitate an exchange of best practices among industry leaders. Here’s a compilation of their top tips, which apply to any industry on how to hire customer service stars.

Watch your Language - the truth about language, diversity, and customer service - Click To Read Article
If you employ workers whose first language isn’t English, you may have come to regard these individuals as your organization’s greatest resource. They are hard working, appreciative, and utterly reliable. Unfortunately, these same workers may also be your organization’s greatest vulnerability. Employees whose English isn’t proficient may be unintentionally straining relationships with your customers. Simply put, if customers can’t easily understand your employees, they will take their business elsewhere; to a place where they won’t have to work so hard to spend their money. That’s why when organizations bring me in to do customer service training seminars for their team members, we occasionally need to address some of the language issues. Feel free to pass these tips to your team members …

How to Compete with Discounters - Click To Read Article
If you manage a small to medium-sized business, chances are you encounter pricing pressures from some version of a large discounter. Large competitors may have more money to spend to attract new customers, more buying-power to undercut your prices, and more resources to outlast you in a price war. If they’re from overseas, they may also have cheaper labour. That’s why when chambers of commerce and associations bring me in to speak to business owners on competing with price discounters, my advice: “Don’t be better – be different.” In other words, don’t even try to beat their prices. Instead, be different in these three areas…

Million Dollar Conversations - How to grow your business with your best customers - Click To Read Article
A question I sometimes ask managers and salespeople when I speak at conferences is, “How much business do you think you may be leaving on the table with your existing customers?” Most lament that there’s lots of room for growth in gaining more of their customers’ wallet share. I believe that most companies – even small businesses - have at least a million dollars worth of extra potential revenues sitting in their filing cabinets. The problem is employees aren’t effective enough at cross-selling and cross-referencing their other products and services. Let’s talk about how to get more of this business out of your filing cabinet and into your bank account.

Your Irresistible Offer - Proposals that convert prospects into buyers - Click To Read Article
As a customer, you’ve no doubt received scads of sales pitches from companies trying to sell you something; the vast majority of which you ignore, tune-out, or reject outright. When the tables are turned, and you are the one making the proposal, there are three key elements that will make your offer more compelling. These three components make-up what’s known as your Unique Selling Proposition or “USP”. When I speak at conferences and for sales and service teams, this is one of the simple tips I share for converting prospects into buyers. Whether you’re making your proposal in person, through a brochure, or on your website, you’ll have more impact by including these three elements…

30 Seconds to Significant Sales - How to upsell without turning off your customer - Click To Read Article
Business owners and managers often feel pressured by increasing global competition. Ironically, they are missing massive amounts of potential revenues in their own backyards. By training employees on ethical, effective ways to 'up-sell,' managers can generate quantum increases in profits without price-cutting or advertising. The bonus is that these techniques are easy and take less than 30 seconds to apply.

The Myth of Treating People Fairly and Equally - Click To Read Article
I'll just come right-out and say it. I believe that treating customers fairly and equally is a mistake. It's unprofitable. It belittles customers and employees. And it's unethical. There, I've said it...

Managing Multiple Priorities - How to juggle customers, projects, and admin – and still have a life - Click To Read Article
It may be a popular advertising slogan - our customers are our number one priority. As a manager however, buying into that strategy will actually reduce your effectiveness and damage your business. I learned this the hard way...

Phrases that Pay - Simple Statements that Increase your Perceived Value - Click To Read Article
The conventional wisdom about providing great service is that employees must have an attitude that bubbles with enthusiasm. But in the real world of upset customers, long hours, and stress, employee enthusiasm occasionally fizzles. "Phrases that Pay" reveals several ways for employees to sound more helpful and professional even when they're not having a zipity-do-dah day.

When 60 Minutes Calls - How to handle the media during a customer service crisis - Click To Read Article
There are times when being a manager can make you a media target. The larger your organization, the greater the odds of something embarrassing happening that ends up for the world to see on YouTube. Over and over. It could be a spill that causes environmental damage, a defective product that needs recalling, or an employee videotaped sleeping-on-the-job. If you are that manager being asked by a reporter to comment, here are a few tips to ensure that your company’s brand and your personal reputation withstand the barrage.

Selling Yourself Short? How to stand-out without lowering your price - Click To Read Article
Is what you do for a living perceived by potential customers as being a mere commodity; more or less the same as others in your profession? When that happens, customers revert to the easiest differentiator – price. The outlook gets worse as you realize that somewhere in the global economy there is likely someone offering similar products or services for a cheaper price. And with the internet it’s easier for your customers to find them. What’s most frustrating is when you know your products and services are indeed different, but customers don’t seem to get that and put you in the same category as everyone else.

Management Lessons from a Car Wash Guy - Click To Read Article
If you’re serious about strengthening customer loyalty, consider this management lesson I learned from an odd source - a car wash attendant. It’s an easy customer service concept that may change the course of your business.

Making Attitude Adjustments - Improving customers service behaviors other than replacing people - Click To Read Article
Not long ago, if a customer service employee fouled-up, he or she was warned, then if improvements didn't happen, was shown the door. In today's workplace however, where it's so difficult just maintaining staffing levels, dismissal doesn't really fix the problem - it just changes the problem. That means it's more important than ever for managers to be able to confront unacceptable employee behaviors without causing the person to simply walk out and get a job elsewhere. Next time one of your frontline employees needs an attitude adjustment, consider these tips...

Test your Telephone Effectiveness - Find out if your phone practices are winning or losing customers - Click To Read Article
Test your telephone know-how with this 5 question multiple-choice quiz to identify your telephone effectiveness, and that of your co-workers. Discover the 'correct' answers with strategies for enhancing telephone greetings, using the hold feature, juggling a caller and in-person visitor, and more.

Getting your Foot in the Door - 7 steps to successful cold-calling - Click To Read Article
The most common concern managers express about their salespeople is that they're not doing enough cold-calling. The reason can often be traced to the fact that salespeople are not properly trained on the how-to's of cold-calling. The result is they use ineffective approaches and frequently get slapped with rejection. So, instead of cold-calling, sales people occupy their time with 'safer' activities like visiting with current customers and order taking. With the huge potential for boosting market share sales through cold-calling, salespeople need these simple step-by-step techniques to dramatically enhance their success ratio.

Becoming The Employer of Choice - How to boost staff loyalty - without buying it - Click To Read Article
With regional labour shortages intensifying, some managers are struggling to keep even mediocre employees. Unfortunately, far too many managers figure the only way to gain staff loyalty is to buy it. That’s a myth – and it’s an excuse that you shouldn’t accept of yourself or other managers. Of course money is important – but there is another way to gain employee loyalty that doesn’t cost a thing...

What Boomer Women Want - New Rules for Retailing to these Harried Customers - Click To Read Article
When it comes to retailing, it's easy to get distracted by the hype about selling to the upcoming Millennials (twenty somethings) or Gen Xers (thirty somethings). Fine if your products are meant for these groups, but if your target-market is Baby-Boomer women, you'll need to operate quite differently from the current practices of most retailers...

Managing Multiple Customers - 5 tips for juggling customers, callers, and walk-ins - Click To Read Article
You know the scenario... your workday is running smoothly and manageably when suddenly you find yourself dealing with one customer in front of you, another on the phone, while a third arrives with just a quick question. When organizations bring me to conduct customer service seminars, I find this is one of the most frequent challenges frontline employees ask me to address. While there are no absolute rules for juggling customers (you need to adapt to your workplace's business realities) here are 5 tips that we find work well for our clients in reducing stress and boosting customer loyalty.

Yes, I Mind Waiting - 10 ways to reduce lineup stress for staff and customers - Click To Read Article
Most managers' idea of dealing with a sudden lineup of customers is to simply have the staff work harder and faster. The problem is that employees soon get tired and begin making errors -- which takes more time to fix later-on. Worse, employees under stress can become irritable with customers -- which destroys repeat business. "Yes, I Mind Waiting" reveals 10 ways to manage lineups without making the staff work at full speed.

When Talking to Strangers - Click To Read Article
Discover three reasons potential customers may distrust you or your employees.

When the Cat’s Away - Click To Read Article
Getting better front-line decisions - without you

When you’re the Top Dog - Three keys to leading like a professional - Click To Read Article
Judging by the way we elect some of our political leaders, you'd think that the three most important qualities for leadership are: popularity, an outgoing personality, and loyalty to your supporters. Coincidentally, these just happen to be three characteristics that are often used to describe the average family dog. Hence, there's much more to effective leadership than what's often perceived on the surface.

The Shocking Truth about your Image - Four bizarre reasons customers may not like you - Click To Read Article
We are surrounded by a popular culture that embraces freedom of expression. Ironically, in the business world, freedom of expression is the last thing customers want when dealing with front line employees. The result is employees are inadvertently offending customers and turning away business without realizing what they're doing wrong. "The Shocking Truth about your Image" reveals four of the most common blunders and what to do to prevent them.

The Humility Advantage - Click To Read Article
Discover how less ego create more sales

Tea and the Secrets of Staff Retention - Click To Read Article
Staff retention a concern? That’s particularly a challenge for frontline jobs that are considered to be boring. Today’s employees do indeed want something more – and it isn’t just money. According to the landmark studies in employee motivation spearheaded by Dr. Kenneth Kovach at George Mason University, the number one motivator for employees is interesting work. The real trick is how an employer makes a boring job more interesting. The secret lies in the tea ceremony…

Telus’ Leadership Lesson in Brand Mismanagement - Click To Read Article
Telus, Canada’s second largest phone company, decided to be the first wireless provider to offer to sell downloads of pornographic images and videos. I’ll leave it to others to debate the morality of pornography on the Internet. The issue I want to tackle is how ‘leadership’ in such a large company decided this was a good business decision…

Speed Kills - The service standard that does more harm than good - Click To Read Article
As a business owner or manager, you have probably heard management experts refer to the importance of service standards for frontline employees. The idea is that managers should give customer-contact people a performance goal or service standard by which they can be measured and rewarded. Sounds good in theory. Unfortunately, over my years as a consultant and business advisor, and as a customer myself, I find that some service standards are not only ineffective, they are actually counterproductive. I wonder if this may be the case in your organization...

Staffing Shortages? Maybe You’re the Problem - Click To Read Article
Demographers are predicting that staffing shortages are only going to worsen in the coming years. Too many managers mistakenly assume the only way to keep people is to bite the bullet and pay more in salaries, benefits and perks. Unfortunately, those managers are often 'fixing' the wrong problem. Marcus Buckingham of the Gallop organization reported that the number one reason employees quit was their personal feelings about their immediate supervisor. Ask yourself if it's time your company took measures to fix the real problem when it comes to staff turnover - managers and supervisors are not equipped with the necessary skills to make their team members feel valued...

Risky Business - How repeat customers may jeopardize your future - Click To Read Article
When I speak at conferences and corporate meetings about customer service I often hear managers reminding their team members about the importance of repeat business. The assumption is that if customers keep spending their money with you, they must like you. But is that really true? Many business owners and managers are unaware of the harsh reality that some folks who spend their money with your organization may not enjoy doing business with you at all. The consequences of this can be staggering. Consider the example of my local video store...

Motivating your Sales Team - Making more sales with fewer calls - Click To Read Article
As a manager or sales professional interested in boosting revenues, you've no doubt heard the expression, 'selling is a numbers game'. The idea is that the more potential customers you contact, the more likely you are to make sales. Makes sense in theory but in the real world this belief often reduces revenues. Here's why...

Managing Multiple Customers - Click To Read Article
You know the scenario… your workday is running smoothly and manageably when suddenly you find yourself dealing with one customer in front of you, another on the phone, while a third arrives with just a quick question. When organizations bring me to conduct customer service seminars, I find this is one of the most frequent challenges frontline employees ask me to address. While there are no absolute rules for juggling customers (you need to adapt to your workplace’s business realities) here are 5 tips that we find work well for our clients in reducing stress and boosting customer loyalty.

Making Connections - How to create rapport with anyone in under 30 seconds - Click To Read Article
Society is becoming increasingly diverse and global. That means that we are communicating more frequently with people who are different -- in their looks, dress, manner of speech, and even mood. "Making Connections" reveals a fast and easy way to establish rapport with others despite the differences.

Keeping Customers when Things Go Wrong - Five keys to turning upset customers into fans - Click To Read Article
When attempting to resolve customer complaints, most business owners and managers believe the myth that money back guarantees and/or exchange policies will fix the problem. In reality, money back guarantees and exchanges may fix the problem, but they do nothing to fix the relationship. Policies don't fix relationships -- people do. To create true customer loyalty then, front-line employees need to be equipped with tools for repairing both the problem and the relationship.

How to Work Less and Get More Done - Click To Read Article
In the days before email, the most pervasive interruption for the average manager was a ringing phone. Now that email is everywhere, including our PDAs, managers receive literally dozens if not hundreds of messages/interruptions/distractions every day. The problem gets worse as employees who are sending email messages within a company can easily send copies, no matter how trivial, to everyone else - including to other managers. The end result is that with the advent of email it's easy for a manager to spend an entire day reacting to other people's priorities. That's why I when it comes to a manager's productivity, email is the silent killer. The good news is some managers have learned to get past the clutter...

How not to Plan your Company’s Future - 5 common mistakes when identifying customer needs - Click To Read Article
When managers plan their business strategies, common sense dictates that these game-plans should be in line with customer needs. The first step in planning is therefore to identify customer preferences. Unfortunately, most conventional approaches to determining customer needs are flawed. Here are five of the most common methods used to gather customer opinions along with their drawbacks. Keep these often-made mistakes in mind when planning your business strategy...

Grand Intentions to Greater Sales - Click To Read Article
You’ve probably noticed that today’s consumer is better educated, streetwise, and, frankly, more cynical about other people’s motives than ever before. Consumers seem to be taking the advice that parents give their children: “Come straight home, and don’t talk to strangers!” Beyond telling employees to be friendly with customers, managers need to equip their staff with tools for establishing trust. Expressing your Grand Intention is an easy way to break through the barriers.

For Openers - Five greetings that boost sales to walk-in visitors - Click To Read Article
When it comes to first impressions, customers are reluctant to give a second chance to companies whose employees turn them off the first time. Unfortunately, front line employees often greet customers in a way that ruins the first impression, reduces sales, and eliminates repeat business. "For Openers" gives 5 greetings that are proven to boost business.

Creating a Customer Feeding Frenzy - 4 tools that make you simply irresistible - Click To Read Article
Customers hate to be sold to, but they love to buy. The problem is that most customer-contact employees focus their attention on trying to sell, when instead they should be stimulating the customer's natural urge to buy. "Creating a Customer Feeding Frenzy" provides four ethical ways to stimulate emotional buying behavior.

Crucial Questions to Superior Sales - Click To Read Article
When your customers aren’t sure which of your products or services they should buy, consider this handy tool that not only helps create clarity, but also positions you as a trusted advisor. I’m referring to a time-test sales tool known as SWOT. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. When I do customer service and sales seminars and speeches for groups, I often hear this is one of the most useful tools people learn. Here’s how to ask SWOT questions...

Chili and Your Intuition - 8 ingredients for making better strategic decisions - Click To Read Article
As a business owner or manager, what you ultimately rely on most when deciding your company’s future, is your intuition. The challenge with so many stakeholders relying on you to make the ‘right’ decision, is ensuring that your instincts are reliable. Effective leaders hone their intuition the way a chef cooks a pot of chili. Like chili, intuition needs to include the right ingredients and then be allowed to simmer a while. Here are eight ingredients for you to stew on...

Buying Trends – the Shift to Hassle-Free - Click To Read Article
You may have noticed a shift in recent years in what it takes to satisfy customers. Customers are now making buying decisions less on the quality of an organization’s products and services, and more on the quality of the buying experience itself. If you’re a business owner or manager, this trend offers both risk and opportunity. To ensure that your organization profits from this shift in customer loyalty, consider a recent history of buying behaviors…

Boosting your Business in a Slow Economy - Click To Read Article
Question: what are two words that will become increasingly important to customers over the next decade? The answer, according to marketing guru Frank Luntz, is “hassle free”. Customers are fed up with being forced to jump through hoops. Yet bizarrely, even in a slow economy, companies are actually becoming more difficult for customers to do business with - before, during and after purchases. To see if your organization is creating these unnecessary hassles for your customers, take this mini-quiz. Then consider using the accompanying tips I talk about my customer service seminars and speeches.

Are your People Problems really the issue? Take this mini-quiz - Click To Read Article
Take this mini-quiz to find out if your problems involving attitudes and teamwork are actually just symptoms of flawed infrastructures.

Are you too Busy to be Productive? Why customers shouldn’t be your first priority - Click To Read Article
Time is a leader's most precious resource. When used wisely, a leader's time will serve to increase profits, boost morale, and serve the greater interests of society. However, as managers face more interruptions, shorter time frames, and increasingly demanding customers, what's needed are some guidelines on how to optimize your time.

7 Keys to Creating a Customer Focused Culture - Click To Read Article
* Describes the problem of de-motivated employees and how mission statements - that were touted as being the great saviors of workplace culture - have fallen short. * Outlines a new management concept called CAST Meetings. The idea was developed by Jeff Mowatt after 10 years of working with organizations that face this challenge. * Describes how, within the first year of using this method, one organization improved employee morale noticeably, increased worker productivity by 34% and reduced customer complaints by 400%.

10 Ways to Break it to them Gently - Diplomacy tips that keep customers - Click To Read Article
The task of giving bad news goes with almost every job. Employees may have to inform their customers of a price increase, of a product being out-of stock, or that their children aren't allowed to use the company's coat racks for rappelling practice. Employees facing these scenarios worry that the customer could become defensive, offended, or worst of all -- simply take their business elsewhere. That's a scenario where everyone loses. Employees get stressed, absenteeism and turnover increases, and customer retention plummets. Fortunately, there is hope.





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