Steve Curtin
Steve Curtin
Steve Curtin is the author of Delight Your Customers: 7 Simple Ways to Raise Your Customer Service from Ordinary to Extraordinary. He wrote the book to address the following observation: While employees consistently execute mandatory job functions for which they are paid, they inconsistently demonstrate voluntary customer service behaviors for which there is little or no additional cost to their employers. After a 20-year career with Marriott International, Steve now devotes his time to speaking, consulting, and writing on the topic of extraordinary customer service.
Always prepare the soil before planting seeds
A colleague recently asked for my opinion regarding the skills that customer service representatives (CSRs) need the most help with. I qualified my response...
Customer service is the new selling
The days of the boorish salesman portrayed in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross – where the mantra “Coffee’s for closers” was used to...
More Proof That Perception Matters
I recently developed a learning activity for a client who wanted his team of 60 commercial property managers to recognize the influence that biases,...
The lost art of cosseting
Last month I presented three breakout sessions at a client’s annual leadership meeting near Chicago. The meeting was held at the Loews Chicago O’Hare...
How to win customers in 2016
With the New Year upon us, I was asked by a blogger to comment on trends that will influence customer experience in 2016. My...
Esprit de corps
The French term “esprit de corps” means a feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by members of a particular group. When I...
Celebrate customers more frequently and less formally
It’s Customer Service Week (Oct. 5-9) and, since I work in the field, I suppose I should contribute to the conversation this week. Let...
You’re not entitled to a 10
Earlier this week, I hired a local handyman service to knock out my “honey-do” list so that I was assured a weekend of uninterrupted...
Approachable customer service
I recently completed a consulting project for a network of county libraries. One of our objectives was to identify ways to incorporate exceptional customer...
Excellence doesn’t require permission
Whenever I go on record saying, “Most employees don’t choose to deliver poor customer service; they just don’t choose to deliver exceptional customer service”...
Don’t break your brand promise
Many companies have brand promises that look good in ads, and emblazoned on websites, banners and buttons, but often these promises have little credibility...
Customer experience Q&A
The following post contains a recent interview by Erica Marois of ICMI: 1. In your book you mention that 80% of companies claim to provide...
Serving is selling
I recently struck up a conversation with my insurance agent, Kevin, about the link between customer service and sales. We both agreed that the...
A line in the sand
In 168 BC the Greek ruler, Antiochus led an attack on Egypt. Before reaching Alexandria, his path was blocked by a Roman envoy who...
Being capable is not enough
I was recently asked, “What is the biggest customer service challenge facing companies today?” My response was that it’s the same challenge companies faced...
A rock-solid approach to being memorable
In the book Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the authors propose Six Principles of Sticky Ideas that contribute to a...
What’s in a name?
Last month I worked with a multinational retailer whose internal customer satisfaction survey analysis revealed some interesting findings: when they can recall an employee...
Customer feedback: a gift that keeps on giving
A study by Maritz Research and Evolve24 revealed that of 1,298 Twitter complaints, only 29 percent were replied to by the companies in question....
Chance encounters by design
I recently worked for a multinational retailer whose internal customer satisfaction survey analysis revealed some interesting findings: When they encounter an employee on the...
The problem with perfection
Customer satisfaction surveys are carefully constructed by instructional designers who labor over details such as the exact wording, number, and sequence of questions, and...