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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.

Service so sweet

My daughter turned nine over the weekend. To celebrate, I ordered an ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. Although I had requested the...

The voice of the customer

Over the weekend, my wife and I drove to Southlands mall in Aurora, Colorado to do a little shopping. Southlands is an outdoor mall...

Take charge of customer perception

I was recently trawling TripAdvisor reviews for a client in the Caribbean when I came across a 3-star (out of a possible 5 stars)...

Does your employees’ language help maintain the magic?

While on vacation with my family last week in Anaheim, California, I had two encounters with frontline employees that illustrated the importance of language...

“May I call you Richard?”

This is the sixth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

As lines form, be assertive

This is the fifth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

Screening for initiative

This is the fourth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

Aristotle was right

This is the third post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

Inspiring performance in a unionized environment

This is the second post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

“Can I speak with your supervisor?”

This is the first post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the...

Crowd control

Sometimes, through no fault of your own, you find yourself overwhelmed by demanding customers who may feel entitled to immediate attention. Maybe a large...

Exceptions create opportunities to provide exceptional customer service

Have you ever noticed the tendency of frontline employees to become defensive—even surly—when you bring a problem or misunderstanding to their attention? Unless your business...

“Discerning” customers are not “difficult”

From time to time, seminar participants ask me, "What's the best way to deal with difficult customers?" My standard answer is: "They're only difficult if...

Balancing enforcement and accommodation

Last week, I attended the U.S. Open in New York. While at Louis Armstrong Stadium, I encountered two stadium attendants: one who understood that...

“But I do everything I’m supposed to do.”

Last year I met with Zane, a manager of a fast-casual restaurant. During our conversation, he shared some of the recurring challenges he faces...

The problem with empathy

Earlier this year, I read a book by a colleague of mine, Jeff Toister, titled Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer...

Exceptional customer service is customer-focused

This post is the seventh and final in a series that has fully explored the definition of customer service offered in an earlier post. Too...

Exceptional customer service requires extra effort

This post is the sixth in a series that will fully explore the definition of customer service offered in an earlier post. Too often, customer...

Exceptional customer service requires desire

This post is the fifth in a series that will fully explore the definition of customer service offered in an earlier post. Too often, customer...

Exceptional customer service is genuine

This post is the fourth in a series that will fully explore the definition of customer service offered in an earlier post. Too often, customer...

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