What’s in a name?
Beth Honshell
Mar15th
Topics: Customer Service
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I did some riding one summer from a stable that owned a horse with no name. The group responsible for naming horses never could agree on a name for him — and he was forever called Nameless. Interestingly, he’s the only horse I can remember!

While it might be memorable for a HORSE to remain nameless, I find that not many people respond positively to this same treatment. Using names can:

  • personalize what you’re saying
  • make a more permanent connection
  • give a sense of belonging

Over the years, I’ve tried to practically apply this concept.

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A Recipe for Service Success
Beth Honshell
Jan20th
Topics: Customer Service
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I am a rebellious cook at my best, and a bomb as a baker. I attribute that to my “expressive social style of preferring not to be limited by rules and procedures!” Truthfully, to me a recipe is tantamount to being told what to do, not at the top of my how to have a good day list. However, while baking without following the directions mostly results in inedible yucky stuff, cooking can be successful when I look at lists of standard ingredients but allow myself to customize to my personal preferences for the end result. Case in point: my family’s favorite recipe…some ingredients, no set amounts.recipecrop

Creating good customer service experiences is a lot like cooking.

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Need inspiration? Take a field trip.
Beth Honshell
Dec16th
Topics: Customer Service
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I’ve been on lots of great field trips. Oldsmobile. Kelloggs. Commodities Exchange. CNN. NY Stock Exchange. I’ve been on a dozen University tours looking at receiving docks, cold storage rooms, student centers and computer labs. Field trips open my eyes to the fact that people everywhere use the knowledge and tools they have to provide not just good, but great customer service.

The most inspiring field trip I ever took was years ago to the Wando Plant, part of the Port Authority of Charleston, SC. You read that right, a shipping port full of containers, cranes and ships — and inspired employees.

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Putting feet to your ears
Beth Honshell
Nov11th
Topics: Customer Service
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We’ve used a lot of concepts from Disney University and Ritz-Carlton Hotels. But, to be honest, the best of what we’ve accomplished comes from our customers. Listening to what they say and asking for feedback leads to most of our best practices for better customer service.

The surprising source of this advice? A Vice President on his university campus as he was giving me a tour of their facilities and student gathering areas.

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Lessons of Interfacing with a Giant Corporation
Dan Wooster
Oct20th
Topics: Customer Service
1 Comment »

Recently I had a communication challenge with AT&T. I hope to learn from this experience so that as Worthwhile grows we don’t frustrate our great customers like AT&T frustrated me. I’m fairly confident that no single person that I interfaced with the past 2 months at AT&T intentionally tried to frustrate me. But I think challenges come when “the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing” which seems so often the case in giant companies.

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