No matter how loud their roar, even the most hard to tame customers can be transformed into fans for life as demonstrated in this amazing video from Columbia... Who loves you this much?

If you're like me, you love quotes.  They are a great and easy way to jazz up your website, newsletters, brochures and speeches.  The 16 quotes that follow are from the blog Customer Service Point and can be used to inspire and motivate during staff orientations and trainings.  Post them where staff and volunteers can see them each and every day.  Choose the one that you love the most and, by using PowerPoint, turn it into a screen saver for your registration desk computers.  Click on this link to find out how...  Enjoy!

There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.
ROGER STAUBACH

Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it.
It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
PETER DRUCKER

If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will.
UNKNOWN

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect.
They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
DONALD PORTER

The quality of our work depends on the quality of our people.
UNKNOWN

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing
is what we do for others.
LEWIS CAROL

The goal as a company is to have customer service that is
not just the best, but legendary.
SAM WALTON

The longer you wait, the harder it is to produce
outstanding customer service.
WILLIAM H. DAVIDOW

Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game.
Service wins the game.
TONY ALESSANDRA

Our greatest asset is the customer! Treat each customer as if they are the only one!
LAURICE LEITAO

People expect good service but few are willing to give it.
ROBERT GATELY

Well done is better than well said.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Here is a simple but powerful rule - always give people
more than what they expect to get.
NELSON BOSWELL

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.
ALICE MACDOUGALL

You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.
JERRY FRITZ

Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.
KATE ZABRISKIE

Last week MSNBC's homepage featured a series of articles on customer service including "The Customer Service Hall of Shame."  The website also featured articles about companies which consistently put customers first and offered solid suggestions for improving service at your organization.

As camps, parks, libraries and recreation agencies get ready for their busy summer season, it's critical to include basic customer service skills during each and every staff orientation and training event.  Every staff member and volunteer who has contact with your customers has the power to attract (or repel) future visits.  Even those working behind the scenes impact the customer experience by quickly handling registrations, paperwork and requests for information.

Park and facility maintenance workers are often approached by customers for directions or information.  Help these important members of your team to understand that their job description might say "grounds-keeper," "gardener" or "maintenance worker;" but they're real job is to insure a safe and enjoyable customer service experience.  Ban the words, "It's not my department." from your department's list of acceptable customer responses.  Help customers easily identify staff with shirts, buttons or other on-person promotions that literally say, "Ask me! I'm here to help," "Follow me to the Fun," or simply the word, "PLAY!"

When it comes to handling customer complaints or suggestions teach the H.E.R.O.S method...
Hear Everything.  Reiterate. Offer Solutions.  Check out my complete H.E.R.O.S formula in this article.  Or better yet, consider booking a Customer Service Workshop to energize and prepare staff for a super season.  While it may be too late for Summer 2007, it's never to early to book next year's summer staff training.

Click on comments below to share your very worst (or very best) customer service story.

While killing time -- 5 hours to be inexact -- in the Houston Airport, I caught up on one of my favorite websites and blogs, written by marketing guru and author, Seth Godin, posted this "you can't make this stuff up" photo illustrating how blatant Customer Disservice has become in our society.  As a marketing and customer service speaker I jokingly remind my audiences that customer service, as a whole is pretty darn mediocre -- at best.  As consumers, most of our expectations are pretty darn low.  With that customer service bar set so low, almost anyone with pre-school manners and the ability to eek out a smile once in a while should be able to reach or surpass expectations. 

The good news is, that I, and my fellow customer service trainers, are busier than ever.  I'm very proud to say that my clients -- who are almost exclusively public and youth serving agencies -- really care about their customers.  As a whole these agencies are passionate about the benefits they deliver to their customers -- from tiny toddler to aging senior citizen.  So Seth, I'm proud to join you on this mission to help consumers, everywhere, experience a wee bit of courtesy as we spend, shop and buy.