Customer Service Articles

These customer service articles are for leaders whose teams serve customers every day, whether that's at a counter, on the phone or online. Each one is a short read built around something you can use with your team this week.

The articles in this collection are grouped by subject. Set the Standard helps you decide what great service looks like for your team, Build a Service Team covers hiring and coaching the people who deliver it, and Keep Customers covers handling problems and measuring how many customers stay.

There's no set order. A manager whose team just had a rough week with a difficult customer might start with Dealing With Angry Customers, while one who wants to know whether service is improving will get more from Customer Retention Formula and Tracking Customer Service.

If you want service expectations written into each person's job, the free Role Clarity Template in the Leading People tools gives you a place to put them, and when someone on your team handles a customer well, Recognition Ecards make a quick thank-you easy to send.

Jump To: Set the Standard | Build a Service Team | Keep Customers | Example | FAQ

Set the Standard

Great service starts with a shared picture of what it looks like, and these three articles help your team build one. Start with Customer Service Definition, then let the team turn that definition into a slogan they'll use every day.

Customer Service Definition

Two sample definitions, why every customer interaction is a hit or a miss, and how to write a definition your customers would agree with.

Customer Service Slogans

Five steps for your team to write its own service slogan, with guidelines like keeping it under ten words and examples from companies such as Ford and Nike.

Customer Service Tips

Eleven tips for the leader, from hiring and training to mystery shops and surveys, plus ten habits to coach your team on with every customer.

Build a Service Team

These three articles cover the people who deliver the service, from spotting strong service skills on a resume to giving your team the authority to fix a problem and checking what they know.

Customer Service Resumes

The clues on a resume that point to strong service skills, and what to look for beyond the resume before you hire for a customer-facing role.

Taking Ownership in Customer Service

How to give your people the authority to solve a customer's problem, with four examples, like walking a customer to the product they asked about.

Customer Service Quiz and Survey

Question categories for a quiz that checks your team's service knowledge, and an eight-question survey you can send to customers.

Keep Customers

Every business loses customers now and then. The following articles help you win back customers who are upset, stay in touch with the rest and measure how many stay with you from one quarter to the next.

Dealing With Angry Customers

Three steps for handling an upset customer. Listen without arguing, take ownership of the fix and follow up about a week later.

Customer Contact Plan

Plan every point where customers meet your business, from the front door to your website, so each contact gives the customer something before you ask for anything.

Customer Loyalty and Retention Strategy

Why employee retention and customer retention tend to move together, and what can happen to accounts when a well-liked salesperson leaves.

Customer Retention Formula

How to work out your customer retention rate step by step, plus the S.E.R.V. formula and three repeat-purchase measures.

Tracking Customer Service

The measures worth reviewing regularly, from customer attrition and complaints to wait time and Net Promoter Score.

How One Manager Used These Articles

MARCUS'S QUARTERLY RETENTION CHECK

Marcus runs the six-person service desk at a car dealership. In July his team logged 18 complaints, and several came from customers who'd been told "that's not my department." He walked the team through the three steps in Dealing With Angry Customers and asked each advisor to make a follow-up call about a week after every complaint was resolved.

To see whether it made a difference, he used the formula in Customer Retention Formula. The dealership started the quarter with 400 service customers, added 50 new ones and ended with 410. That's 410 − 50 = 360 customers kept, and 360 ÷ 400 = 90%. The next quarter started with 410, added 45 and ended with 425, so 425 − 45 = 380 kept and 380 ÷ 410 = 93%.

In September the desk logged 7 complaints, and every one got a follow-up call.

Marcus used one article to change how his team handled complaints and another to measure the result. Think about your own customer service challenges and select an article that can provide some guidance for you and your team.

More for Leaders

The articles pair well with the free tools on this site, which are organized into three phases of leadership:

Leading Self tools for your own goals, habits and development.
Leading People tools for coaching, feedback and one-on-ones.
Leading Teams tools for planning, priorities and team meetings.

Customer Service Articles FAQ

The questions below address what leaders most commonly ask about these customer service articles.

Click on the (+) sign below to expand each question. Click the (-) sign to collapse it again.

What are customer service articles?

They're short articles for leaders whose teams serve customers. Each one covers a single subject, like handling an angry customer or tracking service results, and gives you something you can use with your team the same week.

What is the definition of customer service?

Customer service is every encounter between a customer and a business that leaves the customer with a positive or negative impression. Customer Service Definition includes a second sample definition and shows how to write one for your own team.

How do you deal with an angry customer?

Listen without interrupting or arguing, take ownership of getting the issue fixed and follow up about a week after it's resolved. Dealing With Angry Customers walks through all three steps, including the one sentence to say first.

How do you calculate customer retention rate?

Subtract the new customers you added during the period from the number you had at the end, then divide by the number you had at the start. If you started with 400, added 50 and ended with 410, that's 360 divided by 400, or 90%.

What makes a good customer service slogan?

It's short, ideally under ten words, it's easy to remember and your team writes it together so they believe in it. Customer Service Slogans has five steps for writing one and examples from well-known companies.