Customer Service

Customer Service

Satisfaction Guaranteed – A Virtual Interview with Micki Maynard

Listen to our conversation with locally-rooted-nationally-known author and journalist Micki Maynard talking about her newest book Satisfaction Guaranteed: How Zingerman’s Built A Corner Deli Into A Global Food Community. We dove into Micki’s expertise in business journalism, her perspective on what makes Zingerman’s noteworthy (256 pages-worth!), and the joys and takeaways from writing our story. In addition, we took questions from […]

Customer Service

Building a Culture of Service

I often hear people say, “You can’t really teach someone how be a great service provider; people are either born that way or they’re not.”   Which makes me smile and shake my head. I certainly know that service didn’t come naturally to me—and in fact I cringe when I think about how badly I […]

Customer Service

5 Ways to Set Your Customers Up for Success

Chances are that the way you’re currently serving your customers looks a lot different than it did a year ago. We’ve all had to be agile and flexible as we work to set our businesses and our customers up for success in the face of so many changes and a lot of stress. Although not […]

Customer Service

Getting It Right The First Time

Can you think of the last time you received an order, either one that was delivered or something you picked up yourself, only to get home and realize the order isn’t right? Something is missing, the quantity isn’t correct, a dietary restriction wasn’t adhered to, the list goes on… It’s frustrating, for sure. It ends […]

Customer Service

Want to Deliver Better Customer Service? Put Your Coworkers First!

“We pride ourselves on the level of service we provide to our customers.” Most, if not all, companies will say something along these lines with regard to the value they place on giving great service to their customers. They’ll mention a focus on customer service in job interviews, on their website, or maybe even on […]

Customer Service

5 Ways to Deliver Better Customer Service During a Pandemic

The security of the familiar in our lives has quickly been overpowered by uncertainty and concerns around safety, rendering many of the ways we regularly do business either much more difficult or, sometimes, even prohibited altogether.  Perhaps you experienced a few, if not all of these shifts: adapting work schedules to accommodate new needs at […]

Customer Service

The Leader’s Role in Creating a Culture of Great Service

At Zingerman’s we have what we call a Culture Sandwich – the recipe we use to create the organizational culture we want. Being as committed as we are to Service, we’ve been particularly cognizant of the steps in the Culture Recipe when it comes to creating a culture of Great Service here at Zingerman’s. Of […]

Customer Service

The Power of Language

In the book, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, Douglas Adams says : “Words used carelessly, as if they did not matter in any serious way, often allowed otherwise well-guarded truths to seep through.” Neither as eloquent, not as secretive as Douglas Adams, we nevertheless whole heartedly agree with him about the power of […]

Customer Service

The Art of Giving Great Customer Service

We could talk to you about service for days! We believe that customer service is one of the most defining skills of an organization.  Great service goes a long way in making and retaining customers. Teaching staff how to navigate customer service interactions creates a more consistent experience. Clear expectations can empower your staff to deliver service in more genuine and […]

Customer Service

Zingerman’s 5 Steps to Effectively Handling a Customer Complaint

We don’t know too many people who love to handle customer complaints. When we meet those people, we try to hire them! For the rest of us, who find handling customer complaints stressful, a little help goes a long way. At Zingerman’s, that help comes in the form of a “recipe” for effectively handling customer […]

Customer Service

Quick Customer Service Wins!

We have a “recipe” for creating an organizational culture. In our 2-day seminar, The Art of Giving Great Service, we apply that recipe to Customer Service and go into great depth on how to create a culture of great customer service in your organization. But we know that sometimes you just need and want quick […]