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A few years ago, I presented a program on customer loyalty for more than 165 employees who work at community banks surrounding the Madison, Wisconsin area. Kim Kahl, who is the training coordinator for State Bank of Cross Plains, wanted to encourage individuals from the various banks to meet and network with new people rather than sitting with their co-workers. On each nametag, she wrote a letter of the alphabet that corresponded with a table. On each table, she displayed a customer service tip that started with that letter. For example, my nametag had the letter “J” on it so I was seated at the “jargon” table.

I loved her idea and the great customer service tips her team came up with for each letter of the alphabet. She was kind enough to let me share them with you. Her table tent displays were a terrific way to reinforce the customer service principles I taught in my program.

Here is the customer service alphabet developed by Kim and her team:

• A  Attitude
• B  Body language
• C  Courteous
• D  Dedicated
• E  Eye contact
• F  Friendly
• G  Greet your customer
• H  Handshake
• I  Introduce yourself
• J  (Avoid) Jargon when communicating with customers
• K  (Customer service is) Key
• L  Listen
• M  Make their day!
• N  (Identify) Needs
• O  Opportunities
• P  Product knowledge
• Q  Questions: Asking the ‘right’ questions
• R  (Customer) Retention
• S  Service with a Smile!
• T  Thanks for your business!
• U  Upbeat
• V  Vow to deliver quality service
• W What else can I help you with today?
• X  X-selling (cross-selling)
• Y  You can make a difference!
• Z  Zero in on customer needs

As you can clearly see, none of these tips are difficult. Building customer loyalty truly is as simple as practicing our ABC‘s, but it requires a commitment by every employee in the organization to take ownership of service.