Below you will find a wealth of customer service articles written by Communico consultants and facilitators offering advice and tips for leading your company to higher levels of service. To receive more articles like this, sign up for our bi-monthly newsletter, MAGIC Service.

Building and Sustaining a Service Culture

• Building Customer Loyalty in Times of Restraint
• Train Your Customer Service Reps to Create MAGIC-al Customer Service Experiences
• Concierge Level Service - It's Not Just for Hotels Anymore
• Your Workplace is a Human Community: The Link between Peter Drucker and MAGIC
• Can Everyone at Your Organization Define “Good Customer Service?”
• The Essence of Timeless Exceptional Service
• An Exercise For Improving Your Work Environment
• Holding Others Accountable is SIMPLE
• Fast-Track Teambuilding for New Associates 
• What Makes a Manager MAGIC? An Interview with a MAGIC Manager/Coach and Her Associates 
• Five Pillars of Sustaining Exceptional Service

Change Management

• Four Lessons in Leading the "People Side" of Change
• Organizational Change and Personal Identity: Lessons from Uncle Ray
• Make the Transition, Succeed with Change

Customer Service, Communication and Coaching Skills

• Gobbledygook Be Gone; Now is the Time for Plain Talk
• Getting to the Catchpoint: Paving the Way to a Happy Ending for All
• Six Customer Service Lessons from...a Contractor?
• Six Strategies for Dealing with Difficult People
• It's All About Me: A Lesson in Customer-Focused Communication
• Initiating Sensitive Feedback Conversations
• Think You're Likeable? Take The Test To Know For Sure
• Got Patience? You'll Get Better Service if You Do
• Communicating with Emotional Intelligence: It Works Like MAGIC
• Earthy Matters
• Coaching According to Alex
• Wow Your Customers with Extreme  Service: Four Secrets to Success
• Got Tough IT Complaints? Get Results with a Proven Two-Pronged Approach

Motivation and Empowerment

• Lack of Sight Leads to Clear Vision
• How Happy Are You These Days?
• Can You Go 21 Days Without Complaining? Six Strategies to Help You Succeed
• A Fresh Look at R and R...It's Not What You Think
• Expressing Thanks and Appreciation: It's Not Just for Thanksgiving Anymore
• 20 Ways to Reduce Stress and Get Fit as You Work...in Three Minutes a Day
• A Daily Dose of Inspiration: A Story that Will Boost Your Spirits Throughout the Year
• Coping Strategies for Turbulent Times
• Recognize Associates with a Fun and Memorable Activity
• Are You Ready to Make a 100 Day Commitment?
• Three Ways to Fill Your Heart and Soul this Season
• It's Time to Release Your Inner Hero
• Do You Have More Stress than in the Past? Learn to De-Stress!
• Motivating People in Call Centers
• New Ways to Motivate Your Staff
• Show Appreciation During Customer Service Week - and Every Day of Every Week
• Inspiring Participants to "Catch the Fire"

Client Case Studies

• Budd Van Lines Delivers Consistent Quality and Award-winning Service - Even in a Down Market
• Morreale Real Estate Services Delivers Award-Winning Service the Old-Fashioned Way
• Doing Well by Doing Good: Coldwell Banker's Collaborative Service Culture Delivers Results
• Customer Service Training in Tough Times - a Winning Combination for K. Hovnanian Homes
• American Modern Insurance: MAGIC Aligns with Corporate Values and Delivers Results
• The Impact of MAGIC at Affinion Group
• Creating Spirit in Your Call Center: Montefiore's CMO Leads the Way
• We're MAGIC® at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
• Presentation Systems Increases Sales and Client Loyalty with MAGIC
• Companion Technologies Distinguishes its High-tech Support with MAGIC
• PepsiCo Bottling Group: Why Their High Quality Service Culture Endures
• MAGIC® Innovations at Colonial Supplemental Insurance
• Colgate-Palmolive And Indianapolis Power And Light: Motivating The Team With Quality Assessment Forms

Improving Service and Sales

• Love Thy Customer: Four Drivers of Service Excellence
• The MAGIC of Relationship Selling
• Uncover the Catchpoint - Satisfy the Caller
• Digital Call Monitoring-Take Less Time, Achieve Greater Impact
• Soft Selling Yields Hard Profits in Contact Centers
  

Life Lessons from Tragic Moments

• Are You Turning Raving Fans into Roving Fans?
• And the Prize for the Most Tragic Phrase Goes To...
• Tragic Words and Phrases: What NOT to Say to a Customer
• The Most Tragic Customer Service Call in 2008
• No Service - No Sale
• Switching Directions Can Transform Service
• Misguided Intentions Detract from Customer Service
• The Best Laid Plans
• Are Your Recovery Efforts Hurting Your Reputation? Six Ways to Avoid Responses that Do More Harm than Good

MAGIC In Action

• You May Be Listening, but Are You Paying Attention?
• Same Food, Different Service: What's the Secret to Success at McDonald's?
• The Lost Art of Being Truly Helpful
• MAGIC Global Training Part Two: Adapting to Culture
• MAGIC Global Training Part One: Overcoming the Language Barrier
• A MAGIC Moment in the Country
• A Random Act of MAGIC Can Do a World of Good
• Learn the Secrets of an Extraordinary Customer Experience from a Rare Flower, the Blue Tulip
• What is the True Meaning of Appreciation? A Life Lesson from Thanksgiving and Economics Class
• Life Lessons from a Witch, a Teacher and a Little Dog, Too
• Small Gesture—Giant Impact
• Hospital Patients Deserve and Expect MAGIC Care
• A One and Only Customer Experience and a Dream Come True
• A MAGIC® Transformation at the DMV—That's Right, the Department of Motor Vehicles
• Fly First Class with MAGIC®
• MAGIC® Saves the Day (and an influential customer)

Training Tips and Techniques for Facilitators

• Four Ways to Invigorate Learning and Performance with Music
• Handling Challenging Facilitation Moments with MAGIC - Part Two
• Handling Challenging Facilitation Moments with MAGIC - Part One
• Five Steps to a MAGIC Facilitation
• Tricks of the Trade: Tips for Facilitators - Translating MAGIC Concepts into MAGIC Actions
• Tricks of the Trade: Tips for Facilitators - Encouraging Participation in Class
• Tricks of the Trade: Tips for Facilitators - Explaining the Locus of Control and Delivering MAGIC in Alternative Formats
• Tricks of the Trade: Tips for Facilitators - Creating a MAGIC Culture
• Tricks of the Trade: Tips for Facilitators - Filling Your Facilitation Toolkit
• How to Make a MAGIC Connection with Your Participants

Research on Service/Performance Improvement

• Incivility is on the Rise: Four Steps to Stop It
• New Research Reveals Link Between Happy Customers and Strong Financial Performance
• Thomson Job Impact Study Reinforces Blended Learning Yields up to 163% Increase in On-the-Job Performance
• Two Out of Three Americans Would Rather Do Household Chores than Deal with Customer Service Reps

Customer and Employee  Experience

• Exceptional Customer Experiences and the Bottom Line: Are You Listening?
• Putting the "Custom" in Your Customer Experience
• Three Principles for Creating "As Promised" Customer Experiences
• Are You Delivering on Your Brand Promise?