Laura Nicholson, Executive Director/CEO

That was the message that resonated with me as Doug Lipp, a motivational speaker and customer service expert, spoke at Yuba College this past month.

The event was the first for the Yuba-Sutter Business Consortium, a group of about a dozen business service organizations that work together to help local businesses. The Yuba-Sutter Chamber of Commerce is a member of the consortium, formed just over a year ago to give these groups a way to meet and work on common interests and goals.

The initial discussions of the group led to the “Yuba-Sutter Presents” idea and our conversations often came back to a basic need in this community – customer service training.

Doug is the former head of training for Disney University and was in charge of opening the Disneyland in Tokyo.

For an hour he took us on a roller coaster narrative of behind-the-scenes stories about Disney and how it achieves its “magic,” and how it promotes its culture of stellar customer service.

He noted that the customer, guest, visitor, etc., arrives at a destination such as Disneyland, or your business, anticipating what they want and with an expectation of what they will get. If that expectation is not met, a negative experience becomes the result.

Needless to say, too many negative customer service experiences add up to trouble for a business. That’s why business owners must be ever vigilant and creative in their customer service efforts.

The Chamber is very interested in hearing from you about your customer service successes and any tips or programs you may have that enhance your customer service.

The recent business2business update produced by PIP Printing and Document Services in Yuba City outlines four critical areas you should look at in assessing the customer service of your business.