The 5 “A”s of Customer Service Acknowledge, Apologize (if necessary), Answer, Analyze, and Adjust These simple steps give you the ability to take a simple customer service model and apply it to complicated (and simple) customer contacts both online and offline. You can use this model to guide your community-building efforts in social media, or to provide a superior customer experience, while maintaining a solid feedback look for your customers, your team, and the customers you haven't met yet. I'd love to hear your feedback on this idea - contact me on Twitter at @grmeyer or feel free to email me.

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The 5 “A”s of Customer Service
Acknowledge, Apologize (if necessary), Answer,
Analyze, and Adjust
@grmeyer

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1 - Acknowledge
Demonstrate that you
hear the customer
Re-state the question so
the issue is clear
Be friendly - there’s
another person involved!
“Customers become invisible
because employees make them PHOTO BY HTTP://FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/TODDLE_EMAIL_NEWSLETTERS
invisible”
-Kevin Stirtz The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer

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2 - Apologize (if necessary)
Use “I” statements - “I’m
sorry for the inconvenience”
Stick to the facts - “This is
what happened.”
State what you can do -
“Here’s how I can help you
PHOTO BY HTTP://FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/S-T-R-A-N-G-E/
today”
“Never ruin an apology with an
excuse”
- Benjamin Franklin
The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer

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3 - Answer (and Ask)
Provide a solution
(with specific steps)
Relate the solution to the
question
Ask for additional
information (if you need it)
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“Do, or do not. There is no try”
- Yoda
The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer

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4 - Analyze
Seek the root cause - read from
the top down
Have you heard this before?
(multiple cases on one ticket)
Identify any unanswered
questions (and observations)
“A prudent question is one half
of wisdom”
- Sir Francis Bacon
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The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer

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5 - Adjust
What did you learn?
What needs to change?
What’s one thing that
you need to start doing?
“You can have everything in life
you want, if you will just help
other people get what they
want”
- Zig Ziglar
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The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer

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6 - Next
Track and measure trends
Perform random acts of
TEXT Customer WOW
Ask yourself, what would
the customer expect? And
want?
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GO
The 5 “A”s of Customer Service | @grmeyer