Customer service isn’t just a branch of your company. How your team interacts with clients is just as important as your products and services and is integral to your company’s culture. From chief executives to sales representatives, providing outstanding customer service is a top priority.
According to an American Express study:
- Consumers are willing to spend 17% more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service.
- About 33% of Americans say they’d consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service.
Inspire your team and your clients by sharing some of the best customer service quotes in your communications.
Inspirational Customer Service Quotes
Assisting customers is everyone’s job regardless of their title. But, at times, delivering customer support feels thankless. Bolster morale by sharing great customer service quotes with your team via email or during meetings.
- “We believe that customer service shouldn’t be just a department; it should be the entire company.” Tony Hsieh, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Zappos
- “Customer experience is a catalyst of transformation. It directly impacts culture, strategy, structure and all parts of a business.” Christine Crandell, president of New Business Strategies
- “My metric for success can be summed up in one phrase: Earn customers for life.” Mary Barra, chairwoman and CEO of General Motors
- “The role of customer service is to support and enable users to not just feel better, but to be better.” Kathy Sierra, author of “Badass: Making Users Awesome”
- “A lot of people have fancy things to say about customer service, but it’s just a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, persevering, compassionate kind of activity.” Leon Gorman, former chairman of L.L. Bean
- “Service, in short, is not what you do, but who you are. It is a way of living that you need to bring to everything you do, if you are to bring it to your customer interactions.” Betsy Sanders, author of “Fabled Service”
- “Excellent customer service is the number one job in any company! It is the personality of the company and the reason customers come back. Without customers, there is no company!” Connie Elder, CEO and founder, PEAK 10 SKIN
- “I believe that customer service is not a department. On the contrary, it’s the company’s culture. It’s the philosophy of the leadership that permeates from the CEO to the newest hire.” Shep Hyken, chief amazement officer at Shepard Presentations
- “Smart businesses should come to realize that the customer service bar is lower — and that today, it’s easier than ever to differentiate your company from the pack with (crazy as it seems) actual quality customer service.” Brad Tuttle, writer at Time Magazine
- “Customer support isn’t just about listening to customers yell at you and providing them with discounts and resolutions anymore. Rather, it’s about consistently helping customers find value from products or service to make them satisfied, loyal customers for many more purchases to come.” Sophia Bernazzani, content marketer and team manager
- “You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be too easily duplicated. But a strong customer service culture cannot be copied.” Jerry Fritz, author and motivational speaker
- “The sole reason we are in business is to make life less difficult for our clients.” Matthew Odgers, attorney
- “[Even] when you can’t tell the customer exactly what they want to hear, a dose of care, concern and understanding will go a long way. A support rep’s ability to empathize with a customer and craft a message that steers things toward a better outcome can often make all the difference.” Help Scout article
- “Customer experience is the next competitive battleground. It’s where business is going to be won or lost.” Tom Knighton, customer experience expert
- “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop, Greek storyteller
- “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly and most underrated agent of human change.” Bob Kerrey, author
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist
Customer Service Motivational Quotes
Happy clients keep your business in the black. Loyal customers tell their friends and purchase from your company repeatedly.
Keep the momentum going by using customer service motivational quotes in your weekly communications.
- “It’s time to consider an entirely different approach: Building human-centric customer service through great people and clever technology. So, get to know your customers. Humanize them. Humanize yourself. It’s worth it.” Kristin Smaby, author of “Being Human is Good Business”
- “The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, said in an interview
- “To earn the respect (and eventually love) of your customers, you first have to respect those customers. That is why Golden Rule behavior is embraced by most of the winning companies.” Colleen Barrett, Southwest Airlines president emeritus
- “Memorable customer service can only take place in a human-to-human situation.” Jeffrey Gitomer, author of “Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know”
- “Getting service right is more than just a nice to do; it’s a must-do. American consumers are willing to spend more with companies that provide outstanding service, and they will also tell, on average, twice as many people about bad service than they will about good service. Ultimately, great service can drive sales and customer loyalty.” Jim Bush, a former executive of American Express
- “In the world of internet customer service, it’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.” Douglas A. Warner III, former banker
- “You are serving a customer, not a life sentence. Learn how to enjoy your work.” Laurie McIntosh, writer and teacher for Business Training Works and co-author of “A Mixed Bunch: 21 Cases for Diversity Training”
- “Forget about the customer service cost center of last century and look to build the customer experience center that will differentiate you for years to come.” Brad Birnbaum, CEO and founder of Kustomer
- “The only right way to run a company — and the most profitable way — is to saturate your company with the voice of the customer.” Richard C. Whiteley, author of “The Customer-Driven Company”
- “With so many obligations and responsibilities, if you’re serious about your business, you have to focus on the core — your customers. Because, without them, you have no business at all.” R.L. Adams, entrepreneur, software engineer, author and blogger
- “In order to reach hearts and minds, we had to leave satisfaction in the dust and strive to delight our customers by delivering the most extraordinary customer experience, bar none. And that has been the driving force behind everything we’ve done ever since. It is our No. 1 strategic priority!” Stephen Cannon, the former president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA told Forrester
- “Imagine your customer is your best friend — listen to their concerns, be a shoulder to lean on, and then shift the focus from what went wrong to how you can help make it right.” Rachel Hogue, Azazie customer service manager
- “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Robert Collier, author
- “Sell good merchandise at a reasonable profit, treat your customers like human beings and they’ll always come back for more.” Leon Leonwood Bean, L.L. Bean founder
Customer Service Appreciation Quotes
Providing ongoing support across multiple platforms is challenging as not every call will go as planned. Remind your team that the experience they provide is essential to success. Share these customer service appreciation quotes during challenging times.
- “We have entered the era of the customer. Today, providing customers with outstanding customer service is essential to building loyal customers and a long-lasting brand.” Jerry Gregoire, former chief information officer for Dell Computer
- “Make the customer the hero of your story.” Ann Handley, author and chief content officer of MarketingProfs
- “It’s very logical: There is proven ROI in doing whatever you can to turn your customers into advocates for your brand or business. The way to create advocates is to offer superior customer service.” Gary Vaynerchuk, author of “The Thank You Economy”
- “If you’re not serving the customer, your job is to be serving someone who is.” Jan Carlzon, former CEO of SAS
- “If they want to talk, we want to listen [even if it has nothing to do with shoes]. We don’t set out with the intention of being anyone’s counselor, but one of our biggest metrics for evaluation is whether we made an emotional connection with every customer. Sometimes creating those connections means talking about personal stuff.” Rob Siefker, Zappos senior director of customer service, told the New York Times
- “If it is really all about problem-solving, we can’t neglect the human side of our work while we focus on the technical issues at hand. A little compassion and consideration can make all the difference — and buy us the time to actually solve those technical issues.” Paul Blough, CEO of Blough Tech
- “Every time a customer contacts you, you have a choice: be like everyone else, or exceed their expectations and leave a lasting impression that turns them into raving fans.” Mike Peters, entrepreneur, philanthropist, XPRIZE Foundation board member and founder of the Yomali group of companies
- “When I started out, business school professors liked to pose a conundrum: Which do you put first, your employees, your customers or your shareholders? As if that were an unanswerable question. My answer was very easy: You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy.” Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines co-founder
- “You want to have somebody [in a customer service role] who you don’t have to give a lot of rules and regulations to. You want to have somebody who is talking to a customer and understands ‘Their boss is really yelling at them today. This person is having a really bad day. You know what? I’m going to send them some flowers to brighten things up.’ That’s not really something you can teach. They have to go the extra mile naturally.” Chase Clemons, Basecamp customer support
- “The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.” Gordon B. Hinckley, author
- Customer service is the new marketing; it’s what differentiates one business from another.” Jay Baer, motivational speaker
Knowledge-Building Customer Service Quotes
According to PwC, 82% of consumers in the U.S. desire more human interaction. Each interaction with a customer is an opportunity to satisfy the consumer while acquiring valuable feedback for your company.
Gain insight into your client’s needs and problems using these great customer service quotes for work.
- “As automated service processes are being deployed to engage customers, it has never been more important to understand how to balance touch and technology to deliver efficient and satisfying experiences — ones that lead to trusting, long-term relationships.” Michelle A. Shell, a doctoral candidate in the Technology and Operations Management program at Harvard Business School
- “When customers share their story, they’re not just sharing pain points. They’re actually teaching you how to make your product, service and business better.” Kristin Smaby, author of the article “Being Human Is Good Business”
- “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.” Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
- “To achieve customer understanding, companies must listen to customers (surveys, online reviews, data, etc.), characterize them (create personas) and empathize with them (walk in their shoes, create journey maps). You can’t transform something you don’t understand, so you’ve got to take the time to do these three things!” Annette Franz, founder and chief experience officer CX Journey
- “Get rid of jargon: Speak plainly to the customer.” Samantha Mehra, “50 Quick Tips for Improving the Customer Experience”
- “Instead of overengineering and deploying everything at once, use agile methodologies. Start with the customer in mind. What is your top 2 or 3 highest-volume or highest-value inquiry or request? Begin small implementation of that and iterate from there based on successes and lessons learned. This will help you continually create better and better digital experiences for your customers.” John Culver, solution engineer with Oracle
- “Your customers rely on you to know your product inside out. It’s your job to stay informed enough to respond to questions or at least know where to turn if the questions become too technical for you to answer. If you don’t know the answer, it’s OK to say … ‘I don’t know,’ as long as you follow it up with, ‘But I’ll find out.’” Freshdesk blog
- “Always begin with: ‘’So that I can better serve you, do you mind if I ask a few questions?’” Jodie Shaw, chief marketing officer
Positive Customer Service Quotes
According to NewVoiceMedia, U.S. companies lose $75 billion a year because of poor customer service. While negative experiences are disheartening, how you handle an issue can increase consumer loyalty. Encourage your team to persevere with positive customer service quotes that show even bad experiences can benefit the customer and the company.
- “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
- “Many businesses talk about great CX using terms like ‘wow,’ ‘amaze’ and ‘delight’ when it comes to the impact they need to have on customers. But there’s so much bad CX out there that to stand out, all you need to do is meet customer expectations.” Ben Motteram, CXpert founder.
- “Ask your customers to be part of the solution, and don’t view them as part of the problem.” Alan Weiss, consultant, speaker and author
- “No amount of advertising can repair the damage done by failing to properly address a customer’s concern.” Albert Schindler, freelance writer
- “Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.” Zig Ziglar, author, salesman and motivational speaker
- “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” Donald Porter, former senior vice-president at British Airway and current managing director at MSB
- “Good customer service costs less than bad customer service.” Sally Gronow, who heads customer service at Welsh Water
- “The customer is not necessarily always right, but the customer always has a point.” Daniel Griggs, founder and CEO of ATX Web Designs
- “In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want.” Alice MacDougall
- “Customer experiences that eliminate confusion, uncertainty and anxiety reap the rewards, generating a competitive advantage, loyalty and a peerless brand image.” Matt Watkinson, author
Stir Your Clients and Employees
The words of industry leaders serve to motivate, inspire and remind business owners and their teams that customer service is crucial to success.
Combine these customer-service quotes with our list of small business quotes for daily or weekly inspiration in everything you do. Remember, the old Chinese proverb still rings true in today’s digital era, “a man without a smiling face must not open a shop.”
