Although these 10 Commandments were originally written by Pat Croce for his customer service team, you can apply these principles to any business and your personal life as well. This will ensure you create an atmosphere of success. Enjoy!

The Ten Commandments of Customer Service By Pat Croce

1. Say Hello and Goodbye
Be sure to get your customers coming and going by greeting them with a hearty “hello” and a well-meant “goodbye.” And it doesn’t have to just be customers or clients; offering everyone you encounter a hello and goodbye is a common courtesy. You make a difference in another’s day, and the best part, you feel great!

2. Use First Names
Our name is the first thing that separates us from everyone else and makes us an individual. When you use a first name, you personalize your experiences with people and make them feel important. Every day, call those first names out loud!

3. Listen, Listen, Listen
People who talk, talk, talk may monopolize the conversation. But it’s the people who listen, listen, listen – and then ask strategic questions – that actually control the conversation. Never underestimate the power of silence, especially when negotiating.

4. Communicate Clearly
There’s nothing so simple that someone can’t misunderstand it. Making a clear and full explanation is like going around closing windows – windows that might otherwise be left open to misunderstanding. It takes a measure of discipline to achieve, but it’s an important habit to cultivate.

5. Be Neat, Clean, and Fit
People respond more readily to someone who takes an obvious pride in their appearance and environment. This attitude automatically establishes you as a person who can be trusted and an authority who should be respected.

6. Be Prompt and Professional
Being habitually late creates the impression of being unreliable. Being on time is a habit, nothing more. It requires a little organization, a little discipline, and a little planning.

7. Be Positive
Life has a way of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you always expect the worst, then you’ll hardly ever be disappointed. We are all capable of starting out in a positive frame of mind. But to be able to sustain that through failure upon failure…that is the true measure of a positive attitude.

8. Extend Compliments
Heartfelt praise elevates a person’s spirits, leaves them feeling better about themselves, and will often result in them having an encouraging word for someone else.

9. Have Fun
A good sense of humor makes other good things possible – a positive attitude, passion, pride, productivity, a sense of well-being, and compassion for others.

10. Do It Now!
If you do not immediately implement what you learn today, then the world will have changed by tomorrow and you will be two steps behind.

About Pat Croce:
Since the 6th grade, when Pat Croce began delivering daily newspapers door-to-door, he has demonstrated a dynamic entrepreneurial spirit. Upon graduation from the University of Pittsburgh in 1977 with a BS in Physical Therapy and certification in Athletic Training, he pioneered the concept of sports medicine. In 1979 he opened the first sports medicine center in the United States with the Haverford Community Hospital Sports Medicine Center. Four years later, he opened Sports Physical Therapists, the first private non-hospital-based sports medicine center in the country. Ten years later, he opened the fortieth center.
Following the highly profitable sale of Sports Physical Therapists to a public company in 1995, Croce focused his entrepreneurial energy and indestructible positive attitude on the purchase of the NBA’s last-place team, the Philadelphia 76ers. During his 5-year tenure as president and minority owner (1996-2001), the team rose from worst to first in the NBA standings and broke franchise records in attendance, revenue, merchandise, and consecutive wins on the way to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2001. Croce’s ascension from the training room to the board room, and his remarkable success in the resurrection of the Philadelphia 76ers as a NBA championship contender, inspired NBC Sports’ Chairman Dick Ebersol to call Croce “the
architect
of one
of the NBA’s
greatest turnaround stories.”

“the architect of one of the NBA’s greatest turnaround stories.”

The entrepreneurial bug bit again when Croce pursued his passion for pirates by building the world’s first authentic pirate museum – Pirate Soul – in Key West, Florida. The museum has received rave reviews from media and press around the globe. The piratical complex was completed when Croce opened the Rum Barrel restaurant/bar next door.
Croce has also tackled television in his high-energy roles as a lively commentator on the NBA on NBC; a Tae Kwon Do expert for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Greece; the host of a nationally syndicated daily TV show, Pat Croce: Moving In, syndicated by Sony Pictures Television; and most recently as a panel judge on ABC’s hit show American Inventor.
Croce has been the proud recipient of the “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award, was a finalist (with Sports Physical Therapists) for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, and was featured on the cover of Inc magazine as “The Dale Carnegie of the 21st Century.” He continues to thrive as a serial entrepreneur, funding and launching companies in the fields of fitness, healthcare, spirits, technology, retail, real estate and entertainment.
If don’t feel ABSOLUTELY full of life after spending just 5 minutes with Pat Croce, you need to get yourself checked out, right away! Make today a MEMORABLE DAY!