137+ Customer Service Quotes to get you Motivated

Great customer service is the heart of any successful business. Industry leaders have shared powerful insights that inspire and guide us to create memorable customer experiences.

From motivational gems to witty one-liners, this collection of quotes from visionaries and experts offers practical wisdom for elevating service. 

These quotes will spark inspiration for anyone looking to make customers feel valued and heard.

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Famous Customer Service Quotes

1. “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart
2. Experience design should not be solely brand focused; instead it should not be too branded focused. It is about designing delivery of customer needs, so naturally it should start with the customers. It should form the core of a go-to-market strategy of any brand. It is the experience first, then the messages.”- Shep Hyken, Author
3. “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job to make the customer experience a little bit better.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon
4. “The customer’s perception is your reality.” – Kate Zabriskie, Customer Service Expert
5. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft
6. “The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best but legendary.” – Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart
7. “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” – Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
8. “Customer service is the new marketing; it’s what differentiates one business from another.” – Jay Baer, Motivational Speaker
9. “The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers.” – Shiv Singh, Business Leader and Author
10. “Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.” – James Cash Penney, Founder of J.C. Penney
11. “Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” – Walt Disney, Founder of The Walt Disney Company
12. “If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.” – Ray Kroc, Former CEO of McDonald’s
13. “The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but exceed them—preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.” – Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group
14. “Customer service shouldn’t just be a department, it should be the entire company.” – Tony Hsieh, Former CEO of Zappos
15. “The best advertising you can have is a loyal customer spreading the word about how incredible your business is.” – Shep Hyken, Motivational Speaker
16. “To earn the respect (and eventually love) of your customers, you first have to respect those customers.” – Colleen Barrett, Southwest Airlines President Emerita

Great Customer Service Quotes

1. “The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.” – Tom Peters, Business Author
2. “If you make a sale, you can make a living. If you make an investment of time and good service, you can make a fortune.” – Jim Rohn, Author and Motivational Speaker
3. “Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.” – Donald Porter, Customer Service Expert
4. “A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
5. “The greatest technology in the world hasn’t replaced the ultimate relationship-building tool between a customer and a business: the human touch.” – Shep Hyken, Author and Keynote Speaker
6. “Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game.” – Dr. Tony Alessandra, Author and Business Expert
7. “The customer experience is the next competitive battleground.” – Jerry Gregoire, Former CIO of Dell
8. “We don’t want to push our ideas onto customers, we simply want to make what they want.” – Laura Ashley, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur
9. “Your company’s most valuable asset is how it is known to its customers.” – Brian Tracy, Author and Motivational Speaker
10. “The more you engage with customers, the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing.” – John Russell, President of Harley-Davidson
11. “Customers long to interact with—even relate to—employees who act like there is still a light inside.” – Chip Bell, Founder of Chip Bell Group
12. “To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” – Don Alden Adams, President of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society
13. “It’s not about having the right opportunities. It’s about handling the opportunities right.” – Mark Hunter, Author
14. “The best brands in the world are the ones that consistently create an exceptional experience for their employees and their customers.” – Elizabeth Dixon, Speaker and Business Leader
15. “Treat your customers like lifetime partners.” – Michael LeBoeuf, Author

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Excellent Customer Service Quotes

1. “Excellent customer service is the number one job in any company! It is the personality of the company and the reason customers come back.” – Connie Elder, Founder of Peak 10 Skin
2. “Building a good customer experience does not happen by accident. It happens by design.” – Clare Muscutt, Customer Experience Expert
3. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle, Philosopher
4. “Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence—only in constant improvement and constant change.” – Tom Peters, Business Author
5. “Good customer service is about understanding your client’s needs and then exceeding them.” – Cory Cabral, CEO of Proactive Access
6. “Customer service is not a department; it’s everyone’s job.” – Ken Blanchard, Author and Motivational Speaker
7. “The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts.” – James Cash Penney, Founder of J.C. Penney
8. “It’s a real pleasure to earn the trust of your customers slowly over time by doing what’s right.” – Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
9. “Disruption starts with committing to excellence and taking a stand for your customer.” – Lewis Howes, Entrepreneur
10. “Employee empowerment and recognition is the core of our culture and how we achieve outstanding customer service.” – Herve Humler, Former President of Ritz-Carlton
11. “If anybody ever called our number, it would be picked up in less than two rings with a friendly voice answering, ‘CD Baby.’” – Derek Sivers, Founder of CD Baby
12. “Great customer service doesn’t mean that the customer is always right, it means that the customer is always honored.” – Chris LoCurto, Business Coach
13. “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.” – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
14. “The customers that have had a good CX experience are much more likely to recommend the company.” – Bruce Temkin, Customer Experience Expert
15. “Customer service is an opportunity to exceed your customer’s expectations.” – John Jantsch, Author

Customer Service Motivational Quotes

1. “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist
2. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” – Albert Schweitzer, Philosopher
3. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky, Former Professional Hockey Player
4. “Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt, Former U.S. President
5. “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” – Michael Phelps, Olympian
6. “Motivation comes from working on things we care about. It also comes from working with people we care about.” – Sheryl Sandberg, Former COO of Meta
7. “Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next.” – Denis Waitley, Motivational Speaker
8. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau, Author
9. “When you help others feel important, you help yourself feel important too.” – David J. Schwartz, Author and Motivational Speaker
10. “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale, Author
11. “Leaders succeed when they create a unified team with a singular mission.” – Anonymous
12. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher
13. “A leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter, Former First Lady
14. “To be great at something, you have to come at it with passion, or not at all.” – Maria Teresa Carmela “Peachy” Corpuz, Team Lead at Zendesk
15. “You are serving a customer, not a life sentence. Learn how to enjoy your work.” – Laurie McIntosh, Customer Service Expert
    

Customer Service Inspirational Quotes

1. “People will soon forget what you said. They will NEVER forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou, Poet and Civil Rights Activist
2. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi, Activist and Leader
3. “What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot, Novelist
4. “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” – Muhammad Ali, Boxer and Philanthropist
5. “The world is moved not only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” – Helen Keller, Author and Speaker
6. “Caring has the gift of making the ordinary special.” – Anonymous
7. “Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.” – Simon Sinek, Author and Speaker
8. “Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders—in that order.” – Simon Sinek, Author and Speaker
9. “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” – Dale Carnegie, Writer and Teacher
10. “It’s so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers’ shoes.” – Mark Cuban, Business Owner
11. “Go beyond merely communicating to ‘connecting’ with people.” – Jerry Bruckner, Author
12. “The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” – Tony Robbins, Author and Coach
13. “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James, Philosopher
14. “If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” – Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon
15. “People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.” – John C. Maxwell, Author

Funny and Witty Customer Service Quotes

1. “Thank you for calling customer service. If you’re calm and rational, press 1. If you’re a whiner, press 2. If you’re a hot head, press 3.” – Randy Glasbergen, Cartoonist
2. “Although your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, your competitors will.” – Kate Zabriskie, Customer Service Expert
3. “A satisfied customer—we should have him stuffed!” – Basil Fawlty, Character from Fawlty Towers
4. “In the world of Internet customer service, it’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away.” – Doug Warner, Former Chairman of J.P. Morgan
5. “A brand not responding on Twitter is like hanging up the phone on customers. With millions watching.” – Dave Kerpen, Co-founder of Likeable Media
6. “A shoe without sex appeal is like a tree without leaves. Service without emotion is like a shoe without sex appeal.” – Anonymous
7. “Swallowing your pride occasionally will never give you indigestion.” – Unknown
8. “The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is not training them and keeping them.” – Zig Ziglar, Author and Motivational Speaker
9. “Don’t try to tell the customer what he wants. If you want to be smart, be smart in the shower.” – Gene Buckley, Customer Service Expert
10. “Customers buy on emotion and justify with logic.” – Anonymous
11. “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” – Roger Staubach, Former NFL Player
12. “If you don’t take care of your customer, your competitor will.” – Bob Hooey, Motivational Speaker
13. “A sale is not something you pursue; it’s what happens to you while you are immersed in serving your customer.” – Unknown
14. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison, Inventor
15. “Good customer service costs less than bad customer service.” – Sally Gronow, Customer Service Expert

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Customer Service Quotes for Employees

1. “Happy employees ensure happy customers. And happy customers ensure happy shareholders—in that order.” – Simon Sinek, Author and Speaker
2. “The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.” – Tom Peters, Business Author
3. “In the long run, no matter how good or successful you are, your business and its future are in the hands of the people you hire.” – Akio Morita, Co-founder of Sony
4. “Our mission statement about treating people with respect and dignity is not just words but a creed we live by every day.” – Howard Schultz, Former CEO of Starbucks
5. “Customer service is not a department, it’s an attitude!” – Unknown
6. “We are superior to the competition because we hire employees who work in an environment of belonging and purpose.” – Horst Schulze, Former President of Ritz-Carlton
7. “You work not in an organization but an organism. And you’re the lifeblood of it.” – Scott Mautz, Former Executive at Procter & Gamble
8. “Leaders must exemplify integrity and earn the trust of their teams through their everyday actions.” – Marilyn Hewson, Former CEO of Lockheed Martin
9. “Remind yourself the nature of the work is helping frustrated people in situations that are confusing at best or impossible at worst.” – Jillana Peterson, Principal Operations Manager at Zendesk
10. “I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.” – Ernest Hemingway, Author
11. “Reduce the layers of management. They put distance between the top of an organization and the customers.” – Donald Rumsfeld, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
12. “You don’t earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day.” – Jeffrey Gitomer, Author
13. “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw, Author
14. “To achieve consistently terrific customer service, you must hire wonderful people who believe in your company’s goals.” – Richard Branson, Co-founder of Virgin Group
15. “Investing in quality talent ensures they have the skills, training, and tools to empathize and actively listen to customers.” – Jim Bush, Former EVP of American Express

Short Excellent Customer Service Quotes

1. “Customer service is not a department; it’s everyone’s job.” – Ken Blanchard
2. “The customer’s perception is your reality.” – Kate Zabriskie
3. “Make a customer, not a sale.” – Katherine Barchetti, Retail Expert
4. “Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
5. “Good service is good business.” – Siebel Ad
6. “Customers are the gold mine of any business.” – Anonymous
7. “Serve, don’t sell.” – Anonymous
8. “Listen to your customers; they’re telling you what they want.” – Gene Buckley
9. “Be genuine.” – Anonymous
10. “Care makes the ordinary special.” – Anonymous
11. “Honor the customer.” – Chris LoCurto
12. “Go the extra mile.” – Roger Staubach
13. “Empathy wins loyalty.” – Jeffrey Gitomer
14. “Service is the rent we pay for being.” – Muhammad Ali
15. “Exceed expectations.” – Richard Branson