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Atricle Dump - 8 Critical Steps to Establish a Customer Service Culture
A newsletter is a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. Do you have a personal newsletter you send to past, present, and future customers at this time? Probably not. Most salespeople do not use newsletters. This is a serious mistake.A simple newsletter is a very powerful tool to keep you in front of your past customers and build trust and credibility with your present and future customers. In one year's time a newsletter can double your business and income by itself. They are that powerful!You do not have to be a great writer to produce an interesting newsletter with valuable and useful information and send it to your customers and prospects. If you have information they can use and appreciate they will look forward to reading it. It can be written on the computer, printed out and copied and sent by stamped mail, or it can be sent by email. You can get your flooring information from trade newsletters and magazines and reps bringing in new products. You can get it from the internet. You can get the content you need from your experience
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for yo
Investors, like the rest of us, have different tastes. One investor may love a concept and/or business plan while the next may hate both. It is important to understand this as business plans are working documents and are always undergoing iterations.Management teams must not rush to incorporate each potential investor’s comments. Instead, have several investors, partners and other business colleagues review the plan and provide feedback. Then incorporate common concerns and probe other comments to determine if they are valid.Always try to understand the rationale behind an investor’s comments. For instance, an investor may poke holes in a business plan if it doesn’t have enough funds to fully fund the opportunity. In this case, the investor’s criticism is solely for them to save face.However, if you are hearing the same feedback from multiple investors, it is probably valid. In such cases, be humble. Tell investors that you appreciate their feedback and modify your strategy and plan appropriately. You may then be able to re-approach these inv
During our recent weakened economy, many businesses have seen declining revenues and declining budgets. Declining budgets often lead to reduced staff levels and diminished services. To me, this does not make sense. I believe that it is during the down times, when service should be at the forefront and retention of loyal customers even more of a focus.
When price wars fail to drive revenues, businesses often look to service to give them a competitive advantage. Many big business marketers are returning to a “service sells” mentality, however, many sell great customer service and few deliver. The problem is that few marketers have ever truly served a customer.
Throughout my years in business, I have had the opportunity to interact and develop a customer service philosophy. It is inherent that when you are in a service-based business, there will be times when your customer is compelled to offer you their feedback. It is what you do with this feedback that will shape the future and their impression of your business.
Upon reflection, most all of my interactions with displeased customers were not the result of a poor product, but rather a disappointing customer experience. Why is that? Because, product is not personal, customer service is. Briefly, I would like to share with you eight critical steps to establish a customer service culture.
1. Customers are the reason for work, not an interruption of work
This sounds really obvious doesn’t it? How many times have you gone into a business only to wait while someone is on the telephone or busy doing some “non-service” task? Employees often lose sight of the importance of the customer and get consumed in lesser day to day tasks. Sure, there are tasks that need to be accomplished, but you cannot afford to sacrifice service to get them done. Good customer service must be a priority for you and your team. Without your customers, you have no company!
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for you
While trying to establish a career in the field of Information Technology (IT), you may often find yourself confused and indecisive. Though you may plan to do something different with your IT career, you simply may not get around to it and remain only aspiring for that perfect opportunity.In order to be recognized you must excel. In order to excel you must be qualified, experienced and able to perform in situations that may challenge others in your field. Some basic ways of doing this are to develop skills, develop credibility through certification and be ready to think outside the box for solutions.Gaining Knowledge And Acquiring New SkillsThe monotonous routine of your regular job is one of the biggest and most significant reasons for the loss of interest in your job. If you love what you do, nothing can be worse than that. However, if you do not like your job and you continue with it out of some sort of compulsion, then it is best to break all mental barriers and come out of it. You should start learning new skills that will add value to
Throughout my years in business, I have had the opportunity to interact and develop a customer service philosophy. It is inherent that when you are in a service-based business, there will be times when your customer is compelled to offer you their feedback. It is what you do with this feedback that will shape the future and their impression of your business.
Upon reflection, most all of my interactions with displeased customers were not the result of a poor product, but rather a disappointing customer experience. Why is that? Because, product is not personal, customer service is. Briefly, I would like to share with you eight critical steps to establish a customer service culture.
1. Customers are the reason for work, not an interruption of work
This sounds really obvious doesn’t it? How many times have you gone into a business only to wait while someone is on the telephone or busy doing some “non-service” task? Employees often lose sight of the importance of the customer and get consumed in lesser day to day tasks. Sure, there are tasks that need to be accomplished, but you cannot afford to sacrifice service to get them done. Good customer service must be a priority for you and your team. Without your customers, you have no company!
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for yo
Businesses can benefit from a web presence. Even the smallest business can use a "business card" website. Planning your webpage for profits - both now and in the future is the trick.First you should look at your budget. What percent of revenues or what dollar amount per year have you budgeted for advertising and/or marketing? Considering a website can be much less expensive than many other forms of advertising, and that a website can produce a higher profit margin than many other forms of advertising you almost certainly have to have a webpage.For most small, local and regional businesses, the only form of advertising that might take a higher priority in your budget would be a telephone listing in the Yellow Pages directory. White Page listings may be free in your area with a business account.Are your customers younger, urban, professional, technical, or students? All of these tend to be highly net-literate and net-focused. Yes to any of these questions means a website is essential.Can your products/services be shipped or transmit
Upon reflection, most all of my interactions with displeased customers were not the result of a poor product, but rather a disappointing customer experience. Why is that? Because, product is not personal, customer service is. Briefly, I would like to share with you eight critical steps to establish a customer service culture.
1. Customers are the reason for work, not an interruption of work
This sounds really obvious doesn’t it? How many times have you gone into a business only to wait while someone is on the telephone or busy doing some “non-service” task? Employees often lose sight of the importance of the customer and get consumed in lesser day to day tasks. Sure, there are tasks that need to be accomplished, but you cannot afford to sacrifice service to get them done. Good customer service must be a priority for you and your team. Without your customers, you have no company!
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for yo
Dr. Albert Ellis, recently voted one of the most influential psychologists of the last century, is rumored to be on his way to a Nobel Prize.As a long-time admirer of Ellis, and as someone who had the privilege of learning with him, in person, let me say it’s well deserved.Ellis says we can experience an emotion that we dislike and alter it, because our reasoning capacity controls our emotions, to a large extent. His approach is to teach people to talk themselves out of their funks, in some cases on the spot.So, let’s say there is a customer who is screaming at you. If you tell yourself, “It’s awful whenever anybody screams at me, and I shouldn't have to take this guff!” you’ll set yourself up for feeling stressed and very uptight.Ellis says, especially when we’re doing a slow burn that starts to really ignite, that we should ask, “What am I telling myself that’s making me so agitated?”In the screamer situation, there are two things, two nettlesome beliefs: (1) It’s AWFUL; and (2) I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO TAKE IT!Ellis advises
1. Customers are the reason for work, not an interruption of work
This sounds really obvious doesn’t it? How many times have you gone into a business only to wait while someone is on the telephone or busy doing some “non-service” task? Employees often lose sight of the importance of the customer and get consumed in lesser day to day tasks. Sure, there are tasks that need to be accomplished, but you cannot afford to sacrifice service to get them done. Good customer service must be a priority for you and your team. Without your customers, you have no company!
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for yo
Try to avoid backing up whenever possible. Occasionally some one in a small car will park directly behind you at a gas station or stop sign. They will be parked so evenly that you won’t see them. This is why the telephone company and most large cable companies require drivers to put a cone behind their vehicle whenever they park their vehicles. It gets the driver in the habit of checking behind the vehicle since he has to get out and pick up the cone. You might also take a peak before you get in and drive away, especially if you are backing up. One day you will be glad you did.In parking lots, there will be times when you will want to back up five to ten spaces to make another deliver, let another car out or negotiate a parking spot for yourself. If you can drive around the parking lot to get there, do so, as it is free advertising since every one will see you as you traverse the lot. If you must back up, ask a worker or passerby to help guide you. If you are backing up and some one else is backing out, there is a good chance that there will be dam
2. Train, train, and continue to train.
• Cross train your entire staff to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department. When a customer becomes upset they want their problem solved not to be shuffled between employees that are not empowered or enable to assist them.
• Offer continuous customer service training for your staff and once they are providing good service, continue to train them.
• Utilize role play situations to assist your staff in recognizing and experiencing both easy and difficult service opportunities. If an employee has a level of comfort with a difficult situation, they will be able to better handle it.
3. Empower your staff to serve
• Establish a system of resources for your staff to serve the customer. Allow them latitude to take the necessary action to provide exceptional service and resolve any issues should a customer become disgruntled. Create a structured system to allow your staff to serve customers.
• Establish a discretionary budget that an employee may access to recover a customer before you lose them. I recently learned that a major hotel chain has a monetary fund available per year and per employee enabling them to go above and beyond to ensure exceptional service. This empowers the employee to right a wrong or create a “memorable” customer experience. I am not advocating large sums of money, but with regards to customer service, a small gesture can go a long way.
• Ask your staff what tools would enable them to provide better service. You would not send a fireman into a burning building without the proper equipment. Failing to empower and enable your staff with the necessary tools to serve you customer leaves you with few options other than poor service.
4. Make service personal
• Greet repeat customers by name, if possible.
• Offer a handshake and introduce yourself. Creating service that is personal will not only retain customers, but help diffuse difficult situations should they arise.
• Thank your customers for their patronage. It really does make a difference.
5. It is ok to say “Yes”, even when you should say “No”
• Support your staff when they make customer service decisions. In my business, it is my policy that an emp
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