CUSTOMER CENTER

Robin Matuk asked:


Providing great customer service puts you ahead of other competing businesses. It’s what your business needs to develop a loyal customer base.

When your competitors lose business because of poor customer service and their lost customers become your first time customers, it’s your customer service that will keep your new customers coming back. It will cause your business to rise above its competition.

The following tips will help you to satisfy your customers better, get more repeat business and realize higher profits. Use them to increase your sales and create a business that you can be proud of.

1. Have a strong customer service policy in place.

First of all, create a strategy for interacting with your customers that focuses on providing great customer service. Make it part of what your business is all about.

If you make customer service your top priority, your employees will know that excellent customer service is expected of them. They’ll provide better customer service and you’ll have more satisfied customers and repeat business.

Without a clear cut strategy, your employees may come up with their own ideas about what customers want and how they should be treated. Letting this happen is very dangerous to your profits. It can cause your competition to take customers away from you.

2. Hire the right people.

Employees should treat customers with respect and courtesy. They should make it easy for people to want to do business with you and not eliminate your chances of your customers buying from you again.

Pre-employment tests can help you to determine whether the person you’re considering will be an asset. Will she cause you to lose money? Is she the right person for the job? These tests put the odds in your favor. Your hiring decisions can become a lot easier.

3. Listen and act on complaints.

Not taking complaints seriously will cause the same negative situations to happen again. You’ll lose business when your other customers have the same problem.

Instead of shrugging off complaints, use them to make your business more profitable and to offer better service. Complaints, when taken seriously, can make your service, policies and systems for dealing with your customers better. They can add to your bottom line.

4. Survey your customers.

Surveys provide an anonymous way for your customers to give you feedback. They make it easy for you to find out if your business is satisfying your customers or not satisfying them.

People can be brutally honest, so it’s wise to have very thick skin, when using this strategy. Also as in the previous tip, use any negative feedback that you receive to better your business.

Surveys also give you the opportunity to find out what you’re doing right. Compliments about your service, how you treat your customers or how you resolve issues show that you’re hitting your target. You have proof that you’re doing a great job.

5. Get questions answered quickly.

You can cut down on the time you spend answering questions by email and phone by having a detailed FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section on your site and by using FAQ management software.

Live customer support software can also help you to provide excellent customer service. You can answer your customer questions and pre sale questions, right on your site, and increase your sales by getting questions answered faster than your competition.

If you choose to use software to help you fill your customer service needs, know that you still need to provide superior customer support by email. Questions need to be answered within 24 hours. Problems need to be addressed and overcome.

The same holds true when providing phone support. Questions and problems need to be handled in an efficient manner. Don’t keep customers waiting for long periods of time or make it difficult to talk to a “real person.”

6. Provide ongoing training.

Training can bring your customer service from where it is to where you would like it to be.

Whether your employees work in a call center or face to face with your customers, they still need to provide better service than your competitors. Your goal is repeat business not one time business. Training your employees can help you to achieve this goal.

You can train your employees in house, through seminars, or by using an outside firm. Whatever you choose, involve your employees by gaining they’re feedback. You’ll get better results by letting them know that their opinions and ideas matter.

7. Treat your customer service team with respect.

It is difficult for employees to treat customers well when they are treated poorly. Your working environment needs to be one of mutual respect. When this is the case, it is much easier to provide excellent customer service.

Basically, you want your employees to be treated the way you would want to be treated if you were the employee. You also want your customers to be treated the way you would want to be treated if you were a customer.

Accomplishing both of these things and using the other tips that you’ve been provided will help you to provide great customer service and increase your sales. You’ll be able to surpass your expectations for your business. You’ll be able to put yourself above your competition.

Gary Fumeaux asked:


The thing that will really help your website stand out among the crowd is the online marketing strategies that you use. You will really need to have put some serious time and effort into nutting out an online marketing strategy if you want to reach the top and stay there.

More importantly, your online marketing strategies are a key element in getting more visitors to your site and keeping them there. People are inundated with choice when it comes to sites they can visit and products they can buy. How can you make sure that they will choose your products over any of the thousands of others that are out there.

In order for you to generate a feasible and effective online marketing strategy you need to make sure you are targeting the right people, and you need to know where you are positioned in the whole market.

There are some really important points you need to work over before you can maximize your online strategies

Create Goals

It goes without saying that if you do not have goals, you do not have a direction to walk towards. If you set up some clear and concise goals, the path towards them becomes substantially clearer, you will know what you need to do, and you will have real data that can show you how close you are to achieving your goals.

The greatest goal when it comes to online marketing strategies is figuring out how to target your customer base. You need to know which customers you are going to be selling to. When you have figured this out, it is almost trivial to figure out what product you are going to offer to them. You can advertise to them by sending out promotions or google ads that will really get them in the know about your product or service.

Lastly, you can really design your website around hitting your target market. Designing the website for the market is key because it allows you to minimize anything that might confuse them or cause you to lose sales. By streamlining the process you will start to see how easy it is to maximize returns.

Get yourself out there

Again, there are thousands upon thousands of internet businesses out there all competing for similar groups of customers. How on earth can anyone tell you apart from the others that are available? In their eyes, if they have seen one, they have seen them all.

This is why you really need to distinguish yourself. It does not matter if you are offering the exact same things, the important thing is to really distinguish your website so that it seems completely different from the rest.

Really hammer the value-add aspects of what you do. Offer additional services or information to your visitors that your competition just will not have. Check out your competitors and see what they are doing, see if you can steal their ideas and improve them. Do not let your competitors get a single advantage over you.

Convenience is key

The easier it is for people to buy from you the more likely they are to buy. If you make your website simple and easy to navigate then the less stress it is on them to find their way around. Make sure your site is simple to use and has the tools you need to sell product as fast as possible. People like having things done fast.

When you think you have compiled these concepts into a solid plan, start the ball in motion, if it is not set up and planned to complete perfection then you will have wasted your effort and you will not reap the rewards. You need to be a perfectionist about your online marketing strategies, because without the dedication and effort, it will all be a total write off.

These are all great starting points, so take these and create your own fantastic online marketing strategies. The only thing limiting how well they work is how much you are willing to invest in them.

Tony Jacowski asked:


Customers are demanding quality products and services again after the turnaround from the recession of the 1980s. They can no more be seduced into buying just anything through discounts and slick marketing methods. The goal in customer satisfaction lies in making customers feel that their needs have been met. Experience with Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 rule tells us that 80% of the value of business results from only 20% of targeted efforts. This implies that keeping your current customers happy is 8-10 times cheaper/easier than gaining new customers. Get more return on your efforts by focusing on repeat customers. Here are 5 steps you can take to keep your customers happy:

1. Put Your Customer First And Identify The Best One: Customer focus is a must to begin with and no matter what you do, you are at the service of your customer. Customer service begins with your employees following this rule. Gathering customer information like birthdays, their preferences, habits, spending profiles, etc. and acting upon it paves the way for healthy interactions with them in addition to collecting feedback about your products and services. Some companies are actually using six sigma to help achieve this systematically.

2. Keep Updating Customer Data By Staying Close To Them: Customer profiles keep changing with changes to their financial and social conditions. A change in contact details or purchase preferences comes in handy in the management of customer relationships. For example, a card sent when a customer purchases their first home is certain to please the customer. This also helps adjust products and services according to customers’ expectations.

3. Categorize Customers: You can group customers broadly by their demands, specific requirements and nature. You can start doing this by asking basic questions. As expectations vary, one single product may not satisfy everyone. Different products and services may have to be developed to meet different customer needs. Many companies have used six sigma to help achieve this.

4. Pay Attention To The Little Details: Ironing out little shortcomings is a mark of perfection and catches attention of niche customers. This little extra is the thing that makes you stand out in the crowd. Customers love to identify themselves with companies that do this.

5. Communicate Positively: Communicating to target customers need not be just about your services/products. You can communicate positively midway through the service for a tip/correction or take/give a suggestion that pleases the customer. This is also perceived as an attempt to develop personalized communication and service.

If keeping customers happy is the mantra for sustaining and growing your business, this end goal is perhaps the basic purpose of six sigma methodology which many companies have effectively used to increase customer satisfaction.

Graham williams asked:


The New York Times has recently released a survey that shows customer service work at home job opportunities have increased by a large amount in United States. Customer service jobs also called call center jobs require employing agents who work at home as customer service agents. The advantage of this type of work is that it provides a steady income to single or stay-at-home parents and the physically challenged.

Customer service agent jobs vary from call handling to technical support. If you apply for such a job, you would need to have the basic essentials, like a modern computer, which has the latest operating system installed on it . You will also need a reliable internet connection, which is normally supplied buy your phone service. Excellent communication skills will be required by you to handle the various customers that you will be dealing with.

How to get a customer service work at home job?

If you wish to get a genuine customer service work at home job that will provide you with a income, then you will find that the under mentioned tips are essential for you

1. The first step in getting a work at home customer service job is to understand the type of employment that you will be applying for. This job will entail that the company hiring your services routes their incoming customer service calls to your home phone.

2. Then you must understand the type of duties that you will be required to be perform. Nearly all customer service jobs include taking and logging orders, processing transactions, providing help and assistance to customers as required by the company that has hired you, etc.

3. You will soon discover the benefits of working at home. Work at home customer service jobs are of great advantage to stay-at-home mothers, disabled people, retired seniors and college students. If you are unable to step out of your home but need to earn a income, then you can select any of the large amount customer service jobs that are available, according to your ability. Since agent hiring, training and scheduling jobs is now being conducted online, you will not even have to leave your home to get a job.

4. Once you decided to work at home, you need to do a lot of homework to select a legitimate home based customer service job. You should start by browsing through the internet to find a list of companies and websites regarding this.

5. When you find a company that fits your requirements, then submit your application and resume to the company. Always take the care to prepare the application properly and professionally, just like you would do the case of any job you apply for.

There are various benefits of doing customer service jobs at home. This is the reason why one quarter of customer service agents in North America start work at home. The convenience and independence of working at home are the two main benefits of customer service work at home jobs.

Every business requires customers and it is very important to retain an empathetic and trusting relationship with your customers. This will ensure customer commitment. Loyal customers will add to the long term success of any business and so their requirements should be dealt with as soon as possible.

This is why there is a overwhelming need for customer service agents. This is a good situation for you, as it will provide more available job opportunities. If you have the ability to do this sort of work, then you can earn a income that will fit around your circumstances.

Employing you as a work at home customer service agent, is of a great advantage to any company. As they will save money on office rent, utilities and equipment. So as you can see, customer service agent jobs benefits both the companies and the work at home agents.

Corte Swearingen asked:


If you record the date of every customer transaction in your database, you can use the power of Latency to help improve your customer retention.

Latency is simply the average amount of time between customer transactions. You’ll typically find the Latency between the 1st and 2nd purchase to be different from the 2nd & 3rd purchase, the 3rd & 4th purchase and so on.

For example, if you own a retail business and find that the average time between the 1st and 2nd purchase for all your customers  is 3 weeks, anyone taking longer than 3 weeks to make their 2nd purchase is deviating from the average customer behavior.

If you send a promotional communication to customers that have just crossed over this “2nd purchase latency” period, you have a very good chance of tipping these customers into making that all important 2nd purchase. This is a smart way of building a customer retention strategy.

Of course, not everyone will respond to a latency-based promo, but that’s simply the nature of direct marketing. The smart thing about using latency is that it helps you deliver your message to the right customer at the right time.

Start Measuring Your Customer Latencies

So, what’s the best way to start promoting to your customers based on Latency?

To keep things simple, begin by calculating the average time between the 1st & 2nd purchase of all your customers together. The, calculate the Latency between the 2nd & 3rd purchase and so on.  Here’s an example of what a latency table might look like.

Transaction &  Latencies

1st & 2nd purchase  30 days

2nd & 3rd purchase  20 days

3rd & 4th purchase   15 days

4th & 5th purchase   90 days

5th & 6th purchase   150 days

The first thing you may notice is that you have a lot of customers that purchase from you once and then never buy again. You may also find out that you don’t have a lot of customers that have purchased from you more than 3 times. That is good information to know as well. You certainly can’t design an effective customer retention strategy if you don’t know the latency characteristics of your customers.

Looking at the above table, we can say that any customer that passes the average number of days for a particular transaction, and does not make a purchase, is deviating from the average customer behavior. Sending them a promotion right after a particular latency period passes is smart marketing. It’s sending the right promotion to the right customer at the right time.

Latency Patterns

Another interesting thing you have noticed from the above latency table is that the latency decreased for each purchase up to the 4th purchase and then it drastically increased after that. If this is what my customer purchase latency table looked like, and assuming I had a lot of customers that only purchased once, I would have 3 questions to resolve.

1. Why does the latency take a drastic increase after the 4th purchase?

2.  What can I do to reduce the latency between the 4th and 5th purchase?

3.  How can I reduce the number of customers that just make a single purchase and then never come back?

Had I not created a latency table, I might have never even thought of the above questions. Now, having knowledge of my latency data, I might create a welcome package for new customers with an incentive to make a 2nd purchase.

I would also look at ways I might decrease the latency between the 4th and 5th purchase. Perhaps a larger incentive communicated at day 25 or 30.

Another advantage to using Latency data in your marketing program is that it will tell you the best time to communicate with your customers. Do you send the same marketing communication piece to all your customers regardless of where they are in the purchase cycle? Using Latency, you only promote to the customers that pass their Latency periods, allowing you to only spend when you need to.

I recommend you take a little time to monitor your customer purchase latencies. It’s the smartest and most effective way to reduce your spending while increasing your profits and customer retention.

Raj Bedi asked:


Nothing’s worse than when a situation is more confusing and complicated than it needs to be, especially when it comes to your customer service experience.

Here’s an example: Say you have just purchased a pair of shoes for a sale price. However, when the item is scanned at the counter, the sale price does not come up. The regular price does.

Now, an easy answer to this solution would be for the customer service representative to already know why this is occurring and plug the sales price in without any hassles.

However, in most cases, what happens is another customer service rep is called over the intercom while you wait in line. Ten minutes later, the two customer service reps will question you and often you will be left to return back to the item and find the price tag with the sales price.

By then you are fed up and don’t even want the shoes anymore.

This is not an easy solution and is the perfect example of poor customer service.

Make sure this doesn’t happen to your customers by always providing them with the easiest methods possible.

•    When it comes to your contact informative, ensure that your customers know how and where to contact you. Include your email address, your phone number and your business hours on all websites, emails, directories, business cards, flyers and in the store front.

Make sure your customers know that you are there to help them, no matter what.

•    Opt for a Toll Free Number for your help desk. Toll free numbers do not collect unwanted costs for your customers. Sometimes customers choose not to call simply because there is no toll free number available.

Give you customer the option of calling Toll Free to make their customer service experience as helpful as possible.

•    Offer a Simple Refund Policy. Sometimes a refund is necessary and there is nothing worse than having to jump through hoops in order to return a product.

Ensure this doesn’t happen by providing an efficient refund policy where your customers do not have to prove their purchase with several pieces of documentation.

Instead, keep records of purchases, especially large ones, in a computer system. This will simplify the process for the customers and keep them coming back for more.

•    Answer the phone yourself rather than using a large phone service system. Although they may be convenient to you, often times your customers will disagree.

A confusing phone service will leave your customer frustrated and annoyed at the lack of personal care.

Instead try to answer the phone or hire a cheerful receptionist who can effectively transfer the calls without your customers being subjected to the dreaded automated service.

The most important thing to remember is that with a simple and efficient customer service policy comes a loyal customer base.

Want to learn more? Check out Customer Service Profits for your all-access pass to how to ensure your customers are 100 percent satisfied and guaranteed to return for more.

Kevin Kielty asked:


Tips for Starting a New Online Business

One of the biggest mistakes that many businesses online and offline make is that they do not have a plan for success.  Even though it is an online business, you should still have a business plan and you should have a search marketing strategy and know that you are targeting a large enough market.  You should do searches online on Google, and Yahoo, and MSN, and see which of your competitors come up for that search term.

You should also do some market research analysis so that you know which search terms people are searching for the most.  Some search terms might only produce a couple, 10 or 20 searches a day, and other search terms might have several thousand a day.  You will need a big enough market to target because you will be sharing that market with your competitors. 

What it all comes down to in the end is that you have about 10 or 20 competitors on the front page of Google, Yahoo and MSN.  You need to do the following well, to compete with these competitors. 

1. Your website needs to have a better presentation than your competitors.  This means a more engaging demonstration of the products and services you sell.

2. You need to come up as high as possible in the search engines either through search engine marketing or paid sponsored ads also known as pay-per-click. 

3. Optimize your website so that search engines can find you organically.  This is also known as search engine optimization.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

1. They start targeting and promoting keywords before they know the value of the keywords they are promoting. 

2. When using pay-per-click advertising, they direct everyone to the front page of their website.  As much as possible, direct your ads to a detailed web page which matches up to your prospective customers search term. 

Tips for a Successful Online Advertising Campaign

1. Have a customized landing page, which takes the prospective customer to the exact product, or service page for which they are searching.  

2. To have a cost effective online marketing strategy there needs to be enough people searching for your product or service. 

For example, if someone is searching for a particular type of guitar, your ad should feature that particular type of guitar.  The more specific you are and the less searching the perspective customer has to do once they get to your web page, the more likely they are to contact you, buy your product, or take the action you want them to take. 

You will need to research which search terms or keywords are searched on more frequently than other search terms so that you can make sure that you have the largest audience possible. You can do this using Google’s keyword tool.  Doing just this small amount of market research can make the difference between success or failure of your online business venture. 

For example, if you’re selling Widget A and there’s only ten people a day in your area searching for Widget A, you are not going to be very successful.  If however, there are 100,000 people a day searching for a Widget A and you only have two competitors who also sell Widget A, then there is room for you in that market.

Google’s Keyword Tool and How to Use it

The first place to start with researching your keywords is the Google keyword tool, found here:  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.  Below are some useful features of Google’s keyword tool:

1. You can enter various phrases describing your businesses products or services into the search box.  The tool will give you results on different phrases and synonyms matching your description.  It will also tell you which search terms produce the largest amount of traffic on a monthly basis.

2. If you are targeting the entire United States then the monthly traffic column per keyword is very accurate.  If you are targeting a particular state within the United States then you would need to divide that number by the percentage of population in that state.

3. Google’s keyword tool also has a column that indicates the average cost per click for each search term.  This can be helpful for forecasting how much to price your product or service.  For example, if you are selling something for $10.00 and it costs you $10.00 to get enough people to your website before anyone buys your product then you need to rethink your pricing model.  If however, your product sells for $20.00 and it only costs you $5.00 in advertising before someone buys your product, then you have a cost effective marketing campaign. 

Other Search Engine Marketing Strategies

In addition to pay-per-click, you can pursue search engine marketing techniques such as: 

1. Article Marketing

2. Directory Marketing

3. Community Forum Marketing

4. Channel Partner Marketing

The goal of all of these marketing techniques is to get a higher search engine ranking for the search terms you are targeting.  All of the methods above include backlinks to your website.  Backlinks to your website is the number one criteria used by search engines to rank your website.

Online Market Penetration

After you have done your market research, the next thing you will want to do is to determine if it is a growing market.

One of the ways you can discover if you are in a growing market is by using Google Trends.  When using Google Trends, enter a search term which describes your business or industry into the search box and view the trend line in the results.  If the trend line is moving up then you are in a growing market.  If the trend line is moving down, then you are in a declining market.  This will give you a good indication if it would be worthwhile for you to launch your business.

Another way to tell if there is room for you in a particular market is to look at your online competitors.  Often times if their websites have not been updated in a while, it can indicate they are doing a good business.  Also, if you have to scroll down to the second or third page of the search results before you find a decent looking web page, that can indicate a large market. 

If you want a successful online business, follow these steps:  Do the market research, do a competitive analysis and research the market trends for your industry, then you will be successful in your new online business.

Chris Kemp asked:


Business landscapes are changing at a great pace with a broad spectrum of Custom Programming services. Every business generates large volumes of data that contain valuable .NET Programming provide information like individual facts about the customers, products, operations and people. By utilizing .NET Programming technology, Custom Programming Services helps your businesses to excel to great heights. With an experienced team of professionals, NYC Custom Programming services will enable you to handle large amounts of data.  NYC Custom Programming will enable you to enhance your existing Dot Net Custom Programming, C# Custom Programming, C++ Custom Programming, Vb Custom Programming and Visual Basic .Net Programming.

Custom Software Development

Custom Software development makes massive use of object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques, and libraries of re-usable code. Programs are developed in VB, C++, Java, and .NET platform languages. Oracle, Microsoft SQLServer and Sybase database managers are presently the most popular and sophisticated client server database programs. For companies whose data needs are small enough to manage with Microsoft Access, a model using Access with connection either to SQL Server, or the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) is generally recommended.

.Net Programming services

.NET Custom Programming Services enables the businesses to achieve great success. The varied advantages of .Net Programming are:

1.    .Net Programming supports directory services that can answer XML based questions.

2.    .Net Programming enables the ability to track visitors and report on the most requested web pages.

3.    .Net Programming supports different levels of authentication services such as passwords, wallets, and smart cards.

4.    .Net Programming enables easy integration of any software into the Internet.

5.    .Net Programming permits a wide variety of Internet devices to access data and applications .

NYC Custom Programming Services

NYC provides a team of extremely trained computer consultants who can develop and deliver cost effective and innovative solutions for you. NYC delivers services in the following fields:

•    Database development

•    Custom Software development

•    Financial Modeling

•    IT Consulting

•    Web Design solutions.

NYC’s Custom Software Development

NYC’s prime focus is Custom Software development and provides state-of-art services in NYC Custom Programming. NYC offers a huge variety of software for a broad spectrum of businesses, from CRM applications to accounting, to robotics and industrial, to sophisticated financial engineering programs used by global corporations. NYC uses web services to deliver processed data, either for public consumption through the company website, or privately through the company Intranet or Extranet. NYC provides expert services in the following languages:

•    .Net Technology

•    C and C++

•    Java and C#

•     Visual Basic (VB)

•     JavaScript and VBScript

•    SQLServer

•    FoxPro and dBase.

Avail quality services on NYC Custom Programming and know more about C# Custom Programming, .Net custom programming , C++ Custom Programming, Vb Custom Programming, Visual Basic .Net Programming from Paladin Consultants.

Ron Reahard asked:


With all the warnings customers get from 20/20, consumer reports and their local credit union about deceptive sales practices and “hidden profits” dealers make in the F&I department, some days it feels like there is a big yellow warning sign outside the F&I office that reads “Caution: F&I Manager Ahead!” I travel in airplanes all the time. Occasionally, I’ll get into a conversation with my seatmate. Invariably, at some point, they all ask the same question,”So, what do you do for a living?”You ought to see the look I get when I tell them I train finance managers for car dealers.You’d think I was a terrorist. Their eyes get big, they swallow hard and they start looking around for a U.S.Marshal to throw me off the plane. After a few seconds of awkward silence, they feel compelled to relate the sordid tale of the last time they bought a car, and the horrible experience they had in the F&I office.

Many complain about having been forced to wait 20 to 60 minutes just to get into the finance office. Once they are finally allowed an audience with the F&I “god,” they perceive him to be pushy, less than honest and focused on his own agenda (i.e., trying to sell them something). Often, they describe F&I managers as unprofessional and confrontational.

Even worse, if the customer doesn’t immediately agree to buy what he is selling, the F&I professional becomes downright rude.

Today’s customers don’t want to wait 30 minutes just to get into the finance office. They want the paperwork to be easy to complete and understand, and they want their questions answered. They want to deal with a knowledgeable able professional who treats them with courtesy and respect, whether they buy anything or not. Customers expect to be able to choose from a variety of financing plans and options, and they want to feel like they got a “fair deal.” They don’t want to feel pressured to buy something they don’t want.

The only way to change the customer’s perception of the financial services process, as well as the media’s perception of F&I,is by changing the way we do business. We must create a measurable difference in the mind of the customer that separates us from the competition in a positive way.

Today’s financial services professional must utilize a dialogue approach to sales, as opposed to a memorized or canned product “sales pitch.” You can’t just whip out a brochure and launch into a sales pitch if the customer isn’t interested in the product. A financial services professional must focus on the customer and their unique needs,not merely product benefits. We want to exceed customer expectations and delight customers by providing a more satisfying and enjoyable purchase experience, while increasing dealer profits through a customer-focused financial services process.

Every dealership, every customer, every sale is unique; and every F&I presentation must be tailored to that customer’s unique needs. To ensure every customer receives a thorough explanation of their options in the minimum amount of time, with the maximum chance of F&I product sales, there are four keys to ensuring a customer focused financial services experience. Let’s explore each one.

GET DOWN OFF YOUR THRONE

For a customer, going back to the F&I office is like going to see the Wizard of Oz. Remember that scene, when Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow shook and trembled as they walked down that ominous hall to see the Wizard? We can eliminate the customer’s fear of the unknown by getting down off our throne, coming out from behind the curtain and greeting them where they’re relaxed and comfortable (i.e., in the salesperson’s office).

Sometimes, greeting the customer is the hardest part of your entire presentation, especially if it’s 9:30 at night and you were supposed to get off at six. But when you have a customer, it’s “Showtime at the Apollo.” Every customer deserves a good show. The customer’s first impression of you is critical because it sets the tone for your entire interaction with that customer. Be enthusiastic. Put on a smile and have a spring in you step. Shake everyone’s hand. Get on a first name basis if at all possible. More importantly, have FUN with the customer!

Have you ever walked by a salesperson’s office and heard a customer laughing and talking? You know the next place you’ll see that customer is in your office to discuss how they’ll finance the vehicle. It’s no different in the F&I office. If you can get a customer to laugh in the first two minutes, they’ll buy F&I products!

DON’T MAKE CUSTOMERS WAIT

One of the most important things you can do to change the customer’s perception of the financial services process is to stop making them wait to come into the F&I office. Unless you already have someone in your office, there is no excuse for making a customer wait. As soon as the salesperson completes the buyer’s order or worksheet, go out and greet the customer in the salesperson’s office. Put the customer at ease immediately. Introduce yourself. Tell them who you are, what you’re going to do, how long it’s going to take, and offer them something to drink.

“Hi, I’m John Smith, the financial services anager here at ABC Motors. It’s my job to complete the paperwork for the Department of Motor Vehicles, arrange your financing,

if any, and take care of all the legal documents. This should take about 30 or 40 minutes. Before we get started, what can I get you to drink: coffee, bottled water, a soft

drink, maybe something with an umbrella in it?” The key here is to be urgent to serve -not urgent to sell!

Now it’s time to bring them back to your office. Remember, you’re not on some top secret assignment back there. So, let them see what you’re doing. Examine the buyer’s

order and let them see you verify that all the figures and information are correct. It’s also a good idea to review the customer’s statement and credit bureau report. The key here is to understand the circumstances and details surrounding any adverse credit information disclosed by the customer or the credit bureau report. And this needs to be

done prior to submitting the credit application.

Why? You need to find the reasons why this customer is a good risk to help your paper-buyer justify an approval or a changing of the tier level.

Ask open-ended, needs-discovery questions as you enter customer information into the computer to understand their wants, needs and concerns. The key is to be

genuinely interested in the customer. You can do this by engaging the customer in a conversation. Do this to find out why your customer needs your products.

Remember, if you expect a customer to be interested in what you have to say, you must first be interested in what they have to say!

CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT

Changing customer perceptions also demands a change in environment. I’ve told dealers for years to make sure there’s a distinct difference from the tiled showroom floor and the floor inside the F&I office. Often, I suggest that dealers add a one-inch pad under the carpet inside the F&I office. That way the customer knows they’ve left the sales environment once their feet touch that soft, padded carpet.

Your office must also contain a picture of your family. A customer needs to know you’re just like him or her.He or she needs to know you also have a family, a brother, a sister,

a spouse, kids, a dog and a cat. If you don’t have a family, go down to Walgreen’s and buy a frame. It’ll have a family in it.

Your office should also contain a conversation starter; something unique or unusual that will help you break the ice with the customer. It could be an autographed picture of

someone famous, a baseball or golf club. It can even be that “computer on wheels”device that helps customers understand the need to buy a vehicle service contract. A scenic picture on the wall will help relax the customer.A live plant also helps change the environment. It tells a customer a lot about you. The great thing about having a healthy plant in your office is you have to take care of it. This makes you a caregiver. A candy dish makes a customer feel welcome. It says,”We’re glad you’re here!”

Some things your office should NOT contain include manufacturer’s promotional materials or sales awards. And there should be absolutely NO product brochures

visible when they walk into your office. A brochure immediately tells a customer you’re going to try and sell them something. It’s also a ticket for the be-back bus because it

communicates the fact they don’t have to buy today. What it says is they can take the brochure home and think about it.

CHANGE THE EXPERIENCE

Selling our products isn’t something we do to someone, it’s something we do for and with them. In the F&I office, understanding a customer’s wants, needs and concerns must always precede any attempt to sell them something. Selling F&I products isn’t just about helping the dealership, it’s about helping the customer! Selling F&I products to an informed consumer depends upon your ability to find and fill his or her needs … NOT on your ability to get people to buy something they don’t want, and don’t think they need. If you’re not genuinely trying to help the customer, then the F&I process is adding no value to his or her purchase experience. If the F&I process is not adding value to the purchase experience, then it is alienating your customers. And that hurts customer satisfaction. There are two questions you need to answer: How can you ensure you’re

helping as many customers as possible, and how can you remove the pressure customers feel when going through the F&I process?

Easy … use a menu to present every product to every customer every time. Give the customer options, not sales pitches. The use of a menu can dramatically reduce the amount of time customers spend in the F&I office. A menu allows customers to select the products they want,and ask questions or voice concerns about the ones they don’t think they need. This allows us to focus on what is important to the customer, and give him or her a chance to discuss why that product may be especially important to them. Rather than “selling,” you’re simply reviewing options, and trying to help the customer make the right decision based upon their unique situation. Getting rid of that warning sign requires the F&I process to be an enjoyable part of the purchase experience.

A financial services professional must get down off his or her throne, bring that customer back to the F&I office as quickly as possible and remember the most important part of your job is to help customers. This is achieved by changing the environment, as well as changing the experience. That means helping every customer make the best decision for him or her and his or her family. If your customer doesn’t leave your office with a smile, there’s a good chance that warning sign might just be outside your office the next time he or she is looking for a vehicle. ?

Ron Reahard is president of Reahard & Associates Inc., an F&I training and consulting company. He conducted the workshops “Objections Are A Great Thing!” and “Using All The Tools In Your Toolbox!” at the 2006 F&I Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. You can contact Ron at 866 REAHARD. DEALER SATISFACTION Some things your office should NOT contain include manufacturer’s promotional materials or sales awards.