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Richard Milland asked:
is booming. You’re in cycle with an impressive number of customers and prospects, and you manage to keep them all quite happy. But, what if you could achieve even greater success without working harder?
Even better, what if you could be more productive, while actually working less?
It requires a lot of effort to manage clients via a mix of e-mails, contact info, documents, spreadsheets, and notes. It’s time-consuming and sometimes confusing. You strain to remember things that happened weeks ago. You’re forced to gather a bunch of separate documents and handwritten notes or gather information from people on your team every time you head out the door to meet with customers.
How much time and effort would you save if you could keep all of your customer information in one easy-to-access place? Would that enable you to spend more time actually doing business and less time managing it?
Many software vendors claim to possess the key to enabling this possibility. You’ve heard plenty of buzz about what PDA software, contact managers, CRM solutions, and other software solutions can do for you. But, how do you know the differences between offerings? Most importantly, how can you be sure that software can solve your business management challenges in the first place?
Time to Re-evaluate Your Day-to-Day Processes
This article is intended for individuals that are currently using paper-based records, written notes, spreadsheets, or a personal information manager (PIM), such as Microsoft® Outlook® or PDA software, to manage their business. The purpose of this article is to help you to determine if there is a better way of managing your contacts and customers and performing day-to-day business tasks.
In particular, this article highlights the differences between contact and customer management and a PIM by asking you to consider seven essential questions (which will follow in further articles). Answering yes to even one of them means that your business could benefit from transitioning to a contact and customer management solution.
What is a Personal Information Manager (PIM)?
PIMs, such as Microsoft Outlook and PDA software, were designed to help you organize basic personal computing information. They typically include an address book, calendar, and to-do list, mimicking the paper-based format of each. PIMs enable you to maintain your personal information, as well as basic information about contacts, but do not allow you to integrate information such as linking documents or e-mail communications to a contact. Some PIMs provide basic contact tracking and searching functionality. For example, a PIM may offer the ability to attach notes to a contact, but it would not provide a historical view of that relationship. Piecing together relationship histories with a PIM would require a great deal of time and patience, plus supplemental applications (such as spreadsheets or other documentation).
What is a Contact & Customer Manager?
A contact and customer manager allows you to manage all tasks and information related to developing and maintaining relationships with the people, groups, and companies with whom you do business.
Contact and customer management involves a variety of activities,
including the ability to:
Centralize critical contact and customer information and stay organized.
Manage and grow business relationships through top-notch communications.
Prioritize your work to stay on top of appointments and tasks.
Forecast and track sales opportunities for an improved bottom line.
Access and report on information quickly for a complete view of customer interactions.
Improve efficiency by integrating the applications you use every day, such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes®, and accounting applications such as QuickBooks® and Peachtree by Sage.
Access critical information on the go from Palm OS® and Pocket PC devices.
A major difference between PIMs and contact and customer management is that PIMs contain isolated (as opposed to integrated) components. For example, in a PIM you might look at a calendar appointment in one view and then separately reference your contact list for details about the person you’re meeting.
Contact and customer management provides a 360-degree view of your contact information so you don’t have to jump from one application to another to complete a task, plan your day, or execute your sales strategies.
Contact and customer management software is a tool to improve the way you build and maintain business relationships and enhance your professional image. It empowers you to focus on profitable endeavors, such as outshining your competition, by minimizing the time spent on routine tasks.
It’s an essential tool for consistently transforming contacts into customers and first-time customers into loyal relationships.
More to come……
is booming. You’re in cycle with an impressive number of customers and prospects, and you manage to keep them all quite happy. But, what if you could achieve even greater success without working harder?
Even better, what if you could be more productive, while actually working less?
It requires a lot of effort to manage clients via a mix of e-mails, contact info, documents, spreadsheets, and notes. It’s time-consuming and sometimes confusing. You strain to remember things that happened weeks ago. You’re forced to gather a bunch of separate documents and handwritten notes or gather information from people on your team every time you head out the door to meet with customers.
How much time and effort would you save if you could keep all of your customer information in one easy-to-access place? Would that enable you to spend more time actually doing business and less time managing it?
Many software vendors claim to possess the key to enabling this possibility. You’ve heard plenty of buzz about what PDA software, contact managers, CRM solutions, and other software solutions can do for you. But, how do you know the differences between offerings? Most importantly, how can you be sure that software can solve your business management challenges in the first place?
Time to Re-evaluate Your Day-to-Day Processes
This article is intended for individuals that are currently using paper-based records, written notes, spreadsheets, or a personal information manager (PIM), such as Microsoft® Outlook® or PDA software, to manage their business. The purpose of this article is to help you to determine if there is a better way of managing your contacts and customers and performing day-to-day business tasks.
In particular, this article highlights the differences between contact and customer management and a PIM by asking you to consider seven essential questions (which will follow in further articles). Answering yes to even one of them means that your business could benefit from transitioning to a contact and customer management solution.
What is a Personal Information Manager (PIM)?
PIMs, such as Microsoft Outlook and PDA software, were designed to help you organize basic personal computing information. They typically include an address book, calendar, and to-do list, mimicking the paper-based format of each. PIMs enable you to maintain your personal information, as well as basic information about contacts, but do not allow you to integrate information such as linking documents or e-mail communications to a contact. Some PIMs provide basic contact tracking and searching functionality. For example, a PIM may offer the ability to attach notes to a contact, but it would not provide a historical view of that relationship. Piecing together relationship histories with a PIM would require a great deal of time and patience, plus supplemental applications (such as spreadsheets or other documentation).
What is a Contact & Customer Manager?
A contact and customer manager allows you to manage all tasks and information related to developing and maintaining relationships with the people, groups, and companies with whom you do business.
Contact and customer management involves a variety of activities,
including the ability to:
Centralize critical contact and customer information and stay organized.
Manage and grow business relationships through top-notch communications.
Prioritize your work to stay on top of appointments and tasks.
Forecast and track sales opportunities for an improved bottom line.
Access and report on information quickly for a complete view of customer interactions.
Improve efficiency by integrating the applications you use every day, such as Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes®, and accounting applications such as QuickBooks® and Peachtree by Sage.
Access critical information on the go from Palm OS® and Pocket PC devices.
A major difference between PIMs and contact and customer management is that PIMs contain isolated (as opposed to integrated) components. For example, in a PIM you might look at a calendar appointment in one view and then separately reference your contact list for details about the person you’re meeting.
Contact and customer management provides a 360-degree view of your contact information so you don’t have to jump from one application to another to complete a task, plan your day, or execute your sales strategies.
Contact and customer management software is a tool to improve the way you build and maintain business relationships and enhance your professional image. It empowers you to focus on profitable endeavors, such as outshining your competition, by minimizing the time spent on routine tasks.
It’s an essential tool for consistently transforming contacts into customers and first-time customers into loyal relationships.
More to come……
Danny Wright asked:
Have you ever wondered what it is that has made some shopping sites so phenomenally well known in the world of sales? Yes, they have an amazing collection of products from dozens of different sellers, but more than that they offer consumers access to a consumer product review for each and every product they sell. More importantly, they offer users the chance to post their own review and share their experiences with other prospective buyers.
The advantage of a consumer product review is that the consumer never lies. By reading a consumer product review, written by a real consumer, prospective buyers have the chance to get to know a product before they sign on the dotted line-a real asset when you’re buying from a website, since unlike a real store purchases from websites can’t be picked up, tossed about or even viewed first hand before they are sold. By examining a consumer product review would-be buyers can familiarize themselves with the relative usefulness of all of the product’s features and make a choice that’s going to make them happy.
Many website owners are hesitant to add a consumer product review to their website because they are afraid of the potentially negative impact of a product receiving a poor review. What they should understand is that a product is going to be reviewed, for better or for worse, all across the Internet from the moment it’s launched. Products that receive negative reviews on multiple sites but have their praises sung on their webpage are going to sit and gather dust. Consumers aren’t going to be willing to take a chance on buying garbage.
On the other hand, a site that has a mix of consumer product reviews, both good and bad, appears to be honest. They are posting the real opinions of their real customers, and they’re not afraid to let their customers find out the truth. Customers value a company that isn’t terrified to allow a bad consumer review to stand on their site, and a site that has mixed reviews is going to receive a greater quantity of business than one that is filled with effusive praise. Customers know you can’t keep all of the people happy all of the time and any site that says it can is lying through its teeth.
Equally importantly, a customer product review space on your website provides you, the seller, with an honest evaluation of your products and services. This allows you to pull poor quality products off of the market (those that consistently receive poor reviews from your customers) and troubleshoot your products and services when necessary. It also provides you with a platform from which to start if your profits aren’t meeting your expected levels; if you’re constantly receiving complaint after complaint from your customers there can be little doubt as to why your business isn’t thriving. You can address the complaints, make changes where necessary and enjoy breathing a new spark of life back into your business
Have you ever wondered what it is that has made some shopping sites so phenomenally well known in the world of sales? Yes, they have an amazing collection of products from dozens of different sellers, but more than that they offer consumers access to a consumer product review for each and every product they sell. More importantly, they offer users the chance to post their own review and share their experiences with other prospective buyers.
The advantage of a consumer product review is that the consumer never lies. By reading a consumer product review, written by a real consumer, prospective buyers have the chance to get to know a product before they sign on the dotted line-a real asset when you’re buying from a website, since unlike a real store purchases from websites can’t be picked up, tossed about or even viewed first hand before they are sold. By examining a consumer product review would-be buyers can familiarize themselves with the relative usefulness of all of the product’s features and make a choice that’s going to make them happy.
Many website owners are hesitant to add a consumer product review to their website because they are afraid of the potentially negative impact of a product receiving a poor review. What they should understand is that a product is going to be reviewed, for better or for worse, all across the Internet from the moment it’s launched. Products that receive negative reviews on multiple sites but have their praises sung on their webpage are going to sit and gather dust. Consumers aren’t going to be willing to take a chance on buying garbage.
On the other hand, a site that has a mix of consumer product reviews, both good and bad, appears to be honest. They are posting the real opinions of their real customers, and they’re not afraid to let their customers find out the truth. Customers value a company that isn’t terrified to allow a bad consumer review to stand on their site, and a site that has mixed reviews is going to receive a greater quantity of business than one that is filled with effusive praise. Customers know you can’t keep all of the people happy all of the time and any site that says it can is lying through its teeth.
Equally importantly, a customer product review space on your website provides you, the seller, with an honest evaluation of your products and services. This allows you to pull poor quality products off of the market (those that consistently receive poor reviews from your customers) and troubleshoot your products and services when necessary. It also provides you with a platform from which to start if your profits aren’t meeting your expected levels; if you’re constantly receiving complaint after complaint from your customers there can be little doubt as to why your business isn’t thriving. You can address the complaints, make changes where necessary and enjoy breathing a new spark of life back into your business
- 0 Comments
- Tags: Consumers, Dozens, Negative Impact
John Evans asked:
You will need cross-functional sponsorship at executive level to ensure the successful delivery of a customer communications management infrastructure. We’ll talk about all the SVP roles within the business over time but for today, lets talk about the SVP of customer service and lets talk about outbound communications in this article. (I’ll cover inbound benefits in another post).
The Senior Vice President (SVP) of customer service within your business may be one of the biggest benefactors from customer communications management. In a full scale roll-out you are almost certainly going to need to enlist the SVP of Customer Services support.
Customer Communications Management will have a significant impact upon the call centre and the way that call centre operatives will work. Below I set out some of the items of discussion that you should table with the SVP of Customer Service.
Customer Correspondence and Communications (Outbound Communications)
In your first meeting with the SVP of customer service you will need to make her aware of the likely impacts of the following:
Ability to deliver ad-hoc messages to the customer via a range of channels – not just voice and not just email.
Ability for the company to control and manage the content. Standard paragraphs, greetings, thank you’s and so on. Standards of quality can be met.
The need to develop and design communication authorisation workflows.
The need to develop standard, compliant texts for insertion into letters.
The ability to give customer service centre users the ability to construct customer communications, to provide standard paragraphs and texts to suit particular situations and to have them authorised for quality and compliance prior to sending will impact key performance indicators.
The most benefits to be impacted through correspondence applications are:
The customer is assured of quality, meaningful, relevant content that addresses his needs. This will impact customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Sending relevant correspondence that resolves customers issues will likely reduce further follow up call backs to the call centre.
That by integrating into an overall enterprise customer communications management system, in the case of mail, the cost of postage will be reduced due to participation in the overall mail discount program that the document production centre will be executing.
That by integrating into the CCM system, there will be much higher levels of assurance that the mail item will leave the building – so when a customer calls and says “you didn’t send a letter” you can validate that this is not the case – perhaps important in late payment scenarios. Customer Service centre agents will be able to drill down to visual data within the Automated Document Factory reporting system and identify the individual mail piece, when it was sent and by what class of mail.
When using electronic communication channels, query resolution may be faster in fact, almost immediate. Whether a simple message, questionnaire or a short response to say something has been done such as “Your address details have been updated”, or, “Your subscription has been upgraded”. These all add to the levels of service and care that the customer gets.
All correspondence whether physical, electronic or voice can be automatically stored in the electronic document vault. The document vault will allow instant recall of documents and indeed if desired can make documents available to customers across the web. Should a customer call back, all communications whether inbound our outbound are available to the customer service agent. This will improve query resolution hugely, reducing overall call duration and it will also reduce callbacks and time and resource spent searching for documents meaning that the agent can handle more calls in a day.
Summarising the conversation with the SVP of Customer Service you can say:
Quality & Reliability of service improved – Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and in hard to differentiate businesses, retention performance.
Customers who use Instant Messaging to communicate with the customer service centre have the benefit of convenience and no long telephone waiting times.
Clarity of communication. Well thought out, clear, plain language, well articulated communication content, will reduce call centre loadings and will less likely sew further seeds of doubt in the customers mind.
There will be a direct impact upon the bottom line due to participation in mail savings programmes within the document production centre.
Customer can choose to speak to an agent without making phone calls. As well as offering convenience, anonymity and minimal interruption to the customers day, it offers a lower cost of service than by other methods of customer communication. No phone calls, no loading call queueing systems, no mail.
There will be a higher level of accountability and audit-ability overall. Tracking data, time data and authorisation data will provide evidence and proof that the company has done its job – should it be needed.
Customers will feel that they have more control over their relationship with your company – Hopefully driving repeat business and greater product portfolio buy in.
There will be a positive impact in respect of call durations and time wasted searching for documents.
For over 100 more articles like this please visit Document Projects
You will need cross-functional sponsorship at executive level to ensure the successful delivery of a customer communications management infrastructure. We’ll talk about all the SVP roles within the business over time but for today, lets talk about the SVP of customer service and lets talk about outbound communications in this article. (I’ll cover inbound benefits in another post).
The Senior Vice President (SVP) of customer service within your business may be one of the biggest benefactors from customer communications management. In a full scale roll-out you are almost certainly going to need to enlist the SVP of Customer Services support.
Customer Communications Management will have a significant impact upon the call centre and the way that call centre operatives will work. Below I set out some of the items of discussion that you should table with the SVP of Customer Service.
Customer Correspondence and Communications (Outbound Communications)
In your first meeting with the SVP of customer service you will need to make her aware of the likely impacts of the following:
Ability to deliver ad-hoc messages to the customer via a range of channels – not just voice and not just email.
Ability for the company to control and manage the content. Standard paragraphs, greetings, thank you’s and so on. Standards of quality can be met.
The need to develop and design communication authorisation workflows.
The need to develop standard, compliant texts for insertion into letters.
The ability to give customer service centre users the ability to construct customer communications, to provide standard paragraphs and texts to suit particular situations and to have them authorised for quality and compliance prior to sending will impact key performance indicators.
The most benefits to be impacted through correspondence applications are:
The customer is assured of quality, meaningful, relevant content that addresses his needs. This will impact customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Sending relevant correspondence that resolves customers issues will likely reduce further follow up call backs to the call centre.
That by integrating into an overall enterprise customer communications management system, in the case of mail, the cost of postage will be reduced due to participation in the overall mail discount program that the document production centre will be executing.
That by integrating into the CCM system, there will be much higher levels of assurance that the mail item will leave the building – so when a customer calls and says “you didn’t send a letter” you can validate that this is not the case – perhaps important in late payment scenarios. Customer Service centre agents will be able to drill down to visual data within the Automated Document Factory reporting system and identify the individual mail piece, when it was sent and by what class of mail.
When using electronic communication channels, query resolution may be faster in fact, almost immediate. Whether a simple message, questionnaire or a short response to say something has been done such as “Your address details have been updated”, or, “Your subscription has been upgraded”. These all add to the levels of service and care that the customer gets.
All correspondence whether physical, electronic or voice can be automatically stored in the electronic document vault. The document vault will allow instant recall of documents and indeed if desired can make documents available to customers across the web. Should a customer call back, all communications whether inbound our outbound are available to the customer service agent. This will improve query resolution hugely, reducing overall call duration and it will also reduce callbacks and time and resource spent searching for documents meaning that the agent can handle more calls in a day.
Summarising the conversation with the SVP of Customer Service you can say:
Quality & Reliability of service improved – Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and in hard to differentiate businesses, retention performance.
Customers who use Instant Messaging to communicate with the customer service centre have the benefit of convenience and no long telephone waiting times.
Clarity of communication. Well thought out, clear, plain language, well articulated communication content, will reduce call centre loadings and will less likely sew further seeds of doubt in the customers mind.
There will be a direct impact upon the bottom line due to participation in mail savings programmes within the document production centre.
Customer can choose to speak to an agent without making phone calls. As well as offering convenience, anonymity and minimal interruption to the customers day, it offers a lower cost of service than by other methods of customer communication. No phone calls, no loading call queueing systems, no mail.
There will be a higher level of accountability and audit-ability overall. Tracking data, time data and authorisation data will provide evidence and proof that the company has done its job – should it be needed.
Customers will feel that they have more control over their relationship with your company – Hopefully driving repeat business and greater product portfolio buy in.
There will be a positive impact in respect of call durations and time wasted searching for documents.
For over 100 more articles like this please visit Document Projects
Arun Gupta asked:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process or methodology which helps in identifying the needs and behavioral patterns of customers, eventually leading to build up a firm relationship with them. More than often, it is linked to technical components. But as a matter of fact it is a process that connects the link between customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. In simple words, CRM assists businesses in the effective use of technology as well as human resources to gain a deeper insight into customer-behaviour.
From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity, despite often interacting with a variety of employees in different roles and departments. Customer Relationship Management is a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by a company that unify its customer interaction and provides a mechanism for tracking customer information.
The objectives of a CRM strategy must consider a company’s specific situation and its customers’ needs and expectations. Information gained through CRM initiatives can support the development of marketing strategy by developing the organization’s knowledge in areas such as identifying customer segments, improving customer retention, improving product offerings (by better understanding customer needs), and by identifying the organization’s most profitable customers. Customer Relation Management strategies can vary in size, complexity, and scope. Some companies adopt this strategy only to focus on the management of a team of salespeople. However, other strategies can cover customer interaction across the entire organization. Many commercial CRM software packages provide features that serve the sales, marketing, event management, project management, and finance industries. Satyam, one of the leading IT firms in India has been applauded across the globe for its sound implementation of CRM practices.
Several commercial software packages are available, and they vary in their approach to CRM. However, as mentioned above, it is not just a technology but rather a comprehensive, customer-centric approach to an organization’s philosophy of dealing with its customers. This includes policies and processes, front-of-house service, IT services, employee training, marketing, systems and information management. Hence, it is important that any CRM implementation considerations stretch beyond technology toward the broader organizational requirements.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process or methodology which helps in identifying the needs and behavioral patterns of customers, eventually leading to build up a firm relationship with them. More than often, it is linked to technical components. But as a matter of fact it is a process that connects the link between customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. In simple words, CRM assists businesses in the effective use of technology as well as human resources to gain a deeper insight into customer-behaviour.
From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity, despite often interacting with a variety of employees in different roles and departments. Customer Relationship Management is a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by a company that unify its customer interaction and provides a mechanism for tracking customer information.
The objectives of a CRM strategy must consider a company’s specific situation and its customers’ needs and expectations. Information gained through CRM initiatives can support the development of marketing strategy by developing the organization’s knowledge in areas such as identifying customer segments, improving customer retention, improving product offerings (by better understanding customer needs), and by identifying the organization’s most profitable customers. Customer Relation Management strategies can vary in size, complexity, and scope. Some companies adopt this strategy only to focus on the management of a team of salespeople. However, other strategies can cover customer interaction across the entire organization. Many commercial CRM software packages provide features that serve the sales, marketing, event management, project management, and finance industries. Satyam, one of the leading IT firms in India has been applauded across the globe for its sound implementation of CRM practices.
Several commercial software packages are available, and they vary in their approach to CRM. However, as mentioned above, it is not just a technology but rather a comprehensive, customer-centric approach to an organization’s philosophy of dealing with its customers. This includes policies and processes, front-of-house service, IT services, employee training, marketing, systems and information management. Hence, it is important that any CRM implementation considerations stretch beyond technology toward the broader organizational requirements.
Kevin Corazza asked:
Can Poor Customer Service Lead To The Fall Of a Business?
Absolutely.
Most all marketing specialists will tell you that “The average business spends six times more to attract new customers than it does to keep old ones.” That says a lot about the importance of putting the customer first.
It has become more and more common to see customer service lacking in both small and large businesses. The business either is growing faster than they can provide training to their employees, or the company is not established on the right qualities.
This has become such a problem that there are many experts and authors that try to offer paid or free advice and tips. There is an article by Jill Homer titled “Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service”.
Jill describes the typical scene where a customer steps into a store and wants to know where to find a certain product. In the example, the employee is busy and does not want to be bothered, and so gives the customer a short answer and continues whatever she is doing without even giving the customer eye contact.
The customer kindly persists, and so with obvious annoyance in the voice, the employee begrudgingly turns around and points the customer in the general direction of the product’s location. But instead of purchasing the product, the customer leaves the store, frustrated, vowing to never return again.
Jill goes on in her article to give some tips on how to train yourself and your employees to have a different way of thinking and acting that will put the customer first.
Art Waller, Regional Department Head for Utah State University says to “Never, never, never ignore a customer”.
I can think of a lot of examples of where I was either personally given poor customer service or heard from a friend of mine about an example of poor customer service. I always check the internet reviews of any hotel before I stay there and if there are a lot of negative reviews, there is no way that I would stay there. But any business can shoot itself in the foot by providing poor customer service, especially in this day and age of the internet.
I will not point out more than a couple of examples, since I am sure we have all seen someone get burned at one time or another, but one example that I found online with a quick search online was of a customer who was cheated of their money through a company called Medtexx, where the company was unwilling to provide a refund when the customer did not like being swindled. But the company wanted to keep the money instead… which will probably lead to their eventual downfall. Apparently this person was not the only dissatisfied customer, according to the BBB reports for the past couple years. If your company or business were to be this far in the danger zone, then the best thing that you can do is to go back to those customers that you wronged and personally try to make amends and see how you can make it up to them to make them happy.
I purchased auto parts through one site on the internet where I would most definitely return, just because they bent over backwards to answer any of my questions and they even called me up to follow up with my order a month later.
One of the very most critical points of a successful business is good customer service. Utah State University showed recent findings in customer service. The average business only hears from about 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96 percent quietly go away.
This is quite dangerous for any business because if a dissatisfied customer can not share their complaints with the business, then they will share them through other means such as friends, family and neighbors.
Statistics show that the average dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about their problem. One in five of those will share that with 20 others. So you can see how repeated offenses of poor customer service can quickly snowball into the downfall of a business.
It does not matter if you are the owner of a large utility company, a popular soft drink company, an airline, a sports store, or of a start-up hot dog stand, customer service should be of your utmost concern. All too often, we see where an employee just decides to ignore a dissatisfied customer with the hope that it will just go away. The employee mistakenly thinks “oh well, what is the loss of one customer?” However, the problem is that poor customer service, just like good customer service, will be shared with all of their friends until the business fails or flourishes.
Can Poor Customer Service Lead To The Fall Of a Business?
Absolutely.
Most all marketing specialists will tell you that “The average business spends six times more to attract new customers than it does to keep old ones.” That says a lot about the importance of putting the customer first.
It has become more and more common to see customer service lacking in both small and large businesses. The business either is growing faster than they can provide training to their employees, or the company is not established on the right qualities.
This has become such a problem that there are many experts and authors that try to offer paid or free advice and tips. There is an article by Jill Homer titled “Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service”.
Jill describes the typical scene where a customer steps into a store and wants to know where to find a certain product. In the example, the employee is busy and does not want to be bothered, and so gives the customer a short answer and continues whatever she is doing without even giving the customer eye contact.
The customer kindly persists, and so with obvious annoyance in the voice, the employee begrudgingly turns around and points the customer in the general direction of the product’s location. But instead of purchasing the product, the customer leaves the store, frustrated, vowing to never return again.
Jill goes on in her article to give some tips on how to train yourself and your employees to have a different way of thinking and acting that will put the customer first.
Art Waller, Regional Department Head for Utah State University says to “Never, never, never ignore a customer”.
I can think of a lot of examples of where I was either personally given poor customer service or heard from a friend of mine about an example of poor customer service. I always check the internet reviews of any hotel before I stay there and if there are a lot of negative reviews, there is no way that I would stay there. But any business can shoot itself in the foot by providing poor customer service, especially in this day and age of the internet.
I will not point out more than a couple of examples, since I am sure we have all seen someone get burned at one time or another, but one example that I found online with a quick search online was of a customer who was cheated of their money through a company called Medtexx, where the company was unwilling to provide a refund when the customer did not like being swindled. But the company wanted to keep the money instead… which will probably lead to their eventual downfall. Apparently this person was not the only dissatisfied customer, according to the BBB reports for the past couple years. If your company or business were to be this far in the danger zone, then the best thing that you can do is to go back to those customers that you wronged and personally try to make amends and see how you can make it up to them to make them happy.
I purchased auto parts through one site on the internet where I would most definitely return, just because they bent over backwards to answer any of my questions and they even called me up to follow up with my order a month later.
One of the very most critical points of a successful business is good customer service. Utah State University showed recent findings in customer service. The average business only hears from about 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers. The other 96 percent quietly go away.
This is quite dangerous for any business because if a dissatisfied customer can not share their complaints with the business, then they will share them through other means such as friends, family and neighbors.
Statistics show that the average dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about their problem. One in five of those will share that with 20 others. So you can see how repeated offenses of poor customer service can quickly snowball into the downfall of a business.
It does not matter if you are the owner of a large utility company, a popular soft drink company, an airline, a sports store, or of a start-up hot dog stand, customer service should be of your utmost concern. All too often, we see where an employee just decides to ignore a dissatisfied customer with the hope that it will just go away. The employee mistakenly thinks “oh well, what is the loss of one customer?” However, the problem is that poor customer service, just like good customer service, will be shared with all of their friends until the business fails or flourishes.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: First Art, Short Answer, Typical Scene
Naman Jain asked:
A few years ago the field of online marketing was not so wide spread as it is today. People earlier were hesitant to begin an online career as they were doubtful about its scope. Also, online interaction was quite limited and expensive too. Most of the net based services were paid and users, were extremely suspicious of transacting online. Unlike those days. Internet today, has become a friend to the world. It guides users from one point to another, helps them gather information, and also helps them earn money and do business. The biggest advantage of this advancement of the internet is the facility of online marketing.
Companies are gradually realizing the importance of online marketing and are promoting their brands rigorously in the web. The movement is so wide spread that almost everything under the sky is now being promoted in the web through online marketing. Different modes of online marketing are used to promote the websites, that belong to different verticals. Some of the techniques that are applied to market these things online include, Blogging, article marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing, PPC campaigns, banner advertising.
Online marketing is proving beneficial not only to the marketers as a great source of lead generation, but is also beneficial to the users, who are happy to get everything in just a click. From business to socializing, to shopping everything is now being done online. Where there are numerous sites for socializing, where users can not only reconnect with their lost pals, but can also make new friends, community building and open forums for discussions are some of the social features that are being used for online marketing in a lighter note.
On the other hand, websites dedicated to buying and selling of goods have helped in creating a completely new market place, better known as the online market. Considering the rapid popularity that the field has acquired, in a remarkable time period, website owners that require user information for further interaction are now bound to secure their critical information. Any defamation in the same are thereby handled by these websites themselves. The scope of online marketing is wide spread and is expected to improve further in the years to come.
A few years ago the field of online marketing was not so wide spread as it is today. People earlier were hesitant to begin an online career as they were doubtful about its scope. Also, online interaction was quite limited and expensive too. Most of the net based services were paid and users, were extremely suspicious of transacting online. Unlike those days. Internet today, has become a friend to the world. It guides users from one point to another, helps them gather information, and also helps them earn money and do business. The biggest advantage of this advancement of the internet is the facility of online marketing.
Companies are gradually realizing the importance of online marketing and are promoting their brands rigorously in the web. The movement is so wide spread that almost everything under the sky is now being promoted in the web through online marketing. Different modes of online marketing are used to promote the websites, that belong to different verticals. Some of the techniques that are applied to market these things online include, Blogging, article marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing, PPC campaigns, banner advertising.
Online marketing is proving beneficial not only to the marketers as a great source of lead generation, but is also beneficial to the users, who are happy to get everything in just a click. From business to socializing, to shopping everything is now being done online. Where there are numerous sites for socializing, where users can not only reconnect with their lost pals, but can also make new friends, community building and open forums for discussions are some of the social features that are being used for online marketing in a lighter note.
On the other hand, websites dedicated to buying and selling of goods have helped in creating a completely new market place, better known as the online market. Considering the rapid popularity that the field has acquired, in a remarkable time period, website owners that require user information for further interaction are now bound to secure their critical information. Any defamation in the same are thereby handled by these websites themselves. The scope of online marketing is wide spread and is expected to improve further in the years to come.
Jas asked:
Car financing has taken a new spin with regard to providing investment for buying a car. So, how do you finance a car? If this question leaves you baffled, then you have to go a long way in the process of buying a car. The term ‘financing’ in relation to buying a car connotes either rendering loan to buy the car or lease the car to you. You are probably concentrating on the former meaning. Many people are in favour of talking car finance from dealership for it seems like a convenient option. It seems easy; you select a car, fill out a credit application, and drive away with your car – all in a day’s work. Car finance through dealership will give you car finance on weekends and even at nights when other banks and credit unions are closed.
Seems convenient, isn’t it? But there is a catch. The dealer will be certainly charging you more for your car finance. Usually car buyers are overcharged by 3% on their car finance. A great number of complaints about car financing are related to dealers. 0% APR is not only attractive but lures the buyers to acquire up car finance not meditating if it is feasible for them. There are very few people who can actually get a 0% APR. Thus car finance deals usually fall midway thereby making car finance experience an extremely distressing one. You are buying a new car and probably for the first time, you certainly want it to compliment your enthusiasm. There are few elementary things that need to be kept in mind before taking that crucial primeval step in car buying.
First and foremost in car buying and financing is checking your credit score before you apply for a car loan. Many people are unaware of the fact that they even have a credit score. You can expediently check your credit score online. So, if you have bad credit history then probably you will be paying more interest rate for your car finance. If your credit score drops below 550, then probably apply for new car finance is not such a good idea. First repair you credit score. Repairing credit score requires little effort, helps you repay your debt and retain your credit report. Online car finance companies can get you car finance loan even if your credit score is lower than required. Your car finance loan can get approved in minutes. Online car finance companies have revolutionized car finance procedure. With lowest online car finance rates, no application fees, or down payments car finance companies provide a formidable competition to car dealers. Car finance companies have set a standard for providing car finance that is worth opting for.
Read more on
http://myfreeinfo4u.com/finance/car_finance_places_you_on_the_top_gear_while_buying_a_car.html
Car financing has taken a new spin with regard to providing investment for buying a car. So, how do you finance a car? If this question leaves you baffled, then you have to go a long way in the process of buying a car. The term ‘financing’ in relation to buying a car connotes either rendering loan to buy the car or lease the car to you. You are probably concentrating on the former meaning. Many people are in favour of talking car finance from dealership for it seems like a convenient option. It seems easy; you select a car, fill out a credit application, and drive away with your car – all in a day’s work. Car finance through dealership will give you car finance on weekends and even at nights when other banks and credit unions are closed.
Seems convenient, isn’t it? But there is a catch. The dealer will be certainly charging you more for your car finance. Usually car buyers are overcharged by 3% on their car finance. A great number of complaints about car financing are related to dealers. 0% APR is not only attractive but lures the buyers to acquire up car finance not meditating if it is feasible for them. There are very few people who can actually get a 0% APR. Thus car finance deals usually fall midway thereby making car finance experience an extremely distressing one. You are buying a new car and probably for the first time, you certainly want it to compliment your enthusiasm. There are few elementary things that need to be kept in mind before taking that crucial primeval step in car buying.
First and foremost in car buying and financing is checking your credit score before you apply for a car loan. Many people are unaware of the fact that they even have a credit score. You can expediently check your credit score online. So, if you have bad credit history then probably you will be paying more interest rate for your car finance. If your credit score drops below 550, then probably apply for new car finance is not such a good idea. First repair you credit score. Repairing credit score requires little effort, helps you repay your debt and retain your credit report. Online car finance companies can get you car finance loan even if your credit score is lower than required. Your car finance loan can get approved in minutes. Online car finance companies have revolutionized car finance procedure. With lowest online car finance rates, no application fees, or down payments car finance companies provide a formidable competition to car dealers. Car finance companies have set a standard for providing car finance that is worth opting for.
Read more on
http://myfreeinfo4u.com/finance/car_finance_places_you_on_the_top_gear_while_buying_a_car.html
Ben Gannon asked:
Are you searching for some bucks to meet your debts, are you in need of money because you have a home repair ahead? Or you may be in need of money because of certain business need. Well, all these needs require you to have money and that you may not have in your pocket. So, are you interested in finance scheme? Just don’t go by any finance scheme for this. There is cheap personal finance available for any of these purposes.
Cheap Personal Finance is available for any of the above mentioned needs. Well, you can also buy a car or can go for a holiday with the aid of cheap personal finance. As most of these needs are personal in nature, they have termed this finance as cheap personal finance.
Cheap personal finance is available at affordable rates of interest, indeed, at cheap rates because there is the collateral pledging in the secured cheap personal finance. Collateral makes your go cheap because it assures the lender that his money will be paid back timely. In lieu of this, he advances the cheap personal finance at cheap rates. Cheap personal finance of secured tag is available for a term of 5 years to 25 years while the amount varies between £ 5000 and £ 75000.
Yet, there is another type that sparks another luminous side of cheap personal finance. It is the unsecured options of cheap personal finance, where you are not pledge any collateral for the money. Here, you can grab the amount ranging between £ 1000 and £ 25000. The term for the advance of this finance goes up to 10 years from 1 year. Cheap personal finance is available for the bad credit holders also. Only they have to pay slightly higher rates of interest.
Well, cheap personal finance is available online where every click of your mouse makes your move smoother and this also works to make the finance scheme cheap enough. Applying online is free and one has to fill in only a small application form to apply. Personal finance becomes cheap here because there are more choices you have here. Cheap personal finance is real cheap as the lender claim and the one who chooses this, is sure to earn a rainbow.
Are you searching for some bucks to meet your debts, are you in need of money because you have a home repair ahead? Or you may be in need of money because of certain business need. Well, all these needs require you to have money and that you may not have in your pocket. So, are you interested in finance scheme? Just don’t go by any finance scheme for this. There is cheap personal finance available for any of these purposes.
Cheap Personal Finance is available for any of the above mentioned needs. Well, you can also buy a car or can go for a holiday with the aid of cheap personal finance. As most of these needs are personal in nature, they have termed this finance as cheap personal finance.
Cheap personal finance is available at affordable rates of interest, indeed, at cheap rates because there is the collateral pledging in the secured cheap personal finance. Collateral makes your go cheap because it assures the lender that his money will be paid back timely. In lieu of this, he advances the cheap personal finance at cheap rates. Cheap personal finance of secured tag is available for a term of 5 years to 25 years while the amount varies between £ 5000 and £ 75000.
Yet, there is another type that sparks another luminous side of cheap personal finance. It is the unsecured options of cheap personal finance, where you are not pledge any collateral for the money. Here, you can grab the amount ranging between £ 1000 and £ 25000. The term for the advance of this finance goes up to 10 years from 1 year. Cheap personal finance is available for the bad credit holders also. Only they have to pay slightly higher rates of interest.
Well, cheap personal finance is available online where every click of your mouse makes your move smoother and this also works to make the finance scheme cheap enough. Applying online is free and one has to fill in only a small application form to apply. Personal finance becomes cheap here because there are more choices you have here. Cheap personal finance is real cheap as the lender claim and the one who chooses this, is sure to earn a rainbow.
- 0 Comments
- Tags: 10 Years, Bad Credit, Collateral
Mark Evans asked:
You will need cross-functional sponsorship at executive level to ensure the successful delivery of a customer communications management infrastructure. We’ll talk about all the SVP roles within the business over time but for today, lets talk about the SVP of customer service and lets talk about outbound communications in this article. (I’ll cover inbound benefits in another post).
The Senior Vice President (SVP) of customer service within your business may be one of the biggest benefactors from customer communications management. In a full scale roll-out you are almost certainly going to need to enlist the SVP of Customer Services support.
Customer Communications Management will have a significant impact upon the call centre and the way that call centre operatives will work. Below I set out some of the items of discussion that you should table with the SVP of Customer Service.
Customer Correspondence and Communications (Outbound Communications)
In your first meeting with the SVP of customer service you will need to make her aware of the likely impacts of the following:
Ability to deliver ad-hoc messages to the customer via a range of channels – not just voice and not just email.
Ability for the company to control and manage the content. Standard paragraphs, greetings, thank you’s and so on. Standards of quality can be met.
The need to develop and design communication authorisation workflows.
The need to develop standard, compliant texts for insertion into letters.
The ability to give customer service centre users the ability to construct customer communications, to provide standard paragraphs and texts to suit particular situations and to have them authorised for quality and compliance prior to sending will impact key performance indicators.
The most benefits to be impacted through correspondence applications are:
The customer is assured of quality, meaningful, relevant content that addresses his needs. This will impact customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Sending relevant correspondence that resolves customers issues will likely reduce further follow up call backs to the call centre.
That by integrating into an overall enterprise customer communications management system, in the case of mail, the cost of postage will be reduced due to participation in the overall mail discount program that the document production centre will be executing.
That by integrating into the CCM system, there will be much higher levels of assurance that the mail item will leave the building – so when a customer calls and says "you didn’t send a letter" you can validate that this is not the case – perhaps important in late payment scenarios. Customer Service centre agents will be able to drill down to visual data within the Automated Document Factory reporting system and identify the individual mail piece, when it was sent and by what class of mail.
When using electronic communication channels, query resolution may be faster in fact, almost immediate. Whether a simple message, questionnaire or a short response to say something has been done such as "Your address details have been updated", or, "Your subscription has been upgraded". These all add to the levels of service and care that the customer gets.
All correspondence whether physical, electronic or voice can be automatically stored in the electronic document vault. The document vault will allow instant recall of documents and indeed if desired can make documents available to customers across the web. Should a customer call back, all communications whether inbound our outbound are available to the customer service agent. This will improve query resolution hugely, reducing overall call duration and it will also reduce callbacks and time and resource spent searching for documents meaning that the agent can handle more calls in a day.
Summarising the conversation with the SVP of Customer Service you can say:
Quality & Reliability of service improved – Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and in hard to differentiate businesses, retention performance.
Customers who use Instant Messaging to communicate with the customer service centre have the benefit of convenience and no long telephone waiting times.
Clarity of communication. Well thought out, clear, plain language, well articulated communication content, will reduce call centre loadings and will less likely sew further seeds of doubt in the customers mind.
There will be a direct impact upon the bottom line due to participation in mail savings programmes within the document production centre.
Customer can choose to speak to an agent without making phone calls. As well as offering convenience, anonymity and minimal interruption to the customers day, it offers a lower cost of service than by other methods of customer communication. No phone calls, no loading call queueing systems, no mail.
There will be a higher level of accountability and audit-ability overall. Tracking data, time data and authorisation data will provide evidence and proof that the company has done its job – should it be needed.
Customers will feel that they have more control over their relationship with your company – Hopefully driving repeat business and greater product portfolio buy in.
There will be a positive impact in respect of call durations and time wasted searching for documents.
Hope this helps with that first meeting!
For further information and more articles like this please visit Document">http://documentprojects.wordpress.com">Document Projects.
You will need cross-functional sponsorship at executive level to ensure the successful delivery of a customer communications management infrastructure. We’ll talk about all the SVP roles within the business over time but for today, lets talk about the SVP of customer service and lets talk about outbound communications in this article. (I’ll cover inbound benefits in another post).
The Senior Vice President (SVP) of customer service within your business may be one of the biggest benefactors from customer communications management. In a full scale roll-out you are almost certainly going to need to enlist the SVP of Customer Services support.
Customer Communications Management will have a significant impact upon the call centre and the way that call centre operatives will work. Below I set out some of the items of discussion that you should table with the SVP of Customer Service.
Customer Correspondence and Communications (Outbound Communications)
In your first meeting with the SVP of customer service you will need to make her aware of the likely impacts of the following:
Ability to deliver ad-hoc messages to the customer via a range of channels – not just voice and not just email.
Ability for the company to control and manage the content. Standard paragraphs, greetings, thank you’s and so on. Standards of quality can be met.
The need to develop and design communication authorisation workflows.
The need to develop standard, compliant texts for insertion into letters.
The ability to give customer service centre users the ability to construct customer communications, to provide standard paragraphs and texts to suit particular situations and to have them authorised for quality and compliance prior to sending will impact key performance indicators.
The most benefits to be impacted through correspondence applications are:
The customer is assured of quality, meaningful, relevant content that addresses his needs. This will impact customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Sending relevant correspondence that resolves customers issues will likely reduce further follow up call backs to the call centre.
That by integrating into an overall enterprise customer communications management system, in the case of mail, the cost of postage will be reduced due to participation in the overall mail discount program that the document production centre will be executing.
That by integrating into the CCM system, there will be much higher levels of assurance that the mail item will leave the building – so when a customer calls and says "you didn’t send a letter" you can validate that this is not the case – perhaps important in late payment scenarios. Customer Service centre agents will be able to drill down to visual data within the Automated Document Factory reporting system and identify the individual mail piece, when it was sent and by what class of mail.
When using electronic communication channels, query resolution may be faster in fact, almost immediate. Whether a simple message, questionnaire or a short response to say something has been done such as "Your address details have been updated", or, "Your subscription has been upgraded". These all add to the levels of service and care that the customer gets.
All correspondence whether physical, electronic or voice can be automatically stored in the electronic document vault. The document vault will allow instant recall of documents and indeed if desired can make documents available to customers across the web. Should a customer call back, all communications whether inbound our outbound are available to the customer service agent. This will improve query resolution hugely, reducing overall call duration and it will also reduce callbacks and time and resource spent searching for documents meaning that the agent can handle more calls in a day.
Summarising the conversation with the SVP of Customer Service you can say:
Quality & Reliability of service improved – Customer Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty and in hard to differentiate businesses, retention performance.
Customers who use Instant Messaging to communicate with the customer service centre have the benefit of convenience and no long telephone waiting times.
Clarity of communication. Well thought out, clear, plain language, well articulated communication content, will reduce call centre loadings and will less likely sew further seeds of doubt in the customers mind.
There will be a direct impact upon the bottom line due to participation in mail savings programmes within the document production centre.
Customer can choose to speak to an agent without making phone calls. As well as offering convenience, anonymity and minimal interruption to the customers day, it offers a lower cost of service than by other methods of customer communication. No phone calls, no loading call queueing systems, no mail.
There will be a higher level of accountability and audit-ability overall. Tracking data, time data and authorisation data will provide evidence and proof that the company has done its job – should it be needed.
Customers will feel that they have more control over their relationship with your company – Hopefully driving repeat business and greater product portfolio buy in.
There will be a positive impact in respect of call durations and time wasted searching for documents.
Hope this helps with that first meeting!
For further information and more articles like this please visit Document">http://documentprojects.wordpress.com">Document Projects.
Michael Briones asked:
Considering all things being equal, why is it that some companies flourish in the face of adversity while others crumble? Studies have proven that it is not because a company offers a lower price, or even a better product for that matter. The truth is, customers simply prefer to shop at places where they are given the attention they feel they deserve, and more. Business innovation, concepts, strategies and trends will always undergo fluctuation, but one thing that remains constant and has always remained constant is consumers’ need for satisfaction. And if there was just one reason why quality customer service is of utmost importance, it is that customers are the lifeblood of every business.
So, why is that many companies still don’t get it? Why is it that many business books ago and many business books today, which continue to emphasize the importance of providing quality customer service, fail to convince many businesses to take it seriously? It’s a fact that companies can spend millions of dollars in customer research and CRM, but all that data comes to naught if customers can’t enjoy a positive emotional experience from a business transaction.
Customers have grown to expect quality customer service wherever it is that they shop at, or eat at. Customers expect nothing less. Satisfaction, to them has to be part of a business’s overall package. You can make a feeble attempt at trying to blame this on customers being spoilt for choice, with so many products and choices constantly being made available to them. But, who are we trying to kid. This is the reality of today’s economics of commerce and companies that can’t deliver quality customer service will unfortunately pay the price.
If there are still doubts as to the importance of providing quality customer service, then turn your attention to a tool that in the hands of a dissatisfied customer, can be portentous. This tool, known famously as the Internet, has provided a platform for customers to publicly name and shame companies for delivering less than favorable customer service. The weapons of choice for customers are usually in the form of blogs, forums, podcasts and videos uploaded to YouTube, or social networking sites like MySpace. This is the type of negative word-of-mouth marketing that no company can afford to bear, as the viral nature of the Internet can tear down a company’s reputation built over many years, in only a matter of hours.
So, what can companies do today to consistently deliver quality customer service and potentially avoid an otherwise public online humiliation? Well, for a start, get the basics of customer service right. That means putting the human touch back into customer service.
Using the human touch to deliver quality customer service isn’t complicated. All it takes is a genuine smile, a simple greeting, and the desire to give the customer whatever he or she wants without fuss. That’s usually all it takes to deliver a service that leaves the customer completely satisfied.
But, why stop there when you can put the “Wow” back into customer service? Putting the “Wow” into your service means breaking free from the standard deliverance of customer satisfaction and personalizing your service, tailored specifically for each customer. Talk about making your customer feel special, this is the way to doing it.
It’s this “Wow” factor that will fatten your bottom line even when the going is tough. It’s this “Wow” factor that can set you apart from your competitors, where nothing else differentiates your business from theirs. How difficult is it to send out an email to your customers on their birthdays, acknowledging their special day from someone they least expect to hear from? How many other companies are doing this? Not many, that’s for sure.
Businesses may have gotten away with rotten customer service decades ago and escaped with their reputation intact. But times have changed. The new economics of commerce demands that customers be given the attention that they deserve. This is not a bad thing, because if you’re able to keep your customers coming back for more, you’ll be in a very enviable position of sustained growth.
Considering all things being equal, why is it that some companies flourish in the face of adversity while others crumble? Studies have proven that it is not because a company offers a lower price, or even a better product for that matter. The truth is, customers simply prefer to shop at places where they are given the attention they feel they deserve, and more. Business innovation, concepts, strategies and trends will always undergo fluctuation, but one thing that remains constant and has always remained constant is consumers’ need for satisfaction. And if there was just one reason why quality customer service is of utmost importance, it is that customers are the lifeblood of every business.
So, why is that many companies still don’t get it? Why is it that many business books ago and many business books today, which continue to emphasize the importance of providing quality customer service, fail to convince many businesses to take it seriously? It’s a fact that companies can spend millions of dollars in customer research and CRM, but all that data comes to naught if customers can’t enjoy a positive emotional experience from a business transaction.
Customers have grown to expect quality customer service wherever it is that they shop at, or eat at. Customers expect nothing less. Satisfaction, to them has to be part of a business’s overall package. You can make a feeble attempt at trying to blame this on customers being spoilt for choice, with so many products and choices constantly being made available to them. But, who are we trying to kid. This is the reality of today’s economics of commerce and companies that can’t deliver quality customer service will unfortunately pay the price.
If there are still doubts as to the importance of providing quality customer service, then turn your attention to a tool that in the hands of a dissatisfied customer, can be portentous. This tool, known famously as the Internet, has provided a platform for customers to publicly name and shame companies for delivering less than favorable customer service. The weapons of choice for customers are usually in the form of blogs, forums, podcasts and videos uploaded to YouTube, or social networking sites like MySpace. This is the type of negative word-of-mouth marketing that no company can afford to bear, as the viral nature of the Internet can tear down a company’s reputation built over many years, in only a matter of hours.
So, what can companies do today to consistently deliver quality customer service and potentially avoid an otherwise public online humiliation? Well, for a start, get the basics of customer service right. That means putting the human touch back into customer service.
Using the human touch to deliver quality customer service isn’t complicated. All it takes is a genuine smile, a simple greeting, and the desire to give the customer whatever he or she wants without fuss. That’s usually all it takes to deliver a service that leaves the customer completely satisfied.
But, why stop there when you can put the “Wow” back into customer service? Putting the “Wow” into your service means breaking free from the standard deliverance of customer satisfaction and personalizing your service, tailored specifically for each customer. Talk about making your customer feel special, this is the way to doing it.
It’s this “Wow” factor that will fatten your bottom line even when the going is tough. It’s this “Wow” factor that can set you apart from your competitors, where nothing else differentiates your business from theirs. How difficult is it to send out an email to your customers on their birthdays, acknowledging their special day from someone they least expect to hear from? How many other companies are doing this? Not many, that’s for sure.
Businesses may have gotten away with rotten customer service decades ago and escaped with their reputation intact. But times have changed. The new economics of commerce demands that customers be given the attention that they deserve. This is not a bad thing, because if you’re able to keep your customers coming back for more, you’ll be in a very enviable position of sustained growth.
