John Thomas asked:


Almost always, the size of a business depends on its advertising potential; see Coke and Pepsi. However, giving out customized promotional merchandise is fast coming up as a cheaper and more efficient way.

Giving customized promotional merchandise combines the satisfaction of gaining customer satisfaction along with offering effective advertising solution. These can be given to clients, prospective clients and even employees for their good performance and support to the organization.

These promotional merchandise can range from everyday items like pens, notebooks, pencils, calendars, t-shirts, mouse pads, caps and hats to the more imaginative photo frames, golf balls, personalized chocolates, desktop accessories, digital clocks, USB’s and bobble head markers. The only catch is that any promotional merchandise should clearly have the name and logo of the company which is distributing them.

The company which gives out customized promotional merchandise is directly advertised when these products are used by an individual and comes to the forefront as compared to competition. The company indirectly appreciates an individual by giving a gift while promoting itself as a generous organization. These items are much cheaper than airtime on television or radio, and therefore, advertising works out to be much cheaper. The biggest advantage is that advertising is concentrated to almost the exact clientele and is very direct.

The user will use a product if and only if it is classy and useful. Therefore special care has to be taken as to the kind of gift to be given. A high profile executive may not use a pen given by your organization but would definitely flaunt a customized golf ball marker when he goes to play golf. Similarly a mid level employee who may not be allowed to bring a USB inside the office would use it probably only at his home, which reduces the advertising potential. Therefore the kind of product the organization decides to give is important if it wants it to be accepted and appreciated by most. It is essential to determine the demographics of the internal customer while zeroing in either one or a number of different customized products.

Most companies think of giving gifts to employees only as an afterthought. This is something that needs to change as a motivated mediocre employee can do much more for an organization as compared to a de-motivated brilliant employee. A small “Thank you for being there” gift can go a long way in building employee morale. The ideal situation is that companies should recognize their best performers at least once a year with Customized Promotional Merchandise. This may include special trophies with names or custom made mugs with pictures of employees. All this does not cost much and really helps in building goodwill for your organization.

A company should not overdo giving of gifts as they are meant to be given only once in a while or certain individuals may react to them negatively. A few occasions when gifts can be handed out without eyebrows being raised would be conferences, events and festivals like Christmas.

Customized promotional merchandise is a very powerful tool in the hands of organizations looking for increasing their business. These have the ability and power to convert prospective clients to clients and infrequent clients into regular clients. Its effect on increasing business is incredible whereas the cost associated is almost negligible.

Praveen Kumar Tumma asked:


1.Be professional and polite: We all know that First Impression is Best Impression, so make it as best as possible. Lot of times we make some conclusions about people or the organisations within sometime after doing some interactions with them. Make your employees to be professional in handling customers and also polite. Provide them with adequate training and support in this area. This will not only boost their confidence but also helps make you more business efficiently.  

2.Be Knowledgeable of products or services: I have seen many times that the front-desk employees do not have enough knowledge about the products and services and when a customer enquires about them, either you will get the wrong information or no information related to it. Keeping your employees knowledgeable of your products or services, especially those who are interacting with customers like sales people and customer service personnel is very important if you want to deliver good customer service.

3.Consistently following the procedures and policies: Ensure the employees who are constantly interacting with outside customers follow the procedures and policies of your organisation like refund policies, warranty and guarantee policies, etc. In failing to do so, will cause unnecessary misunderstandings, chaos and other problems leading to poor customer satisfaction. Provide the employees with right set of tools and train them how to use those tools. You will have little time to provide the requested information to the customer, so make sure you have all the right tools and right training.

 4.Immediate resolution of complaints: It is very critical that you provide the solution to the Customers complaints as soon as possible. A poor timeline for resolution of problems of customers will lead to significant damage to company’s reputation and image, which will cause serious trouble to your business. Also document the complaints and their solutions for future reference, so that you can resolve those problems, if they resurface in future, immediately rather than reinventing the wheel.

 5.Taking feedbacks and putting them into action: The best way to improve your customer service and keep a touch with customers is to ask for feedback about your company, products and services. This way you not only know where you are lacking but also gets new insights about the expectations of the customers. Many organisations follow this method to stay competitive and improve their processes and products.

 6.Keep it Simple:Simplicity is the way to go in today’s businesses. You can see this approach in every business today. Take for example ipod, it has become popular mainly due to its simplicity in use. People love simple and good design products. Make your procedures and processes simple so that customers do not go through the complex processes to contact a customer service personnel or order a product or enquire about a product.

 Use the principle KISS: Keep it Short and Simple. Or in a funny way: Keep it Simple, Stupid.:) 

At the end I would like to conclude that it is not easy to accomplish the above strategies without the use the technology in today businesses. Invest in the appropriate technologies with clear goals as much as you can and you reap the benefits many more times than your investment (High ROI, Return on Investment). Providing a great customer service is only first step and to have you business growing you need to have Loyal customers, and you can check out 7 Ways to increase your customer loyalty.

 Follow the above steps and you will be on the fore-front of the Customer Service with Happy and satisfied Customers.

Joe Wolemonwu asked:


            One of the major reasons businesses fail today is due to poor customer service. When a retail business is born, its main objective is to gain and build a strong customer base. Many businesses today are successful because of this strong customer base. Businesses advertise on radio, television and newspapers all the time. Huge budgets are spent on commercials. It is not the advertising on television or in newspapers that will retain the customer. It is the ability of management and its staff to retain those customers   that will contribute to the success of the business. A bad taste or feeling left with a customer at any time would leave a lasting impression. Therefore, the business must always provide excellent customer service, no matter the situation. It is always important to leave a good impression with your customers.  The old adage is correct:  The customer is always right!

             

           The impact of customer service is especially noticeable at the front counter. This is the first place a customer goes to make an inquiry and where the customer checks out.  It is the last place they go before leaving the retail store. It is said “the first impression is usually the last impression.”

A study was done in June, 2000 by Bain & Company, Mainspring with over 2000 customers in three retail segments: apparel, groceries, and consumer electronic/ appliances. It showed that 10 percent of customers would rather shop online because they believe they would get better and faster service just with the interaction on the internet… no telephone conversation, no long queues at the retail stores.

 The study cites that a 20 percent increase in customer satisfaction generates a 5 percent increase in customer loyalty and a 20 percent increase in profits. Bain and Mainspring found that the level and quality of customer support was the top-ranked factor driving repeat purchases by customers.

“Companies that are able to maintain their loyal customers and keep them there with a superior value proposition have a huge built-in advantage over pure plays” said Darrell Rigby, director at Bain & Company. “They need to focus on getting the basics right: superior service leads to satisfied customers; satisfied customers lead to referrals and referrals are the most effective way to build an unmatchable customer base.”  The study that was conducted by Bain & Company highlights the following as a way of improving on poor customer service:



Identify your best customer segment and understand their needs precisely.  It is important to note that not all customers are profitable. Hence, tailor your offer to your best customers. Make sure to understand what your best customers really need and why they are no longer customers.





Use available technology to improve customer service and management cost: A self served checkout area could help to enhance the service offering to customers, reduce long lines on the checkout areas while keeping costs down. Customers can check-out on their own without waiting for store employees to ring up the sales and finish the transaction ;thus, reducing overhead in the store. (www.retailindustry.)





Tackle company traditions that threaten implementation of service initiative.Some retail businesses have ingrained behaviors and attitudes that hinder delivering superior customer service. Implementing new ideas focused on the customer may be difficult until those old beliefs are buried. Appointing a customer service champion at the board level can help infuse new thinking into the company. Linking rewards to service measures can create some momentum behind the implementation.(www.retailindustry.com)





Retail businesses need to train, train and re-train employees on the best methods of treating customers. It is important to note that when someone walks into a store that there is potential for making money. The employees should try and see how best to help the customer.



                                      Delivering Fast and Friendly Service

           Exxon Mobil is an industry leader in each of its core businesses and has an unmatched array of proprietary technologies aimed at increasing the productivity of its assets and employees. The company conducts business in almost 200 countries and territories around the globe.  It has established a new definition for world-class scale and efficiency in the fuel marketing business.

            There are ways in which a retail business is able to improve its poor customer service.  The study that follows is research on Exxon Mobil store #26885.  Methods were discovered in how the company was able to improve its customer service.

            Exxon Mobil Company operated Retail Store in 2007 and rolled out its tool called the “TRI MASTER III” (Fast and Friendly Service). This tool addresses the issue of customer service starting with the frontline employees who face these customers every day. To help bring this information to the store, the company required all the managers and district managers to undergo the same training. They will in turn train the sales team members to be effective in delivering quality customer service. They were trained in all aspects of customer service. It ranged from the image of the location, clean and attractive facilities, neatly kept uniforms expected from the employees and quality fresh food   available from the location.

            The tool pointed out 6-steps to customer’s satisfaction which are as follows:



Make the Customer Feel Welcome

Be Energetic and Helpful

Acknowledge Customers in Line

Provide Fast Transactions

Close the Sale Accurately

Thank the customer.



Prior to rolling out the “TRI MASTER III” program, the company had another customer service program G.U.E.S.T:

                                                            

         G – GREET customers with a hello and offer to help.

         U – UNDERSTAND if customers voice a concern or need

         E – EYE CONTACT when listening or speaking to customers

         S – SMILE whenever customers see you

         T- THANK customers for their business

            The G.U.E.S.T program was a good tool but not effective until the introduction of “TRI MASTER III” and the training of all the employees. There was also a deadline in place by the company to have everyone trained and ready to go. The introduction of the customer service tool, “TRI MASTER III” helped improve the mystery shop results greatly and there was good feedback from all employees.