Category: Customer Service

Article by Scott Hersh

Companies the world over spend countless dollars on print ads, commercials, social media and other promotional endeavors to expand their market-base and ultimately gain new customers. But in all this marketing frenzy, investment in loyalty-building strategies can sometimes fall by the wayside.

Even of those businesses owners who understand the importance of customer retention, many surprisingly never go beyond offering discounts to their repeat customers. Not only may this strategy on its own be ineffective in bringing customers back, but it may cut deeply into profit margins that are already taking a beating from rising costs on everything from gas to health care.

If you are running a small business within a defined niche and are facing limited resources then investing in customer retention could be vital to your business’ health and long-term success. Here are a few points to consider:

Stay in touch with your current customers. When was the last time you attempted to contact your prior customers- whether as a follow-up on a completed sale or to offer future promotions or services? Depending on the kind of product or services you provide, these customers may forget about your business and the next time they are need of that same product or service, they could just as easily look for a different vendor.

I had my house painted almost five years back and now it needs another coating. Though I was very happy with the painter’s job and could have used his services again, he never contacted me since the job was completed. This time around, I got an attractive bid from a different contractor and moved on.

Whether you send newsletters, emails, or promotional coupons, make follow-up phone calls, or maintain an active social media presence, just making an extra effort to stay in touch with your customers can increase retention. But make sure that you don’t cross that fine line where “communications” become spam. Just because a customer “opted in” to receive emails or a newsletter, etc, doesn’t mean that you now have free reign to flood them with “helpful” suggestions, information, or promotions.

Focus on the customer experience. Common business sense dictates that if you consistently strive to offer your customers a great service and deliver value for the money they spend in your business then they will be more likely to return in the future. Sounds good, except these days it’s not enough. Today, the “customer experience” is getting a lot of sound bytes.

Though a customer’s experience may be hard to tangibly measure and define, the thoughts and feelings your customers attach to doing with doing business with your company can affect who returns and who doesn’t.

A friend of mine recently purchased a pair of boots from an online supplier. The company’s customer service staff was courteous and helpful throughout the buying process. Moreover, when my friend received his boots he saw that they were sent along with a whole bunch of “extras” like shoe polish and an additional set of laces. The company also had someone call shortly after the shipment arrived to make sure my friend was satisfied with his purchase. All these little actions created a satisfied customer who will no doubt seek the same address the next time he needs footwear.

Invest in your employees. Your employees are your best marketers, and this goes for the back-end employees as well as those working on the “front lines,” such as sales representatives and technicians. When employees feel valued, when they feel that their input is being properly appreciated and compensated, then they will be more likely to give it their best on the job. Moreover, employee satisfaction can be so infectious that it can lead to satisfied customers as well, and those satisfied customers are the ones who will be more likely to return.

In short, in the drive to improve sales in your business don’t forget those you are already serving. You want to keep your customers coming back for more, not kicking them out the door.

About the Author:

Article Provided by Scott Hersh, business author for http://bcablog.com – the official blog of Business Cash Advance .COM providers of fast working capital financing.

As more and more businesses find themselves fighting against the tide of commoditization, it is becoming increasing difficult, (if not impossible, depending on the product and services) and significantly more expensive, to differentiate from the competition.

I believe the least expensive way to do it is developing true differentiation in customer service. But it has to be truly, exceptionally, noticeably unique and different. How can a company with limited resources and with its products and services continually fighting commoditization differentiate itself with “world class” customer service?

By creating an initiative that among other strategies combines customer service training and employee engagement. But neither in the way companies traditionally try to do those 2 things.

I thought of this approach after being reminded recently about a former client whose company leadership preached to employees about providing “world class” customer service.

Yet, when I asked many of those same employees to define “world class” customer service and how they were expected to deliver it, I received mostly blank stares.

The great thing about employees is that they are also customers. Every single one of them has experiences organizational leaders should be tapping into. Most do not.

Instead of bringing in a “customer service expert” to take employees through a training on customer service, there is an alternate solution.

Imagine if you were holding an internal customer service symposium that would tap into the collective genius and life-long experience of the people in your organization. Doing a program like that would:

1. Allow you to engage your best advocates in solutions to improve your company from the bottom up;
2. Make every one of your employees feel valued because their input was requested and the ideas they provided or contributed to were actually seen to be implemented;
3. Improve motivation and morale;
4. Give employees ownership of the ideas and strategies making it easier to hold themselves and their teammates accountable for the implementation;
5. Improve customer service, customer relationships and customer retention.

Here’s how it would work:

1. Get as many company leaders and employees together in one room as possible.
2. Pair up people at different levels, President-Receptionist, Board Chairman-janitor, etc.
3. Give each group 30-minutes to share one story of the BEST example of customer service experience they’ve ever experienced; a time when someone truly exceeded their expectations.
4. Create a forum/format for capturing the best ideas from each of those experiences.
5. Brainstorm additional ideas that your company can add or build on the ideas captured from the stories.
6. Vote on the 10 best ideas that are a fit for your company that you are not already doing.

Now you have a list of 10 hot ideas for improving your customer relationships, but you are not finished as 2 key steps remain:

1. Identify and list all past, present and future obstacles (excuses) to implementing these ideas
2. Commit to strategies for eliminating those excuses that are the highest priority items so you can begin implementation of the ideas within 30-days.

These final two steps are what a colleague of mine calls “the secret sauce.”

Without attacking those final two steps, the entire effort will not just be wasted, but it will undermine and sabotage morale and motivation moving forward and you can forget about people contributing their ideas again in the future.

One final note is that you don’t have to necessarily be able to eliminate all the obstacles identified to implement a particular strategy, but you do need to give people reasons for why it’s not possible, or not possible at this time. The feedback and loop closing is key so people feel heard and valued.

But if the item is on your top 10 of “Customer Service Strategies we should implement” I’d jump through a fiery hoop to eliminate those obstacles to make it happen and set yourself apart from your competition to create a killer gap between yourself and your competition.

Often, because of emotional connection to the topics and situations, certain relationships in the room and unintended positional intimidation, it is difficult and less than effective to have an internal person facilitate these types of sessions and it can be more effective to have an external facilitator experienced in bringing groups to consensus on ideas such as these.

About the Author
Skip Weisman is The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert. He’s the author of the white paper report titled, “The 7 Deadliest Sins of Leadership & Workplace Communication: How Leaders and Their Employees Unknowingly Undermine Morale, Motivation and Trust in Work Environments.” The white paper is available as a free download for a limited time at www.HowToImproveLeadershipCommunication.com . If you’d like to learn how you can improve your work environment by improving communication contact him directly with any questions, or for a complimentary Strategy Session at 845-463-3838 or e-mail to Skip@WeismanSuccessResources.com

Article Contributed by Jennifer Couch

Social media has given companies a powerful tool – the ability to see real-time online conversations about their brands. To be successful, companies must remain proactive and constantly search for conversations; though someone may not be talking directly to the company, they may be talking about the company, which is just as important.

Finding the Conversations

First and foremost, companies must search for conversations. Google provides services that allow companies to search for keywords in real time. By utilizing Google’s “Discussions” tab, companies can search for their name and find conversations on forums relating to their company. Customer service representatives can then intervene and work to solve the problem.

Google also offers a search feature called “Realtime” which searches for keywords in micro blogs such as Twitter. This gives customer service representatives an opportunity to see what “Tweets” are being shared about the company.

Blogging is also another way customers express their frustrations online. Blogs also allow people to comment which can be another source of conversation about your brand. Using Google’s “Blog” tool allows companies to search for blogs and comments that include content about their company.

Video and photo sharing sites also need to be monitored as they allow comments that can include information about the company.

Being Accessible Online

Companies must make it possible for customers to find their social network contact information. Information on social networks should be displayed on the company website, company emails, and marketing materials; publicize that customer service representatives are available on all of your social networks.

When a problem arises:

When companies discover a negative conversation or comment, they must not be ignored. Facebook pages should be constantly monitored and comments of negative connotation or concern should be addressed immediately. Quick response time, a personal approach, and follow-up are imperative when handling customer service issues online.
Best practices state that a negative Facebook comment’s reply should say: “We are sorry to hear about your bad experience and would like to speak with you personally to get the problem resolved…”

Charter Communications does an excellent job of reaching out to customers and identifying problems through Twitter. Their customer service representatives monitor Twitter for any sign of conversation about Charter, and if a problem arises, they contact the person directly and work to get the problem resolved as quickly as possible.

Many businesses are becoming successful at using social media for customer service issues because they remain proactive in their search for queries, comments, complaints, and conversations relating to the company. In some cases, this can help diffuse a problem before it arises.

Monitoring conversations online will allow companies to gain useful first-hand knowledge and help to deliver a service that is more satisfying to customers in the future.

About the Author

Jennifer Couch writes for Auctori.com. At Auctori.com learn more about implementing a social media strategy in your company.

Article Contributed by Sara LaForest and Tony Kubica

Does a leader need to be the smartest person in the company to achieve growth and customer satisfaction? No.

In fact, being the smartest person in the company can actually impede growth. Some leaders just can’t get over “themselves.” Yet unfortunately when you suggest that they could be the problem, it’s often met with one of the following responses:

• Confusion (i.e. you talking to me?)
• Dismissive (i.e. you have no idea what you’re talking about)
• Shock (i.e. how dare you talk to me that way)
• Anger (i.e. you’re out of here)

After all, they are the smartest person in the company. They know the problems, they know what needs to be done, and they will do it.

We have a (perhaps unwelcome) secret to share…

No one is that smart. No one can do it all exceptionally alone (at least for long.) And talented employees want to contribute and show their talent.

The greatest risk in this self-delusional thinking is that your brightest employees will actually be the ones that bring you out of the recession stronger. Limit their chance to do so– dim their opportunity– and your great employees will leave, with the remaining employees just doing just what they are told, and the replacement employees will be less talented.

Whom does this adversely affect outside of the leader and your employees? Your customer.  Who benefits? Your competition!

It is essential for leaders to understand that customer service is the lifeblood of their business. (Yes we are aware that cash is king and without positive cash flow the business ceases to exist. Without satisfied customers, however there is no cash. And without satisfied and engaged employees there are no customers – satisfied or not!) So let’s see take a critical look at what the most successful corporations, organizations

and companies are doing different.

Why Nordstrom, Zappos, Apple and Netflix Ranks High in Customer Satisfaction.

Are the companies listed above perfect? Of course not. Are they serious competitors? Absolutely. How are they differentiating their customer service from others in their industry? They are using an employee-centric approach to heighten their customer service. The premise of “The Service-Profit Chain” (first developed at Harvard University by James L Heskett) speaks to this approach. It’s premise is simple: highly satisfied customers drive growth and profitability, and highly equipped and satisfied employees will better satisfy customers to drive that growth. Otherwise said, employees with the skills and power to really serve their customer have an increased employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty which in turn leads directly to increased service to the customer, meaning greater customer satisfaction and loyalty, which of course, leads to greater revenue. Most simply stated, satisfied employees are a critical contributor to customer satisfaction!

We see this as an employee driven profit model – and it’s “people centric”, which to us is the heart of your business.

Results Our Clients Are Achieving Using A People-Centric Model

One healthcare software consulting company survived the recession relatively unscathed. Another grew over 38% percent during the heart of the recession. How? By providing personalized and highly focused customer service.

As small businesses re-surface post-recession and look to differentiate themselves and grow, improving customer service through a people-centric approach will be an important strategy to adopt.

So, when leaders start to think about growth- they should start first with their customers and how to provide value, and realize that it’s their employees that are the golden egg. Then the conclusion is inescapable: prepare and support your employees to provide outstanding service and your customers will reward your efforts.

About the Authors:

Sara LaForest and Tony Kubica are management consultants with more than 50+ years of combined experience in helping organizations improve their business performance. They say, failing to adopt a people-centic approach to increase customer satisfaction is just one way to sabotage your business growth. Get their complete “Self-Sabotage in Business White Paper” now at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/report.php

Article Contributed By Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter”

Have you ever really considered how price affects your customer with regard to their perceived benefit? Too often, we use a simplistic approach to determining a price – figure the cost to produce a product or service, tack on some arbitrary percentage, and call it good, right?

Price, though, is consequential in ways we may not initially consider. The price a person pays for something goes a long way in determining the perceived benefit they expect to get from it. The perceived benefit cuts two ways. First, the expectation of service goes up the more a person pays for something. Second, the perception of what they’re gaining also goes up with the amount they pay. The two are not opposites; they work in tandem and in nearly all businesses, this tandem relationship can and does work to your advantage.

Many companies, hopefully including yours, are known for delivering incredible service. This quality service may be what your customers comment upon and why they are willing to refer you to other customers. This level of service comes at a price. One of the things you always should be doing is explaining to and showing your customers how your level of service helps them.

The more you share this type of information with your customers, the more comfortable you become in seeing the value of what you offer. Having confidence in your service allows you to increase your “Price Investment Ratio” (PIR). This all has to do with what you expect customers to pay.

For the customer, the PIR is revealed when you help frame their expectations. To help explain this best, let me refer to what I call the “IBM paradox.” This is the belief people have that although you will pay more for anything you buy from IBM, you will never be fired for using IBM. What this means is there are plenty of companies that sell the exact same items and services as IBM, but at a less expensive price. Although other vendors will be less money, there is a level of safety and confidence in using IBM – so much so that it translates to a premium price that customers will pay.

The “Price Investment Ratio” (PIR) is the amount over the minimum amount a person would have to pay for something. They are willing to pay it to feel confident in what they are buying. You might say the PIR should really be the CP – the “Confidence Premium.”

There are no two ways about it – when you have great service but do not reflect it in your PIR, then you are underselling. If you are underselling, you are not making the profits you could be making.

I can hear some of you at this point thinking, “What if we don’t have a solid sense of how good our customer service really is?” In other words, maybe your company receives very few complaints, but at the same time, you are not sure if your service is at a higher caliber than what your competitors bring to the table.

In order to find out your “Price Investment Ratio” (PIR), you must do a deep dive with your existing customers to get them to tell you what your service means to them. Once you do this, you can then match up what existing customers are telling you with what prospective customers are asking you to do. When you grasp this, you begin to understand what the PIR really should be. How much “investment” is the customer willing to make in going with you instead of your competitor?

As I have often said, in the B2B arena, companies don’t buy anything, they only invest. If your customer can’t see the return on investment, they won’t invest – they won’t pay the price you want to get. When they do see the value, though, then you can feel very confident in charging a price above what your competitors charge. Don’t settle for a lower price when doing so is detrimental to your bottom line.

About the Author
Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip, or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit http://www.TheSalesHunter.com. You can also follow him on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook