Category: Customer Service

Article Contribute by Dr. Joey Faucette

A certain airline stranded me. A lot. Once for 9 hours and another time overnight with no compensation. I told my associate, “We fly them just when they’re the only choice.”

And that was the case recently. So here I am unhappy about patronizing a poorly run company when the flight attendant asked me if I wanted some cookies.

The one thing I really like—okay love—about this airline is their cookies. So I said, “Yes.”

She said, “You know if you squirt a lime on them, they taste like key lime pie.”

How did she know key lime pie is one of my favorites?

“Would you like a lime?” she asked with a big smile.

I said “Yes” again. She waited for me to try it, and of course I loved it. We chatted some more and she continued to stop by for the rest of the flight and check on me.

Now I want to fly that airline.

She transformed my negative customer experience into a positive one…with a cookie.

Here are the 3 Ways she did it that you can implement to transform negative customer experiences to positive ones:

She Engaged Me

She asked more than, “Beverage? Pretzels?”

She looked me in the eye and smiled. She engaged me in a conversation. She even told me how to use the cookies to make pie crust.

This level of personal engagement is rare in customer experiences today. “What do you want?” is more the norm said with an air of “You interrupted me.”

Treat every customer like she is a person first. The engaging, personal transaction with him is Step 1 that leads to a lifetime customer relationship.

She Was Enthusiastic

She genuinely loves those cookies like me. She was enthusiastic about them. She met me at our point of common interest.

Be enthusiastic about every dimension of your business. Share it with every customer. Give every customer an opportunity to experience how much you love what you do. 

She Exceeded Expectations

She gave me 2 packs of cookies with 2 lime wedges.

Often, I have to beg to get one because they’re only standard issue during certain hours.

She checked back on my coffee several times.

Usually I have to ask.

Your customers’ expectations are rather meager in most cases. Mine involved cookies and coffee. You have an exceptional opportunity to remarkably and easily exceed those expectations.

So what will you do today for your customers that will transform their negative experiences into positive ones and keep them coming back for life?

Engage them. Share your enthusiasm with them. Exceed their expectations.

They positively will want to do business with you forever. 

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Success Coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.GetPositive.Today

Article Contributed by Sarah Landrum

According to KISSmetrics, it can cost 7 times as much to acquire a new customer as retain a current one. Add to that the fact that 71% of people end their business relationships because of poor customer service and 61% of them go to a competitor, and it becomes clear that keeping customers happy by providing excellent customer service and close relationships is vital to a healthy, thriving business.

Here are 10 tips you can use to achieve that goal.

1. Make it Personal

No one likes to feel like he is just another face in the crowd. Make your relationship with key customers personal.

Form letters should use mail merge to personalize the name and even the last interaction you had with the customer.

Keep careful notes when talking with customers for future reference.

Take the time to reach out to key customers who bring you a lot of business. Take them to lunch, give them tickets to a big game, and pick up the phone just to see how they are doing.

2. Fix Problems Fast

According to the Consumer Action Handbook, for every customer who complains about something, there are about 26 others who are just as unhappy. If a customer takes the time to bring an issue to your attention, you should not only act fast to fix the problem for that customer, but change whatever is needed for the 26 others who are not complaining. This might include:

• Changing the product
• Changing the delivery
• Changing your response system

3. Take a Stand on Things Important to You

In a study by Harvard, consumers indicated one of the main reasons they related strongly to a brand was because of shared values, by about 64%. What does this mean for your company?

Strong family values? This is your target demographic.

A desire to improve the environment for future generations? Young people with the same goals.

Activist for an important cause? Who else is on board?

The key is to take a stand for things you believe in but not for things that are so controversial that they might push away the majority of your customer base.

4. Reach Out on Special Occasions

It is fairly simple to keep track of anniversaries and birthdays. Track these dates in a calendar and send out cards to your customers on these days. If you don’t have time to write a personal note, assign the task to one of your employees.

This is where those notes you’ve kept on interactions come in handy to make the card a personal greeting and to let the customer know you care about him as a person.

If you get word someone is getting married, has a death in the family or some other big event, take the time to send a card, flowers or a personal note. This is the type of relationship building customers remember for years and that keeps them loyal to a company.

5. Provide Quality Products – And Help Customers Use Them

Before you even engage in a transaction with a customer, you should look at the backside of the product you’re offering. Are they the absolute best quality they can be? Will they last for your customer?

Simply offering high-quality products will reduce the need for damage control and translate into happier customers. Happier customers are more likely to refer your product or service to other people.

Sometimes, though, that’s not enough. That’s why it’s important to engage with customers and offer additional services to enhance their experience with your company. One great way to do this is to provide resources that enhance the post-purchase experience for customers, such as articles or videos that inform customers how to select and use the products you offer. A great example is McElroy Metal University, a series of videos from McElroy Metal helping customers through the buying process with the intent of creating customer happiness.

6. Get Feedback from Your Customers

Until you get honest feedback from your customers, it can be hard to see your own weaknesses as a company. To get the most honest feedback possible:

• Allow customers to respond anonymously to your surveys. Sometimes people won’t complain for fear it will hurt the business relationship or get them marked as a trouble maker.
• Offer several ways for the customer to respond. Make it simple to respond on a survey site, social media or by snail mail.
• Take the time to compile the feedback into a database. See which issues crop up most often and work on fixing those first. However, don’t ignore the smaller issues, either.

7. Get the Entire Company Involved

Create a culture where customer service and retaining current customers is the number one priority. Think about how you can train your employees to have the same attitude about customers that you do.

HelpScout was able to improve its response time to customers by 340% by creating a support room that all of its employees could access. The ability to put the customer first and come up with creative solutions was vital to its success.

8. Reward Customers

According to Inc.com, keeping those current customers happy increases profitability anywhere from 25-125%. Rewarding current and new customers with discounts, freebies and loyalty rewards goes a long way toward keeping customers happy. Here are a few examples:

• Offer loyalty cards — every so many purchases equals one free one.
• Offer rewards for referrals.
• Give new customers a freebie just for signing up or ordering.

9. Create a Churn Database

Guy Nirpaz, CEO of Totango, shared on Mashable a brilliant idea about learning from your mistakes. It is inevitable at some point you are going to lose a customer. What matters is figuring out why that customer is leaving so you can use that information to retain the customers you still have.

If the customer leaving will provide the information, try to find out:

• Why he is leaving
• How long he has been a customer (you should have this info already)
• If he is going to a competitor and, if so, what attracted him to that competitor

10. Create VIP Customers

In a study by both Harvard and Stanford universities that looked at voters, researchers found people relate to being given a positive label of some sort. The response received from them increases their response rate by about 15%.

This same concept can be applied to customers:

• Give your VIP group a label such as “Gold” or “Amazing.”
• Put your top customers in this group but also make it attainable for those who are new or not as loyal. You want them to strive to attain this status.
• Offer special incentives for your VIP group.

Utilizing just a few of these ideas will result in more loyal customers. Not only will you be better able to retain the customers you have, but you’ll have happy customers who will help you spread the word about your company.

One of the biggest initiatives for many companies as the economy continues to improve focuses on the customer experience. Businesses are currently investing millions of dollars a year to improving the overall experience of their customers. With that being said, there are times in which a business should say no to a client. This may seem like conflicting advice for companies that are focused on making their customers happy. However, there are situations that call for businesses to put their foot down and let their customers know that their expectations are unreasonable.

How to Say No to a Customer

For years many people in business believe that the key to customer retention was simply always saying yes to the customer. However there are many studies that show over the long term this is actually not the best strategy. In fact, over half of customers reporting that they had a negative experience with a company also report having multiple bad experiences with other companies. This simply means that many customers who have had negative experiences with one company have had them at many more.

Learning how to say no to a customer is a skill that many in business need to learn. If a customer asks for something that is simply unreasonable a business should not always comply with a customer’s demand. Instead of simply using the word no, a business should explain why the request cannot be accepted and offer an alternative solution. When another solution is offered, a customer will feel as though they made a difference in getting their point across.

How to Determine When to Say No

Denying a customer request can be a scary proposition for any business, especially one with only a few clients. An unhappy customer can cost a business thousands of dollars in loss of business and in brand name erosion. There are many ground rules that a business can go by on when it is appropriate to say no to a customer.

One of the most obvious situations for this is when one customer is hurting the experience of another. If you own a restaurant and a customer comes in demanding to cut in front of everyone else, this is not a situation where the business would be in the wrong by not complying with a customer request. Once a customer has a bad mental picture of a company it is almost impossible to turn that around. Instead, the business should concentrate on keeping their current happy customers even more satisfied.

Turning the Situation Around

Even if a business has to tell a customer no on their request, a business can still use the opportunity to reach out to the customer to see if there are any other needs that the company can fill. Just because a company cannot comply with one request, this does not mean the business should say no to each incoming request. Over half of new businesses will fail in the first couple of years after starting, and businesses can reduce their odds of failure by going the extra mile in addressing any other concerns that a customer has.

Final Thoughts

Retaining customers is one of the most important initiatives that a business can take on. It costs three times as much for a business to go out and win another customer rather than simply retaining one that they already have. With that being said, there are times when a customer request can simply not be complied with. There are certain ways that a company can handle this situation that makes it so the customer can still have a positive experience with the company and come back next time.

About the author: Cameron Johnson is a business consultant and entrepreneur. Over the course of his career he has conducted case studies on both social media optimization and non-profit marketing. Cameron has also had the opportunity to speak at international business conferences and was recently recognized as one of the world’s top 100 advertising experts to follow on social media.

“What have you done for me lately?” is the client attitude du jour. And by “lately,” they mean very recently. The number of client experiences with and impressions from your competition expands daily with a multitude of tech-driven access points.

Client engagement—from relationship to results—is a key to your increasing sales with greater productivity to get out of the office earlier to do what you love with those you love.

How do you strategically engage your clients?

Here are 3 Strategies to Engage Clients for more business:

Be Initiating

Your clients are inundated daily by distractions. Some of it is part and parcel of the 24/7, always-on culture today. There are welcome distractions from friends and for entertainment. There are more interruptions they didn’t ask for or anticipate.

Initiating contact with your clients helps you rise above the distracting crowd. Your company name is quickly recognized and welcomed. You maintain your top of mind position as a part of their home team. You are someone whom they trust to help.

By initiating, you give them a reason to strengthen their grip on you. They remember what you’ve done for them.

Be Interesting

Since you’re initiating, your clients remember what you’ve done, but the “lately” factor is important to consider.

Of course you benefit from their doing business with you as often as appropriate as do they. As you initiate, remind them of the continuing benefits of doing business with you. Reward them for sending their friends. Or, ask specific questions that build on your current relationship, e.g., “You find value in xyz service/product. Other clients like you have also found benefit from abc service/product. When is best for us to talk about it?”

Be interesting by building on the current value equation with something that answers the “lately” question.

Be Engaging

To more strategically grow results from your client relationships and drive more revenue, insure you engage in two primary ways:

First, ask questions. These can range from more personally-oriented, e.g., “How’s that new grandbaby?” to “What’s working well for your business these days?” Our favorite subject is always “me.” Only positive responses arise from such questions.

Second, listen and offer solutions/answers. How will that new grandparent help meet the challenge of rising tuition costs? If you’re the financial advisor, you have a solution. How will the IT needs change as business grows? If you’re the IT consultant, you have an answer to make it easier to rake in more business, right?

Be engaging with your clients by initiating contact with them in interesting ways and prompt your business to grow!