Posts Tagged ‘Loyalty’

Customer Service And How To Fail In Business

Friday, August 20th, 2010
Customer Service
by LunaWeb

Customer Service And How To Fail In Business

Customer service is an aspect of any business, whether a large corporate organization or small home business run by a single individual. The way a business presents itself to customers, either potential or actual, can make a huge difference in terms of promotion, loyalty and the likelihood of success.

No business succeeds without customers, and in order to attract customers, it is increasingly necessary for businesses to be approachable, contactable, and interested in communicating with customers whenever there are any queries or issues relating to the products or services available.

In the modern world of internet technology, more and more customers today are often beginning to expect that businesses can be contacted at any time, and day, and in a way which is convenient. In the twenty first century we have shed the expectations that we had of only being able to contact a business or company between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. With international time zones, more people working weekends, and working hours no longer traditional, we all expect to be able to pick up the phone, or send an email, and have our queries or concerns dealt with promptly.

If you are seeking to buy in to a franchise or business opportunity, it will be important to understand in advance what the customer service arrangements involve. Will you be responsible for any issues that arise, and need to provide a means by which customers can contact you directly, or is there a customer service center or arrangement already in place? If you will be relying on an outsourced service center, then you may find that giving them a call yourself, alleging to be a potential customer, reveals the level of support which your own customers could face.

Although outsourcing of service centers is increasingly common, primarily as a means to cut costs and long term overheads, it can sometimes cause problems for customers who have difficulties communicating with people who do not speak the same language fluently, or have strong accents, limited knowledge of the product or service, or limited access to relevant information about you and your account.

But the issue of providing support for customers will be something you’ll need to approach yourself if the responsibility with a franchise opportunity is left with you and if you are starting out on your own with your business idea as an independent entrepreneur.

If customers are not happy with the level of customer service, such as failing to have queries dealt with, having to wait excessive periods of time to wait for a response, having responses which make little sense, offer little support, express little concern or fail to resolve the issue quickly and effectively, then the chances are high that you will lose that customer.

More than this, by losing a customer, you are highly likely to lose any potential sales you may have acquired through recommendation. With so much choice available and so much variety, increasingly we are relying on personal recommendations, and online reviews, to help make up our mind on whether to commit to a retailer or service provider, especially if it is likely to be for a significant sum or a long term contractual arrangement.

Failing to provide adequate customer service can easily result in losing out on personal recommendations, and could easily result in publically viewable reviews advising against your company or service. The internet can easily work in your favour, but similarly it can work against you if you fail to meet expectations.

To a large extent, the importance and intensity of customer service is likely to depend on the nature of the business in which you become involved. If you’re seeking to start out as an individual entrepreneur, working from home with little direct contact with customers, then you may consider the importance of customer service to be less of a priority than those entering into a business arrangement which has massive contact with customers and relies heavily on customer loyalty.

This is turn may impact on your decision when it comes to deciding what kind of business to enter into, what kind of franchise opportunity to become involved with, or the nature of any solo business you choose to initiate. Are you a people person? Do you like solving problems and offering a high level of service to customers? If not, then a business model which relies upon this may not be for you, and the issue of outsourcing the service center becomes one to consider.

Ultimately it will be important to think about customer service not from the business point of view alone, taking on board the financing, the time, the means by which issues can be filed, dealt with, followed up and referred back, but also from the point of view of your customers. Happy customers equate to customer loyalty and recommendations, which in turn results in a more profitable and successful business. Get your customer service right and you’re more likely to see the business succeeding where other, perhaps larger companies are losing sight of the very blood which made them successful in the first place.

Naz Daud – CityLocal UK Business Directory Ireland Business Directory Franchise Opportunity Featured Businesses

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What Customer Service Really Means

Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Customer Service
by annethelibrarian

What Customer Service Really Means

The lifeblood of your business is the money you get from your customers.  Without it, obviously, you will go out of business.  Customers can be fickle, but they can also be die-hard loyalists to your product.  Part of their loyalty can be gained by what you sell, but the bulk is how they are treated in good times and bad.  Think about your business processes and policies when it comes to customer service.  Is there any place which might be a potential point of frustration?  More importantly, if this wasn’t your business, would you be happy to be treated just like your customers?

 

Bureaucracy is a major potential pitfall in dealing with customers.  Perhaps your company is so big that it can’t really give the personal touch, or maybe your employee base cannot be relied on to make the best decisions.  In either case, strict guidelines and policies must be in place to ensure the business runs properly.  Unfortunately, this leaves you wide open for customer relations issues

 

For example, take a look at a once loyal patron of Sears, who ran into a web of red tape, not because of a product return or complaint, but because he wanted to make a purchase.  Basically, due to problems ordering online, he was unable to purchase a ,500 tractor.  After a multitude of calls with employees, customer service, and supervisors he went to Lowes.

 

Sears online store could not properly make a credit card transaction, or possibly the problem was a breakdown in communications between the store and shipping.  Regardless, not a single employee felt any urge to make the sale happen.  As it looks, Sears as a company needs every sale they can get, but this customer’s money – and all his future business – is gone forever.

 

Another trouble spot is between your customers, your employees, and money.  Refunds happen all the time and should be treated as the commonplace event that they are.  Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, told his employees to accept any returns, even if they were not purchased at Wal-Mart.  The reason he gave was if they gave them money and good customer service, the customers will take their refund and spend it in the store… then come back again and again.

 

Of course Wal-Mart has a much diversified product list and this attitude cannot be replicated at just any business, but the concept is worth its weight in gold.  Most customer problems that arise after the sale have a receipt as ground zero.  Your receipt is a binding contract with the consumer that says you sold them something for which they paid you in return.  As a result of this contract, you have to honor that little slip of paper.  Sometimes the receipt isn’t even there, but the ghost of the contract still hovers over your employee and your customer.  It’s your livelihood at stake if you do anything less than go the extra mile to resolve the issue.

 

Take for example a customer dealing with Zales.  He bought some wedding rings on a payment plan and due to the lack of credit card equipment in the store, he had to pay cash each month in person.  Now this already shows a lack in consideration to the modern consumer, but it is not that bad by itself.  The problem arose after the customer had made a 0 payment, gotten his receipt, and left.  Within a few days, the store manager called to say their video equipment had recorded the employee putting too few bills in the register.  Despite the proof of the receipt for full payment, the manager wanted the customer to pay 0 dollars to make up the shortage.

 

Many things are passed onto the consumer such as state and federal taxes, shipping costs, and price fluctuations.  One thing that should NEVER be passed on is employee incompetence, bad attitude, or mistakes.  If it is not the customers fault, don’t try to make it so.  Any small monetary gain you may get in the short term will lose you so much more when your customer takes his money elsewhere.

 

Customer service is a balance of diplomacy, flexibility, and acting.  No matter how unjust the situation seems, you must look ahead and weigh the short term gain with the relationship you will build by making your customer happy.  Never forget that an angry customer is easy to spot, but it is the quiet, abused customer that will simply smile at bad customer service and never give you their money again.

 

George Page gives practical and usable advice regarding SBA Loans and ideas for small business.

Find out more about SBA Loans, small business loans and small business news from SBALoanShack.com.

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Put the Fubb Factor Into Customer Service

Friday, July 30th, 2010
Customer Service
by lunaweb

Put the Fubb Factor Into Customer Service

The customer is always right, right? You’d better believe it if you want to survive in today’s competitive marketplace.

When you follow the money trail back to its source, you understand that taking good care of your customers is not just important, it’s imperative. More than any other factor, the service you give your customers affects your business success or failure.

Good customer service starts at the moment a prospective client comes in contact with you. Let’s say you own an electronics store. A man walks in looking for a plasma TV. The first part of good customer service involves pleasant, helpful workers who respond to the customer’s needs with a helping hand guiding him through his experience. With correct customer service, he is able to see his options, find what he needs, and leave satisfied with a purchase that pleases him. But good customer service doesn’t stop there.

Suppose the customer gets home and begins to watch his new TV. Within minutes the TV starts to smell funny and make weird sounds. The man calls the store very upset with his new product.

Assume he reaches an unhelpful salesperson who, in so many words, tells him “tough luck.” Not only will the customer never shop at your store again, he will tell an average of seven people about his poor experience with you. However, if the person on the phone apologizes, takes responsibility and offers him an acceptable solution, he is likely to calm down. By allowing him to easily return the product and get a replacement, this store guarantees his loyalty, future business and positive referrals.

Thus, good customer service starts at the initial point of contact and ends when the consumer is completely satisfied with the product or service, which may be long after the sale takes place.

While this may seem like a lengthy process, great customer care is the single most controllable difference between you and your competition. With so many choices available, consumers have little or no reason to remain loyal to a company if they are not 110% pleased with the experience. This brings us to the next important aspect of customer service, the FUBB Factor.

Follow Up Beyond Belief – FUBB. This is the biggest factor between good and great customer service. FUBB refers to the practice of going above and beyond the call of duty to please the client. In today’s highly competitive economy, it is crucial to follow up in any and every way possible. Follow up to the point that your customers cannot resist telling other people about you.

If a customer makes a suggestion, follow up on it. If a customer experiences a problem, follow up and make sure it has been resolved to their satisfaction. If a mistake was made, take responsibility for it whether or not you are the one who made it. Then ask your clients for feedback in order to gauge how they truly feel about your service.

When the customer is happy, business is good. They tell others about you. Life is good. But if the customer is unhappy, you are likely to face bad reviews, negative word-of-mouth advertising, and a lost customer forever. Be sure to make excellent customer service a top priority in your long list of things to do. It’s just smart business. A single customer, well cared for – someone whose concerns you have followed up on beyond belief – can pay you rich dividends well into the future.

http://www.Free-Insurance-Leads.com Gary Le Mon is a wholesale distributor of fixed indexed annuities for Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING. Author, speaker, radio and TV host, Gary pioneers media-based marketing systems including newspaper articles, dinner seminars, radio talk shows, and TV interviews. He is coach, mentor and motivator to over 850 general agents in his insurance marketing organization, InsuranStar Marketing. See also Insurance-Lead-Programs.com.

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Customer Service — Customer Loyalty Wins Sales

Friday, July 30th, 2010
Customer Service
by Graela

Customer Service — Customer Loyalty Wins Sales

Batteries not included. Three of the dumbest words.

Your Company spent millions of dollars to develop this wonderful product. Engineers spent countless hours creating and refining it. You spent additional millions of dollars in advertising to get me to buy it.

I bought it. I took it home and now it won’t work because YOU neglected to include the only part that WILL make it work. For a couple of extra bucks, your cost and mine, I’m frustrated and angry with you and your Company.

It’s the same with customer service.

No matter what you sell; whether it’s goods or services, big ticket or small, sales and customer service are not two separate pieces. Every sale must come with the customer service built in.

Exceptional customer service is NOT an extra cost of doing business. It is an investment in your own future success.

In the early 1950s, my uncle had a very small clothing store in Miami, Florida. In those days, Miami was a major entertainment center, with the biggest names in show business appearing at the major hotels, very similar to Las Vegas today.

One evening, as he was leaving the stage at the end of the early show, a young singer ripped his tuxedo jacket on a nail sticking out of the wall. It was after 8 P.M., all the clothing stores were closed.

The hotel management called the major stores and owners because the singer didn’t want to go on stage with a torn jacket or worse, no jacket.

None of the fancy clothing shop owners would leave their homes to accommodate the young man. Finally, in desperation, my uncle got the call. Would he come downtown with a couple of tuxedos?

Within an hour my uncle was at the hotel with 4 tuxedos. He did the fitting and tailoring right on the spot.

The young singer and the big hotel management were ecstatic. The singer tried to shove a few extra hundred dollar bills into my uncle’s hand, but he wouldn’t take the money, explaining that he was honored to have the opportunity to earn the business.

The singer promised that he would never forget my uncle’s kindness and would tell his show biz friends about my uncle. True to his word, the singer continued to tell his friends about my uncle, even as his singing career skyrocketed.

The young singer – Frank Sinatra.

My uncle – went from a tiny clothing store on the edges of oblivion to “Mickey Hayes – Clothier to the Stars”; his walls covered with hundreds of photographs of the biggest names in show business.

On the other side of the coin is INTEL, the major manufacturer of computer chips, and, a great company.

Some years ago, Intel’s newest chip had a design flaw that caused a problem in only the tiniest number of calculations, and only in highly complex situations. As this problem began to get reported in the press, owners of computers built with these new chips wanted replacements.

Intel’s management stated that these customers were somewhat stupid since only highly complex calculations in specialized situations would experience that problem and then, only on the rarest occasions. They said that they would replace the chip if the customer could substantiate the claim that their chip was flawed.

How stupid. If it only goes bad once in a zillion times, why not give a lifetime guarantee? Most of the customers would never run into that problem. If they had immediately offered the lifetime replacement guarantee, ALL of the customers would have had a very high degree of confidence that they would never need to take Intel up on their offer.

Intel finally did offer lifetime replacement – after worrying, offending and insulting millions of their customers.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Nordstroms; the department store famous for customer service. Their service to customers is so incredible, that people go out of their way to shop there.

Mr. Nordstrom calls it ‘customer heroics’. “We do it because we want more business – NOT simply because we’re nice guys.”

I’ve always told my employees – “don’t save me ‘MY’ money. If it helps the customer, SPEND my money. Even if they make a mistake, they won’t be criticized if it helped the customer”.

Nordstrom, over a period of many years, has developed a corporate culture of service to the customer. Any corporate culture, if it is going to endure successfully, MUST take on a life of its own, apart from the wishes of management. It has to be adopted by every employee, because THEY each think that it’s a good idea.

Whether you are a 1 person operation or the largest company, you know what good customer service is. It’s the Golden Rule applied to business – “Do unto others”.

Listen to your customers’ spoken requests – and unspoken. They’ll tell you what they want. Add a large portion of your own good common sense. Make a commitment to yourself that you will give your customers, service beyond their highest expectations

If you will do these few simple things, I can guarantee you success beyond YOUR expectations.

Gary Wollin is a Warren Buffet style investment advisor with 45+ years of Wall Street experience. He has been regularly featured in many financial publications around the world. He writes and speaks on sales, customer loyalty, and the stock market. http://www.garywollin.com

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Why Everyone Needs Customer Service Training

Monday, July 26th, 2010
Customer Service
by Graela

Why Everyone Needs Customer Service Training

Apparently customer service training extends beyond saying have a nice day. Funny really because in England you don’t even here these simple words muttered to you. There is a definite lack of good quality customer service in the UK. In every single business you come across there seems to be a lack of interest in presenting a good image of customer service to potential clients. Perhaps it is an English thing. But when you do find that rare gem – a place that knows how to treat its customers then as a customer I will reward them with my unerring loyalty. And I have what any business wants – money! But it needn’t be this way. Customer service is not difficult and it can be taught to anyone. Here’s what customer service training will teach your staff.


Customer service training programmes are often designed to meet you particular requirements. Typical programmes include, call centre development, complaints handling and influencing skills, telephone skills, developing a customer focussed approach, general face-to-face customer service and visitor experience development. This is a fairly comprehensive list but it is also important to remember that customer service training can be bespoke to your specific needs.


Call centre development will improve the level of service you offer to your clients. There is nothing worse than phoning a company for support and being on the end of a call with someone that really does not value your needs as a customer. There has also been a great deal of criticism in the UK about companies that have outsourced their call centres to India. Typical problems include a lack of understanding about the local knowledge of the people they are paid to help.


People have rung up these help lines to ask when the local branch of a bank will be open and have been advised that the closest bank is 100 miles away. This is because that is what had turned up on the computer in India. Being aware of these kind problems and knowing how to deal with them can be addressed with customer service training.


Being able to handle customer complaints is one of the hardest and at the same time most crucial parts of running a business. Ideally your business would only ever cause the client to be happy. Sadly this is not always the case and even the most savvy of businesses experience some form of customer dissatisfaction at some point. The great thing is that ninety percent of the complaints that are received from a dissatisfied client can be amended simply through communication.


Most complaints you receive are due to lack of communication. Fortunately a training course can provide you with techniques to improve the effectiveness of communication in the case of complaints. It can be taught to anyone and will have a really positive effect on your clients and as a result could have a positive effect on employee motivation.


If your business relies on talking to people on the phone – as most do – then improving the level of skill that your staff has on the phone would be vital. Many people will benefit from knowing the role of customer service in telephone interactions. Effective use of the telephone is essentially based on attitude and a course will help educate your staff on the essential techniques such as transferring calls, receiving transferred calls, putting calls on hold, taking messages, making promises and owning completion of them and building rapport with customers.

Shaun Parker is an expert on sales training and customer service training. He shares his experience to help you.

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3 Customer Service Ideas to Earn Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty

Sunday, July 25th, 2010
Customer Service
by alancleaver_2000

3 Customer Service Ideas to Earn Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty

Customer service has never been worse than it is in today’s business environment. With companies trimming their budgets as much as possible, there isn’t the time or money to spend on customer service skills. If it can be automated, it gets automated no matter how inconvenient it is for the customer.

How many times have you been ready for the now familiar message “please listen carefully for our options have changed” only to find yourself screaming at the phone after one too many option levels? Hey – it works for the business – it keeps their operating overhead down – they don’t have to staff as many people as they used to because the call tree does the job on auto-pilot. No late or sick employee to worry about. No customers complaining about your phone receptionist cutting them off or having a bad attitude.

When you stop to think about all the conveniences we have lost over the years, it’s pretty astounding. Doesn’t it seem like we’re doing more with all the automation that was supposed to make our lives easier? No more secretaries; we have a computer. No more gas jockey; we can do it ourselves and we even get to watch TV while we’re pumping. Nobody to answer your call or tell you when they will; you can leave a message.

I don’t know about you but all this convenience can be very frustrating for me. I can’t ever sit back and let somebody else do the task because I’m expected to use self-serve. I remember the days when service people were expected to be extremely helpful. We have begun to expect poor service and we are no longer surprised when it occurs.

This is the perfect time for small businesses to step up and offer that which cannot be offered by the big companies. Convenience is such a big selling point, how about offering customer service as a convenience for your customers? Many small businesses are run by owners that are too busy running the business to implement good customer service on the Internet. In fact, customer issues may be rare and infrequently occurring, but as the business grows good customer service becomes a necessity. The business owner will eventually find it difficult and overwhelming in the long run.

The post sales process is just as important as the initial sales process when it comes to customer loyalty. A poorly treated customer will not have a reason to do business with you again even when you roll out new products and services. Here’s three ideas for you to implement that will not take excessive time or money but will increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty:

1. Follow-Up Personally with an Irate Customer

Running a business is like having a new adventure every day. You can never be surprised when the unexpected happens, only be ready to deal with it. When things go terribly wrong for your customer, have someone follow-up with a phone call. You may be surprised to learn that Internet shoppers think of online businesses with a bit of celebrity stars in their eyes. It is totally unexpected that an online business would call them to apologize for any inconvenience and make sure the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. I’ve done it – it works like a charm every time.

2. Use Words and Phrases Guaranteed to Calm Any Customer

Customers enjoy the speed of the purchase and the anticipation of the immediate download shopping on the Internet for digital products. Things can go bump in the night at any point in the purchase process, even getting to the download page. Make it easy for your customer to report the issue by having at least one method guaranteed to get results within four hours. And then be sure you always include “we apologize for the inconvenience”, “please reopen this ticket if further assistance is needed”, “thank you for notifying us of this problem”, “please”, “thank you”, “we’re so sorry for the delay”, etc. This type of acknowledgement lets the customer know that you care. Isn’t that really what we want?

3. Give the Customer Value for Their Inconvenience

New people are coming to the Internet every day so you should expect and plan for the “this is my first time” issues. One way you can do that is to provide your customer with more information than is required to resolve the issue. For example, solving the issue and telling your customer how to prevent a similar issue in the future will assist them in using the Internet and they will greatly appreciate the extra time and effort your business took to assist them.

Combine all three of the above ideas and you will provide customer service few have seen on the Internet, let alone in many offline businesses today.

customer service tips

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