Customer Service - A Lost Art?

by Craig Binkley

Copyright 2006 Craig Binkley

Is customer service a lost art? Before you answer that question, take a moment and think about the last few times you have gone shopping or out to dinner. Okay, now that you have really thought about it, is your answer any different?

Why is it that when we actually DO receive excellent customer service that it makes such an impression on us that we usually choose to go back? Why - because the occurrences are so few and far between!!!

As a home business owner, it is imperative to my business that customer service is ALWAYS a top priority. Remember the saying: “If you don’t take care of your customer, somebody else will”. I’m sure you have read or heard it somewhere before.....and how true it is.

Here are a few ways to improve customer service at your business:

1) SMILE - Sounds too simple, right? As a customer, would you prefer to be serviced by a smiling face, or a scowl that would befit a guard dog?

2) LISTEN - Always be slow to speak and quick to listen. Let customers express themselves without you trying to do it for them. Nobody likes being interrupted.

3) DON’T BE TOO PUSHY - Yeah, I know - the bottom line is sales, right?

There is a fine line between suggesting products/services and pushing them down a customer’s throat. If you are too pushy, your customer will probably walk away and take their business elsewhere.

4) PHONE ETTIQUETTE - Whether you are answering or initiating a call, always remember who the customer is. Be polite. Try “Yes sir/ma’am” instead of “yeah” and “nope”. If you don’t have an answer for your customer - offer to do some research to find what they are inquiring about.

5) THANK YOU - ALWAYS thank your customers. Even if you could not help them or they decided not to purchase from you. Leave them with a positive impression of your business before they leave.

6) TRAINING - Train your employees. Don’t let an untrained employee ruin your track record of excellent customer service. Train your employees on-the-job for as long as necessary to teach them good customer service.

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” Luke 6:31

In conclusion: Customer service may be THE most important aspect of your business plan. I know of many people who are willing to pay a little more for a product or service in order receive excellent customer care. Price, advertising, and location are all vital to a business---- but whatever you do, don’t overlook the all-important “Good Customer Service”.



Craig Binkley - husband, father and home business owner. Visit his Work From Home Directory at http://www.workfromhomehelper.com for legitimate work from home opportunities and ideas.


Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

Company Policy Does More Damage to Customer Service Than Anything Else

by Alan Boyer

As a customer service consultant I see things across many companies that most companies don’t see while working inside the company.

o Company Policy
One of the biggest problems is “company policy.” Many company policies are structured to protect the company from the customer instead of helping the customer get what he wants and has paid for. Your success will explode when your company, and your employees are structured with the customers’ wants and needs in mind.

As a customer how many times have you been talking with a sales person, or a customer service rep and hear “sorry we can’t do that, company policy.” A barrier was thrown up between what you think is only reasonable and the company. For me, I’m out of there.

Is the problem “company policy” or is it the employee? It can go either way. Often employees are trying hard to do the job the way they understand it, which can often be that they are there to protect the company from the customer trying to take advantage. That isn’t saying that employee is a “bad” employee. Only that he doesn’t understand what he should be doing. That’s where proper employee training comes in.


o Employee Responsibility
It is the job of the people in your company that are in direct contact with the customers
To discover and understand what the customer really wants, and
Deliver what the customer really wants

When your employee says “can’t…company policy” he has put a barrier up between the customer and you. The customer can no longer get what he wants, at least not from your company.


o Executive or Owner View
I know…I know…I’m hearing the roar from the executive peanut gallery…You’ve got to make a profit. Well, let me make something clear hear…you aren’t going to make a profit, or at least not as much profit if you aren’t satisfying the customer. So, what I’m saying is to teach your people how to listen to the customer. Change their perspective from “protecting the company from the stupid customer” to one of ALWAYS finding a way to help the customer get what he wants.

o Employee Listening to Customer…Communicating Needs to Company
Your employee should be the conduit through the maze of company policies. He knows what the customer needs, he knows what the company policies are, and his job is to take that customer through those company policies to get the customer where he wants to be. He isn’t a policeman stopping the customer at the gate. That hampers the customer. The first helps the customer.

o When Company Policy IS the Barrier
What happens if the company policy truly is a barrier? Then the employee should be the conduit to the company policy setters to help them understand how the company as a whole can better serve the customer by changing company policy.

I am in no way saying, “don’t make a profit.” But when company policy is set up to protect the company from the customer instead of helping the customer your profits will decline. A customer usually only wants what is reasonable.

The solution to company policy barrier: Make sure that your employees are empowered

o To solve the customer problem
o To communicate to the company how the company policy can improve the customer satisfaction instead of impede it.



Come to http://www.leaders-perspective.com/Customer-Service-Training.aspx for Hints and Tips to Improve Customer Service.

Leader's Perspective
Helping People/Companies Reach Further ..FASTER

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

Work From Home Customer Service

by Daniel Blask

It has always been important to make sure that as you find a work from home job, you are finding one that truly matches your needs and is truly what you would like it to be. Your ideal work at home job should be a job that you are already good at, and one that you can easily do from home... The people who have the most success at work form home jobs are able to find jobs that they already know how to do, or jobs that they are already doing, and turn them into work at home jobs. Therefore, if you are interested in work from home customer service jobs, you already know that you are going to have a good shot at finding good work. There are plenty of reasons that you will be able to find good work from home customer service jobs, and these reasons include being able to finally find the type of work that you were looking for, as well as being able to make the most out of the situations that you are in...

If you are already good at customer service, you know that there are a few things that you like about the job, things that set the job apart from other jobs that you might have had. These are probably things that make you keep wanting to do these customer service jobs – even if you think that you've already found another job that you like. When you are doing work from home customer service jobs, you are going to be able to keep on doing these things that you love to do, and you will find that they are even better when you work from home. Most of the work from home customer service jobs are fairly easy to get into, and you can do them easily from home.

The reason that there are many work from home customer service jobs is that customer service is mainly a job that is done either on the phone or on the internet. This means that a company can hire you to do the same thing that you would do in an office from your home. The first thing that you have to do is learn how to run the program or learn how the company or service works, so that you know how to help people when they call. There are work from home customer service jobs for any type of industry. You might be hired as a phone manager to take phone calls and direct them to other places. Or, you might be hired as someone to help people when they are having problems with a product. No matter what, your job as a work from home customer service job will be to help people when they need it. This is probably what you like about customer service to begin with, and you will get to have even more experience with it as you are working through it in work from home customer service jobs and other situations.



Daniel Blask is a Home Business Guru and is owner of several websites. He writes on many subjects and recommends: http://www.bigmoneycentral.com/ &
http://www.bigmoneycentral.com/business/

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

Quality of Customer Service is Most Important

by James Hunt

For those of you who are working in a customer service industry, the quality of that customer service itself is the most important aspect of the job. People respond positively to good customer service. IF you are a business owner then you know how the saying goes, it’s easier to keep a customer, as it is to get a new customer. In order to keep your customers and build up some form of clientele that feels loyal to your company. Therefore you must put in the time and effort to keep your customers and your level of customer service up to where it should be.

In most areas of customer service there will be some time on the phone. If your job requires you to place and receive phone calls, you must ensure that you are always polite and customers. This is a great time to strengthen the relationship between the owner and the customer. Customer’s respond better to a business owner who is approachable and interested in their lives then someone who seems bothered and rushed. However, there are those that can become annoyed when the customer service representative becomes too personal. For those people who are in the customer service area, they should attempt to find a happy medium between being too friendly and not friendly at all.

At times in the customer service industry you will come into contact with less than satisfied customers. These people may become angry and they may yell. Sometimes it is hard to contain yourself and you might want to argue back. However, when you are working as a customer service representative then you must be able to control yourself. You should never interrupt an irate customer. If they are getting angry with you then you should just let them vent. Let them have their say and once they are done you can begin explaining what you can do to help solve the problem. The key to customer service is to always be obliging and polite.



James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest.
Read more at www.customer-service-central.info

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

Construction contractors

Construction contractor directory.

Three Steps to Success in Internet Marketing

Online marketing is much more than putting your advertising online. Marketing online includes such areas as communicating with your customers, promoting your business or product online, and making sure that your website content is useful and up to date. The great thing about online marketing is that you don't need to have a huge budget to put together a marketing campaign that is effective. There are tools that you can use to make your marketing techniques easy and profitable such website templates, shopping cart templates, and online marketing templates.

But before you incorporate any of this, there are some important points to consider for creating a successful internet marketing business.

Step One: Communication - One of the most important aspects of online marketing is response to your customer's inquiries and needs. You don't want to lose potential customers after you've made the effort to have them visit your website and then contact you for more information or repeat customers who have purchased a product and need assistance. E-mail is a very effective and cost efficient way for you to generate more sales and communicate with your customers. But you must be prompt and consistent in your response and maintain a friendly yet professional tone. Efficient websites incorporate a personal touch with a fast response time to customers. Reasonable response time for a business day contact is 24-48 hours. If you wait any longer you risk losing the customer. So consider your work plan well. If you don't have the ability or the man power to return e-mail in two days you need to take another look at your setup and either reorganize your business or hire someone to help you.

Step Two: Products and Services - Before you start marketing online you need to be sure that you have a product or service that people want to buy. Customers need to find value in what you have to offer, whether it be your free report that sells your own product or your direct sales product or service you have to offer. There are two motivating factors when it comes to selling online: cost and convenience. Will your customer find it easier to buy online than finding the same product in a local store? Is it cheaper for your customer to buy this product from you online?

Step Three: Delivery - Is instant delivery a selling factor that can turn the tables for you in offering your product? Would your potential customer be more inclined to purchase from you if you offer your service within 24-48 hours? Convenience, instant access, and quick service are key selling points and can mean the difference in you getting a sale or losing a customer. Test your system. Make sure it is user-friendly, easy to understand, functioning as promised.

Online success starts with the building blocks of business design. Put yourself in your customers shoes. Communicate with your customers, offer them what they need at a great price and with quick, if not instant, delivery and you will have the three keys necessary to open the door to online business success.

Cynthia Mosher has been working online since 1998. She shares her advice on working at home and internet and affiliate marketing at her website http://www.wahmdaily.com

Dealing With Buyers Remorse - Returns and Refunds

Requests for returns and refunds are one of the most damaging aspects in the profits of any direct marketing business. You waste a good deal of your time, efforts and funding on these two courtesies.

Keep in mind that all businesses endure some degree of this problem and many do nothing about it. Many businesses a simply accept returned merchandise and refund requests as a normal business cycle. It is as if they can think of nothing to solve this expensive scenario.

On the contrary, you can do plenty to reduce returns and refunds drastically. I am about to tell you how you can eliminate the majority of them. It is a simple and painless process.

To be able to understand what causes an excess of return and refund requests, you must first know what does not cause them to happen.

Returns and refunds are not the cause of rendering poor service or faulty good, since a little time, care and concern guarantee quality in the services and products you offer.

Dishonest consumers do not cause them, although you may come across a shady character from time to time. The majority of your consumers are those who are searching and satisfied with getting honest value for the price they pay.

Customers searching for a better price somewhere else does not cause them, although, pricing is an element in selecting merchandise for purchase. However, this is rarely the reasoning for a customers decision of returns or refunds.

If none of these aspects is the single, most reason for the largest number of return and refund request, then what is.

The reason is buyers remorse.

Yes, it is true; buyers remorse is the leading factor or returns and refunds. This is enough to send shivers up and down your spine. Buyers remorse is your powerful and rotten opposition.

The explanation for this is that all the reasons mentioned above are reasonable, matter-of-fact problem situations that have logical and practical solutions. They are much easier to overcome. On the other hand, buyers remorse is a more difficult problem with an even more complex solution. Buyers remorse is emotional in nature. Therefore, buyers remorse will not find a solution with any amount of logical and sensible problem solving.

To understand the strong influence of buyers remorse, you will need to understand when it occurs. Buyers remorse occurs the moment, of a completed transaction of purchase.

You will find this true when a customer makes a purchase on an explicit decision rather than that of an implicit decision. An explicit decision is, when outside sources influence your customer, while an implicit decision is one that the customer makes on their own.

Of course this is a completely other topic on its own and we shall now leave it at that, for the moment.

Buyers remorse causes fear in the customer as soon as they have completed their purchase, the moment that money changes hands.

However, the good news is that you can turn this type of scenario around quiet easily. However, you must use the right tools to accomplish this. I am sharing this tool with you now. It is a powerful fast moving tool.

This tool is post purchase reassurance.

Post Purchase Reassurance

Post purchase reassurance indicates you understand that customers will suffer from buyers remorse. It also indicates that you recognize this problem comes from their emotions. Once you understand this, you can take creative action to eliminate the unfortunate influence it has.

To achieve your post purchase reassurance goals, you will need to create and send a very personal follow up letter to your consumers, soon after they have made their purchase. You will also benefit by giving away special reports and bonus products in your letter to your consumers.

You can deal with buyers remorse, while eliminating the amount of returns and refunds you might incur. Do it now!

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business. http://besuccessfulnews.com/