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RELATED ARTICLES
The Great American Customer Service Unawareness Campaign Q: I'm so sick of you so-called business experts always saying the customer is always right. This is my business, not the customer's, so I'm the one who's always right. Sure, they can have an opinion, but in the end it's up to me to decide who's right and who's not. And if the customer doesn't like it they can take their business elsewhere. What do you say to that, Mr. Business Expert? -- Paul W. Communicating Value Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about. Handling Customer Complaints Even the best business will receive an occasional customer complaint. Knowing how to resolve these complaints will help you gain loyal customers who will then refer others to your business. Here are some important tips. How To Build Stellar Client Relationships Your opportunity to build a stellar client relationship starts with managing the gap between your perception of how things are going and your client's. I Wont Tell My Lawyer but I Will Tell You A general counsel of a large international consulting firm told us about his experience talking to an interviewer who had called to discuss his satisfaction level with his outside law firm. He had been using the services of a "high end, expensive" law firm out of New York. Customer Service, Italian Style Nowadays, we complain nearly all of the time about how few businesses remember how to provide quality service to their customers. But a recent trip to Italy not only reminded me that the art of service is not dead, but that providing outstanding service is the key to almost any successful business. Here are a few well-worn but important principles that I was reminded of during that trip: Dont Work with Jerks: How to Recognize a Difficult Client Early Five minutes into the call I knew this client was going to make my life miserable. The problem was, I already said "Yes." Quality vs. Quantity There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are Quality vs. Quantity; two performance factors that don't seem to get along. Customer Service Has Moved Toward Customer Care As I waited for an answer to my VCR inquiry from a stereo company, the recording stated a "customer care" representative would be available shortly. At that moment, I realized it's finally catching on everywhere. With aging baby boomers, world events and additional pressures in today's society; it is "customer care" that has evolved in our economy. We have moved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and are currently leaning towards a "servicecare" economy. As we live in a high tech-high button touch environment, many personal contacts have been decreased making each customer interaction more important than ever to corporate imagery. For example, if you call for computer tech support, the representative often makes it a point to address you by first name. If it's the bank credit card company, they may ask "How are you doing today?" This makes the customer feel less like a number and more like a human being. In the Villa of the Sick Cat -- A Lesson in Customer Care If you're a pet owner, you know the stress of having a sick pet and you know that having a great veterinarian is a wonderful thing. My cat, Zoe, came down with a nasty infection that had me racing off to the vet's office last week with an unhappy, howling kitty in tow. (She's doing much better now.) At the Carwash; The Customer really is always Right You have no doubt heard the saying that the customer is always right. When you are a customer you happy with this position, when you are the owner of a small business, sometimes you see this is like opening Pandora's box. But for the sake of argument, let me add a caveat to that saying: "The customer is always right, even when they're wrong and you know it." After 27 years in the car wash and cleaning industry, I have heard it all. Here are some ways carwashes can mitigate upset customers. Listening: The Foundation of Communication Does Your Customer Talk Back To You? What is your customer saying about you? Do you really know? Does your customer really know who you are? The Sellers Creed I will not make sales. I will make Customers. Cheap To Keep You've heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one. Repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more. After 10 purchases a customer has referred as many as seven other people. A New Way To Handle Complaints, Or Is It? What a lot of money we have been wasting on dealing with customer complaints. Get Customers to Stop Calling You--12 Easy Ways to Save Money with Online Customer Support Despite rumors to the contrary, the Web is not dead. More people are using it, they have faster bandwidth, and in many cases Net-time is taking over TV- time. It's no wonder more users are turning to the Net for help, rather than the telephone. So why not take advantage by offering your customers help online after the sale? Given that the average customer care call is $33, it's a great way to please customers that prefer the Web over a phone queue and save money too. Create a Positive, Upbeat, Can-Do Workforce and Dazzle the Customer with Your Caring! Given the choice of dealing with a positive, upbeat employee with a "can-do" attitude or dealing with a disgruntled, distracted, uninterested one, which would you choose? No contest. Customers always want the best experience possible; they want it to be easy and pleasant to do business with your company. Enter the real challenge of "Relationship Management," the relationships. Until all of our business is done electronically, and much of it might be, managers, in addition to making sure the work gets done, still need to be concerned with the performance of the most important link in the customer connection - people. Learn to Anticipate Your Customers Needs This morning I was having breakfast with my good friend Diane at one of my favorite breakfast nooks. I enjoy the atmosphere there although I've been less than pleased with the customer service so far. Caring for Your Customers You probably think I am going to say something like, "The customer is always right." Right?? Wrong.
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