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April 28, 2008
Why
Should I Bother? I Have A Lot Of Other Things To Do!
I
remember when I was a kid, I had an excuse for everything I didn't want
to do. You name it, I had an excuse for it. It was funny to see my kids
were the same way! But it bother's me when I see people at their jobs
every day coming up with all kinds of reasons why they can't do
something they should. A lot of potential is wasted because people do
this. I wish they would stop because it only makes things harder on
themselves.
Whenever
I talk to someone about Customer Service Training, I get the same
response. "I don't have time" or "I don't have the money
right now". Those are common replies. Let it be known that I
understand those viewpoints because it is hard to place a concrete
dollar figure on what that training is worth. it is usually only have a
particularly bad situation that eyes are opened.
I put
this idea to you for your thoughts: "You don't have the time
because you DIDN'T get the training and you DON'T have the money because
your people are not trained in Customer Service! Think on that for a
while!
You see,
if you get the training and provide it to others, complaints go down.
wayyyyyy down. You and your employees spend far less time on escalated
situations and that means they have more time to do tasks that you
assign and you have more time to dedicate to other things. PLUS,
disputes resolved quickly are also resolved far less expensively so you
would have the money for your training or other projects!
Not
getting trained because of time and money is a very shortsighted vision.
Years ago people balked at learning computers and word processors and
still used their old typewriters! Now you can create a letter with 57
mistakes, edit it in minutes, and send it to the entire company with a
click of a mouse! Look at the time saved!
So, are
you a typewriter or a word processor?.............................
April 19, 2008
Waiting
For Improvement Means A Looooooong Wait!
I have
heard a lot of people tell me they are just "waiting for things to
get better". When I ask them how things are going to get better,
the usual reply is "I don't know but they just will". Here's
what really happens: Things get better because something in the
situation changes. Things change because SOMEONE did SOMETHING that
helped changes things! It might have been someone else not you but
someone did something!
Waiting
for change means giving up control and putting your life and future in
the hands of someone else. Rarely is that a good thing. with the
exception of people who are sick or incapable of functioning properly at
the time, our futures are best served when WE take steps to make things
better!
These
steps need not make earth shattering or drastic changes. Just doing
something each and every day will help move you closer to your goal!
Losing 100 pounds is a daunting goal. It may seem impossible to achieve.
But if you do something each day to help you lose the weight, you will
make progress. No matter how small your effort is, it will help you
achieve what it is you want in your life.
Whether
it is learning a new skill to make your job easier or increase your
performance, do something each and every day bring you closer to where
you want to be. Even if you don't see results yet, remind yourself that
today you made progress. You have choices in life. You have the choice
to pursue what it is you want out of life or you can sit back and deal
with what life gives you.
For those
who feel that little steps do not mean very much, if anything, think
about this: At the end of the month, the person who has done a little
something every day has completed 30 accomplishments that have brought
them closer to their goals! The person who stood back and waited has
accomplished nothing in that same period! Who has gone further to their
goals?
Success
is often achieved by linking together many small achievements. Very rare
is success found by making one huge step. It may appear so by those
looking from the outside, but those people often don't know all that
happened leading up to that "big achievement".
Make a
commitment to your self today. Make it a point to do something each and
every day to better yourself. Learn a new Customer Service skill and
practice using it in your job. Take a little technique and work to
refine it. Do a little each day. You will be shocked to see where you
are next month this time!
April 15, 2008
It's "Tax Day"
For Those Who Wait Till The Last Minute!
Throughout my life I have
run across people who wait until the last minute to do things. They
think that something will magically get done for them if they put it off
or that it will always be better to wait instead of actually putting in
the time and effort now. I've worked with people like this, I've had
friends who were like this, and I've trained people who are like
this.
The problem with waiting
until the last minute to do something is that we NEVER know what else is
going to come up and bite us you know where at that precise moment! We
may have 10 days to write a report and wait until the last day when...
you wake up with that virus that makes you so weak you can't concentrate
on anything or even get out of bed. Or maybe we have that important
phone call to make but we put it off to the last minute only to find
that person has gone out of town and you will not be able to reach them
until after the deadline!
The fact is, the most
efficient people are the ones who handle things promptly and know how to
prioritize the tasks in their lives. If that report is due in 10 days
but you have a lighter than normal workload today, why not do it today
and cross that item off your list? Why let things just pile up when you
can work more on your schedule and with less pressure?
Many of you are saying
"yeah, OK, but what the heck does this have to do with Customer
Service?"
Customer Service is a
demanding job that encompasses a wide area of responsibilities. At the
head of the list is our ability to interact and provide assistance to
our customers. This means timely responses and accurate information. It
means being able to get things done quickly and accurately. The best way
to achieve these objectives is to become more efficient and more
organized. Knowing what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done,
is critical for everyone's day to day success or failure.
For the majority of us,
our jobs involve not only interacting with customers, but also our
bosses and management. It is all about balancing the demands of both and
developing a plan that allows us to do more of what we do in less
amounts of time. How can we be responsive to our customers when we have
a list of 25 things we need to do for our boss or management? How can we
give the best to our customers when we are overwhelmed with the
accumulation of work we have let pile up on our desk?
Take a few minutes at the
beginning and the end of each day to understand what still needs to be
done and how important each item is. Then, develop a plan that you can
follow to insure that everything gets done with a minimum amount of
stress. If you can do this, your performance will improve, your stress
will go down, and both your customers and your bosses will be much
happier!
April 12, 2008
Customer
Service Has Gone To The "Dogs"!
Sometimes
people or businesses "just get it". No tricks, no ulterior
motives, they "just get it"!
I have a
bank by me that opened a few years back. I was unhappy with my old bank
and thought I would give the "new guy in town" a try! The
people were very friendly. They has someone greet you at the door and
direct you if you needed it. They had a coin machine so you could take
that big jug of change and not have to sort and roll it all to redeem
it. Little things that most people don't usually think about or pay much
attention to, but nice when you need them. What each of these things do,
though, is help create a very nice experience for the customer. Then,
however, I noticed something else they did and it kind of made me stop
and think.
If you go
through the drive-thru, they have lollipops if you have a child (or us
big kids if you ask) in the car. Nice touch! But, if you have a your dog
in the car, they will give the dog a dog biscuit when your slip comes
back in the little case! Now what the heck could making a dog happy
benefit the bank? What return could they possibly get on their
investment in purchasing those biscuits?
Quite
simply, it makes the customer aware that they think about them and their
family and even their pets. It personalizes the experience. It may even
be a topic of conversation at a party or gathering and they might get a
customer or two fro it also! But the main thing here is this bank
"gets it." They realize that they need to offer more than
other banks in order to get your business. They want to make using their
bank a positive experience for everyone. Plus, it makes you fell like
they truly care about you.
Today it
seems like everyone is into cutting expenses and trimming benefits and
staff. The prevailing theme seems to be "offer the customer as
little as you possibly can while still having them buy from us".
That's a sad attitude and a very shortsighted one. I believe that we
should always be looking for new value-added services and touches we can
add to enhance our customer experience. These need not be expensive
items, just something to show that you care about them.
Isn't
that what Customer Service is really all about?
April 8, 2008
Hey, If They Don't Complain, Who Cares???
Sometimes I think long
and hard about something to write in this blog, or on my web site, and
then sometimes, like yesterday, something just jumps up and hits me
square in the face.
I read a comment the
other day on a blog written by a company that I purchase marketing and
business products from. It related to some issues and errors they had
with several of their last sales campaigns. I, and I guess many others,
wrote in to complain about the problems. The response was something that
I have heard a few times before..
The blog post stated to
be successful, you cannot wait until errors and problems are identified
but rather just "put it out there" and deal with the
complaints. Then it stated "we find that 98% of people are not mad
enough to write anyway". While I agree that you cannot wait for
every little detail to be tested over and over again, I do disagree with
the feeling that if people don't get mad enough to write to complain,
that's OK.
While it is true that
many people do not complain, these same people might cease to do business
with you and will likely tell friends and associates about the problem!
This can result in future loss of business and a reduction in the
customer base of that company! The fact is, most people will NOT
complain! People tend to shy away from confrontation and negative
situations. The vast majority of people who leave a business will never
tell the reason why! They just go somewhere else!
The more well known the
company, the larger the potential damage could be. Let's say you put a
product to market with a serious flaw because you did not wait for
testing to be completed. 1,000 people buy that product. That is 1,000
people with problems. Granted, you resolve the problem and satisfy 90%
of the people. That means 100 people are angry. What if each one tells
10 of their friends or associates? That makes 1,000 people aware of the
problem. And if each of those tell 5-10 people? And so on, and so on.
Customer Service Training
teaches us one very important concept: It is not about how many
people write in and complain, it is about the image of the company and
the perceived quality of the products. Repeated mistakes can turn a
positive impression into a neutral or negative one. I still like this
company and they respond really well to their customers and resolve
everything quickly, but repeated mistake can dampen someone feeling
towards them..
Yes, I wrote in to
complain. Maybe no one else did but how much business was lost and how
many customers will leave the company because they did not wait until
everything was ready? What damage was done, if any, by repeated
mistakes? What if this were your company? It is not true that if no one
complains, you are OK. It's the voices you dont hear that can come back
and bite you!
As I stated before, I am not in favor of
endless testing and making sure 100% of everything is perfect. That's
analysis by paralysis. I'm just for trying our best to put the best
product out there for my customers and for never giving them a reason to
look elsewhere for their needs.
April 2, 2008
Are There
More Demanding People today Than Yesterday?
One common question
people ask is "Why are people becoming more and more
demanding?". That question is more relevant today than at any time
in our past. Why? Well, I believe one of the driving forces behind the
heightened demands of our customers comes from the current state of our
economy. With the price of gas and heating oil going through the roof,
and other prices rising because of these same fuel costs, people are
finding it harder and harder to survive.
When people become more
stressed, they have a "shorter fuse" and are more difficult to
deal with. They do not, and sometimes cannot, afford to pay for
something when it breaks, or pay top dollar for the products they want
but cannot afford. Therefore, they become more demanding in order to
attempt to get more value for their money or to avoid paying for service
when something needs repair. Skills taught to us in Customer Service
Training enable us to deal with these customers and situations far more
easily and economically.
Because of this customer
attitude, we must concentrate our efforts on delivering value to our
customers. Whether this value is real (as in a sale or reduced price) or
perceived ( as in features and benefits of buying from your business) we
MUST make the customer aware of EVERY reason they should purchase from
us and not their competition. It is not enough to be the best. To be
successful you have to SHOW why you are the best! We need to SHOW our
customers that we care about them and their needs.
People need to be
reminded of their importance to any business. They need to feel
appreciated and wanted. Why do you think some businesses employ
"greeters" to say hello to people when they come in? They do
this to make customers feel appreciated. They create good-will with
their customer before they even start shopping. They make them feel good
about shopping there. Even if the customer does not realize the effect,
their minds create a positive impression of the business that makes it
easier to purchase there or to come back in the future.
For those of you who have
taken advantage of our Customer Service Training certificate program,
display that certificate so your customers can see it! make sure they
KNOW how much they mean to you and your business. Don't take anything
for granted. If something will make a positive impression on your
customer, make sure they KNOW about it! (For those of you who have not
taken advantage of our Anniversary Certificate Program sale, check it
out here!
It is an awesome value to celebrate our 10 year on-line anniversary!)
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