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March 24, 2008
Enough
With The "Buzz Words"!
Many of
us have seen the commercial where there is a speaker giving a
presentation using nothing but a series of buss words. By "buzz
words" I mean the cliche, overused phrases we hear every day. These
would include "Value-added", "Performance-driven",
and the one I hear all the time in customer Service: "Customer
Focused".
Often
times we use these fancy phrases to mask their true meaning or our true
intentions. "Performance Driven" migh mean "no more
yearly raises. If performance does not improve, you don't get a
raise!" "More Efficient Infrastructure" often means
"we are eliminating some positions to increase profits". There
are a lot of these terms and we use them far too much.
It is
amusing to find out that most of the people that incorporate these words
have little knowledge of what they mean or why they use them. The fact
is, most people who claim to be "Customer focused" are not
focusing on the customer at all! They might be focused on customer
sales, or even customer service, but not customer focused.
Customer
focused means that you are willing to evaluate every aspect of your
business and see it as a customer would. that means looking at all your
procedures, practices, rules, etc. to see if they are really customer
friendly. That is being customer focused.
Let's
concentrate on the quality of the message, not the sound of the words!
March 15, 2008
The
Economy & Customer Service
A lot of talk revolves
around the economy today. Money is tight and in some areas, the housing
industry, for example, are being hit especially hard. Sales are down,
people are not purchasing major high priced items at normal rates, and
it is harder to grow or maintain your current levels of business. The
question you should ask yourself, however, is:
How Can I Protect or Grow
My business In A Down Economy?
First of all, we want to
make financially responsible choices and decisions. That's a given. But,
we should not take a step back in Customer Service or development. In
fact, we should increase those efforts as much as possible. Here's why:
It costs a lot of money
to get a new customer. As much as 5-10 times more than keeping an
existing one. Your competition is going after your customers with sales,
promises, and all kinds of marketing. Those efforts, however, will fall
on "deaf ears" if your customer has no reason to go anywhere
else. If they feel good about your business and their purchases there,
they will come back to you time and time again. It is only when you give
them a reason to go somewhere else that they actually will try the
competition!
Never give your customers
a reason to leave. If sales are down, what a great time to use the
"slow time" to evaluate your business and your customer
experience! Use the less busy time to implement new ideas, create new
benefits and value for your customers. You will gain two important
advances by doing this. first, you will increase customer retention
which saves you money. Second, those people who buy elsewhere? When you
offer something the competition doesn't, or when you offer a better
value, guess who will be coming to your company to check it out. that's
right! The customers from your competition.
That's a good
thing............................
March 5, 2008
Taking
Skills Inventory
I used to
be a technician. Every year we would attend classes on the latest
products and how to work on them efficiently. We would learn the newest
technology so when you were called on to fix a new machine, you actually
knew what you were doing! Then I graduated to management and finally to
an owner. As I reached these new stages in my career, I never lost focus
on providing my staff with the training they needed to remain current on
the products we serviced.
But, I am
ashamed to say, we never gave that much attention to Customer Relations.
After a series of mishaps that really shouldn't have occurred, I
realized my errors. I then became a disciple of customer Service and
on-going training. Almost 20 years later, Customer Service and Customer
Service Training has been my passion and dedicated business for many,
many years.
People
think they can attend a seminar or read a book today and that should
suffice for the next 20 years! After all, talking to customers doesn't
change much over the years does it? Well, yes and no. It is not the
talking part that you learn but rather HOW to talk and HOW to use the
latest methods and technology to keep up with the times. Just like
people use e-mail today when they didn't have it 20 years ago, things
change. You must adapt with them to keep up.
Also, we
forget things. At least I do. Just ask my wife...... Seriously, we
learn something today but if we don't use it, or we don't reinforce it,
we lose sight of it after a while. We don't apply it and it goes further
back in our memory until it becomes non existent.
Keeping
all our skills up to date by regular training keeps us fresh and alert
when it comes to our customers. It allows us to think of things in
different ways when we take a class, read a book, or view an on-line
training manual. We can do this inexpensively. Quality training is
available at very reasonable prices (see menu on the left! (shameless
plug!)).
Invest
the time and resources in keeping all your skills current. In the long
run it makes your life easier and far less stressful.
February 6, 2008
Why Are
People So Demanding?
Sometimes I wonder
"What's wrong with people today?". More and more people have
this sense of "entitlement" each and every day. they feel
entitled to something and demand it whether or not it is based in
reality. Sometimes demands are just over the boundries of fair and
reasonable and other times they are outright absurd.
But, what do you do in
these situations? The first thing you should try to do is reset the
expectations of the customer and try to determine exactly what the
problem is and find the best resolution possible. then present it to the
customer. Try and be fair but also keep your resolutions in line with
what actually makes sense! Since no two customers are exactly the same,
most of your resolutions will have different components to them as well.
Just try to be fair and keep the conversation calm. This is the best way
to resolve more situations quickly and more economically.
February 3, 2008
Being
Part of The Solution, Not Part of the Problem!
Right now, I am getting
ready for "The Big Game". Preparing food for the party,
getting the place ready, etc. when I had this thought. Thanks to remote
access, I wanted to share it with you.
The two teams that got to
the Super Bowl did that by embracing one important concept: TEAMWORK!
When people work together as a team, they can utilize a broad spectrum
of skills and abilities that are just not available in one person. When
this happens, something great happens. Situation get resolved faster,
more economically, and with greater customer satisfaction!
Teamwork means getting
everyone involved! From sales people to delivery people to after sale
service. Every aspect of the sale is important to the customer and you
must address each part of the process to insure customer satisfaction.
Imagine if the coaches sent in the perfect play and the defensive line
gave the quarterback all the time he needed. Imagine the quarterback
throwing the perfect pass but the receiver wasn't there because he ran
the wrong pattern. One mistake, anywhere in the process, can ruin an
otherwise perfect experience for a customer.
While it might not be the
"Super Bowl" for you and your business, it should be. Without
customers, you'll soon be sitting on the sidelines watching your
competition ride to victory!
February 2, 2008
Do YOU
Need Glasses?????????
It may surprise you but
most businesses today go through life with "blinders" on. Many
of them don't see opportunity that's right in front of their face! Even
when you ask them about it, they scoff! The question that was scoffed
at? "Do you provide all your employees with Customer Service
Training?" Many scoffed, some laughed, and they just don't get it!
Most customer leave
without ever telling the people in the store or over the phone why they
left! They just leave and go somewhere else for their purchases.
Sometimes it was just a misunderstanding or something that someone did
that you were not even aware of! But it makes no difference because the
customer is gone! How many times a day, week, or month, do you think
that happens? YOU JUST DON'T KNOW! But it does happen and your business
is losing money each and every day because of it!
Having people customer
service trained in all facets of your business accomplishes two things.
first, it create a better experience for the customer but it also helps
identify weak points or shortcomings in the process because people
trained in customer service are focused on the customer! It's hard,
sometimes impossible, to place a dollar figure on the loss of a
customer. Sure you've lost their business but what about the people they
tell about their experience? Do they tell one person, 50 people, or 500
people? That you just cannot predict.
What I can predict though
is, you are losing customers. all businesses do. People move, they die,
they lose interest. Don't make it worse by giving your good customers a
reason to leave. Get your people trained. Not just sales people but ALL
your people. Drivers, cashiers, accounting, EVERYONE! They are all part
of the customer experience and you want to be known as customer focused
and customer friendly!
It really is true when
they say; "Customer Service Training doesn't cost you money, it
SAVES you money!"
January 27, 2008
We
Sometimes Need a Little "Attitude Adjustment!
Why is it that some
people in Customer Service today just don't get it? Why is it that they
just do things that cause people to leave their stores and search out
someplace else to go? Basically, it has to be one of two things.
Ignorance or apathy.
Most people care about
their job whether it is because they like it, derive pleasure or
satisfaction from it, or just because the money provides them a certain
lifestyle. whatever the reason, they care about their job. The others
just don't care one way or another about their job or career. There is
little you can do with these people except to try and find something
that motivates them and gives meaning to what they are doing. If you can
show them there is meaning to what they do, you have a chance to turn
them around. If not, then it might be best to look for another employee.
It would be doing both of you a favor in the long run.
But what about those who
do care and yet do things that cause customers to leave your business?
Most of the time people do certain things because they don't know any
better and don't realize what they are doing and the effect it has on
people. We have all worked with people that do things without realizing
it. It could be the "office talker" who constantly bombards us
with stories and comments 24 hours a day without realizing we are losing
patience with her (or him).
If you have an employee
who does or says things that make your customers feel uncomfortable,
chances are they are not aware of what they are doing. When this
happens, you have two responsibilities. You need to provide guidance and
training. By guidance we mean that you must find a way to nicely let the
person know about what they are doing. Training comes into play because
it provides a way for the person to realize the effects of what they are
doing and also give them a different way of looking at the issues.
If people understand a
situation and know the proper way of looking at things and accomplishing
them, they will tend to do the right thing and become better at their
jobs. This is basic human nature. We all want leadership, support,
acknowledgment and information. If you provide it to those who need it,
you will have fewer problems with employees and less lost customers.
January 24, 2008
Why Do
People Need customer Service Training?
Wow! Several people asked the same question and it is a really good one!
That question was "Why do people need customer Service Training to
deal with ordinary customers? Difficult ones I understand but the
regular everyday customer?"
While it is true that angry customers require more effort and special
skills to handle properly, our focus should be placed on reducing the
number of those customers by keeping customers happy and satisfied. Have
you ever stopped to think why people become angry? It is because one or
more of their needs have not been met! Someone, somewhere in the process
did not do what they were supposed to do and the customer is now angry
over the result.
Most of the time the error was not intentional and the skills are there
but just not applied correctly. It's just like a baby learning how to
walk for the first time. The legs and muscles are there but the baby
doesn't know how to use them yet. With Customer Service Training, the
person is taught not only the skills but how to apply them. Most
important, however, is that good training teaches not only the skills
but WHY they are important. Often times the understanding of WHY gives
the person incentive to use the skills and techniques required to make
customers happy.
That's
what Customer Service is all about. Making customers happy so they will
come back again and again and again.
January 24, 2008
The Most
Important Thing To Remember.......
Very often people come to me and ask
me what the most important thing to do when dealing with a customer.
That is an easy question to answer. The single most important skill you
can have is listening. By listening I mean more than just hearing what
someone says but rather what the customer means when they are talking.
Listening means hearing the emotions behind the words and taking
everything into consideration.
People who are angry or upset convey that in their voice and tone when
they speak. People who really listen will notice that and take steps to
calm the customer down so that a meaningful dialogue can take place.
Without calming the customer down, you may never really get to the
bottom of the issue and resolve it fully.
So the next time someone talks to you. Listen. REALLY listen!
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