Service Untitled

You’re most likely sending out emails, brochures, and promotions with greetings of the season, but what happens after the lights are removed and the tree is packed away? Are you still showing your customers that you appreciate their business all year round? You want to show sincere appreciation for customer patronage and want them to feel valued for making the choice of spending their hard-earned money at your organization.

Here are some suggestions to help convey your warm thoughts of appreciation:

- Be helpful. Share your wisdom and use Twitter or Facebook to enrich people’s lives. Generally as a business owner, you can figure out current trends; use these trends to educate people. Ask your readers as you send out regular emails, what kind of information they want to learn. For instance, if you run a landscaping business, send out updates about seasonal plantings, trends in gardening, herbs, etc. Don’t just promote your product, but give something valuable.
- Take care of your customers and attract new ones. Give or send out coupons with a significant savings to give people a well-appreciated discount. Think about buying some small branded useful gifts to give out as promotions; key chains, cups, coolers, umbrellas, etc. Be a “go to” provider for guides, reports, and information about your industry. If you sell windows and doors, be an informational resource for “green environments” and supply the latest information on tax credits.
- Customer Appreciation Day. Choose a theme to invite clients, customers, and their guests to your store for a special event. A local jewelry store can promote a new designer, and invite customers for wine, cheese, and an exclusive premier of a new jewelry line. A real estate business might present a seminar on mortgages, home inspections, or how to spruce up your home to realize the maximum profit. Promote these events via email, newsletters, or social media.
- Give back. Today our real estate company helped with our local television news station to raise money for the local Quantum House. It helps so many parents and their children. All businesses and organizations should help their community; donate your time, money, and resources to make this a better world we all live in together.

Do these simple tasks again and again; not just at holiday time. Make it a New Year’s Resolution to find out what is on a customer’s mind; listen to what they have to say, and respond and adapt to compliments and complaints. Customers remember, and isn’t that what we want them to do?

photo credit: Holidayextras

It used to be my father and brothers enjoyed Thanksgiving Day for the good food and football, while my mother and I cleaned up and prepared for the biggest shopping event of the year. We would get up at 5:00 AM, and we were ready to join in the wild bewilderment of Black Friday.

Now that I’m all grown up and technology has enriched my life with e-commerce, not only do I get to sleep past 5:00 AM and not have to wake up the dog to take him for a walk, I just gather my shopping list and turn on my computer whenever I feel the urge. The holiday campaigns have begun; sales all over television, billboards, and online social media. It can be more confusing than the mall, but it saves the frustration of parking, long lines, crowds, and lack of sleep, but with the added convenience comes more risk and responsible shopping. When you walk into a brick and mortar store, you’re relatively assured the business will be there the next day, while an online store could just be that “404 not found” click.

So as a seasoned shopper, I look to the companies I trust. Competitive sites are appearing everyday with some unbelievable deals, and these are the things I consider before I purchase online:

• When I begin my online search for holiday gifts, I am most attracted to professional looking sites that load quickly with pleasing visual graphics, correct spelling, and grammar. If a company can’t figure out the difference between “affect” and “effect” or “wrote” and “written,” it doesn’t inspire my confidence.
• I want the contact information of a shopping site to be in plain view, and I look for their phone numbers and email contacts.
• When a site wants my personal information as in my email address, my full name, my address, and my phone number, I want to feel confident that they do not sell, rent, or trade my information to any third parties.
• I want information about the business. Who doesn’t feel they don’t know Tony Hsieh of Zappos? He’s a real person, and that brings credibility. We’re inspired by his success, and we’re impressed with his humility; all essential elements to the huge success of his online business.
• Be honest about all fees and time lines. Many of us shop at the last-minute, so customers want to be sure of time lines for delivery. Before even proceeding to checkout, all fees should be listed. There is nothing worse than being presented with hidden fees at checkout.
• Prominently display warranties and return policies. Make it clear how to return damaged items and what to expect if a product doesn’t work correctly. Headsets.com provides a return policy with no excuse ever necessary.
• Have a prominent display of good business practice awards. Provide links with social media so customers can feel they are part of the community and have confidence in the store.

Even though people like to shop online for the convenience, shoppers still want that personal connection as online businesses strive for their corner of the market.

photo credit: SoWa Sundays

How effective are product reviews? More than 80% of  retailers according to Customer Product Reviews: The New Generation, prominently feature product reviews on e-Commerce or e-Business websites. The best reviews come from people who have similar interests and similar lifestyles; not necessarily just from family or friends. It aids in business performance, feedback, and customer loyalty.

Channel Advisor which automates day-to-day tasks of online retailers so they may more strategically sell across multiple markets, state that nearly all searches are influenced by customer product reviews. Who among us doesn’t check out a product before we purchase it? Statistically Channel Advisor states:

• 46% of shoppers  are influenced to buy products by checking customer product reviews.
• 43% of shoppers are deterred from buying products by checking customer product reviews.
• 3% of shoppers are unaffected.

Positive reviews, testimonials, and catalogs often feature “top rated product pages” to boost sales. So what should be done about negative reviews? Chances are there’s always going to be someone or some product that is going to go awry. The best solution is to let the negative reviews teach a company valuable lessons. Is there something wrong with the product? How many people are complaining, and are you as a business owner reading the complaints? Some businesses might hurry and delete the complaints, but if a business watches the bad reviews, contacts the vendor, and demands a new shipment with the flaws corrected, people are impressed. Companies need to pay attention and reach customers at the right time; when the action is happening and not weeks or months down the line.

So how do you get people to post reviews? Here are some suggestions that can encourage people to share their positive feelings about a product:

• Offer customers an incentive if they post a review. You can offer a coupon or a discount towards their next purchase.
• When a customer is checking out, ask them to write a product review and share their thoughts.
• Follow up with your customers after the purchase, and ask them to give you some feedback about the product.
• Have a newsletter, and encourage customers to write an article about their purchase and offer to print the five best ones in the next issue.

Keep your customers clapping; it’s a positive way to build brand loyalty. Just make sure that customers get what they pay for, and work hard to win your customers’ confidence.

photo credit: EverJean

Businesses work social media to help make them successful, but it is wise not to just rush in and set up Facebook and Twitter accounts without having a viable plan. While good reviews about a company’s product or services may build brand loyalty, a problem with a product or service can quickly escalate and get out of control. Social media is vulnerable to circumstances, content, and interpretation. An angry person can cause havoc. So how should a business prepare for Facebook or Twitter?

A business never wants to get into any kind of social media over a crisis. Those need to be monitored all the time because they get emotional very quickly. That’s where policy procedures come into play. If you’re going to join in, the conversations have to be constantly monitored. In the event of a complex crisis, a customer service representative has to intervene and address the problem privately and quickly. Before Twitter, when a consumer purchased a new product and it failed miserably, the customer would call customer service or return the product, but now Twitter and Facebook afford the opportunities for an angry customer using 140 characters to cause bad feelings and bad business reviews. People want informative and consistent responses; be prepared to have knowledgeable personnel monitoring the situation.

A good way to break into a more controlled social media environment is using moderated chat groups. Customers can comment on products and services, but a moderator approves or disapproves messages. This provides another chance for a company that is properly prepared to intervene early as soon as a problem is recognized.

Some businesses are reluctant to even step foot into the social part of the internet citing confidentiality and lack of productivity from employees as excuses. Chalk that up as reverting back to the cave days of technology when employees were denied access to computers at their desks or even the use of cell phones at work. Even if a company doesn’t have any social media accounts, what is to stop an irate customer in Waterville, Maine posting on Facebook about terrible service in a bed and breakfast establishment they had just stayed at while on their trip to Florida? The bottom line is that while Facebook has created many opportunities, it has also created obligations.

The desire to stay connected continues to expand. Smartphones connect us to everyone; not just the people in our workforce, and the promise of new technology is ever-expanding.

photo credit: Robert Scoble

Rarely will our customers confide in us. Instead they just move on to our competition. Of course, that will never do, so periodically we need to assess ourselves, our service, our staff, and our product. So what’s the best way to find out how our customers really feel about us?

Let’s start out by being specific and using a survey. We want to stay away from general questions. Publix supermarkets sell hundreds of thousands of items, yet this time a survey might concentrate on seafood; freshness, quality, selection, and customer service associated with the seafood department. If we are gathering personal information to go with our survey, whether we are doing the survey in person,on the telephone, or online, we  need to assure our customers they won’t be bothered in the future with spam, junk mail, or unwanted annoying solicitations. Let’s use the least amount of personal information possible so people aren’t put off by having to supply us with information they might feel is none of our business or could be compromising to their privacy. Also, let’s offer our customers a discount or a coupon for their next purchase, so they know we appreciate them taking the time to speak with us.

If we’re doing a survey for a specialized brick and mortar establishment, here are a few sample survey question ideas that can render interesting and informative feedback:

• How were you greeted when you entered our store?
• How was your experience?
• Did you find what you were looking for?
• Did our sales representatives make you feel important and welcome?
• Were you happy with our product?
• What do you think about the quality of our product?

If you’re an online store, survey questions need to address your website and the ease of navigation. Here are some example survey questions:

• Did you have a good experience when you clicked onto our website?
• Is our website user-friendly and easy to navigate?
• Was our checkout easy to use and efficient?
• Did we describe our products well?
• Were our products delivered to you on time and in good condition?
• Are you happy with our products?

There is a large assortment of software available for customer service surveys, and it does depend how much time a company wants to spend, but good customer metrics can positively affect a business. Some businesses prefer to use measurements ranging from “highly unlikely” to “extremely likely.” Other surveys allow customers to write in their opinions. I always like to include the following three questions to my surveys:

• How likely would you be to recommend my services to a friend, relative, or colleague?
• How likely would you be to use my services again when you decide to buy or sell real estate?
• What do you recommend I do to be considered a “10″ in customer service?

These are just some really good tools to help us grow, and which directly affects our bottom line – great service to help us succeed.

photo credit: Gustavo Pimenta

There are two main reasons an organization is likely to lose customers; the competition has a better offer or the customer is unhappy. Even the smallest interruption on a day a customer is stressed, in a bad mood, or just in a hurry could mean the difference whether he returns as a client at a later time. Today’s economy and sharp competition therefore demands excellence and consistency. Even though a company might offer the best price around town, if  service is shoddy the customer is likely to leave. A business can not compensate in one area for another area of weakness, or rather who wants to buy a product even if it’s a great deal  if there is no one at the company to help if something goes wrong?

Customer retention relies on two distinct platforms. First there is the relationship with the client. We need to understand and know our clients, which includes their expectations, what satisfies them, their geographic locations, and their likes and dislikes. The easiest way to figure this out is through surveys which analyzes a customer; builds a profile, builds models of their preferences, and often can predict problems before they even happen.

Customers of service industries will buy more from year to year, thus reducing costs because the repeat business of the client continues to help a business grow. Loyal, happy clients often will pay more; overnight stays at the Ritz Carlton. In addition, there is the benefit of good publicity, social media, and word of mouth. Here are some suggestions to improve client relationships:

• Always keep your promises. Deliver on time, call back, email back, and solve problems.
• Make sure all levels of management have the same customer-centric attitudes.
• Acknowledge a customer’s intelligence, and respect them. Customers don’t want to be embarrassed, lectured, corrected, or have an agent express a “know it all” attitude.
• Be educated about your products and services through lectures and training sessions so you can be a competent source of information.
• Perform better than your competition.
• Don’t let any customer just walk away, and look for the warning signs. Track customer purchases and note when the customer has reduced their business. Find out why, and fix it.
• Reward sales people for client retention.
• Value client opinion.

The second platform is the expectation of the product or the service itself. Even the best customer service isn’t going to build client retention without outstanding goods. Here are some of the expectations:

• The quality of the products or services must live up to the expectations promised by the organization.
• Every department has to be involved in the presentation, delivery,and function of the product. From explaining everything starting with turning the product on to trouble shooting,each department and customer service has to be made available.
• Every department has to be available for follow-up. Most things go wrong at the very beginning, and rapid assistance can make all the difference in the world to customer retention. Generous warranties, easy return policies, and money-back guarantees build customer confidence.
• Correct design mistakes or service interruptions.

It’s much more expensive to find new clients rather than maintain the valued customers already happy and satisfied. There’s no shortage of competition, so striving for the best can make a profound positive effect in customer bonding.

photo credit: zoetnet

Great customer experiences are not accidental; they are strategically designed to appeal to everything that touches a consumer, client, or customer. Extraordinary customer experiences extend to all points of the connection that will affect the reason a customer returns. It extends beyond customer service; it is the total experience, and what makes a customer happier with your company than the competition each and every time.

Let’s start from the beginning. All customers or clients have experiences. For instance, in real estate sales there is the interest in purchasing a home. A potential buyer has to be qualified as to what he can afford. Then there is the shopping around for the perfect home, the time of the purchase which is negotiating and writing out the contract, the follow-up on all contingencies, inspections, municipal ordinances pertaining to the home, and finally the date of settlement where your customer shakes your hand, hugs you, and thanks you for finding his new home. Now one might think that the real estate agent has done a great job, but to deliver a notable customer experience, there also has to be the post purchase interaction; what does it take to keep that person coming back to you in a few years when they are ready to sell? Will they recommend you to their friends and family?

Customers and clients don’t just come to you for your products or services. They come to you because they like the experience of buying your product or service. It’s delivering that experience which is the hard part. Statistically businesses lose 50 percent of their patrons within three years. Is it that they are just not making their customers happier than their competition? Customer experiences that are memorable and give customers exactly what they want brings them back. It is all incorporated into the total experience.

So what can a business or service do to make that customer experience so positive that “it can never get any better?” Here are a few suggestions:

• Concentrate on employee training. These are the people who will make the experience either positive or negative.
• Understand what the customer experience objective is, and act upon it. Be a customer yourself. Walk through your store and examine it internally and externally. Touch upon the sites as you enter the store. How does the store appeal to your senses? Can you hear music? Is the store aesthetically pleasing? What about the lighting? How does it all make you feel?
• For online businesses, create a personal experience. Use incentives; surprises after spending a certain amount of money. Provide customer service by phone, and make it easy to contact your business. Be environmentally friendly. Be quirky, and be a forward thinker. Don’t just follow the other internet sites selling the same products or services. Positive and innovative thinkers lead the pack.

Define the total  customer experience, and execute the plan. It’s not just being efficient; it’s the grand design to find customers, gain their business, and bring them back. It can be your distinctive brand; it will help to own the customer and the rewards are building loyalty and increasing profits.

photo credit: MichiganMoves

In a recent article Ford Motor Company commented on figuring out how it can improve customer loyalty and have a longer relationship than they do at the present. They stated that customers stay with manufacturers as long as the new warranty lasts, and then move on to independent service providers. Ford also claims the change of ownership within the warranty period makes it difficult to reach the next owner. Ford claims that going to a dealer for work outside of the new warranty period may initially present as being more expensive, however in the long run the dealers have better processes, training, and parts as to Ford products. When asked if Ford might consider lifetime warranties, the company commented that longer warranties allow customers greater potential for abuse.

Customer relationships are based on a company’s service especially in the auto industry. The automobile brand owner looks to the future hoping today’s buyer will purchase another Ford. He wants advocacy, a willingness to pay a premium for his brand, and the possibility of more than one Ford parked in the owner’s driveway. Then comes the perks of loyalty; there is a greater resale value down the road, and stronger negotiating powers with the manufacturer. With all of this in place, can a brand owner then count on more Ford owners coming back for service work after the warranty period is over?

Actually retention rates, metrics, and analytics are all necessary for success, and it is based on customer experience. Does lifetime warranties add up to consumer negligence or can it be the most positive part of  customer service? Ford can not afford customer service slip ups, and they need to communicate with the customers more often. Educate the customer on proper care; a typical owner’s manual consisting of hundreds of  pages isn’t likely to be read by most new car owners, so keep it simple. Companies can not take the customer for granted and need reliability and flexibility. Sometimes the warranty period needs to be extended; sometimes the warranty period needs to address particular needs of particular clients.  Another barometer of success is employee loyalty; the people working in the front lines of service need to be enthusiastic and well-trained for their positions.

Satisfaction alone does not build a loyal customer. Even though a customer may be satisfied today with the luxury hybrid competing with Lexus in the mid-size sedans, it doesn’t predict how customers will behave in the future as to what brand they will purchase. They may or may not return, however loyal customers consistently come back. Will Ford be able to lay claim to that in the future?

photo credit: aresauburn™