| |
| |
|
Customer Service Information |
|
|
|
How to Easily Increase Your Profits
Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of enthusiasm and said, "Welcome to our store, what can I help you with today?" And then listened attentively to what you had to say? Doesn't happen very often does it? In fact, while I was writing this, I couldn't recall when I had experienced it. I'm sure I must have yet it would have been so long ago, I can't remember. Let me tell you what happened this week? I belong to a well-known trade exchange which I have found very useful for my business. I wanted to purchase a suitcase from a particular store which usually takes trade dollars. From time-time the store will limit the use of trade dollars if they have reached their maximum for the month. Anyhow I quickly discovered this wasn't going to be my lucky day. I walked in and the assistant who was sitting down behind the counter (and remained there), didn't smile. She barely acknowledged me with what looked like a scowl. I had interrupted her reading time. (She was so busy, there was no-one in the store). I then politely (yes I can be polite sometimes) asked her if they were accepting trade dollars as I wanted to purchase a suitcase. She turned around to the owner who was sitting behind her doing some bookwork and repeated my question. The owner stayed seated, didn't look up and told her assistant "No". The assistant then relayed to me that "we are not accepting trade dollars at the moment, but we have good deals for cash". She remained seated all that time. I didn't answer and walked straight out the front door with my cash sitting in my purse. No matter how good their "cash" deals were going to be, if I was going to spend my hard-earned money anywhere, it definitely would not be with them! The 'Colour- blind to service' Copy Centre I had spent thousands of dollars with a printing company over a couple of years. A couple of times I was told by one of the staff, when they've been snowed under "Mary's too busy to speak with you at the moment, I'll have to get her to call you back when she's got more time". It was the same company who sent me a Christmas card with an invoice inside it! Whenever I had to pick up my order, the business owner would whinge about how hard business was?any wonder why? Needless to say I didn't remain with them. The 'Cant' do that' Café We went to a local café which we hadn't been to for a while and I was told by the waiter that "no, we can't do that". I wanted a particular type of sandwich which wasn't on the set menu. I informed the abrasive young waiter that "yes, you can". That got him scared and the order I requested turned up within 5 minutes. Are Customers Important to Business? Of course they are. No customers, no business. Yet why are businesses deliberately driving customers away? It's ridiculous isn't it? It's The Business Owner's Fault That's right. The person who owns the business is the one who's responsible for the way their clients/customers are treated. They are usually too busy working in the business and have not allocated time to working on their business. They're often very disorganised and have no idea what is really going on. Call it what you want?personal productivity, time management, personal organisation are crucial skills everyone needs to know and apply to their daily lives. Otherwise you run around filling your day with activity, most of which doesn't help you achieve your goals. Five Ways to Improve Customer Service and Increase Profits If you own or run a business, here's what you can do: Treat your prospects and clients like royalty. Make every contact they have with you an enjoyable and memorable experience. Be proactive with your clients. Stay in touch. It is up to you to contact them regularly. Not just wait and react when they have a problem. Look after your own staff. If you look after your own people they in turn will look after the business. Praise, reward, and invest in their on-going development. Send them off to various courses and seminars on communicating, sales, time management etc. Even if you have your own internal people who do the training, it's important that your team hear from outside experts who are specialists in their field. They know what they are talking about. Continually invest time and energy into yourself. Lead from the front. Keep developing yourself. Get regular feedback. Ask questions. Ask your clients/ customers what they like about your products, services and people. Find out what they dislike. Get regular feedback internally from your people. Find out what works well, what doesn't, how can things be improved. The Final Word Of course to take action on these ideas, you have to plan for it to happen. So pull out your diary now and plan to make sure that your business continues to stay in business and becomes more profitable. About The Author Lorraine specialises in working with businesspeople showing them how to dramatically boost their productivity, reduce the stress and the mess in their lives and have more time for enjoying their life. lorraine@office-organiser.com.au
MORE RESOURCES:
customer service - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Customer Service For Huge Profits Customer service is the most vital asset for Business either it is online or offline. It's the critical factor which determines if your business has a future or not. Tips for Curing Bad Customer Service Bad customer service is everywhere these days - unmanned front desks, surly servers, clueless staff, employees talking on the phone, and managers who refuse to acknowledge a customer. It's no longer an exception . What Every Manager Should Know About How to Win the Loyalty of Customers Dr. Michael LeBoeuf, in his cassette album entitled, Win Customers and Keep Them for Life presents twelve principles that will transform the workplace into a customer-driven, highly motivational team. What's in a Name? Different people call their Customers by different names. If they don't have Customers, they have Clients, purchasers, licensees, users, patients, members, franchisees, or buyers. 4 Things Your Clients Want From Your Company Sure, all clients are different. They have different kinds of strengths, weaknesses, cultures and goals. Service Equals Performance Equals Service Service can be described as a "performance" of some kind involving two parties whereby one party is the benefactor and the other party is the performing party receiving some type of monetary payment. The value of the Service depends on the personal experience of the benefactor. Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today's Customer Looking For Ways to Improve Sales and Customer Relationships?Find Out Where Your Firm Stands in Today's Customer Touchpoint Management (CTM) Revolution by Taking the CTM Quiz(San Rafael, CA) What could be more important than improving sales and your customer relationships? Today, there is a fast growing movement, a revolution, among organizations interested in improving their customer-centricity through a better understanding of customer interactions, or "touchpoints." Called "Customer Touchpoint Management" (CTM), the goal of this new movement is to improve customer experiences, and as a result, improve customer relationships. Customer Satisfaction and the Service Business The relationship between customer satisfaction and success of a service business is a direct one. Customer satisfaction measurement, however, is a much more complex matter. Under Promise & Over Perform: The Art of Managing Customer Expectations I'll always feel warmly about Conrad's restaurant, in Glendale, California.On the morning of the Northridge earthquake, Conrad's was the only restaurant in town that opened for business, and stayed open until the last customer went home. Renewing Customer Loyalty Every business loses customers, but not many do much about getting them back. And that is a big mistake. Customer Service, the Internets Primary Neglected Business Concern Customer service is everything to a business. Just look at big, successful retail chains: They let you return perfectly good merchandise just because you changed your mind. Are You Giving Your Customers Enough Reasons To Return To Your Business? Good customer service just isn't enough anymore in the marketplace in which we live. Times are changing and business owners are learning that they need to create such an awesome customer loyalty program that they are always at the forefront of their customers' minds on a regular basis. Can Three Words In Websters Dictionary Be The Key To Customer Loyalty? Are you concerned about customer loyalty? Are your customers so loyal that they will stick with you through hell and high water? And if not, you really need to question how you can create a customer relationship that's so gluey, that you never go bluey in the face. Funnily you don't have to go far. Quality vs. Quantity There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are Quality vs. Complaints Are Actually A Good Thing! Nobody likes to get complaints. They make you question your judgment, they can ruin your day, and they almost always leave you in a bad mood. The Death of the Loyal Customer One of my classes in management focused on the repeat customer. The course stressed the importance of the repeat customer to the financial welfare of the business. Clients?Do You Really Need Them? Running a successful business takes a lot of energy and there are so many areas that as a business owner you need to pay attention too.It's not enough to spend heaps of time, money and resources into getting buyers for your goods and services and then leaving those clients/customers to their own devices. Stay - Say - Pay Would you like to have customers that stay with you and don't buy from your competitors? Customers that say nice things about your business to other people; pay you on time and accept the fact that you might be a bit more expensive then other suppliers? Of course you do but how do we perform this miracle? It's dead easy really; you only have to consider two factors: be Reliable and be Likeable.It almost goes without saying that it's vital to have a reliable product or service. It Is All About Customer Service! In this day of terrible customer service, it should come as no surprise that serving your customers, also known as visitors to your web site, must be a top priority. Forget about return on your investment, how your site looks, keywords, meta tags, and the like. Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative.
|
| Article List | Index | Site Map |
|
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved. |