I was selling employment testing material that was based on the teachings of a well-known sales trainer. The question that brought the most conversation was about closing. How do you ask for an order? When someone says I’ll think it over, do you become the nice customer service type that says “fine, call me when you’re ready” or do you go for the throat and say “what is there to think about?” You know the first response is totally wrong and the second, which is the suggested answer, will probably turn the customer off. You try to say it nicely but at this point it’s likely he’s not going to say much more. What did I do? I said gently and with a smile in my voice, “Mr. Customer, could you think out loud so I can hear you?”
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With so many automated answering services for businesses out there, customers often find themselves extremely frustrated, wishing they could talk to a live answering service instead. Answering services have gone the route of letter writing – it’s all gone to computers in an attempt to make life simpler. However, most customers prefer to talk to an actual person when it comes to their concerns, rather than a cold, unfeeling machine.
From the moment that an actual person answers a call made or transferred to a live answering service, a bond begins to form. Personal interaction begins from the very first greeting, and the feeling that your customer is not just a commodity to be transferred over to an automated recording can be overwhelmingly touching. Of course, with today’s busy communications demands, your customers may only receive a friendly sounding voice and an upbeat manner, but that’s really all that’s necessary to maintain a positive outlook regarding your business.
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If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than try to solve it with an instant solution.
My grandfather used to say: “Even the court jester can teach us something useful.” This saying goes much deeper in meaning and applies to many things – from a Yoga class, to not taking life too seriously, and to the unfortunate way customer feedback is commonly handled by the business world.
As a customer of any service or product – how do you feel when your Email is ignored, your voice mail message is never answered, and you don’t get any feedback or concern, at all, from customer service? We all feel the same – nobody likes to be ignored. The shame of all this is that customer service is getting worse on a global scale.
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Customer service is all about the customer. As business owners or employees, we have all at one time or another had to deal with an upset customer. What happens when the upset customer is us?
Being in business does not guarantee success. The last thing a business owner wants is to lose our business, so when something goes wrong and we are the customer, do we just accept it and walk away forever or do we seek satisfaction. Of course we often complain, but then again we probably would not remain a customer.
Here is a suggestion to be a satisfied customer more often. Know what you want that will make you happy before you complain. Here is an example.
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