July 8, 2012
5 Easy Tips for Happy Customers
- Smile! Even if you are on the telephone, your smile shines through and welcomes your clients to your business.
- Listen! Everyone wants to be heard and understood. You can turn around the most unhappy situation by truly listening and having empathy for that person.
- Care! What if it were YOU on the other end of the conversation? Make that person’s concerns your own, and you will create a relationship, not just a client.
- Refer! If your business cannot provide what your customer needs, refer them to a competitor who can. You won’t lose business – you will gain credibility, gratitude, and return customers. You will could also be developing a valuable rapport with a neighboring business.
- End with “My pleasure!” When you are being thanked for helping someone, don’t reply with “No Problem!” It seems nice enough, but what you are really saying is – “It’s OK – You weren’t as big a problem as I expected.”
March 28, 2010
No Naked Emails!
Almost everyone has had that dream – you know, that one where you go to an important event and start mingling in the crowd – then realize in horror that you forgot to dress!! Gratefully you wake up, and after a few minutes the only remnants of the experience is in your mind.
Unfortunately, too many people are making a very similar mistake every day – and leaving permanent records of their carelessness. Even worse, these records are often forwarded to other people, even groups of people, spreading a message about you that wasn’t your intention at all.
I’m talking about your emails, of course. This powerful communication tool is invaluable in today’s business world, but frequently people under-estimate the impact of proper formatting and etiquette. In essence, they send out “naked” emails – messages that are improperly formatted, misspelled, use poor grammar, etc….. It’s like not bothering to get dressed before you leave the house.
Why does this happen?
Online communication is truncated
Some people are used to online short speak, and Twitter messaging where normal written rules don’t apply. However, it’s not a good idea to bring these habits into your emails. A real world example – a meeting invitation was sent out, and in response, one upper level manager replies:
ill C U there
I would expect that from a teenager … not a business professional. Personally, it did not make me believe that person was “hip” or “young”; instead, I felt that he didn’t care about the written image of him that was presented, and, in equal proportion, that he didn’t care enough about my opinion to take just a minute to type a whole response.
Busy people cut corners
I received an email from my daughter’s teacher one day. It was intended to introduce herself and let me know that she was available to communicate with – messages that I truly valued. However, she left two misspelled words (I prayed they were typos), didn’t use proper capitalization, and used run on sentences. All this was in an email that was no more than four sentences. This teacher intended to make me think – Great! I can easily talk to my child’s teacher. Instead, my thought was – How on earth is this person qualified to teach children, and how quickly can we change classes? I am still appalled at this message. It was sent to the parents of 30 children, and I’m guessing somewhere between 30-60+ people read it. If she had spent five minutes or less to run spellcheck and proofread for content and grammar, this message would have come across in a professional, friendly tone and her intent would have been accomplished. I understand that she was probably busy and hurried; but if she didn’t care enough to present herself properly to her students’ parents – how does she approach her teaching? Don’t cut corners in your emails – they can and will be used against you.
Perception of email is “casual”
Many people treat their emails as virtual extensions of office shout-outs, ignoring traditional formatting such as address, body, structure, and a close. Your email will live on after you have sent it. It may get forwarded to other people, it may live on in a communication thread, it may be referenced a year later when someone needs to look up information it contained. This is anything but casual communication, and you’ll be doing yourself a great disservice if you forget this.
Your emails go out and represent you, and by extension, your company. Take a few extra minutes to make sure you are writing a whole message, with a greeting, a body, and a thank you statement. Sign your name and include your contact information – this is easily done using an email signature, and ensures that if people need to contact you outside of email, they can do so. Follow these simple practices and it will be well worth the time spent.
One Bad Apple spoils Customer Service
One Bad Apple
The other day, I had a critical problem with a service provider – one that I had been working to resolve for several days. The resolution was essential to my organization’s operation.
I had been very patient, done my part of the trouble-shooting process, and spoken with several people at the company about the situation. While frustrating, it was overall going well and we were making progress towards a resolution.
Then I got transferred to “The Bad Apple”…. While every other employee had been polite and helpful, he was flippant, uncaring and then turned downright rude when I expressed frustration with the cost this issue was having on my business. Then, he informed me that it wasn’t his department, there was no way he could be expected to do anything, said he would transfer me to the correct department and abruptly placed me on hold. The transfer I received was to the Sales Department – completely inappropriate. I was so angry and insulted at his behavior that, after my problem was finally resolved, I spent an extra 40 minutes that I couldn’t afford on hold, going up the chain of command so I could make a formal complaint to a company manager.
I did this as a courtesy to that company, to let them know that they had a rotten apple in their customer service barrel that would hurt their reputation and cost them clients. Most disgruntled customers will not do this. What they will do, is complain – and loudly – to anyone else around them. They will talk to their friends, colleagues, co-workers – people who will place value on this opinion – and then decide THEY don’t want to do business with that company either.
Customer Service is the most important facet of your business!
Remember:
* 96% of dissatisfied customers do not complain directly.
* 90% will not return.
* One unhappy customer will tell nine others.
* 13% will tell at least 20 other people
It takes less than 5% of the effort and dollars to KEEP a customer than to attract a new one.
What can you do to ensure quality customer service in your business?
1) Make outstanding customer service your priority – and make sure that your employees know it! Attitudes – good or bad – come from the top
2) Ask your customers how they would rate their treatment – have a comment box available on your counter or website, send out a survey – maybe offer a coupon for those who complete it – then value that feedback
3) Promptly address any complaints – and THANK them for caring enough to give you that feedback
4) Greet customers properly with eye contact and enthusiasm – if on the phone, smile – it still comes through
5) CARE! Every customer should be treated as your “Best” customer
6) Be your own “Secret Shopper” and conduct your own test of service – was your staff helpful? Professional? Courteous?
7) If your company can’t fulfill the customer’s needs – don’t be afraid to refer them to a competitor who can. You may lose out on one sale, but will gain loyalty, appreciation and referrals
8) Always remember that your reputation is irreplaceable – and usually – irreparable – guard it carefully
9) Make your company easy to reach – Phone, Voicemail, Email, Website forms – and make sure you RESPOND quickly – 24 to 48 hours should be your target
10) Don’t aim to MEET your customer’s expectations – EXCEED them!
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