Saturday, July 11th, 2009

What is customer service? Have you ever stopped to really think about this question? We have trained literally thousands of people and hundreds of organisations in customer service. No matter who the person or what the organisation, the answer to this question is always generic. They will say: "Customer service is about giving customers what they want" or perhaps "it's about satisfying customers" some times they will say that it is about "making customers happy."While at first glance these answers may sound correct, nothing could be further from the truth. Say for example that you ran a restaurant. If a customer were to enter your restaurant and ask for some office supplies would you be able to give the customer what they want? Would you be able to satisfy a customer who was looking for some jewellery if you worked in a hardware store? No, it would be impossible. The best that you could do would be to politely tell the customer where they can go and get Jewry. Obviously, customer service is not about giving customers what they want, or even satisfying customers.The same is true for the way we give customer service. When we ask the question: what is the most important thing for good customer service, almost everyone we ...
Tags: Distressed Mother, Office Supplies, Truth
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Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Who says service is serious? Customer service can be silly too. Take this fun quiz to test your customer service knowledge. You may be a service ace if you both pick the correct answer to each of these ten questions, and understand why these answers are correct.1. A complaining customer is:A. Always rightB. Almost rightC. Often lyingD. Always the customer2. Customers who complain:A. Had unhappy childhoodsB. Are genetically predisposed to be sourpussesC. Have trouble in their primary relationshipsD. Are doing you a service in identifying what isn't working in your business or organization3. The best reward for your customer service representatives is:A. Earplugs and punching bagsB. Valium or other mind-numbing drugsC. Recognition and appreciation on your partD. Anger management seminars4. CRM stands for:A. Customers Rarely MatterB. Can't Remember MuchC. Communicating Random MeaningD. Customers Rudimentarily ManagedE. Customer Relationship Management5. Customers who complain want . . . A. Something for nothingB. To be heard and have their experience validatedC. To vent for the sport of itD. To be made majority shareholders in the company6. Customer Service departments:A. Are the afterthought that cleans up messes other departments causeB. Build customer loyaltyC. Are leaders in understanding customer behavior patterns and market research7. For a company to be considered service-oriented:A. It must mention customer service in its ...
Tags: Correct Answer, Customer Service Department, Sink Hole
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Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Customer Service Agents are the frontline staff of the company they are who customers speak with first. Essentially, they are the voice of the company.If a Customer Service agent is professional, friendly, and can solve a customers needs, that customer will have a positive impression of the company. This pleasant experience can lead to repeat business and even referrals increasing profitability.On the other hand, if a Customer Service Agent is unprofessional, uniformed, and unable to solve a customers needs, the customer will hang up the phone in frustration resulting in a negative impression. Consequently, the customer will indeed talk about your company, but with a very pessimistic tone which can discourage customers away from you and to your competitor decreasing productivity!As a leader, it is your responsibility to train the staff with proper telephone skills and company and product knowledge as well as the requisite customer service skills necessary to excel customer expectations. With this education, you are arming the Customer Service Agent with the power to better assist customers and increase productivity creating many positive first impressions along the way!The Customer Service RepresentativeAs the leader of customer service agents, you will engage with a wide variety of personnel, different backgrounds, different ages, and different skill sets including:• The young employee who ...
Tags: Customer Service Representative, First Job, Telephone Skills
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Sunday, June 14th, 2009

“Back in the good old days”, Fortune 100 companies recruited beautiful women with sexy voices, coiffures, expensive dresses (and brains). They were called “Receptionists”. It was their job to sit at the front desk and be the “face” of the company. After the company name hanging on the wall, the beautiful receptionist was the first thing people saw. The receptionist had to have brains. She had to be tactful and diplomatic in handling whoever contacted the company. She was the front line of what would be called: “Customer Service”.Today the majority of incoming communication is by telephone and email. A pretty receptionist is nice but not that important. When someone contacts the company, these days, they are likely to encounter the dreaded “telephone tree”. This diabolical device, certainly not invented by customers, can be an additional source of and addition to their frustration, consternation and (frequently) anger. It is not uncommon for customers to be placed on hold for over an hour.They are calling customer service because they either didn’t get what they wanted or they have a problem. They are not real happy, and what do they get? The Telephone tree.Bestselling author of Freakonomics Stephen J. Dubner, says, “I am probably typical in that I hate making a customer-service call to ...
Tags: Hanging On The Wall, Injustices, Spite
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Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Come to think of it, there is no industry that does not involve customer service; reason why this course was created to help entrepreneurs and employees to understand customer service and its importance.Customer service is a process whereby a representative of a company provides services or products to a customer in a satisfying manner. Undergoing a course on customer service can drastically change the direction your business is going. It increases customer satisfaction and in the long run yields customer loyalty.Customer service can occur practically anywhere. The following are just some of the examples:Personal or face to faceTelephoneOrder-takingComplaint handlingBills, payments, documentsOnline and/or via emailThis customer service course aims to give you a quick run-through on how to improve customer service skills. First, one must understand that no amount of course on customer service can teach the following:Attitude – having the right attitude is something innate, something that makes up the whole personality of the person.Commitment – as an entrepreneur, you can’t force an employee to be committed to the job. It must come from within.Happiness – this trait depends on the person and when you are happy, everything else that’s good follows. You have a positive disposition in life.Let’s discuss a few simple steps on how to improve customer service.Smile – an ...
Tags: Cus, Customer Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Customer service representatives (CSRs)Interact with customers to provide information in response to inquiries about products and services and to handle and resolve complaints. First point of customer contact for general inquiries like pricing, products, scheduling etc maintain business relation with clients by providing accurate service so as to promote customer loyalty.CSRs are people employed by companies to serve as a direct point of contact for customers. In the 24/7 worlds today companies need to secure their customers receive an adequate level of service or help with their questions and concerns. Such customers may be individual consumers or other companies each with different needs. Many companies provide customer service to path of the telephone through call centers. The Customer service representatives interact with customers to provide information in response to inquiries about products or services. They also handle and resolve complaints and communicate with customers through a variety of means. Telephone is the most famous but increasingly customer service is supplied by e-mail. Faxes and regular mail parallelism and even a direct meeting can also be used by the CSR. Some customer service representatives handle general questions and complaints, whereas others particularize in a particular area.Customer Service Representative is explain by the following points: -1. Customer Services“Good customer service is the lifeblood of ...
Tags: Customer Service Representative, Good Customer Service, Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

When you open a dollar store you soon discover there are so many different, yet important aspects to the business. There are so many responsibilities that must be dealt with on a daily basis that it can be very difficult to get them all covered. Still other duties might come up weekly or monthly. Yet they are often just as important. One of the most critical responsibilities you face is customer service. This is a 24x7 duty that cannot be forgotten even for a moment. In fact it is among the most critical responsibilities you are charged with handling.When you open a dollar store, success in the customer service arena involves not just your performance, but also that of every employee. In this article I will present 4 critical questions to ask as a test of your overall customer service performance. So let’s get started.1. How skilled and competent are you and your employees at providing memorable service to each and every customer? It is important to offer every new employee customer service training during their initial job orientation. Be sure to set clear expectations regarding customer service at the same time. Experienced employees should receive periodic reminders, updates and reinforcement through daily feedback and in writing on their performance reviews. .2. ...
Tags: Discover, Dollar Store, Reinforcement
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Saturday, March 7th, 2009

(c) 2008 Drew Stevens PhDFinding Solutions that otherwise puzzle organizationsOrganizations believe that they provide exactly what customers desire. Ask any firm and the Paretto Principle prevails. 80 percent of most organizations believe they deliver exemplary customer service. Ironically, less then 20 percent do. According to research by consultancy Bain and Company, only 8 percent of companies really deliver on customer service.Our present environment exists with a gap in delivering service. There are numerous reasons for the gap, however, we believe two issues contribute to this gap, a) greed and b) the inability of customer relationships.Greed Many statements by management consultant Peter Drucker are famous. However, in the book The Practice of Management, Drucker clearly states, "There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer." Organizations today are trumped by two fundamental issues- competition and productivity. The focus is so acute that raising revenue, higher profits and increasing productivity all ignore the necessary myopia of customer concentration.Exemplars of avarice include Starbuck's, the airline industry and retail establishments. Anytime an organization believes they can achieve higher growth they raise fees, not one CEO or analysts stops to ask what the impact of the client is. Prior to heightened fees, customer remain for two purposes 1) either first mover advantage in ...
Tags: Business Purpose, First Mover Advantage, Fundamental Issues
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Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Customers of every kind of business imaginable these days bemoan the state of customer service. While the global economy and the Internet have given businesses the opportunity to serve more clients than ever before, the trend has also given way to impersonal, lackluster customer service. It’s unfortunate that most businesses today don’t realize that they are regularly losing valuable customers if they don’t focus on providing an exceptional customer service experience.In most businesses, once a customer begins dealing with the customer service department, he or she is already in a negative mindset. The best customer service representatives aren’t those that simply neutralize the problem. Outstanding customer service representatives take a negative and turn it into a positive that ensures the customer is not only happy, but is convinced he or she has had an outstanding experience – the Wow Factor – that he would not have gotten with any other company.The key ingredients of the Wow experience are:• Seamless Service• Trustworthy Service• Attentiveness• Resourcefulness• Courtesy• Pro-active ServiceSeamless Service means providing everything the customer needs, not just what is required to meet the minimum standards. It’s about making sure that they don’t have to wait and wonder. Customers will appreciate a smooth, seamless process for addressing their needs. If there are several steps needed to take care of their ...
Tags: Customer Service Representatives, Global Economy, Several Steps
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Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Better Customer Service is Not OptionalProviding better customer service is an obvious competitive strategy that creates the platform to achieve success in your market. For that reason, is is almost unbelievable that customer service is so poor from so many businesses. Most business owners I talk to want to provide better customer service. However, their attempts to develop customer service policies and behaviours throughout their business are often frustrated. In this article, we highlight why providing better customer service is not optional if you want to achieve business success and some ways to achieve better customer service, by approaching the topic somewhat differently than you might anticipate.Provide Better Customer Service by Identifying Unmet NeedsOne reason many businesses fail at providing better customer service is that they try to compete head-to-head with their competitors. They take them on at their own game. This strategy is difficult to make work, because of competitor reactions. Both you and your competitor either get stronger at customer service, or someone tries to take a shortcut and ends up undermining the reputation of everyone in the industry. A better approach is to try to identify unmet needs within your market that no competitor is paying attention to. This is a strategy that can propel your success to market ...
Tags: Commodity Market, Home Deliveries, Pizza Restaurants
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