Tune Into What Customers Really Want

Customer relationship marketing is powerful in theory, but troubled in practice. We need to take time to figure out how and why we are undermining our own best efforts.

Perhaps we're overlooking the fundamental elements of a good customer relationship program. With the means to connect with customers easily, maybe we're rushing to cash in on the potential rewards, while forgetting the essentials of all relationships: intimacy and trust.

Close examination reveals that relationships between companies and consumers are suffering. U.S. satisfaction rates are at an all-time low. Complaints, boycotts and growing unhappiness with big corporations are strong indicators that most CRM isn't working.

Ironically, the very steps marketers are taking to build relationships with customers are often responsible for destroying these connections. Companies may delight in learning more about their customers and providing services to please them, but customers are fed up. They're tired of irrelevant survey questions, overwhelming product choices, features they'll never use in phone plans and cars, and rebate-driven buyer reward programs.

The New Frontier: Mining the Internet

With the proliferation of online stores that complement traditional outlets, companies now have a tremendous source of information about consumers' preferences. Because a traditional store may not always have a product on its shelves, purchase results are not always a good measurement of desires. Online stores can track consumer demand patterns more precisely, as they offer extensive ranges of products to national and global customers.

The web is more than a sales channel; it is a powerful means of collecting data in real time. The Internet is truly the new frontier in connecting with the customer, offering a huge opportunity for companies to improve customer relationships.

The New Social Marketing: Buzz and Word of Mouth

Where does marketing enter the mix? Some experts claim the old days of "push" marketing are over, where a company shoved a one-way message to customers via print or TV. Corporations are asking themselves just how much return on investment there really is from a 30-second Super Bowl commercial.

Consumers are turning away from media and, instead, tuning into each other. Engagement and word of mouth marketing are the buzzwords of this new era. Customers are doing their market research online and listening to each other. Unfortunately, many marketers continue to look at engagement in a one-sided way.

Corporate blogs have become an excellent resource for CEOs and others to connect with customers in a personal manner. In spite of the possible pitfalls in opening two-way communication between the public and employees, there is much to be gained by being personable, accessible, authentic and transparent.

Customers are already communicating with each other online about products and experiences with your company. If you can join the conversation in a real way, in real time, you'll have an advantage over those who remain silent and inaccessible behind corporate doors.

Now there is finally a way to discover what customers want, and a way to connect with them authentically. But there are risks involved in being honest and transparent. Will you and your company take the risk?

Why Educated Consumers are Better Customers

Educated Consumers
Not too long ago, a colleague asked me why we invest so heavily in consumer education. We have made a conscious decision to spend marketing dollars on consumer education for a very simple reason. Educated consumers are simply better customers.

Lets take a closer look at why educated consumers are better customers.

Less Technical Support.
1.) Educated consumers require less technical support. The reduced technical support results in lower overhead costs. Often educated consumers can further reduce the support burden by assisting or educating other customers or potential customers in forums, newsgroups, user groups or elsewhere in an industry community.

Often users with a strong technical background or understanding will often assist in the forums and provide users technical support. The result: an educated consumer is a happy and helpful customer.

Easier Sales.
2.) Generally speaking educated consumers have a better understanding of the technology, how it can be used and how it will benefit them. A customers understanding that an application will result in saved time, can easily justify the software's expense. Cost becomes less of an issue when long-term value is understood.

Reasonable Expectations.
3.) I hate to say it, but back in 1996 when we started out, consumer ignorance resulted in unrealistic expectations. Consumers purchased expecting that software would do their dishes and vacuum. Regardless of how well the software did what it was designed to do, if a customer expects it to do something else, they will not be a satisfied customer.

Educated consumers have realistic expectations and understanding of what can and cannot be accomplished.

Kinds of Consumer Education

1. Articles.
Educational articles not only propagate the success and understanding of a technology, but well written articles will often establish the writer as an industry expert.

Example http://www.feedforall.com/newsletter.htm (on the bottom)

2. White Papers.
Real world examples of how other users are using software to resolve problems or save time are often great illustrations of technology in action.

Example http://www.notepage.net/whitepapers.htm

3. PPT Demonstrations.
Power point presentations not only assist with user education, but also can be used by User Groups to further evangelize and educate potential users.

All in all, educated consumers result in a happier user with realistic expectations. Ignorance often results in dissatisfaction and unrealistic expectations while education leads to long term happy and helpful customers.

Permissions:
Permissions and notification of use not required.

Utilizing Customer Service at Your Home Security Company

For many people the most important aspect of a home security company is the customer service department. The customer service department at your home security company can really help you out in a lot of situations. They can be beneficial in helping you to choose with products and services to purchase from your home security company, can answer questions you have relating to the function of your security system and can help you to troubleshoot errors in the function of your security system.

The amount of products offered by a home security company can be overwhelming. In most cases a home security company offers way more products than you need to protect your home. Simply viewing a website or a catalogue can be quite confusing. The best way to determine just what you need is to contact the home security company directly and speak to one of there customer service representatives. These valuable employees of the home security company are typically very knowledgeable about the products and services that the security company provides so they can evaluate your situation and provide you with insight into which products and services would be most useful and which are not really necessary.

The customer service representatives at your home security company can also be of assistance if you have questions about how your security system works. Their knowledge of the products and services that the home security company provides enables them to explain the features of the system to you in a manner that is clear and easy to understand. Your home security company employees these individuals to assist you in answering any questions that you might have.

The customer service department of your home security company can also be very helpful if you experience problems with your security system. They might be able to answer your question or to test your security system remotely. If they are unable to answer your question or solve your problem, the customer service representatives will be able to put you in touch with the members of the home security company who will do the repair work, maintenance or testing that might be required on your security system.

A customer service representative is the consumer’s main contact in the home security department. If they are unable to answer your question, they can put you in touch with the member of the home security company who can help you. Whether your questions are related to installation, purchasing, testing, errors or payments, the customer service representative will field your call and either handles your question directly or direct you to another employee of the home security company who can assist you.

Why does every company need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management)?

First, let’s define what a CRM is: The term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a system that connects different parts of a company through the thread of customer relationships. Sales, Marketing, Accounting and Customer Service can all be tied together with a powerful, centralized CRM software made to retain customer loyalty, increase revenue, deliver consistent and efficient customer service, and finally, evaluate which customers to focus on.

Basically, every company has customers, and every company should maintain some basic information about those customers such as names, addresses, purchases, contracts, invoices, etc. Therefore every company should have at least some basic "CRM Technology" to track and serve their customers. Even small businesses use Outlook, Quicken or other applications for this purpose. If you use Microsoft Outlook for your daily communications, calendaring, tasks and appointments and need a way to track sales leads and opportunities, to share data across sales representatives, to improve the understanding of your sales process, to communicate with a broad groups of people on a one to one basis, to improve your business process in the most important area – sales, and need a reporting system that beats multiple excel spreadsheets, then you need a complete CRM solution.

Why ? Because a CRM software can increase profitability for your business by reducing current operating costs, usually in the call center or distribution system, and by increasing customer value through smarter marketing using customer data to increase customer profitability.

Can you do it without a CRM ? Probably, but not as efficiently because only a CRM is built to take care of Customer personal needs “centrally”, meaning that by using a single software, all the employees of the same company can access an organised database via Internet, where sales, customer service and management have access to the same customer data using tools such as “Sales Force Automation” (provides Lead Management, Opportunity Management, Account and Contact Management, Reports and Dashboards specifically useful for your organization's sales team), “Customer Support and Services” (provides Ticket Management, Knowledge Base, E-mail Notifications specifically useful for your organization's customer support team.), “Marketing Automation” (provides Lead Management, Mailing Lists, E-mail/Mail Merge templates, Product Management, specifically useful for your organization's marketing team.), “Inventory Management” (provides Products, Price Books, Vendors, Quotes, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, and Invoices specifically useful for integrating your organization's sales, inventory, and accounting processes and enhance the sales effectiveness.) , providing a complete integration between pre-sales, post-sales, procurement, fulfillment, and other business processes within your organization.

In other words, a good CRM software will help you build customer relationships by setting mutually satisfying goals between organization and customers, establishing and maintaining customer rapport and producing positive feelings in your organization and for the customers.

Organizations that implement CRM and turn their business into e-businesses will find their competitors' customers ready to welcome them with a "smile". According to a study by IT Consulting firm Aberdeen - "The winners in this new economy will be those companies that can effectively leverage the Internet to redesign, automate and integrate all business operations".
Take the plunge!

Either jump on board with CRM and invest, knowing you need it, or get out the calculator and pencil and start adding up what you’re going to lose!

One thing is for certain – a few short months after implementing your CRM solution, you’ll wonder how on earth you ever got by without it!
http://www.momentustech.ca

Turn Online Window Shoppers into Customers

If you stand in front of a store on a slow Sunday afternoon, you will notice the same thing happening over and over again. People will pass by and carefully examine the wares in prominently displayed in the windows. Perhaps they will mumble something about the items on display. They will not even step into the store. These people are not customers. Rather, they are just window shoppers. On this particular Sunday they are looking, but certainly not buying.

It is even easier to "window shop" on the Internet, since you don't even need to step outside the house. People browse through many different web sites, look at the products and services on display, but do not buy.

However, if all you get are window shoppers, rather not buyers, you need to look into why at least some of your web site visitors are not buying from you. There are many reasons why someone does not become a customer of a store. They might not be interested in buying at this time and are just doing research; they might not be your target customers, or they can't find what they are looking for on your web site.

Let's look at several actions ways to improve your web site to generate more online sales:

- Get more targeted visitors to your web site. If you are selling sporting equipment, and people who come to your web site are couch potatoes, you will not get many takers.

The more targeted your web site visitors are, the higher the probability that they will buy something. Let's say you are a business coach who helps accountants get more clients. When potential customers come to your web site looking for a "generic" coach, they are not really targeted clients, since there are many different types of coaches who focus on different market niches.

If potential customers come to your web site and they are looking for a business coach, your targeting is better than in that in the example above. If potential customers find your site while searching for a business coach for accountants, congratulations! You have hit the jackpot. Your marketing campaign is as targeted as it can possibly get, since these people are a perfect match for your expertise. You should strive to achieve the highest possible level of targeting for your web site.

- Make sure that your target customers can find exactly what they came for on your web site. If you are a business coach for accountants, and you get highly targeted customers they still won't necessarily buy from you, unless they can find what they are looking for.

Some people may be interested in information about your services, while others are on a limited budget will only be able to buy just one of your products. Make sure that all the visitors who come to your web site can easily find exactly what they are looking for.

- Make it simple for your web site visitors to take action. People will go elsewhere if they can't figure out how to buy from your or how to sign up for your newsletter.

Take action now. Use the three steps above to generate more sales on your web site.

What’s changing in Customer Service? The top 5 new things that customers want.

We all know that good customer service is paramount to growing a business and increasing profitability. What many managers are failing to realize, however, is that rapid changes in technology have lead to equally rapid changes in the delivery of quality customer service.

In addition to the basics we all have heard time and again, there are five new areas of customer service that should be addressed to keep customers happy.

What do customers say?

1) Preserve me from auto-attendant hell! Customers are becoming increasingly annoyed and frustrated with having to sift through a multitude of options and press numerous buttons – only to be told that the desired service is only available through the company’s website. Worse is when the auto-attendant uses voice recognition – but doesn’t ‘recognize’ your voice.

It’s understandable that companies want to reduce costs by using attendants and, there’s no question that these are valuable tools. Yet, people want to connect with human beings; they don’t want to listen to a long list of prompts – especially not if they are having a problem (and let’s face it, that’s what usually triggers the call in the first place). To keep customers happy, here are few simple tips:

• Always make it easy for customers to reach a human being.
• Give people the option of voice prompt or touch prompt.
• If you do use an auto-attendant, limit the number of menus to two rounds of choices before the customer reaches a human being.
• If you have asked the customer to key in account information, transfer the profile along with the call.
• If the call has been answered by a company rep, and needs to transfer the call to another department, do not put the customer back into a long queue. Instead, let your customer service rep be able to jump the front of the line, and get them to stay on the call with the client until the next person has picked up. Once this happens, the first rep should introduce the caller and give rep #2 a précis of the situation so the customer doesn’t feel like he or she is having to start all over again.


2) Don’t make me wait more than a couple of minutes in a phone queue. Many companies are making clients wait 15 minutes or more in a phone queue. Anything more than 2-3 minutes is considered unacceptable by more than 80% of customers surveyed.

3) Don’t make me quote chapter and verse about my account to get simple information. In these days of increased white collar crime, it is reasonable, and sensible, for companies to protect their customers by ascertaining that they are dealing with the correct person before discussing an account. However, 3 questions should be the limit. Beyond that, it takes up too much time (costing the company money) and only frustrates your client.

4) Give me more flexibility in how I contact you. As communication options increase, so should the options that customers have for contacting your company. Offer clients the choice of scheduling appointments by going on-line or using their PDA to access a special appointment site. Let customers send a text message or e-mail to request that customer service call them within the hour. Enable customers to access their accounts on-line – and give them the ability to change billing and service options while there. Giving customers (who want it) the ability to interact more with their accounts will make them happier – and has the added benefit of saving companies money and employee time.

5) Don’t tell me how I have to deal with you. Right now there are multiple generations of customers – which means multiple ways in which people want to interact with companies. Don’t force everyone into the same mold, or you risk alienating at least one of the generational groups. It makes no sense to tell someone who is older and computer-phobic that they can only get their bills on-line (and yes, a large percentage of people 60 years and older does not trust on-line “banking” and “account management” in any form)… just as it could cost you a customer if you were to tell a Gen Xer that there is no on-line access to their accounts. More than ever it’s important to know how your customers want to be treated – and do deal with them their way.

Why Your Customer’s Buy: 3 Motivators Small Business Owners Should Know About

Whenever you go into a shop or pick up the phone to place an order, something has prompted you to take action and buy. Have you ever stopped to consider what that prompt was? What thought went through your mind, which led to you putting your hand in your purse or wallet?

It’s all down to motivation – what motivates you to buy. Understanding your customer’s motivation will help increase sales and profits! So, let’s spend some time examining what motivates people to buy and how you can apply this knowledge to help make your business more successful.

Motivation – 3 basic drivers

Any purchase boils down to satisfying a need, want or desire. These are 3 distinct stages. You usually have to satisfy your needs before you can progress up to wants and desires. Let’s have a look at each of them in turn.

Needs

Abraham Maslow, in his work on needs, highlighted that at the basic level, before we can consider ‘bettering’ ourselves, we have a set of requirements that are essential to survival. The most basic of these needs include food, water, heat and shelter. This is mass-market appeal, from the big supermarkets down to your local corner shop. Sell into the ‘needs’ category and you are looking at high volume, low margin.

Other than the odd special promotion, you rarely see the local shop advertising; they know that they will always get a core trade because they are satisfying needs (a bottle of milk at 9 o’clock at night!).

Unless you have a huge market penetration, you will never make a fortune just satisfying needs. Find another market if you want a high-living lifestyle!

Wants

You’re getting warmer now! You are getting into the realms of people who have satisfied their basic requirements and can afford to step up the ladder to satisfy their wants.

These are ‘nice-to-have’ items – not essential but they make life comfortable. A car, a TV, a CD/DVD player – generally a decent standard of living. To capture the market of satisfying people’s wants you will have to work a bit harder on two fronts.

Firstly, the customer can take it or leave it. He may not really need it at the end of the day, so you have to clearly highlight the benefits. Secondly, there is always someone else offering the same product. In this day and age you could argue that wants, to many people, have become needs, so there is an element of mass-market selling in this sector. You are up against many other businesses offering your product; you have to advertise, make people chose you over your competition.

You will make a decent living and create a decent business. But you should want more than this! To achieve greater success, you have to find a product that satisfies desires!

Desires

Desires spring from emotions. Big, profitable sales are achieved on the back of emotions. Why? Because if someone has a burning desire to satisfy, then logic more or less flies out of the window! Someone buying on emotion will pay a high price – excellent profit for you.

If you are in the business of satisfying desires then you are probably selling niche products or services, something, which doesn’t have mass-market appeal. You are focused on people who are happy to pay a premium to get what they want. A businessman’s heaven!

Understand the real motivator

Having identified the 3 buying motivators, the next step to sell effectively to these groups is to see what the underlying need, want or desire is. Getting an idea of what drives your customer to buy means you can tailor your sales message accordingly.

The need motivators

• To eat and drink – to stay alive!

• To stay warm

• To have shelter

• To be healthy and clean

• To avoid pain

• To ensure general security and protection

The want motivators

• To be sociably acceptable – “everyone has one”

• To look and feel good – sex appeal!

• To save time or money

• To improve general comfort levels

The desire motivators

Although some of these can be similar to the want motivators, desire motivators are more driven by emotion and so the need to achieve is more passionate – money is almost no object.

• Sex appeal

• To improve social standing – not just keeping up with the Joneses but to be better

• To demonstrate love

• To gain prestige or to impress

• To be popular

• Regaining a forgotten youth

You can see by comparing the various motivators that selling to the desire group can be easier and more profitable. They have more money and so you don’t have to try hard to sell your product. All you have to do is uncover which motivator is pressing them to consider purchasing and exploit it! There’s nothing better than being in a niche market.

Steps to take

In summary, here are the steps you can take:

• Identify which of the motivators you are out to satisfy – needs, wants or desires

• Speak to your customers and find out which of the specific motivators is driving them to buy

• Tailor your sales and advertising pitch to match

Spend some time thinking and studying your customer’s motivation and you will be richly rewarded.

Using a Press Release to get More Customers

This guide aims to show you what a press release is, whether or not it will benefit your business and the basics of how to write one.

There are many great stories about press releases being used to profit small business owners. If used correctly they can be used to get you into a small newspaper, driving customers to your business.

Sometimes, even the most run-of-the-mill small business owner ends up getting international fame and huge business profits from a simple press release.

A press release is how a lot of news starts. It is a very short piece of writing that a journalist or reporter reads, looking for a story to write about.

If they find something that might be interesting to their paper they contact the people listed on the release, give an interview and publish the story in their newspaper.

Free advertising! One young Brit named Alex Tew had a very simple idea for an online business - selling pixels on his website as advertising. The website was called milliondollarhomepage.com and it had no content and should have found it difficult to gain traffic.

BUT the university student wrote a press release and submitted it to a directory online. The BBC picked it up and soon he was internationally famous and had made over one million dollars from the attention this press release earned him.

So how do you use this in the same way to earn more money?

The key to press-release writing as advertising is that you are not trying to sell your product this time. (I know, weird isn't it?!) You are selling your STORY and hoping this will get you attention and generate traffic.

Alex Tew had a good story. He was a university art student just trying to make ends meet, he had a very ambitious plan, a new idea and the guts to carry it out.

However, he was just a normal person trying to make money online.

In reality, anyone can write their business as a story. Is there a special reason you started it? You may think "Ambitious mother of four just trying to pay the rent stories" are old but if you've read a newspaper or heard the news then you'll know that everyone else eats them up.

What did you have to go through to secure the fincance for your business? Did you start out with $2 stolen from your grandmother's purse? Tell the truth but make it interesting. After all, free advertising comes at the price of a good story.

Once you have found your "angle" on your business then just make it short. Use basic language and convey your story so a journalist can scan-read it.

There is a specific format to writing a press release and you can find websites that show you how to write to that format quite easily.

Once you have written it, submission is another art. You can submit to large directories online as well as politely calling journalists themselves and offering it to them. Guides to this can be found too.

I hope this article has helped to give you ideas about how to make money using press releases. It is definitely a profitable side of marketing not to be ignored.

This article brought to you by Women About Biz. Get more business information at the #1 Small Business Resource for Women at http://www.womenaboutbiz.com

Website Not Producing Paying Customers? Common Mistakes Found in Business Websites.

Today, a business website is not only a tool, it is a marketing essential. With many more customers starting their search for good local businesses online, you may be cheating yourself if you do no have a website, or if you have common detourants within your current website. In fact, some reports show that up to 75% of first time customers looking for a new business will indeed begin their search online first.

"But I have a website."

You may have a website, but is it drawing in the amount of business that you want? If you are getting visitors to your website, but they are just simply not converting to paying customers, then your website may actually be detouring customers away, rather then grabbing them in. Websites made on "do-it yourself" editors, Websites that were made during the "website boom," among others may have some common errors that drive your customers away.

Here are a few common mistakes found in none-productive websites:

1) Slow loading- One of the common mistakes website owners make us actually adding too much to their website. The more heavy graphic images and content that the customer has to download, the longer it will take for your website to load. If it takes too long, chances are the visitor will hit back without even seeing your website. We understand that you may have a lot to say or show about your business, but the proper way to do this is to split it all up into a few pages instead of one.

2) Outdated information- If your website was made several years ago, and you have not updated the content since, then chances are you will not get the most out of your websites. Your business changes over the years, so your website should change with it. Because, after all, would you hire a business if the only information you can find was post dated 2 or 3 years?

3) Unprofessional websites- This mistake is largely found in websites created during the "website boom" which took place around the start of the 21st century. Then, it was not uncommon to see websites with simple layouts, pictures that simply did not match the business, animated characters, etc. Plus, most of the technology we have today just simply was not available then. This is just not accepted anymore. If you open your website, and there are blinking or moving graphics that do not relate to our website (ex: an animated running dog breaks up your paragraphs, or a "new" sign blinks a few different colors) then chances are your customers are turning away.

4) No content- A website needs to tell as much as possible about your business. If your website only contains a few sentences, and then a "contact me for more information" link, then you will lose customers. The reason customers start their search online is so that they can find out as much information as possible, without having to go through the trouble of contacting businesses and asking.

5) No contact information- You would think providing your contact information would be a no-brainer. You would be surprised at how many companies accidentally leave this out. On the other hand, some only leave their address, which requires the customer to find the business in person in order to inquiry about their services or products. Make sure to leave either an email address or a phone number along with your address.

6) Javascripts- Javascript was a popular language during the website boom. Javascript is the language that controls things such as pop-ups ads, pop-ups messages, scrolling toolbars, etc. When used correctly, javascript can add beneficial dynamic content to your site. However, when used wrong, it may make your site look unprofessional, load slow, or may cause errors that do not allow your website to load at all.

If your website has any of the common mistakes found above, then I assure you that you will benefit from a website redesign. The good news is: redesigns are usually a lot less painful, and less costly then the initial design was. A good design company can take your current website, and make it stunning in a very short period of time.

Your Customer is Not a Statistic

When a customer walks into your office, you want to make sure they feel welcome, you want to treat your customer as though they are a piece of gold, and not as a statistic.

Have you ever been standing in a line, and when it comes to your turn to be waited on, the sales associate yells out “next?”

Just thinking about that scenario makes me cringe. It is hardly a way to build a relationship with your customer.

I have been working in sales for more than fifteen years, and I have literally had customers tell me that the most important thing to them is to be appreciated and not treated as a statistic.

Keep this in mind the next time you wait on a customer, instead of yelling “next,” you can politely say, “may I help you Ms. Jones.”

We all have our daily, weekly, and monthly goals that we must meet. And with this pressure applied to our daily work day, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it is the customer who is the most important thing when it comes to our company’s existence. They are the backbone. Without customers, we cease to exist.

Here are a few tips to ensure that your customer is appreciated by you and your company, and not viewed as just another number in line.

1. Address Your Customer by Name

When addressing your customer, make sure you call them by name. This will put your relationship with your customer on a personal level, and customers like to know that they are remembered. It gives them a felling of importance with you, and your company.

2. Don’t Hurry Them Out the Door

The last thing the customer wants is to be hurried out the door. Remember. You are running a business, where people are your greatest asset. You are not on an assembly line manufacturing cars, so don’t treat your customer as though you are.

When you are finished with your customer’s transaction, ask if there is anything else you can do for them, or if they have any questions for you. You could even use this opportunity to ask if you could go over some of your companies products with them, which you feel could benefit them.

The last thing you want to do is get them in and get them out.

3. Discuss Non-Business Topics

There is more beneath the surface of your customers than just the business that they do with you. People love to talk about themselves, such as their family, their job’s, their pets, their hobbies, etc.
So ask your customer about one of the topics mentioned above, I guarantee they will be delighted to tell you all about it.

This is also a great way to get to know your customer, and build a strong relationship with them.

A strong business relationship is a great opportunity to obtain all of your customer’s business as well as the business of all of their friends and relatives through referrals.

So remember, don’t treat your customer like a statistic, treat them as you would treat one of your friends.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

When Customers Complain

You probably won't have been in business too long before you get your first complaint. It just can't help but happen: low-end customers pay nothing and expect the Earth, while high-end ones pay a lot but expect an inhuman effort in return. You just can't please all of the people all of the time, even if you run yourself ragged trying -- there will always be someone who's not happy with what you've done. So what can you do about it?

Don't Be Rude or Dismissive.

The customer's complaint might seem stupid to you, or even insulting -- but that doesn't mean that you can respond in kind. You must treat every customer complaint seriously, and always act as if it is 100% your fault that things weren't to their satisfaction.

Remember that every unhappy customer will talk about their experience to your potential customers (research varies, but some say that they might tell as many as 20). Those potential customers won't get to hear your side of the story. Going the extra mile to keep unreasonable customers happy is, above all else, a defensive technique to prevent them from damaging your business. Don't be scared of complaints: you should, instead, be actively soliciting them, to give you a chance to put things right before they tell anyone.

Write a Letter of Apology.

People will really appreciate the effort you've gone to if you take the time to write them a formal letter of apology, and say that you're sorry things weren't to their satisfaction and you appreciate them taking the time to tell you so that you can improve. For example:

'Dear Sir,

It has come to my attention that you weren't happy with the service you received from my company in respect of the delivery of items to your home. We have now contacted our delivery service and fixed the issue, although I understand that this came too late to avoid inconveniencing you.

I would like to sincerely apologise to you for the bad experience you have had with my company, and hope that this will not harm our chances of doing business together again in the future.'

Make sure you sign the letter yourself, in pen. People hate seeing letters with printed signatures on.

Offer a Partial Refund.

The closing part of your letter should offer a refund of as much as you can afford to give -- in this scenario, for example, where there was a problem with delivery, you should offer to refund the full cost of delivery, plus a little extra to cover the inconvenience.

In this way, you can turn your dissatisfied customers into some of your most satisfied ones. They will tell everyone they know that there was a small problem that wasn't your fault, and they probably complained too harshly, but you handled it courteously and sent them a refund.

Having people know that you respond well to complaints is some of the best word-of-mouth marketing you can get. What's more, that customer you treated well is surprisingly likely to come back and do business with you again -- although, of course, they'll be very annoyed if things don't go well the second time either.

Do Some Complaining Yourself.

A large amount of the time, when a customer complains about something, it wasn't caused by you -- it was some kind of problem with your supplier, or someone else you rely on. Of course the customer didn't know this, but you do, and you need to do something about them. Write them a letter of complaint, like the following:

'Dear Sir or Madam,

Due to your service being unavailable this week, I have received the attached customer complaints. I hope you will understand that I am very displeased, and I am currently considering alternative suppliers.'

With this letter, enclose a copy of every customer complaint you got thanks to them. Your supplier will often be eager enough to keep you on as a customer that they will offer some kind of compensation package -- which you can then pass on to your customers, or use to cover the cost of refunds you have already given them.

UK Business Embrace Customer Service Training

customer service training, uk, business, course, courses

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In today's competitive markets, it is often the quality of customer service that determines the winners and losers.

'Customer service training can be the magic ingredient that makes a business or organisation stand out from the crowd.' says Mike Wilkinson, Chief Executive of Lancashire and Blackpool Tourist Board and Chair of the North West Tourism Sector Skills and Productivity Alliance for Tourism in the North West.

'Great customer service training makes all the difference when it comes to winning repeat business, and acts as a magnet to quality staff as well as improving staff retention rates.'

Since launch in 1993, over 300,000 people throughout the UK have taken part in Welcome to Excellence- the largest customer service training programme in the UK and the only one recommended by the The Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd.

Clients range from tiny B&Bs to some of the biggest names in tourism and leisure such as Bourne Leisure, De Vere, English Heritage and the new Wembley Arena.

In the North West, Welcome to Excellence has been embraced by thousands of businesses large and small, with more than 2000 people being trained each year.

Mike Wilkinson says 'Welcome to Excellence currently offers a series of seven interactive one day courses, all of which are frequently updated to reflect changing conditions and legislation.

'Welcome Host' is perhaps the most famous of the seven courses, but the Welcome to Excellence programme also includes much more for staff at every level. For example, 'Welcome All' focuses on how to provide a top class welcome to people with disabilities, 'Welcome International' provides an insight into how to deal with people from other cultures and 'Welcome Management' is designed especially for managers, showing how to develop a business-wide customer service strategy.

'Welcome to Excellence is already widely regarded as the gold standard by the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors, but we are now seeing it being increasingly sought after by other businesses and organisations for which customer service is critical such as local authorities, transport operators and retail outlets.'

'Fantastic!' is how Jackie Mottershead of Oswaldwhistle Mills, describes the impact of Welcome to Excellence on the shopping village near Blackburn, which is the third biggest tourist attraction in Lancashire.

Oswaldwhistle Mills employs 60 staff of its own, all of whom took part in Welcome Host training, in addition to 70 staff employed by concessionary retail outlets based in the shopping village.

'I was amazed and thrilled by the scale of the impact' says Jackie. 'The staff had a huge improvement in motivation and our sales increased by 20 per cent in the six months following the training. Welcome to Excellence was certainly the biggest single factor in this achievement.'

Mike Williamson comments 'It's always exciting to see evidence of the huge difference that great customer service training can make.'

The Imperial War Museum North is an award winning building created by world famous architect Daniel Libeskind in a stunning waterfront location in Manchester. Danielle Hird, Volunteer Coordinator at the Museum, was determined that the quality of customer service should be as impressive as the design of the building. She turned to Welcome to Excellence to raise standard in customer service amongst the front of house volunteers on whom the Museum depends. Over the last two years, more than 70 volunteers have benefited from both the 'Welcome Host' and 'Welcome All' training courses.

Danielle says 'We chose Welcome to Excellence because it allows volunteers to gain an accredited customer service certificate.

'The Welcome to Excellence courses are great. They help increase the volunteers' awareness and understanding of the vital importance of their role. For many, it is also a real confidence boost and shows them how to deal with tricky customer situations. It also helps inspire them to make the most of their role and really try to improve the customer experience. Importantly, our customers really notice the difference. We get very positive comments about the quality of customer service at the Museum. The culture of the organization has stepped up a gear - customer service is now something that all staff and volunteers see as central to what we provide'

This is a viewpoint shared by Charles Quinn, Visitor Services Officer at Grosvenor Museum in Chester, which has made extensive use of the Welcome to Excellence programme.

Charles says 'Local authority services such as ours are constantly striving to deliver best value and Welcome to Excellence has been extremely useful in helping us maintain high levels of customer service. Our staff invariably return from the courses more positive and motivated, with a fresh perspective on the importance of their role. This makes all the difference to the quality of the customer experience.'

Welcome to Excellence training is available throughout the year at a number of local venues. However, another option is to train your own in-house Welcome to Excellence trainer. This was the route preferred by Centre Island, an independent Liverpool based hotel group comprising two Crowne Plaza hotels, four Holiday Inns, two Express by Holiday Inns and a boutique hotel, 62 Castle St.

Dee Keeley, Group HR Manager says ' We see customer service training as absolutely crucial to helping us achieve and keep the edge we want in the marketplace.

' We opted for Welcome to Excellence because it is an established programme and it is also constantly being refreshed and developed. Welcome to Excellence was also cost effective, compared to the other options we considered. What's more, the programme can be delivered in-house by our own team, something we think is very important to keep the momentum going.'

For Centre Island, being able to train and support their own in-house trainer through Welcome to Excellence was an essential part of the appeal. 'It gives us complete flexibility' says Dee 'It means that the trainers can tailor the courses to make them completely relevant to our business and also makes it simple to run the courses frequently. We run a training programme every two months in each of our nine hotels.'

Mike Williamson says 'We believe passionately in the value of customer service training and are actively involved in assisting with customer service training for the Capital of Culture in Merseyside in 2008. We are delighted that subsidised Welcome to Excellence training is available in the North West, with approximately 50% of the funding from the North West Development Agency.'

Looking to the future, Welcome to Excellence is set to introduce a stream of new courses over the coming years as well as refresh the existing courses.

Sue Gill of The Regional Tourist Board Partnerships Ltd says 'With the Olympics and Paralympics Games in London in 2012, The eyes of the world will be on the UK and the event will interface with all parts of the UK's customer management and service offering. There has never been a more important time for all businesses to raise the bar when it comes to customer service training. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us all to aim to set new world class standards'

Mike Wilkinson is confident about ambitions for the North West.

He concludes 'We have a great and long tradition of hospitality in the North West of England and through building on that heritage through consistent improvement and customer service training, we can ensure that our businesses continue to lead the way and increase their competitiveness, providing standards of customer service that are second to none.'

Winning and Retaining Customers

Selling your business to people is an often daunting task. People have different wants that is why the manner you approach each of your customers is also different. Businesses that stand out in today’s competitive market are those that are able to harness emotional connections with people. Every business knows that a positive customer service is important for a business to be successful. But what businesses struggle for is how to make use of their knowledge to change into action.

Your goal as a business man is not to show how good you are but to develop a relationship with your customers. Along the way you will have to educate your customers about the products you have to offer if ever you hope to make a sale. But after the sale retaining the customers is a more difficult task to do. Competition is always stiff that is why you need to show your customers exceptional value and service.

It is especially difficult when people cut back on spending. At times like this you need to work harder to attract customers because all your competitors are doing the same thing. Wouldn’t it be good to have customers who stay loyal to you even in hard times? How could you possibly do this?

First off, provide good customer service. This should be a priority in any business because customers are likely to stay with businesses that treat them well. There is no such thing as too much stress on customer satisfaction. Making your customers happy always pays off. This will not only retain customers but will also attract new ones.

Second, keep on improving your products and services. Keep in mind that the market is continuously changing. Thus, you should never be satisfied with your products or services. Do a research and study your competitors. Keep up with any changes in the market.

Third, create products or offer services that appeal to your customers. If your products lack quality, people will not come back to your business. Make sure that your products and services are something that they need not only what they think they need.

Fourth, build good rapport with your customers. You need to be more humane in your approach so that your customers can relate to you as someone who is more than a business provider but also a friend.

So remember that attracting customers is more than just luck. It requires good strategy and planning. Do your best to win your customer’s trust. Take care of it and it will bring you good business in the years to come.

Your Ecommerce Website - How To Gain The Trust Of Prospective Customers

If you've an eCommerce website you understand perfectly the need to generate a reliable stream of traffic to your venue. Reliable and steady traffic means reliable and steady profits. Of course, there are many factors that come into play when you are dealing with developing and then maintaining a strong traffic flow to your website. Chief amongst these considerations is gaining the trust of prospective customers or clients when it comes to your eCommerce website. Through this article, you will be provided with an overview of tactics and strategies that you can employ when it comes to gaining the trust of prospective customers or clients for your eCommerce website.

Develop and Design an Appealing Site

One of the most important steps that you will need to take in order to gain the trust of prospective customers or clients is to ensure that your eCommerce website is attractive. Consumers naturally are more inclined to put their trust in an eCommerce website that is professional in its appearance. Business is lost each and every day in cyberspace due to the unprofessional appearance of some eCommerce website venues.

Testimonials can be Useful and Helpful

Another method that you can employ to instill confidence and to gain the trust of prospective customers or clients is the inclusion of testimonials from satisfied customers or clients at your eCommerce website. History oftentimes is the best indication of future performance. Therefore, by including testimonials from satisfied customers or clients at your eCommerce website, you will be taking an important and meaningful step in gaining the confidence of prospective customers or clients.

List Affiliations at Your Website

If you are part of any association or organization, you should include those affiliations at your website. For example, if your business is part of a Chamber of Commerce or some sort of recognized Internet organization or association, you would be well served by listing this information at your eCommerce website.

"Contact Us" - Make Sure They Really Can …

Everywhere eCommerce website has a "contact us" section or link at the site. However, it is surprising how often these “contact us” devices, links or pages do not function correctly. You need to make certain that any mechanism that you are using to allow for contact between a prospective customer or client and your eCommerce website actually works. You need to make sure that the “contact us” mechanism is user friendly - that a consumer does not have to jump through a bunch of hoops to connect with you. Finally, you need to make certain that when a prospective customer or client makes contact with you that you respond in a timely manner. This will help to foster a sense of trust between a prospective customer or client and your eCommerce website.

Want A Loan But Worried About Customer Service?

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Worried that taking out a loan is more hassle than it’s worth? Just because you’re asking for something from an organisation, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get good customer service. After all, there are thousands of organisations out there all willing to lend you money.

As most of us know, the reason for taking out a loan is to pay for something that you can’t afford at that particular time. The way a loan works is that you pay an agreed monthly amount back to the lender for a set period, until the loan is paid off in full.

Despite what some people may think, there is such a thing as a 'no hassle' loan. Our practical advice will help you avoid some of the common pitfalls and make you realise just how easy the process of applying for a loan should be:

What types of loan are available?

The two types are secured and unsecured. Secured is where you borrow on the value of your house. These loans tend to be more cost-effective, as the rates are normally lower than unsecured, because there's less risk to the lender.

How do I ensure value for money?

• Firstly decide how much you’d like to borrow and ideally over what time period you’d like to pay it back. That way you can shop around for the best loan quotes.

• Always read the small print. Some loans incur charges, such as set up fees or imply you should take out their insurance, which can be expensive.

• Taking out a secured loan (rather than unsecured) will usually offer much better rates of interest, as the risk is not as great for the lender.

Do I have to take out insurance?

No – you don’t. However, many lenders may suggest it to you, as it offers protection in certain circumstances (such as illness) if you couldn’t cover your re-payments. Also, you don’t have to use the insurance offered by your lender, as you may find a cheaper option elsewhere.

If you do decide to take out insurance, remember that it will increase your monthly payments, so you’ll need to factor that in to your budget.

What is an APR?

• APR represents the interest you will pay on your loan. It is the Annual Percentage Rate of charge.

• APRs vary dramatically from lender to lender and the one you will be offered could be higher than any advertised, depending on your personal circumstances.

• Clearly the lower the APR, the less interest you will pay on your loan. However, be aware that some lenders advertise a monthly APR on their loan quotes, which when calculated on a yearly basis becomes a lot more expensive.

• Before you sign a loan agreement, your lender is obliged to tell you what APR you will be paying.

What are the pitfalls when applying for a loan?

• Always make sure you understand your loan agreement, as once you have signed it, you are legally bound by its terms.

• When looking for interest rates (or APRs) find out if the loan will be on a fixed or variable rate. Fixed means the amount you pay will remain the same for the length of the loan, but variable means that it could change – which means it’s more likely to go up – and this could affect your budgeting.

• Find out abut other conditions attached to the loan and be sure that they suit your requirements. For example, you may be able to take a break from paying for a month or so, or you may want to pay off the loan early. Check that you do not have pay a penalty for such options.

Do I have any legal protection when taking out a loan?

Yes – to a certain extent, as all personal loans are protected by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. However, as already stated, once you have signed a loan agreement, you are expected to fulfil your agreement.

The Act contains regulates how money is lent and cover you for an unsecured loan up to £25,000. If you use a reputable broker it is highly unlikely that you will need to complain about your lender.

Never bury your head in the sand if you get into difficulty. Reputable lenders practice good customer service, but remember the onus is on you to keep to your loan agreement. If you ever find yourself not able to meet the repayments, contact your lender immediately. They should be able to help you, by re-visiting your repayments. However, there may be a charge for this.

Who should I borrow from?

With so much choice on the market these days, it’s always advisable to use a broker, who can shop around to find the most competitive tailor-made deal for you.

Year One For First Honda Fuel Cell Vehicle Lease To Customer

June 29th marks the first year anniversary of the very first vehicle that is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. In fact, this vehicle is the first of its kind in the world to be actually leased to an individual retail customer and it bears the name Honda FCX. This is the announcement given by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. And Honda is celebrating this event.

The vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell has been leased by Honda to the Spallino family who is actually based in the Los Angeles area. Jon Spallino is the person who has signed for the lease and uses the FCX. He comments, “I am surprised at the amount of attention and rubbernecking received while driving the FCX. Despite being a developing technology, we have not suffered from any reliability issues and the car has all the comforts and conveniences we need.”

The Spallino family uses the Honda FCX on their everyday drives to their daily activities. In fact, the vehicle has already traveled a couple thousands of miles already. The trips have been largely made to the supermarket, to the Spallino children’s soccer practices, as well as the daily commutes to their workplace. The family has been constantly stopped though by the public who has been very interested about their experiences in riding such a car. Some would even blatantly ask to have a ride in their Honda FCX. But after twelve months, the family is no longer surprised by these actions.

On the anniversary of such a lease, Gunnar Lindstrom says, “The lease of the Honda FCX to the Spallino family demonstrates the real-world viability of fuel cell vehicle technology and its ability to meet the needs of a family on an ongoing basis. Honda will continue to evolve and refine hydrogen vehicle technology based on feedback from real world customers, and we’ll see that expressed in future models.” Lindstrom is the senior manager of Honda’s Alternative Fuels Sales and Marketing department.

Why Jewelry Stores Dislike Knowledgeable Customers

For decades, jewelers have had enjoyed the position of being the “keepers” of the knowledge about diamonds and gemstones. They stood behind jewelry counters and shared little tidbits of information about jewels to shoppers. The jeweler seemed to be talking down to the shopper, making them feel as if they should be grateful to even be in the store or touch the precious gems in the display case.

This monopoly of knowledge went hand in hand with the monopoly of supply. The only way you could purchase a diamond or precious gemstone was to buy in a jewelry store. The prices were artificially high with markups of 100% to 300% of wholesale costs. The factors that differentiated stores included the ornate decorations, the fancy display cases, and elaborate storefronts. Life was simple and very profitable for the jeweler. The shopper came in, the jeweler said this is what you should buy, and the shopper paid the price because they had no other options. Can you recall any poor jewelers before the millennium change in the year 2000?

It was about this time that the most feared word in the jeweler’s vocabulary began to change the industry forever. That word was Internet. Suddenly there were competitors springing up who could supply diamonds and jewelry delivered to your door, often at prices lower than could support the high overhead of the jewelry store. However, the greatest fear was that the hidden knowledge of diamonds and precious gemstones was available to any shopper who wanted to spend a little time researching online.

The jeweler of the past said here is what I have and which one do you want to buy? Then came the knowledgeable shopper armed with printouts of online diamond advice. Instead of simply asking for a one-carat diamond, the shopper now has a detailed list of requirements that all but guarantees that nothing in the store will meet their requirements, regardless of the price.

It is common for a diamond shopper today to say, “Here is what I want and I expect the lowest price in the country.” Then they present their list of requirements for their round diamond:
1) Carat weight exactly 1.27 because our first date was January 27th
2) At least G color
3) VS2 clarity but I do not want to be able to see anything under the microscope
4) Must have a GIA grading report dated in 2006 with Excellent cut grade
5) No fluorescence
6) At least Very Good for polish and symmetry
7) Girdle has to be Medium (nothing more or less will do) and faceted
8) Laser inscribed with the GIA number
9) Must be able to take to an independent appraiser who agrees with all grading
10) I need it in two days

Their parting remark is that they are shopping these same requirements with twenty other retailers and are going to buy from the one with the lowest price.

This is the jeweler’s nightmare because this is not how their business works. Their jewelry store caters to the impulse buyer who will come in, see something beautiful and buy with only a few encouraging words from the sales clerk. Spending hours of work to find the specific diamond the shopper wants and then paying the shipping and insurance to get it shipped next day is just more work than they want to do for a sale. Instead, they complain and wish for the return of the good old days, when Ma Bell controlled the telephones, gas was 59 cents a gallon and the secrets of the diamond industry were safely behind the jewelry counter.

Fortunately, for diamond and gemstone shoppers there are a new breed of diamond retailers available who not only encourage diamond education; they enjoy working with shoppers who know exactly what they want. These diamond brokers have access to the diamonds on the wholesale market and know how to find diamonds that meet the shopper’s requirement. Best of all, the diamond brokers have much lower overhead than a jewelry store so can find the exceptional diamonds at very low prices.

The competitive marketplace always seems to produce sources for services and goods that consumers demand. The online diamond broker is well suited to serve today’s well-knowledgeable and demanding diamond shopper.

Turn Your Employees Into Customer Service Dynamos

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Businesses have been trying for decades to import good service practices and graft them into their own work settings. They use training programs or other means to try and "regimentalize" key service behaviors-an outside-in approach that seldom makes things any better, and often only makes things worse.

Truly customer-focused businesses deliver outstanding service from the inside out. The key is to get employees coming up with their own ideas for delighting customers, and then letting positive feedback from happy customers motivate the workers to continue implementing more of their own innovative service strategies. This is the Flashpoint Effect, where employee motivation and customer satisfaction fuel each other in a chain reaction of contagious enthusiasm.

Easier said than done, of course - unless the organization has an actual process in place to keep the chain reaction bubbling. Such a process does not have to be complicated. Follow these three guiding principles to help your employees generate their own ideas for improving the customer experience, and watch how quickly these service enhancements give your business a powerful competitive edge.

First Customer Focus Principle: Exceed the customer’s expectations every step of the way. Shoppers at Ireland’s Superquinn supermarkets experience the wow-factor at every turn. When they first arrive, they encounter a supervised play area for young children. In the aisles they encounter a multitude of signs encouraging them to report "goofs" (such as fruit that has over-ripened), in return for which they’re given free lottery cards. They discover bags of free vegetables they can bring home for their pets ("Make Your Hoppy Happy"). At checkout the store provides umbrellas to keep shoppers dry while they watch attendants transfer their grocery bags from cart to car.

Set up a brainstorming session in which your employees break a typical customer transaction down into its individual steps, and then challenge the group to focus on each step one at a time, and to uncover ways to add a wow-factor element of delight in each step. They’ll probably come up with more ideas than you can implement, but afterwards let them choose the best ones, and help them implement these ideas successfully.

Second Customer Focus Principle: Make the customer feel important.

It’s just common sense, right? Maybe - but it’s certainly not common practice. Ever see the sign that says In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash? Or the cartoon of the four little men rolling on the floor with laughter, over the caption You Want It When? Everywhere you look, you see businesses making it painfully obvious that they consider their customers unreasonable intruders, potential criminals, annoying interruptions of the "real work" the business is trying to get done.

In your employee brainstorming session, get the group thinking about ways to make customers feel welcome and appreciated in each step of the transaction. The ideas that emerge often cost nothing to implement (like smiling more, or addressing customers by name), and yet these are the little things that can make such a big difference from the customers’ point of view.

Third Customer Focus Principle: Tailor the experience to fit the customer.

Where one supermarket invests in metal barricades to prevent the theft of shopping carts, its customer-focused competitor chooses instead to invest in carts that are even more appealing. Mothers with infants can use carts outfitted with a baby seat. Shoppers with older children can use a cart designed like a toy car, so the kids can pretend they’re driving while the parent proceeds along the aisles. There are even self-powered sit-down carts for the elderly and the disabled.

Flashpoint businesses recognize they deal with different categories of customers, and each category can have unique expectations. These businesses abandon the one-size-fits-all mentality, and look for ways to provide something special for each major customer category.

Invite your brainstorming employees to list the major customer categories in your business, and to come up with ways to wow each category individually. These are often the kinds of “personal touch” ideas that deliver the biggest impact. Even customers from different categories will be impressed with the efforts your business is making to improve the overall customer experience.

Try applying these three principles in a brainstorming session with your own employees, and discover for yourself how creating a customer service culture from the inside out really can be as easy as one-two-three.

Customer-focus consultant Paul Levesque’s latest book is Customer Service From The Inside Out Made Easy (Entrepreneur Press, 2006).

Copyright Paul Levesque

Work From Home Customer Service

It has always been important to make sure that as you find a work from home job, you are finding one that truly matches your needs and is truly what you would like it to be. Your ideal work at home job should be a job that you are already good at, and one that you can easily do from home... The people who have the most success at work form home jobs are able to find jobs that they already know how to do, or jobs that they are already doing, and turn them into work at home jobs. Therefore, if you are interested in work from home customer service jobs, you already know that you are going to have a good shot at finding good work. There are plenty of reasons that you will be able to find good work from home customer service jobs, and these reasons include being able to finally find the type of work that you were looking for, as well as being able to make the most out of the situations that you are in...

If you are already good at customer service, you know that there are a few things that you like about the job, things that set the job apart from other jobs that you might have had. These are probably things that make you keep wanting to do these customer service jobs – even if you think that you've already found another job that you like. When you are doing work from home customer service jobs, you are going to be able to keep on doing these things that you love to do, and you will find that they are even better when you work from home. Most of the work from home customer service jobs are fairly easy to get into, and you can do them easily from home.

The reason that there are many work from home customer service jobs is that customer service is mainly a job that is done either on the phone or on the internet. This means that a company can hire you to do the same thing that you would do in an office from your home. The first thing that you have to do is learn how to run the program or learn how the company or service works, so that you know how to help people when they call. There are work from home customer service jobs for any type of industry. You might be hired as a phone manager to take phone calls and direct them to other places. Or, you might be hired as someone to help people when they are having problems with a product. No matter what, your job as a work from home customer service job will be to help people when they need it. This is probably what you like about customer service to begin with, and you will get to have even more experience with it as you are working through it in work from home customer service jobs and other situations.

Top 7 Things You Must Know Before Dealing with Your Next Difficult Customer

1. Anger precludes rationality.
Angry customers simply cannot rationalize. This is because they are so wrapped up in the emotion of anger that everything you say is filtered through their emotions. Anger is an emotion and emotions are experienced in the right side of the brain. Rationalizing, problem solving, listening, and negotiating are all left-brain activities and your angry customer is stuck in the right side of the brain, and therefore cannot be expected to rationalize with you.

2. Anger must be acknowledged.
It’s not productive for you to ignore anger or tiptoe around it. There is something known as the communication chain. When people communicate, they expect the person or persons they are communicating with to respond or react…this response or reaction is a link in the communication chain. A failure to respond to communication leaves the communication chain unlinked…broken. For example, If I walk into my office and say... “Hello Sherry, how are you?” ....and she says absolutely nothing, she’s broken the communication chain. And that leaves me feeling awkward, perhaps embarrassed.

If a customer expresses anger and we fail to respond to it, the communication chain is broken and the customer feels like they are not getting through, that you are not listening. So, the customer may speak louder to make his or her point. They might become even angrier and more difficult, as they are resorting to whatever it takes to feel heard and understood. You can keep your angry customers from getting angrier by acknowledging their anger and responding to it. You can respond to anger with a statement like, “Clearly you’re upset and I want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is just as important to me as it is to you.” This statement directly and professionally addresses anger – without- making the customer even angrier. Now that the anger has been acknowledged, you have completed the communication chain.

3. First, diffuse anger. Research has shown that an approach to problem solving that emphasizes anger diffusion first results in a lesser payout by the company. If you first work to diffuse anger and then move into problem solving, you will find that communication is much easier/because your customer is able to really listen to you. Problem resolution is now possible because your customer is calm and in the position to rationalize. Beginning the problem solving process before addressing and diffusing anger makes your job much harder because your customer is emotional and not able to fully rationalize. If you do attempt to solve the problem or negotiate, you will almost always have to offer more to satisfy the customer than you would if you had successfully first diffused anger.

Now that you know that anger precludes rationality and that anger has to be responded to, make sure you don’t ignore the customer’s expression of anger and that you always work to diffuse anger and create calm before beginning the problem resolution process. When you do this, you’ll quickly find yourself responding to anger with much more ease and confidence.

4. The issue is not the issue.
In conflict situations, the issue at hand is not usually the “real” issue. The way the issue is handled becomes the real issue. What really matters to customers is not the $2 overcharge or the fact their order for cranberry red paint is actually holly berry red. What does matter is how the company responds and resolves the issue. That becomes the real issue.

5. Ventilation is crucial.
An Angry customer can be compared to an erupting volcano. When a volcano is erupting, there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t speed up the eruption, you can’t put a lid on it, and you cannot direct or redirect it…it must erupt. When a customer is angry, they must experience and express their anger…through venting. We should not interrupt them or tell them to “calm down.” This would be as futile as trying to tame a volcano. A volcano erupts and eventually subsides. Your angry customer will vent and eventually calm down.

6. An apology works.
An apology makes the angry customer feel heard and understood. It diffuses and anger and allows you to begin to re-establish trust. Not only that, but pilot studies have found that the mere act of apologizing has reduced lawsuits, settlement, and defense costs. You need to apologize to customers regardless of fault. Certainly, the apology needs to be carefully worded. Here’s an example of a sincere, yet careful apology:

“Please accept my sincere and unreserved apology for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”

7. You cannot win an argument with a customer.
Certainly, you can prove your point and even have the last word. You may be right, but as far as changing your customer’s mind is concerned, you will probably be just as futile as if YOU were wrong. Your goal in complaint situations is to retain the customer, not to be right. If you win the argument, you may very well have lost the customer. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.

When you’re dealing with angry customers, make sure you acknowledge their anger, allow the customer to vent, and carefully handle the issue with diplomacy and tact. When you do, you’ll find that diffusing anger is much easier and you’ll significantly reduce your stress level.

When you’re dealing with angry customers, make sure you acknowledge their anger, allow the customer to vent, and carefully handle the issue with diplomacy and tact. When you do, you’ll find that diffusing anger is much easier and you’ll significantly reduce your stress level.

When Customers are Owners: The Non Profit School Board.

Thousands of independent non profit schools are governed by Boards of Directors made up primarily of parents. These volunteers agree to take responsibility for school finances, fundraising, planning, budgeting, and oversight of the school principal or director. With little or no training, private school Boards tackle projects involving finance, real estate, leasing, contracts, insurance, and liability. In some cases these Boards accomplish great things by working together with school staff and parents to build a community of support for the children in their care. However, often times, private school Boards fail to support their institutions and lead them into crises or decline. Board members are rarely given the training they need to approach their jobs effectively.

One of the most important ideas for Board members to understand is the challenge of being both and owner and a customer in the same organization. In most of our day to day life we are either owner or customer. As owners of a business we strive to make decisions that will benefit us long term. We seek to satisfy all of our customers, even those whose needs differ widely from others. We don't make business policies to please one particular customer or another. Instead we try to create policy that meets the organizations goal, supports its mission and supports the greatest number of customers.

The customer's needs on the other hand, are primarily short term and personal. Customers simply want to find the product or service they desire at the best price. They don't concern themselves too much with the needs of others, long term organizational goals or the needs of other customers. Customers seek out products or services from a variety of sources with little concern about the long term needs of the supplier.

One of the common pitfalls of the parent-run school Board is the belief among Boar members that their job is to represent their fellow customers. We hear slogans like "the customer is always right" and Board members believe that as parents, they are appointed or elected to represent the customer interests of all their friends and acquaintances. The truth is that to do their job well they must take off their customer hat when they enter the Board room. The Board and its committees must always be wearing their ownership hats when doing the Board's work. This doesn't mean that the school's customers have no where to go for service and redress. In a well run school they get their customer service from the the staff, the teachers and and administrators. This is no different than in a for-profit business. Imagine you are at a fast food restaurant and you get a cold cup of coffee. You don't go to the corporate Board of Directors for a new cup. You speak to the person behind the counter.

In a non profit school, the members of the Board are the ownership. They are elected or appointed to represent the ownership interests of the school's stake holders. They guide and maneuver the institution within the greater marketplace. They set prices, policies and planning goals for all of the school's stake holders including staff and parents. If they sit at the Board table wearing their customer hats they will create an institution that meets their personal and short term needs and will leave the school unable to meet the needs of all its customers for the long term. Only by thinking as owners, and taking into account the needs of all the school's stake holders (both parents and staff), can the Board guide and nurture the institution that they love. This is not an easy task, and getting agreement from all Board members to take off their customer hats when making policy is not always attainable. However, it is critical if the Board hopes to get beyond the short term cost cutting that so often hinders the stability of non profit institutions.

The toughest part of thinking like an owner comes when the Board is confronted by customers who pressure the Board to make customer-friendly policies like the lowest possible tuition rates. Low-cost tuition is often associated with low teacher salaries and benefits since labor at a non profit school is regularly 70 to 80% of the total budget. Lower tuition through low teacher wages keeps the customers happy but degrades trust between the Board and staff and leads to higher teacher turnover which negatively effects programs. The trick to having meaningful discussions with parents from an ownership perspective is to educate them about the importance of leaving their customer hats at the door when school policy is discussed. The Board must make it clear to all stake holders that in the Boardroom the ownership perspective rules. Once this is understood the tough decisions about improving programs and budgeting for longevity and stability can be addressed with a common sense of purpose.

Ways To Distribute Your Catalogs To Your Targeted Customers

Ok, you have done everything you need to do to produce a quality catalog and they have been printed. How do you get them into your customer’s hands? In this article we will talk about catalog distribution.

If you are going to distribute your catalog in the most common method, by mail, then you will need a mailing list. Maybe you already have a list of customers you are mailing the catalog to or maybe you need to purchase a mailing list that targets a specific demographic or geographical area.

There are mailing lists that are targeted by zip code, by income, by the fact they are homeowners, by if the people on the list have children, and even more specifically targeted categories like homeowners who have lived in their home more than five years, etc.

You can easily find lists by searching the web, but be careful. How new is their data? When was the last time they updated their data? Is the company you are buying the list from reputable? These are questions you need to keep in mind before purchasing a mailing list from anyone.

There are also catalog distribution services who already have all of that information and who can handle all of the distribution for you. Having a professional catalog distribution service do this for you can help you avoid costly mistakes.

The post office can give you rates depending on the size and weight of the catalog you want to distribute by US mail. Something I hope you kept in mind when printing your catalog is durability. The post office has to process all mail including catalogs, then it is handled by other people, then the postman, before it ever gets to your customer.

So if you do not have at least a durable cover for your catalog, you may want to have them wrapped before mailing them out to protect them from damage. You want your customer to see your well-designed catalog before any damage occurs.

There are other ways to distribute catalogs as well. Of course if you have a retail outlet or store, you can offer your customers or walk in traffic a catalog. If you have foot traffic going by your store all the time, you can set up a display outside of your store with catalogs for them. You would be surprised at how many people it will bring inside to shop.

You can talk to friends who also have stores and shops, your beauty shop or barber shop, convenience stores even. People will pick up a well-designed catalog that looks like it has something they might need. Everyone loves to shop and a catalog is the easiest way for them to shop.

Be creative, keep catalogs in your car so you can hand them out to people. When you stop somewhere you might want to ask the store owner if they mind putting some of your catalogs somewhere for their customers to pick up. Obviously if you sell anything similar to what they sell it’s not a good idea to ask them.

Last but definitely not least is offering your catalog through your website, ezine, or newsletter. If you have a website, you simply put in a form for a visitor to fill out with their name and address and mail them a catalog. Websites seem to be impersonal to many people. The offer of an actual catalog sent to them from your website will also give them more confidence to buy not just through your catalog but through your website as well.

If you already have an ezine or newsletter you mail out to website visitors, offer your catalog to them as well. Here is why. Yes these people already may be buying through your website so sending them a catalog is costly. However, you have to keep in mind when you send out one catalog to one person, many people may end up browsing through it. They distribute your catalog for you in effect. They may not show everyone your website, but they will share their catalog.

I hope this article has helped you with your decision about how to distribute your catalog. There are other methods depending on your budget, the number of catalogs, and the people who you want to send them to. The most common way is to use the postal service. Professional distribution is more costly, but they know how to get your catalog in the right hands and can track the mailings and have other advantages.

Where Has Customer Service Gone?

Whatever happened to the adage "The customer is king or queen"? or the customer is always right. Not anymore. Company’s representatives seem to delight in arguing with and stone-walling customers and some even brag on their blogs about early morning and late evening calling just to upset customers to set them up for their day.

What kind of individual gets kicks from this kind of behavior? Do they even think before they call the reaction of the customer they call and whom they might come in contact with that day? Is this kind of action possibly more legal liability just waiting to happen?

Road Rage is so common in our society now... what’s next- Telephone Tantrum? Will this also be a psychiatric diagnosis and a legally defendable offense? I would almost bet on it!

Credit card companies are the amongst some of the worst offenders and now, if one is a good, pay your bills on time and in full customer they don’t want you and in fact, are considering penalizing the "good customer" by charging them an annual fee to use their card. Seriously?

It truly amazes and stuns me how deplorable customer service has become. It‘s such an oxymoron... customer and service don’t go together anymore; there is no service for the customer it is all about the company’s way to make money, more profit. Don’t companies care anymore about the way that they are perceived? The only power and voice the customer has left is not to be a company’s customer anymore and when that happens there will be no need for the bottom-line, making money/profit, customer service or the CEO; therefore no more company.

I have always been a positive person and I try to look at both sides of every situation. Do I have suggestions and offer solutions. ABSOLUTELY! When I have had an excellent experience with customer service I tell them so and thank them as well as telling everyone that I come in contact with what a great company, service or product they have. Lately, I have been silent... wonder why?

Writing Up Sizzling Sales Copy That Converts Even The Fussiest Prospects Into Customers

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Article Body:

In this article we outline the key points that you MUST incorporate into every sales letter you wield. These four factors really will make or break your sales page. Then we’ll discuss some hard-hitting sales letter tactics that I’ve used myself with explosive results. Unlike other scams these tactics actually add value to your package while increasing your credibility.

First, why even bother writing good sales copy?

Well, in an online world where your prospects are already wandering around in a state of confusion and mistrust, your sales copy is the one chance you have of establishing credibility, building trust and convincing your prospect that your product can solve the very problems that torture them day in, day out.

We Start With The Basics – AIDA

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

It’s absolutely crucial that all your sales pages contain this powerful mix.

Attention – Your Title Can Turn Off Your Prospects Before They Even Read A Word Of Your Actual Sales Letter.

Your headline MUST create attention in your prospects minds. Get into your prospects head and ask yourself this important question:

“What is the most important BENEFIT that can solve the biggest PROBLEM/HURT that my prospect faces.”

Then put this into your sales letter headline. You need to create serious waves here – the headline must draw your prospect into the main body of your sales letter. A good headline gets them there.

Interest – Is Your Sales Letter The Life & Soul Of The Party?

Do you like talking to the dim-witted dullard at the party? What about the chattering fool who yaps away endlessly about himself? No. Neither then does your prospect want to spend time with a sales letter that’s either lacking any emotion or (going completely the other way) stuffed to the brim with pointless fluff.

To create interest in your prospects, you need to understand your products benefits and their own concerns. You need to understand your industry and what your product has that your competitors don’t. Like a devilish murder mystery novel, each paragraph must be more exciting than the last.

As interest builds, so your chance of capturing the sale increases.

Desire – Make Them Almost Taste The Benefits & Then Make Them DESPERATE To Get It!

To create desire, you’ve got to convey the BENEFITS of your package. Go ahead and tell the prospect what they will gain when they click on the order button. What about the pain they’ll avoid? Time saved? These are things that people look for before spending their hard earned cash, and they want to know that your product delivers.

Action – The Last, All Important Word

You’ve got to urge your prospects to take action NOW. Make the order button prolific and readily available. If your product has limited availability or is a (genuine) special offer, then let your prospects know about it.

AIDA is a simple yet powerful guideline of setting up sales letters that do what they’re supposed to – convert targeted prospects into customers. Now let’s look at some advanced tactics. These, when incorporated skilfully into an AIDA based sales letter have the potential of driving your response rates through the roof.

Beyond AIDA – Strategies To Maximise Your Sales Letter Responses

I could have settled with just using AIDA to create my sales letters, and I’m sure I would have continued to do well. But would I have achieved some of the OUTSTANDING results I’ve enjoyed in more recent years? Almost certainly NOT.

Now, I’ll walk you through some legitimate tactics that I use to make my sales letters hyper-responsive. The great thing about most of these is that they benefit the CUSTOMER too – and ultimately that’s the best way of increasing your sales in the long run.

Tactic Number ONE – Limit The Number Of Licences Offered (Digital Products)

If your product is digital (eg an eBook or membership site) then consider placing a limit on the number of licences available. This benefits you as the information developer because it creates genuine urgency to purchase. If customers miss out, they’ll have to pay a higher price to get in and that’s a powerful motivator. The benefit to the customer is that the limited number of licences means they have a better chance of success if they use the private label rights content/videos etc provided.

There’s of course also a downside to you on this – limited licences mean that once your product gets to higher levels, the natural forces of price vs demand means that you’ll sell less when the product price moves up. Even so, I can tell you I put a licence limit on many of my products and it creates a frenzy of sales as people try and get in at the lowest price levels. It’s a potent order trigger.

Tactic Number TWO – Pile On The QUALITY Bonuses!

It’s true – both the number of bonuses and their respective quality can really be the “title clincher”. A platter of highly targeted bonuses that are in demand can be enough to get your prospect to buy immediately.

You can even implement the following tactics with your bonuses:

- Fast action bonuses where (for example) the first 50 people to order get a bonus that everyone else doen’t.

- Time limited bonuses – where the bonuses only apply for a certain length of time or number of orders.

Make your bonus graphics visible on your sales page and if possible link to the full sales page of each bonus. If you produce many products, avoid serving up the same tired old bonuses – it can count against you as your existing customers may begin to feel they’re missing out on the bonus experience and your repeat sales may actually suffer.

Tactic Number THREE – Free Updates For LIFE!

Customers love paying for something ONCE and getting additional value from that purchase for months and even years into the future. That’s just plain common sense, yet the vast majority of digital products that I see being offered online do not come with updates of any sort.

The beauty of this model is that as you add more and more content/resources/ related to your package it becomes increasingly attractive to new prospects. The icing on the cake is that your existing customers are delighted and that establishes further trust and credibility and that’s a very big plus.

So there you have it – a summary of writing sales pages that sell and additional sales-letter tactics that genuinely increase the credibility, value and pure WOW-factor of your packages.