How To Socially Date Customers.

Filed Under Customer Think, Marketing, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment

A Post by Matt Krautstrunk

We all know how important customer service is to your long term success as a business. You probably don’t need a briefing on that, so I’ll spare you the lecture on why the “customer is always right.” However, what you probably haven’t realized is the fact that customer relationships are becoming more fragile.

We all remember the days, going to the local grocery store with our parents, and having the employees greet us by name. Loyalty is a wonderful thing; however something seems to have changed since the 50’s. Customer relationships aren’t what they used to be, they are becoming more fragile than ever. As businesses strive to create relationships it seems one negative experience can cause a breakup, according to Social Media Paige, “negative online shopping experiences result in brand abandonment. Smart consumers are very unforgiving.72 percent said they would share a negative online experience with friends and family. Another 70 percent said they would turn to a competitor as a result.”

Many managers also fail to realize how important social media is to their customer service. Whether you are trying to attract new customers or keep existing customers engaged, having a social presence gives your company a platform to reach your audience. I think businesses who try to “date” their community are able to retain a higher percentage of customers for life.

Link Multiple People To Your Businesses Social Account. Putting your PR, customer service and sales people on the same account, not only improves your reach but integrates your customer knowledge. Say for instance you only have one PR professional running your Twitter, he/she may not realize who they are actually speaking with. Having an integrated internal social media account improves your communication strategy by leveraging knowledge across multiple units. A good idea would be to add email contacts to your social networks from multiple accounts within your business. You can use your salespeople’s, marketing department, and anyone you deem fit’s email address book to upload their contacts and follow them.

Although it’s important to integrate your internal departments on social networks, make sure they understand their roles. Have your sales person answer all sales inquiries, and all customer inquiries be handled by customer service.

Build Loyalty. Building loyalty is essentially taking your customers on dates. Keep your community engaged, active and excited about your brand. When the spark dies, you are much more willing to have a tragic breakup. Do this u

Solve Simple Problems Transparently A major advantage of conducting your customer service on social media is the fact that everything you do is transparent. Other followers will see your activity and you generate good PR for every issue you’ve solved. Don’t limit yourself on these platforms; figuring out how to work in social in to your strategy will help you keep your date for longer.

Keeping a customer for life is one of the most valuable things any business can ask for. We all know that 80% of business comes from 20% of your customers, so it makes sense to make sure that these people are happy to the fullest extent.

Matt Krautstrunk is an expert writer on postage meters based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions at Resource Nation.

Customer Service or torture?

Filed Under Customer Think, Successful Blog, leadership | 7 Comments

by Patty Azzarello

Be careful what you measure…

BMW serves as a good example of a company that measures service vs. providing it. But many companies fall into this trap. Does yours?

Here is an example of what I mean:

My last car service:

I felt bullied by the sales and service people when they told me, as they do each time, that I “have to give them a 5 on everything” when the survey people call.
That is not service for me. It’s gaming the measures for them, (and torturing me).
In my last car service, they failed to reset some system. A warning light came on, and I was forced to go back. It really screwed up my day.
When they realized it was their fault, I got only a cursory, “sorry about that”.
After telling them, “you know, when the survey people call, I am not going to give you a 5 this time” and giving them several opportunities to make it better – “Is there something you would like to do for me to improve my experience”? – there was no response.
I then gave the low scores on the phone survey – by the way, the survey taker/process is designed only to ask the questions, not to offer any service when someone is upset.
Later I got a call from my service guy. It was clear he was forced to call me to follow up on his low score. But the call was about him giving me a hard time because I got him in trouble. (more torture for me)
As much fun as that was for me, I decided to give them another opportunity. I said to him – “actually I was going to call you because I need two other [small things], can you help me?”
Now here was a chance to provide actual service, when no one was watching or measuring. He assured me he would call me back later that afternoon to let me know if he had the part so I could stop by on my way home.
I never heard from him again.

Do your measures and service processes serve your customers or torture them?
Example:

Do you measure the speed of closing problems?

This is a very typical measure. But it’s important to understand that this measure can cause you to ignore customer problems, because your service staff is motivated to close out problems quickly, vs. take the time to actually fix them, because spending that time would result in a poor measured result.

So you end up with a backlog of problems that could have been fixed, unhappy customers, and sparkling measures for speed of closing problem reports.

Instead try:

Measuring the number of problems whose root cause has been resolved.
Or measure the number of customers who report their problem has been solved to their satisfaction.
Or look for customers who have multiple open issues, or issues open for long time periods and just call them!

Question:

Is your service staff trained in following service processes or in providing service?

In my example above, at every step, people were correctly following a process, resulting in my getting more and more tortured.

Customer service people who are trained in processes often delight in not-helping customers when they confident they are correctly following the process.

This is particularly infuriating to customers who want to be made to feel like someone at your company cares about the suffering you are inflicting.

Instead try:

Training people on the right triggers to throw out the process
Then have them ask “What do you think we should do to make this better for you?”
And give them the ability to act.

Another idea:

Involve your customer service people in creating great service.

In the BMW example I would have each dealership manage a contest for their service team to get together and come up with three new ideas for how to provide outstanding service. You could pay $1000 each for the best 10 ideas.

Instead of putting $10k into a survey, where you have sales and service people training the customers to give the right answers, which are of no real use to you anyway, you could be motivating Actual Service!!

The existence of the contest alone would inspire thinking about service, and you get much better ideas when you involve the people who actually do the work in coming up with the best way to improve it.

Getting it Right

Look at what you measure and then look at the dark side of it.?If you were going to game the measures to come out looking good what would you do??What non-intended result would occur? Because it will…

People like to make customers happy. Let them.

At the very least, if you are not serious about providing actual service, don’t torture your customers with surveys and processes that only annoy them, and give you a false sense of your greatness.

What do you think?

How have you seen customers get service really right or really wrong? Share your stories in the comment box below!

—–
Patty Azzarello is an executive, author, speaker and CEO-advior. She works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. Patty has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at Patty Azzarello’s Business Leadership Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

How to Defuse Customer Skepticism and Cynicism

Filed Under Business Life, Customer Think, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

Want to eliminate the healthy skepticism your customers have of you and instead be seen as a trusted servant? Terrific. Here’s what you do: don’t give them cause to be skeptical. Trust me, they’re skeptical. Real skeptical. Mark Twain once said the wisest people are also the most cynical. That’s your target audience. Cynics – every last one of them. Don’t blame them either. It’s our fault they’re that way. Years of forcing ourselves on them has created doubters of most of our potential buyers. I’m the same way and if you’re smart, so are you. Frankly, I like being skeptical and cynical. Healthy doses of both arm me to buy smarter, shop carefully, invest intelligently – in life and in business. I can sniff out a phony and I don’t hang with them. Your prospects can sniff just the same. They’re diligently watching as much for the BSer as they are the best buy. [More...]

Being honest isn’t achieved in telling the truth alone. Being honest has an end point. Be truthful. There’s a difference between being honest and behaving truthfully. Let your actions, not merely your words, speak of your truthfulness. Truthful actions have no vanishing line. They just go on and on, resonating with your audience well after you’ve stopped yapping. Make your contribution to the networking landscape count to the skeptical buyer that’s questioning your motives. If your networking efforts are fraught with hurried, self-promoting drivel, think again before inserting yourself into the fray. If you know you’re being disingenuous and let’s face it, you do know, then what are the odds we know too? Here, let me help you with this one: the odds are extremely high.

Deputize yourself.

Do your part to clean up the sales noise found in networking and prospecting circles. On or offline, the rules are the same. Mean it! Make selfless contributions to talks, meetings and mixers. Shape and guide the conversation, not your latest opt-in initiatives. If you do this well, people will want to know what you do and what you sell and never because you forced it upon them using absurdly urgent sales tactics. Authenticity is a commodity in sales, your transparent attempt to bait me is not.

Patience, Patience, Patience

Proving to prospects that you’re not full of it takes time. After all, you’re starting out with people who suspect you’re motivated by your sales goals alone and believe nothing matters more to you. So the prospect is ready for you to strike fast – while the proverbial iron is hot. Etc, etc. Blah, blah, blah. Borrrrr-iiiiiing.

Business relationships, like those you share with your spouse, partner, brother or mother, require time to develop. This is not news to us. Yet often, I see salespeople and business owners go for the quick close and forgo the opportunity to build repeat business through authentic bonding rituals. Prove you’re interested by forgetting what you sell and instead, talk with your prospect, not at him or to him. Imagine the pleasure derived from business conversations had through conversing about stuff other than your business. Ironic, right? Try it. You’ll be surprised how effective a salesperson you become the moment you stop trying to sell your stuff. Again, ironic.

Have you ever pushed too much, too far, too fast? Maybe you got this right the first and every time. How do you dispel the myths that the sales process must include a pushy pitch?

—–

Scott P. Dailey is a Web designer, copywriter and network administrator. Recently Scott launched ( http://scottpdailey.com ), his social media blog that makes connections between social networking etiquette and the prevailing human social habits that drive on and offline business engagement patterns. You can connect with Scott via Twitter at @scottpdailey.

Creative Commons License photo credit: Jody McNary Photography

Thanks, Scott!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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How I Take the Focus Off Money Part II

Filed Under Business Life, Customer Think, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

This is part two of a two-part series on how to get the client focused on the relationship, not the costs they incur working with you. In the first installment, I discussed how we can calm the fearful and financially strained Mom & Pop by offering them guarantees. Promising struggling small business owners that you’ll share the risk is one of the best ways to demonstrate your investment in doing the job right, not just collecting some quick cash. In part two below, I turn our attentions toward specifically how we can discuss money so that money is no longer discussed. Sounds like a riddle, but I assure you it’s not. So let’s get started.

I understand that the guarantee is among the best ways to return the risk the customer takes in hiring you and I love the idea of shouldering the burden of proof. But that is only one reason I make guarantees. The other is that I want to help. I really do and nothing says so louder than making promises that remove financial risks and potential losses from the bargaining table. See, I’m not preoccupied with the money part of the sales progression and it’s made all the difference. Yes, I need money too, but I only want it from people who were happy with the way I earned it. Everything else feels like stealing. I want to be paid because we agree that I nailed the thing. The fees I’m asking are the reward I’ve earned for adding value to your business endeavors. If my earnings aren’t my reward for doing great work, well then again it just ends up feeling like I got away with something.

The relationship is the reward.

When a customer asks me, ‘Scott, what do you think?’ or ‘Scott, which direction should we head?’ I get pumped. I mean I get crazy excited. Now we’re building something before we’ve even begun building the thing you want built. We’re building that relationship baby! Killer! When you put things in my hands, you’re telling me that you want me to prove it now, earn your trust, your confidence and oh yeah, that’s the reward!

Allay their fears.

If your clients are anything like mine, they’re asking for your expertise because they don’t possess it themselves. Ever been frightened by something you did not understand? OK then. That’s how your prospects often feel: scared. They’re afraid you’re going to trick them, cheat them, screw them. My pitches are often attended by prospects concerned about wasting money on me and I’m equally concerned that I won’t form the beginnings of a trusting bond if we keep discussing money. Consequently, when this happens I attack the topic by promising to give them back their money if they’re unhappy with the results I’ve produce. Simple right? It works almost every time too. Worried about spending your money on me? Super! I’ll give it back if you’re not happy with how I earned it. Next topic. And off we go.
Defuse with candor.

When the elephant in the room is money, seize the opportunity to demonstrate with meaning how confident you are that your customer made a smart decision choosing you. Don’t allow the customer to dangle their cost fears in front of you as if your fees are a stumbling block they’re justified in bring up. Assuming your fees are sensible to begin with, they’re not a just cause to kill the deal at all. Take back control of the room by offering an out that relieves them of the very risk they’re making such a contentious talking point. Assume the risk and you can return your collective attention to what really matters, getting that relationship a’ budding. Oh yeah! That’s the stuff!

How do you help your nervous clients work with you to grow the relationship? How do you relax them when they liken you to a drill-wielding dentist hovering over them like an opportunistic vulture?

—–
This is the second in a two-part series.

Creative Commons License photo credit: dryhead

Thanks, Scott!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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How I Take the Focus Off Money

Filed Under Customer Think, Successful Blog | 5 Comments

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

y portfolio is comprised largely of passionate, cash-hungry small shops, boutiques, niches and nonprofits. I do work with big companies now and again too, but they’re the exception to the rule and thus, I won’t be spending time talking about them in this post. No, this post is for the small consultancy that’s servicing the small, proud brick and mortar.

OK, so here it is: I guarantee my work. If I’m designing your Web site layout for instance, I take a 50% deposit that sits in escrow until you approve the layout and the balance you cough up once you’re 100% satisfied with the finished result. With Web design, my contracts call for me to create at least two unique layouts, put them both under your nose and get your approval of one of the two. I even offer you several complimentary rounds of change before requesting your approval. If you don’t approve, you get your money back. If you want to abandon the project before providing approval, you get your money back. I guarantee you’re going to love your new layout and if you don’t, I give back your money. If I’m writing copy for you, I refund your deposit if you don’t like my copy. And if your unhappy with the content of your first monthly SEO/social media report or feel I have fallen short on a promise, I refund your money – period.

My customers are very careful how they spend money on their business. Not so oddly, those deep in the black are even thriftier than those sucking wind. In the red or the black, my customers get sticker shock easily. I know this. So, where I may not always be willing to remove the stunned disbelief from their faces with a crazy discount, I do try to allay their spending remorse by making simple guarantees that protect their investment in me.

I don’t want your money that badly.

If you don’t think I’ve earned it, then I refund it. The relationship is the ultimate prize, not you paying this month’s electric bill.

How do you shift the client’s focus from money to forging a bond with you? How do you prove your customers won’t regret hiring you?

—–
This is the first in a two-part series.

Creative Commons License photo credit: RambergMediaImages

Thanks, Scott!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.

Successful-Blog is a proud affiliate of

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Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

A Post by Matt Krautstrunk

by Patty Azzarello

Be careful what you measure…

Do you measure the speed of closing problems?

Involve your customer service people in creating great service.

Getting it Right

What do you think?

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

Deputize yourself.

Patience, Patience, Patience

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

A Guest Post by Scott P. Dailey

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