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Good, Better or Best?

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By Lisa D. Jenkins

How do you invite customer feedback on the products or service you offer?

Whether it’s through an online form, a digital survey or a personal conversation, the way you frame the request for feedback can affect the way your customer answers you — and the quality of the feedback you receive.

A story about food … and feedback.

cold cocktail glass

It’s no secret I’m a foodie. I’m always on the lookout for new experiences with food and drink, so when I noticed a relatively new restaurant had opened up near my neighborhood, I was all in. I’ve been there several times to try out different brunch and lunch items.

The unique menu isn’t overly large because the owner/chef makes it a point to prepare everything from local sources. The ketchup is made in-house, the coffee is roasted just four doors down from restaurant and the staff is genuinely interested in whether or not we’ve enjoyed our meal.

The servers are attentive but not in a hovering way. They take our order, serve our meals, then disappear for a couple of minutes. I’m not sure how they time it but they return after everyone has had at least two bites of their meal to ask, “Is everything delicious?”

Not “Is everything tasting okay?” or “How is everything?” or “Is there anything else I can bring you?”

They ask if everything is delicious.

And they wait for an honest reply from everyone.

If something isn’t delicious, polite but pointed questions are asked so the server can get to the heart of the issue as quickly as possible. What kept this dish from being perfect? Was it temperature, spice, or texture? Too savory or too sweet? What isn’t working?

Over the past months I’ve seen a couple of item descriptions change ever so slightly. I’ve also seen a few items disappear.

Because I’m friendly with the staff, I know this is due to customer feedback. If an item isn’t received as delicious 90% of the time, it’s adjusted according to the feedback servers get or it’s removed entirely. As a customer, I feel incredibly valued.

In this way, the restaurant has been able to stay true to its mission and vision while providing a better experience for the diners who ultimately keep the doors open.

It’s simple and brilliant.

Which brings me to the point.

When you ask for feedback, do want customers to help you be good at serving your market, or to be the best at serving your market?

Author’s Bio: Lisa D. Jenkins is a Public Relations professional specializing in Social and Digital Communications for businesses. She has over a decade of experience and work most often with destination organizations or businesses in the travel and tourism industry in the Pacific Northwest. Connect with her on Google+

Secrets of solving the customer’s problem

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The plumber told me I needed a drywall guy.

Then the drywall guy said he couldn’t remove the garage ceiling without the HVAC guy moving the ductwork.

HVAC guy noticed that the rat had chewed through some electrical wiring. Time to call the electrician.

Pest control guy came in and killed the rat.

You know who my hero is in this story?

Yes.

Pest control guy.

As a business owner, I work extremely hard to read between the lines when I’m talking to a new customer (or a potential customer). I want to be the rat-killer hero.

variety of contractor action figures

Listen First

“To a guy with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Mark Twain

It’s tempting to fall back to your favorite solution every time a new customer approaches. However, if you want to be successful in the long term, you have to hear what the customer is telling you.

In my example above (true story), I wasn’t telling any of those contractors that I needed new drywall, revamped HVAC system, or rerouted electrical wiring. Yet that’s what was recommended to me in each case. I looked exactly like a nail.

An entrepreneur with staying power will be comfortable referring business to others, coming up with a tailored plan of action, or simply refusing business if the customer isn’t a good fit.

Make Sure You Have Many Perspectives

Nurture diversity of thought on your team. Assemble colleagues who will bring different experiences to the team, so that when a new customer comes in the door, you can offer a well-seasoned approach.

Solving the customer’s problem often requires putting yourself in his/her shoes. It’s much easier to do that if you have surrounded yourself with creative thinkers, and people from different backgrounds.

Help Them Even if You Can’t Help Them

Occasionally, a potential customer will require services you simply don’t offer. Rather than trying to “sell” them, offer to help them find a partner that will be a good fit. You will earn trust and gratitude, and build the foundation of a great business reputation.

Offer to help, even when there’s no obvious benefit on your part. That’s how you build “whuffie,” as described in Tara Hunt’s book, The Whuffie Factor. She says, “Individuals understand how to build Whuffie because every relationship is important to them – especially when they are starting out..”

In your next conversation with a customer or potential customer, stop selling drywall and start looking for the rat.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: JD Hancock via Compfight cc

How To Over-Deliver by Setting Expectations

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When I was about 13, my family went on a camping trip. Canoeing, roasting marshmallows, and hiking were on the agenda.

Allegany State Park

“Hiking” as a concept is not generally something a teenager will be keen on.

In my case, I was definitely more of a “find a shady tree to read under” type of teenager.

The rest of the family wanted to do this hike, so they told me it was “just a short walk, no big deal.”

By mile 5, I was aware I had been bamboozled. (Turns out it’s about a 6 mile hike.)

You really don’t want to hike several miles with an irate teenager. I proceeded to make the rest of the day miserable for everyone, because my expectations had been thwarted.

Whenever you’re dealing with your customers, vendors, business partners, and employees, it’s all about setting expectations up front.

  • Is your service going to lift my revenue by 10% in one year?
  • Is the meeting going to last 15 minutes?
  • Are you going to send me 2 customers a month in referrals?

Whatever stake you put in the ground at the outset is going to determine whether the other party feels the relationship was successful.

The people who bungle this rule the most are sales people.

“No, termites aren’t a problem around here.”
“Sure, the software has that feature!”
“My workshop will change your life.”

Over-promising and under-delivering are a two-headed monster.

So how does a successful entrepreneur stop himself/herself from getting carried away?

  • Be specific in your claims
  • Back it up with real customer stories
  • Have a documented process
  • Connect the sales team with the development and customer service teams
  • If you’re talking with a prospect, paint a realistic picture of how your relationship will work
  • When you’re talking numbers, be aggressive but not dishonest. Don’t promise that you’ll get them the top slot on Page 1 of Google search results.
  • Ask your customer what their expectations are, right at the outset.

And don’t ever take your teenagers camping.

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Connect to Better Business Service with VoIP

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avoiperBusinesses can utilize modern technology to become more efficient and increase cost savings while providing better customer service. One of those technologies is VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol phone systems.

With that in mind, why should your business consider switching?

More than Just a Phone Service

While VoIP offers the same features that you get with regular phone service, it gives you much more.

You get voicemail, call waiting, call forwarding, and other features. But other features enhance your business that you can’t get with traditional phone companies.

Many of these features can allow your business to be more productive.

The ability to transcribe your voicemail messages to email allows you to record important information without having to replay the message.

It also permits you to receive your messages in a convenient fashion even when you are away from the office and contact customers more quickly.

Improved Customer Service

Coaching tools on VoIP allows managers or supervisors to listen in on phone conversations their employees are having with customers without disturbing anyone. They can even whisper instructions and advice without the client overhearing. This not only makes a good training tool but can help employees deal with difficult clients.

Auto attendant allows customers to be connected with the right extension without having to be transferred. This saves them the time and hassle of going through a live person when they already know where they need to go.

Improved Cost Savings

Using VoIP helps save businesses money because VoIP providers are cheaper than traditional telephone companies.

It also allows people to connect to the system from anywhere as long as they have a VoIP phone. You can access the system through email, which is ideal when you are traveling.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money or change your system completely to switch over to VoIP. Just use a VoIP converter and connect it to any standard phone.

You can find systems such as the Ooma Telo VOIP phone system from major retailers like Walmart.

Improved Staff Relations

A VoIP service allows you to hold conferences with your staff even when you are away.

Just connect an IP phone and you can hold meetings over important topics from anywhere.

It’s also ideal for the staff members that are working from home full-time or even a day or two a week. It’s much easier for them to keep track of what is happening at the office and to feel part of the group. They also receive calls as if they were in the office and no one can tell the difference.

As more businesses offer the option for staff to work at home, a VoIP system becomes even more valuable.

It is one way of making employees feel like they are part of the team while giving them the flexibility they value.

As you can see, a VoIP system provides numerous benefits to a business whether in employee relations, customer service or with cost savings.

See how it can help your business and implement your own VoIP telephone system.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About the Author: Joyce Morse is an author who writes on a variety of topics, including SEO and technology.

The Secret of My Success

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Moving into a new home is a major undertaking.

Once the boxes are cleared and the new neighbors start bringing over key lime pie, you invariably have to start calling contractors of various stripes.

moving is hard

Lawn guy, handyman to fix the screen door handle, pest control, air conditioning repair, you get the picture. Making all of these calls over a compressed period of time gave me a true education in “who gets the business.”

You know who gets the business?

The person who answers the phone. If everyone fails that test, then it’s the one who returns the call the fastest.

Woody Allen has been often quoted as saying “showing up is 80 percent of life.”

When asked later about the quote by William Safire in the New York Times, he elaborated:

“My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel, he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book. In the midst of the conversation, as I’m now trying to recall, I did say that 80 percent of success is showing up.”

Do you have an ambition to start a business, or are you actually doing it? Doing it means answering the phone when it rings.

Businesses hanging out a shingle, getting that Google places listing, polishing up their SEO to get a good search engine rank, and hoping for good word of mouth are truly only 10 percent of the way to the sale.

If all of those things happen and you don’t answer the phone, you’re dead in the water.

Yes, this same imperative applies to online businesses, consultants, writers, and everyone else.

Three Keys to Answering the Phone

  1. Manage your time effectively. Make answering the phone a priority. Yes, it’s probably more important than posting on your Facebook page.
  2. Create a system so that nothing slips through the cracks. Whether you’re using a notepad or a sophisticated contact management system like Salesforce or Nimble, put a mechanism in place that will remind you to follow up.
  3. Practice active listening when you do answer. Don’t launch into a pitch; wait and let the person on the other side tell you what they are contacting you for.

If you show up and answer the phone, you’ll come out ahead every time. (But let’s keep it our little secret, ok?)

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Give your site a pulse with live chat help

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“A shopkeeper should always have a ready smile”

One of the most impactful changes my company has made in the last couple of years is our addition of live help on the website. It has made a big difference in sales, and I’m convinced that it’s our version of the “ready smile” mentioned in the Chinese proverb.

The cheery greeting “bonjour!” rang out every single time I entered a shop on our trip to France years ago. It didn’t matter if the shopkeeper was in the back, sweeping out front, or behind the counter. It made us feel welcome–and more likely to linger and strike up a conversation.

live chat is a smiling shopkeeper

To power our “ready smile,” we’re using a service called SnapEngage, but there are a lot of other options out there, including LiveEngage, Moxie’s Chat Spaces, and Velaro.

According to a Velaro white paper, “although statistics show that over 66% of all ecommerce shopping carts are abandoned, online customer service (live chat) improves the chance of a purchase by 40%-60%.”

But it’s not really about the technology. It’s about having a person with a ready smile on the other end of the chat. We often get people question the popup box, “are you a robot? or are you a real person?” Our staff is likely to reply with a friendly joke. What better way to make a connection with a visitor than making them smile?

Here’s how to maximize the benefits of live chat on your website:

  • Be selective about where you use the proactive popup. Consider disabling it on pages that show video, or other media that might be interrupted by the popup.
  • Wait a few seconds before it pops up. Let the visitor come all the way in and take a peek before you prompt the chat window.
  • Make sure someone is staffing it. It does take a commitment to staff the live chat; make sure you have internal staff ready to respond if you have the chat window enabled.
  • Train employees to react appropriately to different questions. Incoming questions from visitors can be unpredictable…it can be sales oriented, a customer question, a technical question, or something completely off the wall. Be sure your chat staff is prepared. Does the sales team want an email address collected from prospects? Ensure that message is communicated to those staffing the live chat.
  • Analyze the data (what types of questions, where are they coming from, what browsers are they using, what pages are they lingering on). You’ve got a treasure trove now. Use it to inform your content strategy, your marketing materials, your sales messaging, and perhaps even your product documentation.
  • Define the purpose of the popup (is it customer support, or sales, or both?). Make sure it’s clear to your visitors, and your chat staff is informed.
  • What’s your business personality? Share with your chat staff the tone you want to communicate. Are they free to use smilies? Can they make jokes? We go for a tone of friendly professionalism; often it’s a good idea to follow the lead of the visitor.

A live chat service on your website can be a direct conduit to your visitors’ thoughts.

But perhaps more importantly, it’s a technological version of your “ready smile.”

How do you greet your website visitors?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee