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We make a choice every day on how we feel. This
translates into what attitude each of us brings to
work. If your attitude is unfriendly or not helpful, you
will have a negative impact on every customer you
come in contact with. If your attitude is helpful and
friendly, you will have a positive impact.
Be responsive to customer needs and
wants
All customers want is for you to be concerned about
their business and understand their issues. They want
to be the center of your attention at that moment and
they want the interaction they have with you to be
carefree.
You should always be uplifting,
but also be sensible in how you
approach customers and resolve
issues. Customers expect you to
satisfy them, but you can also do
it simply. Give customers every
reason to trust you.
Say “thank you for your business”
in a thoughtful way. And lastly,
respect customers’ needs and
wants and rectify mistakes. Learn
to anticipate your customers’
needs, and you’ll be in business!
Do what the customer
asks, promptly
Make sure you perform the
necessary tasks to resolve
customer inquiries in a timely fashion. Resolving
inquiries quickly will impress customers. Don’t tell
them you will get back to them, as this gives them
time to look elsewhere for a better price or faster
turnaround. Keep customers engaged and get them
the answers they need on that first interaction.
Customers just need to know that you value them
and their business. If you forget about something you
were supposed to do for them, you won’t keep your
customers for very long.
Provide well-trained and informed
employees
The proper training of employees will set the
foundation for success. Every successful training
program consists of some type of curriculum-based
classes that teach the fundamentals, such as the
products and services offered to customers and basic
customer service skills. How these classes are taught
makes all the difference.
To ensure employees are properly trained and
informed, create a plug-and-play curriculum-based
training program. But go beyond the basics by
encompassing your mission statement and core
values into the program. In addition, ensure that
customer service skills’ training includes topics such
as building long-term customer relationships and
understanding the need for a customer-centric focus.
These topics will provide each employee with a better
sense of purpose regarding customer satisfaction.
Also, ensure all classes are interactive and provide
immediate reinforcement and feedback. Finally,
provide a means by which
employees can partake in some form
of continuing education, whether
such training is held on site by an
internal staff member or a third
party.
Implementing a structured and
interactive training program will
immediately pay dividends, as your
employees will feel more prepared
to handle customer interactions,
and their learning curve will be
significantly reduced.
Tell customers what to
expect
What does it mean to set
expectations with customers?
It means clearly communicating everything your
customers can expect to receive in response to their
inquiries. They should know exactly what you are
going to do to provide a resolution.
Properly setting expectations will determine
the success or failure of your relationship with
each customer. If customers don’t have a clear
understanding of what they are getting, you’ll fail.
If you provide something customers don’t want or
weren’t expecting, it doesn’t matter how fantastic
your work was or how quickly you got it done.
Setting expectations isn’t difficult or mysterious, but
it does take time and discipline. You can’t make any
assumptions, and you need to be crystal clear with
customers about what they will be getting. Setting
expectations is a constant communication process.
The resolution may change slightly, or you might
find a better way to do something. If the change
is significant enough, just be sure to let customers
know. Keep them informed.
Meet your commitments
Remember when a person’s word was his or her
bond? For whatever reasons, that doesn’t seem as
important as it did 25 years ago. But it should be.
Customers expect you to do what you say you’re
going to do and when you say you are going to do it.
Become someone known for keeping his or her word,
and for building loyalty and trust with each customer
interaction.
Do it right the first time
Doing it right the first time involves making sure that
all activities are carried out in the right manner the
first time, and every time. Completing all services
correctly the first time is not easy, but doing so can
be an effective way for businesses to build loyalty and
trust with their customers, which in turn will increase
satisfaction and profits.
Follow up
Contact your customers after the purchase is
complete, or a job is delivered, or after the issue has
been resolved, and ask them what their experience
was like and if they were satisfied. If they were happy
with everything, great, ask for a referral. If not, try to
make things right. When you build a business that
will define good customer service, you are laying the
foundation of a company that will also define success.
Be ethical
Customers’ expectations are influenced by many
factors, and their process to select a partner can be
just as complex. One of the major factors is credibility.
They want to know how trustworthy and honest the
service provider is.
To meet this critical factor, you have to make an effort
to know customers and their needs; listen and keep
customers informed in a language they understand;
possess the required skills and knowledge to perform
the promised service dependably and accurately; be
willing to help customers and provide prompt service;
and be polite, respectful, considerate, and friendly.
Implementing and evolving these 10 principles will
help you gain customer loyalty, and customer loyalty
will keep you in business!
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_M_Plankey
“Customers just need
to know that you
value them and their
business. If you forget
about something you
were supposed to do
for them, you won’t
keep your customers
for very long.”
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