I thought we’d take a few minutes today to go over a few more tips designed to make your customer service relationships even stronger. Remember, great customer service should start from the first moment you make contact with a client or prospect.

5. Learn to be Flexible

Or, in reality, learning how to stray from company policy. Let’s say, for example, that the widget you sold Mrs. X broke 2 days after her warranty expired. She’s been a long time customer but your company policy is to never replace widgets after the warranty expires. Would you rather replace Mrs. X’s widget one time or lose her business for the rest of your existence?

4. Be Responsible

If your company made a mistake, own up to it and make a correction. Customers are able to better identify with organisations that can accept responsibility for their shortcomings rather than make excuses for them.

3. Don’t Place Blame

Responsibility and blame really go hand in hand. If you sell computer products – printers, for example- and a customer is having problems installing the drivers what will you do? Will you blame the computer operating system or will you do the research necessary to help your client make the printer work?

2. Avoid Paranoia

There’s an old story about a guy returning a tire to Nordstroms, a popular high-end department chain in the US. The elderly gentleman insisted he had purchased the tire at Nordstroms but there was one problem – Nordstroms doesn’t sell tires. At all. Anywhere. They’re customer service policy, however, is that the customer is always right and they did accept the return of the tire. Weird instances like this shouldn’t send you into a panic. Just because you take back one tire doesn’t mean everyone in the county is going to try to do the same. They’ll likely laugh it off (and you migth consider rephrasing your customer service policies).

1. Make Your Customers Happy

The easiest way to make your customers happy is to “underpromise and over deliver.” If you’re constantly giving customers the best service possible even though they expected less they’ll always be happy.

Try to incorporate a few of these ideas into your customer service training plans. The more skills your customer service representatives develop the happier your clients will be.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

You’ve all been excited about a new product or service launch at least once over the course of your career. If you haven’t, I’d have to question whether or not sales and management are the right career paths for you.

I find that one of the most important things we have to consider when training our customer service representatives is teaching them the difference between hype and excitement. Knowing the difference will make it easy for your customer service reps to present new products to clients without making false statements.

Hype…

• …is deceptive.
• …attempts to predict outcomes.
• …makes unrealistic promises.
• …doesn’t last long.
• …is impossible.
• …is sales-driven.
• …is not trustworthy.

Excitement…

• …is honest.
• …doesn’t eliminate flaws.
• …is wild and unpredictable.
• …has no set time frames.
• …is realistic.
• …is value-driven.
• …is believable and trustworthy.

Are you starting to see the differences? We can hype up a new product or service but much of what we say will have been fashioned to sound good whether it is true or not. If your customer service team is really excited about a product they’ll be able to talk about it and sell it without making false statements or misleading your current and new customers.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Courses

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

Today I’d like you to take a step back and think about not only your customers and what they think of you but also about your organisation’s position within the marketplace.

I’m going to ask you three important questions and you really need to answer them as honestly as possible:

1. If your company fell off the face of the planet overnight would its disappearance impact anyone (individual or organisation) and, if so, what difference would your disappearnce make?
2. If your company disappeared, would your customers miss you? Which ones would miss you most and why would they miss you?
3. If your company disappeared, how long would it take for another one to take your place? And would they do a better job?

The answers to these questions should tell you quite a bit about your organisation. If the products and services you provide aren’t memorable are you really making the impact you want on the marketplace? Shouldn’t you be offering stellar customer service rivaled by none coupled with services that no one else can even come close to offering?

If not, you need to step back, think about your customer service skills (and products) and consider what needs to be changed. You are, after all, in business to survive and succeed. Make sure your customers know you want them to succeed as well. Only then will you really matter.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”

Today I’d like to focus a little bit on customer service. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure your team is providing the best customer service possible, but at the same time it is very difficult to watch every single person you employ 100% of the time. Despite the best efforts of your team you may from time to time lose customers, but whether or not you decide to retain those customers is another story.

If you haven’t already realised it, you’ll learn that there are really three main types of customer that every organisation should strive to have. They are:

• Your current customers. These are the most important because they’ve already made a commitment to you. They’re less likely to leave your organisation if they receive great customer service and, in reality, it costs less to keep them happy than it does to solicit new business.
• Brand new customers. These are the people who are currently purchasing products and services from your competitors. What can you do to show them that your products and services are of a higher quality and would benefit them more than the products they’re currently purchasing?
• Lost customers. Lost customers left your organisation for a reason, but you may be able to win them back. You should, of course, consider this on a case by case basis. You obviously don’t want to try to regain a customer who had a terrible payment history. You should, however, try to regain customers who left because of price, because they thought you didn’t have what they needed, or who may suddenly find the service at the new organisation isn’t as great as they thought it would be.

Make sure your team members understand the three types of customers and how important each is to the growth and success of your organisation. Focus on these three main types of customer and you’re bound to see significant growth in your workgroup!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

We all know how important it is to provide great customer service. Happy customers tend to become loyal customers and a loyal customer is likely to stick with you for years on end, regardless of minor price changes.

There are some additional benefits to developing client loyalty, though, and each has a significant impact on your organisation as a whole. Consider the following:

• Your revenue will grow because loyal customers are more likely to purchase additional products from you as the need arises. They’re also more likely to refer prospects that will result in sales.
• The costs associated with operating your business will decrease. This will happen because you won’t have to spend as much time and money on the acquisition of new customers and because providing good customer service to loyal customers is a very efficient process.
• Your employee retention levels will increase because your employees will be happier with their jobs and satisfied with the work they are doing (which, in turn, creates additional customer loyalty and reduced costs).

It’s easy to see why focusing on strong customer service is important to customer loyalty and the overall success of your business. Do you do anything special to encourage your employees to give better customer service – or to encourage your customers to remain loyal?

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”