In the final analysis, great service teams are a direct result of projecting the right attitudes toward the customer. Every management team who understands this will consistently provide an exceptional service experience to their customers. This is because when everything is said and done, the only real memory that customers will take with them is how they were treated by the people who had served them. Let's briefly look at the six essential attitudes and how they affect the perception that others will have of our service:
1. The Attitude of Friendliness
Customers first and foremost measure our service by the friendliness shown.
As a customer service representative, we have the perfect occasion to show goodwill to those who make contact with us. It gives us a great opportunity to be friendly. I believe this attitude alone can change an entire organization if people simply understood the powerful attraction that kindness brings. I am convinced that if more customer service representatives projected a little more kindness to each customer, the customer would walk away feeling that the service was outstanding. Why do I say this? Because customers as a whole do not expect it!
I am always puzzled when doing business with a company that lacks in this area. The first thought that comes to mind is why any organization would put employees out in front who project an unfriendly attitude toward others. This not only makes customers feel uncomfortable, but also gives them a legitimate reason not to return in the future.
It is important to remember that the first guiding principle in providing great service is to understand that our job is to simply meet the requests of the customer in the friendliest manner. We are given the job of taking care of whatever need the customer may have at the moment. Since this is the first commandment of customer service, it seems only logical that we would want the service to be as pleasant as possible.
2. The Attitude of Enthusiasm
Serving with enthusiasm adds to the customer's overall experience.
When we are excited to serve, we will not only excel as customer service representatives but will have people talking about our great service. I am convinced that without enthusiasm customer service becomes more of a duty to perform. No other attitude can make us more passionate about serving. When we are not excited about serving others, we somehow begin to lose our balance in providing our customers with excellent service.
Being enthused makes others take notice and will consistently deliver better service to our customers. They walk away and feel that the service was outstanding simply because of our eagerness to serve them.
When customers decide to make a purchase on a product or service, they are usually excited about the prospects of acquiring it. We as customer service representatives need to realize that our enthusiasm will increase their enthusiasm as well. When we are excited for them, they in turn become more excited about the purchase.
3. The Attitude of Caring
Loyalty occurs when customers sense that we genuinely care.
Of all attitudes in existence, none is more powerful than the attitude of caring about others. This attitude alone will determine the outcome of every relationship in life. It far outweighs any other attitude simply because it is the cornerstone by which every other attitude will manifest itself. No other attitude will determine our fate quite like how much we care for others.
Customers will also quickly take notice of our sincere desire to serve them when we care about their needs. Loyalty also begins to happen when our customers sense that meeting their needs is more important than simply making a sale. They will also be more attracted to us because they will sense that we truly care about their service experience. Without having to say anything, they will quickly sense by our actions that we can be trusted and will do whatever it takes to meet their immediate needs.
On the other hand, customers will sense when we do not care about meeting their needs. Whether we care or not will be projected in various ways to them. This attitude is difficult to hide because of the many signs that eventually come out.
4. The Attitude of Respect
Giving respect shows our willingness to serve others.
There is no attitude quite as appealing as when we genuinely communicate our respect. It not only validates others, but also gives them a sense of dignity. When we encounter a person who is respectful toward us, we tend to straighten up and present our best selves to them. This is the beauty and benefit of showing respect. It allows us to bring out the best in people.
As service representatives, when we show our customers respect, we are conveying a willingness to serve them. This attitude also gives our customers a sense of honor because of the high regard that is communicated through respect. It gives our customers a feeling that we admire and appreciate that they have decided to do business with us.
The mentality that every service representative should have is one where he or she views the customer as essential to the overall success of the business. When we look at customers as the ones who will help to make our business successful, our attitude toward them will begin to change in a more positive manner. The key in winning loyalty starts with respect.
5. The Attitude of Encouragement
Encouragement creates a positive environment for both the customer and the company.
When we truly begin to appreciate what encouragement can do for people, we will want to do it more often. A positive word can lift people up and help them to become their best. When we are serving customers, our words (along with the tone of our voice) can make all the difference in how they perceive our service.
The service superstars have a way of communicating in a pleasant tone of voice. Their encouraging attitude and kind words instantly give customers the confidence that they are looking out for their best interest.
But what about those experiences where the service was marked with a customer service representative who showed no signs of encouragement? I can recall experiences where there would be no friendly greeting or welcoming smile offered. If anything, it felt as if I was intruding on their time. There would be no positive sign of encouragement on their part. As a customer I wanted to leave as soon as possible. Looking back, I can see that these not so pleasant customer service experiences were caused by a person who simply lacked a supportive attitude.
6. The Attitude of Thankfulness
Customers who feel appreciated will rate our service higher.
I remember coming across a story about a young man who had been fired from an ice cream parlor. One of his duties was to say thank you whenever he handed an ice cream cone to a customer. The owner of the parlor understood the power of appreciation and made it a part of the job description for each employee who served ice cream. The owner finally had to let the young man go because of his forgetfulness to say thank you.
I relate this story because I am convinced that customers will always rate our service higher if we show them our appreciation in having done business with us. I am also convinced that the organization that consistently shows appreciation will have an advantage over other similar businesses.
We must remember that in today's economy one company can practically match another company's product. What can separate us from the pack is the service and the appreciation that we show. The power of appreciation can never be underestimated. We need to understand that everyone enjoys being appreciated. This is why having an attitude of thankfulness is so beneficial if we want to become customer service superstars and project a strong service team.
By learning to implement these six attitudes into our customer service training, we will soon find our customers telling others about the great service that we provide!
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1436298
Friday, July 8, 2011
8 Strategies to Improve Customer Service
Every brand believes that its customer service is excellent. In reality, however, customer service across brands is mediocre. The experience is generally inconvenient, unpleasant, unsatisfactory, sometimes humiliating, and definitely expensive.
Good customer service is an integral part of business. It affects important brand and business objectives like customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention, repeat purchase, up selling and usage revenue. In light of these business implications, there is continuous pressure on brands to improve customers' perceptions of their service.
Improving customer service should not be that difficult. It can happen if organizations reconsider certain business strategies. In my opinion, the following eight strategies are very important to improve customer service:
1) Incorporate in business planning: The quantum and nature of service requirements are dependent on the activities of many other functions. Organizations should incorporate customers' service requirements into all aspects of business activities like product design, procurement, production, handling, pricing, communication, people, and culture. This would help organizations to prepare better for service eventualities and at the same time make customer service the responsibility of the entire organization.
2) Change attitude to service: Despite being a critical business activity, customer service function does not command the same respect that many other functions do. Many perceive it to be dirty, menial, and unpleasant. Service center appearances and resources are always far inferior, especially to that sales and marketing. If an organization treats the service function in this manner, customers are likely to get the same treatment from the service function.
Organization's attitude to service is a reflection of its attitude to customers. Management has to go far beyond providing mere lip service if the rest of the organization has to respect customer service and customers.
3) Integrate with marketing: Customers are an important marketing resource. They are the most credible brand ambassadors, their word of mouth recommendation is far more effective than all other marketing activities put together. Given its importance to marketing, organizations should make marketing solely responsible for customer care and if necessary create a separate customer marketing function to protect, nurture, and leverage its core assets (customers) far more productively. Integrating it with core marketing will also remove the stigma associated with service.
4) Shed the profit center approach: Many organizations try to make a profit through customer service. In a profit center approach, revenue-generating activities like sales of maintenance contracts, spares, and expensive call charges become more important than the aforementioned business objectives. Selling at low margins is normally the reason for the profit center approach. Attempting to increase profit through service would anyway not work as customers expect service charges also to be low if the product purchase price was low. Expensive service charges would also force customers to choose cheaper third party service providers.
Brand and business objectives should be the only purpose of the customer service function. The collective value of these business measures, in near term and long term, would always be higher than the profits made from normal service activities. A profit center or cost center approach, disregarding business objectives, would be detrimental to the brand.
5) Adopt retention pricing: Product pricing should include the cost of acquisition and the cost of retention including the service cost. Discounting the service and retention cost to make the sale price attractive would only force the brand to recover the lost margin through subsequent transactions.
It is wrong to believe that customers do not deserve good service just because the sale price was low. Every customer, irrespective of the price that he pays, expects good service. The product price should therefore, have a sufficient margin to meet those expectations.
6) Manage expectations: Customers have explicit and implicit service expectations. Explicit expectations are formed basis the claims and promises made by the brand at the time of purchase. The brand has complete control over explicit expectations. Implicit expectations formed basis the customers' perception of brand image, stature, reputation and the price premium they pay for a brand are far more difficult to gauge and manage.
Most often organizations measure only the explicit commitments. Failure to identify and measure implicit expectations is a big reason for the gap between its understanding of the quality of service rendered and customers' perception of the service received. Customers' perception of service will improve only when both these expectations met.
7) Recognize the role reversal: Brands make an emotional pitch to sell but provide service by the rulebook. Customers though, buy rationally but react emotionally to product and service failures. Recognizing this role reversal will help brands to appreciate the customer's pain better and adopt an appropriate service response. Brands should remember that they are not dealing with failed products but with people's emotions caused by failed products. An emotional approach to service, similar to the sales pitch, might work better than a rational response.
8) Focus on customers' convenience; not yours: Most service facilities and procedures are not customer friendly. Service centers are far and few, the locations are remote, phone lines are always busy, the service center timings always conflict with customers' work hours, and the waiting time at the service center is invariably long. Further, asking such aggrieved customers to fill lengthy forms, answer questions (often interrogatory and structured to make the customer feel that he or she is responsible for the problem), wait inordinately, listen to policies and rules is inconsiderate and humiliating.
These inconveniences dissuade customers from choosing company service. Removing such irritants, besides improving customer experience, would also encourage more customers to choose company service over third party service. Increase in service revenue because of more customers choosing company service should compensate for the increase in cost, if any, of providing service at customers' convenience.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3795350
Good customer service is an integral part of business. It affects important brand and business objectives like customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention, repeat purchase, up selling and usage revenue. In light of these business implications, there is continuous pressure on brands to improve customers' perceptions of their service.
Improving customer service should not be that difficult. It can happen if organizations reconsider certain business strategies. In my opinion, the following eight strategies are very important to improve customer service:
1) Incorporate in business planning: The quantum and nature of service requirements are dependent on the activities of many other functions. Organizations should incorporate customers' service requirements into all aspects of business activities like product design, procurement, production, handling, pricing, communication, people, and culture. This would help organizations to prepare better for service eventualities and at the same time make customer service the responsibility of the entire organization.
2) Change attitude to service: Despite being a critical business activity, customer service function does not command the same respect that many other functions do. Many perceive it to be dirty, menial, and unpleasant. Service center appearances and resources are always far inferior, especially to that sales and marketing. If an organization treats the service function in this manner, customers are likely to get the same treatment from the service function.
Organization's attitude to service is a reflection of its attitude to customers. Management has to go far beyond providing mere lip service if the rest of the organization has to respect customer service and customers.
3) Integrate with marketing: Customers are an important marketing resource. They are the most credible brand ambassadors, their word of mouth recommendation is far more effective than all other marketing activities put together. Given its importance to marketing, organizations should make marketing solely responsible for customer care and if necessary create a separate customer marketing function to protect, nurture, and leverage its core assets (customers) far more productively. Integrating it with core marketing will also remove the stigma associated with service.
4) Shed the profit center approach: Many organizations try to make a profit through customer service. In a profit center approach, revenue-generating activities like sales of maintenance contracts, spares, and expensive call charges become more important than the aforementioned business objectives. Selling at low margins is normally the reason for the profit center approach. Attempting to increase profit through service would anyway not work as customers expect service charges also to be low if the product purchase price was low. Expensive service charges would also force customers to choose cheaper third party service providers.
Brand and business objectives should be the only purpose of the customer service function. The collective value of these business measures, in near term and long term, would always be higher than the profits made from normal service activities. A profit center or cost center approach, disregarding business objectives, would be detrimental to the brand.
5) Adopt retention pricing: Product pricing should include the cost of acquisition and the cost of retention including the service cost. Discounting the service and retention cost to make the sale price attractive would only force the brand to recover the lost margin through subsequent transactions.
It is wrong to believe that customers do not deserve good service just because the sale price was low. Every customer, irrespective of the price that he pays, expects good service. The product price should therefore, have a sufficient margin to meet those expectations.
6) Manage expectations: Customers have explicit and implicit service expectations. Explicit expectations are formed basis the claims and promises made by the brand at the time of purchase. The brand has complete control over explicit expectations. Implicit expectations formed basis the customers' perception of brand image, stature, reputation and the price premium they pay for a brand are far more difficult to gauge and manage.
Most often organizations measure only the explicit commitments. Failure to identify and measure implicit expectations is a big reason for the gap between its understanding of the quality of service rendered and customers' perception of the service received. Customers' perception of service will improve only when both these expectations met.
7) Recognize the role reversal: Brands make an emotional pitch to sell but provide service by the rulebook. Customers though, buy rationally but react emotionally to product and service failures. Recognizing this role reversal will help brands to appreciate the customer's pain better and adopt an appropriate service response. Brands should remember that they are not dealing with failed products but with people's emotions caused by failed products. An emotional approach to service, similar to the sales pitch, might work better than a rational response.
8) Focus on customers' convenience; not yours: Most service facilities and procedures are not customer friendly. Service centers are far and few, the locations are remote, phone lines are always busy, the service center timings always conflict with customers' work hours, and the waiting time at the service center is invariably long. Further, asking such aggrieved customers to fill lengthy forms, answer questions (often interrogatory and structured to make the customer feel that he or she is responsible for the problem), wait inordinately, listen to policies and rules is inconsiderate and humiliating.
These inconveniences dissuade customers from choosing company service. Removing such irritants, besides improving customer experience, would also encourage more customers to choose company service over third party service. Increase in service revenue because of more customers choosing company service should compensate for the increase in cost, if any, of providing service at customers' convenience.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3795350
Customer Service and The Human Experience
Historically, customer service was delivered over the phone or in person. Customers didn't have many choices, and switching to competitors was cumbersome. Today, these methods are but two of the many possible touch points of entry for any given interaction. With all the options the Internet brings, competition is literally a click away. If, as has been reported, 65% of your business comes from current customers, then in order to stay in business, you best focus on winning the satisfaction and loyalty of those customers.
With continued attention on customer service, customer retention, and lifetime value of the customer, it is no surprise that contact center operations continue to increase in importance as the primary hub of a customer's experience. The contact center is still the most common way that customers get in touch with businesses. In fact, Gartner reports 92% of all contact is through the center.
While much attention has been focused on the technology and benefits of providing multiple channels for customer contact, little consideration has been directed to handling the human part of the equation--training Customer and Technical Service Representatives to field more than just telephone communications. With the explosion of e-commerce, the need to reinforce keeping the human element in the equation is paramount. Certainly now more than ever before in history, customer-centric service is a necessity.
Twenty five years from now customers will still be human beings, still be driven by desires and needs. Virtual environments do not create virtual customers. Except for the simplest transactions, some customers still need to be connected with and nurtured by a live person. Amazon.com has learned this. They employ hundreds of traditional customer service representatives using phone lines to help customers with questions that cannot be dealt with online.
With the ability to handle simple transactions available by using sophisticated, self-service technology, customer calls, faxes, and/or e-mails are more complex, more complicated, sometime even escalated, heightening stress levels.
At the same time, research has identified the Customer Service and Technical Representative as one of the ten most stressful jobs in America today, with job stress costing employers an estimated $300+ billion yearly in absenteeism, lowered productivity, rising health insurance costs and other medical expenses (up from $200 + billion just ten years ago.)
A recent NIOSH study reported that 50% of employees view job stress as a major problem in their lives--double from a decade ago.
Lines of demarcation have blurred and change is rampant in today's center. Why? Because of our cell phones, voice mail, faxback, PDA's, and e-mail. We are now more available and accessible than ever before. The lines are no longer clear as to where our jobs or projects begin and end--they can follow us home again and again.
In today's competitive marketplace there is little difference between products and services. What makes the difference--what distinguishes one company from another--is its relationship with the customer. Who has the awesome responsibility for representing themselves, their companies, perhaps their industry in general? Front line representatives.
The ability of a company to provide human-to-human connections--back and forth live communication--continues to be critically important. The fact is voice is the most natural and powerful human interface, real time or otherwise. That isn't going to change any time soon. To the customer, people are inseparable from the services they provide. Actually, the person on the other end of the phone is the company. It is no wonder, then, that companies with superior people management, invest heavily in training and retraining, reinforcing the human element.
Yet customers still leave. The latest statistics on why are:
o 45% because of poor service
o 20% because of lack of attention.
This means that 65% of your customers leave because of something your front line is, or is not, doing.
o 15% for a better product
o 15% for a cheaper product and
o 5% other
This is the good and the bad news. It's bad news because that's a high percentage. On the other hand, it's good news because there is something you can do about it--it resides on the human side.
It is agreed that people, process, and 'state of the art' technology are what make companies work. For me, the people process is most important. After all, it's the people who truly make the difference.
Never lose sight of the fact that we are human beings, not merely 'human doings.' The fact is 70% to 90% of what happens with customers is driven by human nature, having nothing to do with technology. Technology is meant to enable human endeavors, not to disable them.
Extraordinary service or lack thereof, separates the good from
the great companies. As more and more organizations are turning to the contact center as a strategic player in the competitive landscape, it is in the throes of re-inventing itself to step up to the plate and become the heart of a company's customer facing operations.
Empathetic Responsiveness
The ability to put yourself in another person's shoes and see their point of view--not agree with them, not make them right and your company wrong--but hear what they are saying. After all, basic needs of all of us are to be heard and treated with dignity and respect.
I think of a call as an ABC process. 'A' represents the customer presenting their question, request, complaint or problem. 'C' is the ultimate resolution. Most times 'B' is either skipped or left out--because of metrics, calls in queue, or simply because you know the answer before the customer is even finished speaking. 'B' is where the agent acknowledges what they hear--be it upset, anger, frustration, or fear. Or, a simple 'thank you for taking the time to call and bring this to our attention.'
After all, if a customer calls in to complain, you have the opportunity/challenge to turn them around. If they don't call, and only complain to other people, you have no opportunity. Does going through 'B' take longer? Not at all. It allows you to move the customer to a more productive interaction and close the call. I've heard many customers repeat their opening paragraph (A) over and over, while at the same time the agent is trying to get them to resolution (C). Red alert! Red alert! Acknowledge what is behind the words and you will move them quickly to 'C.' I believe you can't go from A to C without going through B.
If all customers wanted just the facts (and some do), they could ascertain the information online. Most customers (people) want the human interaction, someone to hear them, someone to care. A simple, "I'm so sorry that was your experience. My name is Rosanne and I'm going to do my best to help you right here and now."
Self Service
When asked the question in a recent study, "What is the biggest barrier your company encounters to self-service effectiveness?" only 14% of the customers replied they don't know about it.' This means that the 86% who do know about it and attempt to use it (1) find it too hard to navigate, (2) can't find the answers, and/or (3) don't trust the system or the answers they do find.
Research shows that customers prefer to deal with companies who are the most consistently accessible. When customers experience a level of service from email and chat support, for instance, that equals or exceeds voice support, then and only then will they gladly migrate to those channels to resolve their problems and inquiries.
To increase customers' satisfaction, be sure to:
1) Phone: Have a 'zero out' option on your system
2) Website: Have your phone number or a button to speak with a human
3) E-mail: Rephrase the issue in the opening paragraph.
Purchasing Process
In an interview with Delia Passi Smalter, the former publisher of Working Woman and Working Mother magazines, we found very interesting statistics regarding female demographics (Incentive Magazine, 2003). It seems that women are making over 85% of consumer purchases and influencing more than 95% of total goods and services. Smalter distinguishes the purchasing process women and men go through. The biggest one, she says, is that women need to feel more of a connection to the TSR; they need to trust the corporation and the brand. Price becomes secondary. Women take in a lot of information, including recommendations from friends and family, company and brand reputation, feelings about her contact person, and how the brand will impact her life. Not so for men. Men take a systematic approach, allowing outside influence to some degree, but mostly they are focused on price.
One of the most influential documents in the world, the U.S. Constitution, begins with "We, the people..." Yes, 'we the people' are what makes the difference.
ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in profitable call center operations in human performance management. Over the last 20 years, she has provided needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings. Also offered is agent and facilitator university certification through Purdue Universitys Center for Customer Driven Quality.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rosanne_Dausilio
With continued attention on customer service, customer retention, and lifetime value of the customer, it is no surprise that contact center operations continue to increase in importance as the primary hub of a customer's experience. The contact center is still the most common way that customers get in touch with businesses. In fact, Gartner reports 92% of all contact is through the center.
While much attention has been focused on the technology and benefits of providing multiple channels for customer contact, little consideration has been directed to handling the human part of the equation--training Customer and Technical Service Representatives to field more than just telephone communications. With the explosion of e-commerce, the need to reinforce keeping the human element in the equation is paramount. Certainly now more than ever before in history, customer-centric service is a necessity.
Twenty five years from now customers will still be human beings, still be driven by desires and needs. Virtual environments do not create virtual customers. Except for the simplest transactions, some customers still need to be connected with and nurtured by a live person. Amazon.com has learned this. They employ hundreds of traditional customer service representatives using phone lines to help customers with questions that cannot be dealt with online.
With the ability to handle simple transactions available by using sophisticated, self-service technology, customer calls, faxes, and/or e-mails are more complex, more complicated, sometime even escalated, heightening stress levels.
At the same time, research has identified the Customer Service and Technical Representative as one of the ten most stressful jobs in America today, with job stress costing employers an estimated $300+ billion yearly in absenteeism, lowered productivity, rising health insurance costs and other medical expenses (up from $200 + billion just ten years ago.)
A recent NIOSH study reported that 50% of employees view job stress as a major problem in their lives--double from a decade ago.
Lines of demarcation have blurred and change is rampant in today's center. Why? Because of our cell phones, voice mail, faxback, PDA's, and e-mail. We are now more available and accessible than ever before. The lines are no longer clear as to where our jobs or projects begin and end--they can follow us home again and again.
In today's competitive marketplace there is little difference between products and services. What makes the difference--what distinguishes one company from another--is its relationship with the customer. Who has the awesome responsibility for representing themselves, their companies, perhaps their industry in general? Front line representatives.
The ability of a company to provide human-to-human connections--back and forth live communication--continues to be critically important. The fact is voice is the most natural and powerful human interface, real time or otherwise. That isn't going to change any time soon. To the customer, people are inseparable from the services they provide. Actually, the person on the other end of the phone is the company. It is no wonder, then, that companies with superior people management, invest heavily in training and retraining, reinforcing the human element.
Yet customers still leave. The latest statistics on why are:
o 45% because of poor service
o 20% because of lack of attention.
This means that 65% of your customers leave because of something your front line is, or is not, doing.
o 15% for a better product
o 15% for a cheaper product and
o 5% other
This is the good and the bad news. It's bad news because that's a high percentage. On the other hand, it's good news because there is something you can do about it--it resides on the human side.
It is agreed that people, process, and 'state of the art' technology are what make companies work. For me, the people process is most important. After all, it's the people who truly make the difference.
Never lose sight of the fact that we are human beings, not merely 'human doings.' The fact is 70% to 90% of what happens with customers is driven by human nature, having nothing to do with technology. Technology is meant to enable human endeavors, not to disable them.
Extraordinary service or lack thereof, separates the good from
the great companies. As more and more organizations are turning to the contact center as a strategic player in the competitive landscape, it is in the throes of re-inventing itself to step up to the plate and become the heart of a company's customer facing operations.
Empathetic Responsiveness
The ability to put yourself in another person's shoes and see their point of view--not agree with them, not make them right and your company wrong--but hear what they are saying. After all, basic needs of all of us are to be heard and treated with dignity and respect.
I think of a call as an ABC process. 'A' represents the customer presenting their question, request, complaint or problem. 'C' is the ultimate resolution. Most times 'B' is either skipped or left out--because of metrics, calls in queue, or simply because you know the answer before the customer is even finished speaking. 'B' is where the agent acknowledges what they hear--be it upset, anger, frustration, or fear. Or, a simple 'thank you for taking the time to call and bring this to our attention.'
After all, if a customer calls in to complain, you have the opportunity/challenge to turn them around. If they don't call, and only complain to other people, you have no opportunity. Does going through 'B' take longer? Not at all. It allows you to move the customer to a more productive interaction and close the call. I've heard many customers repeat their opening paragraph (A) over and over, while at the same time the agent is trying to get them to resolution (C). Red alert! Red alert! Acknowledge what is behind the words and you will move them quickly to 'C.' I believe you can't go from A to C without going through B.
If all customers wanted just the facts (and some do), they could ascertain the information online. Most customers (people) want the human interaction, someone to hear them, someone to care. A simple, "I'm so sorry that was your experience. My name is Rosanne and I'm going to do my best to help you right here and now."
Self Service
When asked the question in a recent study, "What is the biggest barrier your company encounters to self-service effectiveness?" only 14% of the customers replied they don't know about it.' This means that the 86% who do know about it and attempt to use it (1) find it too hard to navigate, (2) can't find the answers, and/or (3) don't trust the system or the answers they do find.
Research shows that customers prefer to deal with companies who are the most consistently accessible. When customers experience a level of service from email and chat support, for instance, that equals or exceeds voice support, then and only then will they gladly migrate to those channels to resolve their problems and inquiries.
To increase customers' satisfaction, be sure to:
1) Phone: Have a 'zero out' option on your system
2) Website: Have your phone number or a button to speak with a human
3) E-mail: Rephrase the issue in the opening paragraph.
Purchasing Process
In an interview with Delia Passi Smalter, the former publisher of Working Woman and Working Mother magazines, we found very interesting statistics regarding female demographics (Incentive Magazine, 2003). It seems that women are making over 85% of consumer purchases and influencing more than 95% of total goods and services. Smalter distinguishes the purchasing process women and men go through. The biggest one, she says, is that women need to feel more of a connection to the TSR; they need to trust the corporation and the brand. Price becomes secondary. Women take in a lot of information, including recommendations from friends and family, company and brand reputation, feelings about her contact person, and how the brand will impact her life. Not so for men. Men take a systematic approach, allowing outside influence to some degree, but mostly they are focused on price.
One of the most influential documents in the world, the U.S. Constitution, begins with "We, the people..." Yes, 'we the people' are what makes the difference.
ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., an industrial psychologist, and President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in profitable call center operations in human performance management. Over the last 20 years, she has provided needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live customer service skills trainings. Also offered is agent and facilitator university certification through Purdue Universitys Center for Customer Driven Quality.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rosanne_Dausilio
Customer Service Software
Customer service software applications and customer service
solutions range from simple to complex. Some businesses have a
greater need for customer service software than others; however,
if you serve customers through your internet business some type
of customer service solution or customer service software is
necessary to keep your customer information organized and
accessible so you can provide your customers with a high level of
customer service that meets their expectations.
Whether or not you need customer service software or a more
advanced customer service solution depends on the unique needs of
your internet-based business.
There are many types of customer service software ranging from
your basic point-of-sale systems to complex customer relationship
management systems. Databases are customer service software
solutions that enable you to store all types of data, including
customer information, which facilitates information management
making customer service data more easily and quickly accessible.
Customer service software and applications that improve
efficiency in regard to customer service are highly desirable
because they enable you to provide customers with quality service
which can help with customer retention and referrals.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a fabulous
tool for any business. There are several different types of CRM
software as well as alternatives for customizing CRM systems to
meet the unique needs of any business.
CRM customer service and relationship management software is
generally pre-programmed and is suitable for small businesses.
Some customer service software and CRM software can be
customized, though there are sometimes some limitations to the
customization that can be accomplished using customer service
software or CRM software that is pre-programmed.
In such cases, employing the services of a software developer or
computer programmer to design and create customized customer
service software and CRM solutions may be necessary. For
internet-based businesses that are small, home-owned businesses
customer service software is usually sufficient without the need
for extensive programming support.
Some customer service software and CRM options involve monthly
fees for their use while others are a one-time purchase. Some
require special database hosting while others can be installed
and operated from your personal computer or small business
network.
Microsoft has customer service software and CRM software
solutions that enable the integration of customer relationship
management modules for internet businesses. Various solutions and
modules have different features and relatively different costs
associated with them.
One of the viable customer service software packages from
Microsoft is the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 which is available in
a small business edition with a pretty reasonable licensing fee.
It integrates with other Microsoft applications such as Outlook
and Excel for effective customer communications and report
generation.
Some of the modules enable the automation of marketing functions
including organization of leads, campaign management and follow-
up capabilities as well as service scheduling and customization
of various customer service functions and communications.
Salesforce.com is another source for customizable customer
service software and CRM solutions. The customer service software
solutions provided by Salesforce.com are really good solutions
for integrating and automating your sales, marketing, customer
service and support functions.
There are quite a few other customer service software and CRM
solutions that can be used to automate your sales, service,
support, recordkeeping and marketing functions.
When selecting any software solutions for your new internet
business, even customer service software, you should consider
your future needs and plan ahead to ensure the software you
purchase today will meet the needs of your business in the future
in terms of functionality and compatibility with software and
information systems that may need to be added later as your
business grows and demands greater capabilities from your
customer service software and information systems.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_J_Enders
solutions range from simple to complex. Some businesses have a
greater need for customer service software than others; however,
if you serve customers through your internet business some type
of customer service solution or customer service software is
necessary to keep your customer information organized and
accessible so you can provide your customers with a high level of
customer service that meets their expectations.
Whether or not you need customer service software or a more
advanced customer service solution depends on the unique needs of
your internet-based business.
There are many types of customer service software ranging from
your basic point-of-sale systems to complex customer relationship
management systems. Databases are customer service software
solutions that enable you to store all types of data, including
customer information, which facilitates information management
making customer service data more easily and quickly accessible.
Customer service software and applications that improve
efficiency in regard to customer service are highly desirable
because they enable you to provide customers with quality service
which can help with customer retention and referrals.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a fabulous
tool for any business. There are several different types of CRM
software as well as alternatives for customizing CRM systems to
meet the unique needs of any business.
CRM customer service and relationship management software is
generally pre-programmed and is suitable for small businesses.
Some customer service software and CRM software can be
customized, though there are sometimes some limitations to the
customization that can be accomplished using customer service
software or CRM software that is pre-programmed.
In such cases, employing the services of a software developer or
computer programmer to design and create customized customer
service software and CRM solutions may be necessary. For
internet-based businesses that are small, home-owned businesses
customer service software is usually sufficient without the need
for extensive programming support.
Some customer service software and CRM options involve monthly
fees for their use while others are a one-time purchase. Some
require special database hosting while others can be installed
and operated from your personal computer or small business
network.
Microsoft has customer service software and CRM software
solutions that enable the integration of customer relationship
management modules for internet businesses. Various solutions and
modules have different features and relatively different costs
associated with them.
One of the viable customer service software packages from
Microsoft is the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 which is available in
a small business edition with a pretty reasonable licensing fee.
It integrates with other Microsoft applications such as Outlook
and Excel for effective customer communications and report
generation.
Some of the modules enable the automation of marketing functions
including organization of leads, campaign management and follow-
up capabilities as well as service scheduling and customization
of various customer service functions and communications.
Salesforce.com is another source for customizable customer
service software and CRM solutions. The customer service software
solutions provided by Salesforce.com are really good solutions
for integrating and automating your sales, marketing, customer
service and support functions.
There are quite a few other customer service software and CRM
solutions that can be used to automate your sales, service,
support, recordkeeping and marketing functions.
When selecting any software solutions for your new internet
business, even customer service software, you should consider
your future needs and plan ahead to ensure the software you
purchase today will meet the needs of your business in the future
in terms of functionality and compatibility with software and
information systems that may need to be added later as your
business grows and demands greater capabilities from your
customer service software and information systems.
http://business-square.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_J_Enders
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