Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 |
1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.
2. Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give you ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or give them free products.
3. Make it easy for your customers to navigate on your web site. Have a “FAQ” page on your Web site to explain anything that might confuse your customers. Ask them to fill out an electronic survey to find out how make your web site more customer friendly.
4. Resolve your customers complaints quickly and successfully. Answer all e-mail and phone calls within an hour. If possible, you the owner of the business, personally take care of the problem. This will show your customers you really care about them.
5. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so customers won’t have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for phone and fax contacts.
6. Make sure employees know and use your customer service policy. Give your employees bonuses or incentives to practice excellent customer service. Tell employees to be flexible with each individual customer, each one has different concerns, needs and wants.
7. Give your customers more than they expect. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Award bonuses to your customers who make a big purchase.
8. Always be polite to your customers. Use the words your welcome, please, and thank you. Be polite to your customers even if they are being irate with you. Always apologize to your customers should you make a mistake. Admit your mistakes quickly and make it up to them in a big way.
9. Reward customers a point for every one dollar they spend. Let’s say customers can get a free computer for 300 points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars on your products and services to get enough points to get the free computer.
10. Build strong relationships with your customers. Invite them to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or seminars. Create special events for your customers like parties, barbecue’s, dances etc. This will make them feel important when you include them in regular business operations and special events.
About the Author:
Kim and Charles Petty,experts in Real Estate Market.For FREE Special Report and CD and to schedule strategy session on how you can make Six or Seven Figures A Year Buying and Selling Propertiesacross the USA & abroad go to VirtualRealEstateInvestingPRofits or call 1-800-311-9228
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Thursday, June 5th, 2008 |
Many customers will ask if a restaurant serves alcohol or not. It seems to be a very common item that people are looking for. Not every business of this nature feels like it is appropriate though to offer it. For example you don’t see fast food locations offering mixed drinks or various beers for people to order. If you feel that your guests will want it though you are going to have to decide if it works for you or not.
Serving alcohol at a restaurant can be profitable and that is why so many people choose to do so. You also get your hands on those guests who love to eat out but want an alcoholic drink to go with it. They will frequent other establishments if you don’t offer them that choice regardless of how good your food is. Other people are turned off by any restaurant though that does serve alcohol so they won’t come in.
If you want to do so, you will need to find out how to go about getting a liquor license. This can take some time to complete do make sure you work on it early. You don’t want to end up not having it when you open as it can be embarrassing. It can also give the impression that you aren’t taking your restaurant business seriously.
You will need to follow the law in order to go about getting a liquor license. You need to do this early as the process can take some time to complete. You also need to be prepared for the financial aspects of offering alcohol. Just building the bar, buying the alcohol, hiring a bartender, and paying for permits adds up very quickly to a sizable amount of money.
Yet if you get a good crowd that does want the alcohol, you can sell it for quite a profit. That is good news as that is what you want to be able to do with your restaurant overall. Alcohol can be purchased for a low price and then marked up as much as 100% and people will still pay for it.
It is important that you understand the laws relating to alcohol in your area. You also need to always comply with them. Underage servers can take orders for alcohol but they can’t deliver it to the table. They can remove empty glasses but not those that have alcohol remaining in them. You will need to make sure you have other staff members available that can deliver drinks for this reason.
There are severe fines and penalties for serving alcohol to those under the legal drinking age. It is imperative that you always ask for ID on every single person requesting an alcoholic beverage. It doesn’t matter how old they appear or even if they have been served alcohol there before. You want all of your staff to play it by the book each and every time.
Guidelines need to be in place too for those who have obviously had enough to drink in your establishment. You do have the right to refuse to serve them alcohol. You don’t want to let them get behind the wheel of a vehicle either. If they don’t have someone to drive for them then call a cab to pick them up.
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Thursday, June 5th, 2008 |
Business owners are outsourcing their inbound telemarketing services to the United States and overseas. The companies are finding that they can get high quality services for a lot less than keeping it in-house.
A lot of customers today want answers to their questions even outside of regular business hours. Therefore, customer service is the key to getting more business and in the United States there is more competition in this area. If a customer can get an answer any time of the day or night they will be more inclined to deal with that particular organization, even if it means paying a small fee.
You need to make sure that whatever service you use will pick up the call promptly and answer the questions your customer has with efficiency as well as courtesy. Few things turn a customer off more than rudeness. The customer service team must be polite to your customers.
Telemarketing services not only answer the inbound calls from your customers but they are the front people who represent your organization as well. The telemarketers should be so well informed of your industry so that the customers do not know that your company is not directly handling the calls. When outsourcing from other countries you must ensure that the telemarketers speak fluent English.
It is important to have telemarketers that speak other languages. This would be very advantageous in situations whereby your company has other locations in Europe and Asia, etc.
Many businesses are outsourcing their inbound telemarketing calls overseas. Wages in some other areas are much less than they are in the United States as is the cost of living. Furthermore, in many countries the people are very polite and well versed when it comes to technical questions. This is one reason why many American businesses are outsourcing their technical inbound telemarketing calls to other countries.
If you use a call center, you can give your customers the service that they expect, which is their questions answered twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. An inbound call system also provides a script for the representatives so that they can give your customers even better service.
Make sure that you get information such as to how many employees are at the call service center, how long an average customer has to wait for a call to be answered and the average length of time for each employee at the service center. This will give you a good idea of how the center is run. You should also see if you are able to call the center yourself before you sign a contract to make sure that things are handled properly. This is a good way to test the center and put yourself in the shoes of your customer.
In order to provide customer service support around the clock, consider employing an inbound telemarketing service. There is more competition out in the market now that more and more businesses are choosing this method of customer service. You should be able to find a reputable telemarketing firm at a competitive price with good rates.
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Saturday, May 24th, 2008 |
Many restaurants that offer both lunch and dinner want to create a nicer atmosphere for the dinner crowd. It is common to offer a wider menu selection as well as to charge more for meals in the evening time. You want your guests to feel that coming in for dinner is worth it. That means you need to make some changes that are effective yet affordable. You also want them to be something that can be done quickly.
Many restaurants use paper place mats on their tables. This is acceptable but you can kick it up a notch for dinner. Those paper place mats can remain in place through the lunch hour. Then you can add cloths to them in colors that compliment the atmosphere you want to create. You can also change from paper napkins to cloth napkins for the evening meal.
While you want to give your customers as much room at their table as possible, it is common to have some type of decoration on it. You can easily switch from something basic to something better when you go from serving lunch to dinner. Candles work well as do vases with nicer flowers.
You can easily change the entire look of your restaurant with the lighting. You will want it to be brighter for lunch than you do for dinner. You can open the curtains and use the lights. For dinner you can close the curtains and dim the lights. Ask an electrician to let you know what it will cost to change from a lighting system that is either on or off to one that you can control the brightness of.
Don’t forget how a change in lighting can affect the atmosphere as well. You will want softer lighting for dinner than for lunch. This may require a small investment but most electricians can give you a good price. Keep in mind you will save money each month on your electric bill too. Put some effort into offering different music to enjoy at night as well.
Allowing guests to seat themselves for lunch is fine, but you don’t want to allow it for dinner. Place a sign that asks guests to please wait to be seated. Make sure a friendly face greets them and escorts them to available seating that you offer. Make sure guests can offer a preference too so they won’t be placed where they aren’t going to enjoy their dinner.
The ability to charge the look of your restaurant from lunch to dinner is something you can easily do. It can mean a substantial increase in business for you with the evening crowd as well. Your customers will certainly appreciate the additional touches you offer. At the same time they will love being able to stop in for a casual lunch when they have time.
Making these changes for your restaurant from afternoon to night can be very simple too. You will need to have your staff allocate some time to make physical changes to it. You will also need to invest in some supplies to accomplish this. Other types of changes though aren’t going to cost you anything at all. Yet they will certainly be very effective and get more customers coming in for both lunch and dinner.
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Saturday, May 24th, 2008 |
Work-at-home business is becoming very popular among the people. It is providing employment for many people particularly for household moms. Work-at-home business opportunity offers great benefits for many parents, because they can earn money along with doing their household works.
Finding a legitimate work-at-home opportunity can be very confusing task, but once you get in to the field you feel great by working at the comfort of your home. You may come across many opportunities but you have to very ideal in choosing the best which suits you.
Part time is perhaps best because, quite honestly, these “jobs” are going to take as much work performing as they would if you were in an office setting. Part time is almost certainly best for working around schedules. Sometimes these jobs are even harder to get done from home because you are responsible for finding the time to do the tasks. And most of them are benefited from these kinds of opportunities.
There is no need to invest much capital to start one of these small businesses. All you need is a computer with internet connection and a lot of patience and time management. If you have all these initial things with you, then you are ready to go with your new work-at-home opportunity. Starting a work at home job is easier than you think.
Although the work-at-home business allows a great freedom for you, it also needs a lot of time management and hard work. And you have to do your job perfectly in a given period of time. If you are ideal in your performance you can become successful in your job. Even though you work from your home, you have to spend a lot of time on your new job till you become familiar with it.
Internet is a place of useful resources, so you have to do a lot of research before you get committed to any kind of jobs. Because nowadays there are many scammers on the internet who does fake promises, so don’t be a victim of those persons. So you have to be careful before choosing any kind of online jobs. You can find many resources on the internet which can provide you assistance in finding you a right opportunity.
About the Author:
Arthur Maxwell is a journalist who specializes in jobs and small business owner’s field. And he is a author of a e-book “Ez Way To Earn $30 An Hour”. In his e-book he shows exactly how to approach legitimate companies and grab the dream job you desire. For more information visit http://www.GetARealJobToday.com
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Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 |
In recent years there’s been a growing trend in big business. Companies are seeing the potential in customer service outsourcing. This is not only a cost effective method of providing quality customer service to clients, but in many cases, it results in a better experience for the customer too. Customer service outsourcing is actually something any large business should consider.
Customer service outsourcing is a cost-efficient method of providing customer service. Previously, many businesses would hire an individual to work on location, providing customers with one-to-one customer service. While this resulted in an excellent customer service experience for the customer, it often proved very costly for the business.
With the old method businesses were stuck with the cost of maintaining the wages or each customer service rep. In addition to this they needed to keep up the call service center, which is a costly enterprise on its own.
Many businesses have now realized the value of outsourcing customer services as a method of reducing costs while not compromising on quality. Businesses such as banks, credit card companies, and computer firms have found that outsourcing customer services is often less expensive than continuing with the traditional methods of customer service.
When choosing a customer service company keep in mind that you need to make sure your customers are treated well. Not all companies have the same level of care for the customers.
The importance they place on customer satisfaction is typically a good indicator of how they will treat your current and future customers when representing your company.
Each outsourcing company will handle the customer service for companies and firms in a particular field of business. For example, a call center may cater exclusively to financial institutions.
In this case the call center employees would all be handling very sensitive financial information and for this reason, the financial organization would want to be very prudent about the qualifications of the provider. Obviously there could be serious legal ramifications if customer’s personal and sensitive information was mishandled.
When attempting to select a customer service provider, you should consider several possibilities and compare them before making a decision. You should take into account their experience and knowledge about the specific industry in which your business operates.
Sometimes it is a good idea to try a company out for a short-term trial before committing to a long-term contract.
There are also certain disadvantages associated with outsourcing your customer services. Most businesses outsource their customer services to companies located in foreign countries, and there are sometimes language difficulties. Call centers also sometimes have higher turnover rates and companies will have to spend more money training new personnel to be able to handle customer service calls satisfactorily.
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Thursday, March 20th, 2008 |
In the world of business, there’s no reason why any customer isn’t a LIFE-LONG customer. If a consumer used your product or service once, you should always make sure they come back when they need the same product or service again. It’s all about customer loyalty building.
Most businesses don’t even think about creating a customer loyalty campaign. Although similar to lead follow-up, building customer loyalty is new ground for many companies. First things first is making sure you’ve got yourself a quality product or service.
Providing REAL quality service is the first step of customer loyalty building. The second step is to never let your customers forget about you. Too many businesses cut contact with their customers the moment the sale is made - as though that is the end of the transaction. In reality, your company’s interaction with customers should end until - well, until the customer dies, honestly!
There is value in customer loyalty building - whether you see it or not. Don’t be scared to try it out and see how easy it might be for you to keep past clients coming back. Any customer or bought once can buy again, so takes steps to build your customer loyalty plan today.
Customer loyalty building is similar to regular marketing in that you have to consider your target audience to come up with a good plan. Keep a database of every customer, what they purchased and when they made the purchase. You can build your campaign timeline around this. However long your product lasts is how long it will be till they’re ready to buy again. A car obviously has a longer shelf life than toilet paper.
You also need to come up with excuses to stay in contact with past clients. The more creative and unique the idea, the better off you are. Holiday and birthday cards are always a great excuse, and informational packets, free giveaways and even product updates are good excuses. Develop the content for your customer loyalty building campaign and you’re well on your way.
You also want to systemize your customer loyalty building. This will help you be as efficient as possible. Map out a timeline of email, phone calls and direct mailing to send to your clients as part of your customer loyalty building. A CRM system (client relationship management) can really help out with this.
Customer loyalty building involves many of the same steps as prospect cultivation and follow-up, just with different topics and content. Both are used to turn leads into paying clients. Except of course, a customer who has used your product once should be quick conversion!
About the Author:
The author, Ms. Lichty is a content developer and social media guru for ProspectMX.com with extensive customer relations experience. You can find out more about customer loyalty building at ProspectMX.
Tags: The Secret To Customer Loyalty Building
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