4 Tips on Building Quick Friendly Support
If you are running some business, which is aimed at provision of different services and involves direct communication between you or your staff and your customers, you need to do all your best in order to look the most polite, the most friendly and the most professional service provider in the niche.
Some things described there may sound familiar to you, but I believe that many will find this article and the tips below useful. Here they are:
Separate the Departments
I bet you would be confused if a serious company had only one mailbox in order to sort out all the queries. Believe me they would be confused as well. Thus, instead of providing just a common info@yourdomain.com mailbox, it is always advisable to share several email addresses of different departments, let’s say sales@ billing@ and support@yourdomain.com. This will let you filter all support requests, while your customers will feel confident about the staff they are addressing to.
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If you also provide online support – via chats or phone, you should distinguish the departments, too. Of course, the customers can be put through some live coordinator, which may resolve some issues personally or transfer the call/chat to the correspondent representative, but I don’t think that “Thank you for you call (Welcome to our chat support), please hold” is the right start of the conversation. Especially when the customer is experiencing an urgent issue. Many people do find it irritating, when their conversations are being constantly transferred or put on hold. Thus, it is recommended to create several extensions under your VOIP server and configure your online chatting software with department selection option.
Limit the Support Options
The company representative should know all the rules and regulations of support terms, they provide. Especially if there are a lot of staff members with different training level. This is very important since some may help with a wider range of issues which are not actually supported, while some fail, causing the customers’ frustration like “Wait, I remember a different guy helping me out the other day! How come you don’t support it?” Such situations should be escaped. Thus, the first rule about this is “Nothing personal – just business.” This may be your favorite customer and it’s alright, but if your company doesn’t support let’s say step-by-step phone co-ordination of router installation and adjustment – then you should politely ask this customer to consult the manual supplied along with the device.
Keep Your Emotions
When talking about customers’ frustration, we can’t hide the fact we may get irritated, too. We are all human and it is natural. However, you should never let your emotions go. First of all, you are the professional, who should stay calm in any situation. Secondly, you are a representative of the company and your attitude does not have anything to do with the others and shouldn’t spoil the good name of the company. Finally, when the customer blames you or the company – do not ever take anything personally – and do not forget that you have a right to quit the conversation in case the customer uses bad language. This is very important since communication policies are required to be introduced. Such policies do not only save your nerves, but also protect the company in case illegal charges from the customer’s end emerge.
Drive Your Support to Social Media
Good customer service is the service which can be exposed to the public with no blushing. Apart from using social media on promotion purposes, the company can also use its social network profiles to discuss the quality of support and the peculiarities of service. Testimonials, suggestion boxes and polls are the very points to address to when escalating some conflicts that may grow from chat conversation or correspondence with management to flaming on forums and in social networks.
Thus, using social media you will get active support. If the fault was not on the company’s end. Such manner works well for both services improvement and promotion. On one hand your current customers will be able to share their views and ideas, while on the other hand those of your followers, who do not yet have any service with you will get a more complete clear picture of what is happening behind the screens.
To Summarize
Being competitive is not only providing the best service or product, it is also providing the best support. Many think that when the client meets the seller their relations begin and end as soon as the purchase is made. Well, if it is not a square market – it is wrong. The business-to-client relations start only when the product or service is purchased, since once a person becomes someone’s customer, the vendor takes the responsibility for the offered product or service. Thus, those relations need to exist in a friendly non-conflict way. Sure, all this requires mutual understanding, which may sometimes lack on any side, but if we take a few steps to get ourselves better organized – we will see that we can be faster and avoid many unpleasant phenomena.
Author’s Bio: Arkadij “Archie” Shkolnik, PR Manager of SiteValley.com web hosting company, the provider of affordable and reliable Linux hosting for personal and small business web sites. Current administrator and author of the corporate blog – svhostingblog.com. Follow Archie on Twitter: @archiescol
Photo Credit: Tim Green aka atoach
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2 Emerging Social Media Platforms You Should be Using RIGHT NOW
In the brave new world of Social Media for Small Business there are the big, well known and highly lauded vehicles for promotion (Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Yelp, LinkedIn) that almost every business has heard of, if not tried.
And then there are the new entrees into the scene, which get a lot of buzz in certain industries but which have not yet reached mainstream awareness. The obvious barrier to embracing these tactics as an “early adopter” is that your target audience may not have jumped on board either which will delay the potential benefits of directing your energy into these strategies.
However there are a multitude of advantages to being among the first in your area/industry to embrace these new platforms and a potentially greater payoff in the long run then directing your efforts to competing in the over saturated Social Media spheres.
These newer tactics are not as widely used, and therefore not as competitive, as the older social media platforms. There is plentiful room for growth on these platforms, potential for untapped markets and above all else an advantage to having more time to getting a toehold in the space before others flood the market.
These two tactics are heavily favored to succeed (both by investors and by predictive trending based on early adoption). By being the first to embrace them your business has a distinct advantage in capitalizing on the potential business expansion opportunities.
Platform: Social Q&A
Sites: Quora, Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn Questions , OnStartups Q&A, Focus, Matchpoint, Facebook Questions, Aardvark
Social Q&A is relatively new to the Social Media Market. Quora launched with much fanfare this summer following in the heels of high profile social search acquisitions by big names like Apple, Google and Yahoo. Social search and crowdsourcing information and Q&A is here to stay. Yahoo Answers, one of the oldest and therefore more pervasive of the Q&A models, consistently shows up in search queries and no doubt these other sites will also start to pop up as they grow in notoriety and popularity.
In fact, several hours after answering my first question on Quora we experienced immediate results in the form of site visits and conversions. Although not everyone can expect immediate turn around, there is no doubt that these communities are by their very nature active and seeking, and that demonstrating your expertise can give you a toehold in your field and give your business exposure in a highly directed way.
If you sell custom made bicycles and someone is researching a purchase and comes across a thoughtful (and well ranked answer) how much more likely will that potential customer be to seek you out when it comes time to purchase?
The reason to embrace this tactic right now is simple, to get there and answer questions before other people do. If you look at older sites like Yahoo Answers or LinkedIn, some questions have tens (even hundreds!) of answers. Being first, and at the top, increases the likelihood your response will actually get read and have an impact, much like keyword and search ranking ensures that your website will get visited. In fact some of the sites close questions after a period of time, which means if you don’t answer a question while it’s open, you may never get to answer it.
Platform: Geolocation
Sites: Facebook Places, Loopt, Foursquare, Gowalla
Before the launch of Facebook Places, only 7% of Americans were even aware that Geolocation services exists (according to Mashable). After the launch of Facebook Places, the burgeoning field of geolocation has been exposed to Facebook’s community of 500 million active users, according to Facebook’s own statistics. Each user has an average of 130 friends, 50% of whom log on to Facebook in any given day.
Facebook Places is therefore a huge windfall for the geolocation market. Not only did they dramatically increase the awareness of the “check in”, they also opened up the technology to people who don’t have smartphones (while it may seem that everybody has a smartphone, the actual statistics reveal that only about 30% of mobile users are using their browser!). With the introduction of Facebook Places, even if you can’t check-in you can see and comment on other people’s check ins.
The result is an widespread awareness of geolocation which coincides with market predictions that indicate that by the year 2013 1 billion people will have smartphones. This means that adopting and cultivating your geolocation strategy now will give you a distinct advantage of operating in a less competitive space, much like the early Yelp users and facebook fan page adopters before the novelty of the technology wore off and people began to feel over solicited.
Another motivator is that unlike Facebook Places (which requires you to upload documents that demonstrate proof of ownership of your business) the other geolocation services do not have such rigorous protections in place at this time, which means someone else could claim your business.
These two tactics both possess inherent advantages for early adopters. Why wait? Check out these new social media platforms and explore how they can enrich your existing social media strategy!
About the Author: Dena Stern is the Community Resources and Marketing Manager at WorkingPoint, a financial accounting tool for Small Businesses. She is responsible for community outreach and is a frequent contributor on the subject of technology trends, social media and marketing on the WorkingPoint Blog.
Photo Credit: webtreats
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4 Ways Small Businesses Can Creatively Cut Technology Costs
Out with the old and in with the new. The philosophy we often apply to spring-cleaning works just as well for starting or maintaining a successful small business.
More often than not, small businesses come to a point when its time to leave behind old business practices to stay on par with budget. And chances are, your small business needs to get creative at finding ways to cut back monthly operation costs.
So reconsider practices you thought you needed, and take a closer look at what is necessary for the business’ success. Make room for new best practices that can reduce costs, without reducing your ability to work successfully or service your customers properly.
Out: Leasing office space
In: Virtual offices
There is something thrilling about having an actual office to go to; nothing says “legitimate” like an office. But if you’re trying to conserve cash, pass on leasing office space in favor of some thrifty alternatives.
Have everyone work virtually from home. There’s no cost for the space, and you can use online services to store and share documents, creating a de facto network for the organization. You’ll also save on many of the things you don’t think of at first, such as office furniture and decorating expenses.
If you feel you need an office that’s separate from your home, see if you can sublet space from another company in your area. With all the downsizing that’s occurred recently, especially in service-oriented businesses, many companies could be paying for empty space.
You can also look into common office space – the type where several organizations share certain resources, such as a common lobby, conference rooms and admin support – while occupying different offices.
Out: Business phone systems
In: Smart phones and virtual phone services
Smart phones are rapidly replacing land lines among consumers. In fact, a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 25 percent of U.S. households are cell phone-only homes. And now the technology exists to move business phones in the same direction.
Virtual phone services for small business allow businesses to overlay an entire business phone system on top of any working phone number – including a mobile number.
When you sign up for a virtual phone service you are assigned a phone number (which will become your “business” number). Usually you can choose between a toll-free or local phone number. The service provides business-oriented features such as a virtual receptionist to greet callers and direct them to the right people, the ability to assign extensions to different people in the company (even if those people don’t work in the same building), enhanced voicemail, smart call forwarding and more.
Each of the extensions can be linked to your employees’ own mobile and/or home phones, saving on the cost of phone equipment. Anyone on the system can initiate a conference call, and in some cases bring in as many people as they want. All of this functionality comes for a monthly fee that’s often less than the price of one land line – and with no added cost for equipment or technicians to run it.
Out: New computers
In: Used or refurbished PCs and laptops
OK so this one’s more “out with the new and in with the old,” but it’s an idea that can save your small business money up-front. While everyone loves a bright, shiny new PC, most small business owners really don’t need all that processing power. Take a look at what you want the computer to do. If you’re planning to use it with basic office applications such as word processors and spreadsheets, send and receive email, and surf the Internet, a used or refurbished PC will likely work just fine.
You can purchase used or refurbished computers online at a significant discount. Many of these computers are units that have come off-lease from large corporations, so you know they should have the core capabilities and speed you need.
If you need to share files or resources with one or more co-workers, you can build simple file and print sharing networks with used wireless routers or low-cost devices available at local retailers. Or you can use an online file storage service that allows you to access files from any computer, anywhere you can get an Internet connection.
Out: One-task wonders
In: Multi-purpose tools
Look around your office or through the applications on your computer. How many things do you own that have only one function? Can that function be performed by something else?
A fax machine is a good example of a piece of office equipment that is only capable of performing one task. All it does is send and receive faxes. Yet there it sits, costing you money for a dedicated phone line, paper, toner, even the power to keep it running and ready to receive an incoming fax.
You can eliminate almost all of those additional costs by moving to an Internet fax service that allows you to send and receive faxes on your PC or smart phone. Not only will this keep a little more green in your wallet, it also adds convenience since you can send and receive faxes anywhere you can get an Internet connection.
When it comes down to the software you are using to run your small business, consider a pay-as-you or Web-based service model – also known as the “cloud.” With this model you pay a small monthly fee rather than buying the software up-front, and you still gain access to feature-laden applications that are normally found only in expensive packages.
For example, for roughly $10 per month you can access services that help you design, manage, send and track promotional emails to your customer and prospect lists. With these services you can build high-value email campaigns that look like they were created by high-priced professionals, but were actually created by you.
Cutting costs doesn’t have to mean compromising on quality or usefulness. In fact, the ideas above will actually help you work faster, better and more efficiently.
Take a look around your office and see how a little “out with the old, in with the new” thinking can help you work smarter – and keep more cash in your coffers.
About the Author: Steve Adams is the vice president of marketing for Protus, a provider of communications tools for small-to-medium-businesses and enterprise organizations, including the MyFax internet fax service; my1voice, a virtual phone service; and Campaigner, an e-mail marketing service. He can be reached at sadams@protus.com.
Photo Credit: batega
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Why Leadership and Team Building Exercises Should not be Ignored by Small Businesses
What the Large Companies Do
Large corporations for many years have invested heavily in leadership and team building programs, including seminars, debates, outdoor activities and sports. Some take the more ‘military’ route and utilise stressful and challenging situations in order to assess and improve their workforce.
The majority of these activities have shown to be so effective and beneficial that the percentage of human resources budgets dedicated to them has increased steadily for several decades among almost all larger businesses.
Why Small Businesses Often Do Not
As a small business, employing a small number of people, there are many reasons why carrying out these type of programs might seem to be unnecessary or extravagant. Firstly, they appear to take a lot of time and money to organise, and without adequately trained personnel to design a program and monitor the results, the benefits may not be as much as anticipated.
Small businesses also tend to have a much more personal relationship between all the staff, and between management of the company. As a result, ‘team building’ can appear less necessary than in a larger workforce. The majority of small business types are usually less concerned with staff assessment on a formal basis, either because the managers believe they know their staff well enough, or because the structure does not allow for the same promotion opportunities that larger pyramid structured firms may have.
Why They Should
It is simply not true that small businesses would not benefit. All successful businesses, regardless of size need to evaluate staff on a regular basis, small businesses more so in most cases as it is rarely done formally.
Only with the sort of increased knowledge of your employees that can be gained from these programs, can their skills and talents be properly utilised. An increased understanding of the dynamics within a small firm, even one of only three or four people can make marked differences to productivity, job satisfaction and in many cases innovation or just ‘giving a damn’.
How They Can
One of the main reasons stated by CEOs and managers of small companies not to carry these activities out is money, but it only takes a small amount of research and imagination to come up with low cost options that can be equally worthwhile and fun.
For example, one of the more obvious options is a session of paintball or laser tag – ideal with small teams and if you are short of numbers, friends and family can be involved. The majority of sports can serve the same purpose cheaply, although care has to be taken not to exclude physically less able employees. If you can get hold of some rope, some planks, a couple of barrels and a scaffold pole or two, it is simple to design small leadership puzzles for a group to carry out. Safety can be a concern, but sensible planning and keeping it simple will reduce any risks. A basic treasure hunt, or a business ideas competition can work usefully – as a CEO or manager you should be able to come up with a myriad of ideas that will serve the purpose cheaply and effectively.
The Benefits of Fun
Above all, a small business staff can carry out these kind of activities without the pressure of ‘promotion evaluation’ that is found among large corporation staff members, so they can have fun while carrying out whatever you decide to try.
No experienced manager can dispute the benefits of a workforce having fun together as a group, as this carries over into the workplace. This makes the work environment much more pleasant and productive, plus, you get to know your team better and they get to see your better side!
About the Author: Patsy works for Go-Gulf.com, a Kuwait based web design company that provide web design solution in Middle East.
Photo Credit: http://www.lumaxart.com/
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How to Select the Ideal Entrepreneurial Program
Choosing an entrepreneurial program is an important decision which can have a significant impact on wether or not an entrepreneur is successful.
With a large number of entrepreneur programs to choose from it can be difficult to make the ideal selection. Shown below are some important aspects to consider when selecting among the large number of entrepreneurship programs:
Location
Some experts recommend that individuals seeking a career in technology select a school located in a major tech entrepreneurial center such as Silicon Valley or the Boston region where venture capital deals are made all the time. For technology entrepreneurs, some experts suggest a second-tier school located in a major tech market is preferable to a prestigious school located in the Midwest.
Reputation and Track Record
A school’s ranking and having a national reputation of academic excellence are often important factors to potential employers. They can also be important factors to venture capitalists.
Questions: What is the percentage of graduates of a particular entrepreneurship program that begin their own business? One expert estimates that up to 20 percent of people majoring in entrepreneurship begin a business immediately after they graduate. Who are the successful entrepreneurs who graduated from the program?
On-Campus Resources
It’s important to select a school that provides active opportunities for students to meet investors. On-campus small business development centers and entrepreneurial centers can also be useful.
The school’s affiliations with businesses and business related organizations can also be helpful to students during an externship and in their careers. A school’s affiliation with national and international student organizations including Students in Free Enterprise may be a desirable factor for some students.
Curriculum
In some programs, students as individuals or as part of a team have the opportunity to operate their own company during a majority of the program. A significant trend is the tech-transfer model in which entrepreneurship is taught across the curriculum.
At some institutions faculty members and graduate students from medical and engineering schools team up with MBA students to take innovative ideas and commercialize them.
Questions: What areas of concentration are available? Does the school have entrepreneurship clubs? Does the school have mentorship programs?
Flexibility
Online classes allow students to work at their own pace from home. They can take classes while building their business. Many school offer accelerated programs. Prospective students should make sure the online program they are considering offers all the important parts of on-campus programs.
Training
Externships provide valuable experience and networking opportunities.
Questions: Does the program provide a variety of externships? Do students have to find their own externships? Are they paid or unpaid externships?
Prerequisite Work
Some entrepreneur programs focus on entrepreneurial studies throughout the program, whereas other programs require an extensive amount of prerequisite work including business classes and general studies classes.
Faculty
Quality programs are taught by instructors that have been successful entrepreneurs.
Questions: What percentage of faculty members are entrepreneurs? How does the percentage compare to top ranked schools? Do some of the instructors have experience at developing Internet businesses?
Top Rated Entrepreneurial Undergraduate Programs
Some of the top rated entrepreneurial undergraduate degree programs are provided by the following schools:
- Babson College
- University of Houston
- Baylor University
- Temple University
- Drexel University
- University of Dayton
- DePaul University
- City University of New York – Baruch College
- University of Southern California
- University of Pennsylvania
- Indiana University – Bloomington
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Syracuse University
- University of Arizona
- Miami University
- University of Texas Austin
- Ball State University
- University of Oklahoma
- Northeastern University
- University of Alabama
Top Rated Entrepreneurial Graduate Programs
Some of the top rated entrepreneurship graduate degree programs are provided by the following schools:
- Babson College
- Stanford University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Cornell University
- DePaul University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Harvard University
- Howard University
- University of Pennsylvania
About the Author: Brian Jenkins writes articles on management for Braintrack.com, including this article on General Management Careers.
Photo Credit: epak
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Learn From This Customer Service Epic Fail
How many times have you heard that customer service is a cornerstone to a successful business? It is a fairly simple concept, yet so many companies fail to deliver even a reasonably decent customer service experience. Following is my latest experience of a customer service epic fail.
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I am fairly mechanically inclined and enjoy working on our vehicles. It was coming time to change the oil on our new car, so off I went to the Internet to find the oil filter wrench that I can’t get locally.
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The tool I was looking for was not that easy to find online so my choices of where to order it from were fairly limited, but there were choices. Having never ordered this type of item online before left me with having to roll the dice in choosing which online merchant I was going to deal with.
A Promising Start
I found one very promising online store that sells nothing but tools and lays claim all over their website about how good their customer service is. I mean, they lay it on thick with statements like “unbeatable service”, “commitment to our customers and superior service” and “your business is truly appreciated.” Not to mention their claims that 98% of the orders are received within 2-5 days because they have a massive inventory that is replenished several times a week.
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I thought I was in business. After all, if my experience was half as good as what was implied on the merchant’s website, I was going to be one happy camper. I quickly submitted the order and shortly thereafter received the order confirmation email. A day later, I received two more emails – one indicating the order was processing and the second indicating how the order was shipping. That is where the problem started.
The Unbeatable Service Starts To Crumble
The shipping email I received indicated that the part I ordered ships directly from the importer or manufacturer. Hold on a minute! What about having the great inventory and shipping quickly? Suddenly my order is being drop shipped? I quickly went to the merchant’s website to start an online chat because the website indicates that I can try the online chat for instant help. I waited and waited and waited. Finally, I received a message in the chat window stating it might be a good idea to fire off an email because there were no agents available. Guess I wasn’t going to get any instant service that day!
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I fired off an email with my order number asking about where the order was shipping from and if I could get tracking information. A couple of hours later, I received a two sentence response indicating it was shipping from the US importer and they would get back to me regarding tracking information. The email had no salutation. No signature. No “thank you for your order”. No nothing in the way of making me feel truly appreciated, even though their website says I am.
Things Start To Go Downhill Fast
I am a fairly patient person and I don’t get excited about many things. I figured I would wait a day or so and see if I hear back from the merchant regarding my tracking information. One business day passes, then it is the weekend. Come Monday morning I pick up the phone, as I still have no tracking information. As it turns out, I can’t even get ahold of anybody via the phone because when you are making an order inquiry, you have to leave a voicemail and they will get back to you via email. So I hop on the “instant help” online chat and wait and wait and wait (again) until the chat window times out and tells me nobody is available. ARGH! Really?
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Off I go to fire off yet another email to beg for the information that should already have been supplied to me from the get-go. The response comes fairly quickly, but with not much more than a UPS tracking number. Again, no warm and fuzzies to let me know how much my business is appreciated. I guess I have to take their word for it since their website claims I am appreciated. Just not feeling much love at this point. Definitely missing the small town service they claim to give, unless small towns have suddenly gone cold.
Lessons To Be Taken Away
Listen, if you claim to give unbeatable service and truly appreciate my business, then at least try to give the impression you care. Communicate with me. Let me know on the product description that the item is drop shipped so I can set realistic expectations and not expect to see my order in the 2-5 day time frame you claim on your website. Greet me in our email conversation and sign your name at the end of your response. Tell me how much you appreciate my business, because your website claims you do. Give me the level of customer service your website claims you give so I don’t have to write about your epic customer service fail.
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A previous article about 3 Examples of Awful Customer Experience states that “Companies that excel in communicating often excel in service as well.” See, I am not making this stuff up! The key to a happy customer is communication. Give me plenty of ways to get in touch with your company (and actually answer the phone, or chat, if you are going to provide these communication methods) and treat me like a valued customer. Be personable and grateful in your emails and don’t make me keep asking you for information.
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There is no excuse for a small business to provide a poor customer experience, especially when they plaster their website with all sorts of self-praise about how good of a job they do. I can almost excuse a large corporation for giving a poor customer experience, because an individual employee at a large company is just collecting a paycheck and has no vested interest in making the customer happy. Whereas, a small business depends on repeat customers to survive – something I won’t be for this company that treated me poorly.
Make Your Customers Happy So They Come Back
Unless you happen to be operating in a niche with zero competition, you have to fight tooth and nail for every customer. Believe me when I say that a superior customer experience will greatly increase the chance that you will have repeat customers, which you need in order to survive. After all, it is much cheaper to retain existing customers than it is to get new customers. So make sure to live up to the customer service expectations that your company sets.
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What should this company I had the less than stellar experience with have done? It is simple – do what they say they do on their website, which is give unbeatable service. Instead, all I got was an experience that I will remember for all the wrong reasons.
About The Author: Marshall Davis runs Talking Small Biz, a website that reviews products and services for the small business owner and entrepreneur to help them be competitive. Read his reviews of small business services to find products and services to help you better run your company. Heck, you will even find virtual phone system reviews to help you better communicate with your customers. Hint, hint.
Photo Credit: Alex E. Proimos
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Turning Frowns Upside Down Zappos Style
Admit it…at one point in time we’ve all not met our customers needs.
A change in the way we do business, a product we just can’t offer anymore, or a delivery time that is less than stellar has left them with a frown on their face.
Can You Turn a Negative to a Positive?
But what if we could take these negatives, and turn them in to long term positives for our customers, essentially turning their frown upside down?
Let me give you a story to illustrate a point, I’ll leave it to you to decide if you can do something similar in your own business.
The Story
A couple weeks ago was my birthday and my mother in law sends me a Zappos gift card – score one for mom in law! I’m not a big shoe shopper, but when I do I use Zappos.
So, I’m looking for a pair of “dress sandals” since summer’s coming (guys, you know what I’m talking about – those are the sandals we wear for nice occasions, weddings and such. Ladies – you’d still just call them sandals). Anyway, I find a pair I like, click “buy” and all is well.
Later that night I get an email from Zappos saying “Congratulations, your order has been upgraded to overnight shipping for FREE!”
Yahoo! I’m excited I’ll be getting my sandals quick, and I feel rather special my order was upgraded for FREE!
…then it dawned on me.
Not that long ago, free overnight shipping, both ways, was standard at Zappos. And here I am a short while later getting excited over something they took away from me, and now selectively give back once in a while.
Anybody else see the brilliance in this?
They had to change the way they did business, and no longer could guarantee me overnight shipping both ways unless I paid a little more for it. Think about that, that is a HUGE negative for the customer. That free overnight shipping is the reason why many people shopped with them, and (along with stellar service) was the “thing” they were known for.
I don’t know how many orders get upgraded, 50% maybe? But what Zappos did was brilliant. They took a service that was once standard, eliminated it, then selectively gave it back to customers and made them feel special.
Possibly Value Adding In Process
When something becomes “standard”, it is then the new normal. So while Zappos built a brand around customer service and overnight shipping, after a while that was the normal for them – it was expected. What they’ve done now is brought back the value in overnight shipping, while increasing customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Business is still booming some two years after the free overnight shipping went away. Customers still rave about the service. And now people talk about how cool they feel when they win the overnight shipping lottery and get their dress sandals 3 days quicker than they bargained for.
Think it was a coincidence that a company built around customer service figured this out and turned their biggest negative into a positive? I’m betting my new pair of dress sandals it’s not.
Photo Credit: Phil W Shirley
Do You Know How Your Customers Secretly Perceive You Online?
Managing your reputation is not always easy. You work really hard to build a respectable brand and then someone comes in and tries to tear it down. Luckily for you though, here are some great online reputation management tips and tools that can help you stay on top of the game.
Think Domain
The first thing you have to do is buy domain names. Yes, multiple ones. Buy .com, .org, .net, and almost every other domain extension associated with your brand so that no one else can use it against you. If you use an exact match keyword domain name, then it may be hard to get the .net and .org versions, which is fine. But if you are a VA mortgage lender, you best be sure that you own every exact match domain name for your brand. And thanks to Google suggest, things like ‘reviews’, ‘sucks’, and ‘scam’ along with your brand keyword are a lot more prevalent, so buying domains with these keywords in them (ex. brandsucks.com) can help manage your reputation.
Choose Your Tool and Start Monitoring
My favorite tool for monitoring your brand on the web and blogosphere by far is Google Alerts. It’s simple, free, and sent straight to your email. You can have it set up to send an email once-a-week, once-a-day, or whenever something comes up. And since most people use Google to find businesses online, knowing what Google is keeping track of is very important. Set up a Google alert for your brand name and you can even use it to keep track of other keywords (and competitors if you really want).
Content Builds Brands
The biggest thing you can do is be a content creator. The real-time web is now in the search engine results. And the pervasiveness of Facebook and Twitter mean that people will seek you out on these platforms for good or bad. You must participate in them. It would be foolish not to. Set up an account (personal and/or company) and start engaging and creating content. Also, make sure to have a blog that is consistently being updated. Use it to post news, industry trends or whatever fits for your company/brand. This will become valuable if you ever need to respond to a situation.
Manage Your Social Web
Use a program such as HootSuite that allows you to manage all three social networks with one easy to use interface. It allows you to schedule tweets, status updates, and even integrates with Ping.fm. Plus, by keeping your search column open, you can monitor your brand at all times allowing prompt response. And you can post to your WordPress blog through the application. Having an application like this can greatly increase your productivity regarding online reputation management. If you don’t like HootSuite, try CoTweet or something similar but managing a company’s social media platforms cannot be done on twitter.com itself.
Proactive Not Passive
By actively managing your reputation online now, it will make it a lot easier when something bad actually does happen and you need to do damage control, so it’s good to be proactive and not passive about this. If you have a voice, you’re much better positioned against attacks, and will gain credence with the online generation.
About the Author: Kevin Kaiser is a entrepreneur who deals with online marketing and reputation management for start-ups he’s involved in and can be found writing at Startup Biz Blog.
Photo Credit: nicasaurusrex
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4 Tips for Practicing Proper Videoconferencing Etiquette
Small business owners don’t always have the luxury of having an exorbitant budget to spend on travel and lodging expenses related to client presentations.
Luckily, videoconferencing technology has brought the presentation to their front door step.
While videoconferencing has become a fairly standard practice, many small business owners still lack the basic knowledge of proper videoconferencing etiquette. I hope this post can help shed some light on the proper considerations when preparing and engaging in a web conference.
Test, Test, Test
As the old business adage goes, time is money. The last impression you need to be making to your client is that you don’t value their time and by simple deduction, don’t care that you are costing them money.
Significant time should be allocated to setup and testing of all systems prior to the start of the videoconference. Inattention to these details sends the wrong signal and can potentially ruin the possibility of a successful business relationship before it’s had a chance to blossom. Discovering all issues and resolving them in advance to the meeting ensures that the conference starts on the right foot.
Details to consider when setting up include:
- Camera placement – When placing the camera, try and fill the frame as much as possible with people, rather than extraneous room objects such as tables, chairs, etc.
- Camera and TV presets – Check and make sure that your TV’s brightness and contrast is optimally set. This ensures that you can see the client and more importantly, their gestures and reactions to your presentation. Additionally, make sure that your camera is optimally set to make certain that those on the other end of the meeting can properly see you.
- Lighting – Lighting is one of the few variable factors in a videoconference and needs to be considered when setting up. Sunlight from windows can throw off the camera’s exposure, making it difficult for the client to see you. Having drapes or shutters drawn will help mediate this problem.
- Microphone volume – Unless your client is accomplished at reading lips, problems with your microphone could render the videoconference meaningless. Not only should you check and see if the mic is working, but you should verify that the volume is at a sufficient volume.
- Computer Applications – Collaborate with your client’s IT specialist beforehand and make sure that all software applications such as PowerPoint or Word will work successfully.
Dress in Your Sunday’s Best
On the day of the presentation, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than normal to make certain that you will allow an adequate amount of time to look your best.
Men should certainly shave/trim all facial hair. Dress attire should be professional, but busy patterns should be avoided.
Cameras seem to have difficulties interpreting these detailed patterns and may create unwanted artifacts in image quality. Believe it or not, pastel or muted colors tend to do best on screen.
Extend Greetings
Once the conference begins, treat it as any other meeting. Just because it’s broadcasted over an Ethernet cable does not mean that introductory formalities should be forgotten.
First, ask if they can hear you. Once sound is confirmed, introduce yourself. Speak in a normal voice and avoid shouting.
Microphones are fragile pieces of equipment and loud sounds can lead to uncomfortable feedback or echo for those on the other end of the call.
Try not to interrupt and/or “double talk”. Not only is it rude, but “double talking” is another source of unwanted feedback/echo. Lastly, when listening or passing the microphone, verify that it is muted.
Consider Learning Styles
All people learn differently. For every person who considers themselves an audible learner, there is another who considers themselves a visual learner.
Best practices would tell us to use both audible and visual sources in our messaging. In fact, studies have shown that hearing AND seeing a message has been shown to increase message recall and message understanding.
I can’t verifiably show that using these steps will help improve your web conference communication, but I’d like to extend it as a challenge. Follow these few tips in your next videoconference and I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. I think you’ll be surprised with the results.
Guest post by DBS>Interactive, a Full-Service Web Design and Internet Marketing company located in Louisville, KY. Pay them a visit at http://dbswebsite.com for more information on how DBS>Interactive can help you with your Internet marketing needs.
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3 Examples of Awful Customer Service Your Biz Won’t Want to Imitate
What constitutes really great customer service? What constitutes really awful customer service? While conducting research on this subject for budget hosting company 34SP.com, I came across a few examples that really stretched some boundaries.
Some Truly Awful Service
Although these are stories of big brands, the lessons learned can be applied to small business customer service as well. Here are a few brief examples – all of them pretty bad.
Verizon’s Callousness
Let’s say that someone in your family dies. It’s a bad time, lots of stress and details to be sorted out. What if you tried to cancel the dead person’s phone service, but the phone company wouldn’t let you? What if you even produced the official death certificate and they still refused to shut the account off? That is precisely what happened to Cynthia Lacy according to a published report at the St. Petersburg Times eEdition.
Ms. Lacy’s father passed away in June of 2009, but since Ms. Lacy didn’t have her father’s PIN number to access the account – Verizon didn’t discontinue the service until March 2010. This is despite the fact that Ms. Lacy sent the company a copy of her father’s death certificate. It took the intervention of the media shining the spotlight on her case to get it resolved. You can read the whole story here.
Kevin Smith “Too Fat to Fly”
Then there is the recent dust up involving Hollywood direct Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. Mr. Smith is known for directing such films as Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and the recently released Cop Out.
During a recent flight, Mr. Smith was asked to leave the plane prior to takeoff for ”being too fat”. Being a media savvy promoter, Mr. Smith proceeded to live-Tweet and fully publicize his ordeal. According to published reports (this story was picked up by numerous large national media outlets including Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC, and the Los Angeles Times) Mr. Smith said he was already seated on the flight with armrests down and seatbelt fastened.
The Southwest captain deemed him a ”safety risk” due to his weight and he was ejected from the flight. The ensuing backlash abated somewhat when Southwest issued apologies on Twitter and on the Southwest website.
From the apology post, ”First and foremost, to Mr. Smith; we would like to echo our Tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you. We are sincerely sorry for your travel experience on Southwest Airlines.” So good job by Southwest to admit a mistake and take responsibility. If you’d like to hear a lengthy description of the incident as told by Kevin Smith himself, you’ll find it here.
Toyota’s Fall From Grace
Automobile manufacturer Toyota recently demonstrated that even a firm known for high quality and service can quickly fall from grace.
The short story here is: Toyota began to receive complaints regarding ”sticking accelerator pedals”. Since the problems were first revealed, the company has continued a slow-motion service and communication debacle. In late January the company issued this statement, ”Toyota announced it would recall approximately 2.3 million vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals on specific Toyota Division models.
Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats. There is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.”
Subsequent quality issues arose with the brakes on the Prius as well. Although the company has now taken more aggressive steps to correct these issues, rival car manufacturers have eroded the company’s market share in new car sales. You can follow all of the details via Toyota’s news pages.
So What’s the Key to Great Customer Service?
If there is a common thread of learning that connects these incidents it is: proper communication is key. First, properly communicating and adhering to strict operational rules regarding how the business is run to employees. This means that everyone in the organization knows and understands policies and proper procedures. Second, communicating with the customers and being as transparent as possible in the face of any problems. Companies that excel in communicating often excel in service as well.
Recommended Reading
So how to deliver truly great customer service as a small business? The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service outlines some salient points in this regard. I suggest that the company’s mentioned above should focus on number 7: ”Know how to apologize”.
Derek Vaughan is a web hosting industry veteran, marketing consultant and writer. Mr. Vaughan has architected the marketing growth of several prominent web hosting success stories leading to acquisition including Affinity Internet, Inc., Aplus.Net and HostMySite.com. Prior to his entry into the web hosting industry, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.
Photo Credit: B Rosen
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