Business Owners And Managers Take Note

Business, Customer Service.

Improve your customer service and retain the customers you have - crappy customer service is everywhere: unmanned checkout counters, employees chatting or, personnel wandering about text messaging on their cell phones. . . as a partial list. Business owners and managers take note!

Poor service has become the norm rather than the exception. - here are some troubling facts regarding poor customer service: a typical business will only hear from 4% of dissatisfied customers. 96% quietly just go away. . . oftentimes, forever! One in five will tell 2Do the math. On average, a dissatisfied customer will tell eight to ten people about their problem. It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident. Seventy percent of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve a complaint in their favor.

Accentuate the positive. - if you resolve it on the spot, this figure goes to ninety - five percent. Set up an AS IF clause in your business. Handle complaints quickly. Always act as if you are the only personal contact that the customer has with the business, and behave as if the entire reputation of the business depends on you. Better yet, implement it.

Think about this. - some additional credos to live by: a. That is true in all organizations: for profit, retail, not for profit, professional, medical etc, government. Customers - clients - prospects - patients are the main reason you and your staff are able to draw a paycheck. Call into your own business and check the helpfulness and friendliness of your outgoing message. Your telephone policy can help you or hurt you. If the tone comes across as we are very busy here and your call is an annoyance at best. . . or listen carefully as our menu options have changed.

Sorry, but I did, Spanky not call in to wade through a menu or to check on your personal itinerary. - press 1 for. . . or i am away from my desk helping customers( what am i, chopped liver? ), making calls in the field, on vacation or. . . I called in for answers to my questions. . . preferably right now. I am happy that you have escaped the chain binding you to your desk, that you have managed to get out to lunch or on vacation, but I really wanted to place an order or inquire about your product or service. Please do not misunderstand. Perhaps your competitor will have a live person answering their phone! Speaking of chains.

Good - bye! - here is an old - fashioned but doable suggestion for big box store managers: unchain yourself from your desk, depart your cubicle and get out on the selling floor, especially during peak hours. FOURTEEN! Last week I visited a big box garden shop and counted 14 people lined up at the only check out register that was manned. When I entered the main store, I spotted dozens of employees engaged in various tasks, heads down. . . busy, busy, busy. If not the Garden Shop, the Paint Department and so on. Someone in charge should have been walking around and directing some of these people to high tail it to the Garden Shop and help check people out.

What a simple concept! - re - deploy the people you already have and get the entire store team engaged in taking care of customers. No need to hire more people. Tear down the invisible walls separating departments. Lead by example. Have employees check their cell phones when they report for work.

Some will follow. - replace those who refuse. Many will not. Implementing this concept in any business will boost sales and profits immediately with very little investment. Make it easy to: - Find you. - Contact you. - Figure out what you do or sell. - Select your product or service. - Pay. - Return a product if necessary. - Get answers. The key to building a high level of customer service is to make it EASY to deal with your company.

If you like us, tell your friends. - what a great motto for any business to adopt, prominently sign and live by every day of the year. If not tell us! Do NOT be guilty of losing track of this kind of commitment by burying it in your mission statement. Especially your employees! Tell the world!