SMART Service Desk Asks Did Your Company Prosper On Black Friday

If you own a small to medium sized local business it may seem strange that we are asking this question on the morning of Black Friday. Normally for Black Friday local retailers have fairly empty stores compare to the long lines at the big box retailers and the shopping malls.

I’m sure that the adage of the lowest selling price is the key factor in a buying decision. A small store doesn't have the buying power that a mass retailer does.  The manufactures don’t come to you with special models and special prices.

Yes, some customers are motivated by the lowest price.  They don’t look at the real features that the model has or the features that set apart the different brands. All they see is the PRICE.

Many business don’t really want that customer. I know that means giving up on some sales.  But in order to stay in business there must be an overall profitability. You may have heard the old saying “We lose money on everyone we sell but we make up for it in volume.” If that isn’t the scariest thing you have ever heard, I don’t know what would be.


Getting a customer through your door is one thing. Keeping that customer coming back is something else entirely.

The closest you can get to anticipating the future is taking a look back and using last year's numbers as benchmarks you can add or subtract from. Analytics can provide retailers with everything from what deals and discounts worked last year to predicting how much inventory to have in stock this year. Looking at dollars and sense can be quite clear using your accounting software.

Looking at your customer’s experience requires a completely different metric and software tool.  Today that tool can even be cloud based and sharable by different business stores and locations across town or even worldwide. 

The last thing you want is for your business to be “growing broke.” Beside the need for accounting software is the need for SMART Service Desk software. Consider it the accounting for your customer interaction.  Are you running in the black when it comes to how your customer feel about your business? Don’t wait for the silence in sales to be your first indication that you have inadvertently let your customers down.

Remember that it is difficult to make your customers retroactively happy. Don’t learn that lesson the hard way.

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Celebrates Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well.

Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times. The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.

In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgment from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving. For example, Days of Fasting were called on account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plagues in 1604 and 1622. 

Modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is commonly, but not universally, traced to a poorly documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631. According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden. In later years, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.

Happy Thanksgiving

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Asks When Do You Close Early?

Certain days of the year are affected by foot traffic more than others.  Are there days or even times of the day when you choose to close early? Many small, single location business are tempted to close early if their foot traffic drops off or even seems nonexistent.

Of course businesses that use the Internet for all or part of their business traffic don’t ever face that choice. Whenever a shopper arrives they are ready for that business and the shopper is never disappointed by a closed sign.

If you choose to close your business when you normally would be open what message are yuou sending to a customer who arrives during normal business hours but instead finds just a sign on the door that says Go Away?

What does that customer do? Do they wait to make their purchase at a future time when you decide to be open? Would you say that is unlikely?

The customer more than likely goes in search of another store that is open.  If that store has a similar price structure and comparable products or services, which store do they visit for their next purchase?

Would they chose to stop at the store that was closed or just not even check and go to the store that was open and helped them fill their need?

Will an unannounced closure affect future business? What message does that Closed Sign really send?

Is your business so much better than your competition that you can even chance closing during your regular business hours? Most shoppers understand a business being closed on certain holidays. Most shoppers understand that certain days may have shorter hours than other days. But, finding a CLOSED sign when you “should” be open, may result in that being the last trip that customer or potential customer ever makes to your business.

Keeping your lines of communications open and then having the information to follow up with your customer may be the most effective customer service you can provide. Online or brick and mortar your customers need to feel that you care about them and their buying needs. 

How does your business handle its after sale customer interaction? How does your business handle potential customer sales question? What information do you capture so you can follow up with those potential sales questions?

SMART Service Desk Has Answers!

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Says Learn To Plan Ahead

With today being two days before Thanksgiving and the lead into the Christmas holiday and buying season this may be a good time to ask “How did you plan for this crucial buying season?”.

We know that most turkeys are sold for the feasting tomorrow. When did the turkey farmers begin to plan for their customers purchases? We know that they looked at last year’s purchases and may have even used many year’s sales figures to see if the sales trend gave them an indication of the need for an increase in production.

Turkeys aren’t like ordering an increase in the tons of steel ordered. Raising turkeys are more like growing crops.  Many variables can affect their yield. It is not just about laying a certain number of eggs.  Weather, health and even predators can affect the total number of units available to ship when the time comes.  Many times the sale price must be set before the product will be delivered.  If you are making something from steel the product will be affected by more than just the price of the steel.

You must understand and control your cost so that you will be profitable at the point of the actual delivery.

When preparing for this year’s sales did you just have last year’s sales records to look at? Would you like to have a better look at what your customer’s thoughts might be? Are you ready to do something about that?

All business people know that the “Big Boys” out there use software to track customer interactions. Did you know that even small and medium sized business can use that very same software to track their customer interactions?

Perhaps most important is that the software is scalable and very cost effective to purchase, install and implement. Don’t worry if that comes as a surprise. The improvements in prices and fit have been going on in the background.

Enable comprehensive, best practice based Incident / Case management processes via intuitive, easily adopted, enterprise scale web technology. Integrates core service and support components into one complete Help Desk solution which help you to reduce service costs and increase service delivery operational efficiency. Manage service issues from the initial call; too complete job and service restoration. With SMART Service Desk you can reduce call volumes and encourage user self-service by letting users search FAQs, approved solutions, and workarounds. You can use Increase customer / user satisfaction ratings using surveys.

Download our product information datasheet: http://smartservicedesk.com/brochures/SMART_Service_Desk_Features.pdf

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Tells Why Managed Service Providers Need ITIL

According to an August 2013 Markets and Markets report, using MSPs can reduce the recurring in-house IT costs by 30-40% and increase efficiency 50-60%. MSPs enable organizations to bring in capabilities that they lack so they can focus on their core competencies. There is a clear value proposition for businesses to use MSPs.

An IT MSP can provide technology support for production, HR and Staffing, marketing and sales, and maintenance. While MSP often provide offer vendor specific services, there is an increasing demand for expertise in vendor-neutral services.

By improving the client’s processes around IT, MSPs can:

Provide comprehensive services for the business, user, and customer

Improve execution and delivery

Provide meaningful performance indicators

Understand and justify the cost of service quality

Decrease mistakes and rework

Better manage resources

Eliminate redundant work

Apply lessons learned from previous experiences

1. Show Value As A Strategic Business Partner

While clients expect MSPs to meet agreed to service levels, MSPs who adopt ITIL have the foundation to exceed expectations. For example, a service request for a new laptop may have an agreed to SLA of five business days. A MSP following ITIL request management best practices would deliver the laptop within five days and would have also captured the laptop configuration and warranty as an asset, and then send a survey to the laptop user for feedback on satisfaction with the request process, delivery and laptop. Being able to consistently deliver services efficiently with high customer satisfaction allows clients to be more productive and highly productive workforce is a strategic advantage.

2. Create And Manage A Better Customer Experience

Good MSPs strive to provide great customer service using ITIL. Designing IT processes with the customer (end user) experience in mind is an integral part of the implementation. ITIL not only minimizes inefficiencies due to recreating the wheel but also ensures that the processes will be used versus circumvented.

3. Run More Efficiently And Effectively
Like all other quality management standards, one of the core elements of ITIL is continual improvement. Customer feedback, corrective/preventative action, and quality audits provide rich data on how to improve. Continual improvement will lean out inefficient processes. IT service management tools help to enable consistent process, execution, data quality and continuous improvement.

4. Clients Won’t Outgrow You

Many businesses realize that IT is not a core competency that their organization should focus on. That is primary factor in their decisions to outsource their IT to a MSP. However if the MSP has not effectively invested in providing a comprehensive catalog of ITIL services, then they run a significant risk of not having needed capabilities for their clients as they grow . Adopting ITIL equips a MSP to be a long term partner because their support can scale to the client’s needs.

5. Market To Larger Companies

Larger companies have higher expectations of the MSPs. They select MSPs that can make them better, faster, and cheaper. That means the MSP must have systems and processes in place that can meet demanding customer needs. The ITIL provides the framework for establishing the right systems, processes and best practices.

Effectively implementing ITIL can be a game changer for MSPs. ITIL processes are critical which will help improve productivity without increasing the resources. When combined with other IT frameworks such as COBIT for governance, a MSP can become a valued long term strategic partner for clients.

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Experience The SMART Service Desk Demo

Did you know that we can arrange for you to see a demo of SMART Service Desk so you can further evaluate our product and see what kind of a fit we can be to your business?  All you need to do is request a demo.  The correct URL is http://youtu.be/cLMpTVIyVsM

Enable comprehensive, best practice based Incident / Case management processes via intuitive, easily adopted, enterprise scale web technology. Integrates core service and support components into one complete Help Desk solution which help you to reduce service costs and increase service delivery operational efficiency. Manage service issues from the initial call; too complete job and service restoration. With SMART Service Desk you can reduce call volumes and encourage user self-service by letting users search FAQs, approved solutions, and workarounds. You can use Increase customer / user satisfaction ratings using surveys.

Many business find that Customer Surveys are effective tools to help understand your customer satisfaction issues as well as to see how well you are meeting your customer needs.

Our SMART Survey Management solution is complete functionally rich software, which can be can used to do just that.

Surveys for Service Support Delivery: Get Support Feedback, after completion of Incident or service Request Tickets. You can integrate employee or customer feedback with your existing business processes.

Surveys for Customer Feedback: Measure and evaluate customer satisfaction, every time a customer interacts with your company. You can take actions and solve customer issues based on real-time feedback.

Surveys for Employee Feedbacks: Get periodic employee surveys, since satisfied and motivated employees create more satisfied customers.

Surveys for Training Feedback: Get end of course, student satisfaction feedback. This may help show weakness that can occur in your educational or instructor areas.

SMART Survey Management Solution, can be integrated with your existing Human Recourse, ERP Systems and your websites.

In order to help you and your business we need to open a dialog so we can best understand how SMART Service Desk can be your businesses’ solution. We look forward to meeting your business needs and providing cost effective solutions.

Would you like to know more? http://youtu.be/cLMpTVIyVsM

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Existing Customers Are A Real Gold Mine

I’m sure you know that existing customers are a goldmine to your business. Are you doing everything you can to keep them coming back? Here are tips for retaining the customers you already have.

When you get a new customer, do you know what happens to them? Are they tossed into a pool of impolite customer service representatives? Are they getting the high-quality product or service they expect from your brand?

New sales are just one part of any successful business. While new customers are important, and even critical, to all businesses, properly managing and retaining customers form the real backbone of business success.

Everyone, from your sales staff to the front-line customer service representatives to the CEO, should concern themselves with customer satisfaction and customer retention. All employees, regardless of their primary job duties, are responsible for promoting and representing your business. Therefore, employees should be the most effective, and inexpensive, sales tools.

Failing to properly cope with customers and maintain customer satisfaction extends far beyond the loss of the affected client. Once they are gone, so too are the people they know. This pool was made up of many of your future customers.

Maintaining current customers and establishing future customers is why every business should implement a solid customer management and retention program. Your program should have the following goals:

The inability to satisfy customers quickly results in the loss of a customer base for a business and soon after that, the loss of the business. First of all, make sure you have a quality product or service.

Ensure your business and employees are easy to deal with and polite. The words, "thank you," go a long way. Empower your customers and ask them questions to make sure their needs are met and they are fully satisfied. After all, dissatisfied customers tell seven to ten people, while satisfied customers only tell an average of one person.

Also, give your employees a "script" they can use to talk about your product or service. "When we talk about our service to other people, they want to know these things..." Case studies show a broad history of a quality product or service, rather than a laundry list of "we do this, we do that."

Individual Stories are more personal and show the value of your product or service in a real life context.

Would you like to know more about SMART Service Desk Solutions? http://smartservicedesk.com/enterprise-asset-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Are All Customers Keepers?

The goal for most business people when they launch their enterprise is to build and develop a solid customer base. Out of enthusiasm or anxiety to build the business, entrepreneurs commonly take on any customer regardless if they are a good or bad fit. 

After all, a customer is a customer, right? They are all keepers. Sometimes business people don’t use the commonsense of a simple fisherman. Not all the fish they catch are keepers. Some, by regulations, must be thrown back. Others just aren’t what they are fishing for. Some fish are too small and must be thrown back for the good of the future of fishing in that particular lake or stream.

Does it makes sense for your business to do your “fishing” due diligence. Is the customer order a good fit for your price structure or production capacity? Do you truly have the information to understand your customer’s needs?

Will their order cause other customers an inconvenience?

Of course, there's a balance. Not every customer is going to be a dream, and there will always be customers who are more demanding than others. Some may be more demanding than they're worth. But you need to draw a line in the sand when the stress of catering to one customer negatively impacts other customers. Parting ways might be difficult, but your company's welfare may depend on it.

Having the information to understand these differences is the key to making the correct business decisions.

There are other dangers, as well: If a difficult customer is impacting your ability to service other customers, it could drive your good clients away. If a complaining customer starts speaking negatively to other potential buyers. That negativity can put your company’s reputation on the line.

If a customer continually complains about your product and service and you can't make adjustments to meet the client's needs, there's no reason to continue dealing with that customer. The reality is, you can't be everything to everyone. It's far better to focus on what you do best and attract the customers you can best help and enjoy helping.

Be candid with difficult customers; let the customer know the impact he or she is having on your company. Try to develop solutions. Keep in mind, the customer might know that he or she is challenging. Sit down and walk through the issues, which might resolve the problem. Perhaps you can agree on a procedural change or an increase in fees that will help compensate for the extra work the client is causing. If you can't work out an arrangement conducive to both parties, it may be time to part ways.

If you are having frequent customer challenges are you doing something in marketing that is attracting the wide of the mark customer base?

Consider SMART Service Desk for your customer relations solutions 

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/problem-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Running In The Cloud

SMART Service Desk can be a completely web-based help desk software that helps you to centrally tracks and manages all your communications from a single point.

It offers an integrated Incident management like Trouble Ticketing, Problem management, Request fulfillment Management, Asset & Inventory management, Change Management, Release Management, Contracts Management, Self-Service Portal, Quality Management and Knowledge Base through multiple communication channels, including email & phone. 

The cloud version of SMART Service Desk packs all the modules at an affordable price, With SMART Service Desk the companies can adopt out-of-the-box ITIL v2 & v3 customer service and communication best practices.

Does Your Business Need To;

Replace the manual Help desk module with automated Service Desk software

Have a need for Unified call logging & resolution mechanism for geographically diversified locations.

Improve accountability and visibility of IT & Business services and support functions.

Improve customer service response and resolution times.

Improve Customer satisfaction of all the users who are located in many distant locations.

SMART Service Desk Benefits:

Centrally manage all of IT service requests

Plan accurate information on system Configuration

Smoothly Manage Changes in your organization

Increased user and customer satisfaction with IT services

Improved service availability, directly leading to increased business profits

Financial savings from reduced rework, lost time, improved resource management

If this solution sounds like what your company is looking for we are ready to answer your questions.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/problem-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

What Makes A Good Customer?

Does that seem like a strange question to you? What makes a good customer? Would you think the simple and correct answer is one who spends money at your business?

If we take it a step further, is a loyal customer, a good customer? Is a customer who tells everyone they know that your business is the very best there is, a good customer?

I think the answer to those two questions would be a resounding, YES!

Those two customers just don’t happen, you have to earn them. Or perhaps you even have to create them.

We know that the process is that, first a customer has to know about your business. Secondly your customer’s needs or wants what you sell. Of course they must also like what you sell. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they must trust your business.

Simple then, a good customer must, Know, Like and Trust your business.

Did you know that poor customer service is the most likely cause of the loss of the most important part of customer retention? If a business damages the trust that a customer has in that business the likely outcome is the loss of the customer. The real danger is when they look around and find a new Know, Like and Trust partner, it is difficult if not impossible to bring them back.

Yes, you can offer them a loss leader item and they may return for just the single purchase that was a true no profit give away but, you can’t stay in business with that model.

Now you have a “customer” that is motivated only by price. You know that you can’t survive with price being the only motivation for purchase.

So if we ask again “What makes a good customer?” Can the answer be as simple as exceptional customer service? No one disagrees that you have to have quality products. The same qualities apply to being a good customer as to a good employee, a good friend, even a good spouse: trust, mutual respect and appreciation.

Do you know that every interaction you have with a customer is the one that best serves your business model? Assumptions are a bad thing. Customers who share their expectations openly and early are much happier with their customer service interactions. Does your business meet your customer’s expectations during all contacts?

Does your business model provide clear direction, prompt response, correct response and feedback when a customer has a question, concern or problem?

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/customer-relationship-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Consider SMART Service Desk As Your Business ITSM Solution Package

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, SMART Service Desk Software, is a vendor for ITIL Best Practice & ISO 20000 Standards Service management (ITSM) Solutions, Service Desk, CRM, EAM and support software for medium to large enterprises. 

SMART Service Desk has key customers, such as Toyata, Mitsubishi Motors, Saudi Credit bureau, Tamer Pharma and Oman Arab Bank. Founded in 2008, SMART Service Desk Software is a privately held firm with offices in the United States, India and Partner offices in UK, Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Qatar. 

We are currently expanding into the small to medium businesses support software areas with a surprisingly affordable package.

SMART Service Desk is the trade name of Internet Information & Technologies (IIT)
SMART Service Desk is the leader in Help Desk, IT Service Management, Quality Management & Customer Relationship Management Integrated Solutions, which are applicable to a wide range of different service organizations. 

SMART Service Desk of software solutions can be adapted very quickly, easily and economically to suit the customer's systems and business processes. Many our customers have got head start in process definition, to Fast-track your ITIL V3, ISO 9001, ISO 20000 & Other ISO Standardization, initiatives to enhance quality of services and customer satisfaction.

SMART Service Desk will help you to improve service quality and resource utilization across your entire IT infrastructure. With SMART Mobile Custom Applications can access applications from SMART Phones for faster and better-informed business decisions.

Our SaaS solutions in the Cloud will let you seamlessly manage services, customers and quality improvement programs. Available through any Web browser, our business solutions are designed to help you shorten deployment times, reduce risks and lower costs, including support and maintenance expenses.

It is our vision and mission to be the premier provider of software solutions that enhance customer satisfaction and improve productivity. Our business helping your business succeed when and where it matters the most.

It doesn't matter what your business is, whether you're a wholesaler or a retailer, automotive dealership, hotel, restaurant or medical practitioner, nor whether your repurchase frequency is long or short. Every conceivable business can and will benefit from an effective customer service program.

In addition, we share our expertise with our customers through training and consulting services.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/blog/service-desk/

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com

http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Asks Are Your Better Than The Competition?

In a recent post we referred to a statistic that said only 7% of customer felt they were getting excellent customer service.  Have you asked your customer how your business is doing?

Actual the 7% figure is really good news. How so? It means that 93% of your competition has a great big vulnerable spot. What you need to do is make sure your company is giving the excellent customer service they want and now-days have come to expect.

If there was ever a customer service hall of fame, Ritz-Carlton would be one of the first inductees. They base so much of their business on doing things for their customers that most others wouldn’t.

Here is a favorite story comes from a Businessweek article detailing the lengths that the hotel chain will go to satisfy its customers:

One family staying at the Ritz-Carlton, Bali, had carried specialized eggs and milk for their son who suffered from food allergies. Upon arrival, they saw that the eggs had broken and the milk had soured. The Ritz-Carlton manager and dining staff searched the town but could not find the appropriate items. But the executive chef at this particular resort remembered a store in Singapore that sold them.

He contacted his mother-in-law, and asked that she buy the products and fly to Bali to deliver them, which she agreed to do. Of course the family was delighted. After an experience like that, do you think this particular family would even consider staying somewhere else?

Does your customer service staff go above and beyond to satisfy your customer? What tools have you provided for them that will help them help and satisfy your customers? In today’s marketplace this needs to go well beyond a simple manual outlining what to do and when to do it. Since every customer and nearly every situation will be different it is difficult for a hardbound set of rules to have the flexibility to respond appropriately.

Would a software approach that helps you track, evaluate, understand and most important how to have the needed flexibility make sense for your company?

SMART Service Desk gives your Customer Relationship Managers the access to Customer feedback analytics, which summarize information captured across multiple channels, so that they can analyze it efficiently, and share it across your enterprise for quick decision making to ensure high degree of customer satisfaction.

When finances are tight, potential customers are less likely to spend their money with an unfamiliar business… unless there is added incentive. Your most profitable incentive is outstanding customer service.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/voice-of-citizen.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Supports eCommerce

As ecommerce sales continue to rise and so do the expectations of online shoppers. Does your business need to support post sales customer service for just eCommerce? Do you need to support both brick & mortar as well as eCommerce?

Are you always on the look-out for the latest innovations in online retail, and how leading sites are delivering a world-class customer experience from support to shipping to returns?

Are you looking for a novel way to interact with your customers?

A local woodworking business has done just that.  He are excerpts from some of their post-purchase emails. I would say cutting edge but that would be a shameless pun.

First One: Here's what we're going to do: within 3 business days, my specialized team of well trained employees will carefully select, package, and ship your order. If you made size specifications on lumber, it may take longer but we will let you know. To keep up morale, they take the weekends off; so only the days between Monday and Friday count. When the order ships, we're going to send you an email with the UPS Tracking Number, and throw a big party. Before then, though, if I have some questions about the order (such as size requirements, availability, etc.), I will either email or call because I want to make sure you get what you need.

Second One: Someone must have called the local TV stations because the next thing I knew I had six interviews to handle for reporters who asked, "What does [customer name] intend to make?" But don't worry, your secret's safe. I told them, "World peace." Man! If only woodworking could do that!

Anyway, the guys hope to see pictures of what you make so we can have another party (I know what you're thinking). I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at Woodworkers Source. We enjoyed every minute of it, and we've named you "Customer of the Year." That gets you a pretty good parking spot right out front if you ever come see us. So come see us some time.

Third One: Our team of 107 hard-working (and exceptionally good looking) employees has - with great care and attention - selected, packaged and shipped your order #78247 on this beautiful day.

I really think you'd have enjoyed watching all the action when your order came through. When I handed it to Robert, our master packager, he looked at the order, smiled, pulled out a pair of his favorite Italian leather gloves and slid them onto his hands. "Nothing but the best," he said. And off he went! As he selected your order, he placed it all on a satin-lined chariot to transport it to the packaging center. And there's more.

Do you think their customers remember and talk about how this company communicates with their customers?

What does your typical email say to your customers?

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/voice-of-customer.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.comhttp://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Honors Our Veterans

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year on November 11th at Arlington National Cemetery. The ceremony commences precisely at 11:00 a.m. with a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknowns and continues inside the Memorial Amphitheater with a parade of colors by veterans' organizations and remarks from dignitaries. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces.

History of Veterans Day

World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

An Act of Congress approved May 13, 1938, made the 11th of November in each year a legal holiday, a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Later that same year, on October 8th, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first "Veterans Day Proclamation" which stated: "In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose. Toward this end, I am designating the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs as Chairman of a Veterans Day National Committee, which shall include such other persons as the Chairman may select, and which will coordinate at the national level necessary planning for the observance. I am also requesting the heads of all departments and agencies of the Executive branch of the Government to assist the National Committee in every way possible."

May we offer you a very heartfelt… Thank You For Your Service 

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Asks What Do Your Customer Expect

The baseline that your customers expect is your product or service to represent value for their money. 

Customers also expect your after-sales service to be pleasant and efficient. However, none of this will make customers loyal or cause them to tell others how good you are. They take this core service as a given. 

Nearly a third of consumers believe that businesses are now paying less attention to providing good customer service. On top of that, just 7% of those polled say that customer service experiences they have with companies typically exceed their expectations.

1. They want to feel important - They know that you have lots of other customers and clients but they just love it when you make them feel special.

2. They want to be listened to - Customers often get the impression that the person dealing with them is not really listening. You must keep working on your listening skills. Keep good eye contact with people and concentrate on what they're saying. Keep an open mind and resist the temptation to jump in with an answer. It's also important to show that you're listening.

3. Warm and friendly responses - When customers make contact with you face to face or over the telephone, they want a warm response. It can still be businesslike but you and your people need to look and sound - friendly and likeable.

4. Someone to know their name - A person’s name is one of the sweetest sounds they'll ever hear. If you use a customer's name when you talk to them, it indicates that you recognize them as an individual. 

5. Flexibility - Customers never want to hear the word "No" or "it can't be done." It's not always possible to say, "Yes" to a customer or do exactly what they want; however, it is important to be as flexible as you can. Tell customers what you can do - not what you can't.

6. Recovery - When things go wrong, customers want you to solve their problems quickly. They don't want to hear excuses or who's to blame or why it happened, they just want it fixed fast.

7. Keep Your Promises – When you make an offer or provide a solution the customer expects that whatever you promise that it will happen. Fall through with this metric and your customer’s trust maybe irrevocably broken.

Customers will often judge the quality of your service by the way you recover. They will even forgive your mistakes if you recover well.

Notice that nowhere is that they want the lowest possible price.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/mobile-apps.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

SMART Service Desk Pricing

If you are looking for a Service Desk solution for your business you want to know many things about that software product.

Is it scalable, so that it will work now and then continue to grow and support my business needs in the future?

How is easy is it to load, implement and use? How quickly will my employees be able to use the software to support our customer’s needs?

Of course the investment your company needs to make to bring this solution online can be a primary concern.

Considering how customizable the SMART Service Desk software is the pricing is not like buying a new car where looking, liking and purchasing is a very set process and amount.

SMART Service Desk software enables comprehensive, best practice based Incident / Case management processes via intuitive, easily adopted, enterprise scale web technology. Integrates core service and support components into one complete Help Desk solution which help you to reduce service costs and increase service delivery operational efficiency. Manage service issues from the initial call; too complete job and service restoration. With SMART Service Desk you can reduce call volumes and encourage user self-service by letting users search FAQs, approved solutions, and workarounds. You can use Increase customer / user satisfaction ratings using surveys.

SMART Service Desk software can be both local or cloud service based for your solutions and what will be best for your individual business needs.

We think that our price structure will be both surprising and very affordable for your small to medium sized business.

Our solutions are not only scalable but we have different solutions that can be a better fit for your specific business needs. Our SMART Service Desk Plus delivers a customer-friendly IT self-service portal, powerful dashboards and reporting, and superior mobility to your organization. With SMART, IT organizations can support ITIL® best practices for IT Service Management (ITSM), consolidating the service desk function with the processes that underpin the efficient delivery and support of service, With PinkVERIFY® certified ITIL® processes in SMART Service Desk Plus; you can be assured of the best practices you will implement for your process and workflow.

In order to help you and your business we need to open a dialog so we can best understand how SMART Service Desk can be your business solution or solutions. We look forward to understanding your business needs.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/request-price-quote.php

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Learn About SMART Service Desk Dashboards

The operational dashboards enable helpdesk associates to track and monitor core operational processes of Incident, Problem, Service Requests, Change and Release Management. 

SMART Service Desk Dashboards are multilayered performance management systems, built on a business intelligence and data integration infrastructure, which enable organizations to measure, monitor, and manage Service Support activities. SMART Service Desk dashboard provides an easy-to- understand view of the numbers that matter most, so that the Executives can take right decisions to keep businesses running smoothly and at peak performance.

SMART Service Desk Dashboards provide support managers and staff managers with immediate visibility into KPI performance of the employees reporting to them. This enables quick decisions or takes corrective action as soon as the need arises.

SMART Service Desk Dashboards are context sensitive business intelligence dashboards which assists helpdesk associates in getting latest real-time up to date information. Personalized Dash boards are available out-of the box, with separate drill down options for Employees, Technical Associates, Employees and Support Managers roles.

Key Features of Dashboards and Reports

Built in reporting and configurable Dashboards

More than 150 pre-defined or canned reports in System in Multiple languages
Ability to make adhoc custom reports, without need for buying expensive reporting software’s

Reports can be exported as .csv, .xls, XML, TIFF, web archive and pdf formats

Business Benefits

    Get an aggregated view of Service Management in real-time
    Proactively measure and monitor trends of Incidents, Requests and Problems
    Monitor how IT is supporting critical business applications.

SMART Service Level management facilitates monitoring of services and proactively generates alerts on pending SLA breaches and provides critical performance metrics. Easily track SLAs based on services, priorities, business units and customer class.

SMART SLA Management module allows documenting IT & Business Services that are designed to meet the Service Level Requirements (SLR's) at mutually agreed Service time targets.

SLA Management helps in enhancing stronger relationship between the service providers & customers, based upon common business goals & objectives.

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/customer-relationship-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Do You Know What ITIL Means?

In our very first post to our new blog series we used the acronym “ITIL” and for many that may lead to a need for more information.

“Simple put it means increased productivity, a reduction in your operations costs and perhaps, most important, improved customer experiences with our ITIL compliant solutions.”

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practice, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally.

So what are the key benefits of using ITIL practices in your business?

ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to best practice service management in the world with the majority of the world's leading organizations using it. Celebrating 25 years of helping companies to benefit from advancements in global best practice, ITIL has become the choice of industry standards worldwide - from small and medium sized businesses to large corporations.

Based on the research findings, the good news is that the ITIL process remains highly regarded and considered a valuable investment both now and for the future in all different types of companies and their customer interactions across the board.

Build and maintain positive business relationships with customers and improve customer satisfaction.

Support business change at the speed your customer needs while ensuring stable and low-risk environment.

Ensure your customers can use the services when and where needed. 

There are many more advantages of to using this customer service business practice.

Importantly you will see these benefits are relevant for both the key people within organizations who make key decisions on selecting best practice service management frameworks that are right for your business situation, as well as for the aspiring service management professionals who want to develop successful careers in this field.

Just to clear up another term you may hear or read about is the term that is beginning to replace the acronym ITIL is a different acronym “ITSM.”

IT Service Management derives enormous benefits from a best practice approach. Because ITSM is driven both by technology and the huge range of organizational environments in which it operates, it is in a state of continuing growth and evolution. Best practice, based on expert advice and input from ITIL users is both current and practical, combining the latest thinking with sound, common sense guidance.

The solution that SMART Service Desk brings to your business is a management tool that allows employees to successfully interact with your customers to solve their problems and correctly answer their questions. 

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/survey-management.html

SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com

Do You Have A Solution For Your Biggest Business Challenge?

Most small to medium sized businesses face at least two primary challenges. It is hard to rank either one of them in first place. You might take heart in the fact that all businesses, no matter the size, face these same problems.

Can we sum up those challenges by saying that one of them is finding and retaining quality employees? Typically the other pressing problem is finding and retaining customers.

Simply put, if you don’t have customers that tends to diminish the need for employees.

Can we agree that the process for getting a new customer in the first place is for them to first “Know” about your business products or services that you offer.  And once they “Know” about your business they need to “Like, Want and Need” what you have to offer. For that customer to be a return customer we need to consider why they would return.  That return could be to a physical presence or just another online shopping trip. But, why do they return? If your business is typical, you have competition selling similar (or even identical) products and or services.

That return visit and purchase is usually based on a very simple premises, “Trust.” They trust that based on their first experience they can “Trust” that future offerings, even different ones will go well.

So we can all agree that the customer experience is based on the “Know” “Like” and “Trust” cycle. To keep your customers in that loop the real single expression we can use is “Customer Service” at and during every interaction.

Customer service surveys point to post purchase customer service as being the most critical. Does that surprise you? If we look at our buying cycle of Know, Like and Trust we find that the “Trust part of that is actually applied to the other two in a direct relationship.

How does your business do when it comes to overall customer retention? How does your business do when it comes to post-sale customer service? Are you constantly looking for new customers as your path to growth?

Most businesses find that it is far more expensive to find a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer.

This brings us to your best solution to help you retain your customers with quality customer service. Are you familiar with SMART Service Desk? We are a software based solution that offers you the “Customer Service Solution.”  

Would you like to know more? http://smartservicedesk.com/blogs/7-principles-of-great-customer-excellence.html

SMART Service Desk

600 West Ray Road

Suite D-3

Chandler Arizona 85225

602-235-0975

info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com