Can we start by saying that sooner or later we all makes mistakes? Of course, try as we might to avoid being incorrect in the way something is handled it happens that we fall somewhat short of our goals.
And try as we might some folks go straight to Social Media with their complaint and never even give us a chance to make it right before the nasty gram goes out. What is next?
You never want to get in a war of words on Social Media. In some cases the story that goes out is as far from the truth as can be imagined. Maybe even more so. But if your business, brand or company is being disparaged the only sane thing to do (and do it as nicely as possible) is offer to correct what your customer perceives is wrong.
If the customer brings up a real truth situation and makes the complaint in a manner that shows your company is truly at fault, then of course acknowledge the problem, offer to fix it (tell exactly how) and let the readership or viewers know what you plan to do to make sure this never happens again.
This is the real essence of “If You Mess Up Fess Up.” The simple three step process… Acknowledge – Correct – Prevent
If you don’t have the SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software solutions in place the is a greater likelihood of an event like this taking place.
In any marketplace when client’s expectations are exceeded their loyalty grows. When shoppers, clients and customers are valued, when they receive as much as they give if not more value is palced on future exchanges.
Most people when weighing the options of where to invest their time, money and resources are attracted to ventures, products, services and people who provide a fair exchange of value and are mutually beneficial the reciprocal results can be amazing.
Take to heart the following phrase and apply it whenever it is necessary… “How can we make this right?”
Some companies have the mindset that if they seem to be overly generous with corrections that an unscrupulous customer may try to take advantage of them. Some restaurant and hotel owners report that customers have said that if they aren’t given their services for free they will leave bad reports on Yelp, other feedback sites and social media. This may be a case of where “The Truth Will Set You Free.”
Is your company looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
The SMART Survey Management solution is complete functionally rich software, which can be can used for the following customer and internal surveys.
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 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.
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
SMART Survey Management Solutions, can be integrated with your existing Human Resource, ERP Systems and your websites.
Key Features of Survey Management
Allows Delivery of Survey Invitations when an Incident or Service Request is closed
Manual Delivery of Surveys to Selected Audience
Create Multiple Different Survey Types
Unlimited User Defined Fields for Survey Questions : Drop-down, Radio Button, Checkbox, or Text Box Fields, Required or Optional Survey Questions, Required or Optional "Additional Information" Text Boxes
Surveys can be distributed via Email, or even as pop-up scripts for call center staff to gather actionable, timely feedback from internal employees or external customers.
Allows Customizable Email Invitations & "Thank You" Verbiage
Provides Analysis in form of Graphical Survey Results
Business Benefits
Your Customers and Employees opinions and feelings are acknowledged as being important.
Your Customers realize that their supplier is interested in improving business relationship and value the business from them.
Your Employees are reminded that that their diligence and participation is paramount.
Top Management is made aware of what their employees and customers think about them.
Is your company looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
Do you own medium sized business? How are your plans for growth going as we move into the second month of 2015?
I’m sure that the adage of the lowest selling price is the key factor in a buying decision. A medium sized store doesn't have the buying power that a big box retailer does. The manufactures don’t come to you with special models and very special prices. They sure don’t call you with an offer to buy out their over stock.
Many business don’t really want a customer that buys only at the lowest possible price. 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 everything 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. Is customer retention top of the list for your new year’s plans? Existing customer are the real goldmine of all businesses.
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.
So many businesses do an excellent job of making the initial sale, then drop the ball and get complacent, ignoring the customer, while they chase more business. Your selling has actually only just begun when someone makes that initial purchase decision because virtually everyone is susceptible to buyer’s remorse.
To lock in that sale, and all of the referrals and repeat business that will flow from it, you need to strike while the iron is hot to allay your customers’ fears and demonstrate by your actions that you really care. You should thank them and remind them again why they’ve made the right decision to deal with you … and put a system in place to sell to them again, and again, constantly proving that they made the right decision. Learning how to keep in touch is what SMART Service Desk can help your company accomplish.
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.
Is your company looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
“Reaching the Inner Customer” might seem like a strange statement, after all, isn’t it the vendor’s responsibility to make the relationship work? While a vendor must go the extra mile, the customer also has obligations in making a vendor relationship effective.
The same qualities apply to a good customer as to a good employee, a good friend, even a good spouse: trust, mutual respect and appreciation, and sharing that shows that each is committed to the success of the partnership. So how do you reach the inner customer?
If we look at just the Trust aspect we find four areas that seem to be the most centric.
Reliability Do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. It sounds simple, but many small businesses have good intentions and end up failing due to personnel or inventory issues. My favorite local car wash, always has a full staff waiting when I arrive so the wait times are short and the car ends up looking brand-new. I know that I can count on the company to come through whether I need a regular wash and a hand dry or a complete detailed job.
Honesty Don’t lie about your company's capabilities or hide its pricing from customers. They won't return but instead will share the bad news with their friends. Instead, be up front about how your company operates and why you charge what you do. Customers will appreciate your honesty.
Competence As a business owner, you need to prove to customers that your firm is the best to get a job done. You can’t do that without constantly improving what's delivered.
Two Men and a Truck International relies on feedback cards from its clients to improve the customer experience. Movers leave the feedback cards with customers at the end of a job. When customers mail in those comment cards, they are sent to the company's headquarters in Lansing, Mich., where they are read and digested. The folks at headquarters compile the feedback and send it to each location.
If the company can make system-wide changes as a result, it does so. When great results come in, the company celebrates with everyone. This simple feedback system has helped the firm obtain a high referral rate and grow over 20 years from having one truck to using 1,800 vehicles.
Compassion This is an area where small businesses can shine but their larger competitors may not. When you run a small business, you know your customers, their businesses and families. Knowing someone personally and showing interest in him or her goes a long way toward building trust.
Is your company looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
Take a moment and ponder the following question two questions. What is your worst customer service nightmare? What keeps you up at night?
A recent survey asked a group of high-level executives about their customer service nightmares. At first, they offered chilling scenarios involving missed delivery dates, unanswered phone calls, and impatient customers waiting endlessly for technical support. These companies had on thing in common they weren’t using SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software.
What if we asked the same question in a very different way? What customer service move might your competitors make that would be your worst nightmare? The answers included having a competitor:
Identify a critical service that they missed and offer it to that companies’ customers
Create a culture of cooperation and collaboration that brings them closer to their customers
Become organizationally aligned around the customer and build interfaces to the customer across the value chain
Enter the market between their company and their customers
Generate better customer information and use it to offer new services to my customers
Integrate multiple divisions and present one contact point for the customer
This set of answers differed from the first set of scenarios in a crucial way.
The shift in the executives' answers reflects the fundamental change taking place in customer service today. In the past, customer service essentially meant companies keeping their promises to customers. Phrases like "meeting customer expectations" and "giving customers what they want when they want it" reflect this outdated objective.
In today's aggressive business world, simply meeting customer expectations by delivering the right products on time is the price of admission. It is what every company must do to stay in business. The way to differentiate your company, however, is through customer service innovation. This enables a company to expand the boundaries of its business and increase its domain of value creation.
Are you ready to step outside the box? Or should we ask if you are ready to step outside your box. Does your company have the right tools in place so you can fulfill your companies’ vision of the correct customer service paradigm? Well?
Is your company looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
The Internet has become a very big part of our lives and now users prefer to use social media to complain publicly about services, products or businesses that they feel have missed the mark.
Studies have shown that 88% of consumers are less likely to buy from companies who leave complaints unanswered. But what about those customers who just did not complain and went away silently? These will be forever lost for a company and will never come back. To prevent customers from switching to competitors businesses should pay more attention to their complaints and address them in a timely manner.
However, this, in itself, may not be enough. Complaints can be the greatest source of learning, they show us where we fail and where and how we should and can improve. What follows are some of the
most common reasons why customers are unsatisfied.
Poor Customer Service
This should come as no surprise. When customer service representatives are not trained properly or don’t have the proper software support and keep customers waiting for a long time and do not resolve issues, this is poor customer service. It is very irritating to see a CSR efforts in resolving your issue and at the end having a simple question unanswered, or worse yet, no solution provided. In addition to this, when customers always hear only your voice menu, see offline live chat button and wait about a week for an email reply, they will definitely start complaining. And be sure, they will not complain to your staff, they will turn to social media because they want to be heard.
Being Bounced From One CSR to Another
Poor staff training and improper software can lead to calls or online chats being transferred from one agent to another. And there is nothing more irritating than having to tell your story again and again. As you can see a human side of your business can sometimes generate more complaints than your operational side.
Not Keeping Your Promises
If your representative makes a promise, make sure you live up to it. Some promises sound great but if they have not been kept this will lead to additional complaints, distrust and switching to competitors. Will you order again from a company which did not deliver in time as promised? I think we all know the answer....
Are you looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
This past weekend featured one of the most nail biting and exciting football games ever. Depending on “your team” it was either a great disappointment or a fantastic victory. Either way it came down to the last few seconds before the outcome was sealed.
The very best play may be argued for years to come, but the game as a whole was one with delights for both sides as the lead moved back and forth.
“Never give up,” was on display through-out the game. The old football saying of “A pass can have only three outcomes and two of them aren’t good” was driven home in the last few seconds of the game. If you think complete, incomplete or intercepted, you can apply that to your businesses’ customer service as well.
How well does your team execute when it comes to your customer service delighting your customers?
Most companies strive to satisfy their customers. That's why they run customer satisfaction surveys to see if they are succeeding. But is customer satisfaction a worthy goal? I believe satisfaction is the bare minimum of what a customer should get in their experience when interacting with your company.
In restaurants, only a small handful of customers complain in the hopes of getting a discounted meal or free service...but most people only express a concern if they truly feel unhappy or uncomfortable. Show personal attention when someone has a complaint. Don't just dismiss it with lame excuses. Ask questions to determine the root of a problem, and ask for their input on a resolution. Then tell the person how you plan to fix it, and follow up to show them what you've done.
When you don’t delight your customer and they move to social media to express their displeasure. You now have numerous potential customers making their buying decisions based on just one side of the story and I assure you their side is never complete, kind or perhaps even truly honest.
Using the right IT Service Management Software to track your customer interaction with your business will be the baseline for your success.
Don't just make assumptions about who your customers are and how they respond. SMART Service Desk will provide the data to make the right choice in these interactions. People love to serve as ambassadors for their favorite brands, help them make that happen. It will be to their delight and yours.
Are you looking for customer service solutions to help you deal with customer interaction? SMART Service Desk IT Service Management Software is your answer. We know that your satisfied customers will return again and again. Let us help you increase productivity, reduce operations cost and improve customer experience with our ITIL compliant solutions. No matter the size of your business we have your customer retention solutions.
SMART Service Desk
600 West Ray Road
Suite D-3
Chandler Arizona 85225
602-235-0975
info@smartservicedesk.com
http://smartservicedesk.com
