Customer Service Articles

Business » Customer Service | By Michael Laleye @ Sunday, 20th April 2008 @ 5:08 PM

Retention is tough enough with your employees, but it can be even tougher with your customers. Luring them in the door with special offers and ridiculously low prices might bring them in the first time, but continuing that trend can take a chunk out of your bottom line profits. You will need to have a means of convincing your customers that your business is worth returning to and any good experience they had will have to be repeated. The catch phrase in the business world is say what you ... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Obinna Heche @ Thursday, 17th April 2008 @ 4:17 PM

Retention is tough enough with your employees, but it can be even tougher with your customers. Luring them in the door with special offers and ridiculously low prices might bring them in the first time, but continuing that trend can take a chunk out of your bottom line profits. You will need to have a means of convincing your customers that your business is worth returning to and any good experience they had will have to be repeated. The catch phrase in the business world is say what you ... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Rosanne Dausilio, Ph.D. @ Friday, 11th April 2008 @ 2:01 PM

Customer satisfaction is crucial to customer loyalty, positive word of mouth, and return on investment--this is a given. We also know first call resolution (one and done) is the #1 driver for customer satisfaction with best practices reported at 86%. However, this means that 14% of your customers are contacting you more than once (even more than twice or three times) to resolve their issues! This not only frustrates your CSRs and yourselves, but your customers as well. Repeat calls ar... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Bob Janet @ Monday, 7th April 2008 @ 5:34 PM

Do you have Renowned Customer Service? Do your customers leave your store / take delivery of your products and think, "Wow, it is so nice to buy from this business!!" Is your business well known / famous for your customer service? Do your customers tell others about you? If not, you do not have renowned customer service. Face it. Your customers can buy the products and service you sell from a lot of different competitors. The only thing you really have... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Bob Janet @ Monday, 7th April 2008 @ 5:31 PM

Frustrated sales clerk: "I am unable to sell our products because our prices are higher than the competition. Successful Sales Professional: Stop selling products and start selling VALUE" Unless you have a completely unique product to sell chances are you are selling the same products as your competition. OH, your product may be made better, may last longer, and may do a better job for the customer, but to the customer it is still the same product. Most cust... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Rickie Smith @ Friday, 28th March 2008 @ 8:10 PM

You might have not imagined how helpful virtual assistant services can be for your business! It can indeed be very frustrating to see your to-do list without a single cross mark with each passing day! It is quite a challenge to carry out each activity of your business single-handedly. However, you need not grind yourself under the stone. There is help at hand. Virtual Assistant Services Help You To: 1. Increase productivity - by managing time consuming tasks efficiently, a virtua... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Art Gib @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 1:39 PM

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is a business philosophy that strives to improve company profitability through excellent customer service and satisfaction. Everyone enjoys being well taken care of, so it shouldn't be surprising that CRM really does increase your clientele and improve your reputation. Collect Information To meet customer needs though, businesses must first learn what those needs are by gathering information. Leads are just one of many ways to gathe... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Elinor Stutz @ Thursday, 27th March 2008 @ 9:21 AM

Why is your client so angry when it truly was not your fault? And how do you handle such a situation? Do you figure there is no pleasing some people, or do you attempt to unravel where the point of no return took place? Something went terribly astray. Your first step toward redemption is to apologize, whether your fault or not, just apologize. It is a tough lesson to learn but this action works well. The second step is to quietly listen to the client rant and rave, even... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Obinna Heche @ Wednesday, 26th March 2008 @ 8:02 PM

As it has often been said in real estate, location is everything and the same can be said about locating a new business. Obviously, price is going to be a major concern when looking for a place to open your new business, but the potential for traffic flow should be the near the top of the locations requirements. Making sure the building is large enough and sufficient parking is available are all part of the equation, but before signing a lease or purchase agreement, you should check out everythi... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Rickie Smith @ Wednesday, 26th March 2008 @ 8:11 AM

Help desk jobs usually refer to the trouble tickets lodged by an end user. This trouble ticket stores all the information regarding the problem that the client may have encountered. The natural life cycle of these jobs includes creation, modification, resolution and closure. The lodged tickets are either assigned to a helpdesk skill group or a technician. Following are some of the important terms that are used for help desk jobs. 1. Primary Client ID - it refers to the end us... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Matt Trostle @ Saturday, 22nd March 2008 @ 9:20 PM

As technology marches on, you hear about all sorts of marketing: telemarketing, internet marketing, and so on. What you don't see businesses focused on anymore is the customer. Instead of asking for a name, most companies ask for your "customer ID number". Instead of saying "good morning, and thank you", you hear, "which department can I transfer you to". The customer has truly become lost in the shuffle of electronics and new age gadgets. Customer service is ... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Art Gib @ Friday, 21st March 2008 @ 7:58 PM

Being a restaurant owner is hard work. Not only do you have to watch out for food issues, but you also have to constantly court your guests to make sure they come back. But there's one way you can make sure your guests come back every time -- give them personalized attention. Sound like too much work? Perhaps not. Here's all you need to do. Act Like They're the Only One It's the simple things that make your guest feel like they are someone special in your &... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Christa Kowalczyk @ Thursday, 20th March 2008 @ 4:59 PM

This is a fast paced world and nobody has time to meet. Bu there is a sure way to be in touch and that too within a few clicks of your mouse. And this way has for sure have contributed in changing the world we live in. Yes! We are talking about e-mails. Believe it or not, e-mails have helped us to communicate keeping in stride with this fast paced world. Today, we can't imagine our lives without e-mails, so much so that they have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives. more...

Business » Customer Service | By Jack Deal @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 1:55 AM

If you sell a product or service you will get complaints. Resolution is the word used when we describe the process of successfully handling those complaints. The complaint process you set up determines how successfully your company resolves complaints. The first step is to develop an attitude that complaints are problems that often are a symptom of some type of flaw or defect. Because it can be very subjective, complaint resolution is not always a matter of right or wrong... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Art Gib @ Monday, 10th March 2008 @ 8:34 AM

All businesses are certain to face obstacles of one nature or another during their process of growth and expansion. Fortunately, nearly every potential problem or perceived setback has a solution. Regardless of the size of a business, there are many battles to be fought in order to create a successful business. Any customer-driven business faces particularly unique challenges in that the importance of the customer/company relationship can, and often does, make or break the company. The fi... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Chris Robertson @ Friday, 7th March 2008 @ 1:55 AM

So how does a vending machine service really operate? Essentially a vending operator or sometimes called vending service provider will provide vending machines to different companies in their community. These companies can include schools, offices, factories, hotels, car washes, auto mechanic shops, community centers skating rinks and many others as well. In the community these companies have employees that work at their facility that require refreshments. Vending service companie... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Jack Deal @ Sunday, 2nd March 2008 @ 4:49 AM

We keep reading that there is no more loyalty -- customer or otherwise. The worker complains the employer will no longer guarantee job security. The employer claims he trains employees so well they start their own businesses and become the competition. The manufacturer claims the consumer buys only on price. The consumer says they would buy brand but the value is not there. There is a dynamic missing in each of the above statements. The dynamic only goes in one direction. To buil... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Kevin Sinclair @ Saturday, 1st March 2008 @ 11:12 AM

Requests for returns and refunds are one of the most damaging aspects in the profits of any direct marketing business. You waste a good deal of your time, efforts and funding on these two courtesies. Keep in mind that all businesses endure some degree of this problem and many do nothing about it. Many businesses a simply accept returned merchandise and refund requests as a normal business cycle. It is as if they can think of nothing to solve this expensive scenario. On the contrary... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Obinna Heche @ Saturday, 1st March 2008 @ 7:26 AM

Even if you have taken all of the steps to make sure that you are advertising your business in the best way for you, you might not be in the home stretch. Even if you have people come to your website, you want to be sure that you can keep them there. This is something that is very important, and also very hard to do. A good website not only will attract people to it, but will also keep them looking and hopefully turn them into customers. There are several ways that you can make sure you ... more...

Business » Customer Service | By Rosanne Dausilio, Ph.D. @ Friday, 29th February 2008 @ 8:04 PM

Most organizations still do not provide comprehensive, let alone adequate, training in today's marketplace. A recent report by the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) said that only 27% of service and support staff spend more than 5 days on annual ongoing training. Beyond that, it was found that 82% of new hires feel they do not receive much training in customer service skills, compared to only 18% who feel they do. What an exposure for a company to have--not only... more...