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Is The Customer Always Right

Published on February 22, 2012 by admin No comments

Last week I made an early morning trip to a seminar/book promo breakfast to promote my web site. After putting out flyers all over the place I took a moment to step in to the facility and caught a few moments of a morning with Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE.

As I stepped through the door, a question and answer session was in progress. A woman stepped up to the microphone and asked “Is the customer always right?”

Jack smiled and said, “You might not think so, and they may believe so, but if you don’t make it so, you’re dead!”

Jack, that is a pretty strong consequence. Dead. But let’s face it. Who will come to do business with you again after you argue with them about their dissatisfaction? I think most people will just go somewhere else.

Isn’t is just common sense that we let our customer complain and then make it right? Well for the business owner, we usually just grin and say ” what would it take to make you happy today?” but what about our employees?

If we have not taken the time to train our employees how to deal with an unhappy customer, how will they react when one attacks them with ” the food was cold and tasted like crap!” or “I only had it for three days and the wheel fell off!”

It is important that as part of training any employee who has contact with the customer they have training on dealing with complaints as well as how to work the register or take the order. As a business owner you probably have already thought of that. Is there a piece of this puzzle missing?

The missing piece might be empowerment. The employee can be trained how to be calm and not take complaints personally. But what if they are not empowered to take action and correct the problem immediately themselves? What if you have instructed them to get you if there is a problem and you are on your way to the bank to make a deposit?

In most cases an angry consumer will not wait for you to return.

This would mean that if your employee is not empowered to make a correction or offer a compromise to make the customer happy, you would lose their business forever. How much does it cost to get a new customer? How much does it cost to make them happy when they are dissatisfied? The difference on paper is staggering.

Therefore, as part of the training of a new employee, it should be taught what is possible to do to make a customer happy when they are complaining. A quick response to a problem is appreciated almost more than the actual solution in most cases.

You see in life, we are all customers at some time or other, and I don’t know about you, but when I am an upset customer, I am always right!

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Retail Customer Service Tips For Improving Your Level Of Service

Published on February 20, 2012 by admin No comments

Today I witnessed a customer service miracle in action. I took my son to our local fast food restaurant, so he could have some lunch and play in the indoor playground. While I was waiting for our food to be ready, a woman approached the counter with a crushed Styrofoam cup. She said, “This cup fell off of our table and broke. I need another drink and I need someone to come clean up our table and the floor.” The tone of her voice suggested that somehow the restaurant was responsible for her broken cup. And of course, there was no, “Hey I’m so sorry, one of my horrible children was fooling around and caused you a mess.”

It was then that right before my eyes a customer service miracle occurred. Rather than replying with the same nasty treatment they had just gotten from the customer, the staff quickly gave her a new drink. Then a man appeared with a smile and said, “I would be glad to clean that up for you.” The staff never heard the words “thank you” from that customer, yet they acted as if they had. All were professional and conveyed an attitude that said, “We love having the opportunity to serve each and every person in this restaurant.”

Not surprisingly, the place is almost always busy. The restaurant is clean, the management supports our community with various school spirit fundraising nights, the food is better than most fast food, and most of all, the people that work there make you want to come back.

Watching customer service interaction is my hobby and my work, and today’s experience was a living, breathing example of the 21 Rules for Excellent Retail Customer Service that we share with the participants in our courses. Most of them are not that hard to follow. However, they can be hard to follow consistently.

If you work with customers in retail, take a look at the list and ask yourself how closely you follow the rules.

1. Smile when greeting a customer in person and on the phone (and yes, they can tell if you are smiling over the telephone!).

2. Use age-appropriate greetings, and avoid referring to older customers and women as “guys.”

3. Be proactive and ask how you may be of service.

4. Stay visible and available, but don’t hover.

5. Don’t turn away, walk away, start to make a phone call, or duck beneath the counter as a customer approaches. (We’ve all had it happen to us.)

6. The live customer standing in front of you takes precedence over someone who calls on the phone.

7. Never judge a book by its cover–all customers deserve attention regardless of their age or appearance.

8. Leave food and beverages in the break room.

9. A customer doesn’t want to hear about your upcoming break.

10. Makes any personal calls when you’re on a break and out of earshot.

11. The correct answer is never “I don’t know” unless you add to it, “but I can find out for you.”

12. If a customer wants something that isn’t on display, go to the stock room and try to find it.

13. If the item isn’t in the stock room, offer to call another store or order it.

14. Learn to read body language to see if a customer could use some help.

15. Don’t let chatty customers monopolize your time if others are waiting.

16. Call for backup support if lines are forming.

17. Be discrete if a customer’s credit card is declined by asking if there is another method of payment he or she would like to use.

18. Never discuss customers in front of other customers (they’ll wonder what you’re saying about them once they leave).

19. Inspect merchandise before bagging it to make sure it’s not defective or the wrong size.

20. Make sure customers receive everything they’ve paid for before they leave your store.

21. Smile as you are saying goodbye and encourage the customer to come again.

And here’s one more tip: if you can, give people more than what they expect.

Posted in: Advertising & Marketing, Business Area
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Up Servicing Creating Superior Customer Value Through Up Selling Valuable Add Ons

Published on February 18, 2012 by admin No comments

About once a week I grab my laptop and head to a café to work, brainstorm, and map out business plans. I usually enjoy a latté, cappuccino, or green tea while I work and I’ve found the change of scenery ignites my creativity and jump starts my productivity. For years I’ve gone to the same café on Yale Avenue for my weekly ritual, but last week I stopped into a Barnes & Noble Cafe. I approached the counter to purchase a latté and the sales person immediately responded with an “up selling” offer. She asked, “Can I get you a slice of cheesecake to go with your Caramel Macchiato?“

I wasn’t even thinking about dessert, yet I somehow let the unexpected query: “Can I get you a slice of cheesecake to go with your Caramel Macchiato?“ entice me into accepting a rich slice of cheesecake.

The lady at the Barnes & Noble Café flawlessly executed the “up-selling” technique and without any hesitation I accepted. Not once in the three years of my attending my usual café has anyone tried to upsell me. As I enjoyed each delectable bite of the cheesecake I wondered, “What would it mean to Barnes & Noble’s bottom line if every salesperson in the Café attempted to upsell beverage seekers? What would it mean to the bottom line if just 2% of customers everyday were upsold?” What would it mean to your bottom line if every one of your employees flawlessly upsold your customers?

In my experience both as a consumer and as a Business Growth Strategist, I have discovered that many businesses avoid up-selling because they’re concerned that the customer may feel irritated or pressured, and often customer service professionals are reluctant to upsell because they’re uncomfortable with a “selling” role. But here’s the thing: If you don’t try to upell you are 1) Leaving money on the table and 2) Withholding value-added services from your customers. When done right, upselling offers translate into sales 5-20% of the time. And research shows that most customers appreciate up-selling when they are offered additional benefits that are relevant to their needs. Read on to get 5 tips to help you confidently and successfully upservice your customers.

Think of upserving as “Up-Servicing” – When done right, upselling is simply offering a “suggestion” to an already receptive buyer to enhance the value of her service. This is exactly what I experienced at Barnes & Noble Cafe. I was already a receptive buyer and the cheesecake most definitely enhance the value of my experience. When viewed as truly upservicing as opposed to upselling, selling doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

Make sure your upserving offer is always relevant to the customer’s needs. Offering a buyer of a latté a book on Feng Shui tips may not be relevant and is likely to be rejection waiting to happen. But offering dessert truly offers to enhance the receptive customer’s experience.

Be more interested in being of service than in getting a commission. Always focus on offering products or services that are relevant to the customer’s needs and will arguably enhance the customer’s experience. If your sole objective is to get a commission, customers will smell you a mile away. And trust me, they will not buy.

Recognize that upservicing increases customer satisfaction. Surveys and research has found that offering products your customers might find useful is a proactive effort on your part that conclusively leads to increased satisfaction and loyalty.

Think of “up-servicing” as a proactive service initiative. When you add upservicing to your skill repertoire, you will increase customers satisfaction and grow your bottom line.

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