When we think of customer service we think of staff serving customers over a counter or over the phone. But customer service occurs within your organization as well. How well is your staff serving its internal customers: other departments, its management, vendors and consultants? Believe it or not, it all counts. Internal customer service refers to service directed to others within your organization. It refers to your level of responsiveness, quality, communication, teamwork and morale.

I define Internal Customer Service as effectively serving other departments within your organization. How well are you providing other departments with service, products or information to help them do their jobs? How well are you listening to and understanding their concerns? How well are you solving problems for each other to help your organization succeed?

Teaming with Success How well do you work with other departments? Does your Marketing department communicate well with the Legal department? Does Fulfillment relate well with Shipping and Receiving? Do Catering and Facilities work well together? When it’s time to communicate with others from different departments do you take a deep breath, or smile and relish a chance to renew contact with colleagues from elsewhere in the company?

As a manager I once joined a publishing company and found myself in the midst of a war between departments. Production resented Editorial for the way they missed deadlines and delivered shoddy copy. Conversely, Editorial had little respect for the resulting manuscripts they received back from Production, full of errors and oversights. Poor teamwork, poor communication and myopic thinking had led to a hardening of positions over time. They each cared about the finished product but were putting pressure on each other without realizing it. It took time, but eventually both groups came to appreciate each other and how to best work together to achieve win-wins for the greater good of their customers.

Do you relish or dread committee work with other departments? Does it seem their aims are contrary to your department’s? When other departments contact you for help do you regard it as a nuisance, a distraction and a drain of your valuable time? Can you see the greater good that comes from helping them solve their problems or fulfill their needs?

You can take pride in opportunities to help other departments look good. Obviously, you don’t want their success to come at your expense. Usually helping others doesn’t mean you lose a zero-sum game, where only one of you can win and helping others hurts you. In most instances helping other departments leads to a win-win situation. And what goes around usually comes around. Helping other departments succeed can help yours too when the roles are reversed.

Up with People Good internal customer service starts with good morale within your group. Are your people happy? Do they feel good about themselves and their contributions to the goals of the department and to the company at large? They should, and effort should be made to help them do so. Happy employees are productive, and customers take note. Happy employees are also better team players. Will you fly the airline whose employees are striking with management, or the airline whose employees are management? Employees invested in employee stock purchasing plans with matching contributions see themselves as much more a part of the company. Thus, as the company goes, so do they go.

When I fly out of Oakland Airport I use an outlying parking lot and shuttle van. This shuttle is shared by employees from Southwest Airlines, coming to work or returning to their cars after their shifts. I’ve found them as happy and upbeat when they’re starting their shifts as when they’re finishing their shifts. That’s great morale, and tells me they like their jobs. It’s contagious! Sometimes I’m envious on that shuttle when I know I’ll be checking in at a competitor’s ticket counter.

Who’s On Top? Many organizational charts employ an inverted pyramid with customers at top. Some companies instead put their employees at the top. In many senses, the employees are management’s customers. Corporate values that emphasize treating employees well translate to good customer care too. Does your organization value its people? Invariably, companies that care about their people can better ask their people to care about their customers.

Catering to Customer Service Needs Here are five tips for your organization to help strengthen its internal customer service orientation.

1. Employees should never complain within earshot of customers. It gives them the impression your company isn’t well run, shaking their confidence in you.

2. Employees should never complain to customers about other department’s employees. Who wants to patronize a company whose people don’t get along with each other.

3. Employees at every level should strive to build bridges between departments. This can be done through cross training, joint picnics, parties or offsites, or creative gatherings, as well as day-to-day niceties.

4. Utilize post mortems after joint projects so everyone can learn from the experience. Fences can be mended and new understandings gleaned when everyone reviews what went right…or wrong. By doing do after the project the immediate pressure is off, yet stronger bonds can be forged while the experience is fresh in peoples’ minds. Not doing so can result in lingering animosities that will exacerbate future collaborations.

5. Consider letting your employees become “Customer for a Day”; to experience firsthand what your customers experience when doing business with you.

Congratulations on turning customer service inside out! By improving internal customer service you have just enhanced the customer service your external customers receive. You’re walking your talk regarding customer service. Touché.

Human nature gives testimonials such power because we love discovering what one person thinks of another – even when it’s positive! It’s the same dynamic that makes gossip so hard to resist. As a professional coach, you want the positive “gossip” that testimonials provide because you can use that information to promote yourself, your services and products, to call attention to your strengths and to distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Testimonials also are powerful because they are first-person accounts: when a client makes a positive statement about you and backs it up with his or her name and contact information, it enhances your credibility.

In addition, written testimonials are fabulously flexible. They can be used powerfully on your website, in printed and electronic promotional materials, following the signature line of your emails and in many other ways and places. Once you have obtained testimonials from your clients, you will think of a hundred ways to use them!

Now that we have established the value of client testimonials, here are a few dos and don’ts to guide you as you obtain and use them to grow your business.

DO let your clients know the benefits to them of providing testimonials that will be used on your website(s), such as: – increased exposure for their business, thanks to internet serendipity; – increased website traffic and/or business for them, generated by a link from your website to theirs; – enhanced standing among search engines, due to more internet exposure; and – that genuinely warm feeling that comes from helping another “solopreneur”!

DO obtain your clients’ permission to use their full name and email address because it will give their testimonials a great deal more credibility. (Let’s assume I have written a glowing testimonial for someone whose services I use. Now compare the impact of these two testimonial signatures: “A.S., Coach” or Alicia Smith, Business Coach and DISC Ninja; Alicia@aliciasmith.com . The second is far more powerful.)

DON’T (ever) use fictional testimonials because they can destroy your credibility.

DO utilize honest (verbatim) testimonials that speak to what your potential clients will most want to know about you, including (but not limited to!) why you are such a fantastic coach and why you, your services and your products are so special.

DO store your client testimonials in a Word document or Excel database so that you can find them easily. You may want to organize them by client name, service or product.

The next step is to obtain testimonials from your clients. Here are the basic steps and some questions to get you started.

Begin by sending your clients a friendly email stating that you are seeking a testimonial you can use in your marketing. Personalize your communication as much as possible. For example, your letter may begin, “Dear Jim: Last December, you participated in my teleclass, (name of class). I certainly hope you found the class to be helpful. Because I am revamping my marketing materials, I am writing to ask you a favor: I would deeply appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to answer the questions below.” (Be sure to work into your letter the benefits to these clients of providing testimonials that will be used on your website.)

You may want to ask your clients some or all of the following questions and to customize each email with the name of the product or service the client purchased. When a client has purchased more than one product or service, send a separate email request for each. – What first attracted you to (name the teleclass, internet course, product or service the client purchased) and why did you decide to purchase it? – What was the most beneficial tool, concept or idea that you gained from (the product or service)? – How are you currently utilizing (the product or service in your business and/or life)? – Has it saved you and your business time, money or energy? If so, in what way(s)? – Why would you recommend (the product or service) to your associates, colleagues or clients? – What would you like to say to someone who is considering purchasing (the product or service)?

You now have the basic information you need to obtain client testimonials that you can use to power up your business and Make Money Now! Here’s a very important final tip: once you begin to receive testimonials from your clients, be absolutely sure to enjoy the wonderful things they say about you!

© Copyright 2004 Alicia Smith

Permission to reproduce granted if all attribution & contact information is included.

Tech Support Guy claims to be the #1 tech support site on the web and can be found at http://www.helponthe.net. Tech Support Guy help desk site offers free assistance to users of Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP and Linux.

This site is free because it is run completely by volunteers and is paid for by donations. Donations are requested but not required to use this site. The way this site works is that first you must search the topic of you problem. If you can’t find it, then you can post your technical issue on one of Tech Support Guy’s forum pages where other users of the site will try and assist you.

One positive aspect of this site is that it has an extensive forum of questions from previous users so you will most likely receive the answer to your technical issue pretty quickly. One negative aspect of this site is that it is up to you to find the answer to your technical issue. There isn’t a customer service support representative to walk you through your technical issue at this help desk.

5 S tar Support technical services can be found on the web at http://www.5starsupport.com. This help desk provides support to users of Windows, Linux, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Netscape, Windows Messenger, AOL, Networking troubleshooting, Microsoft Office Products.

Simply enter your technical issue in a web form that will be emailed to several volunteer technical support representatives and then wait to receive your reply back. You may receive several replies from several different representatives and each solution may be different. You may email the representative back if you are unable to satisfactorily fix your technical issue.

For people who want a solution faster, there is a method available where you can phone a computer support specialist and they can talk you through a solution to your technical issue. There is a small fee for this service however and can be purchased in annual, monthly or per incident increments.

Another service the 5 star offers is free PC help tutorials on topics such as Clean Installation of Windows XP, Install a Home Network, Configuring a Network Card and Partition a Hard Drive.

Suggest A Fix can be found at http://www.suggestafix.com. This site also is run by volunteers but is a free service. It is forum based as well and you need to take the time to scroll through the posting to find something that matches your particular issue. However, in the toolbar virus information and tutorials are also available as quick options.

The best thing about the forums is that you will usually receive good quality answers to your technical or general computing questions. There are a few dedicated people that seem to field a majority of the questions, so depending on the time and day; your answers may vary greatly.

How can you prevent your business from becoming ‘feature of the week’? Of all the skills small business owners need these days, the one least practiced is the ability to step back and look at your business from the customer’s perspective.

Having an effective complaint handling process is important but that is the equivalent of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted – it’s too late, your customer has already suffered.

It’s more effective to know what your customers could potentially complaint about and put it right before it happens.

So what are the common reasons for customer complaints? Mark Bradley of Customer Service Network (www.customernet.com), which facilitates in benchmarking, improving processes and implementing improvements to help reduce customer complaints, says, “Financial loss is the obvious reason but the rest can be split into operational and emotional reasons.”

In this article we will look at some of the operational and emotional or human issues within your business which could give your customers cause to complain. Take a look at these and examine each part of your business. How do you stand up?

“You didn’t do what you promised.”

When did you last review your advertising material or web site? Do they contain service promises which sounded great at the time but have since been forgotten? For example, do you promise to deliver within 24 hours but changes in processes have meant that is no longer possible? No one may have complained yet but sooner or later someone will.

“Your product didn’t do what it’s supposed to do.”

When did you last undertake a quality check of your product? Random checks can help weed out poor quality workmanship before a customer spots it. When buying your stock or finished item do you test it?

“You’re never open when I need you.”

9 to 5, 5 days a week may have been acceptable when you first started out, but is this still what the customer wants? Check with your customers – they may want you to open later and close later.

“It’s a long time before someone answers the phone.”

Hanging on the phone while it rings and rings is very irritating. It conjures up images of staff sitting drinking coffee and chatting; not the impression you want to portray and not the way to put customers in a buying mood! Do your staff understand the importance of the phone being answered promptly?

“Whenever I ring in and get transferred to another person I often get cut off.”

Have your staff been trained in getting the best out of your phone system? Do all staff have a handy list of extension numbers to avoid annoying ‘sorry wrong department’ answers? Ask a friend or business colleague to ring in and take note of what happens – good and bad.

Mark Bradley says, “We usually encounter a number of interesting correlations that fundamentally prove that operational accuracy leads to customer satisfaction.”

Take some time to look at your business from the customer’s perspective and you should be able to stop customer complaints before they hit your desk.

It’s not only the operational side of the business which can let you down; the human side of business can also generate complaints – your staff! No matter how good your product is one loose cannon in your team can upset everything. What actions can your staff take that can lead to a customer picking up the phone or putting pen to paper?

Bad Attitude

There’s no getting away from it – some people have a bad hair day every day! The way they speak to people is enough to turn the most mild mannered of customers against your company. They act as if the customer is an interference to their daily routine. A person with poor job skills can be taught the relevant knowledge or skills but a person with a generally bad attitude, the proverbial chip on the shoulder, is harder to bring into line.

These type of people are the ones who never acknowledge your presence when you are standing in front of them, or still chat away on the phone The solution? Get them away from your customers.

Not Willing To Seek a Solution

These people are the ones who may acknowledge a customer’s problem but just can’t be bothered to find a solution; it’s too much hassle. The stock answer is, “I can’t help. It’s company policy.” Their favourite words are “I can’t”, “Yes, but”, “won’t”, “shouldn’t”. They can find nothing positive to help the customer. If this happens, your customers walk away thinking you are a ‘can’t do’ instead of a ‘can do’ business.

Not Giving Full Product Explanations

Your product may be the best in the world, but if it doesn’t do what the customer wants then you have one unhappy purchaser. Lack of understanding of how the product or service meets the customer’s requirements could be down to your sales staff being too anxious for a sale – persuading the buyer that the product is just right when it clearly doesn’t fit what the client needs. This is partly down to sales training but also attitude. Do you want staff that are happy to sell to your customers on this basis?

Not Willing To Admit a Mistake

Isn’t it refreshing to hear someone say, “Do you know, you’re right. We really messed this up.” If you get this as an opening line when making a complaint, you immediately know you’re in business. However, sometimes getting a business to admit it has made a mistake is like pulling teeth. If you’re in the wrong, get your staff to own up and say, “Yes, we were wrong”, it can take away the emotion which sometimes blocks successful resolution of complaints.

Not Keeping You Up To Date

In any effective complaint handling process, everything can be done according to the book, but it can all be thrown away if the client is not kept up to date. A complaint, followed by days of silence, allows doubt and anger to bubble up again. It may be that the person handling the complaint had a bad time when taking the initial query; he’s not motivated to pick up the phone and engage in another torrent of abuse! However, not speaking to the client can only make matters worse, and so guaranteeing that the next call will be even more interesting! Get ‘strong’ characters to front your complaints, people who are not intimidated and are happy to solve problems.

Broken Promises

This is probably the most frequent reason for human cause of complaint; ‘Yes, I’ll do that for you. Leave it to me.” What happens? Nothing! The impression given is that your staff just don’t care, or that the customer is not important. Impress upon your staff the importance of following through on their promises. Any broken promise will compound a complaint.

So, in what areas are your staff letting you down? Are you doing everything to ensure your staff are treating everyone as loyal customers? Listen to what your staff are saying, and listen to what your customers are telling you. Get the human side of your complaint process right and you have more chance of keeping your customers for life.

The art of complaint handling is not only resolving it to the customer’s satisfaction; it’s also about taking action on what you find out and being proactive in finding potential problems before they become problems.

Being in business does not guarantee success. The last thing a business owner wants is to lose our business, so when something goes wrong and we are the customer, do we just accept it and walk away forever or do we seek satisfaction. Of course we often complain, but then again we probably would not remain a customer.

Here is a suggestion to be a satisfied customer more often. Know what you want that will make you happy before you complain. Here is an example.

Last week I bought a pie at a national grocery chain. It was on sale and when I went to eat it, it was the worst thing I ever tasted. I looked for my receipt to return it and noticed that the pie which was supposed to be $2.50 was charged to me for $4.79.

On the way to the store I decided that I would ask for a total refund and a new pie. When I went to the customer service desk, I told the guy working there what I expected for my trouble. He said wait a minute and went into the back office. When he came out he told me to go get a new pie.

As I was looking at the pies, I had a choice of another fruit pie ( the first was blueberry) or pumpkin or a key lime. The key lime was $3.00 more than the original pie, but I have eaten them before from that store and they are always good. I took the key lime pie back to the service desk, explained that I know that the key lime pies are good and the person asked if I would like a bag. He then handed me the cash refund and I left the store.

I will shop at that store again.

My point to this is that when we are the customer, we can most often get satisfaction in a bad situation by knowing what it is that we want that will make us want to come back. When we know what we want we simply have to ask for it. This gives the business person an opportunity to save the relationship and us a way to get what we need to be happy.

For the customer, it is not always easy for them to figure out what it is that would make them happy or satisfied. As the business owner it is a good idea to have suggestions ready and employees empowered to handle the situation.

As I have said before, all we need to know is what we want and how to ask for it. Remember it is a lot more costly to get new clients than it is to give them what they need to feel satisfied, at least in most cases.

2. Kill Them Softly With Diplomacy. This simple phrase has never failed me: “Clearly, we’ve upset you and I want you to know that getting to the bottom of this is just as important to me as it is to you.” When you say this, anger begins to dissipate. You’ve addressed the anger directly and non defensively and you haven’t been pulled into the drama of the attack.

3. Go into Computer Mode. To use Computer Mode you take on the formalities of a computer. You speak generally, without emotion, and you don’t take the bait your angry or difficult customer is throwing you. Your words, tone, and attitude are completely impersonal and neutral – (Think of the automated response system you speak to when you call your wireless phone company or bank.)

This “computer mode” response deflects, diffuses, and disarms angry customers because you don’t add fuel to the fire by giving your difficult customer what they want -an emotional reaction. When you don’t take the bait, the difficult customer is forced to stop dead in their tracks. And that means you regain control (and confidence).

The Computer Mode Approach In Action

Let’s say your customer says:

“You don’t give a d*** about customers. Once you get a customer locked into a contract, the service aspect is over.”

While it may be tempting to fuel the fire with an equally hostile response such as “What’s your problem, creep?” don’t take the bait. If you do take the bait, the situation will only escalate and nothing productive or positive will result. A computer mode response might look like this:

“I’m sure there are some people who think we don’t care about servicing customers.”

“People get irritated when they don’t immediately get the help they need.”

“It’s very annoying to experience a delay in service response.”

“Nothing is more distressing than feeling like you’re being passed around when all you want is help.”

And then you stop -like a locked up computer.

No matter how uncomfortable the verbal abuse is or how ridiculous it becomes, continue to respond without emotion. This tactic works because it is neutral, doesn’t take the bait, and because it is unexpected. The difficult customer wants to throw you off, make you lose control, and to get you to respond emotionally. When you fail to do each of these things, you actually regain control.

Go into “computer mode” the next time you’re faced with verbal abuse from an irate or unreasonable customer, and I promise you, you’ll quickly regain control —and you’ll have fun with the process.

4. Give this question a shot: “Have I done something personally to upset you?… I’d like to be a part of the solution.” Of course, you know you haven’t done anything to upset the customer. You ask this question to force the angry customer to think about his behavior. Often, the mere asking of this question is enough to get the ballistic customer to begin to shift from the right brain to the left brain, where he can begin to listen and rationalize.

5. Show empathy - Empathy can be a powerful tool used to disarm an angry customer and show that you genuinely care about the inconvenience the customer has experienced. Expressing empathy is also good for YOU, as it helps you truly begin to see the problem from the customer’s perspective/and this perspective will help keep you from losing your cool when your customer gets hot. By letting customers know that you understand why they are upset, you build a bridge of rapport between you and them.

Here are some phrases that express empathy: • “That must have been very frustrating for you.” • “I realize the wait you encountered was an inconvenience.” • “If I were in your shoes, I’m sure I’d feel just as you do.” • “It must have been very frustrating for you have waited five days for your order and for that I am sorry.”

6. And finally, here’s a tip that works like magic. …. Show appreciation for the difficult person’s feedback. After your difficult customer has ranted and raved, you can regain control of the conversation by interjecting—not interrupting, but interjecting to thank them for taking the time to give you feedback. You can say something like:

 Thanks for being so honest.  Thanks for taking the time to let us know how you feel.  We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren’t right.  Thanks for caring so much.

The reason this tip works so effectively is because the last thing your irate or unreasonable customer expects is for you to respond with kindness and gratitude. It’s a shock factor and many times you’ll find that your customer is stunned silent and this is exactly what you want. When the customer is stunned into silence, you get in the driver’s seat and steer the conversation in the direction you want it to go.

When you do these things you’ll find that being on the receiving end of verbal abuse doesn’t have to be threatening or intimidating. You can come across as confident, composed and strong…and most importantly, you’ll regain control of the conversation.

When I observe such practices, I move from being angry to just plain sad. Really sad. Because the truth of the matter is that no one CONSCIOUSLY set out to ruin my day. No one sat in a board room and dreamt up procedures that would have us leaving in droves. No one woke up and said, “I can hardly wait to make you miserable.” It happened “because”. Because the truth of the matter is that it takes courage to stop and ask the critical question: Does this serve our customer? Our member? Our community?

We all “know” the rules of service. But sadly, sometimes we don’t take the time to think through just what our actions might be do or say to the customer. Here are some actions guaranteed to drive folks from the doors of an enterprise. It’s time for all of us to sit up and notice!

Over promise and under deliver.

Bring people to the conference with the promise of cutting edge material. Lure attendees into thinking that the hotel is a four-star marvel. Tell customers that they’ll have all the material they need in three days. Promise the meeting planner that the press kit will go out overnight. Then sit back and watch. Really watch. If it isn’t true 100% of the time, it’s a bait and switch promise.

Take the idea of “cutting edge material”. I’ve attended conferences in which the only cutting edge was the serving knife on a buffet table. Same ideas. Same methodology. Same format. Get a clue! Shake it up. Be provocative. If we say it, we better deliver.

How about that four-star hotel? Brochure looks great. The conference walk through is stunning. But then, could that ghastly-looking luncheon plate REALLY be the same chicken marsala you were served in the tasting? And, how about the fact that the hotel “forgot” to tell you that the major dining room would be undergoing renovation. Yikes!

The three-day guarantee. If you can’t deliver it all the time, it’s not true! Now, perhaps Three Day Blinds has reversed its practices, but years ago, I ordered window coverings for our new house. My mother was coming to visit us over Christmas and I needed shades. Alas, the third day came and went. I discovered that only “some” shades are three-day, not all. Beware of the implied promise.

Never walk the talk.

The brochure for the conference said, “a celebration of members”, a “community that listens.” Too bad it didn’t play out in reality.

The setting is New Orleans. A couple thousand folks have gathered for the “celebration” and the “community”. Alas, the reality is another fact. I discover that people are invited to parties based upon their status in the organization. The luncheon session I am addressing has some 50 “important people” file into the banquet hall and take their places on a stage that is three tiers deep. Talk about a “we”/ “they” set up. I am told, “This is the way we have always done it.” The intent to “honor” these 50 people was to have hundreds watch them eat and to also set up the boundary between the “us” and the “them”.

Come on. There are a few more creative ways to showcase the “us” that is far more inclusive, educational, and community building than a camera shot of folks eating. I end up addressing an audience while have my back to 50 plus people. It’s rude, off-putting, and the exact opposite of what the organization, in all good intentions, wishes to create.

Our lives had better mirror the words we use and the beliefs we profess to all. Otherwise, we’re merely impersonators. I watched a very well known speaker who specializes in relationship building turn into a snarling, demanding customer who treated the flight attendants like personal servants. How many disbelievers were created on that day?

Make technology your primary form of communication.

Make sure there’s a voice mail doom loop from which someone will never emerge to actually speak with a live human. Conduct all business via e-mail, assuming that a message sent is a message received. And while you’re at it, hit send as soon as a message is written.

These three practices can doom any business relationship. Amazing isn’t it: having a person answer the phone can actually be a competitive advantage! How easy do we make it for people to do business with us via the telephone or even our web site? I tried to book a reservation in a lovely hotel, only to be treated to a lovely online tour of the property without ever finding a contact number!

E-mail is great for data but not perfect for relationship building or critical pieces of information. In fact, often the E in e-mail stands for escalation and error. Two colleagues almost became bitter enemies over rapid fire e-mails that had the sting of a viper and the warmth of the Arctic. Neither thought to pick up the phone and talk things out. Thus, the lop-sided “chats” turned into internecine warfare. Talk about beating folks up!!

I discovered fascinating information about a client when we talked through my normal pre-program survey rather than depend upon an electronic transmission. I had thought my online survey was a time saving device. Instead, what it became was a gatekeeper, preventing me from digging deeper into an issue. Likewise, multiple choice answers on written or online customer service surveys will never result in information of substantive depth.

Forget the wisdom of the outer circle.

In organizational life, there’s always an “inner circle” of power and control. Boards of Directors wield it. So do powerful departments. When practices and policies come only from the inner circle, the rank and file is not only unheard, but can turn its back on the organization. Members leave associations when they feel discounted and “not in the know”. Never say “thank you”.

Mother was right when she made us kids write notes to relatives after Christmas. It’s a forgotten habit that can go a long way to letting people feel appreciated. Likewise, pick up the phone and call a client or member who has a complaint and THANK THEM for making that complaint known. You’ll discover a huge dividend in goodwill after they recover from the shock of your call.

Three Practices to KEEP customers and members.

Common courtesy isn’t common. Be uncommon.

Service is an unnatural act. It takes emphasis away from ourselves and gives it to others. Be unnatural.

Time is the only non-renewal resource. Never waste people’s time.

Hope I haven’t wasted yours!

(c) 2005, McDargh Communications. Publication rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live.

Ages Would Stop Using the Company in the Future 18 – 25 100% 26 – 35 97 36 – 45 53 46-55 50 56-65 33 Over 65 63 Source: 2003 Purdue University/BenchmarkPortal.com As you can see, there is a strong correlation between participant’s age and his/her tendency to stop using the company after a bad experience. Notice that younger participants were less tolerant, more likely to go to the competition, and those over 65 are more demanding that those in middle age. Therefore, it’s very important to take great care of your younger callers so as to maintain their loyalty. Callers above 36 have more of an ‘emotional bank account’ with the company they’re dealing with-probably had some good experiences and are more willing to ‘forgive’ a bad one. If you know your percentage of bad experiences, put a dollar amount on that call and then total it out for the year. I think you’ll be very surprised at the amount of lost revenue. Now if you have a 1% improvement, as a result of a training initiative for example, the amount of recovered revenue (and customers) is very encouraging. This is just another means to tie soft skills to ROI, and to include your front lines as part and parcel of the revenue-producing operation of your companies. Customer Satisfaction Driver #1

We all know first call resolution (one and done) is the #1 driver for customer satisfaction with best practices reported at 86%. However, if your center is at 86%, this means that 14% of your customers are contacting you more than once to resolve their issues! This not only frustrates your CSRs and yourselves, but your customers as well. Repeat calls are costly not only to operations and the bottom line, but they negatively impact customer satisfaction, and ultimately, customer loyalty.

How do you define first call resolution? And how do you—if you do—calculate it? Research shows that there is no common measuring method. However, what gets measured gets managed, and what gets managed gets better.

In a recent study (Ascent Group) more than 90% of companies measuring first call resolution reported improvement in their performance. Another study (callcentres.com) reported a dramatic fall in call volume—identifying that a minimum of 20% of all calls were repeat calls from customers needing an answer or help they didn’t get. Further, that the absence of first call resolution was found to account for a minimum of 30% of a call center’s operational costs!

The bottom line: Invest in your people—give them the training, the tools, and the authority to get their job done right the first time. After all, CSRs are the interface who handle customer issues. One of the foremost methods to boost customer satisfaction—and improve first call resolution—is to consistently and ongoingly train, train, train your CSRs in world class customer service skills.

In most companies, a help desk may consist of a single person with a phone number and a standard procedure of handling problems that come in. A help desk, for larger companies is a group of experts using a software that helps track the status of problems as well as other special softwares that analyze the problem. It is a place for centralized help within an enterprise to help the users of their products and services. It becomes the center in where customers can call to place orders, track shipments and get help with products.

Help desk softwares are aimed to improve user productivity in whatever line of business you are in. It is a source that provides a fast deployment process to enable immediate efficient and ample IT support solution. There exists a wide range of software programs one can choose from depending on specific business needs.

The most evident advantage of the use of a help desk software is increased customer satisfaction due to the reduction of customer downtime and support call numbers. It makes possible faster and more accurate responses to customers by solving new problems through proven solutions. It quickly identifies problem areas in products and services so that everyone knows exactly what is going on.

Help desk management lies at the heart of any successful help desk solution. Most programs offer extensive information and a free download test. This would help the user company evaluate whether a specific program specifically meets their needs.

A typical help desk software includes a consistent user interface from a web browser. This allows the user to easily navigate the entire software program. It also features the ability to assign a unique ID to each help desk inquiry. The creation and tracking of help desk problems by multiple staff personnel is made possible while related help desk issues appear when addressing specific functions.

Reporting would include such items as track issues by product, model number or versions while tracking support contracts, support times and generating release notes. It also specifies the time spent per inquiry and per help desk personnel reports. E-mail, live chat and automated phone follow-up contact is also possible. A call history information is formed when conversations between the help desk user and customer support are documented. Predefined scripts are usually integrated so that the same help desk support message is delivered regardless of the support person involved.

The ability of a user company to adopt those programs into their own operation will be of their best advantage. It is best to avoid overly cumbersome programs which clutter the process. A well-defined and suitable help desk program should benefit your customer as well as your business.

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