The other day I called a local charity organization to schedule a pickup of some of our household goods we wanted to donate.

The person I talked with was rude and condescending.  He used statements like, “If your TV gets wet we won’t take it!” and “If you want to know whether we will be there in the morning or afternoon you must call our office at 9 a.m.”Hey, non-profits need to get a service mindset too!

Like every bad experience there is usually a good lesson to learn that we can apply in our business. Here are some ideas what I would like to suggest for you to consider.

Whenever one of your dissatisfied customers walks out of your business, hangs up the phone or stops making a transaction while on your website, a  “reverse marketing” event has taken place. My definition for reverse marketing is anytime a potential customer meets some negative aspect of your company and has the opportunity to form a negative impression.

Reverse marketing doesn’t pay; it costs you big time. It is the wrong kind of marketing.

Over the years, studies conducted, have reported that the average unhappy customer will tell 8-10 other people about the poor customer service they received from your business or organization.  One in five will tell twenty other people about their bad customer service experience.

In today’s world, with the advent of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other internet communication portals, reports of bad service can travel in nanoseconds and reach a global audience. Forget about China, if this bad news is communicated throughout just your own city or region, it could drive your present and potential customers away in droves.

To boost your customer service and make sure this doesn’t happen to your business or organization, it would be wise to heed the old saying of “stop, look and listen”. In other words watch what your customers are doing and listen to what they are saying when they are interfacing with your business.

At the first indication of negative impressions or feedback, start analyzing what is not right. This is where open and frequent lines of communication with your employees can become extremely valuable.

By having open and direct communication with your staff, you make it easy for them to regularly report, rather than hide, their impressions on a regular basis. When you can identify these issues as soon as they become known, you will find they are much easier to resolve.

When you are able to keep reverse marketing to a minimum, your customers and your employees will be much happier and so will you.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

The other day I walked into a dollar store and quite frankly… I was disappointed. The place looked messy and the checkout clerk just didn’t seem to care.

After I left the store I vowed I would never go back and spend my money there again…Every organization receives complaints. The key is turning a complaint into win-win situation.

Too often employees and managers take the customer’s complaint personally and get defensive. But wouldn’t it be much more productive if they took the complaint professionally and looked at the complaint as an opportunity to fix what went wrong? At least they they’d still stand a chance of keeping the customer and be able to improve their customer service plan?

The second reason is to take an action that would prevent that sort of problem from reoccurring in the future with other customers.

The first R in my formula stands for the word respect.  It is critical that you show respect to the customer.  You can do this by listening and letting the customer vent their feelings and frustration.

The longer you are able to listen, the better. Use cushion statements to ease the frustration level of the customer. A cushion statement is anything you say or do that shows the customer you empathize with their concern. Some examples would be: “You are right to feel concerned” or “That must be frustrating”.

The next R of better customer service stands for the word rapport. You can develop rapport with the person by sincerely apologizing for any trouble that was caused by the person who experienced the problem. One way you could say this is: “Mr. Jones, I want apologize for any trouble this has caused you”. Then thank them for bringing this concern to their attention.

The third R stands for resolve. Here is where you resolve the situation to the best of your ability. One question you could ask is: “What action would you like us to take?” Many times the complaining person’s idea of a resolution is much less than you would think. The key here is to take action and if possible, resolve the problem.

By following this three step process you will be able to use your customer’s complaints to strengthen and grow your business to be able to provide the best possible customer service.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

You’ve heard the saying before: There is no “I” in the word team. And as cliche as it may  be, there’s a certain amount of truth to it that keeps it relevant.

In other words, it takes more than one person to make a successful team. If your company or organization is going to be successful, it’s got to harness the power of a team effort.  When everyone works together…your client gets nothing but the best customer service possible.

That’s why a team mindset is so important when it comes to delivering real customer service. It allows your team to eliminate the problems that inevitably occur when consistent teamwork isn’t present. When that happens, your company will become a place where people want to have a career.

A good illustration of how teamwork can help an organization excel is the famous breed of Clydesdale horses. These powerfully bred and built horses are amazingly strong creatures.

Wikipedia says, “Clydesdales are still used for draft purposes, including agriculture, logging and driving. They are also shown and ridden, as well as kept for pleasure. Some of the most famous members of the breed are the teams that make up the hitches of the Budweiser Clydesdales.”

These horses were first owned by the Budweiser Brewery at the end of Prohibition in the United States, and have since become an international symbol of both the breed and the brand.

It’s a fact that as strong as these horses are individually, when two of them are paired up, they can pull more weight together than one horse can pull by itself. Just like with members of your team.

One individual working alone can only accomplish so much work. He or she can be much more productive when they join forces with other members of their department or group.

Another advantage of having members of your company work together, is when you can have different departmental representatives involved on the same project. This opens up streams of communication between the departments involved. This can prevent future communication blocks that often occur, because of the lack of input from members of your organization, that have a different perspective on the work being performed.

Some organizations make it a point to have members from various departments involved with projects, because they know it will prevent future problems from occurring.

Like the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

To be more productive and successful, make sure your business functions as a team.

Hold frequent brainstorming sessions and encourage employees and managers to share ideas openly and honestly. When you do this, you will be able to provide the type of customer service that only comes when people work together as a team.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

I remember one manager telling me that he once had worked for a different company, and was to receive a special award at the annual banquet.

He finished his shift earlier that evening and hurriedly drove over to the hotel where the banquet was being held. By the time he arrived…the awards ceremony was nearing completion.

The president had already passed his name earlier, and thus ignored his presence because he didn’t want to slow the evening agenda. This employee felt invalidated and hurt…And rightfully so.

Don’t make a similar mistake with your awards system. Make the person receiving the award feel special. People like to receive the recognition due to them; they like to feel important.

One of the best ways to get the kind of behavior you want is to outline specific criteria for
identifying outstanding job performance. Then consistently reward it when you get it. By putting together an incentive program for your employees, you are making a positive statement that you value good work.

Find out the kinds of incentives and rewards that are important to your employees and managers by asking them. You can do this in one-on-one conversations or in staff meeting. Once the program is instituted, be sure to constantly work at improving it. If the program is started and there is no follow-through, it can result in creating cynicism and resentment.

The awards don’t have to be fancy cars or elaborate trips to Hawaii. Something quite simple and inexpensive will work. It could be a dinner for two at a popular restaurant. A gift certificate to a popular retail store or a picture of the employee or manager in the monthly newsletter or on the wall in the lobby is also effective. Other ideas include a special designated parking spot for a month or a framed certificate of achievement. All awards should include a personal word of thanks from the president or owner.

The key to an effective award system is that it should be ongoing and include something that will be remembered. Sometimes, although a cash reward is appropriate, many employees and managers will end up spending the money on bills. The result? They don’t remember anything special from earning the award.

Once you’ve decided on the approach you will take, call a general meeting with all of your employees and managers. At this time, explain to them why you are instituting the incentive program and explain how it will work.

Make sure they understand the process. By encouraging questions and suggestions, you will help employees feel more comfortable with it. After one month, make any necessary adjustments. Re-evaluate it on a regular basis and constantly work on improving and refining it.

Answer the following questions to determine what and how you’ll reward your employees.

1. What type of an incentive system could you implement in your company?

2. What kind of efforts would you reward?

3. How much could you budget for this system?

4. What kind of incentives or rewards would you be able to provide to your outstanding employees?

By using a system to consistently reward your employees and manager, you will create a built-in incentive system for them to constantly strive to do the best job possible. You’ll be surprised at how much harder they work and how much their performance improves.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

A football team can execute a well orchestrated drive down the field toward the goal line.

A combination of plays, that result in perfect passes, and effective runs, can bring them to the five yard line. The goal is just fifteen feet away.

Yet, even so, the team somehow can’t seem to move the ball into the end zone.

They don’t anticipate the obstacles that stand in their way, and as a result, they don’t execute the final plays properly. So, they fall short of scoring six points and the opportunity of a possible extra point. If this is a critical part of the game, they could end up losing the game because of their bungled efforts.

The game of business is a lot like the game of football. It always leaves me wondering when I walk into a business, how often the final moments of contact with the customer are left to chance. Although it could be a beautifully decorated store or business with the most expensive looking merchandise, the poorest trained cashier could be ringing up the sale. As a result, the cashier drops the ball, and quite possibly drives the customer away from ever coming back again.

When it comes to analyzing the service your customer receives, a good way to approach the entire cycle of service is to do it in reverse. In other words trace the sale backwards. What does your customer see, hear and experience starting with the cashier. Here are some questions to use in your “reverse service” inventory:

• Is the cashier pleasant and courteous?
• Is he or she prepared to handle an unhappy customer and turn the situation around?
• Is the checkout aisle clean and orderly?
• Are the displays in front of the cashier aisle neat and attractive?
• Are the clerks in the aisle well trained and helpful?

By handling the details of the customer service experience in reverse, you can insure that your company will be better prepared, succeed in properly servicing and scoring with the customer, and winning the sale.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

How many times have you walked into a store and had to put up with a bored or even rude sales clerk? Did you want to do business there again? The salesclerk had probably grown tired of his job. And a bored or unhappy employee can send customers away and drive your sales down.

How can you motivate your employees to give your customers the kind of service that leads to repeat sales? It’s extremely important to match the right employee to the right position. Certainly it helps to have your employees work as many different positions as possible.

Surveys suggest that as many as 60%-80% of the people employed in America do not like their jobs. Not only is that a waste of human potential, it creates lousy service for the customer.

Employee Motivation Leads To Happy Customers – and Higher Profits

Letting your employees know they’re valued keeps them excited about the part they play and motivates them to provide great customer service – and keep your customers coming back.

Giving your employees the chance to work different jobs provides them with the motivation and opportunity to learn and grow. Word will get around that your business is the place to seek employment, because you are helping people build their careers.

Some business owners argue that it’s easier to have the same employee do the same job, day in and day out, because it keeps the quality more consistent. The truth of the matter is that the average employee, with the right training, is capable of performing several different types of jobs.

When the time comes that you can no longer challenge an employee with the type of jobs available at your company, encourage them to move on. It’s not fair to your employee or your business to prevent them from growing. Remember the saying, “When you are green you grow, and when you are ripe you rot.”

In summary, here are four suggestions for turning your employees into your best salespeople:

1. Create a flow chart of the different skills and responsibilities your employees can learn and master in your company.

2. Explain how these skills can be a valuable tool in the long-term development of their careers, whether with your company or any other.

3. Ask your employees what motivates them and what kinds of things they want to learn.

4. Ask your employees for suggestions on how you can make their job more challenging and rewarding.

© Tom Borg

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Building long-term relationships with clients is very similar to building long-term friendships. In kindergarten, children are encouraged to make new friends by talking with others, inviting them to play, and being “nice.” They’re often told: “To have a friend, you have to be a friend.”

This holds true for business relationships as well: In many business situations, clients often become more than clients. They become friends… not necessarily the kind you would invite to non-business gatherings, but people you truly care about and who care about you.

There is a feature in my local newspaper where readers are invited to review their favorite non-franchise restaurant. The articles are wonderful publicity for the restaurants.

Over and over again I see that patrons know the names of the owners, hosts and/or servers. And, many of the restaurant workers know something about them as well. They know if the guests prefer coffee or tea with breakfast. They may even remember their favorite meal, asking if they want “the usual.”

Put yourself in the seats of those guests for a moment. How would it make you feel to have your particular favorites automatically placed before you without having to explain your preferences?

It would make you feel at home or as if you’re at the home of a good friend… someone who knows you well and wants you to have what you want. They want you to be happy. That type of response is the ideal when it comes to serving your clients’ needs and it can be created no matter what your product or service is.

You may think you’re in the business of selling automotive services, home remodeling or repairs, printing services, financial services, tutoring or signs, but you’re not – you’re in the business of customer care.

Even if your products are sold only to other businesses, the business doesn’t make the buying decision. A person does. You are in the people business. Learning to make people feel important and cared about will help you make both the initial sale and long-term sales over the course of time.

No matter what your business is, every client should receive your best care during the sales process and after. During the initial sale, get them talking and take good notes. Enter the information into your client database.

My colleague Harvey Mackay has a long list of details he requires his salespeople to gather about clients over a certain time period. This includes not just information required to do business, but a few personal details such as birthdays, whether or not they’re married, children’s names, and whether or not they have pets. That information is used to make contacts and to start conversations with clients after the initial sale.

People like to do business with people who are like them, who demonstrate that they care about them beyond making the sale and who keep them in mind when something new that might be of interest to them arises. That type of treatment makes them feel important. They’ll come to rely on you if they know they can trust you to have their needs and interests at heart.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

The other day I was in my local electronics store and during the transaction the salesperson asked me if I wanted to purchase a service contract. I politely declined.

Have you noticed the many companies selling service contracts for their products or service?

Some of the companies using service contracts are automobile dealerships, appliance stores, heating and cooling contractors. These are just a few of the companies that offer service contracts. There are many more.

There are two schools of thought on service contracts. The first is that it gives the customer the opportunity to buy added protection against potential defects in the product or service that the company is selling.

The second school of thought is that service contracts are not necessary. They are simply an excuse for sloppy workmanship, and at the same time very profitable for the company selling them. The one who loses is the customer.

The late Ron Zemke, one of the most respected individuals in the field of customer service training and development, believed that the future will bring a trend for people to buy only products which are unconditionally guaranteed. Consumers will be unwilling to tolerate the service contract mentality.

It’s my opinion that companies should unconditionally stand behind the products and services that they sell. They should not try to charge the customer more for a so-called ‘service contract.” Yes, from time to time a product will fail or service will not be up to the proper standards.

However, rather than charging the customer more money with a service contract, why not just give them what they paid for in the first place? The companies and organizations that will be most successful will be the ones that set the pace in this area. People want quality and service that they can depend on–without having to pay for a service contract.

Can you imagine a scenario of medical doctors selling service contracts? Think about it. Let’s say they were going to do a heart transplant. For an additional $5000, they would guarantee the heart for two full years! Apply this strategy to restaurants. For an extra $5 they would guarantee clean tableware, fish grilled to perfection, and, of course, a very courteous waitress or waiter.

Switch now to hair stylists. For an extra $20, they would guarantee a punctual appointment with a cut and style done the way you like it. Who knows, for an extra $5 they might not even smoke cigarettes just before your appointment with them, and might even display some current magazines in the waiting area.

Yes, I know I’m stretching things a bit with the suggestion of service contracts for doctors, waitresses, and hair stylists. It wouldn’t be practical. Why? Because we expect that they are providing the best service possible to begin with, although many of them don’t and we simply put up with it or take our business elsewhere.

The point I’d like to make is that most businesses (including new car dealers) should guarantee great service and full satisfaction without customers having to buy a service contract.

Service contracts simply don’t make sense for the consumer. The company that implements a strategy guaranteeing uncondi­tional quality and service at no extra charge will demonstrate to its competitors that this approach can be a key factor in keeping customers loyal indefinitely and the operation profitable and successful.

- Tom

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Too many people, when faced with clients who range from dissatisfied to downright angry, choose the loser’s path by trying to avoid the situation. Worse yet, they handle it inappropriately. Postponement doesn’t make the problem go away.

It results in one of two things. Either the angry client decides the problem isn’t worth the aggravation and cools down. Or, the client gets so angry that the next time you hear from him or her is through some sort of official (and possibly legal) contact. Worse yet, you could see your company named on the local news channel in one of those consumer protection segments.

If you’re a small business owner, you may think it’s ok to lose one client who’s unhappy, but it’s not. You see when we have a good experience with a company, we tend to tell 3 other people about it. Positive word-of-mouth is great for business. However, someone who is displeased with a situation tells, on average, 11 people about it.

Naturally, no one wants to walk into a lion’s den and face the angry client. However, you must consider the value of this client to you, your reputation, and the company. In most cases, I would guess that it will be worth your while to face that angry customer and get the situation resolved as quickly as possible.

Here are nine steps I’ve developed for facing and dispelling another person’s anger. They work well in most situations mainly because you’re giving the client the attention their dissatisfaction deserves.

1.  Acknowledge the other person’s anger quickly.
Nothing adds more fuel to a fire than having his or her anger ignored or belittled. The faster you verbally recognize their anger, the better.

2. Make it plain that you’re concerned.
Tell them you realize just how angry they are. Let them know that you are taking the situation seriously. Make notes of every possible detail they give you.

3. Don’t hurry them.
Be patient. Let them get it all out. Never try to interrupt or shut them up. In many cases, the best move is to simply listen. They’ll wind themselves down eventually. In some cases, they’ll realize they blew the situation out of proportion and feel foolish for it. They are then likely to accept nearly any solution you offer.

4. Keep calm.
Most angry people say things they don’t really mean. Learn to let those things pass and take them up after you’ve solved the present challenge — only if you feel it’s necessary to do so.

5. Ask questions.
Your aim is to discover the specific things that you can do to correct the problem. Try to get specific information about the difficulties the problem has caused, rather than a general venting of hot air.

6. Get them talking about solutions.
This is where you will learn just how reasonable this client is. By the time you get to this step, their anger should have cooled enough to discuss the challenge rationally. If it hasn’t tell them you want to schedule a later meeting, even if it’s in an hour, to come up with some reasonable solutions. Let them do the rest of their fuming on their time.

7. Agree on a solution.
After you know exactly what the challenge is, you’re in a position to look for some kind of action that will relieve the challenge. Propose something specific. Start with whatever will bring them the best and quickest relief. Don’t get into a controversy over pennies at this time.

8. Agree on a schedule.
Once you’ve agreed on a solution, set up a schedule for its accomplishment. Agree to a realistic time frame that you know you can handle. The biggest mistake you can make is to agree to something that cannot be done. If you do, you’d better be ready to face another bout of this person’s anger when you don’t come through.

9. Meet your schedule.
Give this schedule top priority. You’ve talked yourself into a second chance with this client, so make sure you don’t blow it.

Once you’ve satisfied the client with regard to this situation, you will have earned another opportunity to serve their needs in the future…and the needs of those they’ll tell about how well you handled it.

- Tom

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Customer surveys are useful for gathering all kinds of marketing data, and when they’re completed they make great bird cage liners.

Oh, did you want your customer survey to provide you with useful data?  Forget it… that’s not what they’re good for.  Unless you mail a bajillion of them survey results are unreliable. What?  Hell yes! Bajillion is a number – ask my 6 year old daughter.

Most customer satisfaction surveys don’t work because the surveys aren’t designed well.  Survey Information requested is too much, too personal, or just plain unnecessary. The satisfaction survey winds up being 8 pages long and only 1 person in 10,000 fills it out correctly and sends it in.  Problem is: you never know which one.

Solution: Use the “Hidden-objective” survey technique.
You may never have heard of this style of survey because… I just made it up.  Well, I created it several years ago for a client who used it and then went on to become a billionaire — I think it was because I designed his survey so well — and now he’s left me in the dust to continue to drive my 10 year old mini van, but that’s another story I won’t go into now.  This is the first time I’m writing about it, though.

Whether it’s an web survey, employee survey or just a marketing survey for your own customers, in the hidden-objective survey we may – or may not – base the success of our survey around the answers.  Actually, answering survey questions may not be our objective. Our objective may be to use this format of a survey tool to inform customers, or advertise a new product. Now that I’ve cleared that up, let’s get back to watching TV.  Oh, sorry, sometimes my ADD gets way ahead of me.

OK, let’s move on and pretend I’m working, as my wife is watching and I can’t go to “those” websites any more, or at least not right now.  Let’s see… oh yea… customer satisfaction surveys.

Another one of my favorite survey research techniques is the “Key-Question” survey. This is where we hide one or two impotent questions, sorry, Fraudian slip.  Oops.  Another Freudian slip.  So — most survey questions are fluffy and don’t matter, but one or two are the specific hidden key-questions of the whole shebang that make the customer survey relevant.  Confused?  Let me explain while my wife is hanging around pretending to not watch what I’m doing.

The Hidden-Objective Satisfaction Survey

Our hidden objective may be “to inform readers about a new product or offering,” or “bring an advertising message to prospects and clientele.”  In other words, it’s a slick piece of advertising, designed to look like a satisfaction survey.  Ever consider that?  No, most people don’t.  That’s why I get the big bucks.  Or I may any day now.

My own hidden-objective as a direct marketer is usually to generate a phone call or have people raise their hands and ask us to call them.  “Furgetabout survey shmurvey,” my NJ clients say, “If the phone don’t ring… you get axed.”  I grew up on the streets and this has real meaning.  We send something in the mail, the phone bedder ring.  He really meant “axed.”

Suppose, for example, you’d like to introduce a new product to the insurance industry, your new LTCI that now includes coverage for massage therapy.  Yes, grand papa would love that therapy, at say, a local massage parlor. Hey – it’s close by and it says “Massage” right there on the door.

So in the nice cover letter you send with the customer satisfaction survey – and you know me, everything is sent with a nice cover letter – you ask the reader for a quiet moment to take your quick 5-question market research survey.  No one minds a “quick 5-question survey.”

To increase participation you could enclose a crisp dollar bill for taking the survey, but it would be much better if you sent that money to me.  To increase response tell the reader you’ll let them know what the survey results are.  Viola – instant permission to call, fulfilling our objective.

“Did you know the Jeff Dobkin agency offers long term care including paid coverage for massage for your loved ones?”

[ ] Yes     [ ] No    [ ] Please call

“Do you think your grand father would like a nice soothing all over body massage?”

[ ] Yes     [ ] No    [ ] TMI* (*Too Much Information)

OK, I my have been a little over the top here, but we’re all adults here aren’t we?  Ha. You didn’t think that last question was part of the survey but it was.  Fill out the rest  of the questions and I’ll send you a dollar.  And the results.  Just send it in with a $10 processing fee…

Here you can see we don’t really want an answer to these questions – that would be too much information (TMI) about grand papa.  We just want to inform clients of this new product and service that we offer, and we do it in the form of a customer satisfaction survey. Market research surveys get high readership.  Clever, huh?

The “Actionable Key-Question” Survey

We continue our survey questionnaire, and turn it into an actionable key-question survey:

“Have you planned for good care of your grandfather in his later years?”

[ ] Yes     [ ] No    [ ] Don’t know

“Are you worried about your grand parents care as they get older?”

[ ] Yes     [ ] No    [ ] Please call

Key Question Customer Survey Tip: You can see we are now asking a key question that if clients answer in a certain way we can take action.

The rest of the survey questions?  Who cares?  It may not matter, because if this question is checked “yes” or “please call” it worked!  We fulfilled our hidden objective – remember that from a few paragraphs ago – by generating a lead: a customer asked us to call.  We call them – which makes this survey 100% successful.

But since I have one question left, I’ll ask:

“How long has it been since you have had your insurance policies reviewed?”

[ ] One year [ ] three years  [ ] don’t remember

This seemingly innocent question is really a Super Actionable Key-Question – and kind’a gives us a “reason to call” if ANY of the boxes are checked. Doesn’t it?  If this was my survey I’d toss in a few more innocuous throw-away survey questions just to make it look more legit.

So, if you’re designing a customer satisfaction survey, even an online survey, first decide on the objective; then design the survey to fulfill the objective.

If the objective is to call or be called, insert just one or maybe two relevant “key questions” that you can act on.  Make the rest of the survey questions easy.  OK, I gotta go… I have some stuff to do on the Internet – my wife just left to go food shopping for the week at the 7-11 and she’ll be back in 20 minutes…

- Jeffrey

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..