According to the Consumer Reports survey of almost 1,000 consumers, experiencing bad customer is fact of life. It happens every day even to the best of us.
The results show how the respondents reacted to bad customer service:
- 64% of the respondents left the store
- 67% bailed out on the phone
- 71% was tremendously annoyed
While it’s true that between bad and good customer service, we often hear more about the bad than the good experience. But that is largely because we share with more people our bad experience.
In any case, I wouldn’t want bad customer service become a fact of life. Never!
A couple years ago, I helped my friend run a concessions stand at a Santa Barbara baseball game. As the game progressed, I noticed that friendly conversations would lead to more hot dogs, peanuts, and chips. Creating a connection with you customers not only builds the reputation of your company, but may be the key ingredient for increasing your client base.
However, building this relationship is more than selling a hot dog and asking for a score update. Many businesses manage their clients with Customer Relations Management Software. These solutions streamline the process of creating a positive buying experience for your customers and may lead to future business.
Choosing a CRM software that caters to your specific needs can be a daunting task. However, the CRM Software Comparison Tool from FindTheBest offers an unbiased opinion when choosing what software is best for you.
Need a CRM software that offers forecasting simulation and mobile access? Simple, just select the functions you need, and your CRM software providers are clearly presented. You can even compare the top providers side by side!
By comparing key features and expert ratings, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions when choosing a CRM software thus allowing you to focus on what really matters: Finding Repeat Customers!
I purchased a pair of flat shoes from Cole Vintage, The Ramp, Crossings in Glorietta 3 Makati, about November last year. After using the pair for only a couple of times, I noticed that soles of one pair had a break in the middle. Thinking it was only a few months old, I brought it to Cole Vintage nook in The Ramp and asked the salesperson if they accept repairs. To my surprise, the lady took the shoes and told me that she would have them repaired. I asked for a sheet of paper as proof but she said, “no need, Ma’am.”
I was impressed by the ease of the transaction. It reminded me of the time when I had to bring in my iPod to the Apple Store for a check up. No fuzz!
I went back to the store after three weeks, as I was told. And surprise! The salesperson said that she couldn’t remember me or anyone bringing in a pair of shoes for repair. While I was describing to her how I brought it in, even showed her a pair of shoes in store of the same style, she kept on denying it as she flipped through her notebook (This extended sentence somehow describes how I felt that time). I was aghast.
She could only tell me to come back again in a week after she checked with her team and their main office.
It was nearing Christmas and I got so caught up with Christmas and New Year that I was not able to go back. I sent a message though asking about the shoes, and I got a reply saying that she’s still looking for it. Sad.
I felt at that time that I did a time travel and was almost convinced that maybe I didn’t go there and gave them my shoes. But every time I would recall, I was really sure that I brought my shoes there for repair.
Finally, when the holiday season died down (You know how Christmas and New Year’s are here in the Philipplines, we have a long celebration.), I went back. It was almost Valentine’s.
This time, when the salesperson saw me, she was smiling and happily told me, “Ma’am we really can’t find your shoes, but we’re giving you a new pair!” Whoa!
She handed me a box and in it a new pair of flat shoes.
What else can I say but, all’s well that ends well.
If you are in the business of sending files—big files—over the Internet, then most likely you have heard about YouSendIt. Its site, yousendit.com, has been so successful that many people I know use their services.
If you are in a similar online business, then you need to learn from YouSendIt and find out how they convert their visitors into customers.
The first step was to add promotional elements when people sent files. “We used to do zero promotion as you sent a file,” says Koon. “Now at a critical moment, like you’re trying to attach a second file, we’ll say a multi-file [transmission] is a premium service and click here to upgrade.”
Lesson 1: Hit people up for paid conversion when they need a service you charge for.
Guest post by: Anna Marie Cabagsican
Business is not merely marketing and gaining profit. In fact, it is about real-time experience that should last for a lifetime. With start-up businesses, this is something they often fail to foresee. On the other hand, this could be a thing missing in big companies who have already taken a name in the industry. They might somehow lose the enthusiasm they had on the first onset of the company. They are popular so people would go after them – a big No No. Whether it’s a small or big business, it isn’t always about money. One impressive way of handling the market is to build good relationship with your customers. So, this would mean having well characterized customer service and representatives.
I’ve read an article from Social Entrepreneur, The Secret to Entrepreneurship is to Give More Than You Get, which talks about entrepreneurship as creating value. Right away after reading the item, I was directed at looking into customer service on the other side. The side that is usually blocked by the idea of customer service as giving assistance alone. It somehow made me realize that customer service takes in a lot of values usually found and needed in our daily venture.
Here are some of the quotes of values taken from the article that really struck me:
- you must give to get
- give before you expect to receive
- you need to give the earth a number of seeds so that crops my grow in your field
- you need to give your business nurturing so that it may bear fruit in the way of profit and value for other people
I know these quotes of values are familiar to you and even graders could know them too. But sometimes we miss the point of why we demand for a good business on our employees or expect higher sales from consumers. Andrew Mennie of CRM gave it a point: Ever wondered how much customer satisfaction is worth? We all know and accept that it is a strategic goal for all organizations involved in the delivery of customer service? Definitely, customer satisfaction is hard to attain, maintain, and measure.
However, the Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos also once said, “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”
Here’s another hot serving of CustServ roundup. Read and learn about customer service and customer experiences. 
RJ Owen shares on O’Reilly InsideRia Paul Ford’s article on “The Web is a Customer Service Medium.” The article presents a very compelling case that the Web is specifically “for” the purpose of letting people express their opinions. I agree! Anyone who has access to the Internet and social media can air his sentiments and opinions on any matter and in a matter of seconds, his ideas are picked up and shared on the Web. Read more…
On the Financial News of MyBankTracker.com is an article on “The Future of Customer Service Professions.” The article says, Customer Service is the true determinant of any business’s success, but as technology advances it looks like customer service is a dying profession. Read more…
Kate Legget shares with CustomerThink about “Forrester’s 5 Key Capabilities for Customer Service.” The article has good insights on how to survive in a highly competitive business arena through customer service. Read more…
I understand how JD Longstreet feel in his article, “The Hell of Dealing With Customer Service in America.” Read on…
Hospitality Times gives focus on calculating the ROI for customer service. The article, “HR must change how ROI for customer service is calculated.” It says, HRDs must shift customer service away from measuring customer satisfaction and into much more complex areas, such as how customers perceive the value of their relationship with the company. Read more…
How many of us make that call only to be more frustrated than we were?
We hear a lot of stories about rude customer service reps or CSRs who were not much of a help in the first place. Well, there’s hope for the flowers after all. A software has been developed that matches a CSR with a customer. It is a call-matching technology called Real-Time Analytics Matching Platform (RAMP). The matching is based on granular characters where a CSR is matched with a customer in terms of “customers’ customers’ persistency, the CSRs’ tenure and ability to save a customer, and the financial metrics around the customers” among other things.
IBM acquired RAMP last year. Find out more about this call-matching technology. Read on…
Does climate change affect customer service?
In light of the flooding and landslides happening in unexpected places, I can’t help thinking about how these events can impact customer service.
Here in the country for example, when the power goes out due to heavy rains or wind, the hotline of Meralco almost always becomes unavailable. Perhaps, due to the volume of calls coming their way, too.
Good thing, I stumbled upon an article by Douglas Hartman. Titled How Climate Change Impacts Utility Customer Service, the article discusses what to do.
PRESS RELEASE
Entries up 60% This Year; People’s Choice Stevie Awards Voting Opens Tomorrow
Fairfax, VA – January 13, 2011 – Finalists were announced today in the 5th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success.
Organizations as diverse as Apple, Capital One Financial, India’s Tata Motors, and Telecom Italia are among those recognized in the customer service awards, call center awards, and sales awards categories. Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include CIGNA Government Services, Austria’s Competence Call Center AG, Direct Alliance, the UK’s Everything Everywhere, Marsh U.S. Consumer, PetRays, Canada’s SMART Technologies, and SurePayroll. For a full list of Finalists, visit www.stevieawards.com/sales.
Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 21 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Tickets are now on sale. The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.
Entries were up 60% this year for consideration in more than 90 categories, including individual and team sales categories as well as individual and team customer service and contact center categories. Several new categories were added this year, including 12 categories to recognize new products and services for sales, contact/call center, and sales professionals as well as seven categories to recognize the achievements of solution providers to these professionals.
Members of the Awards’ Board of Distinguished Judges & Advisors will select Stevie Award winners from among the Finalists during final judging later this month. Finalists were chosen by business professionals worldwide during preliminary judging.
Beginning tomorrow, the general public will be able to cast their votes for their favorite providers of good customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service Department. Voting will open at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice. Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Miami Beach on February 21.
About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com.
Sponsors of the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Infogroup, The Sales Management Association andValueSelling Associates.
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