How to Prevent a Style Conflict Between Customer Service and Sales

By Hans Bool

A (sales) manager once told me that every complaint should be treated as an opportunity. Treat the complaint with care and you will win a loyal customer.

The difference between sales and customer service is that for the first client contact dominates and administrative tasks occupy only a second priority.

Style in this sense, is the way your company addresses clients. Let’s take two main approaches: the formal way and the more personal approach.

I have seen websites that have a virtual receptionist with the image of a real person. “Rose,” I found on one of those sites and they have selected this name and her look to represent a real person. Other sites with a virtual receptionist often choose to a cartoon or digital character. Less personal.

To prevent a style mismatch you have to treat your clients in the same way whether they are being serviced by salesmen or by the customer service department.

If the approach is like the above, with the personal touch — this site in question shows even real employees with their face and real name on the home page with an invitation to discuss a idea, product, service, etc — than make sure you offer this approach during the whole contact-cycle.

If you use the personal touch in sales, and all of a sudden a customer issues a complaint and you send a letter in response without any name, nor function of the one who has written it, but only the name of the company, you are breaking the style of the approach; Personal in sales, impersonal at customer services.

Clients do not only understand this, they also assume that the impersonal approach is the real one, thinking - “so this is your real face.” It shows that the organization is not responsible; when there is a problem they hide behind the brand of the company. This damages the image of the organization as well as the brand, because it sends a marketing message to clients who may chain it to others.

The best thing to do is to consequently choose one style and use it all the way.

To prevent such a mismatch, first look at the business. A complaint may turn out to be a claim but it can also turn into a loyal customer. When designing the organization you have to choose what business process you want to stress most; claims you will always have, but if you are preparing for them in a defensive way you will increase their number too. So design the personal approach with a focus on loyal customers and not on preventing claims.

This requires education and training. sales is much more pro-active, customer service is used to a more reactive approach and that invites a defensive attitude; “there is another customer, what will it be this time.” Changing that into: “I bet five dollar if I can change his mood.” is not an easy task.

Both departments also differ in focus in the way that sales is return-driven, customers service is more often cost (saving) driven.

Alignment of the approach throughout the organization however (both in sales and customer service) is the (only) option: in either department you propose a friendly and personal approach. That includes accepting mistakes… if you have to … with a smile. When sending an apology do it in a responsible way, signed with the name of the executive.

Tips on How to Achieve Success in Customer Service

By Hani A Masgidi

If you are ambitious to be successful in the field of business, you must be aware of the fact that customer service is one of the main factors, which plays a great role in bringing success in the business. Customer service happens to be one of these things that bring about the satisfaction of the customers. It is well known to all that if the customers are happy with the way you deal with them and id the products or the services that you provide to them are of a high quality.

If you want achieve success in customer service, you have to follow some principles. You have to have a clear idea about how you would deal with the customers. If you are looking for some tips that will help you to attain success in customer service, here are the tips and some suggestions. Follow them and know how to be successful in customer service.

If you are having a conversation with the customer over the telephone, it is better for you to mention the name of the customer you are talking to. When the customer hears his name from you, he is going to have a different kind of dealing with you. It will also be easier for you to deal with him. End the conversation with a ‘thank you’.

If you are already experienced in the field of customer service, you must have had the experience of dealing with customers who are irate. Say ‘I apologize’ or ‘I’m sorry’ if you find some customer angry. Do not forget to take a follow-up with the customer. Contact him some time later. When you end the call, thank him. Before ending the call do ask him if you can do anything else for him.

There is a very tricky way to incur the interest in the customer that you deal with. After your conversation with him is over, you can leave a message for him. You may also ask for a feedback about what he or she feels after availing the customer service. The way you ask is also quite important. Instead of asking him how he liked the interaction you should ask him how he would like to rate the customer service that he availed. The answers in the second case are most likely to be more specific.

The most important factor in achieving success in customer service is the way of your dealing with the customer. You have to be very careful about not hurting the belief or faith of the customer. The pleasant features of your behavior of yours will surely impress the customer. One more obvious way to success in customer service is to provide them with the products or services of the best quality so that they have the least scope to feel unsatisfied. If the customers are happy with the products or the services that that are availing, it is much easy for you to gain success in customer service.

Posted by Capital Remodeling, Inc.

Approachable Service - 18 Ways to Skyrocket Customer Loyalty

By Scott Ginsberg

1. Answer in advance. Make a list of the 101 most frequently asked questions your customers. Write a short answer for each one (no more than one paragraph). Then give away that book FOR FREE to every single person who walks in your door. (You could also make this into a CD, audiocassette or podcast.)

2. Use magic. Write letters, thank you notes and proposals to your clients on paper that changes color when you touch it. Everyone in the entire office will see it and talk about it.

3. Send it back. Take a prospect’s business card, scan it, blow it up, make it into a small pack of postcards, luggage tags or notepads, and then send it to him. This appeals to someone’s ego AND helps him build HIS business as well.

4. Gift Certificates. Mock up gift cards, gift certificates or “Dave Dollars,” for example, that you could us as giveaways to get new customers into your funnel. Offer 15-minute consultations, a free oil change, a free appetizer, etc. Then, when they come in once, WOW them. They’ll come back forever.

5. Added value. What if you included a little 10 tips laminated card with every purchase? For example, dry cleaners could include ideas for fall fashion and emergency stain removal. Just staple it to the receipt. Or better yet, MAKE IT the receipt!

6. Encourage repeat business. What other days of the year will customers probably need your product or service? What if, every time someone bought something from you, you included a calendar with your logo on all of the potential dates on which they would need you? Father’s Day? Valentines Day? Secretary’s Day?

7. “Celebritize” your customers. Have a featured “customer of the week” on your website. Interview him, plug HIS business and show a picture of him USING your product or service. He’ll take ownership and tell everybody he knows.

8. Banners. If you only see a few clients a day, what if you hung up a new banner, welcome sign or dry erase board for each person? Talk about a first impression! Or, what if all your employees wore nametags reading, “Welcome, Dave!”

9. Customer Advisory Board. What if, once a quarter, you invited an elite group of your biggest customers out to lunch? Form an official Customer Advisory Board. Get feedback on trends in their industries, along with tips on how to serve them better.

10. Tours. Airplane pilots often invite children into the cockpit for a tour. Then they give them official wings to pin onto their shirt. What if you held a tour of your warehouse or control room? And what if, after each tour, you had a little pin or sticker to give to each customer? Crown Candy, the greatest restaurant in St. Louis, has been doing this for decades. Except instead of plastic wings, you get licorice. Sweet.

11. As long as I’m here. What else could you do as a free add-on to your service? For example, if you provided on-site tech support, maybe you could also clean people’s computer screens or towers! No extra charge = mo’ extra value.

12. Now that you’re here. When your customers walk IN the door, what welcome gift could you offer that’s consistent with your brand? I once stayed at a hotel in Hawaii. When I approached the desk, a stunning woman wearing a native Hawaiian dress and a flower in her hair offered me free glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Aloha, indeed!

13. Wait, before you go! When your customers walk OUT the door, what “until next time” gift could you offer that’s consistent with your brand? A few years ago I ate lunch at a grill in Chicago. By the door they had a tub of cold bottles of ice water (with their logo on the labels) along with a homemade oatmeal cookie for my walk back across town. Unbelievable!

14. Signing bonuses. Once the contract is signed, what congratulatory gift could you offer that compliments your service? My realtor gave me a $100 gift certificate to Pottery Barn after I closed on my condo. I told EVERYBODY about it! OTHER EXAMPLES: car salesmen could offer car wash coupons, clothing stores could offer free lint brushes, kennels could offer free milk bones or shoe salesmen could offer free lotion. The possibilities are endless!

15. Solve problems you didn’t create. What problems do your customers have (before they see you) that you didn’t cause? For example, if you work at a hotel, you probably encounter many guests who lose their luggage. What if the front desk had a book of gift certificates to a nearby clothing store that they could give to desperate guests? You could say, “Just tell the guys at Men’s Warehouse that Gary from the Fairmount sent ya. They’ll fix you right up!” Imagine the impression! Imagine the loyalty! And the increase in return visits will massively outweigh the cost of the gift certificates. Not to mention, it builds a mutually valuable relationship between you and the other company.

16. Make personalization easy. What can you include in your service to make the customer feel more at home? A hotel I once stayed at had iPod alarm clocks in every room so guests could wake up to their favorite songs. Rock on!

17. Donate en masse. At what gathering, event or conference could you donate your services to get in front of hundreds of buyers at once? At a recent book expo, I noticed three massage chairs positioned by the escalators for attendees with aching feet and backs. Think they “booked” any future business?

18. Remember your non-customers. What types of people do your customers drag around that don’t want to be there? Kids? Men? Women? What could you make available to keep them busy while the other person shops? Once while my girlfriend was shopping at EXPRESS, I noticed a stack of MAXIM magazines by the dressing room next The Boyfriend Chair. Reading them sure made the time go by between the 15 times I had to say, “No, sweetie. That dress doesn’t make you look fat.”

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