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| Creating a Culture of Customer Service
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| Since so much has been written and discussed about customer service over the last decade, how is it that so few of us are getting good customer service? As the economy continues to boom and unemployment remains low, customer service is the challenge of the day. We are victims of our own success. One need not look much further than the United Airlines customer service disaster of this summer to see an example of that point. Granted, the airline is blaming the weather, and a pilot work slowdown. However, it took an outcry from the government to bring them to the point where they started to publicly apologize to their customers. It is not that difficult situations occur but how we handle them that count. Books have been written on subject of customer service. Every one brings up their favorite stories of poor customer service and how much they paid to receive it. I could tell you my own United Airlines stories, so could thousands of us, each trying to "one up" the other in terms of horror and inconvenience. |
| Old School Customer Service - What does that have to do
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Have you begun to wonder why traditional brick and mortar companies are starting to excel on the web? Two words: Customer Service. I have had an opportunity in my life to work in two different worlds. I like to call them my past life and my present life.
In my past life I sold consumer products in a retail outlet and then for another 10 years I was selling the same type of product to a big box retailer. During that period I was responsible for over $30 million in sales a year. Now I thought these two types of channels were miles apart in terms of how each approached customer service - until I got to the web. |
| Building Relationships....Priceless!
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There are many things you can and will do along the way to building your business, but few things will have the impact on your business as that of building your relationships.
Some think because you don't "see" your viewers-customers, you don't have to "interact". In fact most of your business is conducted using web sites, e-mail and autoresponders. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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| An Exceptional Hotel Experience: Catching the Elusive Customer Service Phenomena
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An exceptional hotel experience occurred in Portland on my national book tour that included a 13-city month long jaunt. After a two day stay, I didn't want to leave! I received "knock your socks off" customer service that left me stunned in wonderment. Now that's a statement to frame on the hotel's wall. Grab that guest and interrogate them! The general manager at the hotel didn't have to interview me, I was compelled to share in a two page letter why I valued my stay. That's the secret you're going to learn (and more) in this article |
| The Casino Mogul's Clothes
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Over the past few months, casinos in most parts of the world are facing times of economic duress. The Urbino Casino Portal and recent issues of the Casino Journal cite story after story of how various casinos are experiencing a dramatic downturn in their earnings and how they are all laying off employees. Most financial woes are a result of a decline of tourists to casino destinations. Response of casino executives to this adverse situation has been largely fatalistic. The situation has been caused by events beyond our control, there’s nothing we can do about it. Casino executives, like their counterparts in other businesses, are quick to take credit for the company’s successes and just as quick to blame broader environmental factors for downturns in revenues and profits. |
| Customer Service Lessons from Tony Soprano and Club Med
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Whether you work one-to-one or deal with customers in groups, you identify a target market of customers most likely to value what you can offer. You develop processes that work best with those clients. You learn to anticipate their responses and help them feel pampered. |
| Cement Stronger Customer Relationships By Following The Confirmation Letter ABCs
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As more entrepreneurs enter into online commerce, many make a common mistake: they get so involved with the technology that they forget that there's a live person on the other side of the computer screen. They forget that they're dealing with PEOPLE. |
| Customer Complaints - Degrees of losing
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I'm a pretty good salesman, a darn good sales manager, but I am the best complaint solver you will ever meet. I have been on every type of complaint you can imagine. Complaints typically start off unpleasant. My job is to save the customer. |
