Many of you will enjoy a wonderful day off on July 4th – celebrating with backyard barbecues, boat rides, and parades. Around dusk, a great clamor will be heard around the country as America’s wives plead with America’s husbands not to set fire to the lawn with a bottle rocket accident, and later, the country […]
Handle Customer Complaints with a Little “HEART”
Last week, we talked about how client complaints can be enlightening in pin-pointing issues with our products or services. This week, let’s look at how to best handle those complaints, so that the client is satisfied and our companies and employees learn from the experience.
Thank You for Your Complaint – How Else May We Serve You?
Nothing jolts the happy hum of an otherwise successful business day like a complaining customer. By the time a client calls to express displeasure, he or she is likely to have worked up a fair amount of anger. In a business that strives for customer satisfaction and positive customer-client relations, receiving that complaint can be […]
Telephone Etiquette Matters – 13 Tips to Make a Great First Impression
I just got off the phone with a gum-smacking receptionist for a company I was considering doing business with. She didn’t just chew—she had that special talent of making the gum go crack! and pop! From her jaws to my ears. When I finally had the pleasure of hanging up, I felt an overwhelming urge […]
Customer Service – Cut Frustration Instead of Cable Lines
In many industries, customer service has gotten so bad that the public just assumes they will be treated poorly. I experienced this principle myself just last evening. I came home from an evening meeting to discover my television was not functioning. I poured myself a tall glass of tea and settled in to call the […]
Giving Voice to Pepperoni – Customer Service Lessons from the Field
Some of the best customer service lessons we as small business owners can witness come by watching employees in our neighborhood fast food establishments. The workers are generally young, often in their first job experience, and learning. In the process, many of them make colossal mistakes. On the up side, many improve from those mistakes […]
The Treat Teller – Increasing Customer Loyalty
My dog was rather rude to a bank teller today. In his excitement over recognizing the drive through window, he wedged his 60 pounds of hairy dogginess between my lap and the steering wheel, panting his way to the transport tube. When it produced no Milkbone, he was ticked.
Customer Satisfaction – Don’t Send Your Customers to Voicemail
A friend posted this on Facebook this afternoon: “You know when you call a business and they put you on hold and play the groovy music in the background and say that all of their representatives are busy and keep saying, please continue to hold? What they should say is “Feel free to go to […]
Vocal Image – How Body Language Influences Your Telephone Voice
There’s a mirror over my office desk, placed where I can watch myself go about my daily business. Most of our employees sport mirrors as well, especially those who answer our phones. Find out why those strategically placed mirrors are there and how they can improve customer satisfaction.
Secretary’s Day – No Laughing Matter
Happy Administrative Professionals’ Day! We’ve come a long way since the 1970’s, when the Carol Burnett show squeezed a woman labeled “Secretary” into a pencil-tight skirt and painfully high stilettos. For almost a decade, television audiences giggled as Mrs. Ah-Huh-Wiggins displayed all the worst an employee could offer. But in reality, a wacked-out secretary or […]
