POST CATEGORY : Customer Service

Shaking Hands in Cyberspace

In the good old days, a town’s small businesses (the barbershop, the general store, the soda fountain) served as the hub of a community. Employees and customers were typically on a first name basis, and any sales conversations began with inquiries about family and life events.

Even if you still live in a small town where that sort of community exists, it’s possible that you make your living online, dealing with customers you’ll never meet face-to-face. Although it takes some extra effort through the web, you can create real relationships that make clients feel special and encourage loyalty, repeat business, and word-of-mouth marketing.…

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Small Businesses and Shipping Providers: What Are the Options?

Depending on the industry, small businesses usually depend on logistics and shipping services at some point. While some choose to facilitate those functions internally, others might consider outsourcing the work. When juggling between the two alternatives, it is helpful to consider a few key points.

Any small business owner knows today’s market is extremely competitive, and many small businesses continually battle large businesses to try and stay afloat. Mistakes can be very costly and drive consumers away from a “mom-and-pop” operation to a big business they know will deliver products and results they need. If a business is too small to employ accurate and timely shipping services, it might be better to outsource the work.…

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Is Your Answering Service Helping Your Business?

business virtual answering service

Call answering services can be a great, cost-effective way to enhance your customer service without taking on a full-time staff member. A phone call is likely to be your clients’ first interaction with your company, so it’s important that you choose the right service for your business.

How can you make sure your service will make your business look good? Remember that:

First impressions matter. Are the virtual receptionists answering your calls happy? Do your callers hear ring after ring before they pick up or are they greeted right away by a live person?

Call your perspective answering service several times before you sign up and you’ll see what your callers will go through when you finally forward your line.…

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How to Pick the Right CRM Software for Your Business

Running a business seems glamorous and exciting – you are not told what to do; you get to pick who you work with; you get to pick out the look of the office; you get paid the most money; get the best office; get to connect with powerful people. The list of exciting decisions truly never seems to stop; however there are plenty of boring and mundane decisions a business owner has to take into consideration – which HR software to choose; which email marketing software to choose; employee background check hassles, and finally, choosing customer relationship management (CRM) software.

hot to pick crm software for your business

For those who are unfamiliar, CRM software helps a company manage their interactions with customers and clients.…

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Embrace Bad Customer Reviews For Marketing Success

bad customer reviewsWhile the dawn of the internet has brought us e-commerce and a brand new channel to market, it has also empowered the consumer in an unprecedented way. Websites like Trip Advisor and Review Centre have given unhappy customers a very public platform on which to vent their spleen about any perceived injustice and this can have business owners running for cover.

All of this can be quite scary for business owners who can start living in fear of the dreaded online bad review. Unlike any other form of review, this is as public as it gets, and often they can appear on the first page of the search results pages when somebody Googles your business name.…

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Angry Customers Mean More than Just Heartburn

Your employees and perhaps even you have dealt with these individuals at one time or another – the angry customer.

In jobs that involve a lot of customer service calls, undoubtedly some of your employees have met the wrath of that man or woman who doesn’t like the service, the product they acquired, the prices charged or more.

In order to placate these individuals, you can take the beating like a man or you can write them off as a customer and never have to deal with them again.

angry customers

For those companies that choose to work with these angry customers, it can take some comforting remarks, coupons and/or discounts on future purchases and more to win them over.…

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Creating Happy Customers: 3 High Impact, Low-Cost Techniques That will Make ‘Em Smile

In a world where consumers have an almost unlimited number of places to shop, small businesses must work even harder to stand out from their competition. One way to differentiate your small business from other small businesses (and big brand retailers) is to humanize customer service by ensuring that your website is as customer-friendly as possible.

creating happy customers

Don’t have a lot of time or money, or you simply aren’t sure how to get started?   Here are three low-cost, high impact tips you can use to help improve your site’s customer service capabilities while generating more conversions at the same time.

Create an FAQ Page

An empowered customer is a happy customer-and nothing empowers your customers more than ensuring that they have all they need to make the smart decision to do business with your business!  …

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How To Combat And Learn From Negative Feedback

learning from negative feedback

Negative reviews and feedback for a small business can have a greater impact today than ever before due to the increased use and accessibility of the Internet. Unfortunately, one negative review can turn consumers away, but with the right proactive approach, negative reviews don’t need to have a huge impact on your business and can even be viewed in a positive light by incorporating the following into your reputation management campaign.

  • Confirm the legitimacy of the claim. Unfortunately, some do attempt to make other businesses look bad for personal gain, so first confirm the legitimacy of any negative feedback you receive.
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The 4 Biggest Customer Service Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

We have all heard it said that a service by a particular business, when it exceeds your expectations, is done from the heart. I do not doubt that but it is also my belief that customer service is the heart of any business, no matter its size.

If money or finance is the lifeblood of a business, we can then assume that there would not be (financial) blockage as long as the heart (customer service) is healthy and strong. If it isn’t, then your business may just as well suffer from cardiac arrest.

4 customer service mistakes

Running a business is tough and the economy does not make it any easier.…

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How To Deal With Unhappy Customers

dealing with unhappy customersFor a new small business owner who is seeking to grow his or her business, brand reputation is an important consideration to keep in mind, which is why any negative press about the business can be detrimental to its success. All it takes is one unhappy client or associate, the lightning-fast pace of the internet, and a negative blog post to derail even the best laid plans.

If you follow publishing at all, you might have seen this example in the fall of Cooks Source Magazine, whose editor plagiarized a freelance author’s work, and then refused to apologize. What followed was a barrage of negative press, which led to the magazine’s advertisers pulling their support, thus ending the magazine’s life.…

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