Don’t Raise Your Voice

Interactions with customers can often become very heated. Think of it as: he who yells first, loses. Don’t give in to frustration. Keep your calm and don’t raise your voice to the customer.

Look for a Solution

Think of how you can solve the customer’s problem. They may be requesting a certain thing that can’t be done. Why do they want it? What do they really want to accomplish? How can you make that happen even if it isn’t what they initially asked for?

Don’t Hide Behind Policies

It is very easy to hide behind corporate policies and rules. You can simply defer to those organizational restrictions and give up. Don’t do this.

Find a solution that fits within your company’s policies.

Smile

A smile is catching, or so they say. If you are happy, it will diffuse tense situations. Smiling forces you to keep a positive attitude and look for ways to better help the customer.

Not Everyone is Equal

Don’t follow the same script with every customer. Long-time customers deserve to be treated well and show they are appreciated. New customers will need extra help and support so that they become long-time, return customers.

Fix the Problem

Customer service issues usually arise because of some type of problem. Instead of just addressing that problem every time, get to the root cause of the issue and fix that problem. Don’t just put band-aids on the symptoms, solve the underlying disease. This may require that you document and hand-off the issue to another group or person in your company.

Customer for Life

What if you had to treat every customer like they were a customer for life? What if you couldn’t lose any customers? Think about how you’d treat each person differently.

These 7 customer service skills don’t have to be lost in your business. Rethink how you interact with your customers and change your mindset and actions to better serve them. Your customers will thank you and the repeat business will follow.

Customer service is a quality many businesses claim to possess, but as we all know from our experiences as consumers, truly great customer service is hard to find. Point of sale (POS) software can help you provide that outstanding level of service customers long for.

Point of sale refers to the actual point where and when a business transaction takes place. An easy reference is to think of the point of sale as the checkout. POS software and hardware refer to the actual devices and technologies that make the transaction possible at the point of purchase.

It’s been suggested that there are four important levels of customer service, each increasing in value. Here we will see how POS software data can help you achieve each one.

Level One: Meet Customer Expectations

This is the most basic level of customer service. If someone comes into your store expecting to purchase something, you must provide the staff and expertise to help assist in the purchase in a reasonable amount of time, or the customer will get frustrated and leave. POS Software data can help you see when most of your sales are occurring and what departments they are occurring in so you can staff appropriately. Further, your staff will be more efficient in their transactions if they are using an intuitive POS interface.

Level Two: Exceed Customer Expectations

This level is where you start to build customer loyalty. When service happens faster than expected, or is more personable than expected, customers leave your store pleased and are much more likely to return. They may even be willing to pay slightly higher prices. POS data can assist with this by storing customer information, so that the customer doesn’t have to provide as much information on return visits. You can also train your staff to use stored information to make a visit more personal, such as by using a customer’s name in the interaction.

Level Three: Delight the Customer

This level is where you show customers that you really care about them as people. POS data can provide the way to do that, for instance by showing recent purchases so that your staff can ask how they are doing with the last product they purchased from you, and if they have any concerns. You can also use personal information, such as birthdate or anniversary date, to send special appreciation cards and coupons to your customers, congratulating them and inviting them into your store for a special deal.

Level Four: Amaze the Customer

Very few businesses ever reach this level. This is a level of customer service where the customer is amazed by the kindness and clarity of service, and is likely to develop a strong bond to your store and tell their friends about it also. If you can provide repeated amazing experiences, many customers will refuse to shop elsewhere regardless of price.

To give this kind of amazing service, use your POS data to learn as much about each customer’s shopping patterns as possible. Train your staff to provide highly personalized service with each visit, using the customer name and asking about previous purchases. Staff can also offer special deals on items the customer buys often, and ask the customer for input about making improvements to that product or service. If you include the customer as a member of your business, and treat them with deep personal respect, you will definitely amaze them and gain their loyalty for future business.

Customer service is something many businesses claim to have but few actually possess. POS software and proper staff training can go a long way to helping you develop the type of amazing customer service that keeps customers coming back and bringing their friends with them.

About the Author
Cashier Live is one of the industry’s top developers of desktop and mobile small business POS software. Cashier Live provides specialized solutions in bicycle shop, pharmacy, and even grocery store POS software, aiming to provide each customer with the most tailored solution for their business. For those that are thinking about improving their business with POS software, Cashier Live offers a 30 day trial of free POS software on their website.

Be polite

Empathy goes along way. When taking a return, be sure to wear the metaphorical shoes of your customer, who has spent their time and money on a product which, for whatever reason, did not meet their expectations.

Always remember “focus on the situation, not the person.” This can be difficult when a customer becomes belligerent, however it is crucial for maintaining a positive environment. Customers can get downright mean when things aren’t going their way. But a calm demeanor which is both open and authoritative will help ease the burden of customer dissatisfaction.

Understand the difference between a customer and a professional “returner”

Although customers should be given the highest priority, there are those in the world who attempt to exploit good intentions. Examples include: those who frequently shoplift items from other locations with the intention of returning them for cash, those who “rent” clothes for the weekend and return them obviously worn (and in no condition to be resold) on Monday, or those who intentionally buy marked-down items and attempt to make a return on their full value.

A clear firm return-policy and database, along with a keen eye for loss prevention, can help decipher and dissuade these problem shoppers. A customer return database allows you to not only track the volume of returns, but also allows for easier inventory of defective merchandise and creates a profile for certain problem shoppers. By entering customer information, a store makes it clear that they take returns seriously for both quality of product as well as ensuring a positive and cost effective shopping experience by keeping overhead low through keeping problematic customers at bay.

When faced with a legitimate frequent-returner (honest but impulsive shoppers,) a database can provide the basis for limiting their returns and suggesting exchanges. Be sure to include whether the returns are accompanied by receipt as high levels of returns without receipts is a red flag which signals a professional-returner. The power of a database grants the cashier the ability to deny returns based on volume of returned merchandise and inform the customer that their habits are duly noted. Although trouble could arise from denying returns based on volume, problematic patrons typically cost more money than they provide, so losing their business could actually be a positive move.

Be firm but not rigid

Policies are instilled for good reasons and provide excellent backing when dealing with a problem customer who is clearly out to manipulate retail practices for their own profit. However, these types of customers are few in the grand scheme of retail.

For the majority of honest customers, the biggest problem with policies involves satisfying returns with extenuating circumstances or other situations that don’t fall into the typical routine. Although these situations are unique, they seem to pop up rather regularly. As this post notes, “empowered employees save sales,” and although having a return-policy provides a backbone for curbing volume, don’t treat that policy as the be-all end-all interaction with regard to customer returns.

For instance, I managed a mall retail chain store aimed at teenagers and youth subculture. Naturally, “back to school” was one of our major shopping seasons. A mom bought a a Nintendo book bag for her second grader. The kid proudly wore his new bag to the first week of school, but the mom brought it back with a broken strap the following Friday. According to our policy, worn or used items were not acceptable for returns or exchanges. However, I realized the legitimacy of the customer’s concern and of her displeasure with my company for selling a product intended to tote books for high-schoolers, but that didn’t hold up to a single week of early elementary school.

I went against the policy and honored her with an exchange. Her demeanor changed almost instantly. She was so pleased that she purchased a matching Nintendo hat and t-shirt to send her kid off to his second week of second grade in style. That same mom (and her three other children) became one of our best routine customers. My store became their premiere shopping destination for back-to-school, birthdays, and holidays.

If I had rigidly stuck to the policy, I would have not only missed out on that immediate $50 sale, but also the opportunity to create an essential customer service connection with someone who ended up being one of my biggest spenders.

Offer solutions and suggestions

No one enjoys feelings of powerlessness or hopelessness, but the reality is that not all returns can be honored. Help customers feel empowered by offering solutions rather than directly denying their return. With solutions come suggestions. Although the department store may not be able to take back the out-of-warranty dishwasher, suggestions of repair such as recommending ways of purchasing appliance parts or helping them locate a repair center could help ease an irate customer. “Try to steer the conversation away from the problem and focus on a solution instead,” as the post Tips on How to Handle Customer Conflict indicates. Finding a solution which goes “above and beyond” typical customer service can overshadow problems which exceed the power of a clerk or the store.

Returns are a way of retail life. Although never the ideal transaction, the value of a good customer can outweigh absorbing the cost of a defective or unwanted item. The best way to keep merchandise returns low and customer return high involves stocking quality products and ensuring the integrity of sales staff to create an environment which encourages and rewards shoppers—even when they make a return.

About the Author
Katei Cranford is a freelance writer who has spent most of her career providing excellent customer service, these days she shares insight to help make the consumer experience more rewarding for both retailers and shoppers alike.

These things happen to every business. And statistics show all of these things are forgiveable. Your customer will forget about any billing dispute, most quality issues and pretty much everything else you throw at them.

But, statistics show they will not forgive you for bad customer service.

Bad customer service is the unpardonable sin. Your customer simply won’t forget it. Here’s a stunning statistic that demonstrates this:

86% of people say they’ve stopped doing business with a company because of just one bad customer service experience (up from 69% in 2007) – Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Impact Report

Think about that! Almost 90% of the time customers will not return if they’ve had a bad customer service experience. Wow!

What I want to figure out is this: why will a customer leave you because of bad customer service and not because of other mistakes your business may make?

Here is the answer:

Customer service is personal. A billing dispute isn’t personal. A missed appointment isn’t personal. A dirty hotel room isn’t personal. Neither is a shoddy job.

But, customer service is VERY personal.

If a customer is treated poorly by you or your employees they will not forget it. They have been personally offended. You have made the customer feel dumb, disrespected or angry. They’ve been frustrated and upset. They won’t forget it.

That is why, 86% of the time, they won’t return.

About the Author
Kip Kint is the Director of Training and Development at ContactPoint. ContactPoint is a technology company offering tools that score and record customer service and sales conversations. Call scoring allows businesses to measure real improvement. ContactPoint also offers world class customer service training and coaching. To learn more about ContactPoint visit www.contactpoint.com.

The belief that “the customer is always right” as a popular service motto is obviously not the slogan that the designer fashion store, GASP, follows when dealing with the public. In a highly-publicized incident, Keira O’Neill was publicly chastised by a GASP employee for not buying a dress she tried on. The salesperson pulled her aside when she said she needed to think about it, asking her, “is it the price?” He went on to say, “With your figure, I really think you should buy it.” On that note O’Neill left the store angry, with her bridesmaids right behind her.

Peggy Morrow claims “it is important to compensate a customer for a perceived loss.” The sales associate should have never let O’Neill leave the store upset. Morrow points out “a customer whose complaint is satisfied will actually use more of your service or product in the future.”

Instead of apologizing for the sales associate’s rude behavior, GASP management actually thanked O’Neill for generating the press surrounding the incident, as a final slap in the face to her when she complained to them. The customer service nightmare continued when news of the incident gained viral popularity online along with an e-mail message distributed by GASP internally that referred to O’Neill as immature and fat.

Bad press may be good if for movie stars promoting controversial films, but not for a retail operation trying to survive a bad economy, GASP should have made some effort to rectify the situation before it escalated. At the very least, management should have apologized for the employee’s behavior, promising to reprimand him. In most companies, an employee in such a situation would be put on probation or simply fired for acting in such an unprofessional manner. A free gift card would’ve been another simple way they could have tried to smooth things over with O’Neill to salvage her patronage.

Customer service training teaches employees that listening to angry customers to let them vent is an important way to validate them and prevent future bad feelings about the organization. GASP not only treated the customer poorly in the store, but continued to treat her disrespectfully when she reported the incident, making a bad situation worse. Once the Internet picked up on the story, things only went downhill. GASP was forced to shut down their Facebook page due to excessive negative feedback. Even then, followers of the story continued to discuss it on Twitter, and people continue making fun of GASP’s “polyester” fashion. GASP has provided retailers worldwide a perfect case study of poor customer service and its consequences.

Here are four tips to help you avoid the mishaps GASP went through:

• Although it sounds a cliche, the customer is always right. As shown through GASP’s case, the Internet allows disgruntled customers to amplify their bad experiences.
• All businesses make mistakes. Successful businesses, however, are quick to admit to their detriments. If you upset a customer, don’t further exacerbate the problem. Instead, admit your wrongdoings, and turn the negative into a positive.
• Don’t be shy to invest in your customers. If you make a mistake, be quick to give the customer incentives such as gift cards. It might be a small cost in the short run, but this is an investment that will pay great dividends.
• Streamline your company’s customer service principles. In GASP’s case, both the company and its employees could have snipped the problem in the bud. However, the lack of a cohesive customer service mission caused the problem to snowball.

About the Author
Elaine Hirsch is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education and history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead.

Unfortunately, many companies restrict their capacity for growth by making common “dating“ mistakes that, in the long run, can send customers scurrying to give their business to a competitor. Many businesses start to get off-track by not striking the right balance among the “ABCs” of new business relationships: Apathy, Blitz and Complete Records.

Apathy

Nothing kills a new relationship faster than one party not taking the time to make the other party feel valued. Therefore, when establishing business relationships with new clients, companies should never make the mistake of signing the contract or making the sale and then not following up with a client after the initial conversion; this may be as simple as sending a Thank You email or even a coupon code to encourage return business. Although this may seem like common sense, a recent survey by Forrester Research shows that customers often don’t feel appreciated by their new service provider and this leads them to bring their business elsewhere. www.Forrester.com

Blitz

Conversely, many companies make the opposite mistake and inundate their new clients with mail and phone calls. This is the result of one crucial difference between dating and new client relationship: the service-provider is invested in keeping the client, whereas the client typically has any number of service providers competing for his or her business. Therefore, the client has the ability to play hard-to-get, whereas the business owner may have to assume the less-appealing role of chasing the client in an unfortunate impression of Pepe le Peu.

As with any new relationship, it is important to strike the right balance between showing interest in the other person and respecting their personal space. No one wants to receive daily emails from their new service-provider, unless the emails contain urgent, valuable information relevant to their recent purchase.

Businesses should restrict their “just checking in” contact with new clients. Ideally, they would have some method of keeping track of their customers preferred contact level, and provide customers with ways to opt in and out of courtesy contact from the company. Finally, perhaps the most crucial aspect of creating positive customer relationships:

Complete Records

It’s bad to forget the birthday or occupation of your new significant other. Similarly, it is bad for companies to lose track of important changes in a customer’s information or continuously contact their customers in ways that irritate the individual.

Businesses should keep updated contact info on their clients, but they can improve their databases by making room for more specific information, such as the way the client prefers to be contacted. If a client prefers to be called with important information and hates emails, they will resent a company filling their inbox and will not be receptive to any information contained in those emails. Small adjustments in the company’s client databases can make a real difference in the experience of new clients and lead to a more positive on-going relationship.

By making the customer feel appreciated, but not overwhelmed, and by contacting him or her via a convenient medium, companies can start new client relationships off on the right foot. In business, as in dating, there is nothing harder to overcome than a bad early impression. By following the ABCs of new client relationships, businesses can permit the relationship to grow organically, rather than wasting resources trying to overcome a bad first or second impression.

About the Author
Capterra is a leading resource for business software solutions with over 300 directories including customer service software, CRM software, and contract management software. With over 23,000 software product listings, Capterra understands the need for software in our increasingly global economy.

Get Tweeting!

Once you have your Twitter account, manage it effectively by downloading a free app such as Tweetscan which is a fantastic way to monitor what people are saying about your business online. It allows you to search terms related to your brand and produces a list of all the relevant comments. In addition to this, it is essential you create your own dialogue for people to engage with for truly successful brand management.

One of the easiest and most effective ways of encouraging interaction is to post regularly; link to relevant events, press releases and other articles that may be of interest or informative. If someone starts ‘following’ you, make sure you thank them and follow them back- it will make people feel valued and better connected to your brand.

Customer Feedback

In addition to engaging with those who are share positive comments about your business, it is equally, If not more important to deal efficiently and effectively with negative feedback. For instance, if someone feels they have received poor quality service they are likely to share their negative experience online which can have a devastating effect on your reputation. By closely monitoring what people are saying about your brand you can act immediately to resolve the issue and turn the negative experience into a positive.

Never respond defensively or argue with the commenter, diffuse the issue gently by offering a plan of action and solution to the problem. By doing this quickly you will demonstrate that you are prepared to listen to customers and are quick to offer solutions to ensure their satisfaction.

About the Author
Lucy Hunt is a UK blogger with a keen interest in social media and marketing. She currently is writing on behalf of Brandworkz who specialise in Brand Management Software.

Showing that you trust us creates a psychological bond that keeps us coming back.

It validates us.
It shows tremendous respect.
It makes us want to do business with you.
It makes it easy for us to do business with you.
It draws us to you with energy equal to that of surprise and fun.

Show us, your customers, that you trust us:

Use More Open-Ended Questions on Satisfaction Surveys

Management’s need for customer satisfaction metrics is understandable. Yet the quest for these numbers has created a trust defying practice – countless multiple choice questions telling us what’s important instead of asking us what’s important. If we are lucky, we get one text box at the end of the survey asking us what we think.

Sponsor a contest asking us, your customers, to design your customer satisfaction survey. It shows trust in our perspective and you will unearth what we really care about.

Focus On Us Before Your Procedures.

A procedural focus at the start of an interaction says you believe you know more than us, the customers. You may be doing it to speed the process yet the impression is domineering and non-listening. The first thing you ask us for should not be our member number or login id. It should be our name and what we need. We are people not numbers in your database. Consider that when you control too much, you show mistrust.

Hassle-free Return Policies

One of the easiest ways to show trust is to make returns easy. Why do we, the customers, have to fill out a form giving extensive personal information and a reason for the return? We don’t want to be grilled like a shish kebob just because we want our money back. There are brick and mortar retail stores doing this and it is insulting. To get us to repeatedly return to your brand, make it easy for us to return a product.

About the Author – Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach for 20 years delivers strategic and tactical steps to turn interaction obstacles into customer loyalty wins for your business. Large corporations and mid-size enterprises have been Kate’s loyal customers for two decades.

Read her Smart SenseAbilities blog to improve your customer service and teamwork and see http://katenasser.com for the latest workshops and training DVD information. You can reach Kate at her company, CAS, Inc. 908.595.1515 USA.

Connection

Every customer wants personal attention. However, this can be tricky with a large client list. A personal connection can be a simple remark about something specific. For example, “How are things going in City X?” will show your customer that you know who they are on a personal level, which fosters brand loyalty. The overall mood of your conversation can change with a personalized or informal comment. CRM solutions offer detailed records of every account in order to create a more unique connection with your customers. Having this information at your fingertips will help your representatives understand and know the details of all your clients.

Prepared Representatives

Many argue that sales representatives define your customer experience. As representatives play such a valuable role, arming them with an organized reference will increase their efficiency and streamline the sales and customer support process. Representatives should know the sales patterns and decision characteristics of all clients.

For example, representatives should understand the industry they are dealing with. CRM systems allow your representatives to adapt to the varying demands and expectations of clients from a broad spectrum of business, which will likely increase the quality of customer support as well as sales.

New Customers

A CRM system is not solely dedicated to current customers. Instead, they allow you to find a balance between outreach and follow-up. “Opportunity of Business” features enable your customer base to swell while still maintaining quality relations with current accounts. Opportunity of business describes the ability of your sales staff to find and close new clients. Oftentimes new accounts derive from existing customer recommendations. The ability to manage your best customers will lead to new clients in similar fields. However, your sales team will be tested. Keeping the same rapport with an increased number of customers is an incredibly daunting task. Fortunately CRM solutions help representatives manage their customers and organize the clutter of large accounts.

Cost Effective

Arguably the largest benefit of CRM systems are their cost-effective qualities. Simply put, a well implemented system eliminates the need of extensive paper and manual work therefore requiring fewer employees to accomplish comparable workloads.

Utilizing a CRM software will give your brand reputation an extra push. In a world of increasing connectivity, the personal interaction is often overlooked in customer service practices. Add some uniqueness and originality and return customers will likely follow.

About the Author – Woody Robinson is a UCSB graduate and business development associate at FindTheBest, a comparison site designed to offer an objective opinion.

How does one go about forming long-lasting bonds with clients and potential clients? Here are my top 3 customer service tips to help you have a more meaningful and successful relationship with them:

Customer Service Tip # 1: Always Remember Their Names.

Make them feel important. Use their name a lot. Studies have shown that people love to hear the sound of their own name. Just make sure you don’t shorten it or use a version they may not like. If you just cannot remember their name, try writing it down.

Customer Service Tip # 2: Engage Them In Friendly Conversation.

When dealing with clients, it is not always about making a sale or talking up your company’s product or service. Get to know them a little bit. Ask about their family. Or perhaps a recent vacation (this can be tricky depending on how regular a client they are). Share information about yourself. The bottom line is you want them to feel at ease around you. Let your personality come out.

Customer Service Tip # 3: Attend To Their Needs. Immediately.

Always return a client’s calls promptly. When they email you, always reply right away. Would you wait for hours or even days for a reply if it was you on the other end? Sometimes it is not feasible to spend all your working day answering calls and emails, so perhaps you can get someone else in the office to help you (or outsource this to a reliable company).

Handle each customer with tender loving care- it’s then you’ll definitely have a lot of repeat business come your way.

About the Author
Mike Moyer is a guest blogger and Director of Customer Service at Blue Dragonfly Marketing. Blue Dragonfly specializes in trade show giveaways and branded merchandise for Fortune 500 clients (since 2001).