Customer Service Delivery

Do you deliver customer service or do you provide customer service? There is a difference between delivering customer service and providing customer service. 

Customer service is something all business does, but some simply offer it but do not deliver it consistently. Customer service should be delivered consistently. Customer service is too often just left on the shelf as a nice thought but not done everyday. 

You need to always have your customers needs come first. Always think of ways to proactively help your customers.

The number one rule: Treat customers like you would want to be treated.

Client Customer Service Tips

Clients are the lifeblood of every business, so they need to be experiencing great customer service. We will go over some tips on how you can keep your clients smiling. Happy clients are key to every business, so this needs your full attention.

Delivering superior customer service is more than just doing great work. It means anticipating your client's needs and solving them. Your client may not know what they need but you do. You need to put business processes in place to look for client needs on a regular basis.

Relationship building with your clients is key to knowing their needs & what they require. Spending time getting to know your clients is key to building trust & understanding their needs. The relationship trust that is built, helps keep the communication flowing which is good for everybody.  Good client relationships create lasting business relationships that help to build your business over the years.

Great customer service will not only help keep your clients, but will generate a steady stream of referrals from your happy clients. In summary, your amazing customer service helps with both client retention & acquisition. These are the two pillars on which your business will be built for long term success.

Does Your Business Deliver Great Customer Service?

Delivering great customer service is critical to the success of your business. When you deliver amazing customer service, your business will get noticed for all the right reasons. This will help increase business revenue & your customer base. 

However, the question remains, does your business offer great customer service? You will need to collect effective customer feedback and process that information. This will allow you to identify your business weak & strong points. You must be prepared for some negative feedback. Assuming the feedback is legitimate, you must work to correct the issues & implement processes to prevent issues in the future. 

For example, if you get feedback that your washrooms are dirty, you could put processes in place that ensure the washroom is checked regularly and cleaned as needed. The main point is that you must get customer feedback & take steps to correct the issues.

Start putting systems in place to collect customer feedback, so that your business will become famous for great customer service!

Great Customer Service Is Great Marketing

Customer service is a very powerful marketing tool for every business. However, a lot of

businesses focus on other marketing tools, such as newspaper ads or online paid advertising. These tools can be good for getting new customers but a business is built by keeping customers.

Customer service really should be called, servicing your customer. Your business is in the business of keeping customers happy, by delivering superior customer service. Happy customers not only stay with your business but also help spread the word about your company.

It is not easy getting new customers so it only makes good sense to keep your clients happy and give them great customer service. Great customer service can be delivered in many different ways. 

Get to know your clients and out of that relationship you will learn ways to deliver amazing customer service. Happy customers will become powerful fans of your business and help bring in new clients. So, start now and deliver superior customer service.



  

Word Of Mouth Is Still The Best Advertising

There are many good forms of advertising that can be used to get new customers. Google AdWords is one such tool that can deliver very targeted ads to your target market. There is also the usual advertising tactics such as; newspapers, radio, TV and many others. 

However, the best way to build a strong customer base is through word of mouth advertising. Now this assumes you are delivering a good product and have exceptional customer service. If these areas need work, your business will need to improve on these areas in order to benefit from strong word of mouth advertising. 

This form of advertising has been around a very long time but there is a big difference now. The internet has brought us many methods that can help spread the word about your business. The most obvious tool to use is social media which can spread good or bad business news very fast. Be sure to have business profiles setup on the major social networks. These would be; Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and others.

Encourage your followers to post pictures or post examples of great service or product satisfaction. You could run contests that encourage customers to take photos with your products, plus many other ideas.  Social media gives your business the incredible opportunity to accelerate the spread of word of mouth advertising and help build a solid business.   

Win Over Your Customers With A Positive Customer Experience

Do you ever notice how people in Starbucks are willing to tolerate long lines just to get a cup of coffee? Is it because the coffee is superior to other coffee shops, not really. Starbucks is amazing at creating a great customer experience for their customers. They always have friendly staff, and create an upbeat, friendly and inviting atmosphere for their clients. So while the coffee has to be decent, Starbucks is successful for much more than their coffee. 

A key lesson can be learned from Starbucks which can be applied to your business. 

The product or service you sell must be of decent quality, but it does not need to be the absolute best in the world. What is more important is to ensure that your customers enjoy a consistently pleasurable experience when dealing with your company. This means ensuring a high quality standard when hiring staff and training them to deliver exceptional customer service. 

A key aspect of customer service that is very important, is that the staff are friendly with customers and are skilled in small talk with customers to make them feel more than just a number in line. Those customer to staff interactions are very important and make the customers feel special. When a front line staff person remembers a customers favorite drink or product, it tells the customer you actually care about them as a person and not just as a customer.

The key take away here is that you need to make your customers feel special and welcomed. When customers know you actually care about them as people, they are much more likely to become long term customers.

What is Google Ad Grants? ($10,000/month in Free Ads)

Google Ad Grants For Non-Profits

My company will setup and manage your non-profit AdWords account, which saves you time and allows you to build awareness & get more donations for your charity. Google AdWords provides a tremendous opportunity for a non-profit to expand its donor base and generate more revenue for your non-profit.

Google AdWords provides a very effective way to reach potential donors for your non-profit. Most people use Google search at some point, and when they do, they could see your Ad, which increases your non-profit's exposure to a vast audience using Google search. These Google search Ads will allow more people to learn about your non-profit and potentially increase your donations.

Feel free to contact me for more information regarding this exciting opportunity from Google. Here is my email: jason@lightraymarketing.ca

Program Details

Google Ad Grantees receive free AdWords advertising on Google search result pages. Ad Grantees build and manage their own AdWords accounts similar to paying advertisers, but participate with the following restrictions:

• A daily budget set to $329 USD, which is equivalent to about $10,000 per month
• A maximum cost-per-click (CPC) limit of $2.00 USD
• Only run keyword-targeted campaigns
• Only appear on Google search result pages
• Only run text ads
• Go here for more program information - What is Google Ad Grants?

Enhance Customer Service Communication With Twitter

Customer Service needs to have various communication channels to allow the customer various ways to contact your company. Sometimes the best channel can be Twitter as it can allow real time communication with your customers. 

Real time communication allows customer issues to be addressed quickly and will clearly benefit the customer by saving them time. This allows customers to avoid long phone hold times and lets the customer know you are serious about resolving their issue. 

Another benefit for your company is that you can monitor what customers are saying about your company and jump into the conversation as needed to address any issues. This would be done by creating various keyword searches to monitor your company's reputation on Twitter. Staff would need to be assigned to monitor your customer service Twitter feed and respond to customers as needed. They would need to be empowered to solve most issues so that they do not need to constantly seek the managers approval. 

Also, its important to post the business hours that your Twitter feed will be monitored, so customers know what to expect and when they can expect a response. This way customers have a clear idea of what to expect and when their issued will be addressed. 

So, go ahead and setup your business Twitter account and see how it enhances your customer service.
 

Keep Your Customers Happy

Do your customers feel happy when they leave your business? This is a very important goal to have for a business, as it can generate many returning customers. Since the cost to acquire new customers is much higher than retaining customers, it makes sense to focus on keeping customers, through superior customer service. 

What does it take to consistently deliver and maintain great customer service? 

Training and proper hiring are very important to ensure the staff are serving consistently great customer service. While training is very important, proper hiring is even more crucial to ensure staff have people friendly attitudes. The right staff will create a culture that strives to always deliver superior customer service. This is important as staff will encourage each other to maintain consistent high levels of service to the customer. When new staff are hired, they will see the great business culture of providing high levels of customer care, and will be encouraged and motivated to provide that same level of superior customer service. 

Customers will notice the positive, people friendly attitudes of your business, and become loyal fans of your business.

Enhance Your Customer Service With Twitter

Twitter can enhance your company's customer service, by adding another communication channel for customers to make a connection with your company. People get tired of the long waits on either the phone or in a store. Plus, this may reduce the phone hold times or store lineups, as more people start to use this new channel. By providing a customer service channel on Twitter, it provides the valuable benefit of saving the customer time. 

When you setup a Twitter account for customer service, be sure to post the times that you are monitoring and responding to customer issues on Twitter. It would be a good idea to also let customers know the timeline in which they could expect a company response to their issue. This way it is very clear to a customer as to when the channel is open and being looked at, so the customer then knows when the issue is being reviewed. You will also need to assign staff to monitor the Twitter account, and empower them to be able to solve most issues quickly. 

So go ahead and setup your new customer service communication channel, and start saving time for customers, and reducing your phone hold times or in-store lineups.

Deliver Consistently Great Customer Service

Customer service is best when it is delivered at a consistently high level. Many times you can go to the same business and receive various levels of customer service. You can go to the business on one occasion and be amazed by the level of customer service and then on the next visit be very disappointed in the service level. When the service quality goes up and down it results in poor word of mouth advertising, which has a negative affect on the business. 

When the service is this inconsistent, this points to a hiring and training program that is not delivering consistent service quality. Businesses need to hire staff with great teachable attitudes. This is where past references will be very important to ensure staff have the needed attitude.  Once hired, this is where the training program needs to be developed to ensure that customer service is delivered at a high level consistently. Staff will need to be trained in product knowledge so they can answer all customer questions about the product or service. 

Once staff fully know the product or service, this is where the customer service training will start. Staff will need to be trained on how to properly engage customers in small talk to build relationships so that customers can feel connected to the business. Proactive customer service needs to be taught so that staff can anticipate customer needs and then meet that need. Customers will be impressed when you deliver proactive customer service. For example, refill their drink before they need to ask for a refill. 

Conflict resolution techniques will need to be taught so that staff can handle tough customers and be able to keep them happy. These techniques can also help reduce staff stress as they will be more confident in handling  tough customers. Staff need to have these tools so they can resolve conflicts quickly and still be able to deliver superior customer service to that customer. There will also need to be routine monitoring of the staff to ensure they are being consistent. This will reinforce the idea to staff, that they need to be consistent in their delivery of customer service. 

Once word gets out that your business delivers consistently great service, positive word of mouth advertising will bring in many new customers and help create a great business.

In Service For The Customer

The most basic question of all is, what is customer service? Businesses need to answer this basic question before they can create a superior customer service program. Companies are here to serve customers and if they forget this principle,  they may find themselves with no customers and then no company. Customers are the reason for a business to exist, so it makes sense to treat them to exceptional service. 

There are so many examples of poor customer service in every industry. For example, how  often have you noticed how long you are on hold when you call a company or how long a wait it can be to get a server at a restaurant. These are very common issues that could be solved if a business had a process in place to prevent these issues from happening.

Companies need to have good processes in place to serve the customer and keep them happy. Every business will have a different set of processes, but the principle will be the same, make sure the customer is served well. This might mean reducing hold times for customers or making sure restaurant patrons are greeted in a timely manner. 

The main issue is that business processes need to be in place to ensure the customer is happy. This means making sure that customer service is faster, better and more proactive to ensure the delivery of superior service to the customer. Once a solid customer service process is put in place, you will notice happier customers who will help create a very successful business.

Customer Service Can Be This Good

Customer service can be great if a company is committed to the proper training for staff and if management is fully supportive. For example, Apple is very committed to great customer service and it shows. Most companies say they want to deliver great service, but fail to fully commit to train staff properly and do not provide a competitive wage to ensure they keep staff.

The company needs to recruit the best people, with customer friendly attitudes, and be prepared to pay competitive wages to keep these staff. Staff turnover is not good for customer service, as the customer keeps having to deal with new staff and does not get a chance to build a proper relationship with the company. 

The management then needs to be prepared to spend money on quality customer service training which includes deciding how many weeks of training will be done and how to fully integrate the new staff into the business. Also, it will need to be decided how much authority to provide staff, so they can resolve customer issues right away. Complaint resolution processes will need to be setup, so that when customers have complaints, it will be a very smooth process to resolve the issue. Proper handling of customer complaints is critical, because you then have the chance to create very happy and loyal customers when you resolve these complaints in a superior way. 

Most companies have decent products or services, but often customer service is poor, so when your company delivers exceptional customer service, your company will prosper.

Customer Service Fans

Customer service fans can become your biggest allies in building a great business, however most companies do not deliver good enough service to build these fans. Most businesses deliver acceptable customer service at best and at worst they deliver horrible service. The creation of customer service fans is hard and demands that your company improves its customer service. 

When I talk about fans of your business, I mean the kind of fans that will rave about your business to anyone who will listen. The conversation will often start out by saying; " I received the most amazing customer service from this business." Then the customer will tell this story about what great service they had from that business, which will make a very good impression on the person hearing the story. So now the person which heard that story will have a very positive view of that business, which causes the person to visit that business with a very positive outlook.

It will take a lot of hiring and training of the right people to create this exceptional customer service within your business, however the rewards will be great. One important point is that your company will need to pay competitive wages to make sure you keep your staff, so they can build positive relationships with the customers. It is through these positive relationships which will create great customer service and allow staff to implement proactive customer service to further enhance the customer experience with your company. Staff turnover is not good for business, as it increases training and recruitment costs, and the business to customer relationship will suffer. 

When potential customers hear stories of great customer service from trusted friends, they will be much more likely to visit that business. Also, when you start creating customer service fans, your business will strongly benefit from this positive word of mouth and will develop a very strong and loyal customer base.

Exceptional Customer Service Creates Raving Fans

This is a quick story about some great customer service I received from the local cafe. We often hear stories about other people experiencing exceptional customer service but often we receive just average customer service. This story is a great example of proactive customer service that went well beyond the normal level of customer service.

The story begins by me going to the local cafe and ordering some coffee and asking for a glass of water. Now, I often ask for a glass of water but often just get a small glass of water, so I end up having to ask for a refill. This is not a big issue, but it would be nice to just get a big glass to begin with, thus saving me some time by not having to get a refill. So I receive my coffee and a small glass of water is put on the end of the counter for me to pick up after I put some sugar in my coffee. So then I go back to the counter to get my water and to my complete surprise the water is gone. I thought someone else had taken the water by mistake, but instead the coffee staff had taken my water and put it in a large glass with some more water. You can imagine my surprise at this great display of customer service, this is the kind of surprise that should happen more often to customers.

The staff were very proactive by changing the small glass into a large glass, thus saving me from asking for a refill. Anyone who has been out on a hot day and goes to a cafe looking for some water will appreciate a large glass of water. Can you imagine if more customer service was this proactive and how it would result in creating raving fans out of your customers. Create a customer service buzz for your business by training staff to be more proactive and see how customers can become raving fans of your business.

Engaging Customer Service

Does your business have engaging customer service? How can you engage your customers so they will continue to be loyal customers? The answer lies in social media, and all the various ways these websites allow your company to interact with customers. The two biggest websites that can be used are Facebook and Twitter, which allow strong levels of interaction between companies and customers. 

Facebook pages are great for branding and allowing customers to interact with your company. However, this post will focus on Twitter and how it can enhance your customer service. Twitter is a very simple website to use that can allow customers to interact with your company. Twitter is short and to the point, so the information is very concise, which saves people from having to read too much information. Twitter will allow  your company to post daily relevant information about your business that can benefit customers.

For example, if you have a restaurant , you could post daily food specials or end of day specials to move your food inventory. The other great benefit is the way Twitter can allow your company to deliver great customer service by interacting with your customers on Twitter. The customer service department will have to monitor your Twitter account to see when your company is mentioned and respond to any customer concerns or questions and followup as needed with the customer. 

Since Twitter works very well on mobile phones, it will allow customers to mention things about your business that they otherwise might never mention to your company. Also, using Twitter is like sending a simple text message, it will take very little time for your customer to send off a message to your company, which makes it more likely the customer will actually interact with your business. One of the goals of your social media plans should be to make it very easy for your customers to interact with your company and provide you with valuable feedback that can be used to improve your company. This engaging customer service will allow you to build a loyal customer base that will benefit both customers and your business.

Complaints Can Be Building Blocks For Success

All companies will get complaints, but it is how you respond to those complaints, that will make a business very successful. Companies need to view complaints as opportunities for valuable customer feedback that can provide great opportunities for the business to make positive changes. Use these complaints as building blocks for success in your business. The feedback that you receive from customers can provide you with great ways to improve your business. 

There are many methods to solve complaints from customers, so each company will have to design there own plan on how to ensure all complaints are resolved and are put to use for improving the company. I will leave the actual complaint resolution process to the individual companies, as each company is unique and will need to custom make their own resolution process. The main thing is that companies need to improve their complaint resolution so that they can learn from their customers and build a loyal customer base.

The added benefit from improving customer service is that you will build great word of mouth advertising that will produce many new customers from all the positive referrals. Trusted referrals produce great customers because the customer already has a positive view of the company before they go to the business. Your company may even save on marketing costs as you find that you are getting a lot of new customers from the great referrals. 

The basic idea of delivering superior customer service is to turn your customers into raving fans of your business, who will then become great promoters of your company. Once you start viewing customer complaints as building blocks for the success of your company, you will then be on the right path to building a great company.

Smiling Customers Equal Happy Customers

The smile, it seems very simple and easy to do, but often  its hard to find when you first go into a business looking to make a purchase. All companies want happy customers, but fail to have their staff deliver the most basic item of customer service called a smile.


Smiling staff send a great signal to customers, that we are happy to serve you and enjoy helping customers. How often do you go into the store and all you see are frowns or very disinterested looks from the staff.  It makes you wonder if the staff even care whether or not you bring in your business. The staff do not seem to realize that if customers do not continue to come into the store, they will be out of a  job.


Customers are the life blood of any business, so why not give them the most basic level of customer service, by smiling. 

Customers Are The Real Bosses

The idea that the customer is the boss is not new,  but it seems like most customer service does not recognize this fact. Sometimes you can go to a restaurant and it seems like the staff are very disinterested in serving customers properly.


For example, I went to a restaurant the other day when it was hot outside, and the hostess brought us to our tables and she was friendly. However, when I asked if I could get some water right away, the hostess said the server will be around soon. The issue is that, the restaurant was very slow, and the hostess was just standing around, plus the server came to our table in around 5-10 minutes. Why on a hot day does a customer have to wait for so long for water? Then the server comes and proceeds to mention the daily specials, and I say can I get some water. The server then asks if they can  first tell me about the specials, so I let them finish, and still have to wait a long time to get some water.


You would think that common sense would tell the server to bring some water with them to the table. Also, why could the hostess not bring some water, or at least tell the server to bring some water. I can tell you that if the server saw their manager or boss just come from outside on a hot day, they probably would make sure they bring water promptly. Staff need to think of customers as their bosses rather than just bothersome customers. The customers are the reason the staff all have jobs and are the people that need to be treated well, to ensure they are happy.

Surprise Rewards Will Build Loyal Customers

Everybody likes a surprise, but when it comes to customers, they really love a good surprise that will make them remember your business in a good way. Most businesses will do just enough to keep a customer happy, but that is not enough to really impress a customer. When you provide the unexpected surprise to the customer, it creates a very positive impression, which causes the customer to tell all their friends. Most people expect average customer service, but when you deliver surprisingly great customer service, you will get people talking, which will create very positive word of mouth for your business.


Now, the actual ways that you will have staff provide surprise rewards will vary from business to business, but it will all start with proper staff training. The key will be to empower staff to provide a special surprise to customers. The business will need to determine some basic criteria, that will give staff insight as to how they will surprise the customer. Some criteria could be the size of purchase or how loyal the customer is, but it should easy enough, that the staff can quickly recognize a situation in which they should surprise a customer with some reward. 


The rewards that will be offered will vary from business to business, but should provide some good benefit to the customer. For example, you might have a restaurant and know that this is a ten year old loyal customer, why not surprise them with a free meal. Cleaning companies could provide a free cleaning every so often to their customers.


The main point about these surprise rewards is that because they are unexpected, the customer will be more impressed, leading them to generate very positive word of mouth for your company.