See Your Business From the Other Side

Oct 15, 2013 | Sales, Marketing & Customer Service

Do the unthinkable -- be your own customer. Take a critical look at your organization one afternoon and walk through the front door as a first-time customer would. Notice things such as the clarity of your website, the friendliness of your telephone receptionist, the lighting and cleanliness of the floor, countertops, and displays. Notice the arrangement of your information, merchandise, and the responsiveness of the staff. Do you feel comfortable and are you welcomed, or do you feel...

Where’s April?

Aug 27, 2013 | Sales, Marketing & Customer Service

He didn't realize he'd even said it, yet my husband had stopped in his tracks and had basically bellowed the question across the dining room of one of our favorite lunch spots. Upon entering the dining room, he'd done a quick scan to ensure April was there. When he didn't see her, without thinking, he opened his mouth, the question came out, and all the patrons, the other servers, and the chef stopped and looked at him. "She took the day off. She'll be back tomorrow," the Chef growled. My...

Exceeding Customer Expectations

Jul 30, 2013 | Sales, Marketing & Customer Service

The “buzz” in customer management arenas continues to be “Customer Expectation Management”. Customer Expectation Management or CEM is a way of doing business that focuses heavily on delivering not only a quality product, but delivering that product with service that exceeds the expectations of the customer. Studies have shown, many companies and individuals will pay a higher price for a product, if they can do business with organizations that put quality customer service at the top of their...

Confirming SERVICE Value: Measure the Specifics

Jun 25, 2013 | Sales, Marketing & Customer Service

As businesses look for ways to cut costs while maintaining or improving profitability, I'm hearing more and more about “identifying Value” in our work processes and in our businesses overall. Identifying “Value” in its most basic form means identifying those services you perform, or those production steps that occur, that create a benefit to your customers. As a means of cost-cutting, most businesses look for ways to minimize non-value-added steps. As managers, we try to cut any step...

Are you Valuable or Valued?

Apr 9, 2013 | Sales, Marketing & Customer Service, WBS

We've heard over and over "Add value for your customers!" But what does that mean? According to Webster's Dictionary, VALUE means "Monetary or material worth". Therefore, "Add value for your customers" must mean we have to add some thing (product, service, or other benefit) that adds tangible monetary or material gain for our customers. How do we do that? We need to find out what is valuable - and not merely valued - by our customers. There's a big difference between providing something that...