Improving Your Inflection on the Phone
When you deal with customers over the phone, you have a whole new set of etiquette rules. The minute you pick up the phone, body language disappears, and your tone of voice and the words you use become [more…]
Winning Over a Difficult Customer
Service providers who don't learn how to work well with difficult people lose their hair, their marbles, and their customers. The nature of your job requires that you sometimes work with customers who [more…]
Expanding Your Concept of Service
Your definition of service shapes every interaction you have with your customers. If you hold the common idea that service is only giving customers what they want, you may well paint yourself into a corner [more…]
Mastering the Art of Customer Service
Customer service isn't just the job of your customer service department and representatives; it's the job of every employee in your company. And service starts at the highest levels of a company. [more…]
Exhibiting a Customer-Friendly Attitude
One thing all people who give great service have in common is that they have a genuine customer-friendly attitude. You view your customers as the most important part of your job and sincerely appreciate [more…]
Using Your Voice Effectively for Telephone Sales
When you're making telephone sales calls, the person at the other end doesn't know whether you're wearing a suit and tie or ratty pajamas. The only image that your sales prospects get is transmitted through [more…]
Getting Into Customers' Heads via Surveys
You can conduct several different kinds of customer surveys, including demographic surveys, which help you determine which age groups, genders, races, and socioeconomic groups tend to use your business [more…]
Sticking to Customer Service Values Online
Service strategies — like the seasons — come and go. Ultimately, the success of your enterprise has more to do with your core values (and a commitment to delivering them) than it does with the latest and [more…]
Pursuing High-Quality Customers
Every salesperson has his share of high-maintenance customers. The expense and aggravation of keeping them satisfied isn't worth the revenue they generate. Shedding yourself of the deadweights and removing [more…]
Getting the Most Out of Your PR Hired Help
You've looked at your checkbook, looked with dismay at your current promotion campaign, and made a major decision: You want your promotions to be first class, and you've decided to get professional help [more…]
How to Haggle with Willing Customers
Customers, especially customers from other cultures, love to haggle. They often revel in the negotiating process and look forward to haggling with a challenging businessperson. [more…]
How to Figure Out Why People Buy from Your Business
People rarely buy what you think your business is selling. Customers don’t buy your business's product or service. Customers buy the promises, the hopes, or the satisfaction that they believe your product [more…]
Getting Customers to Come — And Enjoy Their First Visit
Give potential customers a reason to visit your business in person. To convince potential customers to visit your business, make impressions and cultivate interest well in advance of those potential customers [more…]
Impressing Potential Customers on Your Business Web Site
To cyberspace customers, your Web site is your business. But you can’t be on your business's Web site to personally welcome potential customers or to right wrongs if something goes awry. Instead, your [more…]
How to Keep Business E-Mails Professional
Although sending e-mails from your business e-mail address may feel informal, you need to keep those business e-mails professional. For the sake of your business, set a few e-mail guidelines: [more…]
How to Move a Potential Customer to the Buying Decision
Make your business's potential customers into actual customers by convincing potential customers to buy. Plan your business's marketing communications to move potential customers to buy by using this general [more…]
Presenting Your Product or Service to a Potential Customer
Your business presentations let you introduce your product or service to potential customers in person. For your clients, your presentation should offer a summary of key points, respond to questions or [more…]
The Customer Service Cycle
Your business's customer service involves a cycle of activities. The customer service cycle starts before your business sales presentation and continues after the customer makes a purchase. Your business [more…]
How to Cultivate Your Business's Best Customers
Every customer who buys from your business deserves your total courtesy and best service. But your best customers — those customers who become loyal, repeat clients and speak well on your company’s behalf [more…]
How to Use Customer Concerns and Complaints to Your Advantage
When your business's customers express concerns and have complaints, don't panic. Use customer complaints to lead your business to service improvements and satisfied customers. Follow these tips: [more…]
How to Handle a Customer Complaint
When one of your customers complains, handle it by giving that customer — and his or her complaint — your full attention so that you can resolve the issue. Here are the best steps to take when dealing [more…]
Persuading Your Customers to Buy More
Your business can probably make additional sales to your current customers. Capturing additional sales for your business means you have to determine customer buying behavior and inventory your full product [more…]
How to Calculate Your Business's Customer Satisfaction Level
Are your customers satisfied with your business? Customer satisfaction is often based on whether your business fulfills customer wants. Your business's customers want you to meet their needs and exceed [more…]
How to Make Your Customers Loyal to Your Business
Customer loyalty is key to a strong business. To make all your business's customers into loyal customers, first sort your current customers into the following three categories: [more…]
How to Retain Customers through Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs inspire customers to increase use of your business's products or services. A loyalty program rewards your business's customers for making repeat purchases with discounts or added-value [more…]
