How are you? Well, we’re winding down to the end of this short course.
But we still need to go over a few things about how to provide good
customer service for your business. Today we are going to jump right
into how to make a good customer service survey.

As we have been discussing throughout this series, customer service
is a way to communicate with the customers by providing assistance
about the product or service and the most vital aspect in evaluating the
customer’s satisfaction is through customer service. .

Many business owners don’t realize that good customer service
creates happy, satisfied, repeat customers. One way to measure the
customer service standards for any business is through customer
surveys. This is a vital tool that is often overlooked.

A customer service survey shows the solid reputation of the business
you have established. Customers have the chance to evaluate whether
their expectations are met and if they have been treated well by the
business.

Through customer service surveys, positive and negative remarks are
clearly shown. Basically this is just a simple way of getting feedback
from your valued customers.

This information allows the business to evaluate their standards and
develop better customer service policies. Customer service surveys
can also help when it comes to making good business decisions.

A well written customer survey can give you all of the information that
you
need to make positive changes for your business. On the other hand
surveys that aren’t well written will not help you achieve the results that
you want. To avoid this it is important that you follow a few simple
guidelines to craft an effective survey questionnaire.

– Identify your objectives.

The survey objectives are very important; carefully identify your specific
objectives. When goals are not clear you will end up with a
questionnaire that is unfocused and ineffective. Always be direct
about the information you want to acquire. Successful surveys act
as tools in denying and confirming the customer’s expectation’s from
your business.

Questions in the survey must be easily answered. Customers don’t
want to have a hard time answering your questions. Never use
abbreviations, slang or any technical jargon in your questionnaire. You
will obtain more helpful answers if you make the questions easy.

When it comes to crafting a good survey you can use a few different
types of questions, such as:

– Questions answered with a simple yes or no.
(For example: Will you purchase this product again?)

– Questions answered by multiple choices.
(For example: Which products do you like most? Product A, B. or C?)

– You can also use scale or rankings and ask the customer to rate their
experience. (For example: Please rate our service from 1 to 5)

– Use open ended questions.(For example: What are your suggestions
to better improve our services?

– Alternate your questions.

Try mixing easy and difficult questions throughout your survey. This will
help keep the customers interested and encourage them to answer
more questions. A good rule of thumb is to set two easy questions first,
like the yes or no and the multiple choice questions. Then start to
include your open ended questions. This process will keep your
customers from feeling like you are requesting too much from them.

– Don’t be biased.

Lastly don’t make the questions biased. Successful surveys should get
the true opinion of the customer and not just the answers that you want
to hear. This is the best way to measure customer satisfaction.

Customer service surveys are a very important tool that can help you
make informed decisions for the betterment your business, products
and services. If your goal is to achieve a 100% satisfaction rating from
your customers, using surveys will definitely help you to achieve that
goal.

I hope today’s lesson was helpful to you. Don’t forget to keep an eye
out for my next post. We will be talking about some great ways that
you can achieve superb customer service ratings.

There will be some great stuff in your last lesson, so don’t miss it!

Rome

Today we are going to talk about three quick steps to effective
customer service training.

Did you know that effective customer service training can be done in
three quick steps. Once your employees have completed the training
course you can rest assured that your business will benefit and enjoy
increased revenues as well a bigger and more loyal customer base.

Let’s jump right in to the steps you should take when training your
employees to provide top notch customer service.

Step 1 – Prepare materials and tools for customer service training.

Be as detailed and specific as you can when composing materials for
customer service training. It is imperative that your employees
understand what you think good customer service should be. Give them
concrete examples of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Provide
them with a list of do’s and don’ts to remember.

Secondly, help them understand why offering good customer service is
important to the business and how it will ultimately affect them as well.
Employees will be more motivated to improve their customer service
skills if they believe that doing so is beneficial to them as well.

Prepare scripts for common customer service issues. This will ensure
that your customer service team will be able to deliver a speedy and
uniform response to your customers. Determine your desired response
schedule and make sure that the training materials are designed to
help them comply with the desired response time.

Step 2 – Take all the time you need to train your staff.

Focus on one lesson at a time and don’t progress to another level until
you’re sure that they’ve mastered their lessons. It is a good idea to hold
periodical tests to ensure that they continue to retain knowledge from
your previous lessons.

Let them take a gradual approach to their new set of responsibilities.
Have them start with something small and relatively easy like handling
routine customer service calls. Always clarify their job duties and the
level of authority they’re working with before allowing them to interact
with the customers.

Last but not the least, remind them to consult your FAQ section before
delving in to more complicated processes of resolution.

Step 3 – Monitor the performance of your customer service team.

Subject your employees to scheduled and spontaneous simulations
to give you a chance to evaluate their response in critical situations.
Make sure that you provide them feedback afterwards, identifying their
strengths, weaknesses and offering suggestions for improvements.

You may even consider developing an incentive program to further
motivate your employees and encourage them to always be on their
best behavior when interacting with customers. It is also important to
evaluate your employee’s customer service abilities on a regular basis.

Last but not the least, always be prepared to make changes with how
you run your customer service team. Remember they’re the ones that
are directly interacting your customers, so your team and its policies
must be flexible in order to respond quickly to a customer’s needs.

If you want to learn how to make your customer service training more
effective and fun for your employees, I recommend that you check out
the Big Book of Customer Service Training Games. It isn’t very
expensive at all. You can find it and read the reviews on Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

That’s it for today’s lesson. In your next lesson we will be talking about
how to create a good customer service survey and why it’s very
important to your business.

Rome

It’s time for your second lesson in the Customer Service ‘Quicky’
Course. I hope you found lesson one informative and have had a
chance to incorporate some of the strategies into your own business.

In this lesson we are going to go over some simple secrets to providing
great customer service all of the time.

It is no secret that if you are in the service industry, good customer
service can be your bread and butter. By providing good customer
service, you can generate more profit and promote business loyalty at
the same time.

In fact it can create a win-win scenario for both the business and the
customer. The customers have a good experience and get their
money’s worth while the business gets to enjoy increased profits!

Let’s go over a few simple secrets that you can use for your
own business.

– Strive to build customer loyalty!

Customer loyalty is the most important secret to achieve good
customer service. Do your best to collect your customers full name,
contact numbers and other information, such as address, birth date etc.
Remember if you show concern for what matters to your customers, you
will build their loyalty and acquiring customers for life.

– Provide authentic customer service.

Nowadays, service has been a cliche and just a traditional way
of dealing with customers. If everyone’s doing it, it’s a high time that you
personalize your service. Be creative; personally know your customers
and identify their individual needs. Make certain that your offer extreme
value to your customers.

– The customer is always right!

The old adage “customer is always right” is still applicable. If a
customer approaches you and complains, be serious when handling
their concern. If the customer is angry and upset do your best to defuse
the situation and show them how serious you are when it comes
correcting any problems.

Once the customer is satisfied by how you addressed their complaint,
thank them for conveying the problem to you. Keep in mind that
advertisement will not be enough to repair a damage done by failing to
address customer complaints. Silent complainers can do a great deal
of damage to your business. Beware of people who walk away without
having their issue resolved. You may never see them again, if they are
unhappy you can bet that they are openly criticizing your services to
other people and establishing a bad reputation for your business.

– Be honest with the customers.

Once your customer suspects that you are lying to them, they are a
lost buyer. If a customer seeks for your advice about a product, openly
tell them what they need to know. In the end, they will thank you for being
so genuine with what you offer.

– Go the extra mile.

If you want superb customer service, you should always go the extra
mile. For instance you can send a birthday card or insert a thank you
note in a customer’s package. You can send a congratulatory note
when a customer gets promoted or you can clip the article if you see
their photo or names in print. There are many ways to encourage your
customers lifetime loyalty. You just have to be willing to make the effort.

Train your staff well.

Educate and train them about good customer service. There will be
times when you can’t directly deal with your customers and your staff
must be able to show them the excellent customer service that they
want.

Always keep in mind that your competitors are just waiting to cater
unsatisfied customers of yours so you should always be sure to take
care of your customer by providing good customer service.

That’s it for today’s lesson. Look for another lesson soon! We will be
talking about customer service training with three quick steps.

Rome

Over the next few days we will go through several lessons that will help you learn how good customer service can help your business grow.  In this first lesson let’s talk a little about some simple yet effective strategies that will help you provide excellent customer service for your business.

Did you know that customer service is often an under-valued aspect of doing business? When in fact if you want your business to be successful, you need to train yourself and your employees to understand that the customer must always come first.

When it comes to providing good customer service it is important to personalize your approach as much as possible. One thing all customers have in common is the pleasure they receive when establishments they patronize make it clear to them that they know who they all are.

You have to prove to your customers that you appreciate them. You can do this by addressing them by name during all of your communications with them. The golden rule is; make them feel important and they’ll prove that you’re important to them, too!

 – Always give your best plus more!

You should train your employees to go the extra mile for the customers as well. Being respectful and smiling at all times may seem like a little thing but it can go a long way towards improving your business’s customer service record. Remember, it’s often these little things that make a big difference to your customers.

 – Always be fair!

No request should be too small to be considered, and no customer should be too insignificant to take care of. Sure, there are certain privileges that VIP customers are entitled to and other customers are quick to understand, but there are also certain privileges that everyone has the right to enjoy like common courtesy and dedication. Never let your customers think that you’re guilty of favoritism!

 – Make sure you listen!

It is extremely important that you listen to what your customer’s have to say. This may be hard when the customer is stubborn and unreasonable. Even if you end up unable to resolve the issue, your customers should still put the phone down in a good mood because they knew you cared enough to listen to them without confrontation.

 – Make good use of FAQ’s.

If you don’t have a frequently asked questions file or webpage for your business, create one immediately. Having a FAQ page is an effective way of offering good customer service on the fly. Keep a record of common questions and problems that have been discussed for quick reference. This will help to negate the need for repeat calls regarding the same issues. FAQ sections can help prevent your customers and employees from wasting their time.

 – Never left issues unresolved.

Every complaint must be successfully addressed. Train your employees to perform follow-up calls to ensure that all complaints had been resolved. For complicated issues, make sure that you give customers progress reports to let them know that you’re still working on their case. Do your best to give them a specific time period for which they can expect the issue to be fully resolved.

These are just a few basic strategies that you can use to beef up customer service for your own business. Follow them and you will be well on your way to providing excellent service to all of your customers.

We have a lot to go over in the next few days if you want to learn how to provide the best customer service for your business, so make sure you look for your next lesson soon. We will be talking about some simple secrets to providing great customer service all of the time!

Rome