We have all had friends in our circle who were known as Mary & John, and when John split Mary was alone. Mary was the odd number at the dinner party and we were all concerned about her. Well, today it seems that the union of customer & service have had a breakup. Service has split and customer is on his or her own.
Today, let me tell you a story that many of you will find humorous but is all too common. I can tell you this without fear of our local editor getting sued because it is about me, but business owners take note that you do not fit the profile of company X.
Four weeks ago I decided that I needed another green recycling can from my trash pickup company. We will call them Brown Keg Trash Pickup, an anonymous company in the interest of avoiding litigation. I called their customer service number, and as an environmentally conscious citizen requested my extra recycle can. The cheerful voice on the other end of the line chirped, Of course, we will have one delivered in 48 hours. After giving her all the pertinent location information, I hung up the phone with the satisfied feeling of a good citizen.
I arrived home about 5 p.m. the next day and I was happy to see another green can at the mouth of my driveway. When I looked again, I noticed that I had another green can, but it was without a lid. I quickly dialed my cheerful telephone voice at Brown Keg Company thanking her graciously for the rapid service and then told her about the missing lid.
Just as cheerfully as the first time, she told me to leave it at the end of my driveway after my usual trash pickup and they would replace the entire unit since they did not have extra lids. I agreed, and after hanging up the phone I pondered their plight of having lidless cans but no extra lids. I conjured up all sorts of scenarios that explained where all the lids to the lidless cans went, and sympathized with their predicament.
Well, 3 days went by and there sat my poor, green, lidless can at my driveway and a replacement never arrived. Feeling empathy for this green plastic waif, I returned it to the side of its brother that had a lid. I called my cheerful customer service voice again, and reiterated the plight of my poor lidless can and after a chuckle she assured me a complete unit would be forthcoming.
I found it necessary to make use of my lidless friend, and put it out the next pickup day filled to the brim. Fortunately, it was not windy and all the contents remained inside it. That was 2 weeks ago, and life being what it is, other more important tasks have occupied me until this morning when facing another pickup day I thought of my lidless friend.
Once more I picked up the phone and called my trash pickup company, and this time I listened to a litany of choices of buttons I could punch and chose my cheerful customer service button again.
I was transferred, listened to a brief melody when there was a click and I expected my cheerful voice to chirp hello. The next thing I heard was another click, silence, and then the dreaded dial tone that means you have been disconnected.
Not being one of the fainthearted, I simply redialed my number. Again there was the litany of button choices, my choice and the music, and just when I began to feel that all was right with the world I heard click, dial tone and nothing.
This was not the morning for the phone to be playing games with me, so I made one more determined effort and REDIALED! NASA, we have lift-off! I once more heard the litany of button choices, but this time I outfoxed that monotonous voice and punched 0. I asked for the Manager of Customer Service, I was given her name and was transferred. What greeted my eager ear was, You have reached the voicemail of, please leave your name and number and she will return your call.
So here we sit, my lidless, green can and I facing another pick-up day. This eager-to-serve plastic green waif must bravely face another dutiful day half-clothed.
You must admit that is an amusing story, and one that far too many of us have lived through, but what a sad commentary it is about our business community.
Does it not make you wonder if our language has changed so drastically that what we interpret customer service to mean is not what todays business owners mean. It makes me wonder when the marriage of customer and service broke-up, leaving us all the lonely ones.
Entrepreneurs and business owners take note! If you are going to have a number for your customers to access your customer service, please follow these rules.
Have the phone manned by an employee that can hear thunder and see lightening.
Give that employee training in helping the caller and not shuffling the problem to another desk.
Have an overseer, who can also hear thunder and see lightening, check that all incoming complaints were handled appropriately.
After learning how to find your customers and what they want; after getting them committed to doing business with YOU; and after wooing them to keep them as your customers, WHY WOULD YOU LET SERVICE DIVORCE CUSTOMER?
If your customers are not getting the service they require from you, your competitor will be only too happy to help them!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Freelance Work At Home Basics - 3 Ways to Build Client Trust While Working From Home
One of the best consulting assignments in the world is when your top client (i.e. your main source of income) has you perform all the work from your home office. However, while it is very optimal to work from home and you have advantages over people that commute to the office, you do have to consider building and keeping client trust.
After all consulting is a very simple concept: you are paid to get results through completing projects for your client. Otherwise you are not worth the money the client pays you. Building client trust makes consulting assignments easier and also provides opportunity for more work. If you want to build trust with your client then try these three practices (or exercises) to build trust through exceptional service.
Be available most of your client 's business hours
One sure fire way of gaining the trust of your client is to be available during your client 's business hours. Remember is that most corporate offices operate and communicate with their clients and vendors from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday. Being available during business hours not only builds trust with your client but can also be rewarding in the form of more work.
Businesses always need to be supported during the work day. You never know when you're needed as a resource other than the project you're working on. You become part of the team as you are establishing a presence with your client. You are becoming part of your client 's support system. Most clients want to trust their consultants. Your goals should always be an integral part of your client 's team.
The best ways to be available for your client are to provide a mobile phone number, and be on Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant messenger. If you plan to be away during the business day, make sure to let your client know via the messenger status window. Using instant messenger programs is becoming very popular among businesses, which leads me to our next practice to build client trust.
Learn to work with distraction
One thing about any work day whether you are working from home or not is the fact that there will always be distractions. This usually comes in the form of client requests or if you're working from home personal requests.
No one likes to be distracted from their projects. However, I would recommend that one of the best ways to work with distractions is to embrace them. However, some thought must go into the importance of the distraction.
Working on a project and juggling multiple clients can be trying at times. No matter what you are working on it seems you're destined to get calls from your clients. If a client is calling you during the day, your best bet is to take the call. If you look at it from your clients point of view, they have your call on their "to do" list. Meaning they are blocking of time from their day to reach out to you. This call can mean anything from a simple question or more billable work. It 's definitely worth it.
Try to finish the project you are working on before going to the next one
The main reason you are hired as a freelance consultant is to get the job done. Have you heard of the old saying "the proof of the pudding is in the eating"? This saying holds very true in the IT small business consulting world. So remember results get you more work.
So what 's the best way to get results, you ask? If you are working on multiple projects, always work toward completing a project milestone before you work on another project. Always make your closest project due date your central point of your workday until it 's completed. This will provide you and your client the mental boost necessary to show progress with your projects.
Hopefully you can see now why it 's possible to be at a disadvantage while working from home. With the 3 methods mentioned above, you should be able to provide exceptional customer service to your client.
After all consulting is a very simple concept: you are paid to get results through completing projects for your client. Otherwise you are not worth the money the client pays you. Building client trust makes consulting assignments easier and also provides opportunity for more work. If you want to build trust with your client then try these three practices (or exercises) to build trust through exceptional service.
Be available most of your client 's business hours
One sure fire way of gaining the trust of your client is to be available during your client 's business hours. Remember is that most corporate offices operate and communicate with their clients and vendors from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Monday through Friday. Being available during business hours not only builds trust with your client but can also be rewarding in the form of more work.
Businesses always need to be supported during the work day. You never know when you're needed as a resource other than the project you're working on. You become part of the team as you are establishing a presence with your client. You are becoming part of your client 's support system. Most clients want to trust their consultants. Your goals should always be an integral part of your client 's team.
The best ways to be available for your client are to provide a mobile phone number, and be on Windows Live Messenger and AOL Instant messenger. If you plan to be away during the business day, make sure to let your client know via the messenger status window. Using instant messenger programs is becoming very popular among businesses, which leads me to our next practice to build client trust.
Learn to work with distraction
One thing about any work day whether you are working from home or not is the fact that there will always be distractions. This usually comes in the form of client requests or if you're working from home personal requests.
No one likes to be distracted from their projects. However, I would recommend that one of the best ways to work with distractions is to embrace them. However, some thought must go into the importance of the distraction.
Working on a project and juggling multiple clients can be trying at times. No matter what you are working on it seems you're destined to get calls from your clients. If a client is calling you during the day, your best bet is to take the call. If you look at it from your clients point of view, they have your call on their "to do" list. Meaning they are blocking of time from their day to reach out to you. This call can mean anything from a simple question or more billable work. It 's definitely worth it.
Try to finish the project you are working on before going to the next one
The main reason you are hired as a freelance consultant is to get the job done. Have you heard of the old saying "the proof of the pudding is in the eating"? This saying holds very true in the IT small business consulting world. So remember results get you more work.
So what 's the best way to get results, you ask? If you are working on multiple projects, always work toward completing a project milestone before you work on another project. Always make your closest project due date your central point of your workday until it 's completed. This will provide you and your client the mental boost necessary to show progress with your projects.
Hopefully you can see now why it 's possible to be at a disadvantage while working from home. With the 3 methods mentioned above, you should be able to provide exceptional customer service to your client.
Can You Really Use Articles To Build Your List?
Getting customers in your site should always be ranked as high as the importance of the quality and the excellence of the product and the services you provide.
They should go hand in hand in providing your customers the satisfaction they get in exchange for the money they have paid for them. Customer service should as well be as fantastic so that the customers are provided with the same satisfaction.
One of the ways you can combine marketing and customer service is through opt-in marketing. With an opt-in list you get the opportunity to introduce your site and products on a good time basis.
Opt-in marketing strategy is a marketing strategy that is virtually low cost and not time consuming. Here, you get the consent of your website visitors to subscribe to your newsletters and other promotional materials such as catalogs and free promotions.
Opt-in marketing uses your list of subscribers to send e-mail to. These e-mails will contain the materials you will send to your subscribers.
It is essential that you present your promotional items in a manner that will catch the interest and the eye of your subscribers to keep them wanting for more. The best way to do this is to provide fun, entertaining and informational articles.
Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed your list.
When they have read the samples of your contents in your sites, they will be intrigued as to what will come next. Subscribing to your newsletter will offer them a glimpse of what you have to offer next.
Many sites and companies have captured the importance of articles and this also aids in search engine optimization. As more people are heading towards the internet for their information needs, serving the right information to them via articles in your site will increase the flow of your website traffic.
With more traffic, the percentage of your sales will grow. More sales turn into more profit.
There have been the rise for the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for the content of their site as well as for newsletters.
These articles provide the information many are seeking in the internet. If your site has them, more people will be going to your site for information and research.
Well written articles would also boost your sites reputation. If they are filled with many information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle.
Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come for you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles must be about the diseases. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes.
Most articles searched for are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
With the loyalty of these customers, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have.
If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to be receiving your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.
You should provide links in your newsletter so that when other people are reading it and wants to read more, they may click on the link and go to your site. With the articles you have in your site that are good, they may decide to sign up as well for your opt-in list. This will build your list and make it bigger.
Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter.
If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don't have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out. This is an investment that will pay for itself in time.
They should go hand in hand in providing your customers the satisfaction they get in exchange for the money they have paid for them. Customer service should as well be as fantastic so that the customers are provided with the same satisfaction.
One of the ways you can combine marketing and customer service is through opt-in marketing. With an opt-in list you get the opportunity to introduce your site and products on a good time basis.
Opt-in marketing strategy is a marketing strategy that is virtually low cost and not time consuming. Here, you get the consent of your website visitors to subscribe to your newsletters and other promotional materials such as catalogs and free promotions.
Opt-in marketing uses your list of subscribers to send e-mail to. These e-mails will contain the materials you will send to your subscribers.
It is essential that you present your promotional items in a manner that will catch the interest and the eye of your subscribers to keep them wanting for more. The best way to do this is to provide fun, entertaining and informational articles.
Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed your list.
When they have read the samples of your contents in your sites, they will be intrigued as to what will come next. Subscribing to your newsletter will offer them a glimpse of what you have to offer next.
Many sites and companies have captured the importance of articles and this also aids in search engine optimization. As more people are heading towards the internet for their information needs, serving the right information to them via articles in your site will increase the flow of your website traffic.
With more traffic, the percentage of your sales will grow. More sales turn into more profit.
There have been the rise for the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for the content of their site as well as for newsletters.
These articles provide the information many are seeking in the internet. If your site has them, more people will be going to your site for information and research.
Well written articles would also boost your sites reputation. If they are filled with many information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle.
Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come for you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles must be about the diseases. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes.
Most articles searched for are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
With the loyalty of these customers, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have.
If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to be receiving your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.
You should provide links in your newsletter so that when other people are reading it and wants to read more, they may click on the link and go to your site. With the articles you have in your site that are good, they may decide to sign up as well for your opt-in list. This will build your list and make it bigger.
Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter.
If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don't have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out. This is an investment that will pay for itself in time.
Hi, How May I Offend You Today?
As an American consumer, chances are that you have been offended in some way by a company this year. It hasn't always been that way. Before the current era of mass-everything, there was a real connection between proprietor and customer: a connection that continues to be the envy of most businesses today.
Let me take you back to a time when the customer and business had a real - not artificial - relationship.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
"Jim was spending a typical fall Saturday working on a never-ending list of home repair projects. Ever since he bought the little two-story fixer-upper, he has been a regular down at the corner hardware store. Earl, the sole proprietor, was from the old school. He didn't believe in fancy systems or gimmicks; he just liked helping his fellow neighbors. Earl knew everyone by name, and as any good businessperson should - he knew what one of his best customers, Jim, was up to today.
When Jim walked in the door, Earl recognized him like an old friend and immediately asked him about his latest project. Within minutes, Earl had found just the right product and tool that would help Jim get the job done. Earl made a sale as well as a very happy customer."
That scenario just doesn't happen often enough anymore does it? Perhaps it was easier back before quaint neighborhood stores were overrun by the big-box retailers and the mass-production of, well, everything. Neighborhood storeowners developed real relationships with their customers; not a relationship defined by a customer record stored in some computer database.
BAD SERVICE - MASS PRODUCED
Unfortunately, in today 's environment of mass-produced products and services, companies rely too heavily on a rapidly changing employee base, and a less than adequate customer database. As a result, it 's far too easy - and common - for companies to offend their customers.
If we were to replay Jim 's scenario in today 's environment, it might go something like this:
"Jim jumped in his car for the second time this Saturday to make the 20-minute drive to a strip mall where the big-box home improvement store was located. On his first trip, the young assistant didn't really understand what Jim was trying to do and had sold him the wrong product. Now, Jim had to return to the store to exchange it for something else.
Upon arriving at the store, nobody greeted or recognized him, and when he finally tracked down a store employee, he had to re-explain his entire project and problem. After a long deliberation, Jim finally had a replacement product and was ready to check out. But without his receipt for the original product..."
You probably know how the story would go. Too many consumers have been treated just this way. It 's no wonder that many consumers say that customer service across the board is just plain bad.
THE REMEDY?
Unfortunately, we live in a time where mass-produced products and services are the norm. If you work for one of these organizations, you have to make the most of a difficult situation: multiple locations, multiple channels, changing employees, and rising customer expectations. Many companies turn to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to bridge the gap on poor customer service.
Although CRM solutions can stem the tide of poor customer service, they often can't achieve the level of customer intimacy that some customers require. CRM solutions do a great job of tracking customer information, transactions, and interactions, but I would argue that a CRM system is only as good as the customer-facing individuals using it.
Ideally, your CRM system should help your organization to keep track of all pertinent customer information:
* Customer Information: This should include all of the basic identifying information for your customer including name, address, email address, telephone number, sex, age, etc.
* Transaction History: This should include a record of all transactions associated with your customer including the transaction dates, amount, products or services purchased, payments, receivables, returns, refunds, etc.
* Interaction History: This should include a record of all contacts made with the customer including telephone calls, emails, newsletters, direct mail, invoices, service calls, etc.
Armed with all of this great information, customer-facing employees should be well prepared to provide excellent customer service, right? In a perfect world, they should. However, there are several factors that can hinder the best intentions of any CRM solution:
1. Employee Behavior & Discipline: Poor customer service can continue even with a CRM solution in place when employees don't utilize it properly or consistently.
2. Data Quality & Accessibility: A customer database can help to collect and aggregate critical information, but it won't help if the data is incorrect or inaccurate, or if your employees can't access it when and where they need it most.
3. Single View of the Customer: CRM solutions in your company are like debt; more is not necessarily better. Too often, multiple CRM solutions arise in an organization, which creates silos of customer data. That can prevent your company from ever getting a single view of your customer - a scenario that can perpetuate poor customer service.
Bad customer service doesn't need to become a habit. We may never return to the time of quant neighborhood stores, where intimate customer service just came naturally. However, companies can begin to improve their customer service by taking a more customer-centric view of their CRM systems. CRM should not be viewed as the end-all solution, but rather as a enabling tool that, if used properly by your employees, can help to develop a more meaningful relationship with your customers.
The next time I walk into a business that I frequent, I'd like them to remember me. I'd like them to recall that I just bought something from them last week, or that I've been a regular customer for more than a year. I'd like them to ask me how I'm doing, or how they can help me with my latest project - which they should know about. Nobody wants to be greeted with an all too common mantra: "Hi, How May I Offend You Today?"
Let me take you back to a time when the customer and business had a real - not artificial - relationship.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS
"Jim was spending a typical fall Saturday working on a never-ending list of home repair projects. Ever since he bought the little two-story fixer-upper, he has been a regular down at the corner hardware store. Earl, the sole proprietor, was from the old school. He didn't believe in fancy systems or gimmicks; he just liked helping his fellow neighbors. Earl knew everyone by name, and as any good businessperson should - he knew what one of his best customers, Jim, was up to today.
When Jim walked in the door, Earl recognized him like an old friend and immediately asked him about his latest project. Within minutes, Earl had found just the right product and tool that would help Jim get the job done. Earl made a sale as well as a very happy customer."
That scenario just doesn't happen often enough anymore does it? Perhaps it was easier back before quaint neighborhood stores were overrun by the big-box retailers and the mass-production of, well, everything. Neighborhood storeowners developed real relationships with their customers; not a relationship defined by a customer record stored in some computer database.
BAD SERVICE - MASS PRODUCED
Unfortunately, in today 's environment of mass-produced products and services, companies rely too heavily on a rapidly changing employee base, and a less than adequate customer database. As a result, it 's far too easy - and common - for companies to offend their customers.
If we were to replay Jim 's scenario in today 's environment, it might go something like this:
"Jim jumped in his car for the second time this Saturday to make the 20-minute drive to a strip mall where the big-box home improvement store was located. On his first trip, the young assistant didn't really understand what Jim was trying to do and had sold him the wrong product. Now, Jim had to return to the store to exchange it for something else.
Upon arriving at the store, nobody greeted or recognized him, and when he finally tracked down a store employee, he had to re-explain his entire project and problem. After a long deliberation, Jim finally had a replacement product and was ready to check out. But without his receipt for the original product..."
You probably know how the story would go. Too many consumers have been treated just this way. It 's no wonder that many consumers say that customer service across the board is just plain bad.
THE REMEDY?
Unfortunately, we live in a time where mass-produced products and services are the norm. If you work for one of these organizations, you have to make the most of a difficult situation: multiple locations, multiple channels, changing employees, and rising customer expectations. Many companies turn to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions to bridge the gap on poor customer service.
Although CRM solutions can stem the tide of poor customer service, they often can't achieve the level of customer intimacy that some customers require. CRM solutions do a great job of tracking customer information, transactions, and interactions, but I would argue that a CRM system is only as good as the customer-facing individuals using it.
Ideally, your CRM system should help your organization to keep track of all pertinent customer information:
* Customer Information: This should include all of the basic identifying information for your customer including name, address, email address, telephone number, sex, age, etc.
* Transaction History: This should include a record of all transactions associated with your customer including the transaction dates, amount, products or services purchased, payments, receivables, returns, refunds, etc.
* Interaction History: This should include a record of all contacts made with the customer including telephone calls, emails, newsletters, direct mail, invoices, service calls, etc.
Armed with all of this great information, customer-facing employees should be well prepared to provide excellent customer service, right? In a perfect world, they should. However, there are several factors that can hinder the best intentions of any CRM solution:
1. Employee Behavior & Discipline: Poor customer service can continue even with a CRM solution in place when employees don't utilize it properly or consistently.
2. Data Quality & Accessibility: A customer database can help to collect and aggregate critical information, but it won't help if the data is incorrect or inaccurate, or if your employees can't access it when and where they need it most.
3. Single View of the Customer: CRM solutions in your company are like debt; more is not necessarily better. Too often, multiple CRM solutions arise in an organization, which creates silos of customer data. That can prevent your company from ever getting a single view of your customer - a scenario that can perpetuate poor customer service.
Bad customer service doesn't need to become a habit. We may never return to the time of quant neighborhood stores, where intimate customer service just came naturally. However, companies can begin to improve their customer service by taking a more customer-centric view of their CRM systems. CRM should not be viewed as the end-all solution, but rather as a enabling tool that, if used properly by your employees, can help to develop a more meaningful relationship with your customers.
The next time I walk into a business that I frequent, I'd like them to remember me. I'd like them to recall that I just bought something from them last week, or that I've been a regular customer for more than a year. I'd like them to ask me how I'm doing, or how they can help me with my latest project - which they should know about. Nobody wants to be greeted with an all too common mantra: "Hi, How May I Offend You Today?"
5 Guaranteed Ways To Retain Your Online Customers & Keep Them Away From Your Competition
Whatever the product or service you offer on your website; there are probably hundreds of thousands or millions other websites which a potential online customer can go to. It takes a lot of hard work to get the visitors to your website in the first instance; now that some prospects have visited your website, you have a very high chance of converting them into your online customers. It is very important for you not to lose them to your competitor.
How can you retain your leads and prospects, and ensure that they buy from you and not from your competition?
· A friendly, professional and easy-to-navigate website is a necessity. You must ensure that you have a friendly website; and make it easy for your customers to navigate. Have you ever visited a website which is simply confusing? You do not know what is being sold, or there are so many things on offer on that website and it is all very confusing? Well, you must avoid having such a website because it will make you lose your online customers. A customer-friendly and clearly laid-out website is a definite way of retaining your online customers. The prospect may really want to buy from you, but if your website is not easy to navigate and takes a lot of time for the prospect to find what they want; they will leave. Time is of essence for online customers. Have a 'Frequently Asked Questions' on your website to explain more about your website or the product / service that you offer.
· Your website must be full of BENEFITS. This is another necessity if you want to convert your prospects into online customers. Everyone appreciates something for free. Offer free tips, information, 's tuff' or anything else related to what your website offers. It helps to make a your website a 'one-stop-shop' where the prospects or online customer can get more information about the topic related to your products and services - so make sure you have a lot of free information, tips and articles on your website. It is important to have some valuable benefits which your online customers would really appreciate getting if they bought from you. Be creative and make sure that you have some valuable free offers to your online customers.
· Easy, free and speedy communication. Your website is your 's hop' that operates 24/7. You will need to make it easy for your prospects and online customers to contact you. You must have many contact alternatives on your website; namely email address, toll free fax or telephone number - whatever you see suitable for you and your business. Allow prospects or online customers to contact you by email, and it helps to hyper link your email address so that they do not have to type it in. You must check your emails on a regular basis and respond to any queries as soon as you can.
· Keep in touch. This ties in with the above aspect, but focuses more on proactively staying in contact with your prospects and online customers. Offer a free e-course or e-zine subscription on your website so that you keep in touch with your website 's visitors. This will help you create trust and build a relationship with your prospects, and soon they will be your online customers. Having a 'list' is a definite way of making money online as you can make regular offers to them. After every sale, follow up with the customer and see if they are satisfied with their purchase. Retain their email on your list and offer them any services or products you may have in the future.
· Go that 'extra mile' for your customers and be nice. This is a critical factor which is often underestimated in its importance. Always be ready to help, answer any questions or offer some advice. Be polite to your customers. Show them that you really care about them.
By simply following the above recommendations, you can be sure to convert your prospects into online customers and also keep them away from your competition.
How can you retain your leads and prospects, and ensure that they buy from you and not from your competition?
· A friendly, professional and easy-to-navigate website is a necessity. You must ensure that you have a friendly website; and make it easy for your customers to navigate. Have you ever visited a website which is simply confusing? You do not know what is being sold, or there are so many things on offer on that website and it is all very confusing? Well, you must avoid having such a website because it will make you lose your online customers. A customer-friendly and clearly laid-out website is a definite way of retaining your online customers. The prospect may really want to buy from you, but if your website is not easy to navigate and takes a lot of time for the prospect to find what they want; they will leave. Time is of essence for online customers. Have a 'Frequently Asked Questions' on your website to explain more about your website or the product / service that you offer.
· Your website must be full of BENEFITS. This is another necessity if you want to convert your prospects into online customers. Everyone appreciates something for free. Offer free tips, information, 's tuff' or anything else related to what your website offers. It helps to make a your website a 'one-stop-shop' where the prospects or online customer can get more information about the topic related to your products and services - so make sure you have a lot of free information, tips and articles on your website. It is important to have some valuable benefits which your online customers would really appreciate getting if they bought from you. Be creative and make sure that you have some valuable free offers to your online customers.
· Easy, free and speedy communication. Your website is your 's hop' that operates 24/7. You will need to make it easy for your prospects and online customers to contact you. You must have many contact alternatives on your website; namely email address, toll free fax or telephone number - whatever you see suitable for you and your business. Allow prospects or online customers to contact you by email, and it helps to hyper link your email address so that they do not have to type it in. You must check your emails on a regular basis and respond to any queries as soon as you can.
· Keep in touch. This ties in with the above aspect, but focuses more on proactively staying in contact with your prospects and online customers. Offer a free e-course or e-zine subscription on your website so that you keep in touch with your website 's visitors. This will help you create trust and build a relationship with your prospects, and soon they will be your online customers. Having a 'list' is a definite way of making money online as you can make regular offers to them. After every sale, follow up with the customer and see if they are satisfied with their purchase. Retain their email on your list and offer them any services or products you may have in the future.
· Go that 'extra mile' for your customers and be nice. This is a critical factor which is often underestimated in its importance. Always be ready to help, answer any questions or offer some advice. Be polite to your customers. Show them that you really care about them.
By simply following the above recommendations, you can be sure to convert your prospects into online customers and also keep them away from your competition.
Outsourcing: Past, Present and its Future
Undeniably, outsourcing professional jobs from Western countries to other parts of the globe is by far, the biggest phenomenon that the business world has seen these last twenty years. The rapid development of the technology behind communication has helped make outsourcing expand exponentially. But what paved the way for this so-called business maneuver to take hold among many of its present practitioners? How is this business practice faring today? What will this phenomenon bring the global market in 20, 30 or even in 50 years time?
In its simplest terms, outsourcing is the delegation of jobs from an internal production to an external entity; a process that is somewhat similar to handing out jobs to different subcontractors. Although many companies are outsourcing professional tasks the different service providers within their countries boundaries, the term outsourcing in itself has now come to mean the elimination of the native staff, in favor of utilizing the services of the less expensive overseas work force. Outsourcing can also be defined as the management and execution of an entire business function by a 3rd party service provider.
Brief History
Although many studies have shown that this kind of business strategy was practiced by global companies since 1962, it was only in 1989 that outsourcing became formally identified as such (Mullin, 1996). Hiring subcontractors to do jobs with ancillary capacity may have paved the very ground work for outsourcing practices; and soon, as a safeguard for this new business strategy, companies begun establishing outsourcing support services as well.
By the middle of the 1990s, companies started looking at outsourcing as a way of becoming more cost-efficient. Business functions that were necessary in running a company, but not related to the core business were being delegated with the emerging group of service companies: from accounting, to data processing and even security companies. Other types of service providers catered to delivering assistance in human resources, internal main distribution, plant maintenance, etc.
At the turn of the century, outsourcing also paved the way for offshore outsourcing practices or simply, offshoring. Offshoring may be defined as a relocation of business processes like manufacturing and production to a lower cost location. These locations are usually situated overseas. Unlike outsourcing companies which delegates jobs to different service providers (or utilizes different companies for one or more specific tasks,) offshoring utilizes the same internal structure or internal business organization as the mother company.
Outsourcing Today
Today, outsourcing is one of the most prominently used business strategy in the world. This business phenomenon has created new jobs for many countries - and some of these job vacancies are unprecedented until outsourcing became a substantial force in the market. Only upon the onset of the new millennium are managers and engineers finally outsourced. There is now room for work force that can generate weekly activity reports, weekly update reports, all to answer the specifications of an evolving market. Auxiliary tasks like customer support, technical support and front desk services are also being outsourced.
Many companies now are subscribing to outsourcing for a variety of reasons. However, the primary cause seems to lean more on a companys desire to cut costs or at the very least, to streamline the companys expenses. Others prefer handing out auxiliary tasks or jobs with ancillary capacity so that the mother company can focus its energy on running its core business. Other small companies rely on outsourcing in their bids to access skills and technology which may be otherwise unattainable to them due to financial or time restraints.
However, outsourcing in itself is often plagued with its own set of problems. Although this business strategy is often used as a cost-saving device, there are still considerable transaction costs to contend with. There are also emerging problems when it comes to confidentiality and privacy of company matters, as well as infringement of intellectual property rights. These are but a few of the problems when it comes to hiring human resources overseas. On the other hand, there are also incessant rumblings about how outsourcing deliberately affects the unemployment rate in the western countries when jobs are shipped overseas.
A Future Market for Outsourcing
These days, market analysts are predicting that ASP or Application Service Providers will come to its own in the future. Already, there are growing numbers of ASP with companies practicing outsourcing methods. ASP can offer deployment and management of application through the Internet or some other private network on a monthly or per-user basis. Basically, it provides software as a service driven by the Internet, helping IT infrastructure markets and software program markets converge. Examples of this technology include: application monitoring, data centers, customer support from consulting firms, connectivity offers to and from hosting companies, hardware monitoring, software applications created by independent software vendors, system implementation created by system integrators, telecommunication providers, etc. ASP offers these advantages over outsourcing: ease of use, faster marketing time, IT expertise, and of course, lower fees and expenses.
In its simplest terms, outsourcing is the delegation of jobs from an internal production to an external entity; a process that is somewhat similar to handing out jobs to different subcontractors. Although many companies are outsourcing professional tasks the different service providers within their countries boundaries, the term outsourcing in itself has now come to mean the elimination of the native staff, in favor of utilizing the services of the less expensive overseas work force. Outsourcing can also be defined as the management and execution of an entire business function by a 3rd party service provider.
Brief History
Although many studies have shown that this kind of business strategy was practiced by global companies since 1962, it was only in 1989 that outsourcing became formally identified as such (Mullin, 1996). Hiring subcontractors to do jobs with ancillary capacity may have paved the very ground work for outsourcing practices; and soon, as a safeguard for this new business strategy, companies begun establishing outsourcing support services as well.
By the middle of the 1990s, companies started looking at outsourcing as a way of becoming more cost-efficient. Business functions that were necessary in running a company, but not related to the core business were being delegated with the emerging group of service companies: from accounting, to data processing and even security companies. Other types of service providers catered to delivering assistance in human resources, internal main distribution, plant maintenance, etc.
At the turn of the century, outsourcing also paved the way for offshore outsourcing practices or simply, offshoring. Offshoring may be defined as a relocation of business processes like manufacturing and production to a lower cost location. These locations are usually situated overseas. Unlike outsourcing companies which delegates jobs to different service providers (or utilizes different companies for one or more specific tasks,) offshoring utilizes the same internal structure or internal business organization as the mother company.
Outsourcing Today
Today, outsourcing is one of the most prominently used business strategy in the world. This business phenomenon has created new jobs for many countries - and some of these job vacancies are unprecedented until outsourcing became a substantial force in the market. Only upon the onset of the new millennium are managers and engineers finally outsourced. There is now room for work force that can generate weekly activity reports, weekly update reports, all to answer the specifications of an evolving market. Auxiliary tasks like customer support, technical support and front desk services are also being outsourced.
Many companies now are subscribing to outsourcing for a variety of reasons. However, the primary cause seems to lean more on a companys desire to cut costs or at the very least, to streamline the companys expenses. Others prefer handing out auxiliary tasks or jobs with ancillary capacity so that the mother company can focus its energy on running its core business. Other small companies rely on outsourcing in their bids to access skills and technology which may be otherwise unattainable to them due to financial or time restraints.
However, outsourcing in itself is often plagued with its own set of problems. Although this business strategy is often used as a cost-saving device, there are still considerable transaction costs to contend with. There are also emerging problems when it comes to confidentiality and privacy of company matters, as well as infringement of intellectual property rights. These are but a few of the problems when it comes to hiring human resources overseas. On the other hand, there are also incessant rumblings about how outsourcing deliberately affects the unemployment rate in the western countries when jobs are shipped overseas.
A Future Market for Outsourcing
These days, market analysts are predicting that ASP or Application Service Providers will come to its own in the future. Already, there are growing numbers of ASP with companies practicing outsourcing methods. ASP can offer deployment and management of application through the Internet or some other private network on a monthly or per-user basis. Basically, it provides software as a service driven by the Internet, helping IT infrastructure markets and software program markets converge. Examples of this technology include: application monitoring, data centers, customer support from consulting firms, connectivity offers to and from hosting companies, hardware monitoring, software applications created by independent software vendors, system implementation created by system integrators, telecommunication providers, etc. ASP offers these advantages over outsourcing: ease of use, faster marketing time, IT expertise, and of course, lower fees and expenses.
Mystery Shopping Doesn't Have To Be A Mystery
Mystery shopping is not a new phenomenon it actually started its life in America in the 1930s as a way to test the integrity of financial services staff. So how mystery shopping changed over the last 70 years? For many, mystery shopping is still perceived as a low-tech process conducted by part-time staff with little or no training, the reality may surprise you!
A mystery shopping programme prepared and managed by a professional company, involves using highly trained assessors posing as customers (for many assessors mystery shopping is in fact a full time professional career). These assessors interact with branches or departments of an organisation, typically to assess their customer service and sales performance standards.
Reports are provided which usually comprise how the organisation has performed in relation to pre-agreed questions (these questions are formulated at the commencement of a programme and should integrate seamlessly with the organisations sales and service standards). Within retail, a typical report format would be split into a number of subsections covering areas such as 'First Impressions', 'Meeting & Greeting', 'Product Demonstration', 'Recommendation' and 'Close & Upsell'
Mystery shopping comes in a number of varieties, telephone, (where a recording of the call is also provided), email/website for complete evaluation of customers' online experiences (including the order fulfilment process), report-based mystery shopping visits and video mystery shopping visits, the latest and fastest growing service, which provides high quality video footage of the entire customer experience by utilising assessors wearing the latest hidden video camera technology.
It has long been recognised that mystery shopping across a retail network can identify through league tables an organisation 's shining stars as well as their pits of despair! Well today the level of reporting and depth of analysis is being taken to new levels. Many mystery shopping companies can now provide a wide range of reporting available online, allowing you to track the precise progress of your programme, as well as conduct analysis for your entire estate or pre-selected outlets in areas such as which day of the week or which profile of staff (male/female, under 25s/ over40s etc) are delivering the best service.
Also, which product category your staff perform best with, and of course which areas of performance are improving or declining. A useful recent addition is also the ability for retailers to now benchmark their performance in key areas against averages for the retail sector.
Where mystery shopping has seen significant strides in recent years is in the understanding that it can provide not only a powerful and accurate means of measuring performance, but also be used as crucial tool for driving improvements. Many organisations have come to realise that measuring alone will not necessarily create a change in staff behaviours.
Nowhere is this more evident than when using video mystery shopping. The key for creating change is about getting staff to recognise service issues and understand the need for change. Many forward thinking retailers are now conducting regular video mystery shopping visits across their retail networks and then critically having a structured video review mechanism that involves individual retail staff self-evaluating the video footage of their branch 's performance, creating their own action planning and buying into a programme for change.
Interactive DVDs are made available to highlight best practice for both induction training and continuous coaching development. These real-life examples of service delivery from real staff seem to have so much more impact than sanitized training videos featuring actors.
Certainly one of downsides of embarking on a mystery shopping programme, is once you start its very hard to stop, some describe it like going on a diet, if you are disciplined and you eat properly and take the right exercise you will lose weight, once you stop those good practices, the pounds start piling back on, and lets face it there is nothing more depressing than an overweight retailer!
A mystery shopping programme prepared and managed by a professional company, involves using highly trained assessors posing as customers (for many assessors mystery shopping is in fact a full time professional career). These assessors interact with branches or departments of an organisation, typically to assess their customer service and sales performance standards.
Reports are provided which usually comprise how the organisation has performed in relation to pre-agreed questions (these questions are formulated at the commencement of a programme and should integrate seamlessly with the organisations sales and service standards). Within retail, a typical report format would be split into a number of subsections covering areas such as 'First Impressions', 'Meeting & Greeting', 'Product Demonstration', 'Recommendation' and 'Close & Upsell'
Mystery shopping comes in a number of varieties, telephone, (where a recording of the call is also provided), email/website for complete evaluation of customers' online experiences (including the order fulfilment process), report-based mystery shopping visits and video mystery shopping visits, the latest and fastest growing service, which provides high quality video footage of the entire customer experience by utilising assessors wearing the latest hidden video camera technology.
It has long been recognised that mystery shopping across a retail network can identify through league tables an organisation 's shining stars as well as their pits of despair! Well today the level of reporting and depth of analysis is being taken to new levels. Many mystery shopping companies can now provide a wide range of reporting available online, allowing you to track the precise progress of your programme, as well as conduct analysis for your entire estate or pre-selected outlets in areas such as which day of the week or which profile of staff (male/female, under 25s/ over40s etc) are delivering the best service.
Also, which product category your staff perform best with, and of course which areas of performance are improving or declining. A useful recent addition is also the ability for retailers to now benchmark their performance in key areas against averages for the retail sector.
Where mystery shopping has seen significant strides in recent years is in the understanding that it can provide not only a powerful and accurate means of measuring performance, but also be used as crucial tool for driving improvements. Many organisations have come to realise that measuring alone will not necessarily create a change in staff behaviours.
Nowhere is this more evident than when using video mystery shopping. The key for creating change is about getting staff to recognise service issues and understand the need for change. Many forward thinking retailers are now conducting regular video mystery shopping visits across their retail networks and then critically having a structured video review mechanism that involves individual retail staff self-evaluating the video footage of their branch 's performance, creating their own action planning and buying into a programme for change.
Interactive DVDs are made available to highlight best practice for both induction training and continuous coaching development. These real-life examples of service delivery from real staff seem to have so much more impact than sanitized training videos featuring actors.
Certainly one of downsides of embarking on a mystery shopping programme, is once you start its very hard to stop, some describe it like going on a diet, if you are disciplined and you eat properly and take the right exercise you will lose weight, once you stop those good practices, the pounds start piling back on, and lets face it there is nothing more depressing than an overweight retailer!
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