Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery
350 million in bad checks are written each and every week. That fact alone makes bad checks a serious problem for American businesses. It is almost inevitable that, if your business accepts checks, you have been affected by this. As well as being stuck with bank fees for depositing a bad check - and the very real possibility that the bad check could impact your bottom line - there is the time, aggravation and cost associated with recovering the funds. It is often the case that recovering the check can incur more in costs than the value of the original debt. Inevitably, many smaller businesses write off bad checks, believing that they cannot afford to pursue the debt. However, there are a number of ways your business can fight back and minimize the pain of bad check recovery.
Everyone talks in code!
How often have you left a meeting with a customer or your boss telling yourself he likes my ideas. Only to find later that you didn t get the sale or your boss has told everyone that you are crazy. As we get older it seems to us that everyone talks in code. No one tells us what they really mean. Everything is hidden behind a veil of double talk. But all is not lost. We found a copy of the code breaking manual on the web site of that well known code breaking magazine, Harpers Magazine. It s no ordinary code. This is special. We had many discussions before we decided to reveal the secrets of the code to you. This is the code you need to understand what us Brits are talking about.
Establishing Yourself as an Expert in the Eyes of Your Customers
The most important aspect of a successful business is developing the correct mindset toward your customers. And this is not the over used phrase The customer is always right. Actually the correct mindset we are referring to here is to always think in terms of benefits for your customers. The highly successful businessperson thinks of ways to show interest in their customers even before they come into their store. They endeavor to educate the customer on the benefits of their products and services. They make their products and services stand out in their customer s mind. Some marketing experts think of this in terms of a USP or Unique Selling Proposition. Or what are the unique selling characteristics that separate your products and services and make them stand out from your competition.
The Logic of Emotion!
Homebuyers are an interesting study. Watching people make their home buying decisions has brought me to the conclusion that every decision that every one of us makes is based in emotion. You heard me, it s all about the emotion. Before you deny what I am describing to you, let me begin with me. Painful as the revelation is for me, even I as a Naval Academy graduate, retired Navy pilot, and home inspector extraordinaire, make decisions based on emotion. It took some bridging for me to get there, but I am there. Have you ever had a feeling in your gut about a decision? A hunch? That s emotion. We make decisions that reflect how we feel about the event or expect to feel when the outcome is completed. People, especially those that are highly educated and technically trained, rarely realize and usually never concede that their decisions are based in emotion.
One of the Secrets of a Great Customer Experience
A few weeks ago we conducted our annual Customer Experience Study Tour in London England. This is where we take delegates to visit a number of leading Customer Experience companies for a behind-the-scenes look at how they approach the task of building a great Customer Experience. Companies include Pr?t-a-manger, Virgin Atlantic, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Dell Computers, T-Mobile, Lexus Cars, AOL and Microsoft. As we travelled around these companies on the luxury coach, I pondered what the common traits are of companies who provide a great Customer Experience. Undoubtedly one of these traits is attention to detail. So let s give you an insight to what some of these companies did. Pr?t-a-Manger told us about the absolute struggle they go through to make sure that all the ingredients in their sandwiches are additive free so as to enhance the taste of the sandwiches.
5 Ways Customer Service Managers are Implementing to Increase Customer Focus
According to a Forum Corporation survey of commercial customers lost by 14 major service and manufacturing companies: 15 found a better service product 15 found a cheaper service product 20 cited lack of contact and individual attention from the company 50 said contact from old suppliers personnel was poor in quality These days, it seems that everyone from dog walkers to dotcoms is making customer service their mission. Department, discount and convenience stores have all transformed the workers who used to be known as sales clerks into customer service associates - in theory at least. A recent survey of large corporation CEOs revealed that 67 had customer service earmarked as their top priority. Here are the 5 ways successful managers should implement to increase customer focus. 1. Targeted recruiting and hiring. Today s managers are faced with the challenge of recruiting and hiring people who value customers.
Get Customers to Stop Calling You
Despite rumors to the contrary, the Web is not dead. More people are using it, they have faster bandwidth, and in many cases Net-time is taking over TV- time. It s no wonder more users are turning to the Net for help, rather than the telephone. So why not take advantage by offering your customers help online after the sale? Given that the average customer care call is 33, it s a great way to please customers that prefer the Web over a phone queue and save money too. Not that you ever want to drive customers away. After all, keeping a good customer is a whole lot cheaper than acquiring a new one. The idea is to move the majority of calls to self-help and reserve quality time for those customers that need to speak to a real person.
Customer Service Tips for Mail Order Businesses
Can we be too good to our customers? No way! Our customers are the backbone of our business! They re right no matter what! But I m sorry to disagree with you. As small, honest and legitimate businesses - we have a tendency to place our product quality above money. While this is the right way of building a strong, solid business there are customers that will try to take advantage of you. You have to learn how to notice this possibility coming and bow out gracefully without losing the customer. Remember that most newcomers to the world of mail order think that they are ordering from BIG companies just because we have a company name! They cannot conceive how poor and struggling a lot of us really are. They think we can absorb costs and because they are poor themselves, will often try and take advantage of people like us.
The Dissatisfied Customer
We, as small business people, naturally dislike complaints from our clients and customers. Because we re intimately involved with our home businesses, small businesses, or freelance careers, any complaint takes on a personal commentator. A dissatisfied customer is a direct reflection on our performance and a blow to our egos. The common reaction of small business people to a consumer complaint is defensive posturing and or avoidance. But ignoring a disgruntled customer can be much more damaging than small business owners realize. When consumer complaints are avoided or ignored, the customer still needs to vent. A study done at Western Washington University and Illinois State University, shows that consumers who had a bad experience at a store most often responded in three ways: They decided not to shop at the store again.
Saying Thank You to Your Clients
Thanking your customers - Why you should do it and how... Your customers make up 100 of your sales and 100 of your profits. Yet we spend a lot of money and time beating the bushes for new customers and not much time thanking those responsible for 100 of our business! One lesson your mother taught you was to say thank you when someone did something nice. We tend to give lip service to saying thank you to our customers by using phrases like Thank you and have a nice day. But after using the same phrase repeatedly, it becomes rote, and not very heartfelt. So what can you do? Customer Service Experts say that people complain more than they praise. Taking the time to show customers how much you appreciate their business is important.