training | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 13

Home  /  7 Tips to Help You Retain More Customers and More $$  /  training

Highlight the Hidden Value - 7/1/25


Marketing campaigns often highlight a particular product and ALL the features and extras that the customer will receive… “For 3 low, low payments of only $39.99, you not only get these world-renowned chef knives, but you can also get this free laser-etched spatula!  AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  We will also Read more

Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake - 6/24/25


Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session Read more

Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

•••••

7 Tips to Help You Retain More Customers and More $$

Posted on October 12, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

Since the road to financial prosperity for any business is paved with your customer’s dollars, the question is how do you gain more dollars?

The best way to have those prosperity-paving dollars tomorrow is to retain today’s customers. So here are 7 quick tips to retain and grow your business with existing customers:

1) When you make the sale, ask the customer why they bought from you. This allows them to tell you why they’re a customer, and probably why they’d buy again.

2) At least annually, ask the customer why they would continue to buy from you, or ask why they’d leave. This will tell you their retention drivers.

3) Act on the answers to the first two questions.

4) State to your customers what they can expect in terms of their experience with you. Clearly say “you’ll get this…in this timeframe…in this way…from these people…at this level of quality, etc.” Stating expectations for the customer ensures you have a better chance of meeting those expectations.

5) Become great at delivering a reality (with your people, processes, and services) that meet or exceed those expectations.

6) Thank the customer…repeatedly. When they enter your store, when they complete the purchase, and in follow-up communications after the sale. Customers want to feel appreciated.

7) Have specific methods of dealing with customer issues when they arise, and train staff on how to handle the irate customer and apply those methods when a customer is upset. As we’ve said before, when there’s a complaint, speed of resolution is a top priority.

Want to retain more customers and their money? Become great in these 7 facets of customer service.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


Your Name Matters in Customer Loyalty

Posted on September 14, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

Results of a recent Zogby463 poll of bank customers showed that “69 percent of respondents said that their customer loyalty is positively affected by tellers recognizing them by name when they walked into a bank.” The poll appears to have been commissioned by a video intelligence company that is trying to sell their technology to help staff identify customers’ names.

While I won’t talk about the technology itself, let’s talk about the finding itself. Over 2/3rd of customers say that their relationship with a bank is positively impacted by their merely being recognized and called by name. WOW! That’s a huge percentage for such a small and easy aspect of the customer experience.

Remember the television show Cheers? The theme song said “You want to go where everyone knows…your name.”

There’s a great truth in that, and that truth has a financial impact.

Many employees are taught to say “Yes, Sir” or “Thank You, Ma’am.” Staff are taught to introduce themselves by providing their name. But how many staff are taught to ask the customer’s name and to use the customer’s name? How many work to remember the customer’s name on their next visit to the store?

Your name matters. By asking your name, using your name, and remembering your name, the employee is conveying that YOU MATTER.

Make sure your company and staff are intentional about learning, using, and remembering your customer’s name. Don’t just assume it’s happening.

Listen to our latest episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/


Construct Great Customer Service

Posted on August 24, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

You wouldn’t normally look for customer service articles in a construction magazine, but that’s exactly what we found in ConstructionWeekOnline.com. The article talks about two companies which are revamping their customer service training – for technical staff. This is training targeting engineers, automotive/trucking fleet service technicians, and other staff working on automobiles.

The companies realize that technical training on a trade only addresses part of the employee’s job. If the employee has to interact with customers, they need to have training on how to effectively communicate and serve as well.

This training is done for two reasons according to execs – raise standards and improve customer retention.

So this is an automotive/trucking company investing in training for engineers and mechanics to improve communications, satisfaction, performance, and customer retention. So it’s being done for the dollars, which is absolutely fine.

Training on customer service techniques should not be done out of some feeling of altruism. It should be done because it impacts the customer’s opinions, buying patterns, and referral patterns. In other words, it impacts a company’s bottom line.

The next time you think about how to improve the bottom line, ask yourself “How can I make ALL my staff more effective in front of the customer?”

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/


« Previous   1 2 ... 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 ... 27 28   Next »