{"id":539,"date":"2012-07-10T08:18:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-10T12:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/?p=539"},"modified":"2012-07-09T09:20:48","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T13:20:48","slug":"customer-service-and-summer-causal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/2012\/07\/10\/customer-service-and-summer-causal\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service and Summer Casual"},"content":{"rendered":"

July is here and casual is often the order of the day.\u00a0 Hot weather, vacation schedules and casual thinking can often lead to customer problems. Keeping your business relevant, reliable and relaxed for the rest of the summer will mean you may want to revisit your customer service methods.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at some customer service keys helpful in moving from satisfied customers to wildly loyal promoters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Key 1.<\/strong> \u00a0Differentiate<\/strong>: What is your UPS – unique selling point?\u00a0 How can you set yourself apart from your competition?\u00a0 Usually simple things speak volumes.\u00a0 \u00a0Last week there was a mid week holiday and I wanted to get my workout in before the fireworks.\u00a0 I knew the local Urban Active<\/a><\/strong> did have limited hours on July 4th, so I called for the details.\u00a0 The phone was connected after the second ring (good), and a real live person said <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“Good Morning, Urban Active Maumee, we are open until 6PM today, may I help you with anything else?”\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

WOW, that was easy!\u00a0 It didn’t matter if that was the approved script for the day driven down by corporate leaders or it was a savvy employee that after 2 phone calls knew this was going to be the question of the day.\u00a0 Saving your customer time is often simpler than you think helping your business be different and memorable!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Key 2.\u00a0 Tracking<\/strong> is more than just asking \u201chow did you hear about us\u201d but asking how your customer felt after they received your service or product and would they recommend you to their friends and family. To do this a business needs 2 things.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Have a database<\/strong> of some sort that has the important details about your customers \u2013 and one<\/span><\/em><\/strong> database is usually the best practice and keeping it up to date<\/span><\/strong> is even better!<\/li>\n
  2. Commitment<\/strong> to follow up and ask the hard evaluation questions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Any time we track something, we usually pay more attention \u2013 what you watch, is improved.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Key 3.\u00a0<\/strong> Recover Stylishly<\/strong>.\u00a0 We all make mistakes, fail to communicate or just don\u2019t give the customer what they want.\u00a0 How you handle it will speak louder than any advertisement.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Identify WHY<\/strong> it happened.\u00a0 Asking \u201cWHY\u201d at least 5 times of yourself or your staff is a great Lean tip that works and will help you get to the root cause of the problem.<\/li>\n
    2. Develop a system<\/strong> to deal with these types of problems or clients.\u00a0 Sometimes we can\u2019t stop the problem from happening but can mitigate the angst our customers feel.<\/li>\n
    3. Now, make things right<\/strong> by recovering in style and create a deeply loyal customer.<\/li>\n
    4. Document<\/strong> the process and build a procedure that is repeatable.<\/li>\n
    5. Schedule to review your new procedure<\/strong> at least quarterly and tweak to perfection.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Key 4.\u00a0 Just say NO<\/strong>.\u00a0 We all know how exciting it is to get a new customer, or help a business that needs the very unique service we offer. But saying NO is essential to having a thriving business.\u00a0 The key to saying no is two pronged:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Know your ideal customer or target market very well.<\/li>\n
      2. Learn to say NO to prospects that aren\u2019t your ideal customer.\u00a0 Remember:\u00a0 not taking your \u201cUn-ideal\u201d client will mean when the perfect client arrives, you will have the time and energy to be your best.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Using these four keys will always help and add a SMILE and your customers will thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        July is here and casual is often the order of the day.\u00a0 Hot weather, vacation schedules and casual thinking can often lead to customer problems. Keeping your business relevant, reliable and relaxed for the rest of the summer will mean you may want to revisit your customer service methods.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at some customer service […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-culture","category-image-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":557,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539\/revisions\/557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}