All posts in Customer Services

A Free Way To Explode Your eBay Business Customer Service

By blogger on

Often people selling at online auction sites like eBay completely forget about the customer service aspect of selling. It is easy as you grow your business and automate many of the daily tasks to develop a sense that you are only dealing with a computer and automated tasks. However it is through customer service that you truly grow your business. So take some time to think about it next time you use software to automatically post feedback or send out an automated email. There is someone on the other end of the deal that has taken a leap of faith in your company and sent you money.

If you think about it, running a profitable ebay business is really not that much different then a bricks and mortar type of store. At least it is not that different in terms of the importance of customer service. So take some time to really think about ways that you can improve your customer service. What are things you can do to build repeat customers, provide great customer service and develop a loyal following for your business? This is the absolute best way to build your business for next to nothing. Below are some ideas that can help in both branding and creating customer loyalty as well as provide outstanding quality customer service.

Start An eZine

Do you sell in a niche area that people would like to learn more about? For example if you were an antique toy collector and sold old toys made from tin you might have a bunch of customers that would like to learn more. The best way to build your business would be to build an ezine and provide them with quality content. This sets you up as the expert and as a friend more then just a faceless dude trying to pawn off the junk in his garage. Also the great thing about an ezine is you can always have a little commercial plug mixed into your content. You have to be carefully and do this only occasionally and subtle however it can really pay off. For example why not start a weekly ezine. You only need to write one quick article a week and then at the bottom you could insert a little line like This week for auction check out and then insert your current auctions. If you provide good quality articles along with the advertising the soft sell approach is much easier for your customers to digest.

Little Touches

Have you ever thought about including little special touches with the items you send out. If you havent you might want to think about it seriously. This can really increase customer loyalty. There is no hard and fast rule here or any one size fits all product that you can include. This is really dependent on the type of products you sell. However including a little thank you card or business card can be something to really build loyal customers. For a while I was including a fun post card with each shipment. I live very close to Los Angeles and the famous California beaches and I would often collect postcards when I was out on the town having fun. Well, the collection got to big and so I started throwing them in with the packages I was sending out. People just love to get something for free even if is a small gift. If you dont think you can afford anything like that then make a thank you card on your computer and send it. It really depends on the items that you sell and what you have available but if you think about it there is something that can be included in every package to easily increase customer loyalty and service.

Create Your Identity, Promote Your Brand with Smart Name Badges

By blogger on

Jonathan Winchester of Shopper Anonymous (www.shopperanonymous.co.uk), a mystery shopping organisation, conducted research in the UK, Australia and New Zealand that showed how name badges improve customer satisfaction. Based on 116,000 measured shopping experiences, results show that the overall rating for the customer service experience in organisations where the staff wore name badges is 12% higher than those companies where the staff didnt wear any name badges. Name badges are clearly an important and also create a customers first impression of the organisation.

Benefits of Name Badges

Name badges are not just for advertising your brand or customer service; they also promote confidence and trust in your employees or students. Here are some advantages of wearing a name badge:

Corporate name badges
oIdentification
-Easily identify the employees name, rank or designation especially if its a large organisation
-Ensure safety and security in the office premises
-Promote the sense of identity and belongingness in the organisation
-Easily address, interact or converse with other employees from other departments
-Add a professional impression in customers eyes
-Build confidence, respect and pride in employees
-Establish trust within the organisation and from the customers
-Save regular visitors from embarrassment if they forget a persons name
-Help distinguish staff from customers in businesses that dont wear uniforms
-Improve employee-to-employee working relationship by putting a name to the face, instead of addressing employees by the department they belong to
oBrand Promotion
-Serve as a promotional or advertising tool
-Help popularise the brand and company image to the public
-Can create a long lasting impression in the customers mindset
-Make a statement of what the brand is
-Professionally present the entire organisation or brand to the client
-Create an impression of providing a personal service because youre on a first-name basis
-Create trust in the customers eyes because you are presenting a sense of accountability for your actions

School name badges
oIdentification
-Build pride in the institution the student belongs to
-Carry out the schools philosophy and ideals
-Ensure security and safety of children in the school premises
-Create discipline and team spirit
oRecognition
-For academic and athletic achievements
-To acknowledge leadership qualities and responsibilities

Name badges have become an important part in an organisations identity. But to make the name badge effective, you should create a design thats not only impressive but also reflective of your organisations identity and ethos. Ideally, name badges should be smart, direct, appealing, readable and recognisable. When customising a name badge, you may include a persons name, the institutions name, logo, tag line, and colour. But you also have to consider its limited space; avoid too much content that it becomes incomprehensible. Make it short, informative and targeted. For its layout, avoid shiny surfaces or indecipherable font types that make them very difficult to read.

You can trust Smart Edge Badges to help you create the image you want to project to the public. They design impressive layouts that promote your organisations identity and culture.

How To Pacify Irate Customers

By blogger on

In addition to loyal customers, theres one kind that youll definitely meet along the way irate clients.

We know for a fact that you cannot please each and everyone who happens to be in your store or who availed of your service. So to be able to provide great customer service amidst the anger and outburst, here are some suggestions to defuse the heat, address the issue, and maintain loyalty among your clients:

“The Customer is Always Right.”

Its not that the client is always right in any situation; its more of you assuming that your clients have the right to become angry. And that right would be expressed in situations like when the product or service did not meet their expectations.

For example, if youre a postcard printing company and your result came out different from what is expected by your client, it is only right for him or her to be angry especially if this is not the first time that it happened.

Whatever the cause, you will definitely encounter an irate customer one time or another. The most appropriate response during situations like these is to not be angry yourself; instead, evaluate the complaint first and assume that the client has the right to be furious. When you finally understand what caused the problem, then thats the time you address the issue at hand.

Listen Before You React.

Listen to what your client have to say before you react to the anger. Do not, in any circumstance, fight emotion with another emotion.

Remember to listen to help you identify the problem. Hear the words as well as the emotion involved during the irate speech. Even if its a technical problem, you still have to acknowledge the distress and concern that beset your client.

And please, do not react with your own sentiment. Its nothing personal. You just have to be attentive and give significance to the emotion that your client is feeling at that time.

Patience is a virtue.

Learning to be patient and knowing how to listen attentively would help you mollify the client fast. The more you vie for your clients anger, the more time it would take before you could even resolve the problem.

Your clients emotion comes in waves. The first wave would definitely be anger, sorrow, and distress so its worthwhile for you to just go with it and listen. Do not interrupt. And wait for the next wave which is ebbing emotion. This is the time to take the opportunity to reassure your client that youll do everything in your power to provide a solution to the issue.

The bottom line is to be patient and wait for your clients ire to decline, and then you give reassurances. It may seem at first that your irate client does not care about you or whatever you have to say. Nevertheless, he or she needs your advice and reassurance thats why the client approached you. So be sure to address the issue at hand and not the emotion. This way, you client will more than likely be grateful that you were able to provide a solution despite his or her anger.