May 7th, 2013
Many small business owners believe that if they don't hear complaints from their customers, their company is doing well. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most customers will never really say what they think directly to the company. Instead, they just sulk away and tell all their social media friends. This can be disaster in a social media connected world.
It’s not that some customers don't try very hard to tell the company what they think. Many small businesses are either difficult to reach or don’t respond to customers in a timely fashion. In fact, their communication process with their customers truly stinks! As a result, companies lose not only customers, but potential raving fans.
Here are 3 areas that need to be served to turn customer communication into a competitive advantage:
When? There needs to a mechanism in place at every phase of the sales and service cycle for a customer to give feedback to the company. This includes pre- sale, during the sale, and post sale. This is critical because problems and questions happen at every stage for different customers.
 How? Depending on your customer, be prepared to communicate via all the popular channels including phone, text, email, blog, and social media. Different customers will comfortable communicating in different ways. For example, many of them will never email the company, but will tweet instead. If a company’s customers are much older, telephone or mail may be the best form of communication.
How soon? Different channels of communication require different response rates. For example:
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Phone: within 24 hours
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Text: within an hour
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Email: same business day
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Comments on blog posts: within 4 hours
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Social media: within 4 hours
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Mail: within 24 hours
If a company does not have the financial resources to respond in this period of time, do not offer it as a communication channel. Always state up front how long it will take to respond and stick with it.
Every communication with a customer needs to answer these questions:
1. Why is the customer calling? What is their real problem? Many times digging deeper for the answer will get better results.
2. How can the company make them more satisfied? It's not just about helping them, but truly making this one customer satisfied.
How often do you really communicate with your customers? If it is not frequently, then you are missing something.
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, Communication, SMB
Posted in Business, Customer Service, Startup | No Comments »
May 6th, 2013
It is a very simple equation. If you have a bad day at work, you go home and kick the proverbial cat, right? Unfortunately, it works the same way in business. Employees will treat your customers exactly the way you work with them. If your employees are well cared for, they will focus on being good to your customers. The small business owner sets the example for their entire company.
 According to Shep Hyken, customer service author, every small business should start building a customer service culture not by focusing on customers, but rather their employees. He says that great companies “hire the right people to fit into the culture. They train them both technically and on how to deliver their brand of helpful customer service. The management and employees treat each other with dignity and respect, and in turn, they treat their customers in a similar fashion.”
Values taught to employees are the same ones they will practice with customers when offering “amazing service". They include:
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Compensation. Unfortunately, it starts with money. If the company financially compensates the employees fairly, they will be able to focus on their job with the customer. They will treat them right when it comes to providing the appropriate level of service. Valued employees will feel they can spend that extra time with customers and always have a better attitude at work.
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Respect. Small business owners need to value their employees’ skills and time. This includes being flexible with boundaries between work and personal activities. As a result, employees will treat customers with empathy and care for their concerns. They will be less inclined to interrupt a customer and leave at 5:00 PM or at the end of their work day.
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Honesty. Employees will be honest in their dealing with customers if the small business owner is. Whatever example the CEO sets will be directly mirrored by employees. An honest executive says by their actions that nothing else will be tolerated at their company.
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Training. The company needs to take sufficient time to teach the employees the specific skills they need to perform their job so they can be comfortable helping customers. Too many times, small business owners just show the new employee their desk and tell them to get started. There is nothing worse than an employee who is does not feel competent. Employee confidence is a huge part of offering amazing customer service.
Treating employees well will build a culture of pride that they will want to show off to your customers. How can you get started?
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, SMB
Posted in Business, Customer Service, Startup, Team Building | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2013
Superior customer service will always contribute positively to your bottom line, just as bad customer service will always hurt your company. Case in point: Think back to the last time you had a tremendously positive experience at a restaurant or boutique. You probably told a few friends about your satisfaction with the company. Now try to recall your last disappointing customer service experience. How many people did you tell about it? Too many to count? Chances are, you told even more people about your less-than-desirable incident.
“Word of mouth recommendations carry an 86 percent factor of believability vs. 15 percent generated from a paid advertisement,” says Shep Hyken, international customer service speaker and author of The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer (and Employee). “Customer satisfaction can help keep any company alive and thriving, period.”
Here are two under-the-radar ways to pump up customer service in your company.
Send thank you notes
 Thank you notes go a long way to making a customer feel appreciated. Send handwritten notes or emails, but make sure each note is personal and includes the customer’s name, what they purchased and any other anecdote about their visit to your establishment.
“Write something like, ‘Dear [Customer's name], It was great to see you in our store today. We are sure you will love the pants you purchased. Thank you for coming in; we know there are many other places that you could have shopped. Hope to see you again soon. Sincerely, [the store owner’s first and last name],’” recommends Hyken. “If I received something like this, it would almost guarantee that I go back to that business at some point.”
Be flexible
A few months ago, Hyken was out with three friends at a restaurant. The group wanted to order a shrimp cocktail, but were informed by the server that there were only three pieces of shrimp included on the platter. Disappointed, the group ended ordered something else.
“Then, I went back with three other friends a few weeks ago and we wanted to order the same thing,” Hyken says. “This time, the server simply offered to put one more shrimp on the plate and said it would be a small extra charge. We all loved the appetizer and were thrilled that the server went the extra mile to offer something off-menu.”
Hyken’s experience can be applied to every type of organization—it all comes down to flexibility.
“Listen to your customers,” he advises. “And then figure out a way to make happen what they want to make happen. It usually doesn’t take a lot of effort and you will land a customer for life.”
Tags: business tips, Customer service, SMB
Posted in Business, Customer Service | No Comments »
May 2nd, 2013
S&H Green Stamps was the first rewards program I ever participated in when I was 7 years old. I would glue the stamps into books and then suggest to my mother what we should buy. I thought it was “free” until I learned that stores that participated in this program charged higher prices to pay for the stamps.
 Fast forward to 1981, when computerized frequent flier programs broadened the appeal of these type of reward systems. They have now become one of the most powerful incentives to keep a customer loyal to a brand. It seems that almost everything purchased now can earn miles. Despite the Great Recession, consumer participation in rewards programs has jumped 19% in the U.S. since 2007.
While a rewards program is appealing for many small business owners, careful guidelines must be followed to implement them successfully:
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What action do you want customer to take? Is the program designed to attract new customers or for existing ones to come back? Should it refer new customers? Different features of the program will accomplish certain goals. For example, customers can earn points by referring other customers or for their first purchase.
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KISS. Keep it simple for not only the customer, but for the company. Ease of implementation and tracking of any reward program is very important because costs can grow. Some small businesses spend more resources tracking and administering their program than the benefit they gain. Limit the number of ways customers can earn points and earned rewards.
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What is the actual reward? What are customers actually earning? Rewards like social media recognition, achievement badges, virtual currency or exclusive access are easy and relatively cheap. Remember that real world rewards such as are gift cards, t-shirts, special events or VIP upgrades are also inexpensive and easy to implement.
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Keep track of the rewards for customers. Track the rewards for the customer and tell them when they have earned an incentive. Don’t make them carry a card to earn the rewards. Tell the customer quarterly where they are and what it will take to get them to the next level. This will accomplish the loyalty that the company wants.
Do you have a rewards program? What is it and how successful has it been?
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Posted in Business, Startup | No Comments »
May 1st, 2013
Think back to the last time you tried to put together a piece of furniture. About three hours in to the process, you most likely found yourself sweating, swearing and your living room resembling that of a disaster zone. You probably called the customer service line at the company and were either A: Calmed down and helped, step-by-step, by a friendly a customer service representative, or B: Placed on hold for 20 minutes only to then be connected to someone who couldn’t give you the answers you were looking for.
The latter situation creates angry customers, explains Shep Hyken, international customer service speaker and author of The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer (and Employee).
“Someone who calls a customer service line is most likely already pretty upset. But if they get bad service on the other end or can’t reach anyone at all, leads to even higher levels of anxiety and anger,” he says.
Here are his top tips for turning an angry customer into a happy one:
Step 1: Be accessible
There are few things worse than calling a customer service line on a weekend just to find out that the line is only open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
“Half the battle is just making it easy for your customer to reach you when there is a problem,” Hyken says.
 Step 2: Show empathy and accountability
Reassurance is key to winning over a disgruntled customer. When a customer calls, Hyken recommends saying something like, “Thanks so much for calling, we get calls like this often and that is why I’m here. I’m here to help solve your problem.” As long as you make them feel like you now own their problem, they will calm down, he says.
Step 3: Ask a question
Identify the exact problem by asking a clarifying question such as, “ I understand that you are upset; is the reason you called because you hope to get ‘x’ problem taken care of? If so, I’m your guy/girl.”
“Tell them to start from the beginning and to give you as much detail as possible,” Hyken recommends. “Watch, you will feel them calm down right away.”
Step 4: Let your employees be autonomous
Companies with excellent customer service policies empower employees to make quick decisions on behalf of customers. This means employees don’t need to seek managers' approval before solving a problem.
Hyken recommends, “As long as it is not illegal and it doesn’t hurt the company or cost a lot of money, all of your employees should be able to do what the customers want them to do. Empower your employees to make decisions and you will have happier staff members and customers.”
Tags: business tips, Customer service, SMB
Posted in Business, Customer Service | No Comments »
April 30th, 2013
Being able to work from home is a huge perk for many employees. If your small business doesn’t already allow remote work, consider starting—employees will not only be grateful, but chances are, they’ll also be more productive without the distractions of the office.
 Before starting a remote work program, however, there are some important steps to take. Follow these tips to make the most of your offsite employees.
Communicate regularly. When you can’t pop your head into someone’s office to see how their work is coming along, you need to be in frequent communication. Use VoIP tools to keep the team in contact, whether they’re in the office or out. Holding regular conference calls is a good way to ensure everyone’s on track and up-to-date with what the others on the team are doing.
Put in face-time. Even if you have employees who work from home full-time, it’s important for them to feel a sense of community with the rest of your team. Plan regular events such as after-hours get-togethers or monthly or quarterly team meetings where offsite and on-site employees can mingle and bond.
Play it safe. Make sure your remote employees’ computer systems are compatible with what’s in your business and that they are using appropriate security precautions to protect against computer viruses, malware or security breaches. If employees use laptops on the road, make sure they are careful to never leave the machine unattended in the car or in a coffee shop. Many data thefts occur when laptops are stolen.
Get cloud-savvy. Use cloud storage services and backup systems so your employees can store and access files from wherever they happen to be. You’ll also benefit from some type of project management and collaboration tool to enable easy scheduling, sharing and time-tracking among all your employees, both those working remotely and those in the office.
With a few simple steps in place, working remotely can benefit both your employees and your business.
Do you have a favorite tool (offsite storage, or backup system or project management). Share it with us.
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Rieva Lesonsky is CEO of GrowBiz Media, a media and custom content company focusing on small business and entrepreneurship. Email Rieva at rieva@smallbizdaily.com, follow her on Twitter.com/Rieva and visit her website, SmallBizDaily.com, to get the scoop on business trends and sign up for Rieva’s free TrendCast reports.
Tags: business tips, Tuesday Tip
Posted in Business, Tuesday Tip | No Comments »
April 30th, 2013
Studies show that people make a judgment on their first impression in less than a second. Research from Princeton University psychologist Alex Todorov and co-author Janine Willis, shows that people will make snap judgments in a tenth of a second! This does not leave a lot of room for small businesses to make the best impression on a prospective customer.
Unfortunately, that impression will not be changed with additional interactions. Once a customer classifies a company in one category, it is tough for them to make a mental switch. This can be good if the customer’s impression is positive about a company, but fatal if it is negative.
Here are the steps for a company to follow to give that all important first impression:
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Plan. Don’t leave that first impression to chance. What exactly do you want the customer to feel and experience the first time they are exposed to your company? Specifically what impression do you want to leave afterwards? What will they be talking about next day to their friends? This should be taught to every employee and be reflected in all marketing since where language, print size and photos are only a one way communication medium.
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Practice. Make sure that all employees can accurately reflect this. Can the employee authentically mirror the impression the company wants to make? At each interaction, it is critical to practice with employees what gets said or written. This is not the type of training that gets done once, but must be taught on an ongoing basis.
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Test. What do customers think? Is there a positive or negative reaction? Do they come back? Different approaches should be tested to see which yields the best results. An effective way to do this is to use simple A/B testing for web pages, emails and telephone greetings.
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Refine. Make changes based on feedback and results. This is an evolving process since customers make their impression inside the context of contact with other competitors and what is going on in the world around them.
Having a bad day? Admit it. With only one chance for a first impression, you may want to think of staying away from customers that day if you can’t faithfully reflect the brand.
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, SMB, Startup
Posted in Business, Startup, Team Building, VoIP | No Comments »
April 29th, 2013
A small business owner may not realize it, but their employees are constantly influencing customers even when they go home from work. Their behavior in this Internet connected world always reflects their company’s brand, image and reputation everywhere they go.
Have you every experienced any of these?
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A car with a branded logo on it cuts you off while you are driving. Alternately, you notice that a branded truck is parked in a designated handicap spot.
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A person wearing a shirt with their company logo on it (or in a business uniform) cuts in front of a long line at the grocery store or gets in an express lane with 25 items.
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A person on Twitter or Facebook posts something that is distasteful and you notice they work for a company that you patronize frequently.
Similarly, when a video surfaced one Christmas of a FedEx employee throwing a fragile computer package over a customer’s fence, how did that reflect on FedEx? Sure, the employee lost their job, but what was the effect on the company’s brand?
 When consumers experience the acts of employees outside of work, they make them think more negatively about the company the person is associated with. Unfortunately, there is no separation for the consumer here. Companies often hire people who match their own corporate values, so it is easy for the consumer to make the leap from bad personal behavior to distrusting their employer. If a consumer sees a person being lazy, arrogant, or inconsiderate outside of work, they reason that they are probably this way when they are on the job. It reinforces a negative brand for the company the next time they think about buying from them.
What advice can you give employees? Remind them that their actions outside of work always reflect the company. This includes in person, by telephone or on social media. They always need to think of how their actions will match company values in almost everything they do. While this may seem uncomfortable or unfair to the employee, it is a stark reality.
They should ask themselves, what would my CEO or manager do? Does their behavior outside of work reflect the values of the company?
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, SMB, Startup
Posted in Business, Startup, Team Building | No Comments »
April 25th, 2013
There are only three types of customers that always tell your company what they are thinking:
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The very happy. They can’t wait to tell you how great your product or service is and how it changed their life. They are falling over themselves to express their gratitude in person, by phone or on the web.
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The very unhappy. They can’t wait to tell you how your product or service just ruined “their life” and they wish they never met your company. They too are falling over themselves to express their dismay in person, by phone or on the web.
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The people you pay. Customers love to be “bribed” to tell their opinion. Many retail stores give a $2 – $5 discount on a customer’s next order for completing a survey.
 Unfortunately, the majority of disgruntled customers will say nothing directly to the company. They will sulk away and never buy from that company again. In this case, no news is not always good news. It may be broken and the company may not even know it.
According to Harvard Business Review http://hbr.org/2010/07/stop-trying-to-delight-your-customers
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25% of customers are likely to say something positive about their customer service experience.
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65% are likely to speak negatively about it.
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23% of customers who had a positive service interaction told 10 or more people.
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48% of customers who had negative experiences told 10 or more people.
So while customers are more likely to complain, see it as a gift. They have taken their valuable time to give the feedback dir
ectly to the company. The business benefits in two ways:
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The company gets a chance to turn around their experience. Surveys show that a dissatisfied customer whose problem is fixed becomes even more loyal to the company.
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The company gets valuable feedback that many other customers have experienced, but never mentioned. Customer service is a moving target so customer concerns may change every month.
What should a company do? Listen carefully to make sure they understand the concern. Try not to find blame or hide problems. Ask the customer for their best solution. Get back to the customer on how it will be solved. Collect all of these concerns so an overall trend can be spotted by the company.
How can you treat customer complaints as a gift?
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, Customer service, SMB, Startup
Posted in Business, Customer Service | No Comments »
April 23rd, 2013
Smart small businesses don’t just focus on the initial transaction with a customer. They look at the potential profit that a particular customer can bring to the company over the next few years. For example, a bank doesn’t just earn interest on a customer’s money, but can make additional profit from overdraft fees, check printing, money orders, and home loans. This is why so many companies incent customers to switch their business in an effort to profit from them in the long term.
It is also critical not to value a customer just based on their individual purchases with the company. Here are 6 other areas every small business should consider:
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Revenue minus cost. Too many times, small businesses only look at the top line sales number when evaluating the customer and forget abut the cost of actually servicing them. Why it’s important. Remember that sales is vanity and profit is sanity. If a customer costs more than their revenue to service, that customer is actually costing the company money. It would make more sense to have them do business with a competitor!
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Revenue timing. Some companies are very busy in December and can’t fill all of their orders. Why it’s important. A customer that orders during the non-peak month of January could be worth more for that company since business is slow.
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The customer’s brand. Is the customer a famous person or an expert in the industry that can add credibility to your company? Why this is important. It is valuable for small businesses to depend on the credibility and reputation of more famous brands. The fact is that if your company does business with Apple, more customers will buy from you.
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Referrals and buzz. Does the customer refer other customers or talk about you in social media? Why this is important. Customers now believe other customer reviews more than advertising. This will increase company credibility and sales.
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Retention. How long does the customer remain with your company? Why this is important. It is of course more profitable to sell to an existing customer than a new one because there is less of a marketing expense.
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Feedback. Does the customer give valuable feedback on your product of service? Why this is important. Most customers will never give the company any positive or negative feedback. This is incredible important in targeting the right customer with the right product.
How does your company measure the lifetime value of a customer?
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Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He is a small business motivational speaker, writer, and radio host. Barry can be found at www.barrymoltz.com
Tags: business tips, Customer service, Small Business, Startup
Posted in Business, Customer Service, Startup | No Comments »
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