Employees Are a Company’s Most Important Asset

On August 22, 2018   /   Increasing Profits, Uncategorized   /   1 Comment
Employees Are a Company’s Most Important Asset

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During one of my recent training sessions, several participants were surprised to hear me say that employees, not customers, are a company’s most valued asset.  Customers are second.

When employees understand and champion the corporate mission, vision, and core values, their work will reflect what they believe in.  They will be engaged and motivated…in fact, they’ll give such incredible experiences that customers will want to keep coming back to buy more goods and services.  Employees are the key to creating loyal customers and an endless referral source.

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Ask Clients About Obstacles

On August 8, 2018   /   Effective Communication, Increasing Profits   /   Leave a comment
Ask Clients About Obstacles

Obstacles to delivering exceptional service present themselves in a number of ways.  Remained unchecked, they’ll quickly become difficult challenges to hurdle—ultimately leading to poor sales and lean profit margins.

So, how does one overcome such hindrances?  One of the best ways is to ask clients a simple question:  “What obstacles prevent you from having great experiences with us?”.   Caution:  This is an open ended question that basically asks, “what are we doing wrong and how are we preventing you from doing more business with us?”.  Do NOT ask this question if you aren’t prepared to hear completely honest and hard answers.  Customers are eager to give their opinions; that said, their opinions may be offered in a manner in which you may not be ready to receive.  So, brace yourself.  Get ready.  Make a plan for change and implementation.

Make time for you and your team to work on fresh ideas about customer satisfaction.  Focus on typical customer irritations such as:

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Attract/Retain the Best Employees Via Company Loyalty

On July 25, 2018   /   Effective Communication, How to Increase Customer Loyalty, How to Increase Employee Loyalty, Increasing Profits   /   Leave a comment
Attract/Retain the Best Employees Via Company Loyalty

Ask almost any company in any industry right now if they are having difficulty finding skilled employees and/or retaining their best employees and you’ll probably get an earful of woes they are facing.

One of the ways to attract and retain excellent workers is to be loyal to them.  How, you might ask, does one make THAT happen?  Well, one way is to treat employees in the same manner that you treat your best customers/clients.  

Let’s take a closer look.   To get consumers to stay with you, it is important to:

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How to Turn Irate Customers Into Raving Fans

On May 2, 2018   /   Customer Service, Effective Communication, Follow Up on Customer Complaints, How to Increase Customer Loyalty, Innovative Problem Resolutions   /   Leave a comment
How to Turn Irate Customers Into Raving Fans

Photo Provided by Pixaby

Upon returning from a business trip, a hotel employee who participated in one of my workshops, walked up to me and exclaimed, “It worked !!”.  Not being completely sure what he meant, I asked.  He told me that he successfully applied the techniques that he learned about turning furious customers into raving fans.  

I was happy that he courageously used the knowledge he gleaned from my training session and joined him in the celebration.  Something as simple as acknowledging the problem and taking ownership can quell a potentially volatile situation.

Large and small businesses share this problem.  In many cases, not enough money is budgeted to train how to successfully solve “outraged customer” complaints.  That said, organizations, especially small businesses, experience stunted growth or actually go out of business due to customer attrition and the loss of key employees.

Take charge of the situation by:

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How to Build a Customer-Focused Team

On April 18, 2018   /   How to Increase Employee Loyalty, Internal Customer Service, Leadership, Team Building   /   Leave a comment
How to Build a Customer-Focused Team

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The days of companies relying on the customer service department to manage every complaint and challenge are all but completely gone.  Businesses are most effective when employees in every department have the same facts on hand to solve problems quickly and efficiently and to do it accurately on initial contact.  Doing so will reduce irritation and foster a healthier business/client relationship (I think we all know that transferring clients from one department to the next only exacerbates the problem).

Let’s be honest, it’s all about management and employees working in sync and keeping the lines of communication open and silos torn down. 

As a side note, I’d like you to consider this thought: when asking, “How was the service?” and the client says, “Fine”, you may have a problem on your hands.  “Fine” can mean, “The service was on point” or it could mean “I’m never going to return to your store”.  On the internet I found a funny phrase on posters and quote boards that support my claim that the word “fine” has a double meaning.  It says, “Fine is not fine! The scale goes Great, Good, Okay, Not Okay, I Hate You, Fine!”.

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