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Business Coaching Resources - Recent Posts
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New posts are below or search categories in left navigation for other business coaching tips and advice.
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Customer Service and Sales: 7 reasons why customer services affects your bottom line
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| Most businesses are so focused on getting new clients in the door that they forget how important it is to keep them impressed after they have arrived. The effect of customer service on your client is key to keeping them coming back for more.
Think for a moment what kind of service you expect when you walk into a store for the first time... Does your business provide that sort of service to your customers? The link between customer service and sales is unquestionable. People like to feel welcome, they like to feel wanted and above all they like to be treated with respect when they ask a question... Have you taken the time to teach your staff about the effects of customer service?
There are seven key reasons why customer service affects your bottom line... seven great reasons to train your staff and work harder to keep your customers.
One: Studies have shown that customers who feel like they are being taken care of, who like the person who is serving them, who feel comfortable and respected... are more likely to buy. That is the simplest link between customer service and sales... good customer service makes more money.
Two: Consumers are more likely to return to businesses who offered them great service.
Three: Consumers who weren’t happy with a product or service and who were treated with respect, understanding and a professional attitude when returning the item or making a complaint... are just as likely to return as happy satisfied customers in the future.
Four: Businesses who offer excellent advice, product information and repairs without always pushing for the sale are more likely to see their customers return time and time again.
Five: Well informed, personable and polite staff develop strong relationships with customers. Customers who feel connected to a business personally are always happy to return.
Six: Clients who are happy with a service will tell their friends and in a reputation-based economy... this is vital for your bottom line.
Seven: Lastly, and perhaps most importantly. Excellent service does mean excellent reviews, but have you thought about it the other way around? What if you don’t deal with an irate customer well and the get online and tell their 350 facebook friends about it, 200 of these friends decide they will never use your service... what is that doing to YOUR bottom line? And then what if these friends start telling their other friends? I’m sure you can see the potential effect this could have on your bottom line!
When focusing on the relationship between customer service and sales it is easy to see just how important customer service truly is to your bottom line. Take the time to know your customers, deliver the best service and train your staff to do the same... and see the difference the change makes! |
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Achieve More with Effective Time Management
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| Do you always seem strapped for time?
Do you feel that you can never fit everything you want to do in a day?
Does your confidence take a battering because you feel overwhelmed?
Having more time is one of the most precious and sought after resources we have.
When you feel in control over your time you have more confidence.
Everyone has the same amount of time however, some apper to have more than others!
When you think about it, what is time? In its basic form it is that part of existence which is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years.
Everyone has the same amount of time to do their "stuff".
Yet the real winners in life are those that know what they have to do and when. They also don't get stressed out about those things that happen which have an effect on the amount of time we have between tasks, yet we have no control over.
So, how can you get more time?
The approach
The first thing that you should do is perform a self assessment of how you are currently spending your time.
Complete a diary for one typical week.
Write down how you are spending your time.
Let me introduce you to "Dave". His week looked a little like this when I met him:
Time
Task
08:00
Get out of bed
08:30
Left for work, no breakfast
09:00
Got to work, had coffee, chatted to colleagues
09:30
Started reading emails
10:30
Meeting
11:45
Emails
13:00
Lunch
14:00
Meeting
15:30
Coffee break, chatted to colleagues
16:00
General admin
17:00
Left for home
17:30
Arrived home, changed, coffee, put dinner on, watched TV
18:30
Dinner
19:00
Watched TV
23:00
Went to bed
This was a typical day for Dave.
If your day is like this, you may be feeling as though there are not enough hours in the day and you may also be feeling uncomfortable being under pressure from time.
After collecting a week's worth (5 working days) of time data, collated all the hours spent on the various tasks and put them into one master table under specific headings.
Here's Dave's output:
Activity
Hours Spent
Sleep
47 hours
Travelling to work
3 hours
Arrive at work/coffee/chat
2 hours
Emails
14 hours
Meetings
9 hours
Lunch
4 hours
Afternoon break/chat
2.5 hours
Admin
3 hours
Travelling home
4 hours
Prepare dinner/chilling out
6 hours
Dinner
2 hours
Watching TV
23.5 hours
In Dave's case, there was a feeling that there was not enough time in his working day to complete all of his work, yet he was spending 18 hours a week on just sending and answering emails and having coffee chats!
Now, I'm not saying that he shouldn't spend time chatting etc, because that wouldn't be realistic.
But if Dave set a goal to cut down on the amount of emails/coffee/chating time to 12 hours per week instead of one, he would be gaining an extra day's worth of work EACH WEEK!
Also, Dave was waking up and rushing to work each morning, often getting stuck in traffic, turning what was normally a 10 minute journey into a frustrating 30 minute crawl. Let's face it, if you leave for work at 8:30, especially when school is in, you're asking for trouble!
Then, having finally arrived at work all hot andbothered, Dave would take 30 minutes to chill out, get a coffee and have a chat to prepare himself for the day.
By the time he finally settled down to work, it was 9:30!
I suggested Dave wake up 30 minutes earlier than normal, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, and a coffee, and ten set off to work all relaxed and ready.
That way he could ACTUALLY start work at 9:00!
Also, the difference in travelling time if Dave left home at 08:15 was 15 minutes. So that meant he could gain another hour or so each week, just by decreasing his travelling time.
There are more ways Dave could save time, but let's save those for next time.
Between now and then, work out where you're spending your time and see how much you can save just by changing one habit. |
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