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!

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:

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:

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.

Providing feedback to staff is always tough, but if it's "constructive", you not only get the message across, but, you build a more cohesive and capable team as a result.

Do you remember when your parents told you to eat your veggies because they were good for you?

Now that you are an adult you know they were right. Well, just as they were right from the beginning, I'm asking you to believe me when I tell you this: constructive feedback is the only way to learn and develop, both personally and professionally. That means, you as a manager, have a responsibility to your staff to help them develop. That means you have to give constructive feedback.

What is constructive feedback?

Constructive feedback is not criticism (which has a negative connotation because it is so often generalized and personal). Constructive feedback is not personal (e.g. you are lazy), but a targeted response to an individual's action or behaviour (e.g. you did not accomplish the task you agreed to complete) that is intended to help them learn, and is delivered from a place of respect. Constructive feedback is not "closed" but rather invites the individual receiving the feedback to shed light, share their perspective, or provide their response (e.g. Do you see it differently?). Constructive feedback does not blame, but presents a collaborative approach to problem-solving (e.g. If we are all to go home tonight on time, task A needs to get done. What support can the team offer to finish task A so that everyone gets to go home on time?).

Why constructive feedback works

Constructive feedback enables us to give hones, "tough messages" to those with whom we work. However, instead of insulting, shutting-down, or alienating those who receive the feedback, and thus lowering their morale and their resulting productivity, it motivates them to ask for help, and acknowledge a skill or competency deficiency, while feeling supported and respected. Two of the most important factors influencing employee retention/satisfaction are: "great boss", and "feeling part of a team" (Hay Group study on retention). Constructive feedback, because it is delievered out of respect and a genuine desire for the individual to improve, accomplishes both. Providing feedback, in this way, enables you to build the competecy and cohesiveness of your team, while effectively managing performance issues. It also enables you to remain respected, well liked, and overall, considered to be a "great boss".

With "Masterchef" interest reaching near fever-pitch, it's hard to resist piggy-backing on the marketing hype. You may or may not be a fan of the TV show, "Masterchef", but one of the key lessons that can be drawn from this popular program is that it only takes a few core ingredients to achieve a brilliant result. So let's see how we can apply that lesson to local area marketing for franchise.

During last year's Masterchef season, it was reported that Coles' revenue from items featured in recipes on "Masterchef" increased by up to 1,400%.

Most small businesses cannot afford to advertise on a scale anywhere close to this. That's where being part of a franchise is a huge advantage, because you gain economies of scale by pooling your marketing dollars so that, as a group, you can create brand awareness through advertising.

But advertising is just a small part of marketing. Certainly it gets your product in front of customers, but it employs what I call a "buck-shot" approach. What that means is that the advertiser hopes that by advertising broadly, a potential customer will notice the advertisement and be induced to buy, or at least enquire.

To really get cooking with LAM you need to be far more targeted, so leave advertising to the franchisor and start thinking locally to ensure the success of your franchise location.

Being targeted is the key secret ingredient in a successful local area marketing strategy. So what does that mean?

Let's look at 3 targeted core ingredients that will improve your sales, leverage the national or state franchise advertising, and create a steady income of local customers:

1. Find pockets of customers in your local area who fit your target audience
   If you're a printer, this might mean introducing yourself to all the small to medium businesses in your area. You don't have to do it all in one go. Start by creating a database of local businesses that would need printing services. Then create an ice-breaker of some kind (lumpy-mail, one of the fun strategies I teach, is great for this). Next send your ice-breaker to 5-10 local businesses per week. Don't be tempted to send any more that this unless you have a lot of time on your hands to follow up. Once your ice-breaker has had a chance to reach the recipient, follow up with a personal phone call. Cold calling is not one of the most effective strategies you can use, besides which, it can be very demoralising, but by sending a fun ice-breaker, your chances of getting a warm reception from your targets are greatly improved.
   
   
2. Network locally with a killer elevator pitch
   There are usually numerous avenues for networking locally; some are free, some are not. When choosing a networking event, keep in mind that people who frequent nothing but free networking events often expect everything else for free too. If you can, try to find networking events that are run with a strategic model so that you have a better chance to connect with the right people.
   
   In readiness for networking, prepare a killer elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is something short you can say about your business that will pique interest and cause your networking companion to ask for more details. It's called an elevator pitch because it should be short enough to use in an elevator between floors, so aim for around 30-seconds. The best elevator pitches identify a likely problem your target audience would face, but present it in a question form so that the contact wants to say "yes" or "no". Follow the question up with what it is that you do. For example, if you were a jeweller, you might say "Have you ever bought a diamond and wondered if it was the right price for the quality of stone being sold?" "Well, what I do is provide a detailed guide to buying diamonds so that you have all the necessary information before you buy."
    
3. Get involved with the community
   Small business and franchise owners often get involved in the local community but frequently don't tie it to a tangible growth referral strategy. What's needed is some reciprocity, whereby the entity within the local community that you want to get customers from, gets something tangible from you in return.
   
   Imagine you own a beauty salon or day spa and you want to target the mums from a local school. You want the school to send mums your way, but what's in it for the school at this point? What you need is a carrot. You need to find out what it is they are fundraising for at the moment and then offer to help them achieve their goal by contributing to it in a way that is tied to sales. For instance, you might agree that for every person connected with the school who comes to the salon, you'll donate 10% of the sale to the school project. Can you see how suddenly they now have a vested interest in promoting your business internally? If they can encourage the mums to use your salon, they get their music room or playground faster, and your profile as a member of the community is significantly raised.

To cook like a Masterchef cooks, you need to think like a Masterchef thinks! Get cooking with LAM, using these 3 simple, targeted, core ingredients and watch your sales soar!

To learn more about how to develop local area marketing strategies that work, register for our next introductory workshop here.

We've all had it drilled into us: "there's no "I" in team." It might be reasonable therefore to draw the conclusion that for great customer service to happen, it has to be a team effort.

And to a large extent that's exactly the case. We can't afford a single weak link when it comes to the customer service chain, as you might remember from a previous Pig Tales article. But...and it's a big BUT, truly outstanding customer service can only happen if there's an "I".

So what does that "I" stand for when it comes to providing truly outstanding customer service?

On occasion, it might be that the whole experience was something to rave about, but more often, I would argue that really memorable customer service starts with the actions of an individual. And that action is called INITIATIVE. It's initiative that starts the customer service ball rolling.

When an individual pro-actively seeks out a service opportunity, they exercise the kind of responsiveness that we call initiative. It can also be called, "going the extra mile".

While we have to make sure there are no weak links in the customer service chain, it is the responsibility of every member of the team to exercise initiative.  If it’s not, we end up with everyone thinking that someone will do it, which means that nobody does what anybody could have done in the first place.

Frequently these days, small business owners find themselves with staff who prefer to be bystanders; staff who would rather the customer just went away; staff who would rather fold clothes, play with the computer or rearrange furniture than make an approach.   Why?  Well, partly it’s that the social skills of younger workers these days do not translate into face-to-face contact.  But it’s my theory that these individuals are yet to discover the rush of pride and pleasure that comes from solving a customer’s problem or making a customer happy.

So how do we encourage these reluctant individuals to take and use the initiative in a customer service context?   Just getting a reluctant individual to interact on the most basic level can be an almost insurmountable hurdle and of course not everyone is cut out for the challenges of providing outstanding customer service.  But here are three key steps to make sure the “I” is in your customer service.    

1. Recruit the right people for the job
   If you're going to put someone on the front line, make sure they have the right attitude to start with. As a corporate trainer, I frequently see emploers trying to fit square employees into round holes. Training is no substitute for a lobotomy! While skills can be trained, influencing a lasting change in attitude can be a really long and hard road. Do you have the resources and time to invest in that kind of change?
    
2. Praise the right behaviour
   Whenever we want to influence behaviour we want to make sure we are reinforcing the actions and attitudes we want, not those we don't want. Praise costs so little, yet has such an incredible impact on behaviour. Praising the right behaviour is essential if you want to condition more of the same.
    
3. Empower your staff
   Staff cannot take the initiative if you haven't empowered them to make decisions and choose actions. "Oh, but what if the make the wrong decision", I hear you asking? Yes, that's a risk. But the risks can be minimised by the depth of training you provide. Sharing information about the value of a customer to the business and giving reasonable parameters around customer service recovery actions, will all help your staff members build an internal database of problem-solving possibilities and allow them to exercise creativity in their quest to become a customer service champion.
    

Parents know that the more you solve problems for children, the more they rely on you to solve problems for them.  The same is true for staff.  If we fail to empower them, it becomes a vicious cycle which leaves the staff member increasingly dependent and makes us increasingly tied to our business. 

To really stand out in today’s competitive landscape, our job as employers and business owners, is to develop the kind of advantage our competitors will find almost impossible to replicate – that advantage lies in our Heartware^TM.  Creating customer service champions and developing customer service with a capital “I” is just one of the six critical areas that underpin the success of a Heartware^TM trained business.  If you’d like to know more about Heartware^TM training, or would like to benefit from a limited number of Heartware^TM check-ups, contact Dawn Russell, The Heartware^TM Specialist today, on 0404 010 837 or email dawn@carcassonne.com.au.