Key Business Partners, LLC

To continue on my series on customer service and in honor of International Customer Loyalty Month, I thought it would be fitting to share a few tips on the topic of Keeping the Customer:

1) Listen. I know by me stating this obvious word…seems easy, right? Well, it seems that when I am not happy about customer service at any given business, one of the first things I feel is that I am not being listened to by the ownership of the business.

So make it a practice to listen when your customers ask questions or even offer ideas, comments, or suggestions. Those are the “gems” that will keep your customers coming back.

2) Be kind. Again I know you are probably saying, “Geez, Teresa, I already know that! I am not going to be screaming and yelling at my customers. However, sometimes when things get busy and hectic…we can tend to get short or abrupt in our demeanor and be aware that your customers are noticing.

3) Get personal. Now I am not stating here that you get started by asking them what they had for breakfast or when they last had a physical…however, I am saying to pay attention to your customer’s interests and ask them some questions about what they enjoy doing. People love to chat about things they enjoy.

4) Have a good memory (or at least be sure to write things down) – When you customer mentions something that is important to them. For example, maybe one of your clients is a coach whom likes aromatherapy. And while you are browsing on the internet you find a nice aromatherapy site she might like…forward her the link.

Teresa’s Tip – DON’T do any of this just for the sake of keeping the customer…do these things because you TRULY WANT to do them for your customer.

In honor of Get to Know Your Customers Day, I thought I would ask a few of my customers (and share it with you) a few questions, well, in order to get to know them better.

So how are you getting to know your customers?

The first person I asked was Katherine Reschke of owner of Passions that Pay and she is a life coach who help entrepreneurs find and monetize their passions. She also is host of The Passion Project, an internet radio show on Fridays at 1pmEST

Here is my Get To Know My Customers “Questionaire”

Q: Katherine, where were you born?

A: London, England. (and you should hear her lovely accent!)

Q: And do you have any brothers and sisters?

A: I have 1 brother and 2 sisters.

Q: What are 3 of your favorite foods?

A: I love duck, chocolate (whoohoo another chocolate lover) and lamb.

Q: And what are 3 of your favorite things to do?

A: I read, play computer games and love spending time with my kids

Next, is Heidi Richards, founder of The WECAI Network and Editor in Chief of WE Magazine for Women. Here are her answers to the same questions:

Q: Where were you born?

A: Santa Monica, California

Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

A: One brother – Monty lives in Pine Valley California

Q: What are 3 of your favorite foods?

A: My 3 favorite foods are Pasta (me too!), Sushi (I like the california rolls – although some tell me that these are “real” sushi) and Pad Thai.

Q: What are 3 of your favorite pastimes and why?

A: 3 Favorite Pastimes are Spending time with my family – because you never know when it will be the last time. Surfing the Internet and meeting awesome people like you! (awww-thanks Heidi, you are such a sweetie!) Reading – love to read and have at least 3 books going at any one time (me too!). I read 5-6 books a month, sometimes more. I also love to write! (me too!)

And the 3rd person I asked is Ginger Marks,

Ginger Marks is the founder of DocUmeant, where the mantra is “We make YOU look good!”

Q: Where were you born?

A: Lansing, Michigan

Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

A: Yes I have two of each. I am the second born and only have an older sister who is a nurse and lives about ½ hour away. My youngest brother lives in Atlanta and the other two live in my hometown of Lansing, Michigan.

Q: What are 3 of your favorite foods?

A: What are 3 of your favorite foods? Italian, Tai, & anything from My Little Taste of Italy!

Q: What are 3 of your favorite pastimes and why?

A: I love to sing, crafts of many kinds and of course do puzzles. I play online with a downloadable picture puzzler called Brainsbreaker and also Suduko. Offline I like to do crossword puzzles. They keep my brain sharp and help me build my word base and spelling skills. As for crafts, I have done many kinds. Macramé, knitting, crochet, quilling, drawing, cross-stitch just to name a few. Now for singing, I am a ham and have been a ham since a very young age (according to my mom). I am a soloist and sang a solo on TV when I was in the fourth grade.

Thank you ladies for being so generous with your time to allow me to get to know you better. I truly enjoyed it and I believe it has filled it purpose. There are a few things I learned about each of you that I didn’t know before.

So how are you getting to know your customers?

This weekend, I was reading Soccer Mom Myth, co-authored by Holly Buchanan & Michele Miller (again-love it!) and one chapter stuck out at me was Chapter 13. The main topic: Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

In Chapter 13, Holly and Michele give different scenarios in regards to items they were looking for and as they went through the process they noted the things that they liked and the things they they didn’t like as well.
On page 122, they state, “Once you plan scenarios for your personas, you can test to see what your customers actually do and if they follow these scenarios.” The Soccer Mom Myth

1. Take examples from those companies that you deal with in your life.
   • Maybe you have recently purchased a piece of office equipment. Did you go into the store? Did you like the layout? Were the employees helpful? Resourceful? Did you shop online? If so, did you like the layout of the site? Could you easily find what you were looking for? Did you need to call customer service? Were they resourceful and knowledgeable?
2. Ask members of a few of your favorite online social or business networking groups (like Yahoo or Ryze) that you participate in to “critique” your site and the process of navigating.

• You can ask them a series of questions and pay attention to what the feedback is about the site.

1. What is your first reaction when you get to the site?
2. What do you think about the format,colors used on the site?
3. How do you feel when navigating through the site?
4. How do you feel about the authenticity of the company in reading the text on the site?

Then pay attention to the feedback.

Bonus:
Here is a few tips Holly & Michele say about surveys :
Use open ended questions as often as you can (this gives the participant the opportunity to give you details)
Don’t use influencing language

If you haven’t already, I would highly recommend you go and pick up The Soccer Mom Myth today at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com

When talking about customer service, most of the time, there is always room for improvement in one area or another.

I wanted to share with you about two separate incidents I encountered when picking up dinner at my local KFC.

About 6 months ago, I went to go and get some chicken for dinner at a local KFC. When I walked in the first thing that struck me as not being customer friendly was no one greeted me. Most of the time, when you come into a place of business, you are greeted by someone who says, “Hello and Welcome to_____” or “Hi, how may I help you?”

Then, as I went up to the counter to order, noone came to the counter to take my order. There were 2 people bagging items, 2 cooks in the back and 1 person taking orders at the drive through window. Now, I don’t think I am being mean here. I understand that they have other orders however, if just one of them had said to me, “Ma’am I will be right there to take your order”, I would have been okay with that. However, again, noone said anything and I stood there for another couple of minutes waiting for someone to talk to me.

Now, at this point, as a customer I am thinking, “Boy, they must not really want my business at all because noone has acknowledged that I have even entered the building.” Finally, one of the employees came to the counter and started taking my order. The first thing I asked for, a BBQ chicken sandwich, they didn’t have anymore. Bummer. I was planning on getting separate items for my family but it seemed like they didn’t have some of the items. So, I resorted to getting a Family Meal. Then, they told me that they just started making a new patch of fried chicken and I would need to wait 10 minutes until it was done. Now, I didn’t really mind the fact because I thought, well, it will be hot out of the fryer so that is good.

So, I sat at one of the tables to wait for the chicken. However, after 10 minutes, the chicken wasn’t done. At 15 minutes, the chicken wasn’t ready. About 20 minutes past before they started putting my chicken into those famous KFC buckets. After about another couple of minutes I was out the door and headed home to feed the family. But I left the eatery not too happy with the service I received.

Flash forward to about 1 week ago. (Now, this is an important lesson. I hadn’t been back to this particular location in 6 months and my husband really likes KFC however, I didn’t go back until now. The ONLY reason why I did was this particular day, I just didn’t have the time to travel any further. )

Now, as I pull up to the KFC, I thought to myself, “Just remember how it was last time and if they don’t have the chicken that you want or if you have to wait, just go somewhere else.”

So, I step into the building, and I hear, “Hi there miss, welcome to KFC” Well, that was a nice change. This gentleman stood then asked me if he could take my order. Well, this time, I knew I was going to get a family meal but was deciding on which number of pieces I wanted the 8 or 10 piece. Anyway, I replied back, “I am just deciding on what I would like to order.” He answers back with sly look on his face, “I bet I know what you are going to order.” Now, I thought this was very nice and lighthearted so I played along, and I said, “Oh, really? Ok, please do tell me what I am going to order” (in a curious voice). He says, “I think you are going to order….ummm….CHICKEN!” Haha, yes, I know that joke is on me. But you know what…it was cute and I enjoyed the playfulness.

So then I ordered my family take home meal with 2 sides. And as I waiting for the meal to be put into the bags, his manager came up to the counter. So I took the opportunity to tell him that the gentlemen who waited on me was very funny and exhibited wonderful customer service. The manager chimed in, “Oh, this guy, he is not as funny as I am”. And then he noticed that the biscuits were in a bag in front of him and added, “would you like some honey, honey…for your biscuits?” I replied, “Very cute but no thank you, I have my honey at home.”

I have to say, I will be back to that KFC because of that experience I had there this last time. And I have told this story to several people I know AND I am posting it to my blog. It just goes to show you what great customer service can do for your business.

It doesn’t mean that you have to be playful in order to improve your customer service however, it is smart to look at what you can do to better the relationship with your clients.

Here are a few key points I got from this experience about customer service:

• Be sure to acknowledge your customers when they communicate with you or standing in front of you
• If you can’t help your customer with what they would like, it is smart to offer something else or refer them to someone else
• When a customer has to wait for you, it deters from the importance of your service because it seems as if you don’t care about them

With this month being National Customer Loyalty Month, I wanted to continue the conversation about customer service and how to make it better in your business. If you missed my last post you can read it at What does your customer service look like?

One way to review your customer service is to simple ask your customers what they think of your customer service. You can do this by creating a survey (you can use free programs such as Survey Monkeyor you can ask them via phone while talking with them after they have utilized your services. Most of the time, people will be honest and give you examples of what they really like.

And to really be able to create better customer service, it is best to ask this question, “Is there something that I can do to improve my customer service?” And again, most of the time people will be honest and this is helpful even if they tell you things that aren’t positive. Because this is the perfect opportunity to build process improvements in your business to push your customer service forward.

For example, have you ever been at a restaurant and they leave those comment cards? I have and I have filled them out as well. I will let them know what I have enjoyed and what I may not have liked at all. Sometimes, if I have had really exceptional good service, I will ask for the manager and tell them about my particular waiter or waitress. You know, the manager won’t know unless the CUSTOMER tells them.

And it is just as important to ask your customers what they like about your service and what they don’t like.

In fact, for me, I had a lady, Michelle Waters, who had purchased my Coaching Form Kitsgive me some advice that I am going to implement very shortly. She told me that she would recommend that I place in a feedback form for coaches to use for this very purpose; to ask their clients what they thought of their coaching. GREAT idea! and I am going to be adding it to the kit among a few others forms and sheets.

So, by reviewing your customer service by asking your customers, you will gain a great deal of useful information to increase your customer service in a positive light thus most likely increase your customers!

An added bonus: While asking your clients about your customer service…it is an ideal time to receive some testimonials as well.

With it being International Customer Loyalty Month, I wanted to talk about the topic of customer service for internet businesses.

Where is customer service in your priority list? Is it where it should be? If not, how are you going to make it better?

Here are a few suggestions I would like to offer:

• One way to know how your customer service is…ask your customers. You can do this by conducting a survey to your newsletter subscribers or email them a feedback form after each session.
• Once you get these responses, be sure to take a good look at them. Clearly and thoroughly review what your customer have said and/or written to you.
• Develop a plan in order to see how you are able to give your customers what they are asking for.
• Remember your tone of voice when communicating with your customers.
• Watch your writing etiquette when utilizing written communication such as email.

Teresa’s Tip: Also be sure to note how you wish to be treated when you are the customer and use that to form your outline for your customer service plan.

This month, I will be posting more in depth resources, tips and ideas of how to properly review, improve and manage your customer service.