At Your Service: The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service!Written by Susan Friedmann
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5. Help customers understand your systems. Your organization may have world's best systems for getting things done, but if customers don't understand them, they can get confused, impatient and angry. Take time to explain how your systems work and how they simplify transactions. Be careful that your systems don't reduce human element of your organization. 6. Appreciate power of "Yes". Always look for ways to help your customers. When they have a request (as long as it is reasonable) tell them that you can do it. Figure out how afterwards. Look for ways to make doing business with you easy. Always do what you say you are going to do. 7. Know how to apologize. When something goes wrong, apologize. It's easy and customers like it. The customer may not always be right, but customer must always win. Deal with problems immediately and let customers know what you have done. Make it simple for customers to complain. Value their complaints. As much as we dislike it, it gives us an opportunity to improve. Even if customers are having a bad day, go out of your way to make them feel comfortable. 8. Give more than expected. Since future of all companies lies in keeping customers happy, think of ways to elevate yourself above competition. Consider following: - What can you give customers that they cannot get elsewhere? - What can you do to follow-up and thank people even when they don't buy? - What can you give customers that is totally unexpected? 9. Get regular feedback. Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you could improve. There are several ways in which you can find out what customers think and feel about your services. - Listen carefully to what they say. - Check back regularly to see how things are going. - Provide a method that invites constructive criticism, comments and suggestions. 10. Treat employees well. Employees are your internal customers and need a regular dose of appreciation. Thank them and find ways to let them know how important they are. Treat your employees with respect and chances are they will have a higher regard for customers. Appreciation stems from top. Treating customers and employees well is equally important.
Written by Susan A. Friedmann,CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.
| | 10 Tips on Increasing Revenue With A Attractive Fee ScheduleWritten by Catherine Franz
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6. If you work with meeting planners and bureaus, enlist their experience and suggestions. Let them review and provide you with feedback on your schedule. They know market and continually compare speakers' schedules. 7. Create a PDF file for e-mailing your schedule. Or create a complete marketing package that includes your fee schedule and turn into a pdf file. 8. When presenting your services to a meeting planner, visualize that person looking at a giant chart on wall which lists all different times and programs planned at their event, but that are not yet scheduled. Ask meeting planner if he or she has any unfilled time slots available on day you are scheduled. Then suggest a second program for managers or sales team. This helps them because they have to book less speakers, cuts their planning time considerably, and usually saves money on travel expenses and hotel rooms. 9. Meeting planners discourage back-of-the-room sales because they do not want you to use "paid" time to push those materials. Instead, sell them separately through their educational materials budget. Add your educational materials to your schedule (books, workbooks, audio programs, subscriptions) with any quantity discounts (10-15%). Include special "program only" package opportunities as well. Place these in center of your schedule. List shipping separately in a footnote. 10. Speakers are now asking for a flat fee for their travel expenses. This provides flexibility for speaker and saves meeting planner time.
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
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