Customer Service and The Human Experience

Written by Rosanne Dausilio, Ph.D.


Continued from page 1

Never lose sight ofrepparttar fact that we are human beings, not merely ‘human doings.’ The fact is 70% to 90% of what happens with customers is driven by human nature, having nothing to do with technology. Technology is meant to enable human endeavors, not to disable them.

Extraordinary service or lack thereof, separatesrepparttar 136781 good fromrepparttar 136782 great companies. As more and more organizations are turning torepparttar 136783 contact center as a strategic player inrepparttar 136784 competitive landscape, it is inrepparttar 136785 throes of re-inventing itself to step up torepparttar 136786 plate and becomerepparttar 136787 heart of a company's customer facing operations.

Empathetic Responsiveness

The ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes and see their point of view—not agree with them, not make them right and your company wrong—but hear what they are saying. After all, basic needs of all of us are to be heard and treated with dignity and respect. I think of a call as an ABC process. ‘A’ representsrepparttar 136788 customer presenting their question, request, complaint or problem. ‘C’ isrepparttar 136789 ultimate resolution. Most times ‘B’ is either skipped or left out—because of metrics, calls in queue, or simply because you knowrepparttar 136790 answer beforerepparttar 136791 customer is even finished speaking. ‘B’ is whererepparttar 136792 agent acknowledges what they hear—be it upset, anger, frustration, or fear. Or, a simple ‘thank you for takingrepparttar 136793 time to call and bring this to our attention.’ After all, if a customer calls in to complain, you haverepparttar 136794 opportunity/challenge to turn them around. If they don’t call, and only complain to other people, you have no opportunity. Does going through ‘B’ take longer? Not at all. It allows you to moverepparttar 136795 customer to a more productive interaction and closerepparttar 136796 call. I’ve heard many customers repeat their opening paragraph (A) over and over, while atrepparttar 136797 same timerepparttar 136798 agent is trying to get them to resolution (C). Red alert! Red alert! Acknowledge what is behindrepparttar 136799 words and you will move them quickly to ‘C.’ I believe you can’t go from A to C without going through B.

If all customers wanted justrepparttar 136800 facts (and some do), they could ascertainrepparttar 136801 information online. Most customers (people) wantrepparttar 136802 human interaction, someone to hear them, someone to care. A simple, “I’m so sorry that was your experience. My name is Rosanne and I’m going to do my best to help you right here and now.”

Self Service

When askedrepparttar 136803 question in a recent study, “What isrepparttar 136804 biggest barrier your company encounters to self-service effectiveness?” only 14% ofrepparttar 136805 customers replied they don’t know about it.’ This means thatrepparttar 136806 86% who do know about it and attempt to use it (1) find it too hard to navigate, (2) can’t findrepparttar 136807 answers, and/or (3) don’t trustrepparttar 136808 system orrepparttar 136809 answers they do find.

Research shows that customers prefer to deal with companies who arerepparttar 136810 most consistently accessible. When customers experience a level of service from email and chat support, for instance, that equals or exceeds voice support, then and only then will they gladly migrate to those channels to resolve their problems and inquiries. To increase customers’ satisfaction, be sure to:

1) Phone: Have a ‘zero out’ option on your system 2) Website: Have your phone number or a button to speak with a human 3) E-mail: Rephraserepparttar 136811 issue inrepparttar 136812 opening paragraph.

Purchasing Process

In an interview with Delia Passi Smalter,repparttar 136813 former publisher of Working Woman and Working Mother magazines, we found very interesting statistics regarding female demographics (Incentive Magazine, 2003). It seems that women are making over 85% of consumer purchases and influencing more than 95% of total goods and services. Smalter distinguishesrepparttar 136814 purchasing process women and men go through. The biggest one, she says, is that women need to feel more of a connection torepparttar 136815 TSR; they need to trustrepparttar 136816 corporation andrepparttar 136817 brand. Price becomes secondary. Women take in a lot of information, including recommendations from friends and family, company and brand reputation, feelings about her contact person, and howrepparttar 136818 brand will impact her life. Not so for men. Men take a systematic approach, allowing outside influence to some degree, but mostly they are focused on price.

One ofrepparttar 136819 most influential documents inrepparttar 136820 world,repparttar 136821 U.S. Constitution, begins with "We,repparttar 136822 people..." Yes, ‘werepparttar 136823 people’ are what makesrepparttar 136824 difference.

ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., industrial psychologist/President, Human Technologies Global, (www.human-technologies.com) provides needs analyses and customer service trainings. She authors Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub, Customer Service and The Human Experience, and Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck. Subscribe to Human Tech Tips at www.HumanTechTips.com.


FATTEN YOUR ONLINE PROFITS WITH DROP SHIPPING...

Written by Thom Reece


Continued from page 1

The products actual source is invisible torepparttar consumer. The seller (you) is able to build a database of customers that he/she owns and controls (by agreement withrepparttar 136741 manufacturer) and has allrepparttar 136742 direct marketing advantages that accompany that arrangement... while eliminatingrepparttar 136743 need for maintaining expensive inventory.

This arrangement offers maximum flexibility and cost savings forrepparttar 136744 seller. If a product does not sell well online you can pullrepparttar 136745 advertising (web page or mini-site) instantly with very little cost to you outside ofrepparttar 136746 actual time it took to build and testrepparttar 136747 web marketing effort. Or, since this type of page/mini-site is so inexpensive to maintain and host... you can simply leaverepparttar 136748 pages online and take whatever orders trickle through... while you move on torepparttar 136749 testing and promotion of new drop ship products.

The manufacturer benefits from this relationship by gaining a legion of active marketers promoting their products... at little or no cost (other than those small costs involved with supportingrepparttar 136750 marketer with online marketing materials like product images, sales materials, etc).

As a marketer you are looking for several key components in developingrepparttar 136751 drop-ship relationship with a source factory or distributor:>

  • High Quality Products

  • Blanket Product Liability Insurance (if applicable)

  • A clear guarantee and return policy

  • High Quality Marketing Materials ... product images (gifs, jpegs, etc.), selling copy, other suitable web graphics, etc.

  • A Customer Service Department that will work with you to developrepparttar 136752 best selling situation for you.
If you are a manufacturer seeking to expand distribution (or an inventor with a new product ) you will findrepparttar 136753 willingness to drop ship in single units will give you a strong competitive edge while you carve out increased market share at little cost.

If you are an online marketer interested in offering high profit products to your niche market (your website visitors) without incurring high front-end development or inventory costs... then drop shipping is for you.

Internet marketers are uniquely positioned to take profitable advantage ofrepparttar 136754 drop ship arrangement and should give this system a serious look.

Thom Reece

Drop Ship Source Directory


Thom Reece is the CEO and Senior Consultant for On-Line Marketing Group... His website... On-Line Marketing Resource Center ...( www.e-comprofits.com ) is visited by thousands of internet marketers daily. Thom can be reached at: 808-929-7377, Fax: 808-929-8711, or by email at: thom@e-comprofits.com


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