Letterhead and Envelopes - Think it's too expensive? If it's a business expense then it's tax deductible. While it's true that editors are primarily interested in content of your work, unprofessional correspondence sends up a red flag that you're trying to break-in to writing. You probably have a software program on your computer that you can use to create an impressive letterhead for yourself. Visit your local office supply store to find a quality paper to print it.

Editor - Now, we're talking some real money, aren't we? As I've said before in a previous ATSU Newsletter, there are affordable editors out there. You can even find one at a local college who might be willing to work for a nominal fee. If using a "for-pay" editor isn't an option, you should at least have all your work proofed for grammar, spelling, and flow of content by someone who is qualified and is objective. It's important that you be open-minded to constructive criticism.

Library Card - Who has time to read? The best way to learn to better express our own thoughts and further develop our writing is through reading thoughts of others. Ask anyone whom you consider to be a professional writer. That person will always tell you that they have either always been or have become an avid reader. In area of reading, venture out and read beyond your normal scope of preferences. You'll be amazed at how expanding your horizons can truly fine-tune your own writing skills.

Success in marketing with articles is a reciprocating enterprise. The more you write and publish articles to market your business, more exposure you will gain as an author. Presenting yourself as an across-the-board professional in your area of writing will propel your success even further. Maximize mileage you can earn through your writing!

(c) 2004, Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights in all media reserved. Permission to reprint granted so long as by-line and article are printed intact and links are live.

Now you must show customer that they are right; but so are you, so are your policies, and so is your plan of resolution…

You should have solid policies and procedures in place for your business to use as guidelines when it comes to resolutions.

If you are in a distributorship type of business, be sure to have all Policies and Procedures of company memorized as much as possible and available at ALL times to be able to reference in case of a complaint.

Be open to ideas; don’t use guidelines that are too rigid. This however is a very careful balance. You need to be able to bend, but if you bend too far, every customer will know about it and try to get same thing out of you that you give a particular customer to satisfy them.

Be ready while listening and repeating issues or asking leading questions to be able to have a rough idea of what resolution will be, so there is no awkward silence or long delay in communication between yourself and your customer (of course this depends a bit on method of contact, phone, e-mail, fax, or letter).

EXECUTE Resolution. This can be painless for you and for customer. Concisely state (with Empathy) issue at hand and your proposed resolution to customer. Do not say “Well, our policy says…,” as that puts customer back on offensive and you on defensive and you don’t want to be there. Disaster will follow, and you will always lose. Give your proposed resolution not as an “Is this OK?” type of resolution, but “We can do this.”

If customer continues to argue or disagrees with your resolution statement, then you can bring up policies or procedures that are in place (and customer should have a copy to reference themselves). Be firm about adhering to your policies while expressing a desire to do everything possible to resolve issue. Do not state anything in a defensive way. Try to practice stating or writing things in a way that shows you are actually “bending” for customer while still holding true to guidelines you have in place.

After an issue is resolved with a customer, there is something that should be “Common Sense” but is often missed by many companies and individuals. They assume problem is solved and move on. Wrong. The customer may have “accepted” your resolution, but did it SOLVE problem? This is where most powerful customer retention tool comes into play: Follow-up

You probably follow up with prospects and potential customers, right? You probably even follow up after a customer has ordered something to ensure everything is to their liking. Customer Service and Issue Resolutions should be no different. This time, if customer had contacted you by phone and you have their e-mail address, follow up by e-mail. If back and forth customer service that led to resolution was through e-mail, follow up with e-mail and a phone call. Starting to see it? It shows extra effort. You already placed a ton of effort into a phone conversation, but through e-mail it is much easier as you don’t need to respond in real time and they can’t “see” hesitation in your voice. However, always remember, they can see hesitation in written word.

The follow-up should be simple and should also include courtesy and empathy. Wait at least 24 hours if it is an “instant” resolution; if it is something where an exchange takes place, wait until you know customer has received replacement product or service (or refund) before doing follow-up. Something as simple as following would suffice:

Dear George,

We at Widget Enterprises want to thank you for your business, and wanted to take this opportunity to follow up with you to ensure that resolution to your issue (Short, concise restatement of issue here) was satisfactory and that your communication with our company was pleasant and what you expected.

If you have any questions or concerns, please give us a call at (555) 555-1235 or e-mail us at CusotmerService@CompanyName.com. We’ll also be sending you a short survey via e-mail so that we may better serve our customers in future and ensure highest satisfaction rate.

It has been a pleasure doing business with you, George, and we at Widget Enterprises look forward to serving you in near future!

Regards,

Customer Service Name Widget Enterprises Phone E-mail

Follow-up is that easy. They feel GOOD when they get a letter like this!!! Have you ever gotten one? How did you feel? See? If you want to do a survey, ask simple questions about what we could have done better, etc. This gives you opportunity to adjust anything that may need correction in your Customer Service Structure.

I hope you take opportunity to use these valuable pointers in your next contact with a customer. Have fun, help people. Customer Retention will always follow!

RESOURCES:

Customer Retention Associates: “Complaints: Customer Loyalty Torpedoes or Lifesavers. ”

Dashnier, Daniel L. “Level I Helpdesk Training Manual.” Instrumentarium USA, 2002.

Dashnier, Daniel L. “Quality Assurance Guidelines for Palm Customer Service.” SITEL Technology Services, Inc. (Daniel L. Dashnier, 2000).

Dashnier, Daniel L. “Quality Assurance Guidelines for Palm Web Chat.” SITEL Technology Services, Inc., 2000.

The many customers I have dealt with over years from McDonald’s to GE Medical and my own company. I appreciate you!

On The Web: http://www.sitel.com/ (SITEL Corporation) http://www.crmcommunity.com/ (CRM Community Online) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ © Daniel L. Dashnier. All rights reserved worldwide. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The author has written Quality Assurance Guidelines, score sheets and held hundreds of coaching sessions with Customer Service (phone), Technical Support (phone and web chat) staff for SITEL Technology Services, Inc. He has also written guidelines and training materials for management and employees to use for Quality guidelines in providing internal technical support to over 1,450 employees of Instrumentarium USA, now a part of GE Medical Systems.