oinka.com

If you’re a smart business owner or manager, you know that to gain new customers and keep existing ones, your employees must continuously provide exceptional customer service.

Unfortunately, getting that point across to your employees, who tend to lapse into a coma at the start of formal customer service training, can be challenging.

Because the use of humor often helps to make training more interesting (and therefore more effective), let’s borrow a bit from late-night funny man David Letterman. Share the following Top 10 list with your employees to give them a chuckle–and sneak in a little customer service training at the same time!

“Top 10 Things You Should NEVER Do When Striving to Provide Exceptional Customer Service”

10. Post a sign proclaiming “Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!”

9. Laugh hysterically when a customer asks if you can provide requested information by the end of the day.

8. Put a customer’s letter in the bottom of your In Box (otherwise known as the Black Hole).

7. Think about your dream vacation in Bakersfield while a customer is explaining what he/she needs.

6. Set a new land speed record heading out the back door when you spot a customer approaching with an “I have a problem” look on his/her face.

5. Do your famous grizzly bear impersonation when a customer interrupts your real job by asking for help.

4. Say “I’m working on that right now” when a customer calls to ask about the status of his/her request–while you’re reading a tabloid story about celebrities who give their babies weird names.

3. Put your customer’s call on hold while you head home for the weekend.

2. Use the following nonverbal cues while expressing your desire to help: sticking out your tongue, rolling your eyes, shaking your fist, pounding your head on the desk.

And the number-one thing you should NEVER do when striving to provide exceptional customer service…

1. Answer every question with “It beats the hell out of me” or “You’ve mistaken me for someone who cares” or “Why are you still here?” or “The dog ate my brain.”

Here’s one more important customer service tip you should share with your employees: everyone they deal with is a customer. This includes their coworkers, their subordinates, and their superiors (including you), as well as the people who buy your company’s products or services. You can easily adapt the above Top 10 list to internal customer service tips by substituting the word “coworker” for “customer.”

Good customer service is one of the most important part of your business. It’s essential to get repeat customers, the backbone of most businesses. And unsatisfied customers are always fast to spread their unhappiness. So here are a few tips about customer service:

Be polite and use appropriate style.
This is a must. Your clients will respect you a lot more if you act and sound professional. And many people will take offense at being addressed too familiarly.

The customer is always right.
That is an old saying, but always true. The problem or blame may be on the customer’s side, but you should never tell this outright. If it’s a problem on his side, just tell him the steps to fix it and be understanding. And, if the problem is on your side, do not be afraid to say sorry and explain the problem if the situation warrants it.

Offer a refund if the problem is too serious.
Some customers will not dare to ask for a refund, even if it’s appropriate given the situation. Tell them yourself that you will refund them if they wish to, even if you have a clear guaranty displayed on your site.

Be willing to go the extra mile.
It’s the little things that count. When you can do more than asked do not be afraid to, your customers will love you for it. For example, you can use pictures, screenshots or samples to answer a question instead of simply describing with words, or send a handwritten thank you note with your physical products.

Make your customer feel comfortable asking questions.
Answer all questions you receive promptly and politely. The fact that they may not be taking part in your latest promotion or buying your latest product doesn’t make their question is less important. It may be less profitable for you, but your customer could not care less about these things. Who know, they could be planning a big purchase, or would have if they had been treated well.

Always follow-up if you expect a problem.
You do not need to follow your customers every step of the way. But if you notice a problem, or just answered a particularly complicated request, it’s best to make sure everything is resolved before you move on. Make it easy to contact you if there is still something wrong.

Team players are usually the people that are known for sacrifice, sharing, and hard work. Does this sound like a reputation you’d like to have? Many strive to be a team player in the work place, but it takes more than just having a desire, it takes hard work. One piece of advice from a father figure of mine that embodies the concept of team work that he used to say to me was, “Usually doing the right thing is the harder thing to do in life”. Being a team player often involves doing the right thing by not always having your self benefit in mind. This article looks at several key principals to being a team player.

To begin being a team player look at the team you are on and define the team goals. Often these goals will differ from your own personal goals. Be sure to keep the team’s goals first on your list of priorities. Once you identify the team goals think about the best way you can contribute to the team by reaching these goals. Try to thing about reaching goals as absolute destination, rather than just a possibility. That is to say, look at meeting team goals as something that will happen, not something that can happen. With this attitude being a team player will become a reality.

Team players must recognize their individual strengths in order to provide the team with something useful. If you have a great ability to work with numbers, nominate yourself the math person, and try to work on all aspects of the project that deals with math. conversely if you’re one that is not good at something, be sure to make that known to the team. If you are shy and introverted, and the team wants to make you the sales person for the group, tell them that might not be a good idea. By establishing your strengths in the beginning one puts themselves in a better position to excel at a task for the team in the end.

Always try to help out others in need within your team. Often time’s team members will become so engulfed in their own assignments that they fail to realize others are struggling. If one has the attitude that they will only do what they’re being paid to do, then they may only achieve so much for the team. If one applies the attitude of helping a brother or sister in need, the team can build and succeed upon such efforts.

The old cliche’ that teams are only as strong as their weakest member holds true in today’s work environment. By defining goals, recognizing strengths, and helping others you will give your team a better opportunity of having no weak members what so ever.