2009 | Answering Service, Legal Answering Service

Turning Around Negative Attitudes

November 15, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

Ever notice how contagious attitudes are. Good and bad attitudes will infect and affect all your employees. At one time or another, organizations develop an over-abundance of “negative energy” or attitudes. That said, negative employee attitudes and beliefs need to be addressed quickly. These negative attitudes can create a long term culture of failure that infects even new employees. Here are some ideas on how management can work to turn around negative attitudes.

Sometimes these negative attitudes can be linked to organizational trauma. Common examples are down-sizing, budget restraints or workload increases. But sometimes these attitudes will evolve over time with no apparent triggering event.

A “negatively charged” organization is identified by increased complaining, employee bickering, lack of hope that things will get better, disingenuous attitudes towards customers and resentment towards leadership. Negativism is contagious. It can affect even the most positive employees.

Management Must Model Positive Behavior

If management is walking and talking in a negative way, staff will follow. Just don’t do it. You must lead with confidence in your staff and show confidence in their abilities. Raise the bar, expect better behavior, support your staff, hold them accountable, confront them and always be clear and honest. You must set higher standards for your own work and relations with your employees and set an example of positive behavior.

Confront Negativity

If you do not confront it, your staff will feel that you are either out of touch or incapable of leading and will not be confident in your leadership abilities. You must acknowledge the frustration and the negative feelings, nut never say that they shouldn’t have their negative feelings. Once you confront your employees’ negative feelings, seek suggestions regarding a remedy or solution about them.

Seek and Identify The Positives In All Situations

When an employee suggest an impractical solution, we are generally quick to dismiss the idea. Instead, acknowledge it and build on it in a positive manner. Always identifying the effort while gently discussing the idea looking for a positive solution. Acknowledge the small victories and build on the momentum. Turning a negative organization into a positive organization is a accumulation of thousands of little positive actions.

Positive Recognition is the Order of Business

Always take the time to provide positive recognition as soon as you find out about good performance. Do not couple positive strokes with suggestions for improvement. Separate them, combining them devalues the recognition for many people.

Don’t Concentrate On Negativity

It is human nature to go along with the crowd. The general complaining and sniveling, particularly in informal discussions do the most damage. When you are faced with negative conversations, consider changing the subject, acknowledge the negative content and suggest that everyone look at it from the other, more positive side or ask what can be done about the situation.

In Conclusion

Most organizations to go through periods of negativity. Your managers play important roles in determining if that negativity will increase or whether the trend is going to be relatively short. Management must understand that it is the little things that they do, day in and day out, that make the difference.

Filed Under: Customer Service

Customer Relationship Management

November 10, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

“Customer Relationship Management (or, CRM) refers to the methodologies and tools that help businesses manage customer relationships in an organized way.”

For your small businesses your customer relationship management will include:

Processes that help identify and target your best customers.
Processes that generate quality sales leads.
Processes for planning and implementing your marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives.
Processes that help form individualized relationships with your customers.
Processes that provide the highest level of customer service to your most profitable customers.
Processes that provide your employees with the information they need to know their customers’ wants and needs.
Processes to build relationships between your company and its customers.

Customer relationship management tools should include software or browser-based applications that collect and organize information about your customers.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing

First impressions can never be changed.

November 2, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

Our business is providing you, our customer, a hole, not the drill. Think about it. When you need to drill a hole in the wall, you ONLY WANT a hole in the wall. To get a hole in the wall you have a couple choices.

A. You call a carpenter, he makes a hole in the wall and you pay him for his time, expertise and the use of his tools.

B. You go to the local home improvement store you BUY a drill, a bit, an extension cord, you drive home and run an extension cord, drill the whole and then clean up your mess, and put the tools in the garage.

C. Find a store that will sell you a hole. Isn’t that what you really wanted to buy, just a hole, right.

That is what we sell, holes.

When you just want to have your telephone calls handled, it is just like the above scenario, you are looking to buy a hole, right? You do not want to hire additional people, train them, buy additional equipment, install it, etc. Ad nauseam.

So how does this link to Customer Service?

If you want your phone answered professionally, 24 hours a day, how many people are you going to need to hire? What if you only need it answered professionally 8 hours a day? Regardless, your employees will need to have someone at the phone every minute and answer every call within just a few rings to just capture all the calls and if you are running lean on employees, can they offer customer service in the form of professionally handled call and handle all the details of each call? If a customer is put on hold or senses that their call is a nuisance to the operator, what will their perception be about the rest of your company?

Your phone, in many calls, is the first impression of your company given to the customer. That first impression can never be changed. Are you willing to risk that?

Consider a 24 hour live answering service such as ours. Our people are trained and monitored. Their sole mission is to make that phone call experience for your customer one that is positive and professional. You can have our award winning services for as little as 9 cents per hour! Did I mention we have award winning services? Did I mention the award was International and Business Connections was presented with the 2009 Award of Excellence at ATSI’s 2009 Annual Convention held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the twelfth consecutive year.

The award is presented annually by the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), the industry’s largest trade association for providers of call center services. After six months of intensive testing, an independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients, the four cornerstones of success in the call center and telephone answering service industry. Business Connections Call Center was also certified by ATSI in April for meeting or exceeding high standards in business practices, life safety, operations, including normal and emergency procedures, personnel hiring, training and ongoing evaluations. Business Connections Manager Dirk Moeller said, “In addition to Call Center Certification, we subscribe to Agility Recovery Solutions. In the event of a fire or natural disaster Agility Recovery Solutions, within 48 hours of an interruption, will deliver any or all of our four key elements or recovery: Power, Technology, Space and Telephone Connectivity”.

About ATSI
The Association of TeleServices International was founded in 1942 as an international trade association representing telephone answering services. ATSI now encompasses companies across the Globe offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centers, contact centers, inbound order taking, voice mail and emergency dispatch.

Filed Under: Answering Services, Customer Service

Customer Service Defined

October 25, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

Customer service can be defined as; An organization’s ability to fulfill their customers’ wants and supply their needs.

Customers and business owners and managers always like to talk about what good customer service is (and isn’t). One of the better definitions we have found is: “excellent customer service (is) the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer’s expectations.”

By accepting this above definition your company will need to expand their ability to manage the services offered to a customer. Your new goal is to consistently EXCEED your customers’ expectations. This will affect every aspect of your business. To rise up to this level of service, everyone in your company must be committed to make the best decisions for the results desired to impress your customers, not just those employees of our business that are face-to-face with the customer.

This level of service can only be accomplished once you make a commitment to learn what our customers’ needs and wants are. Then you MUST develop and implement a plan of action.

By providing this level of customer service your small business can distinguish itself from the competition.

Filed Under: Customer Service

Listening is a Skill

October 21, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

“Do you hear what I am thinking?” That is a stupid question, right? Not really. To listen well you must be able to understand the very thought process of the speaker. To do that you must LISTEN. So many of us are processing our own response to the speakers comments WHILE we are supposedly listening to them. I have a friend that is really annoying in conversations. He will jump in before I am done and will repeat a half sentence three times until I stop talking so he can comment. It is obvious that he is not interested in my opinion/comments and is much more interested in making his rebuttal before I am done. He has never acquired the skill of listening.

Another important point in listening is to determine their definitions of the words they use. When I was giving seminars I usually started by asking 4 or five people in the front row to visualize the color blue. Then I would have each one describe in detail their shade of blue. None were ever alike. Point is, I said blue and they each had their own version of that one word. Their life experiences dictated the shade of blue they visualized. It is the same with each word we use. Our life experiences will determine which meaning of the word we are intending to convey. You must listen carefully to the speaker to fully understand their intent.

Ernest Hemingway once said “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” People want to be heard and listened to; they want to feel like someone cares. Listening is one of the greatest gifts you can give to another person. People will naturally gravitate towards you, and appreciate you.

This post provides tips on how to be a better listener. For this list of tips we assume that you are going to make a commitment to improve your listening skills.

Listening is not a skill with which we are born. We must develop good listening skills. Practice the skill each time you are involved in a conversation for the next month.
You have two ears and one mouth, use proportionally. Most people like to talk, especially about themselves. If you are the type that wants to jump in and offer an opinion or suggestion in the middle of the conversation, make every effort not to do so. Give the speaker the opportunity to be fully heard. TIP: To keep your own thoughts at bay, in your mind, repeat every word the speaker says, immediately after he has said it. You will be listening only to the speaker’s words.
Give the speaker your undivided attention. Regardless, if you are listening to a friend, co-worker, or employee, they deserve your undivided attention. Try to eliminate all distractions (e.g., phones, computers, TVs) that would interfere with your giving full attention to the speaker.
If you are listening to a different viewpoint, place yourself in their shoes. Even if you do not agree with them, it may help you to better understand their perspective.
Important points should be written down when listening to someone.
Always be objective when listening to others. Loose any attachment to what is being said by setting aside your own thoughts, judgments, and experiences.
Summarize or paraphrase what has just been by them. This will confirm that you heard him correctly.
Always observe their nonverbal behaviors. If the individual’s words and non-verbal behaviors are contradictory, their arms and/or legs crossed and if they not looking directly at you or avoiding eye contact, and if their body turned away from you, this person is “closed” from having a conversation. They may be embarrassed, or trying to avoid a confrontation, or simply doesn’t want to talk.
If the individual is smiling, looking directly at you, and has a relaxed stance, he is open to dialogue.
Pay attention to how they are conveying their message. Their demeanor will indicate their passion level for that subject. Their tone reflects their emotions. An increased volume and tone changes will indicate anger or passionate about an issue. If they talk faster they are excited and slower when they are depressed.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing Tagged With: Listening is a Skill

A Bad “Business” Day

October 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

All of us has had a bad “business” day just like a bad “hair” day. And with human nature, we want to “share” or discontent in many ways. This is not a good situation.

During these hours of discontent, if we are not careful, it will bleed through the phone to our customers.

A contrary point is when we make a call and encounter people who are having their bad “business” day, or worse, we get a call from a customer or a client customer that is less than happy with either the customer or your call center.

There are a myriad of reasons; a problem with the service, you may have said or done something that disturbed a client’s customer and the client is not happy, this list can go on.

Whatever the problem is or was, dealing effectively with upset people is a challenge for the best of us. Diffusing anger and handling difficult issues require special skills and practiced behaviors. It’s hard to be calm and courteous when others are out of control.

To maintain professionalism, try following these steps.

First, just listen. I mean REALLY listen to their opinion, grievance, complaint or venting. It is our nature to compute a solution and then verbalize a lame remedy BEFORE we have all the facts. You cannot offer a valid solution without fully understanding the situation.

The art of listening is patience and silence. Do not interrupt them, let them fully explain their situation and allow the anger to flow out of them, just let them vent… Most times the people will calm down when they realize that you value them enough to hear them out and they may also begin to hear themselves and recognize that they are overreacting or acting inappropriately.

Second, just apologize. It does not matter who is to blame, the problem is a problem. You may not have had anything to do with the problem, but you do represent the company and you can offer a solution. Just tell the caller you are sorry and that you will help them by finding a solution.

By your willingness to be accountable the caller will start to calm down. They need someone to take responsibility. Make your apology with complete sincerity. If your tone of voice doesn’t match your words, you will aggravate and escalate the situation.

Third, be sympathetic. Identify with their feelings and let them know that you understand why they are upset, this validates the caller’s emotions and says that you are not going to be argumentative.

Fourth, accept responsibility for the situation. Assure the caller that you intend to resolve the issues. Explain to them that you can’t change what has already happened, but you will come up with a solution to the problem. Next, tell the caller exactly what you will do and by when. Do NOT make it worse by making promises that are outside of your control and then failing.

Filed Under: Customer Service

Plan your Telephone Calls

October 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Your telephone is a very productive tool for business communication. However, few people know HOW to use it effectively. For a majority of business people the telephone usually is a huge waste of time.

To make your phone calls work for you, decide what the mission of the call is to be. Understand your goal, your acceptable results, and the tactics you will employ to persuade the other person. Most often your goal is to have the other person take an action or for you to gather specific information.

If your goal was to have a specific action taken such as to organize a meeting, you must give specific directions to other persons to reach your goal. If your goal is to gather information, you must ask specific questions and it is usually best to do that in a conversation rather than a point by point specific question. In the instance that you need information in a specific manner, you may want to get their e-mail address and use that platform for your information mining.

There are situations where one phone call may have multiple goals, try to be as efficient as possible to achieve these goals in as short amount of time as you can.

Before making a call, make a plan by writing down all your goals for the phone call. Keep relevant information, such as email addresses, phone numbers, a calendar and all relevant documentation at hand. One of the biggest distractions and a huge waste of time during a call is searching for a file, an email and phone numbers from your computer during the call, worse you may be perceived as unprofessional and that will lead to failure. Emulate a Boy Scout “Be Prepared”.

For a call to be considered a successful call, it always starts with certain information at the beginning of the call such as your name, your affiliation or title and the reason for the call. If you are quick and clear, you will get permission, stated or implied, to continue. In some instances you may take a few seconds or minutes for social conversation to act as an warming period and acquire a feel for how fast to proceed in your discussion. Be wary of too much “chit-chat”, it can eat up time and your prospect may perceive it to be a waste of their time. In my opinion and experience, 30-45 seconds is adequate before continuing into a business conversation. Try to limit your social conversation to a recent event, or a comment about their organization, never talk politics or religion.

Professionalism dictates that you get to the point of the discussion as soon as you can comfortably make the transition from social conversation to business. Once you are ready to talk business, stick to your plan during the conversation. Always avoid steering or being steered to side issues, you have a finite amount of time and you must always be wary of the value of their time and yours.

By always using written goals you keep on track and provide consistency and professionalism to your calls. If you follow your plan you can effectively and consistently evaluate your performance after each call.

If it is impossible to achieve a specific goal during that call, schedule the follow-up call immediately.

Once your goals are reached immediately bring the call to an end. Always schedule the next event before the end of the call and ALWAYS review the issues agreed between the two parties, this will insure both sides have not misunderstood their follow-up tasks and it indicates that it is time to say good bye. A follow up email or note mailed to the caller is appropriate.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing

Customer Complaints are Opportunities

September 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

As a business owner you have had on occasion a disgruntled customer. Our first thoughts are usually ‘how do I get rid of this whiner?’, but on second thoughts, you realize that this complaint can be a blessing. If you take the time to ask the disgruntled customer the details of how, who, what, when and where, you can gain invaluable insights into how your customers see and interact with your employees. Now, you can make necessary changes to eliminate those circumstances that lead to unhappy customers.

Here are some suggestions on how to handle a complaint.

1. Identify potential problem areas or employees.

The root cause of most customer related complaints are false expectations. If your customer believes they were promised something and they were denied (in their mind “cheated”) in getting or that the product would do more than it really does, you have a problem. It could have been something you or your employee said, or even failed to say. It could have been something you or your employees did or even didn’t do. Remember, language is a fickle form of communication. If you tell them it is BLUE, they may be thinking royal blue when in reality it is sky blue. Be specific. This can lead to your customer being confused and embarrassed which leads to retribution in the form of a complaint. Regardless, customers are usually unhappy because they expected something from you that you neglected to furnish. From their perspective, you need to make reparations. Use their complaint as a tool to make your business even better.

Most often, the root cause of their dissatisfaction is quite reasonable, and if that is the case, give your customer what they expected. To make them an ally, add more value to your actions, give an extra gift to your customer and a genuine thank you for bringing this issue to your attention. Human nature on your side, this will turn even the most dissatisfied complainer into an extremely loyal and perhaps even a lifetime (and happy) customer.

2. Remember, a complaining customer is a minority that represents a majority.

A customer who complains about something related to your business represents many others who probably had the same issue, but decided not to complain. Human nature dictates that the majority of your customers generally will ignore circumstances that warrant actions. Since most people prefer to avoid confrontation they leave and start doing business with one of your competitors. To avoid this, your customers regularly for their candid feedback. When you make adjustments pursuant to their feedback, always let them know what you did.

3. A complaint is often an opportunity to learn what your customers really need.

Would you rather guess what products or services your customers will buy or would you like to KNOW what they will buy? Ask them. Most customer complaints are based on failed expectations. They cannot buy the products or services as they expected. Fortunately, a complaint is an excellent opportunity to assess how well you are actually meeting the needs of your customers. If more than one customer makes the same suggestion or complaint, you should take a closer look at the issue. Use the information to modify your sales message, your product or service, or the way you provide service and support. This can only improve your bottom line.

4. Again, human nature dictates that we will share or experiences disproportionately, more when we are wronged and less when we are rewarded.

Word of mouth advertising – be it good or bad – the most powerful form of advertising on the planet. The way you handle a customer complaint is not the end of the issue, it is the beginning. If you handle the complaint tactfully by listening and then responding to a complaint by fixing what was wrong, and send your customer off with a gift and a thank you – they will tell at least 10 other people about their experience. You have just taken advantage of a tremendous opportunity handed to you and it will benefit your business.

Although it may not result in more customers for you, keep in mind that this door swings both ways. If you fail to resolve a complaint, they will talk with even MORE people about it! This can cause great damage to your bottom line.

5. A customer is far more important to your business than a prospect.

Here is a personal example, I subscribed to a internet provider and took advantage of the low startup cost as an incentive to agree to use their services for one year. Their product and customer service was and is terrible. When the contract came to an end I met with their customer service to review their service (lack thereof) and told them that if they wanted to continue to serve me they needed to make concessions and come close to matching they incentives offered to new customers. They declined, I now have a new internet service provider. What did they do wrong. Their policy is to spend money capturing new customers at a significant discount and not give any incentives to existing customers to retain their ongoing revenue. Disastrous planning. It’s FAR less expensive (both financially and in many other ways) to keep an existing customer than it is to find a new one.

So, if you treat a complaining customer with respect, and offer genuine understanding, proving to them that – you will probably be able to keep them – especially if they believe that their concerns are appreciated and corrective actions will be taken immediately. You will want to contact the customer after you have completed the corrective actions as a follow up and tell your customer what actions you have taken as a result of their complaint or suggestion. I also suggest that you create an ongoing dialogue with this customer and ‘deputize’ them to help you continue to improve your business. When they receive this much attention from you, what will they think? Their feedback was appreciated – and for many customers – that makes all the difference – even if you fail to remedy the issue completely. A happy customer brings more customers.

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing Tagged With: customer related complaints, disgruntled customer

Phone Etiquette

September 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Recently I was at Business Connections meeting with Dirk Moeller. I was there to discuss where we were going in regards to this Blog. It was near noon and that being said, people were out to lunch and so Dirk jumps in and takes a few calls to pick up the lunch time call load. Yup, he is a hands-on type guy. Anyway, after listening to Dirks side of a few calls I noticed how he handled each one and it was obvious he has mastered phone etiquette and customer service. Since that day, each time I call I pay more attention to how my calls are handled. When I call Dirk, he handles even my calls, with true professionalism, (and we have been friends for 15 years).

Here is how Dirk handles a phone call. First, his demeanor changes as he picks up the phone, he smiles and modulates his voice and uses proper grammar and enunciation, the customer can instantly feel the professionalism, the welcoming soothing voice and confidence and the light mood that Dirk passes through the phone. He is a master. That is why his company, Business Connections, has won the ATSI Award for TWELVE consecutive years.

In contrast, have you noticed that most often when you call a business you are greeted by someone who seems to have no idea of how to greet you or even why you are calling?

As a business man, even I am guilty of not conducting myself properly when I answer the phone. I have made sure that anyone that is responsible for answering the phone or making calls on the phone on my behalf, are somewhat professional. After working with Dirk, we are on a mission to improve our phone handling skills, after all, first impressions can never be changed.

So, how do you develop a professional telephone greeting?

1. Always have your employees use an approved salutation.
Think of your salutation as a verbal handshake. Remember, a handshake was originally used by men to show that they were not carrying a sword or a knife and that it was safe to stand close together. We assume that for this article you are having your phone answered by a person not a machine. In today’s business culture, it gets exciting when you have an opportunity to speak with a live person. Make certain your callers are greeted professionally and warmly every time they are contacted.

2. Always state your company’s name.
In many situations, the person charged with answering your telephone is the first point of contact with your company, therefore, include your company name in the approved greeting. This will confirm for the customer that they have dialed the number correctly. Always speak slowly and be careful of your pronunciation and enunciation, your customers will remember your corporate name easier when they hear it pronounced correctly.

3. Always state your department name and then your name.
Be certain to state the name of your department, then your name. This will help your customers know they have been connected to the appropriate place. Giving your name adds a personal touch to your greeting and starts to establish a rapport with your caller. If you work in sales or in other professions where name identification can be critical, it can be an excellent marketing tool by using your first and last name,.

4. Always offer assistance
The reason you are on the telephone is to help your customer get what they need from your company. Asking questions like, How may I help you? or How may I direct your call? demonstrate your willingness to assist your customer.

Jim Knox, Webmaster and Blogmaster, ION Business and Marketing

Filed Under: Answering Services, Customer Service Tagged With: approved salutation, phone handling skills

Handling Customer Complaints

September 10, 2009 By Dirk Moeller Leave a Comment

Here are some suggestions on how to handle a complaint.

1. Identify potential problem areas or employees.

The root cause of most customer related complaints are false expectations. If your customer believes they were promised something and they were denied (in their mind “cheated”) in getting or that the product would do more than it really does, you have a problem. It could have been something you or your employee said, or even failed to say. It could have been something you or your employees did or even didn’t do. Remember, language is a fickled form of communication. If you tell them it is BLUE, they may be thinking royal blue when in reality it is sky blue. Be specific. This can lead to your customer being confused and embarrassed which leads to retribution in the form of a complaint. Regardless, customers are usually unhappy because they expected something from you that you neglected to furnish. From their perspective, you need to make reparations. Use their complaint as a tool to make your business even better.

2. Remember, a complaining customer is a minority that represents a majority.

3. A complaint is often an opportunity to learn what your customers really need.

4. Again, human nature dictates that we will share or experiences disproportionately, more when we are wronged and less when we are rewarded.

5. A customer is far more important to your business than a prospect.

Filed Under: Customer Service Tagged With: disgruntled customer, handle a complaint