Customer Service Your Secret Weapon!

"Like it or not, the secret to good toast is lots of butter. Likewise, the secret to a successful business is lots of customer service training."
— DCF

Everyone says how important they think customer service training is to their business. But my experience shows me that this is usually lip service when it comes to actually training employees.

Whenever I ask business owners about their customer service training they usually tell me that they do it when they first hire new employees and they need to do more and assure me that they will.... I sure hope they do, for their sakes.

Cast in point, I have never worked for a company that gave me customer service training or any training for that matter. They have always relied on the training from my previous place of employment.

How many employees are in this same situation? How much goes unsaid and unlearned because this is so? I highly recommend either creating or finding customer service and employee training classes for your staff immediately.

There are many, who are your competitors, who do provide some sort of training... But, luckily for you, most do not actively teach customer service training. Now is your opportunity to stand apart from your competitors!

Reading List
• Moments of Truth - by Jan Carlzon
• Customer Service A Practical Approach - by Elaine K. Harris
• Raving Fans - by Kenneth Blanchard
• The Customer-Driven Company - by Richard Whiteley
• Permission Marketing - by Seth Godin
• The Purple Cow - by Seth Godin
• Unlease the Idea Virus - by Seth Godin
• Free Prize Inside - by Seth Godin
• All Marketers Are Liars - by Seth Godin
• Uncommon Practices: People Who Deliver a Great Brand Experience - Interbrand & fourm
• Acres of Diamonds - by Russell Conwell
• Great Customer Service: The Best Way To Avoid A Discounted Sale - by Daniel C. Felsted
• By The Seat of Your Pants - by Tom Gegax

Hierarchy of Recognition

The effectiveness of graphic design is easily seen when you recognize the power that the hierarchy of recognition and icons have on the buying decisions of your customers. Following describes the hierarchy or recognition and defines each of the elements of it.

Hierarchy of Recognition
The human mind recognizes items in distinct patterns and order. Failing to know and utilize them will diminish your ability to sell your products and services. Ignoring the hierarchy will dramatically decrease your pieces productiveness.

In a crowded market place it is vital to own a color, a shape, a number and a word! The first item of recognition is color. The second item of recognition is shape. The third item of recognition is numbers. And the last item the mind recognizes is words. Use color, shape and numbers to intrigue the mind before you use words.




Read more about the five key factors of the hierarchy of recognition.





images found at MeccaW.com

The Circle Of Marketing— Relationship Building.

The final strategy in the circle of marketing is relationship building. This is how you can build relationships with your customer that can last years.

“on average, you have a 60 percent to 70 percent chance of doing business again with a current customer, a 20 percent to 40 percent chance with a former customer, but only a 5 percent to 10 percent chance of ever doing business with a non-customer.”
—Steven Yanovsky

This is where most business owners don’t understand the reach of marketing. Do you also spend most of your advertising dollars on new customers when that is the least cost-effective form of advertising?

A study by Bain and company found that “a 5% increase in customer retention improves profitability by 25% —100%, especially where customers have ongoing purchasing relationships.”

This study confirms that the most profitable untapped marketing opportunity at your hand is focusing on your current customers. This article should help you to begin to market more effectively to your current customers. And when it is in combination with all the other strategies in the circle of marketing you will begin to see the power marketing can have.

Hint: use their loyalty and knowledge of you to grow your business.

Currently you have two main types of customers—transactional customers and relational customers. For this discussion we will discard the transactional customer because they shop on price and they are not loyal customers. But relational customers are those customers who keep coming back to you time and again. They value the relationship (quality service, attention to details, personal conversations and the extras like remembering their name) more than the price. Most of the time your customer won’t admit this but their actions show this to be true.

Relational Customers Build Profitability
The first question you want to ask yourself is “How can I encourage my current customers to shop more from me?” To answer that question you’ll want to find out why they shop with you in the first place.

How have you been strengthening your relationship with your relational customers? Relational customers want you to build a relation with them. To do that you will need to remember the first strategies of the circle of marketing.

1) Hiring,
2) Employee Training,
3) Customer Experience Management,
4) Internal Marketing Strategies,
5) Advertising/Direct Marketing
6) Relationship Building.

Each of these strategies are developed to build confidence in you as a reliable business in your customers minds. When have you successfully fulfilled the promises your marketing plan or advertising makes you begin to lower the buying risk your customers feel.

To strengthen the relationship you need to provide content. Useful content that is consistent with your brand promise. Here are a few suggestions to strengthen your relationship with your relational customers.
1. Spend time and money training your staff to be experts on the products and services you offer. And train them how to communicate more affectively with each other and your customers.
2. Create and give out useful how to guides.
3. Make “Did You Know” fliers that are relevant to each service you provide.
4. Post FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) and Q & A sheets for your customers.
5. Develop a web site that answers all of the questions your customers are asking. Don’t give them what you want to tell them! Give them what they want from you.
6. Instead of placing your ads in piece that goes to everyone in town gather the emails of your customers and send a version of that ad to them for free and test which bring in the better customers for the most cost affective price.

Items such as these help you answer the questions your customers are asking. When they feel that you are listening to them they will come to you more readily. And the more they come to you the more chances you have to increase sales.

Roy H. Williams said it best in his book The Wizard of Ads, “Any investment in sales training is an investment in your gross profits. The only thing more expensive than hiring a sales trainer is not hiring one.”

The Circle Of Marketing— Advertising & Direct Marketing

“Only for a limited time!”

“While supplies last!”

“A tradition of excellence.”

“Helping you succeed!”

These are the staples of the old advertising model. Platitudes. Platitudes no longer work with the majority of your customers! The new model you should consider when developing your advertising is to make sure your customers remember you and like you! Nothing less than this should be your advertising goal, unless of course, you want to discount your wares to sell them. That conversation is for another day….

Most advertising is aimed at new customers. But studies show this is far too expensive for small businesses who have limited budgets. You have only a 5%-10% chance of ever doing business with a non-customer-1.

This isn’t a good use of your marketing dollars. If you have been following these posts over the last several months you will remember that the circle of marketing consists of:
1) Hiring
2) Employee Training
3) Customer Experience Management
4) Internal Marketing Strategies
5) Advertising/Direct Marketing
6) Relationship Building

Taken as a hole, when you have prepared your staff to meet, greet and sell to your customers your advertising works much harder.

Some things to consider when creating your advertising.
1) Use a headline.
Have a headline that clearly says the one message you are trying to convey to your customers. And use the rest of the ad to show proof that you will deliver on that promise.
2) Use callouts
Callouts - burst of information to build desire, inform and educate your customers. Callouts are the best way to quickly build creditability. Read more about callouts here.
3) Create a distinct offer.
If you are trying to drive traffic the only way to do it is to have a specific offer. Something your customers can say “Yes, I need that,” to. If you do not include a specific offer your customers will most likely ignore what you say.
4) Provide proof.
You must back-up the claims you make in your advertising. Be specific and show your customers how they can get the facts.
5) Provide more content.
Many advertisers believe that a beautiful piece is more important than the content. I do not agree in most cases. If your objective is to sell you need to apply proven selling techniques. Such as:
• writing from the “you” perspective
• using longer copy
• including testimonials,
• including a call to action
• including power words
• using emphasis tools
• making it easy to respond
• sweetening the offer whenever you can.

Remember—stories sell, facts only tell.

There are many other ways that you can improve your marketing materials and/or advertisements. Email me if you’d like to read more on this topic. But this is a good list to start with. Remember, there are many talented designers, marketers and sell reps out there that don’t have much selling experience. Find someone to consult with who has direct marketing selling experience to make your piece as effective as possible. When sales increase you will be glad you did.

Next post we’ll talk about relationship building …


1 Steven Yanovsky
2 Mike Heberling

Working With Your Staff - Employee Training

Help Your Employees Excel!
If you are looking for some tips on how to get more out of your employees here is a list of links that will give you plenty of ideas.

1. Knowledge if Free - Bring Your Own Container
2. Spend Time With Your Thoughts
3. How To Read a Book
4. Start Keeping a Study Journal
5. Giving is Living. Caring is Sharing
6. Thoughts on Media
7. Your Not Learning When Your Speaking
8. Follow Your Interests
9. Start a Life File

My blog The Internet Dark Ages discusses issues that can inspire people to become more. If you have any feelings on this subject let me know. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinion.