To Succeed Teach Your Employees To Serve

Service
This is the second most important skill to teach your employees!

“The customer just wants to be treated as a person.”2 This applies to coworkers too. Service is the most powerful marketing tool you can learn. With service, you can win hearts, soften anger, create friendships, sell more, and most of all, you can learn about yourself and how much you can really do.

If you really want to take advantage of the great tool of service, begin by being more service-oriented toward your families, friends and acquaintances. You will find that when you lose yourself in this endeavor, your attitude will be more positive and contagious.

It is a fact that when we serve others, we forget about our problems and our outlook on life becomes more positive. Psychologists have long known and used service to help abused and addicted people forget their troubles. As they think about and work with others, their own problems are forgotten and they’re on their way to being healed.

By incorporating these principles into your daily life, you will be fostering a positive workplace and be primed in creating a learning and teaching environment. When you are in this type of environment you will be more receptive to the needs of your customers. And when you help your coworkers think of your customers, you create the perfect environment for customers to seek your expertise, your assistance, and most importantly, your products or services.

Your customers are your partners in business. Treat them as valued members of your family by serving them in the best way possible. The real secret of business success is customer retention. Developing lasting relationships is vital to your long-term success.

Consider This
One of the most valuable possessions you truly have to give is service.

One way to serve others is to volunteer in your community. There are many deserving organizations that desperately need your help. There are schools, hospitals, scouts, charitable organizations, churches and even neighbors that would welcome the service you can volunteer. Time, skills, knowledge, connections and money are ways you can help others.

Look for ways you can make a difference… by helping others.

“The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose.” —Heda Bejar

Answer These Questions
What types of service do you receive in a given week?
What types of service do you give in a given week?

The answers to these questions will tell you what kind of response to expect from your marketing materials!

Attitude of Gratitude

This is the most important skill to teach your employees.

Your attitude sets the stage for your life. By looking around you and finding the things for which you are grateful, a positive attitude will grow within you. That positive attitude will affect everything you do. If you are positive, those around you will be more positive. Your days will be more exciting and your prospects will be greater. It is all up to you.

To get ahead, you need to learn how to get along and help others. Show that you are grateful for your job! Acknowledge the hard work you see in coworkers and customers. Recognize contributions to your team.

Show how much you appreciate others with simple hand written thank you notes, a genuine “thank you,” a hand shake or a phone call.

The attitude you bring to work each day sets the mood for your day. I recently sat in a business’ waiting room and heard one of the employees battle with herself with her attitude. She would make a negative comment and them cover it with a more positive comment. This went on for an hour. With a little training, she would recognize her attitude and be able to keep it checked.

This skill should be practiced and reviewed regularly to make it a habit, something that is an asset. It all begins with your attitude and being grateful.

Answer these questions And then have your employees answer them too.
1. What are you grateful for?
2. How do you show gratitude?
3. Who do you show gratitude toward?
4. What have you done recently to thank a customer for coming in?
5. What positive comments have you made towards a co-worker in the past 7 days? Past 30 days? Past 90 days?

Your answers will affect the effectiveness of your staff and all your marketing materials!

Top 10 Employee Essentials

Too often in marketing we focus on the ad, the catalog, the radio/TV spot and forget about the people who close the deal. Here is a list essentials you should focus on to make your marketing materials more valuable!

Top 10 Employee Essentials
1. Attitude of Gratitude
2. Service
3. Eye Contact
4. Communicate
5. Be a Good Listener
6. Ask Engaging Questions
7. Build Value
8. Schmooze
9. Adopt a Positive Attitude
10. Never Gossip About Others

Over the next few weeks I'll define each of these terms. Then I'll discuss why you should spend as much time training your staff as you do developing your ads.

Strategy 12: Provide Objective Reviews

Seek out and gather reviews from your customers and various media sources. Ask customers to rate your products, ask about quality, usefulness, and satisfaction. Look for product reviews from magazines, newspapers, and online sources. Post them in prominent places where customers can review.

Retailers—put them in a booklet and hang them next to the product.
Online Retailers—put links to these reviews by the products for easy reference.

Your customers believe what like-minded customers say over what you say in your advertising. Make it easier for your customers and give them what they want—objective/non-objective views of your products from people who own the product not just from those who sell the product.

Examples of Objective Reviews
A great example can be found online at CamelBak. They provide buttons that link to user reviews, media reviews, and submit a review. You can see what others say, which helps your customers make an educated buying decision.

Amazon.com does this very well also. Spend some time online and see how these retailers have taken advantage of social interaction. If you are not doing it on your website and in your retail store you are loosing sales.


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Taken from my book Benchmarked: What The Best Of The Best Do To Keep Customers Running

This >> is why internal marketing strategies are so important to your business' growth.

Strategy 11: Make a Special Occasion Section

Though Christmas is the first thing that comes to mind when I say this, my point is to capitalize on the concept, not the date. Foster the following model year round. Create a “Great Birthday Ideas” section, A “Hurray, Spring is Here” section, a “Wonderful Winter” products section, a “Summer Must Haves” section, and “It’s April” to name a few.

Set things up that way your customers buy or shop instead of what is easier for you. You can easily stand out from your competitors when you make shopping easier for your customers, because nobody else does. To do this, organize items for the individual not by brand or category like everyone else.

With this strategy, you can create countless focal points for feature products without having a sale. Many times, a shop will create a section to feature a new product. Extend this idea to any occasion you can think of to drive traffic and increase sales. Create an area where you can show off your products is ways that fit your customers shopping habits rather than what’s easy for you.


Examples of Make a Special Occasion Section
EBags.com is a great example. They have an assortment of gift options like Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Gifts for Teens, Gifts under $25, Gifts under $100, Gifts over $100, and Gift Certificates. The occasion could be any occasion for gift giving.










An example of organizing your shop for your customers would be to organize all the items the shopper need for a picnic in one area. Don’t waist their time by making them wander all over your store. Place plates, cups, plastic-ware, napkins, coolers, chips, lunch meats, drinks, baskets, and various snacks in one convenient place. Even water toys, ice-cream making supplies and barbecue equipment would be appropriate close by. Imagine the opportunity for cross-selling you are missing! What opportunities are you missing out on?

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Taken from my book Benchmarked: What The Best Of The Best Do To Keep Customers Running