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Answer Upon - The ABC's of Online Customer Support
Of constant concern in senior management ranks is the turnover rate of their sales members. If your goal is to stabilize the sales team, improve their performance and retain your top performers, then you will want to read on.Understanding why sales people leave is critical. It is not money! In fact studies validate that money is way down the list of why sales people leave. Sales people leave when a whole set of other factors come into play and make the job of achieving their goals difficult to reach. Therefore to retain the staff of sales performers that make the difference, management must institute fundamentall
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding qua
Andy Martin and I were discussing some of the companies with which we strive to emulate. It all started with a couple of trips to a few well-known business models that train employees to treat the customer like a king or queen. You may be familiar with Starbucks, Nordstrom’s, The Ritz Carlton, and FedEx. Each of these fine companies operates a business model that puts the focus on the customer. Why do consumers pay the inflated prices at these places? Why pay $3.89 for a cup of coffee? Or $120 for a tie that elsewhere costs $110? How about $225 a night stay at A Ritz Carlton vs. $175 at a Marriott down the street? The ans
A-Add value
Don’t just do the bare minimum when it comes to providing customer support on your website. Go above and beyond to provide the customer with an exceptional experience. Remember, there are probably several sites out there right now trying to sell the same products or services that you are. Differentiate yourself by the high level of customer service you provide. Don’t simply answer questions. Provide solutions. Don’t just give a suggestion. Be an expert! If your customers or potential customers come to your site with a question or problem, help them as if you’re the foremost expert in your field. For example, let’s assume you run a website that sells bird houses. A potential customer visits your site and has a question about a specific model. How do you help them? First and foremost, I hope that you answer their question. But you have a great opportunity to go above and beyond. Ask the potential customer what types of birds she’s hoping to attract, where she is going to be putting the bird house, and where she’s located. With this information, as the world’s foremost expert in bird houses, you can recommend the right model in size, style, and material for her desired result. Now, you’re more than just a bird house salesman to this customer, you’re a bird house expert! You’ve added value through your online customer support.
B-Be There
A customer is on your site looking at your information and they have a big question. Where are you? The idea of ‘being there’ is twofold. First, it means making customer support channels easily accessible via your website. Regardless of what channels you use, you want them to be easily accessible from any page on your site. Either put your customer support channels on each page, or provide a clear and easy-to-find link to your support page from every page. As soon as your customer has a question, you don’t want them to have to look far to find a way to get in touch with you. Second, ‘being there’ means being available when your customers contact you. Be ready to answer the phone when they call, respond to all emails within a couple hours, or be prepared to handle incoming chats or support tickets. What good is customer support when a customer finds no one on the other end to assist them immediately? ‘Be there’ for your customers and you will be rewarded with better relationships and stronger loyalty.
C-Count the Cost
Let’s face it, your time and money are valuable. So, how do you provide great customer support on a budget? Come up with a plan. Determine what options are available to you, weigh the advantages vs. the costs, and implement your decisions. Here are some considerations regarding different online customer support options:
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding qual
5 days on and John had not gotten an answer from the the client he presented to the week before. He did everything that was required of him. He followed the sales pitch correctly, asked the right open questions, gained their interest and finally asked for the order. He was now waiting for the phone call of a life time. The “Yes John, we’ll fax over the booking form in a minute” call.It was going to be John’s 200th deal and probably the biggest one to date. Worth a whopping ?36,000,000 contract for the next three years, he would be set for life and known as the UK’s most results driven and highly successful corpo
B-Be There
A customer is on your site looking at your information and they have a big question. Where are you? The idea of ‘being there’ is twofold. First, it means making customer support channels easily accessible via your website. Regardless of what channels you use, you want them to be easily accessible from any page on your site. Either put your customer support channels on each page, or provide a clear and easy-to-find link to your support page from every page. As soon as your customer has a question, you don’t want them to have to look far to find a way to get in touch with you. Second, ‘being there’ means being available when your customers contact you. Be ready to answer the phone when they call, respond to all emails within a couple hours, or be prepared to handle incoming chats or support tickets. What good is customer support when a customer finds no one on the other end to assist them immediately? ‘Be there’ for your customers and you will be rewarded with better relationships and stronger loyalty.
C-Count the Cost
Let’s face it, your time and money are valuable. So, how do you provide great customer support on a budget? Come up with a plan. Determine what options are available to you, weigh the advantages vs. the costs, and implement your decisions. Here are some considerations regarding different online customer support options:
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding qua
Microsoft OneNote 2007 is one of the best program I have ever used. Since the first time I opened the program several months back I have been using it on a daily basis. Basically replicating the concept of a binder, the program allows the user to create a virtual binder with pages, tabs and sub tabs.If you don't have a copy of Microsoft Office 2007, I highly recommend picking one up. This program has changed the way I store my data.The software is ideal for anybody who uses a computer throughout the entire day and always has a running "to do" list. Being visually oriented, this program allows me to store far
B-Be There
A customer is on your site looking at your information and they have a big question. Where are you? The idea of ‘being there’ is twofold. First, it means making customer support channels easily accessible via your website. Regardless of what channels you use, you want them to be easily accessible from any page on your site. Either put your customer support channels on each page, or provide a clear and easy-to-find link to your support page from every page. As soon as your customer has a question, you don’t want them to have to look far to find a way to get in touch with you. Second, ‘being there’ means being available when your customers contact you. Be ready to answer the phone when they call, respond to all emails within a couple hours, or be prepared to handle incoming chats or support tickets. What good is customer support when a customer finds no one on the other end to assist them immediately? ‘Be there’ for your customers and you will be rewarded with better relationships and stronger loyalty.
C-Count the Cost
Let’s face it, your time and money are valuable. So, how do you provide great customer support on a budget? Come up with a plan. Determine what options are available to you, weigh the advantages vs. the costs, and implement your decisions. Here are some considerations regarding different online customer support options:
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding qua
He has been a friend and client for many years, has heard me talk about it for at least a decade and still made the mistake that kills more resume submissions than anything else.For my search firm readers, how often do you receive a resume that causes you to scratch your head and wonder what the person was thinking of who sent their resume? With me, it happens more than a hundred times a day.Almost every resume I receive does not show the skills required to do the job even when I make it clear in my advertising to send their resume in Word ONLY IF YOU HAVE THE REQUIRED SKILLS.And if you think I have t
C-Count the Cost
Let’s face it, your time and money are valuable. So, how do you provide great customer support on a budget? Come up with a plan. Determine what options are available to you, weigh the advantages vs. the costs, and implement your decisions. Here are some considerations regarding different online customer support options:
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding qua
Here are some tips and considerations to avoid making resume mistakes that can cost you.1. Don’t obsess about the length of your resume, focus on the content but do keep in mind that most people will get by with a 2 page resume. A third page should really only be used when absolutely necessary.2. Don’t include personal information in your resume such as age, hobbies or things of that nature. The goal of your resume is to get an interview not a date. Keep it professional.3. Don’t include any references to salary – your current salary or desired salary – in your resume.4. Don’t use personal prono
Phone support: Convenient for your customers, but potentially costly and time consuming for you. If you have an 800#, that is a large expense, and you can only talk to one person at a time.
Email support: Less effective for the customer than phone support. It is quick and easy to send their questions to you, but uncertainty over the length of time for responses is a concern. For you, email is one of the cheapest and easiest forms of support. You probably already have email, and you can respond to inquiries on your time.
Live chat software: Most effective channel of online customer support for the customer. Their questions can be answered immediately on the website by a real person. For you, the key is finding quality and affordable live chat software, and it is available. Also, live chat requires that you, or an employee, are available to handle incoming chat requests as much as possible.
Knowledge Database/FAQ/Self-Help: This can be a quick and easy way to get answers for your more savvy customers. However, it can also be burdensome for customers if they aren’t quickly and easily able to find answers to their questions. This is probably the easiest channel of customer support for you. After the initial time investment required to dump all of your information to the site, it is there and available for customers from then on.
These are just 4 of the channels for online customer support. You may also consider support tickets, forums, and others. As you can see, each channel has its advantages and disadvantages, both for you as the business owner, and for your customers. The best websites for online customer support usually offer a blend of several of these channels.
Providing great customer support on your website is not difficult, and it will have tremendous advantages for you. To provide excellent support for both you and your customers, simply remember the ABC’s of online customer support: Add value, Be there, and Count the cost.
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