How to Get Great Customer Service Almost All the Time

February 17, 2012 by

I’m sure you’ve experienced excellent customer service before, and know how good it feels.Customer Service Wordle

Whether you called up to complain about a faulty product and hung up the phone smiling, or had a sales person help you find the perfect laptop for your needs at a great price, you know that good customer services makes you feel listened to and valued and solves your problems.

Great customer service is one of the cornerstones of success for every business but not all businesspeople are wired to deliver world-class customer service every single time.  That’s where your skills can come into play to improve your customer service experience.

Companies like Nordstrom and Zappos are world renowned for their incredible customer service.

Did you know that there are things that you can do to ensure that you get good customer service like this almost all of the time? There are ways that you can “help people help you” with your questions, quandaries and problems which will make them treat you better.

  • Be friendly and upbeat. Greet the person and smile. Even if you are upset about an issue, they will feel much better about helping you if you are not whining, complaining, or getting angry at them. See them as a person just like you and treat them with kindness.
  • Give them as much information as you can. For example, if you need to buy a cell phone you should tell the sales person exactly how much you will use it, which features you want, and what you will use it for. This will help them find you a product that is suited to your needs. If you need technical help with a product, explaining the problem clearly in detail will help them determine what is wrong.
  • Ask for what you want, politely and reasonably. Don’t push your luck by asking for something outrageous, but you will be surprised how many times you can negotiate a discount, waive a fee, or get a special discount just because you asked nicely.
  • Thank them for their time. It really helps to let the customer service representative know that you appreciate their efforts to assist you. If they do an exceptional job and you are really happy in the end, consider passing along an official compliment to their supervisor.
  • Become a regular. If you do all of these things in the same establishment frequently, the staff will get to know who you are and will likely treat you extra special because they value you as a customer.

Of course, this advice only works when the person you are dealing with is competent at customer service. Unfortunately this does not happen all the time. However, most of the time it will get you much better treatment, so why not give it a try?

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , , , , ,

Productivity Tips for Working from Home

January 13, 2012 by

If you have your own business and you work from home, it can be challenging to form the right habits that you need to be productive.Working From Home

Working from home provides its own unique challenges, and it is very easy to get distracted by many things around you in the house.

You might start tidying your desk and then decide you should also do the laundry and end up several hours later with a perfectly clean house but no work done.

You can also lose hours of your time surfing the net, responding to emails, and reading clever and funny blogs before you realize how late it has become. When you work from home, you are also susceptible to being distracted by the dog, kids, your partner, and much more.

So how can you improve your productivity and learn to focus on your work when you are working from home? Here are some helpful tips:

  • Create a good working environment which makes it easy to focus. It should be far away from the television and other distractions, and in a quiet area of the house. If you have a room to yourself where you can close the door and tell everyone else not to disturb you, this is even better.
  • Don’t get too comfortable. One mistake you might be making when working from home is working while curled up in a comfortable chair with your pajamas and fuzzy slippers on. While you can wear whatever you like when you work from home, it’s easy to get slow and sleepy in this environment and you will be more efficient when you get dressed, and sit up on a chair at a desk in a well lit environment.
  • Keep a piece of paper next to you, and if you think of something that you should be doing such as putting the dishwasher on you can write it down so that you can push it out of your mind while you focus. When you finish your work, check your list and complete the tasks on it.
  • Give yourself short and frequent breaks. When we work for too many hours on the same thing, our brains can become burnt out. Concentrate on a small task and set yourself a goal of when you will complete it.
  • Reward yourself. When you finish each small goal, allow yourself to get a snack, a cup of coffee, or do something else for five or ten minutes. Set a timer for your break to remind yourself to get back to work.

These are just a few ways that you can fine tune your working habits to become the most productive you can be!

 

Filed Under: Productivity Tips Tagged With: , , , ,

Fear of Failure? Tips for Keeping Your New Years Resolutions

January 4, 2012 by

Have you made yourself a New Year’s resolution?Goal Setting

The turning over of the calendar usually inspires us to resolve to make positive changes in our lives, but more often than not we fail to follow through on our promises to ourselves.

If you struggle to keep your New Year’s resolutions, perhaps these tips will help you stay on track:

Be more realistic.

If you set goals for yourself that are completely unattainable, you will become discouraged and give up quickly.  For example, if you want to start losing weight and gaining muscle, don’t expect to look like a body builder two weeks into the New Year. 

Make a goal to visit the gym every second day instead, and if you stick to this reasonable goal you will eventually start to see results.

Make a plan. 

If your New Year’s resolution is to pay off your credit card debt, you won’t get far if you keep on spending in the same way. You need to make a plan to do things differently to get different results.

Your plan could include creating a budget to see where you can save money, and then paying off a set amount per month until the debt is gone.

Talk about it.

If you keep your resolution a secret, there is no one to keep you to your word if you decide to give up. If you tell your friends about your goals they can encourage you and motivate you.

Break the goal into small manageable chunks.

Losing 30 pounds seems overwhelming, but losing five pounds is not so daunting.

However, if you focus on these small goals and lose five pounds six times throughout the year, you will be down to your goal weight of 30 pounds less!

These are just a few tips to help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions.

Experts say that it takes approximately three weeks for a new habit to form. If you can stick to your resolution for this long, your positive habits will soon become second nature. 

Filed Under: Personal Development Tagged With: , , ,