Customer Service – Page 3 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

3 Things You Must Get Right if You Want Happier Customers

January 23, 2017/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Customer loyalty takes just as much energy to build as new customer growth. Unfortunately companies spend too much time focusing on new customers and not taking care of the ones they already have.

Today’s post is by Noah Fleming, author of The Customer Loyalty Loop (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Most executives I talk to feel like they’re drowning in data and yet anyone and everyone within the organization is telling them they need more and more data! Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the things you need to worry about, let alone the collection of “big data” with the belief that data might help you generate better customer relations, or a more loyal customer?

I’m going to let you in on a big secret. The companies and clients that I work with who are at the top of their games, or continuously increasing revenue are only really placing a concerted effort on three key areas. I’m going to warn you, there’s nothing ground-breaking here that you don’t already know, but how these companies are focusing on these areas might surprise you.

I’ll tell you until the cows come home that most organizations are too focused on the new customer at the expense of their existing customers, but I’m also a realist. The current customer is the beating heart of any great business, but you need new customers to grow. Anybody who tells you otherwise should be thrown from your office. Today we’re going to about new and existing customers.

The first area that these companies excel in is their uncanny ability to sell to their existing customers more often. I said sell, not just “market to,” and not just putting offers in front of them, but selling. You need the same level of gravitas and effort that is put towards new customer acquisition, applied to selling more to your existing customer base. That requires a customer retention process. Most businesses have a sales process but not a retention process. The best companies do.

I once heard an author and marketer say that all great sales and marketing is just about sharing your message over and over again. He might have been half right, once. A decade ago, maybe a quarter right. Now, it’s more like a tenth.

If you want to sell to your prospects and existing customers either the first time or the sixth time, then you need to get three things right. But you need to get them right, all the time and every time.

Awareness

3 Ways to Tap Into the Link Between Service and Sales

April 4, 2016/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

There are three keys to tapping into the link between service and sales – technical prowess, hospitality, and the wow factor. If you’re able to get your organization to focus on these three elements of service delivery, you can expect outstanding results.

Today’s post is by Donna Cutting, author of 501 Ways to Roll Out the Red Carpet for Your Customers (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

The character Don Draper in the television show Mad Men once said something to the effect of, “The day you sign a client is the day you start losing them.” While Mr. Draper is a fictional character, his words couldn’t be truer.

A study by Harris Interactive in 2011 determined that 89 percent of consumers quit doing business with a company (and went to a competitor) because of a bad customer experience. Compare this to 59 percent in 2007 and you’ll see that one of two things is happening. Either customer service has gotten worse; or consumers are becoming empowered. Perhaps both are true.

Your customers have more choices and louder voices than ever before. It probably won’t shock you that, according to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs report, news of a bad customer experience reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a positive one.

However, take heart! The good news is that 55 percent of consumers are willing to recommend a company due to outstanding service over product or price. (source: Consumer Impact Report by Harris Interactive/Right Now, 2010.)

There is a direct link between sales and service. The real sale is made after you earn the customer. Once you get them in the door, it’s time for you to decide. Is it uphill or downhill from there?

There are three specific areas of customer service you’ll want to pay attention to: Technical, Hospitality and WOW!

Sisters, Service, and Sales

March 28, 2016/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Customer service that is focused on customer relationships will impact your ability to make sales and to improve your business.

Today’s post is by Kate Edwards, author of Hello! And Every Little Thing That Matters (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

There is a scene in the Tina Fey/Amy Pohler film “Sisters” that is hilarious. The scene takes place in the dressing room of a trendy shop where the eponymous sisters go shopping for dresses for a party they are hosting that night. They go to a boutique and try on a number of party dresses, but they are clearly clueless. Each dress the sisters put on is completely unflattering as they wear the dresses in all sorts of inappropriate ways.

The shop clerk watches them in deadpan horror and her face expresses what we are all thinking: each dress is worse than the next. The clerk, however, doesn’t help them put the dresses on correctly or offer them sizes that fit; rather, she says “that looks amaaaazing” in a completely flat tone. This character is the epitome of the lackluster clerk who clearly has been told to compliment the customers. No. Matter. What.

Service that is inauthentic, unhelpful or pushy is the stuff of horrible Yelp reviews and comedic movie scenes. But service doesn’t have to be like that. Businesses that take time to connect authentically to their customers will build a client for life. And businesses that ignore service in the sales moment are doing themselves great harm as sales are based on a human connection. Here are some easy ways to connect with your customers that will make the sisters of your business – service and sales – shine.

Establish Customer Quotas, Not Sales Quotas

Too many businesses focus on the number of sales rather than the number of customers. You must remember that customers make sales. Ask your salespeople to create relationships with every type of customer – not just the ones they already know.

LEAD – Listen, Empathize, Add value, Delight

February 29, 2016/1 Comment/in Books, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Mercedes-Benz hasn’t only figured out how to build great machines – they’ve also cracked the code on delivering world-class service. By following the LEAD approach, your organization can improve your customer experience too.

Today’s post is by Joseph Michelli, author of Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

The first time I met Mike Figliuolo – Managing Director at thoughtLEADERS (approximately 8 years ago), we were both listening to a speaker from the Ritz-Carlton.

Across that span of time the world of business has changed dramatically! Innovation and technology have proliferated, consumers enjoy universal access to the Internet, and people are continually connected to one another and their favorite brands through mobile devices.

Also in that time long-standing or innovative brands like Radio Shack, Blackberry, or Blockbuster have lost their luster or disappeared altogether. Conversely, other brands like Apple and Starbucks continue to remain relevant to a changing consumer.

As products have become increasingly similar and better, today’s great business differentiator centers around the “experience” in which products are delivered. As such, many leaders have been tasked to shift from product-centric to customer-centric cultures and strategies.

The path to customer experience excellence is a crowded (a Forrester Research study shows that 92% of leadership teams have it as a strategic priority) and tricky one (the American Customer Satisfaction Index shows consumer satisfaction approaching a 9-year low). So who is making this important transition effectively? What are some of the key behaviors leaders in these brands focus on to succeed when so many others fail?

Over the past several years I have been fortunate to work with the senior leadership at Mercedes-Benz USA and chronicle their efforts to take that iconic brand (known for over a century of commitment to innovative engineering and safety) and position it to deliver a customer experience befitting the brand promise “best or nothing.”

While the details of that transformation can be found in my recently released book, Driven to Delight: Delivering World-Class Customer Experience the Mercedes-Benz Way, here are four key behaviors emphasized by Mercedes-Benz leadership and they come in the form of the acronym LEAD:

Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business

February 1, 2016/0 Comments/in Books, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Sales, Social Media, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Growing your business is all about understanding how to attract and retain customers. There are several simple techniques you can apply immediately to make customers flock to your business.

Today’s post is by Joe Calloway, author of Magnetic (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

We’ve entered an entirely new marketplace for business with an entirely new set of rules. Businesses can no longer thrive following a strategy of going out and getting customers. Today we must become, in effect, magnets for customers and create a never-ending flow of new business that comes to us. It requires letting go of much of what we’re used to, what we’re comfortable with, and what used to work.

Let Cate represent a business. Cate can be in any arena of business – retail, business-to-business, consumer, industrial – it makes no difference. There are some new factors at work that can, if Cate gets them right, ensure steady and ongoing growth. Of course, the main rule is this: the rules always change.

The first factor that Cate must understand is that traditional advertising and marketing will play a much smaller role than ever before in creating business. They are still part of the mix, but the most powerful factor in buying decisions, whether business to business or consumer purchases of products and services, is word of mouth. Nothing else even comes close. It is the single most important element in the growth of any business. It is more powerful than any advertising and it should be at the core of Cate’s marketing strategy.

To be a magnet for business Cate must also change how she thinks about social media. It’s not what she says about herself on social media that influences prospective customers; it’s what her existing customers say about her. The Internet has changed the math on the power of Cate’s customers, be they satisfied or dissatisfied. They don’t tell a handful of people anymore. They tell dozens, or hundreds, or thousands. Today’s buyer of almost anything goes to the Internet to see what others think as they make their buying decisions. If the Internet, meaning everyone who posts their impressions of Cate, says “we love Cate’s business,” then her success is assured. She becomes a magnet for attracting business. If the Internet says “one star – stay away,” they stay away.

How the Three Box Branding Model Can Change Your World

December 14, 2015/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Managing a global brand and bringing it to life at the local level has been historically challenging. A new model for setting a brand strategy then activating it and executing it can help overcome the challenges global brands face.

Today’s post is by Larry Light, coauthor of New Brand Leadership (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Three simultaneous forces affect how brands must be managed today: globalization, localization, and personalization. The collision of these three forces presents challenges and opportunities for marketers. This will require changes to the enterprise and mind-set structures as well as changes to the operational systems, policies, and processes used for brands. This means creating and implementing a more meaningful, relevant, systematic, disciplined set of strategies for effective brand building.

Globalization

Marketing globalization refers to the benefits of cross-geography standardization, reliability, and familiarity. But, to many customers it signifies homogeneity, loss of regional authenticity, and corporate domination. It is comforting to see known logos in shopping malls around the world, but people fear the loss of identity through excessive globalization.

Localization

Localization refers to a special sense of place designating local uniqueness, locally sourced, locally crafted, locally owned, regionally authentic, one-of-a-kind, and so on. Localization brings a sense of cultural, ethnic, economic, and social connection. But it can become too forced, cute, involuntary, obligatory, and kitschy. Just think Venice or New York City in Las Vegas.

Personalization

Leadership Culture Trumps Strategy as Game Changer

December 7, 2015/0 Comments/in Books, Communications, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Creating a great culture is a key responsibility of leadership. When you invest in building a strong culture, the business and financial results follow. Fail to do so and your business will end up in unpleasant situations.

Today’s post is by Diane K. Adams, author of It Takes More than Casual Fridays and Free Coffee (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Great leaders drive excellence in their organizations. They lay the foundation, set the tone and prove the catalyst for long-term bottom line success no matter the size of a company, the industry, or external economics.

These leaders’ secret to success isn’t their strategies. It’s the pervasive cultures they create at their companies with positive values-based attitudes, real actions, and strong commitment. In turn, their teams are energized and so are their bottom lines in good economic times and bad.

This connection between leadership and success isn’t abstract. Concrete results of stellar leadership include better productivity, less staff turnover, greater achievement of potential, better customer satisfaction, and better bottom lines.

The proof is in the numbers. A SHRM Foundation report found that companies with outstanding leadership have:

50 percent less staff turnover
10 to 30 percent higher customer satisfaction ratings
40 percent higher employee commitment ratings
Double a company’s net profit

Studies from other reputable organizations—including The Hay Group, Ken Blanchard Companies, Aon Hewitt, and Corporate Executive Board—found similarly positive links between stellar leadership and company successes.

The proof, too, is in the stories of extraordinary leaders whose winning approaches have helped them build successful companies.

How well does your organization treat clients or customers?

October 1, 2015/1 Comment/in Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Poll, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How well does your organization treat clients or customers?

– Extremely well — we take great care of them: 35.17%
– Very well — we treat them better than most other companies: 34.88%
– Well — we do a decent job but could improve a bit: 25%
– Not well — we could treat them much better: 3.49%
– Poorly — I’m surprised we even still have customers: 1.45%

Treat them well or someone else will. It doesn’t take much to lose a customer and we all know how hard it is to acquire them. If your organization isn’t in the top two categories in this poll, you’re creating a large risk to your business. As leaders, we’re responsible for identifying where we’re coming up short in our treatment of customers and quickly fixing those issues. Client service can be very simple to understand but difficult to execute. It all boils down to defining client service principles you should never violate. Make sure you do both as you set the tone for your team to care for one of your most valuable assets.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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3 Common – and Dangerous – Myths About Business Plans

September 2, 2015/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Business plans aren’t only for entrepreneurs. Any new venture requires thorough planning before you launch it if you want a reasonable chance of success. There are a lot of myths about business plans out there. Today I’d like to debunk three of the biggest ones.

It’s exciting launching a new business. Whether you’re building a new venture from scratch or creating something new within a large corporation, remember the old adage that “only fools rush in.”

One of the biggest mistakes you can make during an exciting launch is saying, “I’m too busy to write a business plan.” More often than not, that lack of planning will come back to haunt you.

There are three common myths about writing a business plan—and buying into them can signal the beginning of the end for your venture.

Myth 1: Business plans are only for new startups seeking funding

“I don’t have to write a business plan! I’m not launching some brand new startup.”

Notice it’s called a “business plan”—not a “startup plan.” If you’re going to invest in building a business venture, you need to think things through. You’ll be risking money, time, energy, and effort in the hopes of building something great. Isn’t that investment worth a little planning?

A good business plan will help you think through how you’re going to spend those investments wisely. It’ll also point out where your biggest risks are and provide direction on how you can mitigate them.

If you are launching a startup, you absolutely need a business plan even if you’re not seeking outside funding. You’ll be investing your own personal time, energy, and funds and those investments come with a true opportunity cost as well.

But business plans for existing organizations looking to expand or build new divisions are even more critical than business plans for startups. The stakes are much higher for larger businesses simply because the investments are larger and a failure of the new venture can also harm the existing business.

Myth 2: Writing a business plan is a huge ordeal

“Business plans take forever! I don’t have time for that! I need to be working on launching the business!”

11 Business Lessons You Can’t Survive Without

August 26, 2015/1 Comment/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Business Toolkit, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Running a business is an exercise in fear, excitement, fear, elation, fear, hard work, and fear. Did I mention fear? In the 11 years I’ve been running my firm, I’ve learned a few indispensable lessons that apply no only to entrepreneurs but to business folks in all walks of life.

Yesterday was our 11th birthday. 11. thoughtLEADERS, LLC turned 11 yesterday. I’m still in shock over the milestone.

“Why are you in shock, Mike? Don’t you believe in yourself and your business?”

Absofrickinlutely. That’s the only reason it’s survived 11 years. I believe in it more than you can imagine.

During that time, I’ve learned a great deal and I’ve grown as a businessman every single day. Every setback was a learning opportunity. Every success has pushed me closer to the next chasm to jump. What I’d like to do today is share 11 pieces of advice that can hopefully help you be more successful in your work (and life) as well. This guidance doesn’t only apply to entrepreneurs. It’s for business people in all walks of life. I hope you find them helpful.

1. Your business will change. Either you can change it or the market will change it for you. Change is the constant. It’s easy to get locked in on a model that works to the exclusion of other opportunities or ideas. For the longest time I railed against putting our content in video form. “You can’t learn our stuff from online videos.” It took me a while to come around and only once I met the amazing folks at lynda.com did I warm to the idea. My fear was putting our stuff on video would cannibalize our core in-person training. Instead, it’s reinforced that training and has given us broader visibility to new customers. So far I’ve put a bunch of our courses online and more will follow. I’m thrilled with the results. Be open to changing your business. When the market makes changes for you, it usually sucks.

2. A deal’s not a deal until it’s a deal. I’m an excitable guy. If I had a nickel for every deal I thought would go through that subsequently fell through for some reason, I’d be retired by now. Early on, I placed a lot of value in those “tentative but definitely coming through” deals and I planned for that. When they didn’t materialize, fear and panic ensued. Since then I’ve learned to temper my enthusiasm. In my eyes, it’s not a deal until I’m stepping onto the podium. Be sure you balance your expectations with reality and have contingency plans for when things don’t go as expected.

7 Tips for Dealing With Irate Customers

June 29, 2015/0 Comments/in Communications, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Sales, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

Dealing with angry customers can be one of the greatest challenges you face. Here are 7 tips for dealing with those difficult situations gracefully and effectively.

Today’s post is by Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

One of the things that all irate customers have in common is that they have an attitude that says “I rate better service than this and now that I have you on the phone, you’re going to pay for it!” And one of the other things about them that gets to you is you feel unjustly accused of having done this to them and that can make it difficult to remain calm.

That is why the first three tips are about ways to remain or regain your calm and the final four about what to do next.

1. 3 Strikes and You’re Calm – 1. Think of the first thing you want to say or do in response to an irate customer (which is about defending or protecting yourself). Don’t do it, take a breath and exhale. 2. Then think of the second thing you want to say or do (which is about retaliating). Don’t do that, take a breath and exhale. 3. And finally think of the third thing you want to do (which is about finding a solution) and do that.

2. Assume innocence – Unless you are dealing with a truly evil person, assume that nothing is going right in the person’s life and they have chosen this interaction with you to displace all their frustration as a way of not taking it personally when it is meant for your company or product and not you.

6 Questions You MUST Ask to Prevent Bad Customer Service

June 8, 2015/3 Comments/in Books, Customer Service, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Sales /by Mike Figliuolo

Bad customer service has an incalculable cost and long-lasting repercussions. Here are 6 questions you can ask to prevent those issues from happening in the first place.

Today’s post is by Angie Morgan, author of Leading from the Front (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

It was 1984.

A colleague of mine had an unpleasant exchange with a ticket agent who was rescheduling his flight. The agent made a snarky remark, further frustrating the process, and my colleague said, “I’m done with this airline.”

Fast forward 31 years. My friend still hasn’t flown on the offending airline, but he has accumulated 3,000,000 miles on others. He’s now a senior leader at a Fortune 50 firm and recently held a national conference and made a request to his team not to fly on this airline either.

Now, my friend’s boycott seems extreme. But is it, really? You’ve likely taken similar stands when you’ve received bad customer service. Maybe you made a silent protest, vowing never to visit a business again. Or you’ve publicized your displeasure by telling your network or writing an online review.

Whenever bad service happens, there’s a cost. It could be a damaged relationship, a missed opportunity, or a dropped account. It can even result in millions of dollars of lost revenue.

If you’re a manager reading this, you understand the potential impact your client-facing team has on the business. But when was the last time you challenged yourself to see if you’re doing everything you can to prevent poor customer service from happening?

Ask yourself: