RSS Herald Mobile

Keeping Clients Happy Keeps Them Coming Back
By Janice D. Byer, CCVA, MVA, Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services

Whether you are a seasoned Virtual Assistant (VA), or you have just opened your doors to new clients, your marketing strategy should not only involve bringing in new business, it should also include keeping your current clients, your most important asset, happy and coming back for more or referring your services.

Top-notch customer service is the most important contributing factor in the success of your business. Unfortunately, there are some business professionals who don't live by that sentiment. I'm not sure if they don't understand the advantages of making clients feel like number one, but let's see if we can't keep ourselves from forgetting those that have helped our businesses get where they are today.

Providing exceptional customer service centers around ensuring your customers are happy. They need to feel that you improve your business to help improve their business. There are several processes that will prove your dedication to exceptional customer service and are a must for all business professionals.

Provide the best service and provide it on time. Keeping customers happy means you give them your very best and you make sure to deliver when you say you will. If for any reason you have to delay delivery, be honest with your client and inform them of the situation. If the delay will be of any inconvenience to your client, be sure to compensate them or offer to help alleviate the crisis.

Really listen to your clients and their needs. You may be able to provide expert advice but they usually know what they want. Work WITH them to give them exactly what they need and that will help improve their business. And, the same holds true when reversed. If your client makes a suggestion to you to help improve your business, consider their opinion. After all, they are the experts about what they need from you.

Strive to always improve your services. With the advancements in technology, it is always a good idea to update your skills. But, that shouldn't be the only reason. Enhancing your services allows you to offer more to your clients and thus keeps them happy.

Provide a guarantee. This is a vital aspect of exceptional customer service. Satisfaction is something everyone wants. If they are 100% happy with what you have provided them, they will be your biggest contributor to future business. If they aren't happy, make sure your rectify the problem.
Provide prompt responses to all communications & inquiries. Don't keep your clients waiting. Try to return phone calls within 24 hours, or at least 36 hours. People become impatient and will move onto the next business for what they are needing. Respond to emails on the same day if possible and answer all written inquiries within 3 business days. The longer inquiries wait to be responded to, the greater the chance of losing their business all together.

Always say Thank You! How good do you feel when someone says thank you to you? That sentiment should be shared. Send out thank you cards to those who request a quote and when a new client comes on board. To save costs, send e-cards or emails of thanks.

Customer service is vital to ensuring your business' successful future. By keeping your clients happy, you are adding to the value of your business and the services you offer and proving to others that your are the person they should be talking to when they are in

Janice Byer, owner of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services, provides professional, creative and affordable virtual office assistance and small business website design. She is a Certified Canadian Virtual Assistant (CCVA) and Master Virtual Assistant (MVA). She is also the author of Surfin' The Net - Docu-Type's Virtual Collection of Links, which is filled with the secrets of her success. Visit her website for more information and to get your copy.

Janice Byer, owner of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net) provides professional, creative and affordable virtual office assistance and small business website design. She is a Certified Canadian Virtual Assistant (CCVA) and Master Virtual Assistant (MVA). She is also the author of Surfin' The Net - Docu-Type's Virtual Collection of Links, (www.docutype.net/business_ebooks.htm) which is filled with the secrets of her success. Visit her website for more information and to get your copy.

Back

Outlook Productivity Tips: Tracking related information using Contact Activities:
by Andrea Kalli

Tracking related information using Contact Activities: The ability to link and review related information to your contacts is a powerful contact management feature The ability to link and review related information to your contacts is a powerful contact management feature. An activity is any Outlook item that relates to an Outlook contact. Activities can be journal entries, emails, meetings, notes, or tasks. You choose which folders contain items that are activities and which activities you want to view at any one time. This feature enables you to quickly view all emails exchanged with the contact, all meetings scheduled with the contact, all journal entries made for the contact (use journal entries to record notes and conversations), and all tasks related to the contact. You can see where all of these items are stored and group by item type (tasks, appointments, email messages, or notes). Activities are tracked automatically. There is no special setup that needs to be configured. Automatic Activities are driven by the email addresses you store in the contact records. Outlook can hold up to 3 different email addresses. You can also use the Actions menu to create items associated with the contact, such as Tasks you need to perform related to the contact. To view activities, open any contact record and click on the Activities tab. After a short delay, all information related to that contact is displayed. You can then go directly to any of the items listed for that contact by double-clicking on it.

Provided by Andrea Kalli Virtual Trainer and Assistant, LLC. Productivity training, support, and customization for Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint users. Come visit our website at www.virtualassist.net and feel free to contact me at akalli@virtualassist.net. Get your SharePoint user training two ways: Our video training via www.digbizbooks.com Live online workshops via www.uofvas.com View my business blog at http://virtualassist.typepad.com View and subscribe to my training calendar at http://www.trumba.com/calendars/akva Thank you and have a great day! Andrea Kalli

Click here to view Andrea's helpful videos from these tips!
Andrea Kali is a virtual Trainer and virtual Assistant. Visit her website at virtualassist.net

Back

Editor's Corner: Price Fixing - - A Reminder
by Kathy Ritchie

Price Fixing by definition is the process by which prices are fixed between competitors, most always artificially high. Recently, on a discussion list, the definition of price fixing was posted, whose source was cited as Wikipedia. While the explanation provided by Wikipedia was good, it was not complete.

Price fixing can occur, even when it wasn't intended! It only takes the slightest perception of price fixing in order for the charge to be raised. It doesn't need to be in writing, it doesn't need to be a dialog in which the subject is raised. It can be covert, and merely the raising of eyebrows, and a wink to convey the meaning, it can be at a bar, or your local chamber meeting. Which is why, it's imperative that we avoid speaking of prices on discussion lists.

Look at the price fixing cases that have been won:

o Korean chipmaker Samsung agreed today to take a guilty plea and pay a $300 million fine for its participation in a global price-fixing scheme among memory chip manufacturers. (October 2005) Pasted from <http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3556156>

o NEW YORK - The five largest music companies and three of the USA's largest music retailers agreed Monday to pay $67.4 million and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups to settle a lawsuit led by New York and Florida over alleged price-fixing in the late 1990s. (September 2002) Pasted from <http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-09-30-cd-settlement_x.htm>

o If nothing else, the US DoJ (Department of Justice) is remarkably good at nailing foreign memory makers for price-fixing. Hynix Semiconductor, it emerged today, is the latest firm to plead guilty in a far-reaching DRAM scandal and has agreed to pay the DoJ a $185m fine. (April 2005) Pasted from <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/21/hynix_fine_doj/>

The Department of Justice (US) defines Price Fixing as:

"Price fixing is an agreement among competitors to raise, fix or otherwise maintain the price at which their goods or services are sold.

It is not necessary that competitors agree to charge exactly the same price, or that every competitor in a given industry join the conspiracy. Price fixing can take many forms, and any agreement that restricts price competition violates the law." (www.usdoj.gov)

The virtual assisting industry is still relatively new. It would be very easy for someone to suspect price fixing should we discuss prices in the association discussion groups. Remember, we need to keep our industry above board, and on the cutting edge. We don't need to lose the reputation we've earned by inadvertently giving the impression of price fixing. Perception is everything. Our overall priority is to ensure that the public knows that virtual assistants can be trusted. This is why it is always a good practice to not discuss prices in groups.

Kathy Ritchie is the Editor of the RSS Herald and owner of Ritchie Secretarial Service, a successful VA practice since 1996. 303-367-4545 or Office 303-600-4716 fax Geography is no boundary! Complete - Virtual - Office Assistance - we're what you need! http://www.thebestva.com kritchie@thebestva.com
Catch me working at www.kathyritchie.com

Searching for Excellence: 4 Tips for improving your customer service success
by Colleen Francis

The year 2007 is now officially almost half over. Is your sales team performing at their maximum potential?

In recent articles, we've covered a range of tips and techniques to help professional sales people fuel their success. This week, as the height of summer approaches, we're focusing on all the sales managers, business owners and sales leaders out there who are looking for new ways to increase their team's (or company's) revenues - and improve their profit margins - as we head into the second half of the year.

If you're in the process of developing your marketing and sales plan for the second half of 2007, the following four tips can help you to help your team improve their sales results, increase their revenues and exceed their sales targets.

Tip #1: Love the one you're with.

Many companies invest far too much time chasing new customers, and far too little making sure their existing customers are happy.

Research tells us that selling to an existing customer is between five to fifteen times less expensive (and takes far less time) than acquiring a new customer. Why risk losing something you worked so hard to secure in the first place?

One sure-fire way to increase your customer retention rate is to create a monthly newsletter or other program that lets you stay in touch with them on a regular basis. Newsletters can be easy to create, inexpensive to produce and can even be distributed instantly by email. Most importantly, a newsletter can help keep you in your customers' top of mind, so whenever they need to buy again, they think of you first.

Tip #2: Get some feedback.

A satisfied customer is predisposed to purchase more, purchase more often and even purchase something different than a customer who is less than satisfied with your product or service. So what are you doing to ensure your customers are satisfied customers?

The most successful companies poll their clients immediately following a purchase in order to gauge their level of satisfaction and make any necessary changes to their sales and service programs. If you haven't gotten any feedback from your customers in a while, pick a day this month for you and your team to sit down, call your customers and find out how they really feel about you.
Ask them specific questions like how they would like to be served by you, what their experience has been like with the various departments in your company and what they would like to see you do differently. You can then use this information to craft a sales and service strategy that puts what the customer wants, first.

Sound scary? If so, then you probably need to do this exercise even more. If you receive any negative feedback, take action to fix it right away and call the customer back as soon as you have a solution. You may be surprised to see how many customers will be inclined to buy from you again once the problem is resolved.

Tip #3: Get connected.

According to a recent Gallup study, emotionally connected customers spend 46% more than customers who are simply satisfied.

How do you create emotional connectedness? Start by being personal.

Have your sales reps send handwritten thank-you cards after each first-time sale. Keep track of and contact your customers on important dates such as the anniversary of the day they started doing business with you, their own company anniversary, family birthdays or anything else you can use to build a personal relationship. Plus, make a point of connecting with customers on holidays throughout the year.

And always, always be on the lookout for any opportunity to refer someone to your customers. If you can help your customers grow their business, believe me, they'll be only too happy to take you with them.

Tip #4: Make a direct link.

The number one mistake I see many business-to-business companies make is allowing all of their contact with their customers to go through a single sales representative. This can leave you vulnerable whenever one of your employees jumps ship to join one of your competitors. It also leaves too much room for negligence on the part of your reps.

Establish a direct link with each of your customers, regardless of how many layers of distribution lie between you. A restaurant owner can do this by coming around and chatting personally with diners. A CEO of a large company can do it with a newsletter or maybe a hotline phone number.

To reinforce this direct link, get in the habit of contacting your customers at various times throughout the year. For example, send them en email to:

o Introduce new products or services;

o Give advance notice (and an explanation) of an upcoming price or fee increase;

o Offer special discounts or premiums;

o Provide useful and valuable industry information;

o Give special recognition to top customers; or

o Announce seasonal sales.

Remember the cardinal rule!

Just remember this one critical rule: tell your entire sales story every time you communicate with established customers.

Don't take shortcuts or feel that you may be boring them by telling the same story over and over. Don't assume any specific knowledge on the part of the customer. And as my first sales mentor once said to me, don't ever make the mistake of thinking that your customers have an active imagination.

Customers have so many things going on today that they simply can't be counted on to remember all the great things about you from one sale to the next without at least a little prompting. So if you have a unique quality, service, price guarantee or other advantage that sets you apart from the competition, take a moment to point it out each and every time you deliver a written or verbal sales presentation, and in every newsletter you send out.

As sales professionals, we desperately need to place a higher value on the customer. That's the message behind Tom Peters' incredibly successful " In Search of Excellence " movement. It's the message behind Blockbuster's "No Late Fees" policy. And it's one of the reasons why, in Canada, cell phone companies have finally allowed their customers to "take their number with them."

Make sure it's the message behind your company, your team and your customer service, too. Communicate with your customers often and with emotion, and you'll find your business will really begin to soar.

_________________________
Copyright MMVII, Engage Selling : All Rights Reserved. All trademarks used or referred to on this site are the property of their respective owners. No materials on this site may be reproduced, altered or further distributed without Engage's prior written permission. www.engageselling.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/customer-service-articles/searching-for-excellence-207793.html

About the Author:
Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions ( www.EngageSelling.com) . Armed with skills developed from years of experience, Colleen helps clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line.
Start improving your results today with Engage's online Newsletter Engaging Ideas AND 10 weeks of free sales tips: www.EngagingIdeasOnline.com