Category: Customer Service

Customer service interviews are featured by industry professionals in the Documentary!

Get Referrals Every Time Using These 3 Easy Steps!!!

~ Joseph Kellner
GLAMOUR MAKE UP
GLAMOUR MAKE UP

Establish rapport. Use language to meet your client or prospect at their current state of mind. You’ve done this to open the sales call by simply verifying several pieces of information with your client or prospect. Do the same thing here as well. If you are speaking to a past or returning client, use questions to get them to verify their experience. If you are speaking to a new prospect, use a cushion to acknowledge their current state, appeal to their nobler side and then reiterate some of the points about their industry that brought you to the prospect in the first place.

Describe the kind of referral that you are looking for. Describe your ideal client in as much detail as possible. When possible, use elements that are shared by the prospect or client that is sitting in front of you. And use descriptive language to create a person that your client will understand and relate to. Describing your ideal client as a young person with high energy, working in a creative hi-tech environment creating unique applications for the web will result in your prospect thinking about specific people with names that have done some of the work that you have outlined.

However, saying that you are looking for web designers will result in your prospect or client having an unfocused mind and they will most likely say, “I can’t think of anybody right now, but I’ll let you know when I do.” Remember, detailed descriptions will act as an anchor in your clients’ mind and produce concrete results. Vague descriptions of the type of referral you are asking for will produce vague results at best.

Lower the barrier to getting cooperation. Lower the barrier by reducing the risk associated with your client or prospect giving up their contacts’ information. Remember that if they are giving you their contacts, they are putting their reputation on the line. Make them look good by insuring that their contacts will get the best service or products possible. If you are getting referrals from a client that you’ve done business with before, this should be fairly easy to do. Tell your client that you will work to insure that these referrals will receive the same types of benefits that they received. You also can get creative here and offer incentives to your clients for supplying referrals that buy your stuff.

JOSEPHKELLNER.COM

Customer Reviews

~ Joseph Kellner
Blonde On Blonde
Blonde On Blonde

This Review was written by a consumer, who visited a salon in Orlando call ALEXANDER HAIRDRESSING.

Customer Service is a Lost Art Here and Way Over Charge 03/04/2009 Posted by societypages

If they are not trying to sell you something while you are TRYING to enjoy your hair getting done, they are over-charging you to dry your hair? It cost $50 dollars to DRY your hair AFTER you have already paid $120 for partial hi-lights and $90 for single color and $10 for some color sealer and $30 for some conditioner that you had no idea cost anything when they washed your hair. I mean, after shampoo does come conditioner..right? And shouldn’t they dry your hair to make sure they colored it right? Why should I have to pay for them to check their work? And forget it if they had to use a toner. You get to pay $70 dollars if you want your haircut. Add it up…All this and you get to wait for four hours to get it all done….and then they try to sell you stuff again! Fell for this for over a year and learned that there are not only better stylists out there but kinder and more reasonably priced ones, who haven’t forgotten that Customer Service is an art and valuable, and it’s about fairness in pricing (you are not remodeling my kitchen, just doing my hair) kindness and hair styling…I rather would not feel like I just ended up on a used car lot and pressured to pay for things I don’t want. I believe that this will be the downfall of this salon. Talent can only go so far when you are asking your clients to pay for your personal gain. I, personally, like to donate to more lasting and meaningful charities. Good luck, and keep looking. I don’t mind spending money; I just don’t like feeling like I am getting taken advantage of..every single time I go in. I fell for it but you don’t have to.
Underserving Consumer

If you were raised with basic good manners and along the way ever joined a service group, like the scouts or 4-H, then you’ve got the groundwork for providing great customer service. The foundation you need is one of courtesy, caring, willingness to serve, and an attitude that lets your customers know that you they matter-and that you care. There are skills and technologies that can help you put it all into practice, but don’t get your head turned by all the whiz-bang tools that are out there. Great customer service has its basis in good manners. See? Mom was right.
These days it is fashionable for companies to refer to customer service as “customer retention,” but that can lead to backwards thinking. To retain a customer, simply serve him and do it well. If you focus on retention you’ll miss what is important, which is the customer and his or her needs.
But here’s the opportunity. An unhappy customer will become a loyal consumer if you fix his complaint and do it quickly. Eighty percent (80%) of these folks will come back to you if you’ve treated them fairly. That percentage rises to the upper 90s if you respond immediately. Every day you have the chance to transform your mistakes into returning customers — the kind who will tell other people good things about you. Imagine that.
Keys To Success
Joseph Kellner

Practice Good Customer Service

~ Joseph Kellner

 

 

Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. You can offer promotions and slash prices to bring in as many new customers as you want, but unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business won’t be profitable for long.

Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers.

How do you go about forming such a relationship? By remembering the one true secret of good customer service and acting accordingly; “You will be judged by what you do, not what you say.”

ANSWER YOUR PHONE

Get call forwarding. Or an answering service. Hire staff if you need to. But make sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business. Notice I say “someone”. People who call want to talk to a live person, not a “fake recorded robot”.

Don’t make promises unless you WILL keep them.

Not plan to keep them. Will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say, “Your new bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday”, make sure it is delivered on Tuesday. Otherwise, don’t say it. The same rule applies to client appointments, deadlines, etc.. Think before you give any promise – because nothing annoys customers more than a broken one.

Listen to your customers.

Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn’t been paying attention and needs to have it explained again? From a customer’s point of view, I doubt it. Can the sales pitches and the product babble. Let your customer talk and show him that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how to solve the problem.

Deal with complaints.

No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug, saying, “You can’t please all the people all the time”. Maybe not, but if you give the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one time – and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

Be helpful – even if there’s no immediate profit in it.

The other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small piece that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained the problem, the proprietor said that he thought he might have one lying around. He found it, attached it to my watch band – and charged me nothing! Where do you think I’ll go when I need a new watch band or even a new watch? And how many people do you think I’ve told this story to?

Train your staff (if you have any) to be ALWAYS helpful, courteous, and knowledgeable.

Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer service and what it is (and isn’t) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing decisions, so he never has to say, “I don’t know, but so-and-so will be back at…”

Take the extra step.

For instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find something, don’t just say, “It’s in Aisle 3.” Lead the customer to the item. Better yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell other people.

Throw in something extra.

Whether it’s a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be large to be effective. The local art framer that we use attaches a package of picture hangers to every picture he frames. A small thing, but so appreciated.

If you apply these eight simple rules consistently, your business will become known for its good customer service. And the best part? The irony of good customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than promotions and price slashing ever did!

Quality – Consistency – Service

~ Joseph Kellner

These are all the words, traits, and goals business’s should follow now. In this recession it is very important to be on top of your profession, and service to the client is at its utmost. You know something crazy happened to me when depositing money at the bank, “Thank You Mr Kellner”. I heard that today and I almost had a heart attack. When you go to 7-11 they are starting to say “Thank You”. This should have never been forgotten. But in the world today the idea of customer service has dwindled, and now we all have to relearn. It is the most fundemental approach in letting a client, customer know how important they are. They pay our bills, they let us live our passion. Few to many time do we really earnestly approach our client’s, and say “THANK YOU”. We are all guilty of this and taking the time to make a phone call, write a quick note,or send a email will do wonders for your client retention. And the consumer will take this as a very professional individual. Lets all get on the band wagon and polish up on our manners.

CUSTOMER SERVICE MEANS
1. DOING ORDINARY THINGS EXTRAORDINARILY WELL.
2. GOING THE EXTRA, EXTRA MILE FOR YOU CLIENTS.
3. BEING AT YOUR BEST WITH EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER.
4. DISCOVERING NEW WAYS TO DELIGHT THE ONES YOU SERVE.
5. SUPRISING YOURSELF WITH HOW MUCH YOU CAN DO FOR A CUSTOMER.
6. GOING BEYOND WHAT IS EXPECTED.
7. TREATING EVERY CUSTOMER LIKE SHE WAS YOUR GRANDMOTHER.
8. QUALITY IN THE SKILS THAT YOU OFFER YOUR CUSTOMER.
9. CONSISTENCY IN PROVIDING THE SAME PRODUCT YOUR CUSTOMER CAME BACK FOR.
10.SERVICE, SERVICE, SERVICE

Follow what I follow you will be amazed in the client retention you will achieve.
Joseph Kellner