by jaakkomannisto | Aug 17, 2019 | General
Whether your business is an online store or a storefront downtown, providing excellent motivation for your staff will determine if you succeed in the long run. In today’s economy, the businesses that will survive and thrive will be those that give each and every staff a better working experience than the competition. Win that battle. Grow your sales and your business by fine-tuning your staff motivation and we all know that motivated staff works better and harder. But how do we ensure we motivate staff? Here are a few tips.
Happy work force = happy customers
Offer a great environment to work in and take care of your staff the way you anticipate that them will take care of your clients. Why would it be a good idea for them to be pleasant to clients in the event that they are getting a crude work at works themselves? Keep workers cheerful by giving what they require in terms of training (soft aptitudes and specialized knowledge) and real backing with positive messages where proper and valuable criticism where development is required.
Manager feedback and conversation
You don’t have to spend a ton of cash to make your staff feel motivated and valued. Frequently phone call from a senior director complimenting a colleague on a ‘good week’ is similarly as compelling as an offer of an training course or gift voucher. It can be as simple as weekly a message saying “thank you” for answering the employee feedback survey. You can’t be seen to pull back investing in your people. Obviously, you may need to make choices to protect the profitability of your business that may not be well known so the messages you convey are critical. We should keep on celebrating achievement, mentor individuals on particular difficulties and address any troublesome issues they confront. In big picture and in a big company this might be complicated but there are also HR survey and conversation systems to help you.
A positive attitude
It is crucial that recruitment team managers realign their desires and mull over the economic climate when setting targets and goals. While I don’t trust it is all fate and misery out there, it is unquestionably harder to convert leads into sales and there are fewer opportunities. So, team leaders must urge their staff to raise their game and offer themselves out of the credit crunch. Even when giving feedback, you can be positive and constructive.
The right tools and skills for the job
Despite whether you are working amid a credit crunch or not – staff motivation is affected by the following variables: having the ideal individual in the who is fit for doing it; preparing them to carry out the job by giving them the right tools and support and finally setting realistic targets that they know can be accomplished. We have kept on investing into sales and marketing amid these troublesome times and have launched a number of new product lines. This shows our staff that we are reacting to the difficulties of the marketplace and supporting them in every way we can.
Using temporary workers
The advantage of having temporary workers is that the clients can flex here and there relying upon their necessity. So obviously in the course of recent months, we have seen a decline sought after for temporary workers across a number of our customers. Normally organizations are likewise hesitant to permanent recruitment and are even subject to headcount freezes.
Without good staff motivation, each working experience or transaction would be a boring monotony. Breaking up someone’s day by being friendly, open and creating an atmosphere that is somewhere they will want to do wonders for their attitude, which in turn does wonder for your sales.
If you want to hear more or discuss how you can also set up goals for your staff and measure them easily and effectively let us know! Hope you guys enjoyed!
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 17, 2019 | General
Customer Experience (CX) is not all about Surveys, but when measuring CX it is crucial to understand on what you measure and what you ask your customers. Regular customers is a one thing but what if the person is not your customer (yet)? We are regularly asked what kind of website feedback we should be asking for in user surveys and polls. Our answer: it differs. The website and eCommerce feedback you attempt to acquire are contingent on the user’s experience, and what you’re attempting to accomplish.
You should always have a clear goal of what you would like to measure and accomplish with the surveys you use whether it is ensuring the continuous experience level or very specific information. Either way, you might wonder how you can actually ask all this from your customer.
To help you get on the right path, we’ve assembled a list of questions we believe to be the most engaging with visitors – sorted by your type of business: E-Commerce, SaaS, Blogs and News websites. Suggestion – be sure to change-up your questions frequently. Your team should be reading a vast assortment of answers to questions in order to genuinely identify with your users.
Is your business type unlisted? Let us know and we’ll put it on our list! Hope this will help you with your inspiration and get you back on track!
E-commerce Feedback
Before Buying:
- What details are lacking, or can we make your choice to purchase easier?
- What are you most worried about regarding the item you intend to purchase?
- Did you achieve what you intended during today’s visit?
- If you didn’t buy anything today, what prevented you from doing so?
After Buying:
- In your opinion, are there any aspects of our checkout process that needs improvement?
- What are you most worried about with regards to buying a product from us?
- What would have convinced you to finalize the purchase of the item(s) in your cart today?
- What would you miss the most if you were unable to use [name] anymore?
More Interesting Questions:
- Do you have any questions prior to finalizing your purchase?
- Is there additional content you would like to see on this page?
- What 3 things convinced you to create an account today?
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from creating an account today?
- Is there anything that almost prevented you from purchasing from us?
- Did you consider other options before deciding on [name]?
- What would convince you to visit us more frequently?
- What was your biggest issue, frustration or challenge in locating the proper (product type) online?
- Are you open to referring us to a colleague or friend? (NPS question)
- What 3 things convinced you to purchase from us, as opposed to a competitor?
- Are there any products you would like to see in our inventory?
- Did you successfully find the content you were seeking?
- Are you satisfied with our support?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our service? (NPS question)
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our support? (NPS question)
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from buying?
Saas and Software
New or Trial users:
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from signing up today?
- What would convince you to visit us more frequently?
- Would you recommend us to a colleague or friend? (NPS question)
- Were our prices easy to locate? If not, what would you like to see?
- Was our pricing model clear?
Customers:
- What persuaded you to buy this service?
- What was the biggest reason you decided to buy from us?
- Can you name something you think is lacking in [name]?
- Are there any features you would like to see that would make our product essential for you?
- What would you miss the most if you weren’t able to use [name] anymore?
Ex-Customers:
- What is the primary reason you’re canceling your account? (please be specific)
- What is the one thing you would change about [name]?
- If you could modify anything about [product name] what would it be?
- Were you satisfied with our customer service?
More Interesting Questions:
- What 3 things convinced you to create an account today?
- What were the other options you considered purchasing before settling on [name]?
- What was your biggest issue, frustration or challenge in locating the proper (product type) online?
- What 3 things convinced you to purchase from us, as opposed to a competitor?
- Are there any questions you have prior to beginning a free trial?
- What convinced you to begin a trial?
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from beginning a trial?
- Which other choices did you ponder using before selecting [name]?
- Are there any other products you want to see us provide?
- Was this section helpful for you?
- Did this article help you?
- Were you satisfied with the help you received from us?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our service? (NPS question)
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our support? (NPS question)
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from upgrading?
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from buying?
- Is there anything on this page that doesn’t function as you needed it to?
- What do we need to change in order to keep you as a customer?
- If you did not upgrade today, what prevented you from doing so?
- Based on these options, what is the next thing you would like to see us create?
- Would you feel happy, sad or indifferent if we no longer continued this feature?
- What’s the next functionality or feature we should develop?
Blogs, Publishers and News sites
Enhancing Content:
- If you had the ability to modify one thing about [name], what would it be?
- What other types of content would you like to see us present?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this article? (NPS Question)
- In your opinion, if anything on this page needs changing, what would it be?
Subscriptions:
- What is your primary reason for unsubscribing? (please be specific)
- What 3 things convinced you to sign up for our list today?
- What prevented you from subscribing to [name] today?
- What persuaded you to buy this service?
There you have it. We hope this article helps you create new surveys and modify your existing ones. We would love to hear which questions you end up using. If you have questions of your own to share, list them in the comments below. This is, of course, specific for web and eCommerce but there are a lot of things you can do also in Brick & Mortar. More about those a bit later on!
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 2, 2019 | General
Great sales representatives and marketing managers understand the importance of customer feedback and how it helps them to build a brand, create loyalty, and make sales. But many of us tend to use positive feedback as a way to reinforce our decisions and look at negative feedback as an inherently negative force. Many don’t realize that, in a company of any size, both positive and negative feedback allows you to bring a huge amount of value to your company, so long as you know how to leverage it.
Organizations invest the lion’s share of their customer-service energy tending to client complaints. And of course, negative criticism needs to be addressed as a way to retain customers and prevent issues from happening again in the future. Positive feedback is often overlooked. “Hey, look at what this customer said about us. Good job guys” – and that’s it. This is a wasted opportunity.
But both positive and negative criticism can have a positive effect on your sales… If you act on them in the right way. The fact is that taking advantage of positive customer feedback that comes your way can yield incredible benefits. You can turn that positive client feedback or positive rating into new sales and income.
Give customers a way to leave feedback – and make it easy
The first step in turning positive feedback into dollars is to bridge the gap between a client’s compliment and your web site or retail stores. That may sound like an obvious step, but it’s often overlooked. Clients may enjoy your product/service, and they might glow with praise if only you ask them how they feel about it. But you have to ask. Give them some way to let you know, or the only profit you’ll make is the satisfaction of a job well done.
Making it possible for customers to pay you a compliment you means making it easy. Make the customer feedback process simple and convenient. Most customers don’t mind pausing for a moment or two to give you feedback if they truly had an exceptional experience. But if they have to jump through a lot of hoops or end up drumming their fingers while your system churns away for who knows how long—forget it. They will decide it’s not worth their time.
On the other hand, if you devote the necessary time and care into crafting a speedy, inviting, simple way for your clients and customers to leave input, odds are they will soon be supplying you with praise.
Ask Customers To Tell You What You Need Them To Tell You
With the goal clearly in mind of profiting from positive feedback, you should be able to obtain the kind of feedback you need, then use what customers tell you for all that it’s worth. All too often, though, companies do not design their online studies and polls with advertising and marketing in mind. So they call a golden opportunity to turn praise into profit at the drawing-board stage.
It’s fine to use what customers tell you to improve how your organization works so that you can better satisfy those customers. But instead of using all the information you gather only to tinker with your organization from within, use the information to expand its reach. Gather the kind of feedback that you can use to fortify your marketing campaigns—and then use it that way.
When customers tell you what they like about your business and its product or service, cite those statements. Repeatedly. Quote their eager endorsements again and again and again in your ad copy and other marketing materials. Make sure your current customers see those endorsements. Make sure prospective new customers see them.
Display Customer Feedback On Your Web Site
Whether it’s criticism about how your clothes fit or acclaim for an exceptional customer service experience, you need to show the world that your business is appealing, responsive, and easy to use. A persuasive way to do that is by posting customer reviews on your site.
A new buyer may doubt the copy in your product descriptions. But he’s more likely to give you a try if previous clients have been turning to you to solve their problems and credibly singing your praises.
Just as you post client reviews on your own website, so you should find ways to publicize the great things about your business on other sites. Review sites like Yelp and Angie’s List can be a huge help in boosting your sales. There are hundreds of industry-specific directories that you may find more useful for your specific company and even B2B directories like Capterra and Trustpilot.
Once again, enlist the services of your own customers as marketing specialists by encouraging them to be ambassadors. Research the different platforms that would be appropriate venues in which to discuss what your company does. Urge clients to leave reviews anywhere and everywhere it is possible to do so. Then re-post those reviews on your own website as well. This is a successful approach that has been proven to help drive sales.
Use Feedback To Explore New Opportunities
Your feedback collection should not be a series of unrelated tactics. It should be a strategy. Do you have organizational or operational goals? You should, and your customer feedback should help you get there more efficiently. For example, if you have an ecommerce store and you want to improve the conversion rate of your checkout funnel, you could sample users at each step of the checkout process and ask for workflow-related feedback via a website survey. You will get some great insight about your website that will translate directly into actions to improve the funnel.
This is a specific example, but the process can be applied to basically anything. Keep in mind a strategic goal, and create your customer experience strategy around a series of surveys to help you make the best decisions.
Harness The Megaphone Of Social Media
Does your company enjoy a favorable position in social media, and are you taking full advantage of it? Facebook is one way to exploit your positive feedback potential. Positive reviews are compelling on social media platforms like Facebook because such platforms so effectively harness the power of testimonial advertising.
Linkedin is an excellent place for B2B businesses to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. This can be combined with a publishing platform of your choice – like Medium, Quora, or your own blog. There are numerous examples of companies who produce and publish excellent and valuable content and use this as a means for lead generation. When it is done well – it works.
Social media is all about giving people easy and easily amplified ways to report what they do, what they think, what they buy, and what they think about what they buy—including what you are selling. The easiest way to get started is to regularly post customer feedback and reviews to your social media accounts. This way you will also create transparency, loyalty and, as a result, more paying customers.
Take the opportunity to create and support a public relationship with your clients. It will yield many dividends. When the client is your main focus, your business is on the right track.
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 2, 2019 | General
There’s a lot of buzz right now about customer experience (CX), and why it’s the next big thing for companies to differentiate themselves in a competitive market. But what are people really saying? By dedicating themselves to a better customer experience, companies can reap many benefits including higher revenues and retention, happier employees, more recognition, and a chance at thriving even when their industry is not. Examples of these companies are seen all over business magazines and they line the business bookshelves of the world. Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and Whole Foods Market are revered icons of this paradigm. So how did companies like these mold themselves to become models of great customer experience?
Customer service is not the same as customer experience
When we discuss “the customer experience”, people assume we’re really talking about two things: face-to-face or call center interactions. And believe me, when people get started on call centers, there’s no stopping them! (Note to companies: customers hate dealing with auto-dialer menus that loop or lead them to powerless call center reps. We hate it – with a capital H. But I digress… Customer experience is really a lot more than that. It’s the series of interactions and exposures a customer has with your company that cumulatively creates the customer perception. The customer perception is how an individual customer feels about associating with your company. The customer’s perception is the reality of the customer experience, not your intention or assumptions for the customer. Case in point: No matter how many times SBC’s advertising tells us they are going ‘beyond the call,’ we don’t believe them as we don’t experience it when dealing with their company. Our perception is the reality.
Why is customer service important?
Well we all know instinctively that customer service has to be good for a business, but why? What are the tangibles that good customer service delivers a business? Here are some ideas to help your business case for developing your customer service and overall customer experience.
Why is customer experience important?
Customer Experience isn’t just about Customer Support, nor is it about the buying process. It’s a holistic view of a customer becoming aware of you, your products and services, his experience in the buying process, his experience in the consumption process, his experience in support, his experience in sharing the same with his friends and family. Now, you can understand how one single customer can significantly influence your business. Each customer will have many experiences with touch-points, product & services, and he has several touch-points elsewhere (his friends, colleagues, family etc).
So, Companies that are very customer focused (well, every company has that focus, isn’t) ensuring that all the touch-points are sufficiently optimized to offer a compelling, consistent customer experience is very important to your business. All it takes is just one bad user experience to drive hoards of customers (and his contacts) away from your business.
One small user experience fix can lead to significant business results!
Recently, while speaking to a Hotel Manager, I learnt an important aspect of customer experience from a real life customer case. While the Hotel offered a great in-room service that the customer really enjoyed, the checkout process wasn’t that smooth. The guest was made to wait a long time before the checkout happened and the guest had to rush to the airport to catch his flight
The Hotel Manager was able to spot and fix the problem using customer experience mapping software. Now, the Hotel has increased its number of loyal guests, who frequent the hotel not because of the reward points for repeat visits, but because of great customer experience. That’s true loyalty.
Measuring and Improving your customer experience is important if you want to build a loyal customer base. Loyalty is about emotional engagement. We are redefining loyalty to help convert your most loyal customers as your sales force and grow sales.
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 2, 2019 | General
What is upsell in the first place? This is a term you hear bantered around in the internet marketing world. Truth be told you live with upselling consistently; you might conceivably not be tuned into it. This article clarifies what an upsell is and how you can utilize it to profit from anything your sell…or give away. On the off chance that you are hoping to make your client happy then you have to comprehend what upselling is and how to utilize it appropriately.
Many individuals accept that customer service professionals have little involvement in the business procedure other than managing administration issues; however, their part is exceptionally instrumental. The reason they can frequently more easily increase sales is that they aren’t seen as sales staff. Most of the time the clients “guard is down” when talking with a customer service rep since they aren’t hoping to be sold, but to just furnish them with data. All in all, what are two or three strategies that can be utilized to urge your staff to do upselling/cross offering on an everyday basis?
Initial, an imperative part is to evacuate the idea design that reps are offering. Regularly, customer service reps need no part in the business procedure; in the event that they did, they would be salesmen. Attempt to inspire reps to think about the procedure as simply offering extra services, not selling else they will oppose the procedure. A straightforward yet imaginative approach to get around this is to have a data-gathering contest. Let them know that whoever can discover the most data using addressing their customers will win. This will get them into the attitude of thinking about the business procedure as data assembling as opposed to selling. The easiest example is to make them ask feedback and about the experience their customers had.
Second, an awesome recommendation is the point at which they are looking into data for a customer, they can specify, “while we are sitting tight for my pc to come up, how has it been with your new house. Is there something you would like us to know?” Or, they could even make a proposal, for example, “I see that you mentioned an enthusiasm for acquiring another car and you do have your home loan with us, what are your arrangements to finance that buy?” Then, simply go ahead and propose a portion of the diverse choices that your organization offers ought to there be an interest.
Third, upselling and cross-selling fortifies the connections that you have with clients. At the point when a customer support representative offers a recommendation or an ancillary service that could profit the client, the client feels that somebody is paying special mind to their best advantages. In this manner, making a better relationship and future deals for the organization not far off. It is a win-win for both sides.
At last, make sure that reps are asking great questions when they are chatting with clients and imminent clients. Open-ended inquiries that start with “what” and “how” will empower them to have more accomplishment in adding extra items and services to their deal. The more they are presented to the procedure, the more agreeable they will get to be. Never, ever rebate the estimation of a good customer service rep, their position can be critical to the achievement of the organization.
In the end, the trick is to show the customer that you care about them. This way also upselling becomes a tool to grow your customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Simple as that.
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 1, 2019 | General
Getting new customers is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. In fact, it is 5 times more expensive than nurturing existing customers. So why not put more energy into keeping the customers you already have? You know them already. You know what they want. You know what they expect of you.
Or do you?
Your company is facing fierce competitors who build vibrant customer communities and who aggressively compete on price. Which means that you too must invest substantial energy and effort into maintaining your customer base. Providing a great product or service is crucial. But it is rarely enough by itself to keep your customers coming back for more. It’s the authenticity of your customer interactions that matter most, not the frequency.
You need to create genuine customer loyalty.
You want loyal customers. But how can you measure loyalty? Loyal customers are much more likely to make a repeat purchase. In more concrete terms, loyalty can be measured by looking at your customer retention rate. According to research by Bain & Company, increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.
It is tempting to concentrate on making new sales or pursuing bigger accounts. But paying attention to your existing customers, no matter how small they may be, is essential to maintain a thriving business. That being said, In order to reach the fabled exponential growth that all SMEs strive to reach, you must succeed in both maintaining existing customer relationships and creating new ones.
The secret to securing repeat business is to follow up in a way that has a positive effect on the customer. Effective follow-up begins right after the sale. Get in touch with customers to say thank you and again to find out whether they are pleased with your product or service. Everything begins with customer feedback. When problems arise, fix them – and then identify the root cause to make sure they never happen again.
But it doesn’t end there. You also have several other effective methods of engaging your customers.
1. Let Customers Know What You Are Doing For Them
This can take the form of a newsletter mailed to your customers, or it can be more informal, like a phone call. Whatever method you use, the key is to dramatically point out to customers what excellent services you are giving them.
If you never let customers know all the things you’re doing for them, they may not notice. So make a phone call to let them know they don’t have to worry about a given chore because you have already taken care of it—completed the paperwork, called the attorney, or double-checked the shipment. One less thing they have to worry about. While you are letting them know about what you are doing for them, this is a perfect opportunity to ask for feedback. What are you doing right? What can be improved? Etc.
What you’re doing here is closing the feedback loop. When you’ve gotten your customer’s feedback, it’s then important to let them know what you are going to do with that feedback. Does the paperwork have an error? We will make changes to our review process. The shipment was delayed? Let’s look into our shipping provider and check alternatives.
2. Take The Time To Write Handwritten Notes To Your Long-Time Customers. And Do It Often.
“I was just sitting down at my desk when your name popped into my head. Are you still having a great time flying all over the country? Let me know if you need another set of luggage. I can stop by with our latest models any time.”
Have you run into an old customer at an event? Follow up with a personal note: ”Great seeing you at the CDC Christmas party. It’s been a while. How about we do lunch soon? I’ll give you a call early in the new year to schedule something.”
In a world where digital communication dominates our personal and professional interactions. There’s something special about a handwritten note. When done correctly (with the right tone to the right customer), it’s shocking in the best possible way. Handwritten notes create that “wow” factor that can turn a neutral customer into a promoter. Or turn a disloyal customer into a loyal one.
3. Keep It Personal
Voicemail and email make it easy to communicate, and they’re important. But don’t treat these methods as the only legitimate way to follow up with your customers. You also want a more personal touch.
Don’t let the secretary barrier stop you. If you’re having trouble getting through, leave a voice-mail message saying that you want to talk to the person directly or that will stop by his or her office at a certain time.
When writing your handwritten thank-you notes, take that little extra bit of time to make it unique. Referencing a past conversation or asking how their family is doing.
Make sure everything is as personal as possible. That being said – it is very important to take the nature of your relationship and cultural norms into consideration! Asking about family may be acceptable for American customers but could be totally inappropriate for Japanese customers.
4. Remember Special Occasions.
Send regular customers birthday cards, anniversary cards, holiday cards or small Christmas gifts—you name it.
Gifts are a great way to follow up. Use your creativity to come up with interesting gift ideas that tie into your business, the customer’s business, or his recent purchase. A great idea is to send something that the customer can actually make use of. A branded necktie is not useful. A Moleskine notebook maybe. Use your imagination, but you don’t need to break the bank.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to show you care. And you’ll be amazed by the effect that this simple and thoughtful gesture has on your customers.
5. Pass On Information
If you read an article or hear about a book or organization that a customer may be interested in, drop them a note. Do not spam them with emails. Make your own judgment call on what you deem to be useful information to them.
Of course, you should also share any of your own materials that a customer may find useful. But don’t hesitate to point them to other resources as well. Your customer will appreciate it, and appreciation begets loyalty.
Recent Comments