Dear Friends,
"Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless" is the name of a book by Jeffrey Gitomir.
In it he shares his SELF-TEST formula for successful customer service.
It takes a few minutes but it's well worth it. In just a few moments he covers all the bases that help to increase our level of service, which as you know, leads us to a more effective referral business.
Loyal customers are more than loyal. They are advocates. They tell others about your service.
What would compel someone to tell others about you?
Take the test...find out for yourself.
Your ability to achieve excellence in these individual elements will make your service memorable service - and that will lead to your success.
Here's the list. Rate your ability to DO the following elements. Put a number from 1 to 5 in the next to each. (1=poor; 2=average; 3=good; 4=very good; 5=the greatest)
1. Be friendly first.
Service starts with a friendly person with a friendly smile, who offers friendly words first.
How friendly are you?
2. Attitude precedes service.
Your positive mental attitude is the basis for the way you act and react to people. "You become
what you think about" is the foundation of your actions and reactions. What are you thoughts?
Positive all the time? How are you guiding them?
Think about your customers fears, concerns, uncertainties, challenges, right before you meet
them.
3. Your first words set the tone.
All encounters with customers and prospects are yours to control. The first words you deliver set the tone for the encounter. What word and tone choices are you making?
4. There are 12 elements that make great service possible - none of which have ever been taught in school.
Establishing and maintaining a POSITIVE ATTITUDE;
Establishing and achieving GOALS;
UNDERSTANDING yourself, your co-workers and your customer;
Having PRIDE in yourself, your company, and what you do;
Taking RESPONSIBILITY for your actions, what happens to you, and the success of your company;
LISTENING with the intent to understand;
COMMUNICATING to be understood;
Embracing CHANGE as a natural progression of things and of life;
Establishing, building, and maintaining RELATIONSHIPS;
Gaining the ability to make effective DECISIONS...which means taking risks;
Learning to SERVE others in a memorable way;
WORKING AS A TEAM to make everyone more productive.
In order to serve you must be prepared to serve. How important is each of these subjects in your success? Have you ever taken a course in any of these subjects?
5. Know what you sell in terms of the customer.
They don't care about your product or service, they care about how your product or service is used to benefit them. Are you telling them in terms of them or you?
6. Know how to serve in terms of the customer.
They don't care what your situation is, they only care about their situation, their problem. Are you serving them in terms of them or you?
7. The customer has lots of problems besides you, and may just be using you as a frustration vent.
Don't take it too personally if a customer flies off the handle. Do you take it personally?
8. No one wants to hear why you can't.
Don't tell them when or why you can't. Tell them when or why you can - enthusiastically! Say "yes" to what you can do. How do you tell a customer "no?"
9. Recognize customers for what they are - your paycheck.
The boss doesn't pay you - the customer does. Next time you think the customer is a jerk remember he's actually your next meal. Why not send him a thank you card? How do you treat your paycheck?
10. Don't confuse company policy with customer service.
If you have a company policy, fine. Never quote from it or hide behind it. "I'm sorry, that's our policy" is a chicken's way out. Do you use company policy to offend customers?
11. When you make them mad it's twelve-to-one they'll leave or be leery.
It takes 12 positive impressions to overcome a single negative one. What do you do to recover from an angry customers?
12. You are responsible, or it won't get done.
There's a fine line between taking it personally and handling it personally. Individual responsibility leads to happy customers. Do you take responsibility or try to pass it off?
13. Take your job seriously, BUT don't take their complaints personally.
If you take it personally, you'll get upset and lose your edge. If you take it too personally, you'll lose your edge and your job. If you take it seriously it's you with them.
If you take it personally, it's you against them. What steps can you take to ensure keeping your cool?
14. Your team will get stronger when you begin to build yourself.
Teams are made up of individuals who work together and get their own job done. What are you doing to be sure that your job is being done perfectly?
15. Customers talk to other customers and prospects.
Customers talk to other customers and prospects. They tell "stories" about how they feel they were treated. What are customers saying about you?
SCORECARD:
65 AND ABOVE: Your customers are compelled to tell others.
58-64: You're doing good - but good is the enemy of great
50-57: You've got a chance to be great - work is needed.
35-49: Stop and rethink what you're doing. Re-learn.
Below 35: It will take a miracle for you to recover and retrain yourself to serve others but MIRACLES DO HAPPEN.
Thanks for spending 3 minutes with me...
The best is yet to be!
On Your Team
Jeffrey Stanton
Your Trusted Advisor For Life
One of the fastest ways to build a successful referral based business is by training. Now, with me, I like to invest significant time immersing myself in training, while some people prefer to take it in bite-size chunks. Whatever your preference is, now is the best time to contact me.
If you have found this tip useful, please share it with any friends, family, colleagues and associates who you think will be interested. Feel free to print it (with credit and subscription information) and continue to enjoy the tips. I am always grateful for any comments, criticisms or other feedback that you may have. Please send them to feedback@jeffreysjournal.com
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