In recent years, the newsprint industry has taken some very serious hits. With information more readily available than ever before (phones, laptops, notebook computers), the days of waiting for the news paper or your favorite magazine to deliver the news are disappearing. Growing up, there was a newspaper delivered in the morning and evening. You knew that when you got home from school, you could read the sports page and comics. It was a cool part of your day, and something to which you looked forward to doing.
One of the starting points is the need to cover your business costs. Staff, premises and stock are initial expenses not to mention bills and advertising. Here are five examples of how CRM can help save money.
The other newspaper, the USA Today, has been a paper that I read, too. It's lighter reading with more sports coverage, and like the WSJ, has a national audience. The USA Today is supposed to be delivered at the same time as the WSJ. For awhile, that happened. About a month ago, I started receiving the paper a day or two late. The Monday paper came on Tuesday, the Tuesday paper came on Wednesday, and sometimes I received two papers on the same day... both late.
When I was sitting in the airport a few weeks ago, I called the customer service center for the USA Today. They told me they placed my account on a one day delay. This was interesting. As a customer, we had an agreement that I would pay them, and they would deliver the newspaper on time. Now, the seller was telling the customer that it no longer mattered to them that my expectations were met. The seller did not place a call or send a letter to the customer to explain this switch. If the buyer hadn't called, this change in service by the seller would have continued.
The newspaper company stated they were not in a position to refund me for the days when the newspaper was delivered late, after they had made the unannounced switch, nor could they provide the product per the agreed upon time. They said the customer location prevented them from executing timely product delivery. In their words "this is the only option."
I then informed the customer service representative that a competitor currently does it. The silence from the other end of the phone was deafening. The next comments from the seller were "well, we can try to do better." How comforting. That is something that every consumer wants to hear. Additionally, the rep stated that I could talk to a manager to get a refund. Is it hard to guess the end result? I cancelled the contract, and a refund for the remaining contract was completed, as well as a refund for the one day delay period.
As business owners and leaders, what can we take away from this? In an earlier article, I outlined how "Improving Customer Satisfaction" is one of the five key objectives for any organization. Since it is so critical to your success, I've put together s a list of 10 things you can do to improve your customer satisfaction results, and prevent issues like this one from hurting you. 1. Establish listening posts to gather information regarding current, past and future customers. 2. Develop flexible processes that focus on customer interaction. 3. Establish balance between tight and loose control (the refund in the above example). 4. Provide training for managing customer relationships and retention. 5. Always place yourself in the shoes of the customer. 6. Establish customer requirements and execute flawlessly. 7. Conduct a blind survey of lost accounts. This will provide input on why customers have left. 8. Establish key performance indicators that focus on retention and growth. 9. Identify process owners for all critical customer interactions and interfaces. 10. Recommend solutions to customers' specific problems and needs.
Live chat programs as a valuable marketing tool This one is very easy. With a chat widget in place, businesses will have a very valuable marketing intelligence tool at their disposal. They can see how visitors would like businesses to improve on their products and services. They can even learn from the conversations much about the competition, if they pay close enough attention.
One of the starting points is the need to cover your business costs. Staff, premises and stock are initial expenses not to mention bills and advertising. Here are five examples of how CRM can help save money.
The other newspaper, the USA Today, has been a paper that I read, too. It's lighter reading with more sports coverage, and like the WSJ, has a national audience. The USA Today is supposed to be delivered at the same time as the WSJ. For awhile, that happened. About a month ago, I started receiving the paper a day or two late. The Monday paper came on Tuesday, the Tuesday paper came on Wednesday, and sometimes I received two papers on the same day... both late.
When I was sitting in the airport a few weeks ago, I called the customer service center for the USA Today. They told me they placed my account on a one day delay. This was interesting. As a customer, we had an agreement that I would pay them, and they would deliver the newspaper on time. Now, the seller was telling the customer that it no longer mattered to them that my expectations were met. The seller did not place a call or send a letter to the customer to explain this switch. If the buyer hadn't called, this change in service by the seller would have continued.
The newspaper company stated they were not in a position to refund me for the days when the newspaper was delivered late, after they had made the unannounced switch, nor could they provide the product per the agreed upon time. They said the customer location prevented them from executing timely product delivery. In their words "this is the only option."
I then informed the customer service representative that a competitor currently does it. The silence from the other end of the phone was deafening. The next comments from the seller were "well, we can try to do better." How comforting. That is something that every consumer wants to hear. Additionally, the rep stated that I could talk to a manager to get a refund. Is it hard to guess the end result? I cancelled the contract, and a refund for the remaining contract was completed, as well as a refund for the one day delay period.
As business owners and leaders, what can we take away from this? In an earlier article, I outlined how "Improving Customer Satisfaction" is one of the five key objectives for any organization. Since it is so critical to your success, I've put together s a list of 10 things you can do to improve your customer satisfaction results, and prevent issues like this one from hurting you. 1. Establish listening posts to gather information regarding current, past and future customers. 2. Develop flexible processes that focus on customer interaction. 3. Establish balance between tight and loose control (the refund in the above example). 4. Provide training for managing customer relationships and retention. 5. Always place yourself in the shoes of the customer. 6. Establish customer requirements and execute flawlessly. 7. Conduct a blind survey of lost accounts. This will provide input on why customers have left. 8. Establish key performance indicators that focus on retention and growth. 9. Identify process owners for all critical customer interactions and interfaces. 10. Recommend solutions to customers' specific problems and needs.
Live chat programs as a valuable marketing tool This one is very easy. With a chat widget in place, businesses will have a very valuable marketing intelligence tool at their disposal. They can see how visitors would like businesses to improve on their products and services. They can even learn from the conversations much about the competition, if they pay close enough attention.
About the Author:
Yuki sano is a well-known author who writes blogs and articles. Debt Consolidators can eliminate credit card debt and other unsecured debts and help you. Having a home equity line of credit available before you go car shopping may make the process simpler.
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