Why Have a Machine Answer Your Phone?

August 15, 2012 By

If someone takes the time to call your business, there is a reason why they dialed your number. They may want to find out about your current sale, your normal or holiday hours or need directions. If you have a business of any type, whether it is a hair salon, restaurant, law firm, dental office or any place with a physical location, I highly recommend having a person, not a machine, answer the phone, as this is an excellent opportunity to turn that caller into a customer.

I don’t understand it. Many companies spend 12 to 18 percent of their budget attracting new customers. Some of those fees include social media and print advertising, radio ads, purchasing postal and email lists, etc. Then, when they have someone who expresses interest in the form of a phone call, they fail to take the most important first step of creating a relationship with that prospective customer.

I recommend putting your most welcoming associates on the phone. Associates who love to engage, who like to help others and who are eager to help that prospect on the phone become a customer. There is an enormous amount of information that is available online for so many businesses. If a person does initiate a telephone inquiry, it most likely means that they are looking to have a conversation about their question or issue. Successful businesses try to educate their customers, not just respond with simple responses like “we are open from 9 am to 5 pm on Monday thru Fridays” or “our address is 500 Morris Avenue in ABC, New Jersey”.

When someone calls your business, try to find out how they found out about your store, restaurant or dental office. Provide detailed directions tailored to their trip. If your business is located in a large mall, tell them where it is in relation to one of the other stores and which parking lot is most convenient. Try to create a relationship with the caller so they actually want to meet the person who they just spoke to on the phone.

Yes, it costs more to have a real Welcomer answer your company’s phone, but do you think a machine will be able to persuade a caller to become a customer? I doubt it!

Interested in learning more about Welcomers?  Click here to download a chapter of The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business.

 

Filed Under: Best Practices, Blog, Customer Service, Personalizing Service, Retail, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Taking the Time to Make Social Media Truly ‘Social’

August 8, 2012 By

A Welcomer Story from Across the Globe

Social media can be a great way to make new friends. Over the last 6 months, I have been privileged to get to meet Maz Iqbal of TheCustomerBlog.co.uk. He is someone I connected with initially via social media and have now gotten to know as both a prolific writer of thought-provoking blog posts and as a person as well. He concludes all of his emails with, “At your service/with my love” and he really means it.

He was one of the first customer service bloggers to agree to review my book, even though we had never communicated. In our communications since, his emails are always thoughtful and welcoming and though Maz lives in Berkshire, UK and I live in Manhattan, we have developed a very nice bond. It will be wonderful to meet him in person one day.

Recently, Maz wrote an amazing blog post entitled, “The Customer’s Experience: Tales of Disappointment and Delight”. His delightful customer experience occurred at Kathleen’s Country House in Killarney, Ireland. He wrote about how welcoming Kathleen was and how her primary goal is to get to know all of her guests as people first. He explained how she loves to introduce her guests to one another and how this adds to everyone’s enjoyment of their stay. Because Maz referred to Kathleen as a Welcomer and included a hyperlink to his March review of my book, I felt compelled to not only reach out to Maz to thank him, but to send an email to Kathleen as well, congratulating her on being reviewed by Maz and for being a Welcomer.

She immediately sent me this response…..

We rely almost 99% on ‘word of mouth’ repeat business, consequently it is all the more welcome when such kind guests take the time and trouble to place a complimentary review.

I am attaching a brief synopsis of some of Ireland’s highlights most Iconic attractions that abound us here for your perusal.

Looking forward hopefully to meeting you and to welcoming you here one day.

Kathleen had never met me in person, but she treated me like a friend. Not only did she send me such a lovely email response, but also included detailed information about Killarney, Ireland. I can guarantee you that on my next trip to the UK, I would be honored to meet Maz and his family in England and then travel to Ireland to spend a few delightful nights at Kathleen’s Country Inn.

Social media becomes truly ‘social’ when people take the time to connect. I look forward to spending time, in person, with these new friends I have made online. Be sure that you and your associates are making real connections whenever possible and being ‘social’ whenever using social media.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Social Media, The Welcomer Edge, Welcomer Stories Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What is a Welcomer?

June 13, 2012 By

Almost all of us have at least one Welcomer in our lives; you just may not know that was their designation.  A Welcomer is a sales or service provider who knows you by name. You probably know theirs as well. They remember that you just came back from vacation with your family or that your son recently graduated from college. You probably know their work schedule and about their family too.

Welcomers can be found everywhere. They work at checkout counters, teller positions, and your local libraries. They could be behind the counter at your nearest Dunkin-Donuts, Starbucks, or at the neighborhood coffee shop. You might even drive an extra two miles or walk an additional four blocks to do business with a store that has Welcomers instead of a competitor who is much closer. You do this because you know that as soon as you walk in the door, they will give you that welcoming smile, even if they are waiting on others. They might even get your coffee ready, or start making your regular sandwich before you actually get to the front of the line.

Welcomers like people and people like Welcomers. Welcomers just don’t see a customer as a “customer”. They see the customer as a person. When a Welcomer sees one of their customers walking through the door, their first thought is not about their order, but more of how they are doing and feeling. They want to know what’s new with you and they are eager to tell you what’s new with them. They are more interested in your “state of mind” than your purchases.

From my research, I have discovered that all Welcomers have a history of helping others. They may have worked in soup kitchens, volunteered at charity events, or coached little kids.

What’s the advantage of seeking out a Welcomer the next time your business needs to hire a new person? The answer is easy. Welcomers make customers want to come back to your establishment rather than go to your nearest competitor. A Welcomer can make your business more profitable as it costs five to six times as much to bring in a new customer as it does to keep the ones you have. Welcomers may also allow your company to reduce advertising and marketing expenses as you will benefit from positive word-of-mouth and testimonials on all kinds of social media sites.

Now that you know the concept, identify and thank the folks that treat you so special and tell them that they are known as Welcomers. Let them know that you appreciate how they always make you feel so welcomed, important and appreciated.  Tell others when you find a Welcomer so they too can patronize that business. And if you use Twitter, please share where your Welcomer works, using the #welcomer hash tag, so all your neighbors can benefit too.

Let’s thank the Welcomers in our lives and let everyone know where they too can find excellent Welcomer service!

Filed Under: Blog, Contact Center, Customer Service, Hospitality, Personalizing Service, Retail, The Welcomer Edge, Welcomer Stories Tagged With: , , , , ,

From Robot to Welcomer: Making Teens More Endearing

March 28, 2012 By

On Sunday, March 11, I was invited to be interviewed by Peter Solomon, a well -known and respected radio show host on WIP Philadelphia. I was looking forward to the interview, but the program was at 6:00 am and it was also the same weekend that daylight saving time began. So, it was really early. I was thinking to myself, who could possibly be listening to the show at this hour?

The interview was enjoyable and to my complete surprise, I received an email on Monday morning from a high school junior, James, who said he had listened to and really enjoyed my interview. My first thought was “wow”, not only were other people up early, but a teenager was listening too! As it turned out, James writes a weekly “teens-for-teens” column for the metro-Philadelphia dailies and wanted to write a column on how the philosophies in my new book, The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business, could be applied to teenagers in the specific area of social media communications.

James sought my input on his pending article, which I was happy to provide. When the column appeared in the March 15th edition of the paper, I thought that James did an outstanding job. I would like to share the link to the complete piece entitled, From Robot to Welcomer: Making Teens More Endearing.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/reality/from-robot-to-welcomer-making-teens-more-endearing/article_4fceb067-6236-5803-95cc-d1758ed9a505.html

As adults, we don’t always think of how our kids might not only listen to what we say, but tailor it to their universe. I was totally impressed with James’ professionalism, communication skills and follow-up and I’m sure that his parents must be extremely proud of his tremendous accomplishments.

I know the world will continue to be a better place with such talented teenagers as James at the helm; helping and leading others in our sometimes challenging but rewarding society.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Social Media, The Welcomer Edge, Welcomer Stories Tagged With: , , , ,

My Passion For Customer Service

November 30, 2011 By

I am always interested to learn how people became passionate about customer service. Let’s face it, some people really don’t care if a front-line associate is engaging and builds a relationship with a customer, but I certainly do!

Recently, I was wondering about how my passion for customer service developed. I quickly realized that it began in my early teens while working at my father’s store. He owned a small men’s shop and during the holidays I would be placed at the cash register, collecting money. It was a fun job and I loved to constantly check to see how the day’s receipts compared to those of the year before.

My station was not only convenient for checkout, but I had an excellent view of how my dad interacted with his customers. My father had a terrific smile, enjoyed laughing and telling jokes. People loved my dad and my dad loved people; it was a perfect match. He knew everyone’s name – if he didn’t know their name before they walked in his store, he certainly knew their name by the time they left. He also learned where they lived, what they did for a living, what brought them into the store that day and their favorite colors or patterns. My dad did not obtain this information by pulling out a survey or by asking a series of robotic questions, he learned what made his customers tick by engaging with them over time. He was interested in people and had an underlying desire to help them whether they bought something that day or not.

I would call my dad the ideal salesperson. He delivered personalized service and enjoyed doing it every day. Today, there are too few customer service and sales associates that are willing to engage with customers. Many act robotically, saying such things as “debit or credit”, “would you like to sign up for our store’s promotion”, “thank you for shopping with us today”, etc., but a customer can tell that they really don’t care about the answer. That’s unfortunate! What happened to service? I don’t think that we need to eliminate the gigantic malls or erase the Internet to get back to the level of service of the neighbor store where everybody knew your name and were glad that you came.

How can we bring back that level of personalized service? In my travels as a consumer and researcher, I have found many customer service and sales associates who do care, who are helpful, who make you feel welcomed and that your business is appreciated.  I call these folks, “Welcomers.”  I have found and interviewed hundreds of Welcomers over the last four years to find out what makes them different. I wanted to understand what made them special and how that translated into superior service. One of the most common traits I found is that they have a history of helping people. Even young Welcomers may have helped their dads build the local firehouse, coached little kids or worked at soup kitchens on Thanksgiving serving the homeless. Yes, customer service is all about helping people. Customer service and helping are synonymous. Hiring Welcomers can help your business provide personalized service.

To be clear, Welcomers are not assigned greeters at large retail establishments. Ideally, those greeters will display some of the characteristics of a true Welcomer, but I am referring to customer service and sales associates who interact with customers. Depending on the type of business, it could be the folks at the checkout counters, the tellers, hostesses, coat checkers, etc.  They are the people that can make your customers feel welcome, important and happy to do business with you.

In thinking about my recent Thanksgiving, I feel so blessed to have wonderful friends and family. I always loved my parents and realized that they taught me so many wonderful things, but I never fully grasped until recently the impact that my dad had on making me feel so passionate about customer service.

Little did I know when I was eleven and twelve that my experiences working at my dad’s store would provide me with such an important insight; that having Welcomers, people who see customers as people first and know their primary role is to help customers find what they need or want, as front-line associates, is the key to repeat business.

My passion for customer service was born of first hand experience, what’s your story? How did your passion for customer service come to be? 

Filed Under: Blog, Customer Service, Welcomer Stories Tagged With: , ,