How much value do you place on your customers? Let’s face it…without customers you have no sales…no profit…no business. Yeah, they’re the keyplayers in the marketing game. In other words, wise marketers keep their finger on the pulse of their clientelle. The know what makes them tick and how to keep them coming back time and time again. Here are a four ways you can keep your customer’s happy and loyal.

Make Customer Satisfaction # 1

Hey, forget about how many sales you make in a day, and look at how many customers you satisfied today! Every satisfied client means repeat sales. Yep, it might be a product that they purchase over and over again, or it may mean different products they pick up every time they walk through the doors. Heck, it might mean both repeat products and added impulse products as well.

Happy customers talk to their friends, and friends trust what their friends have to say about a business. Yep, even though it’s an opinion…they’ll take it as the gospel and set a lot of stock in it. Keep your customers saying good things about your products and services…it’ll pay off.

Deliver…Don’t Promise More Than You Can Handle

No one likes to be let down. Yeah, that means your customers will be happier if you promise less, but deliver more. Think about this…happy customers tell 3 of their friends about you, but disappointed customers gripe to 11 friends about what you didn’t do right. Yep, it pays to keep your word!

What about those unhappy clients? Deal with them as quickly as possible and do what it takes to keep them happy. Yeah, you might lose a little profit today, but think of it like this…if you keep them on your side they’ll come back again and again - and so will their friends.

Keep an Element of Surprise Alive

Have you ever gone shopping and at the counter discovered the item you purchased was on sale? Yeah, it feels great to save money you weren’t expecting to save! Along with your advertised sales, slip in some unadvertised specials. Your customers will look forward to the unexpected savings they encounter at the cash register.

Think about this…would you rather shop at the new store across town where the clerks are unfriendly and you’re not sure of the quality of the product when you’ve already got a good thing going on somewhere else? We all have a zone of comfort and are creatures of habit. When your customers are in the habit of smiling every time they walk out of your door, they’ll be less likely to experiment with an uncertain competitor.

Tell Your Customers You Appreciate Their Business

We all enjoy the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with being appreciated. Yep, a smile…a thank you…a pat on the back…they all leave us feeling great. How can you send your customers out of the store with the knowledge that they are valuable to you? Just say it…I appreciate your business! Say it with a special sale…by letting them in on a new product or service your are adding just for them…or simply with a smile and heartfelt thanks.

Think about this…how do you feel when you know your opinion counts? Yeah, we all like to think people respect our thoughts and ideas. When your customers know you put a lot of stock in what they think of your business, they’ll be more likely to talk it up to their friends and family. Reward them every time they share their opinion about your business. Set up a special referral reward program and watch the news travel.

Invest in your customers…the dividends are great!

Before I address the following questions: What is a blog? and What can a blog do for your business?, let me pose a few “What if . . .” questions to you.

Keeping in mind that before your prospects and customers buy from you, they need to know you, like you, and trust you. In other words, they need to know, whether overtly or covertly, that they have a trusting and ongoing relationship with you. What better way to accomplish for them to get to know you, trust you, and like you than with a blog?

Now, here are my “What if . . .” questions:

* What if less than two minutes after creating and publishing your blog, it were to be promoted to thousands of prospects without any extra effort or cost on your part?

* What if your blog gave you immediate access to hundreds of international prospects?

* What if you had immediate access to hundreds of prospects in your city, state, or country who had interests and hobbies similar to yours?

* What if every time someone clicks on a hyperlinked keyword in your Profile that describes your hobbies, occupation, industry, favorite books, movies, music, or artist, your blog pops up?

* What if every time you left a comment on someone elses blog, you could leave a hyperlink to your website, blog, or email? (a mini no-cost commercial!)

* What if whenever someone enters your name or business name (completely or partially) into a major search engine, your website or blog pops up in their search results?

* What if every time you post content on your blog, it would bypass the spam filters and instantaneously appear on your subscribers desktop without any extra effort or cost on your part? (- an excellent opportunity to get your sales, special messages, or time-sensitive announcements into their hands, or actually in front of their eyes!)

* What if your satisfied customers had the opportunity to place their self-generated testimonies on your blog? (Although some will take the initiative to do so, others might need encouragement. That’s all right. Just make an incentive opportunity of it! Offer some incentive for their efforts.)

By now you should be beginning to see the powerful marketing potential a blog offers you. These are just some of the powerful customer relationship management features a blog offers you.

But wait! There’s yet more!

* What if you were to combine these powerful features with other online and offline efforts such as a blogathon, teleseminar, webinar, online articles, and others?

* What if doing so would enhance your customer relationship management?

* What if doing so would decrease returns and refunds?

* What if doing so would increase sales?

Think about it! I realize that successful marketing and sales are still high-touch entities; however, I also realize that when you combine your high-tech efforts with your high-touch efforts, you’re bound to be successful!!!

Now to answer the original questions, What is a blog? and What can a blog do for your business?:

A blog, short of web log, is an interactive web-based journal that encourages participation from viewers. It looks like and does everything a website does and more! A blog serves as an excellent supplement to your website and other marketing efforts. Entries, called posts, are published by date on the page according to your predetermined quantity and are archived in the margin according to your predetermined frequency.

A blog offers your business countless marketing options. Specifically, a blog:

* gives viewers, prospects, customers, and subscribers who might have had difficulty in the past immediate access to you.

* helps to reduce your time spend distributing emails and other messages.

* improves your content delivery rates by 100%.

* improves your search engine rankings.

* publishes constantly fresh content.

* bypasses spam filters completely.

* improves your online visibility.

* enhances your web presence.

* generates more visitors.

and more . . .

So, if you don’t already have a blog, I only have one question for you: What are you waiting for? !?

Don’t let this cutting-edge technology, this powerful marketing tool, pass you by. Online companies are popping up all over the internet offering you free blogs. My recommendation is that you grab one, or two or more! Most, if not all, are extremely easy to create, but may be time-consuming, according to your already hectic schedule, to maintain.

If that’s the case in your situation, you might want to call in outside help. Consider the high school computer techie next door, or the college-age computer-major son or daughter of a friend who could always use a few extra bucks.

I leave you with this wish: May you always be successful in looking for and using new and creative ways to maximize your earning potential.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, we all win! When you don’t, we all lose.

In banking and investing and insurance, many thousands of service-minded people enjoy client loyalty. Yet, most labour under a false basic assumption about why clients are loyal to them or their institution, rather than competitors. What really generates loyalty is warmth.

The dominant view of loyalty in financial services equates loyalty with simple continuity of service. “If they keep on dealing with you, that means they’re loyal.” This makes sense, but it lacks a basic understanding of what motivates people to be loyal.

This view also supposes that people become loyal to whomever best satisfies their service requirements. “If they can read statements that arrive on time, and find good numbers in them, then you just need be nice and keep it up.” This makes sense, too. But does loyalty come simply from satisfying requirements and smiling?

By conventional wisdom, good investment performance and reliable admin are not quite enough from investment advisors or financial planners. Indeed, they strive to have impressive diplomas and professional certifications, to dress for success, and to express clever perspectives. This makes sense, too. Yet, most of their clients simply assume the diplomas and certifications. People want something more.

connectedness the edge

The conventional wisdom lacks edge. Here’s that edge: connectedness &ndash mutual connection with the individual or institution. Some have it and don’t know how or why. Some credit their office d

Having to deal with angry and upset customers is by far one of the worst responsibilities we must face on a day to day basis in the world of sales and business.

However, this responsibility, like so many others we must face on a daily basis, just comes with the territory.

Customers become angry for all sorts of reasons. Some are legitimate reasons. Some are not. In any event it is our job to defuse the situation. Here are a few tips on how you can calm your customer down and put them at ease.

1. Give them your hand to shake

When I was in the banking industry, I worked many years as a branch manager. A customer’s body language would speak volumes as they approached my office. This body language allowed me to prepare for what was to come.

It is not difficult to tell when someone is angry. Their face scrunches. Their lips tighten, and their brow wrinkles. They walk quickly with a purpose in their step, and you know they mean business.

My reaction to this type of body language was to reach out my hand to them as an offering of peace. I did this before they had an opportunity to start venting their anger. I would then calmly introduce myself and ask how I could be of help to them.

This technique will catch your customer off guard, and your acts of professionalism and sincerity will ease the tension and put the rationale back into your customers thought process.

This technique is by far the best way to begin any conversation that has the potential to be blown out of proportion.

2. Apologize to your customer

Once you have your customer seated and have allowed for them to vent, the first thing you want to do is apologize on behalf of your company for the way they have made them feel, or for the inconvenience they have been put through.

It really doesn’t matter if your customer is right or wrong, by apologizing to your customer you are being empathetic to their situation. This gives the customer the feeling that you are on their side.

Remember, when a customer has an issue, what they want more than anything else is for someone to listen to their problem and have an understanding of where they are coming from.

There is absolutely no need to take a bad situation and make it worse.

3. Resolve the problem

The last and final thing you want to assure your customer is that the problem will be resolved, or at the very least, the problem will not happen again.

To leave a problem unresolved and your customer hanging will only lead to more confrontations and wasted time down the line.

Remember, when time is wasted, money is wasted.

Again, putting out fires on a daily basis comes with the territory. The sooner you put out the fires the better.

Never take a customer complaint personally. Act as your customers advocate, and you will always prevent a bad situation from escalating.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

Today I witnessed a customer service miracle in action. I took my son to our local fast food restaurant, so he could have some lunch and play in the indoor playground. While I was waiting for our food to be ready, a woman approached the counter with a crushed Styrofoam cup. She said, “This cup fell off of our table and broke. I need another drink and I need someone to come clean up our table and the floor.” The tone of her voice suggested that somehow the restaurant was responsible for her broken cup. And of course, there was no, “Hey I’m so sorry, one of my horrible children was fooling around and caused you a mess.”

It was then that right before my eyes a customer service miracle occurred. Rather than replying with the same nasty treatment they had just gotten from the customer, the staff quickly gave her a new drink. Then a man appeared with a smile and said, “I would be glad to clean that up for you.” The staff never heard the words “thank you” from that customer, yet they acted as if they had. All were professional and conveyed an attitude that said, “We love having the opportunity to serve each and every person in this restaurant.”

Not surprisingly, the place is almost always busy. The restaurant is clean, the management supports our community with various school spirit fundraising nights, the food is better than most fast food, and most of all, the people that work there make you want to come back.

Watching customer service interaction is my hobby and my work, and today’s experience was a living, breathing example of the 21 Rules for Excellent Retail Customer Service that we share with the participants in our courses. Most of them are not that hard to follow. However, they can be hard to follow consistently.

If you work with customers in retail, take a look at the list and ask yourself how closely you follow the rules.

1. Smile when greeting a customer in person and on the phone (and yes, they can tell if you are smiling over the telephone!).

2. Use age-appropriate greetings, and avoid referring to older customers and women as “guys.”

3. Be proactive and ask how you may be of service.

4. Stay visible and available, but don’t hover.

5. Don’t turn away, walk away, start to make a phone call, or duck beneath the counter as a customer approaches. (We’ve all had it happen to us.)

6. The live customer standing in front of you takes precedence over someone who calls on the phone.

7. Never judge a book by its cover–all customers deserve attention regardless of their age or appearance.

8. Leave food and beverages in the break room.

9. A customer doesn’t want to hear about your upcoming break.

10. Makes any personal calls when you’re on a break and out of earshot.

11. The correct answer is never “I don’t know” unless you add to it, “but I can find out for you.”

12. If a customer wants something that isn’t on display, go to the stock room and try to find it.

13. If the item isn’t in the stock room, offer to call another store or order it.

14. Learn to read body language to see if a customer could use some help.

15. Don’t let chatty customers monopolize your time if others are waiting.

16. Call for backup support if lines are forming.

17. Be discrete if a customer’s credit card is declined by asking if there is another method of payment he or she would like to use.

18. Never discuss customers in front of other customers (they’ll wonder what you’re saying about them once they leave).

19. Inspect merchandise before bagging it to make sure it’s not defective or the wrong size.

20. Make sure customers receive everything they’ve paid for before they leave your store.

21. Smile as you are saying goodbye and encourage the customer to come again.

And here’s one more tip: if you can, give people more than what they expect.

Business owners of companies both large and small can achieve rich improvements in their operations if they start to ask themselves regularly, “I have just been handed a powerful new tool. It essentially lets me costless communicate with anyone on the planet. How can I best use it to my advantage?”

To focus, business owners must first ask themselves two questions: As a business owner, what am I trying to achieve?

Marry your answers to the diverse communications capabilities of the World Wide Web; you will inevitably create some powerful and highly beneficial new initiatives.

In exploring strategies for success in the developing environment, it is essential to recognize a fact that is often overlooked: The Internet is fundamentally a new communications vehicle. As a consequence, a large part of its value arises because it permits cost-effective communications &ndash down the street or on a worldwide basis&ndashthat were not possible before its emergence.

Why is this so important? Because many people have a very different view of the World Wide Web. They will suggest that the Web is an entertainment medium &ndashsomething that has more in common with the television than the telephone. This focus is easy to appreciate; the typical person is more interested in the new offerings on the Web that can entertain him or her than the less exciting details of enhanced communications capabilities. In addition, Internet use is the first activity in over forty years that has been clearly documented as something that causes people to spend less time watching television. It’s therefore natural to think of it as a substitute for this medium.

Benefits of Internet Telephony to Your Business:

1) Availability Completely under Customer Control. With the internet, visitors&ndashpotential customers &ndashcome to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

2) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly. The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day

.

3) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost. The Web makes things easy and affordable.

Not all businesses are currently bringing in added profit via the Web yet; nonetheless, every business needs to be working on it in order to be competitive today.

The Web makes it possible for companies both large and small to develop new communications processes that save time and money while enabling faster responses to customer needs.

Many industries rely on widely distributed field sales forces that may consist of independent agents or company employees. In today’s fast-moving business environment, providing these frontline soldiers with the most up-to-the-minute information and the best possible tools and support is critical to success, and by using the Web, companies can do so at far lower cost.

2) Availability Completely under Customer Control.

With the Internet, visitors&ndashpotential customers&ndashcome to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

3) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly

The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day.

4) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost.

The Web makes things easy and affordable.

The Web makes it possible to communicate regularly with a large volume of customers at virtually no cost.

Businesses can generally benefit by disseminating information; yet up to now, there has not been a cost-effective, satisfactory way of timely customer notification. Not only is direct mail costly, but the timing of delivery is erratic and an overwhelming amount of it is never even opened. The telephone is timely, but information disseminated by telephone is also costly and runs the risk of alienating customers who don’t want to be bothered by solicitors.

Enter the Internet. The World Wide Web gives companies a low-cost method to communicate with existing customers and to reach out to potential ones with a timeliness that has never before existed.

The new capabilities created by the Internet far exceed what could be accomplished with the telephone. Consider how a well-designed Internet customer-communications system can work:

1.) Orders are confirmed by e-mail &ndashfirst immediately after they are placed, and again when they are shipped out. The shipping confirmation notice includes an internal tracking number to help customers locate the package if it fails to arrive on a timely basis.

2.) Customers can register for e-mail notifications of various kinds. By filling out an online form, customers can request to be notified about newly available products that are likely to be of interest to them.

3.) “Missing” customers can be inexpensively lured back: If a frequent customer has not made a purchase for some time, the electronic retailer can send a $5 or $10 digital coupon to encourage a return purchase. These types of ongoing efforts to build loyalty can be triggered by well-designed automated databases, combined with virtually costless e-mail, to create an inexpensive, potentially high-return, and customer loyalty program.

This suggests a central strategy for any business today: Gather e-mail addresses from customers (and permission to contact them using these addresses), even if you don’t yet have an interactive Web site. Every business from a major manufacturer to a regional discount store to the local plumber will find that well-designed e-mail messages can be a low-cost, highly effective means of building profitable revenues. In Strategy 7, I discuss how a local pest-control business might benefit tremendously from an e-mail-based initiative.

The Importance of round the clock availability

Like a good catalog and 800 numbers, the Internet makes your company accessible to customers worldwide twenty-four hours a day. However, the “Web” is better than the world’s greatest catalog.”

Here’s why:

Additional visuals as well as more written detail. Catalogs face an inherent limitation: Paper and postage are costly. As a result, details &ndashother views of a product as well as more written description&ndashoften have to be left out. So while the 800-number operator can read to customers the special washing instructions, if the product is offered on the Internet, the consumer can read the special washing instructions for him- or herself, scroll through a more lengthy product description, and in all likelihood, see more than one view of the item.

Expanded offerings. Today catalogs typically list only a portion of a company’s offerings, simply because more listings mean expansion of printing and mailing costs. The Web obliterates this limitation.

Remember too, that anything that can be accomplished online instead of by phone is more cost effective. A five-minute call to order a $50 item, at a cost of $1 per minute, means that the call is a significant percentage of the cost structure, and a five-minute inquiry&ndashwith no purchase attached &ndashcreates a financial loss in addition to time lost by personnel who might have been making a sale to someone else. This contrasts with use of the Internet, where&ndashto the extent that communications cost exists&ndashthey are trivial, and consumers bear the cost of company contact by paying their access service.

The Internet has now led to a new definition of what customers have come to expect: In the emerging era, businesses are almost required to provide twenty-four-hour Internet communications, so that the consumer can shop from home whenever he or she wants to. Sites that prosper will be more than order-taking vehicles; they will provide a creative, educational experience that builds knowledge about their products and services and engenders sales as well as ongoing customer loyalty.

Whether your business specializes in Porche luxury cars or temporary employment services , the Web offers you the opportunity to find people who are looking for what your company sells.

The last thing we want to hear during our work day is complaints from customers. However, it does come with the territory. Here are a few tips on how to turn your customer’s complaint into a positive.

1. Listen

When a customer comes to you with a complaint about one of your products or services, listen to them. Listen to what they are telling you, and take notes if at all possible.

The number one thing a customer wants when they have a problem is for someone to listen to them.

Allow them to vent, let them get it all out. Once they have explained their problem in full, begin to ask any questions you may have to get a full handle on the situation.

While you are listening, body language is very important. Make sure you maintain eye contact. This sends your customer a message that you are taking them seriously.

2. Be Empathetic

When the customer is done explaining their problem, show sincerity by telling them that you understand how they feel. Apologize on behalf of the company that they feel the way they do, and tell them that you are committed to resolving their issue within the guidelines of your company.

By becoming defensive in this situation, you are taking a bad situation and making it worse.

By having an understanding of where your customer is coming from on the situation, and speaking in a calm tone of voice, you can clearly defuse the situation.

You don’t by any means want your customer to become angry and cause a scene.

3. Offer a Solution.

We have all heard the expression “the customer is always right.”

I don’t necessarily agree with this, but it is important to work toward finding a solution, even if the customer is in the wrong. For instance, you might try meeting them half way.

You will know wether or not your customer is a repeat offender, and you can handle the situation accordingly.

For customers who have a legitimate complaint, it is best to rectify the situation right then and there. Wether it is giving them their money back, or replacing their product.

Always leave your customer with your business card and tell them if they should ever have a problem again, they should not hesitate to contact you immediately. This will help them regain their confidence in you and your company.

The main goal when a customer has a complaint is to not allow the problem to snowball. Your objective should be to defuse the situation and retain your customer.

By handling tough situations such as these in a professional manner, you will find your once complaining customers satisfied that you resolved their issue, and a new found respect for you.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

What kind of image do you present when marketing your products? Are you professional and well organized or does your store/site/whatever scream, “sloppy!,” to those who matter the most: your customers? Let’s see how one leading retailer is winning the sales war, but losing an important battle: store organization.

WalMart is dominant in so many categories with the various products that they sell. In 50 years the company has gone from a local player to a world powerhouse and is on track to expand throughout the land of the largest consumer market in the world, China.

As much as WalMart is conquering new horizons and dominating the American landscape, one problem is arising: their stores are a mess. Visit your local WalMart store at any given time and you will find throngs of shoppers but few workers. Most workers are busy at the front end of the store ringing up sales, while others are scattered throughout the store putting up stock.

Why is this a problem? Quite frankly, WalMart is a victim of its own success. Stock turns over so fast, that the store must replenish during peak store hours in order to keep everything on hand. A good problem to have, right? Not if you are a customer who wants something and you cannot navigate aisles to find what you need as boxes of stock partially block you out.

WalMart’s chief competitor, Target, seems to have gotten it right. Their stores are neat; the signs to help you find various sections are big, bold, and color coordinated; and stock replenishment does not take over the aisles. On the other hand, KMart was once an industry powerhouse and many of their stores are old and disheveled. More importantly, KMart is now an “also ran” as other retailers — including WalMart — have presented a better place to shop for customers.

As much as price is a driving factor in winning the sales war, store organization and cleanliness can eventually undermine sales as customers are turned off by a messy environment and choose to go to your competitor.

While many customers will accept a lower level of customer service [less floor help available, for example], clutter will drive them away faster than low prices will pull them in. You can tout, “Always low prices, always” in your motto, but your customers will flee if they find your store to be disorganized. Competitors wait in the wings to grab what you will lose: can you afford the loss of sales?

Look, If you’re reading this column, chances are you’ve been around the block. You grasp the home based business industry pretty well and you know that most people DO NOT succeed in it.

Why would The Reverse Funnel System be any different?

As you can tell, I’m not here to judge The Reverse Funnel System in fact it’s a nice system but it’s not the system that makes you money.

Yes. What positively makes a system operate is the person behind that and if you’re participating with The Reverse Funnel System or looking to become a part of Ty Coughlin’s team that person is YOU.

The fact of money making programs offline or online is this….

PEOPLE JOIN PEOPLE.

The merchandise, compensation plan, and benefits come second. The first thing people want to know before they join any business opportunity is “does this being know what they’re talking about?”.

They want to make sure that their upline is favorable, proficient, and they want to be 100% certain that you can propose value to them in some way shape or form.

Sure, systems make the process faster and they do make sales on their own but not all of the time. The Reality is the human part is needed and you need to be a leader to your prospects if you’re not you can way your dreams of long-term residual income “adios”.

In closing, The Reverse Funnel System is a celebrated system in fact after comparing it side by side with all the others it takes the cake but if you are just in it for the bankroll good luck because it takes hard work and dedication to make any system work period.

The Reverse Funnel System (RFS) was developed by the Inner Circle as a fully automated, marketing tool to run your Global Resorts Network (GRN) business.

RFS works for you by providing expert copy and thought through psychology at your fingertips for lease. You pay the Inner Circle monthly and they lease you your own personal copy of RFS.

RFS could be linked to any business opportunity but the members of The Inner Circle choose GRN because of the powerful motivator that is thousand dollar commissions. If it was extremely difficult to sell a three thousand dollar product I am sure the Inner Circle would have reviewed this decision but the fact is it is not. People want to spend three thousand dollars on an opportunity that can easily make them three thousand a week. You just need to remind them.

You remind them by preparing them to see the sight by driving them to click your URL to your copy of RFS. You can do this in a variety of ways.

Join co-ops &ndash it always will add to your marketing efforts to join a co-op and get a certain number of paid leads sent to you every month. Send them to the reverse funnel system and boost your click through.

Give the opportunity to your friends in MySpace &ndash It’s MySpace, everybody is potentially your friend. Help them out by casually befriending them so they can view the success that is your life via profile information and give them the opportunity to make a grab for it to.

Write some class act personal growth and success blogs, wage drama in a forum venue, preach the potential through article directories, back link everything to you copy of RFS.

In no time you should have sales coming in and plenty of people with their foot in the door for you to contact and convince. As long as you maintain that YOU will be a positive influence in the lives of your down line and that YOU won’t be happy with your success unless they are succeeding you will keep your team happy, be a motivational force in their efforts and make more money.