Treat Your Vendors Well!

By Chris Howard | June 19, 2009

Keep an open dialogue with your vendors/suppliers and let them know you are always open to suggestions. Vendors are a form of employee. After all, the success of their business is dependent on your success.

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Topics: Managing Customer Service | 138 Comments »

Training Leads to Greater Customer Experiences

By Chris Howard | June 14, 2009

I am a big believer in cross training employees to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department.

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Topics: Managing Customer Service | 151 Comments »

Keep Employees Informed

By Chris Howard | June 8, 2009

Let employees know if there will be physical changes happening in your business. Weekly meetings are highly recommended whether you are an offline or online business. If anybody comes up with an idea, ask the staff what they think the customers will think of it.

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Topics: Managing Customer Service | 117 Comments »

A Time to Listen

By Chris Howard | June 1, 2009

What you do with the feedback from your employees, vendors, prospects and clients is what will shape the future of your business.

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Topics: Customer Service, Managing Customer Service | 126 Comments »

My Favorite Things, Part 4

By Chris Howard | May 26, 2009

This is part four – the final in this series of my favorite customer service tools. This one seems simple enough, but for some reason, no one thinks of it any more. What a cool thing to find in your mailbox – a friendly note or postcard.

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Topics: Customer Service | 131 Comments »

My Favorite Things, Part 3

By Chris Howard | May 19, 2009

This is part three of my favorite customer service tools. This one is a no brainer for online business, but it works well for offline businesses too. Today, email is one of the fastest ways to get to someone, but just be sure you utilize it properly.

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Topics: Customer Service, Online Customer Service | 116 Comments »

My Favorite Things, Part 2

By Chris Howard | May 12, 2009

This is part two of favorite customer service tools. I won’t be very popular for this next one, but no matter how much you hate it, the phone rules when it comes to customer service.

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Topics: Customer Service | 158 Comments »

My Favorite Things, Part 1

By Chris Howard | May 7, 2009

I’m often asked to share my favorite customer service tools. Surprisingly enough, in this computerized age, none of them are electronic. I don’t believe it matters if you are an online business or an offline brick and mortar company, all of these tools are indispensable in either type of business.

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Topics: Customer Service | 147 Comments »

Little Things Mean a Lot

By Chris Howard | May 2, 2009

There are many out of the ordinary things that your company can do to exceed customer’s expectations. If you can’t think of any, bring your staff in or better yet, call your best customers and ask them for ideas.

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Topics: Customer Service | 149 Comments »

The Power of Suggestion

By Chris Howard | April 30, 2009

How many times have you been at a fast-food drive-thru and been asked if you’d like to add an apple pie, fries or sundae to your order? They would not ask that if it didn’t work. It’s called the power of suggestion. So, remember to ask if there is anything else that you can do for your customer. Taking the time to ask that question often results in increased business and a more committed customer.

Topics: Customer Service, Training Staff | 133 Comments »

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