Customer Service Tips..."A Totally Satisfied Customer Contributes as Much as 2.6 Times as Much Revenue as a Somewhat Satisfied Customer""You Could Increase Profits by $126,000 in Annual Revenue with ONLY 500 Customers on Your List.Discover the Keys to Good Customer Service!"
From the Desk of: Gail Metcalf, Digital Info Diva Dear Fellow Marketer: If you're like many small business owners, you're concentrating on product and/or service development and running your business. You probably don't have time to deal with customer service issues. Who has time to stop and research customer service tips to deal with customers? You need the keys to good customer service. Or have you decided to outsource your customer service to a company that "specializes in customer support?" If so, check out the following customer service statistics and what they mean to your business:
These numbers show how important customer service tips really are to your business in a time when customer service is at an all time low. Are you trying to provide your customers with good service but find it's killing your creativity and time management because you're trying to do it all yourself? Do you struggle with support issues and wish they would just go away? Do You Have Any of These Issues
What would it mean to you if I told you I can show you how to:
If you already have your Internet business underway, it's time to concentrate on the marketing for your websites and the future vision for your business. It doesn't matter how many websites or products you have, if you're not actively marketing on a daily basis, you'll never get enough traffic to make the site or your business successful. I know....there's so much to do with an Internet business. If you're like many people, you thought it was going to be easier than your day job - right? Now you find yourself doing everything:
If you've been around a while, perhaps you've managed to outsource a few of these boring tasks. And I bet that freed up a lot of your time to spend helping customers with download issues, refund requests and other issues you never had to deal with. How do you get this all under control and make more time for the essential tasks you should be concentrating on? At first it probably wasn't so bad - you'd have a customer contact once in a while. Then you had to start saving your customer replies and copying and pasting them into new customer responses. The more successful your site/product is, the more tickets you get and the repetition is killing your creativity. You find yourself in a rut! You're now short tempered with your customers or maybe you find yourself putting off answering them at all. This is not good for business and the buzz you could be creating is not what you intended.
Better hold off on that; this is YOUR business and YOUR customers. Are you sure you want to let someone you don't know tell you how to run your customer service (and chance losing another 2.6 times the profit)? And even let them do the work from somewhere else? And don't even think about letting them retain and control the data! That's valuable information for your business! Before you select a company to outsource your customer service to, make sure you know the ins and outs of Help Desk support services. If they don't produce the correct Help Desk reporting metrics with accurate numbers, you'll have no idea how to make improvements to increase profits and create totally satisfied customers. There are specific things you need to know about Help Desk systems, customer service and Help Desk prioritizing support issues to make sure you select the right company.
Yeah, I know...how can your customer service be a gold mine? Let me tell you... Setting up Help Desk support service is an industry all on its own. With automated systems and the attitude of "more is better" (more websites, more products, more customers), we've pretty much gotten away from what customer service should be. We've begun to think it's OK to leave the customer hanging (this is the automation age, they should know what they're doing); it's OK for an employee to be rude to a customer just because they're being difficult (due to frustration) or just needing too much help! Through the 1980's, businesses knew the value of a customer, but relied on their brand to bring in new customers and retain old ones. Customer loyalty was great for business and they serviced their customers just fine. Unless you're a brand like the Golden Arches or have enough money to advertise nationally to keep your brand on the people's mind, you need to find a way to keep your current customers loyal in today's fast paced world. There are too many distractions for today's buyers to lure them away from you, especially with the speed of the Internet. There's always a new site ready to make a deal. But the one thing you can count on is that customer service is becoming a thing of the past.
Have You Noticed How Bad Customer Service is Everywhere You Go These Days? It's not just the Internet - it's everywhere! I'm just surprised by how BAD customer service has become the "norm." When was the last time you had your socks knocked off by great customer service? Recently or can't remember?! Is it really only me that remembers the "good old days" when you were confident customer service would right the wrong? Today the consumer doesn't get any respect even though they are the people that make it possible to keep the business doors open and pay the employees. Businesses....
Businesses today don't seem to understand that customer service is supposed to save the customer's business - not allow them to go elsewhere. Here's a few of the complaints from real people on complaint sites:
People Are Starving for Good Customer Service And You Can Cash In On That By...
This Is How You Can...
Earlier this year, a marketer with a very good track record launched a new product that I desperately needed. My subscription was processed and I eagerly logged in, only to find that I could not perform the functions that were available. I proceeded to their help desk and looked for the FAQs or KnowledgeBase only to find - THERE WASN'T ANY. I opened a ticket and waited, expecting to receive information within a few hours. The ticket received a reply the next day - that was almost 24 hours later. Unfortunately, the information they provided in the ticket response told me what to click on and did not address the actual issue. I really didn't need someone to repeat the same "help" instructions that were available on the website! I logged back in and entered a detailed reply. Then I waited another 2 days and this went back and forth for almost THREE WEEKS. Long story short, I finally had to cancel the subscription and asked for a refund so I could create a new account. NO RESPONSE. I didn't receive a response until I was forced to file a complaint (with the well known payment processor). The Internet Marketer replied to tell me the account had been reset and didn't understand why I filed the complaint. Well - nobody communicated this to me. This problem actually went on another TWO WEEKS before everything was fixed and I could actually use the account. Unfortunately, all the data that had accumulated during the pre-launch WAS LOST and I had to start over. I actually lost elapsed time of FIVE WEEKS......no apology was ever received. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE?
I was working directly with an Internet Marketer and he/she wanted me to work with his/her assistant on an issue. During the time we worked together, the assistant became disgruntled with how I wrote my emails. After several emails where the assistant "yelled" at me, I brought up the issue and indicated I didn't appreciate being yelled at in emails. Being passive aggressive is not the way to get a problem resolved, and in this case - I was also a paying customer of this marketer! Eventually the assistant cursed at me in an email! I told the Internet Marketer I had no intention of creating this animosity - actually thinking the problem would be taken care of. Instead, I was told the project was dead because I could not get along with his/her employees!! IS THIS ACCEPTABLE CUSTOMER SERVICE? What would happen if you "fired" all your customers because you or an employee couldn't get along with them? Is there ever a time when it's appropriate to fire a customer? Absolutely! I'll show you when and how to successfully fire a customer and make them feel you are doing them a favor.
How Many Products Have You Purchased Not that we really need more email, but sometimes I wonder what happened to that guy or gal that sold me that....what was it? Many of our purchases (especially those of us that are information and product junkies) are impulse buys and end up sitting on our computer for whatever reason. Has this happened to you? Maybe you thought it was a great idea, but have no clue how to install it or use it. Maybe you just forgot about it with your current work load. A post sales system is the perfect vehicle to stay in touch with your customers and keep your name in front of them. Let them know you are an active player on the Internet and you are there to help them succeed. Just one more thing to add to your ever growing To Do List!
Wouldn't it be great to have a Help Desk system in place to service your customers without you being personally involved? How much UNPRODUCTIVE time do you think you would regain? How could this RECLAIMED PRODUCTIVITY help to propel your business forward? Get the recognized Help Desk best practice! Hm - right now you're probably wondering how much time you'd have to devote to this project to get it to work. The "Diva" will make this painless for you with her Help Desk system and customer service tips...
Effective Customer Service Management
I know you're busy with REAL work and I'm here to show you how IT departments manage their customers and how you can make it work for your Internet business. You see, IT departments are funded by their in-house using departments. If they don't deliver the promised system up time (the system's not down) and user response time (transactions don't take longer than "x" to process), heads will roll! This isn't a boring, dry customer service book for late night reading. I have compacted everything you need into this 63 page eBook so you will quickly understand what effective customer service can do for your business. This is real world information from IT departments within corporations that have strict timetables for resolving customer service issues within the company. These IT departments know how to service the using departments WITHIN the company - they have to - IT is an overhead department supported by the using departments, so they have an incentive to get it right! I quickly take you through:
By now you should be curious how you're going to go from an unstructured or profit draining customer service environment to being customer focused and profit driven. I'll show you exactly what most small businesses do wrong and how to get it right. Everyone on the Internet talks about how important it is to "over deliver." Are you sure you're even delivering what you promised?
Customer Expectation It's ALL about customer expectation and following through on what you promise. And that includes customer service to ensure everything went smoothly through the end of the purchase process.
And It's All About Customer Perception One of the most valuable tools you need to grow your business is a system to tell you what your customer thinks about:
If you don't know how to effectively collect this information, you'll never know what to improve and you'll certainly never know what additional profits you could be making! When your customer feels they haven't been treated right, their perception of the business changes quickly:
Customer Management In today's automated world, there are many different ways to manage your customers. We can see that with sites that use contact forms, live chat, IM and help desks. There are more ways to manage your customers and you'll learn what those are and how they work. And most important - how to effectively manage each type of service.
There are now many different types of help desk software available to quickly setup your customer service. Unfortunately, they all have different levels of services they provide. How do you know which one to use and more importantly, which one you need? Don't spend hours and days reviewing each one. I'll show you a quick way to make your decision and which Help Desk software has been proven reliable. You'll learn how even the single website owner can benefit from setting up Help Desk support:
Managing Your Help Desk Once you have your software installed, you'll need to decide how to configure it correctly and manage it efficiently. No problem - I'll tell you exactly what goes where inside the help desk:
Once you know what these different sections are for, it's easy to get started. Set it up incorrectly, and you may end up with a bigger headache than you had... "Don't they monitor what's happening with the tickets? I've I've visited a lot of help desks on the Internet and I am surprised by how many are NOT using the functions that are available. I've come to the conclusion the reason is because they don't know what they should put in each category and the benefit they will derive. That's why I make sure you won't be confused and that you'll understand how your help desk is a living site that will continue to grow with information. With the correct information, it will grow successfully and continue to service your customers. Think about how much time you'll save by knowing how to effectively support your customers:
Remember I mentioned that your customer service is a gold mine? Many people don't realize the importance of the help desk to product development and maintenance. You are collecting valuable information that can be used for future business needs. I'll show you exactly how large corporations track this data and what they do with it. Here's an example of what my help desk does for my business.... I had been anxiously waiting to make my first sale of a new eBook. Finally a sale was made and soon after, I received notice the buyer had opened a help desk ticket and requested a refund due to a problem with the download. I waited for my help desk to do its job and in a few minutes, the buyer found the information he needed and closed the ticket. Without human intervention, I was able to save the sale. Instead of responding to each issue, you have your very own Help Desk templates in place to do the work for you while you concentrate on more important business issues.
Here's How I Help You Get Started
You probably think this is a lot of work - and it is! But not when you have my information to make this a whole lot faster and easier. Sure - it's going to take a dedicated day or two, but I've made the process much easier because I've included...
I've taken all the general product and service issues and put them in easy to use files. You won't take forever to construct ticket issues after all, if you don't have many coming in, how are you going to know what to create? Review the Help Desk templates and select those that pertain to your business. Many of the templates already have the issue resolution included in the template as part of my customer service tips. Others will require you to define your unique requirements.
I have composed a series of original, post sales eMails for you to review and customize for your business. If you're anything like me, this is one of those tasks you put off because it takes so darn long to create the content. Now you can have it setup in one hour or less. Use all the templates or just a few. Since you want the eMails to go out over the next few weeks or months, add a few now and the remainder later. Use these templates over and over by using them as inspiration for new eMails with each new product launch.
Inside the eBook are screenshots of three (3) report layouts that I created to help you organize your departments/products, create your Service Level Agreements and to create a Weekly Help Desk Scorecard for tracking the effectiveness of your customer service management system. You receive all three reports in Word and Excel formats. The inclusion of these reports makes it the perfect system to grow with your business and provide effective help desk management for larger organizations.
As your business grows, it could quickly get out-of-control like the grass you don't have time to mow and the dandelions that continue to spread, eating up your beautiful grass. Your newly acquired customers take nurturing and tending to enable them to grow with your business. From time-to-time, they'll need to be fed, just like you need to feed your grass and lovely flower garden. Now imagine your business taking off and you don't have time to care and feed your customers. Sending out a weekly eMail to your list is not enough. You need to make sure you are taking care of their service needs. How are you going to do that with tickets pouring in and no system to manage them? Here's a weekly report of tickets from a typical help desk:
Even though there are many departments (products) defined, it doesn't get many tickets and of those that do come in, you only know how many came in for that week. What happens when your business grows? Here's what your report could look like using a formatted Help Desk scorecard to provide more detailed information:
You now have more detailed information by day, for the current week and as compared to the prior week by Service Level Agreements (SLA) you have defined. You can see how many new tickets came in at the beginning of the week as compared to the end of the week and can better begin to identify the event that caused the tickets to be created. If you had a color coded report, you could easily identify at a glance the numbers that are important and need further analysis:
The same report with color coded numbers tells you:
Why were tickets left open from last week? Your customer is wondering: "How long is it going to take to get an answer on my ticket?" What do you need to do to make sure they are closed faster to make your customer happy? The longer a ticket is left open, the longer your customer is made to wait for a resolution to their problem. The longer they wait, the more they start thinking about a refund. They begin to think you don't care about them. That's why it's not enough to install an Internet Helpdesk system if you don't know how to manage it for a positive outcome! Remember the Internet Marketer that took three (3) weeks to solve my issue so I could actually use what I purchased? As you can see, The Diva is still simmering over the issue and has not been too interested in what he/she is now offering. The Diva certainly does not want to promote his/her products for fear HER customers will be let down!
If you pass up this opportunity to discover what your customers can do for your business, I'm not going to tell you your business will suffer. But I can honestly tell you that YOU will suffer! I know - I've been there and had days when it seemed all I did was handle customer issues. You see, my very first niche was full of customers hungry for the information, but definitely NOT computer savvy. OMG - I never expected so many problems just getting to the download page. Those cut/paste messages I was creating started to get out of control. I was forced to install a help desk and was rather unhappy about being in a support position, instead of creating new products. You can bet I implemented every function I could to automate the process as much as possible and reduce my stress. I've managed the managers in the Help Desk Department for a large corporation. In fact, I managed several of them for IT departments that used separate help desk departments to take service issues for their software users. It was my job to ensure the help desk staff provided the level of service my web and mainframe based customers expected with the Service Agreement that was signed and agreed to. I also managed an offshore staff that was processing service tickets for my software engineers. So you can be assured you are getting the most up-to-date and effective information to manage your customer service issues.
How Much For The Diva's Today - you pay $17 for a complete system that will grow with
Look at What You Could Pay A system like this could cost you up to $199, offered as an SLA Toolkit. It will tell you how to define your Service Level Agreements, but it won't tell you how to take care of your customers! You could attend a seminar to learn more about the Balanced Scorecard and how to implement one. The cost is up to $1,749 per person, but you won't learn how to take care of your customers! You could purchase computer software to manage your people, projects and produce the Balanced Scorecard for you, but this might be more than you need. You would pay up to $495 per user with an annual upgrade fee, but you won't learn how to take care of your customers. And you won't learn how to manage the data to improve your projects and increase your profits - and you won't be able to set it up in hours! And you could purchase a book for $19.95 on customer service and be left wondering how to implement a management system for your Internet business; you'd have to figure it out all on your own. Why? Because this is the FIRST complete system offered specifically for Internet based businesses.
As you can see, you could pay top dollar for this Help Desk best practice information. In reality, you don't need the complexity and you certainly don't need to spend the extra time to figure out how to use other tools, implement your own system or sit through lengthy seminars. I've done all the work for you to make this as painless and as productive as possible. You don't even need to pay for help desk software - you can get started with a FREE help desk system and upgrade as your business grows...all without losing any of the important data you are collecting. I have included this information in the system.
Diva, I Don't Want to Manage My That's fine, but how are you going to make sure the person or business you select to do it for you does it correctly - or that they're even qualified? To select the BEST Helpdesk Outsourcing, you need to know what needs to be managed, how to do it effectively, the best customer service tips and what needs to be reported back to you. This system will provide you with the knowledge you need to know which person or business can meet these Help Desk guidelines.
Can You Afford to Lose an Additional
The information in Effective Customer Service Management is for those that are playing the game for the long-term. Are you one of those players? Your business is not ready to grow until you:
You Receive: Effective Customer Customer Service Management eBook
To Your Success,
P.S. Keep your customers loyal and create a virtual buzz with your superior customer service! P.P.S. Don't let customer service issues slowly kill your business. Invest now in and watch your business soar with more repeat business and greater profits.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home Terms of Use Disclaimer Contact Us Privacy Policy Links Site Map Other Resources Copyright (c) 2010 EffectiveCustomerServiceManagement.com |
Help Desk Ticket Templates
Customer Service Training
