A Free Way To Explode Your eBay Business Customer Service

Often people selling at online auction sites like eBay completely forget about the customer service aspect of selling. It is easy as you grow your business and automate many of the daily tasks to develop a sense that you are only dealing with a computer and automated tasks. However it is through customer service that you truly grow your business. So take some time to think about it next time you use software to automatically post feedback or send out an automated email. There is someone on the other end of the deal that has taken a leap of faith in your company and sent you money.

If you think about it, running a profitable ebay business is really not that much different then a bricks and mortar type of store. At least it is not that different in terms of the importance of customer service. So take some time to really think about ways that you can improve your customer service. What are things you can do to build repeat customers, provide great customer service and develop a loyal following for your business? This is the absolute best way to build your business for next to nothing. Below are some ideas that can help in both branding and creating customer loyalty as well as provide outstanding quality customer service.

Start An eZine

Do you sell in a niche area that people would like to learn more about? For example if you were an antique toy collector and sold old toys made from tin you might have a bunch of customers that would like to learn more. The best way to build your business would be to build an ezine and provide them with quality content. This sets you up as the expert and as a friend more then just a faceless dude trying to pawn off the junk in his garage. Also the great thing about an ezine is you can always have a little commercial plug mixed into your content. You have to be carefully and do this only occasionally and subtle however it can really pay off. For example why not start a weekly ezine. You only need to write one quick article a week and then at the bottom you could insert a little line like This week for auction check out and then insert your current auctions. If you provide good quality articles along with the advertising the soft sell approach is much easier for your customers to digest.

Little Touches

Have you ever thought about including little special touches with the items you send out. If you havent you might want to think about it seriously. This can really increase customer loyalty. There is no hard and fast rule here or any one size fits all product that you can include. This is really dependent on the type of products you sell. However including a little thank you card or business card can be something to really build loyal customers. For a while I was including a fun post card with each shipment. I live very close to Los Angeles and the famous California beaches and I would often collect postcards when I was out on the town having fun. Well, the collection got to big and so I started throwing them in with the packages I was sending out. People just love to get something for free even if is a small gift. If you dont think you can afford anything like that then make a thank you card on your computer and send it. It really depends on the items that you sell and what you have available but if you think about it there is something that can be included in every package to easily increase customer loyalty and service.

Maintaining a Good Customer

There are numerous ways in generating traffic to a site, as well as increasing the traffic conversion in affiliate marketing. It is always exciting to have a new customer at hand; a fresh transaction from a new client. Most significantly, these new customers must be very well taken care of to have a constantly buying customer. It may always be exciting to have a new customer, but that enthusiasm must never be swept and every new customer must always be a potential to another purchase.

Up-selling is a great task. It is a way to keep the bond with the current customers and bit by bit compelling them to have another purchase. As trust and confidence is already present, it must be maintained and proven with every purchased item or service.

The initial goal is to sell the basic products or services. Once the benefits are already highlighted and experienced by the customers, up-selling of other products or services that complement the initial purchase is best. The next offer must be kept as good as or better than the initial offer. This increases the foundation of trust and confidence.

Keep the interest of the customers as this leads to opportunities to offer goods or services with higher prices. With the way businesses go, profit also increases when higher priced items are sold. The main key is just to maintain the customers confidence on the business, always treating them as prospects to other products and services; thus customer service must be excellent.

Everything must always start with a very good deal. The quality of products or services must be of worth or greater than the cost paid to purchase them. This does not only build trust and confidence but also creates a way to let the customers speak well about the business, enticing other potential customers to take part of the products or services. The word of mouth is very powerful.

Next to having a good deal with a certain package is having another package with the same price but different products or services included. This is a good way to up-sell as it gives the customer further options as it is also a way to introduce other offers. A time goes by, feedback becomes apparent. This makes it easier to determine further needs of the customers. Once ready, another package of goods or services can be offered at a higher cost and with more inclusions.

When a good relationship with the customers is properly maintained, it is always easier to make further offers that could be at higher prices. However, it must always be noted that the benefits the customers get from the package outweighs the cost it has. To add, the relationship must continually be bonded with honesty and care. The product line need not all be spread out to the client, letting them choose what they need. It is better to offer a package serving as a solution to a certain concern. This creates a feeling that the customer is understood and taken care of.

On the other hand, this tactic is also useful to have a list of loyal customers. In case of having a new product to launch, these customers will also go with the business flow, having their part in purchasing goods from the business they trust. A lot of affiliate marketers became successful with this.

Go Online To Find Braided Rug Repair Anchorage And Rug Appraisals Alaska

Beautification and decoration of our house is always on our minds and we want to do lot of new things in our house to make it even more beautiful. After doing up the interiors of your house it is not very easy to change the entire set up every time and it is equally important to take care of the things that you have. For repair of your carpets and rugs you must consider braided rug repair anchorage. We all know that these carpets and rugs are so expensive and just because of small repair requirements it cannot be changed. If you wish to use your rugs and carpets for a longer duration then these rug repair and sale service providers in anchorage and help you a lot.

You invest lot of money in buying these expensive carpets and rugs and this is why these need lot of maintenance and care. In case of small wear and tear you can consider rug appraisals Alaska as there you can easily get variety of services like cleaning and maintenance of your rugs along with their appraisal. Someone who offers rug appraisal also deals with these comprehensive services related to cleaning, maintenance and insurance claims of your carpets and rugs. If you are planning to buy new carpet or rug then these appraisals help you in knowing the real value of the product that you like to buy along with its origin, material and an approximate date when it was woven. These give you better product knowledge and help you in choosing the better product.

Rug appraisals Alaska service is offered free of cost for the new carpets that you buy from the seller and only a reliable seller can give you the true appraisals. Just like any other service provider it is very important to choose a good one for buying carpets just because you do not change them every day and you invest lot of money in them. While choosing a seller you must look at the other services that they offer. It is good to have just one company or the person to sort out all your issues related to cleaning, maintenance or repair.

You can now go online to find any good seller and braided rug repair anchorage. You must read about them and about the kind of feedback that they get from their customers. Internet has made things so easy when it comes to finding out about anyone or anything in the market.

Double Bottomline Entrepreneurship

Today, I spoke with Dr. Ken Gibson, Founder of LearningRx, and listened to quite a fascinating story of an entrepreneur. Ken was an Optometrist, with a strong interest in business, and at some point, provided business consulting to over 300 Optometrists, before developing the methodology for training people to learn that is now at the heart of LearningRx.

LearningRx provides cognitive skills training that improve the brain’s ability to process information. The LearningRx training programs go beyond the symptoms of academic struggles to attack the root problem – the limitations to the student’s ability to learn. The training enhances underlying cognitive skills required to learn effectively – auditory processing, attention skills, comprehension, visual processing, memory, and problem solving. Once strengthened, these skills enhance the student’s capacity to learn.

Ken stresses, It’s training, not teaching or tutoring. It’s like giving a lecture on Piano versus training someone to play the Piano …

The best competing reading & learning program called Lindamood provides 2.3 years worth of improvement in 142 sessions. Ken’s program provides 4.8 years worth of improvement in 72 sessions.

In 1989, Ken started licensing this methodology to doctor’s offices and such, but soon realized that he needed a franchise infrastructure to reach more people. In 2002, he opened a Colorado Springs center, which within 4 months of existence threw up $225,000, with about 70 students participating over 3-6 month average duration.

Ken believes, engineers, not necessarily teachers, make his best trainers. Many engineers work at his centers, wanting to make a difference. Ken doesn’t allow any trainer to work for more than 15-18 hours a week, or 3 hours at a stretch. The process is intense, hence the precaution.

The first franchisee opened in 2004. Today, LearningRx has 32 centers around the country, with about 50 average active students bringing in anywhere between $250k-$500k / year. The number will surely go up, as the franchises mature! All franchisees have been recruited by Word-of-Mouth. Customer recruitment has been through a mix of newspaper and radio ads, although now moving largely toward direct marketing.

Our VCs invest money in so many incremental businesses … Ken Gibson’s bootstrapped jewel is one that makes a difference in many lives, and in my opinion, is worth scaling!

Improving Quality of Service with Retail Point of Sale Systems

As a business, you want the maximum return on your business investments. When thinking about implementing new technology to work with your retail point of sale system, the costs of start-up and training need to be low and the benefits high to make it a sound business decision. You want to be confident that the increased business will more than compensate for the initial outlay. Some suppliers seem to have forgotten this as they charge exorbitant prices for on-site servers and require expensive long-term commitments. They even charge extra fees for training and technical support. However, it is good to know that there are some retail point of sale system suppliers who have the medium to large business in mind. For businesses with anywhere from three to fifty locations, there are many options that will improve quality of service and profitability.

With the ability to manage your data on their servers at a secure location, costs associated with on-site servers and administrative overhead are eliminated. Upfront capital costs become monthly pay-as-you-go subscriptions that fit neatly into your business budget. Integrating your existing retail point of sale equipment, such as bar-code scanners and credit card swipes allows you to realize additional savings. The maintenance and upgrades for your retail point of sale software system are managed at the supplier’s state of the art data center. This ensures that each upgrade or new release will work seamlessly with your current equipment.

Your retail point of sale information can be accessed in real-time so that you can determine accurate stock on hand, in receiving or on order. Imagine the benefits of accurate, up-to-the minute information. Your sales will increase and your costs will be reduced. By having the information about merchandise at your fingertips, you will be able to better serve your customers. If an item is out of stock at one location, you will be able to determine immediately where a duplicate item is located and how quickly you can have it to your customer. A happy customer is a return customer, which leads to increased sales. Costs are reduced as the possibility for duplicate orders is eliminated. With each location knowing what the other is ordering and so forth, costs can be reduced.

Having retail point of sale software that you can connect to from anywhere the Internet goes allows you incredible freedom. You can access information directly whether you are at a trade show or from any of your locations. If a problem arises while you are at home or even on vacation, you will be able to get accurate real-time information and make informed decisions. You won’t have to worry about not having the retail point of sale information that you need because it will all be yours at the click of a mouse or even on your iphone.

Sophisticated retail point of sale system software that is reasonably priced and easy to use is not just wishful thinking. Suppliers have jumped on the bandwagon to supply businesses with the tools they need and want to make their companies grow. In less time than you might think possible you can be receiving real-time reports on your merchandise that will help improve your bottom line.

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The Benefits Of Buying From RC Hobbies Store’s

If you are a serious hobbyist consider the benefits of shopping at RC hobbies store’s. With the increasing demand for Internet retail, it is difficult to find quality service and affordable pricing in the same establishment. Some consumers shop for hobbyist products online because it is convenient, other purchase hobbyist products online because it is affordable. If you want expert advice and access to all of the latest RC vehicles on the market consider the benefits of buying from RC store’s. Not only will you invest into your local economy, you will find high-quality radio-controlled vehicles that are not available online.

Personalized Service You Cannot Get on the Internet

While Internet e-commerce owners like to advertise quality customer service, no Internet merchant can match the service provided by friendly RC hobbies store’s. Most RC hobbies store’s are family-owned and operated businesses that dedicate themselves to offering quality customer service. If RC hobbies store’s do not offer quality customer service they will not stay in business for long. This is how you know a hobbyist retailer is honest and trustworthy. If the store has been in business for longer than 10 years, they have built a strong relationship with their customers.

See the Products You Want Firsthand

When you purchase RC vehicles and planes online, it is difficult to choose the right model. This is mainly because you cannot see the products firsthand. In addition to this, there is no way to test a product before you make the investment. RC hobbies store’s are happy to let you “test-drive” vehicles and “test-fly” planes. When you “try before you buy”, you can choose the best vehicle for your skill set and your needs.

Hobby-Grade Products That Are Not Sold in Retail Stores

RC hobbies store’s offer products that cannot be found in Wal-mart or Target. RC cars sold in regular retail stores are classified as “toy-grade” models. These models are made out of a plastic materials and are designed for children. Serious hobbyists understand the difference between hobby-grade and toy-grade RC vehicles. When you visit RC hobbies store’s the sales associates at the store can recommend the best model for your needs. They will also give you recommendations for the best vehicle additions and modifications to make your RC car run at its optimal level of performance.

RC store’s offer the best in pricing and options. In today’s technologically advanced society, customer service has fallen in importance. Now, more consumers are turning to the Internet in hopes of finding great deals from the comforts of their own home. If you still appreciate customer service and you want the best advice you can find in the world of RC cars, purchase your next RC sedan, truck, or plane from RC hobbies store’s and realize how much personalization matters.

Critical Call Center Metrics And What They Say About Your Business

Information technology can be a powerful tool or a great burden on a company, and call center reporting applications are no exception. Reporting is important but it’s also vital to track the right information. The most important call center metrics for your company may differ from those at another organization, but here are three metrics that are essential for nearly any telephone customer service operation.

First Call Resolution

A study by the Service Quality Measurement (SQM) Group found of all call center metrics, one of the strongest correlations with customer service comes from First Call Resolution (FCR). For example their study showed only 3% of customers who have their complaints resolved on the first call ended up defecting to a competitor, compared to 38% of customers who required two or more calls for resolution. Increasing FCR means lower call volume and lower operating costs. It also means higher employee satisfaction because a customer who is forced to call back is more likely to be hostile.

Low FCR can be an indicator of problems in the customer service system. Agents may not be sufficiently trained, may not have enough authority to resolve simple problems, or there may be software problems that prevent changes from correctly propagating through the system.

Forecasting Accuracy

Ideally call centers are staffed exactly to the number of calls received, but in reality this is difficult to achieve. Call volume fluctuates over the course of the day, week, month and year. When the center is understaffed, agents are stressed by the heavy workload and customers are frustrated by the long hold times. When overstaffed, the company is wasting money on agents who have little to do.

Examining past call center metrics allows managers to see how call traffic changes and staff accordingly. While they may never know why traffic always peaks the Thursday morning after a full moon, at least they can have enough agents on the phones to handle the calls.

Response Time

The longer someone is on hold, the less satisfaction the customer feels. Long hold times make customers feel they aren’t important and give them plenty of time to think about switching to a competitor. Slow response times are also bad for your agents, since they are more likely to get customers who are angry over the long wait. When call center metrics show high response time, either the center is understaffed, agents are not handling customers efficiently, or both.

Customer Satisfaction

We said we’d show you three important call center metrics but there is one more that is the most important of all. Just because the above numbers are good doesn’t mean your company is doing the job right. Maybe response time is down because agents are abandoning calls before resolving the problem. Maybe FCR is down because customers are taking their business elsewhere rather than calling back a second time. Never get so focused on the numbers you forget the real goal of customer service is customer service.

Getting Maximum Results of Automated Voice Calling

Automated voice calling is widely being used by different organization to serve their respective needs. However, getting maximum beneficial results of automated voice calling is very important for organizations using this innovative feature. For that proper planning and collection of relevant data related to customers is necessary.

Customer Care industry is among one of the most popular users of voice calling software. They use this feature in their IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems. This feature provides multi dimensional benefits to customer care industry. It reduces the extra burden of work related to product or service promotion from call centre agents. It keeps your customers better informed without additional time from your staff. Better customer support, lower cost of doing business, it just makes sense to use automated calls.

Proper Planning Key to Success of Automated Voice Calling
Before starting any pre recorded voice based promotional campaigns, one needs proper planning. Without proper planning, it is impossible to get positive results of voice campaigns. The planning phase includes three basic things:

Recording Fully Relevant Message Pre recorded messages are among the most important inputs for every voice based marketing, promotional or customer feedback campaign. So, its very crucial to record a brief but fully functional message that can put forward your words in front of potential customers.

Collection of Contact Numbers The primary intention behind every call to the customers or client is to present your products and services in front of him in best possible manners. You also need to ensure that your words are being heard by your targeted pool of customers. For that, you need to ensure correctness of numbers present in your contact’s database.

Perfect Timing to Call Usually people do not prefer attending anonymous calls or calls intended to marketing and promotional offers all the time. So it will be better, if you maintain different database of your customers according to their preferred timing to attend such calls. You can get details of their preferred timing through your Customer Relationship Management system.

Ensure Ways of Accepting Response In case of positive interest your potential customers may require further details, therefore you need to ensure proper ways of providing further information to your customers. This is very important for conversion of potential customers to registered customers.

If you are having a perfect plan along with all the above-described things on place, then no doubt you will get the best results of your voice calling campaigns.

Inventory replenishment for better customer service

The key to the success of any business is the availability of the product when the customer desires for it. Once the business plan is made and the marketing takes off the next most important step is inventory forecast based on the market reaction and eventually inventory replenishment.

Inventory management was initially done manually that involved whole lot of manual calculation. The retail buyers too were experts in maximizing their sales while maintaining an inventory that was in line. There were many however, who struggled to maintain sales and inventory in line. These retail buyers turned their inventories at a very slow rate trapping in a lot of cash that would mean less profits and a whole lot of overstock every season. There were still others who sold at a certain rate without maintaining inventories. These retailers were unable to keep up the pace of sales due to less stocks loosing out in a long run.

The innumerable soft wares available today solve the problem of manual calculation. The availability of retail information system caters to the needs and the requirements of the retailer for inventories. Retailers in all the segments have utilized the advances made in retail information technology to maximize profits.

As the applications become more refined with exact details of demand forecast and inventory management models, it still depends a lot on the skill of the business person to interpret the data available in the right manner. The applications after all will not be able to do thinking for you. The thinking and interpretation needs to be done day in and out for profits. The applications will only facilitate the individual to take right decisions and make the inventory management work in the retailers favor. Sales planning and inventory replenishment modules too are usually incorporated in the sophisticated inventory planning packages.

ERP is an effective inventory management tool specifically aimed at the small retailers. These packages are however, not utilized to the fullest by the small retailers due to the limitations of the demand prediction and inventory management functions normally included in these soft wares. These tools capture the data provided and address the reporting in an amazing number of combinations. These soft wares have short comings that should be taken into account and not followed blindly. Demand forecasting should inventory management functions are just not sufficient to efficiently manage their stock.

The basic rules of inventory management and retailing remain unchanged. A successful business person has to understand the end customer well. Their needs, requirements and future expectation need to be taken into consideration. All this along with the data from past and the present day trend will help to formulate a basic successful inventory plan. The plan needs to be updated on a daily basis as the season progresses and specific trends have to be worked upon on urgent manner. Use the latest technology effectively for positive end results but do not solely depend on it.

Customer Service Making Every Phone Call Great!

Customer Service: Making Every Phone Call Great!

The phone rings. I answer it with trembling hand, because at the time I was an Eastern Regional Customer Service Manager for Matheson Tri-gas. Outside calls usually meant a displeased customer that asked for the manager. I thought “What did one of my customer service representatives do now?” After taking a deep breath, I answer the call to an anger customer. Funny thing was that the customer did not have a real problem… No late delivery, No billing issue, etc. He just did not like the way the customer service representative talk to him in a gruff manner. In fact, he got the information he needed. This article focuses on how to make every call GREAT!

What makes a GREAT call?
These five points will make your calls go smoothly and inspire that WOW feeling in your customers.

Greet the customer with style
The greeting sets the tone for the call. Before picking up the receiver, you should take a deep breath and get focused in the moment. Ready, Set, Go and answer the call. You need to answer the phone with the same greeting every time. The greeting starts with the “Hi”, “Hello”, “Good morning”, or “Good afternoon”. Next step is to state your company’s name. This might sound simple but you want the customer to know that they reached the right business. Third, you build instant rapport by stating your name. Finally, ask “how may I help you?” This statement leads into our next important topic of the tone of your voice.

Set the tone with your voice
Voice tone is a vital ingredient to the great call. You see, we receive almost 80% of a message through non verbal communication. On the phone, you stripe out all the hand motions, body postures, and facial expressions of a face to face conversation. This leaves you with only the tone of voice for non-verbal communication on the phone. To get the full impact on the phone, I suggest slightly exaggerating your tone of voice and voice inflection. Yes, I know it will feel strange at first, but you don’t want to end up like the customer service rep in the story above. Do you?

Smile
Tom Hopkins, a world renowned speaker on sales, says to place a mirror on your desk and smile before answer the phone. I got all of my customer service rep mirrors for their computers. Why smile? Smiling puts you in the right frame of mind, to answer the call with compassion and empathy. Smiling also affects your voice tone, helping you not sound so gruff. Even if the customer is angry, keep that smile on our face. It will help you control your emotions so that you will remain calm under fire and not get defensive.

Use their name
Nothing builds rapport quicker than using the customer’s name. On the call, you should say there name at least 3 time during the call. If you have difficulty remembering names, the best tip for this is to repeat it back to them. When the customer says “Hi, my name is Tom”, you simply say “Hi Tom, how can I assist you today?” or “Hi Tom, how are you today?” Don’t stop there. I always have a pad and paper next to the phone and write it down. If you can not understand, for example a customer with a heavy accent, I ask them to spell their name. I suggest stating their name at the beginning of the conversation, somewhere in the middle, and at the end, which takes us to the final point of thanking the caller.

Thank the caller
Thanking the caller is an often missed but important step. Thank the caller and make sure you use their name in the process. Instead of just stating goodbye, thank them for using your business. This step makes the customer feel appreciated and leaves a positive last impression.

As you can tell, you can minimize problems and create a great call with slight adjustment to your interaction with the customer. By starting the call with an excellent greeting, a great tone, and super attitude, you benefit by the customers reacting to you more positively. Most importantly, remember to make every call GREAT.