The Ed.
Well-Known Member
I've recently seen two articles on two leading industry publications about how shoddy customer service and customer interaction can affect your business. While this is definitely true, I can't help but think these are mistakes that no business should be making these days.
First up, Professional Beauty published an article about research conducted by telephone answering service All Day PA that discovered that a survey, "of 1,000 UK consumers found that 25% thought retail businesses deliver poor customer service on the phone."
That's a quarter of business that are losing custom because they can't deal with consumers effectively on the phone. This isn't rocket science. This is an easy fix and one that, when done properly, can have a huge impact on the way consumers view your company, your brand and your product.
I suspect it's a little like those people who can't use the internet nicely. There's something that happens when people are not face to face that either allows for serious misinterpretation or encourages people to be less polite than they usually would be. Anytime you put a computer or a phone between human beings, you need to make sure that those human beings on your side of the connection are killing your customers with kindness. It doesn't matter how rude customers are (and boy, do we know how rude they can be!) your phone answerers need to be spotlessly clean in their interactions. Leave the rage for the staffroom.
The second article was published on the Scratch website and included advice from the wonderful Dina Andreou. Salon owner and Scratch columnist, this girl knows how to run a business and also know that it isn't just about offering the best manicure in town.
One of her pet hates is a huddle of therapists around the receptions desk. I couldn't agree more because every one of your clients needs to feel valued and if they're waiting around for therapists to finish conversations or are intimidated by an onslaught of therapists chatting (because, why else would you all be there?) then it's not a great start.
The good news is that most of you guys are already doing this but for those who aren't...these are super simple changes that you can all make TODAY and instantly improve your offerings. Cool huh?
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
First up, Professional Beauty published an article about research conducted by telephone answering service All Day PA that discovered that a survey, "of 1,000 UK consumers found that 25% thought retail businesses deliver poor customer service on the phone."
That's a quarter of business that are losing custom because they can't deal with consumers effectively on the phone. This isn't rocket science. This is an easy fix and one that, when done properly, can have a huge impact on the way consumers view your company, your brand and your product.
I suspect it's a little like those people who can't use the internet nicely. There's something that happens when people are not face to face that either allows for serious misinterpretation or encourages people to be less polite than they usually would be. Anytime you put a computer or a phone between human beings, you need to make sure that those human beings on your side of the connection are killing your customers with kindness. It doesn't matter how rude customers are (and boy, do we know how rude they can be!) your phone answerers need to be spotlessly clean in their interactions. Leave the rage for the staffroom.
The second article was published on the Scratch website and included advice from the wonderful Dina Andreou. Salon owner and Scratch columnist, this girl knows how to run a business and also know that it isn't just about offering the best manicure in town.
One of her pet hates is a huddle of therapists around the receptions desk. I couldn't agree more because every one of your clients needs to feel valued and if they're waiting around for therapists to finish conversations or are intimidated by an onslaught of therapists chatting (because, why else would you all be there?) then it's not a great start.
The good news is that most of you guys are already doing this but for those who aren't...these are super simple changes that you can all make TODAY and instantly improve your offerings. Cool huh?
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
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