| LED Digest 2498: Customer Responsibility |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. September 24, 2007 Issue no. 2498 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Customer Responsibility ==-- ~ Liz Ross "...at what point does the customer take responsibility for a positive transaction?" --== Password Logistics ==-- ~ Richard Graham "...how do I go about checking who has the product and who doesn't?" ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Customer Service in Marketing ==-- ~ Martyn Gay "...on occasions one has to just tell the customer they are wrong..." ~ Shelly Cole "...that is another reason for bad customer service - the environment the employees work in." =========== NEW ================================== From: Liz Ross Subject: Customer service While we are on the topic of customer service.... at what point does the customer take responsibility for a positive transaction? I'd like some suggestion with a repetitive problem we have encountered for almost the entire 10 years we have been online, but have never fully conquered. How do you get customers to read a short paragraph to inform them of their options? When they don't read the instructions, they assume something other than what is written will occur. When that doesn't happen, they get upset and the customer is already irritated when they finally call or email us. We are in damage control at that point. The complexity of what we offer makes it necessary for the customer to select one of two processing options. If you would like for "a" to occur, then "do this". If you would like "b" to occur than "do this ". The "do this" instructions are brief (one to two sentences) and yet we continue to get emails and calls as to why we haven't done "a" when they followed the "b" instructions or vice versa. In short, I need to find a way to get customers to read those short instructions. We even moved it to a separate page in the cart program process so you can't progress until you select one or the other. We have added a phone number to the bottom for customers if they have questions on how to proceed, but ideally if we find the right method of explanation, customers would not need to call. We have a ton of returning customers, and once they get the hang of ordering they love it, "a" gets it there quick, "b" saves on shipping. When we talk to customers on the phone, the processing selections make sense and the order flows smoothly. So I know the problem is they are not reading before they select "a" or "b". Any suggestions would be greatly appreciate. Thanks, as always for the help. Liz Ross Customer Service at Victoria's Mall http://www.theperfectsolution.com -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Richard Graham Subject: Password Logistics Hello, Here's a problem I'm wondering if the LEDers can help with. The technical side is easy, but what I want to do is... * Have a "Product Users Area" on my website. * Only people who have bought the product can use it. Sounds simple. But how do I go about checking who has the product and who doesn't? I could put passwords in with future orders, but what about the thousands of people who already have the product? Or I could make people register online, but if they bought the product at a bookstore, how do I know they have it? Also my customer base is very, very low tech (many of them cannot use a mouse properly!). I also need to ban users who put their usernames etc. on internet forums. I'm pretty much stuck. Any ideas? Be genki, Richard Graham ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Martyn Gay Subject: Customer service > The big trick in any kind of customer service is to > make the customer feel that you believe "the customer > is always right" even when you know the customer is wrong. - Tom Aman, LED Digest 2497 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1909/190/ This is of course a general rule, but on occasions one has to just tell the customer they are wrong, even if you risk losing them. Businesses that cannot say "no" will rarely be successful. Some customers or potential customers will take advantage of your desire to please them. Here are some recent occasions where we've had to say no to a customer. 1) A customer who agrees to a schedule of work and a price, and then tries to continuosly add more and more items into the job once it has started, or been completed, but insists that the price stay the same (often claiming these items were "implied" by the schedule of work, so they didn't bother to include them). 2) A person who isn't actually our customer, who acquired an obsolete version of our software (some 4 years old) from someone else and now insists that its missing some features he considers it should include, and insists we add these at no cost to him. Yes, this really happened. I guess this is equivalent to me buying a 1960s Ford from a friend, and then contacting Ford and demanding they fit ABS, Airbags and fix the leaking radiator - all for no charge. 3) The customer who hasn't yet purchased our product, but wants to consume massive amounts of our time talking about it (rather than spending his time evaluating a free demo version). Any sales person can get a feel for a real customer who wants to buy, and a time-waster. Time spent on such people is time you are not spending helping genuine potential customers. In all the above cases one wants to keep the customer or potential customer happy. But sometimes people are unreasonable. You'll try to help them, try to keep them happy, but they'll always want more. Ultimately these customers are not the type of customer any business wants. They lose it money rather than making money. You and your employees only have a finite amount of time - aim to spend it giving excellent customer service to reasonable customers who are happy to pay for your product / service, not depriving these people of your time because you are tied up trying to keep unreasonable people happy. Martyn Gay ASP Shopping Cart Software www.cactushop.com ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= Why pay more for less? Some content providers charge extra to search-engine optimize copy. And some are so clueless, they don't offer SEO at all. A lot of good that'll do your site. At GetWebContent.com, we SEO everything we write without any additional charge whatsoever. Get it all, http://www.GetWebContent.com/LED ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Shelly Cole Subject: Customer service > The big trick in any kind of customer service is to > make the customer feel that you believe "the customer > is always right" even when you know the customer is wrong. - Tom Aman And yes, Tom - you are absolutely correct in this statement. Sometimes I amaze even myself with my ability to "soothe savage beasts" and remain calm and smiling - even when I think the best thing to do for them is to offer up a swift kick in the patootie while wearing really pointy-toed shoes. ;) I believe I've honed this wonderful ability from working for so many years with bosses who think my name is "cupcake", and even when I've been hired for a top-level position, they think I'm supposed to get the coffee and wear short skirts rather than actually do my job. (Ahhh...I'm so glad I'm self-employed now!) You know, come to think of it, I think that is also another reason for bad customer service - the environment the employees work in. I know any time I've worked in a place where I felt I was undervalued and overused / abused, the customer did suffer greatly. I know (as do all other employees who suffer under these conditions) that it's not *right*, but it's very difficult to work every day for an abusive jerk with power control issues, and smile pleasantly at the person coming through the door. So I think another point to bring up would be to ensure that the work environment you provide to your employees is a good and supportive one. As an example, one of the *best* places I ever worked - and I *loved* my job there - was in Minneapolis. If you've ever been there (or lived there) you know it's not the cheapest place in the world to live. I was paid $6.00 /hour, and I was literally homeless for about 6 weeks because I couldn't afford a place to live (I don't think I can park my car in downtown Minneapolis either - as I still have somewhere around $600 in outstanding parking tickets! LOL). But I loved that damn job - it was the best place ever, and I never once considered working anywhere else. I looked forward to going to work every day - even though it was long hours and it wasn't easy work to do. Instead of buckling under the pressure and expectations that were put upon me, it was such a great environment that I simply looked forward to the challenges every day, and when I *did* have interaction with customers, I was always smiling - no matter how stressed out I was. How many people can say that about *their* workplace? And because of that, I strive to be like that boss was to me. That is my goal - because I know if my employees (when I get some!) are as happy with me as I was with him (actually, *everyone* - as my co-workers were also excellent), then I know my clients will reap the benefits of that. But I know - that was way off-tangent. Both you and Adam (and Adam's dad!) took my little statement and turned it into an excellent point - one which I actually do believe in. I just didn't elaborate much on it! ~Shelly Cole Brass Blogs http://www.brassblogs.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. 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