Customer service articles are in high demand these days. Our company periodically subscribes to, well, periodicals actually - ezines and magazines that give advice and inspiration for improving customer service. We think keeping a sharp focus on each customer is what drives sales, strengthens customer loyalty and ensures an organization's longevity.
The other day we were reminiscing about my early days in the phone systems business. I had spent years in nonprofit management and a simple twist of fate resulted in my changing directions dramatically . . . I became a telephone systems sales person. Yuck.
Well maybe not entirely. There weren't a lot of women doing it, that's for sure. The company was a solid, honest, family-owned business and they treated me like one of their own from the git go.The owner's focus was on developing everyone's customer service skills. Seriously, before I was allowed to even attempt to sell anything, I was required to ride around with the service technicians and help them with their work orders. The owner (let's call him Jon since that is, in fact, his name) - Jon was a genius for this I think.
It helped me to better understand the importance of the service side of our business, both from the technicians' perspectives as well as (significantly) from the customer's viewpoint. This helped to form a team between the typically divided sales and service sides of the house.
And the insight truly helped me 'stick' in this business. It gave me a technical foundation that also allowed me to really inform and interpret for my customers as they got on with the process of acquiring a business phone system. It gave me confidence in my ability to actually help and it made my customers more confident in me.
I will always be grateful to Jon for that experience because I've actually enjoyed this second career incarnation as much as the first. I thought I would be miserable missing the personal rewards of working in the nonprofit arena, even though my earning potential would be far greater selling phone systems. As it turns out, the profit margins are forever narrow, so maybe not so financially lucrative as I might have dreamed. But it has proved unexpectedly personally rewarding and many of my customers have become good friends.
We are serious about customer service. Recalling those days and recognizing how much emphasis we place on customer service, we agreed a part of this website needed to be devoted to quality customer service articles. The telephone is one of the most powerful tools we employ for service in any business.
In the current economic climate, paying sincere attention to the customer's needs is critically important. It is why, very soon, we will invite you to share any of your own advice, experience, recommendations for tools, inspiration, and anything else you'd like to offer this community to expand on the collection of customer service articles we can all share.
Click here for some general thoughts and specific examples on customer retention, loyalty and telephone customer service.
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