August 22nd ,
2009 →
3:00 am
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admin
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Customer Service
No matter what type of business you’re in, you have customers. Whether you’re a small business or a department within a large company, customer service counts
. Have you asked your customers what they think of your service lately? Remember that negative comments spread much faster than positive comments. Good customer service requires some basic action on your part.
1. Answer Your Business Phone With Your Name
This can be your business name, your name, or both. If you are in a position where the person on the other end of the phone will carry on a discussion with you, make sure you include your name. Don’t make them ask.
2. Say Please And Thank You
We all learned this when we were young. How many times did your Mom or Dad ask you, “…and what do you say?” Carry what you learned in your younger years into your work.
3. Smile When Appropriate
When talking to customers face-to-face, smile when appropriate. It makes you and your business more personal. If most of your business is conducted on the telephone, smiles can help here too. Your voice will sound different when you are smiling. (If you need help with this, position a small mirror by your phone and practice, practice, practice!) Think about your own reactions when someone smiles at you. Convey these positive feelings to your customers.
4. Be Empathetic
Empathy doesn’t mean you agree with the person’s feelings, but it does indicate you acknowledge them. It will take you a long way in turning a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one. You can say something like, “I understand how upsetting that might be…”
5. Take Responsibility
Don’t pass the buck. Whether you’re the owner or an employee of a business, you represent that business with your presence. So maybe it’s not your “specific” job to handle the customer’s request or complaint. If you can’t personally handle it, make sure that you hand the customer off gracefully. Make sure the other person is there before you let the customer go or if necessary ensure that a message has been handled.
6. Make Commitments
Commitments guarantee that something will get done. It’s also a way to manage the customer’s expectations. A commitment is not, “We’ll get back to you in a couple of days.” A commitment is, “We’ll get back to you by 5:00 pm tomorrow.” This assures the customer that some action will be taken within a specific time frame.
7. Meet Commitments
Don’t make a commitment just to get rid of a customer. Make a commitment you can keep. A kept commitment builds trust. A missed commitment destroys trust. And once trust is broken, it takes much longer to rebuild.
You might be saying, “Well, these tips are just common sense. My employees and I practice these every single day.” Do you really? Have you asked your customers lately? A real simple gauge of your customer service is a follow up phone call with a few focused questions. Or, if you want to be more formal, a written survey mailed to the customer (with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope) also works great.
It takes these simple steps to provide basic customer service. Don’t allow your customers to say, “What ever happened to customer service?,” about your company!
Fresha Agency organizes regular workshops and consulting for companies who are interested in training their employees and managers in Customer service. We also provide a large area of expertise on a number of topics. Contact us for more information on info@freshaevents.com
Category :
Featured / General
August 22nd ,
2009 →
1:00 am
@
admin
Fresha Corporate Events
Essentially, a corporate event program has to do with planning activities, conferences, community projects, and other events that are all aimed at accomplishing the overall goals of the organization. Some of the events that fall under the broad umbrella of a corporate event program focus on internal needs and functions. As an example, companies with a number of locations may choose to have an annual or semi-annual conference for officers and key managers, providing a forum for education and sharing information of upcoming events and goals for the company.
Another example would be participating in business expositions and conferences where the company and its product line have a chance to attract the attention of new clients. A third variation of corporate programs has to do with involving the company with some need within the community where the company or a facility of the business is located.
Regardless of which type of corporate event program is involved, there are several essential aspects that must be addressed in order to make corporate events successful. One good place to start is defining the purpose and mission of the event. Arriving at a clear understanding of the reasons for the event will make it much easier from the perspective of corporate planning.
As an example, if the upcoming event that needs to be planned is a weekend getaway for the top five customers of the company, then the focus will be on making travel arrangements for the clients, including airfare, ground transportation, and hotel accommodations. From there, factoring in arrangements for meals and amusements, such as cocktail parties, golf, or concerts will be in order. In the event that the company wishes to formally recognize these clients, a testimonial dinner will need to be planned.
On the other hand, if the corporate event program planning is geared more toward an internal training conference, the focus will be somewhat different. An internal conference will involve planning the agenda, arranging for the speakers and facilitators for the sessions, determining if exhibits will need to be included, planning for meals and hotel rooms, and setting up a registration process. While pulling together a weekend event for a few valued clients may only take a couple of months, planning a large conference may be a process that could take six to eight months at the least.
Many larger corporations have personnel devoted exclusively to managing any and all of their corporate event program planning. These creative and organized persons will be called upon to handle everything from dinners for visiting prospects and customers, to planning events involving national exposure for the company. For companies that may limit their corporate event program to a few events of varying sizes each year, there is always the option of keeping a corporate event planner on retainer. As long as the corporate event program can achieve the goals desired by the company and remain within budgetary limitations, everyone will be happy with the results.
Fresha events offers a large variety of event packages and years of experience and knowhow to assure that all our clients receive the best service and experience possible. Contact us for more information on info@freshaevents.com
Category :
Featured
August 22nd ,
2009 →
12:02 am
@
admin
Fresha Events workshop programs
Workshops combine training, development, team-building, communications, motivation and planning. Participation and involvement of staff increases the sense of ownership and empowerment, and facilitates the development of organizations and individuals.
Workshops are effective in managing change and achieving improvement, and particularly the creation of initiatives, plans, process and actions to achieve particular business and organizational aims.
Workshops are also great for breaking down barriers, improving communications inside and outside of departments, and integrating staff after acquisition or merger.
Workshops are particularly effective for (CRM) customer relationship management development. The best and most constructive motivational team-building format is a workshop, or better still series of workshops, focusing on the people’s key priorities and personal responsibilities/interest areas, which hopefully will strongly overlap with business and departmental aims too.
Workshops can be integrated within regular monthly team meetings – an amazing amount of motivation progress and productivity can be accomplished with just a 90 mins workshop per month.
Workshop facilitation by a team leader or manager develops leadership, and workshops achieve strong focus on business aims among team members.
Workshops are very effective for training too – workshops encourage buy-in and involvement more than conventional training courses because they are necessarily participative, and the content and output are created by the delegates. Also, the relationship between workshop facilitator or workshop presenter and delegates is participative, whereas a ‘trainer’ is often perceived as detached, and the training material ‘not invented here’.
There are many workshop format variations – here’s a basic workshop format:
- Prior to workshop session identify and agree via consultation with the team the aim/opportunity area to be addressed.
- It’s also important to decide workshop objectives in relation to the team’s ‘maturity’, experience and development
- Set suitable date and venue for meeting and issue agenda, with verbal explanation/reassurance if necessary.
- At start of workshop, introduce aim and process – agree expectations – answer queries. (5 mins)
- Brainstorm the ideas and an opportunity with the whole group – flip chart is best. (10-20 mins)
- Split the group into pairs or threes (more usually creates passengers) and ask them to come up with outline actions/initiatives/plans to achieve agreed purpose/aim. (20-30 mins)
- Have groups present back their ideas – review and praise positives aspects in each, and gently agree areas which would benefit from improvement/refining. (max 5 mins per group)
- Then task and agree for groups or individuals to refine outline plans into clear objectives during the workshop, or afterwards to be fed back to manager, which can then be followed up and coached during implementation.
Follow up, coach, encourage, support and invite ideas for future workshop items and process improvements.
Category :
Featured / General
