Dealing With Complaints

Ouch! It happened and now you have to deal with it. Successful companies have found that customers who have complained and had their complaints dealt with to their satisfaction are more loyal than customers who never complained. This give you an understanding of how important it is to handle complaints quickly and efficiently.

You should have a timeline and a fair procedure in place for handling complaints. You should never let a complaint drag on or hope it goes away. If you are wrong, admit it, apologize, and make compensation. Then go the extra step and ask your customer what else you can do to win back their trust.

When a complaint is handled badly, not only does the customer feel like they have not been taken seriously, they take their business elsewhere and tell everyone why. Resolve the complaint quickly and your loyal customers will feel well cared for and give you referrals for your hard work.

Remember that an existing customer is more valuable than a potential customer.

What Sets You Apart?

It's no secret that our economy is in tough shape. And with so many jobs being lost you need to do something that sets you apart. You absolutely need to be indispensible and have a high level of emotional intelligence. Meaning, you need to "click" with your customers and really be in tune with their needs. It's not possible to read their minds, but you need to try.

Think about what makes you unique. What do you bring to your customers that no one else can. Every day you should be asking yourself and thinking about why you should be the "go to" person and go above and beyond everyday.

If you want your business to grow you need to be producing at a level that is above and beyond all the time.

Take advantage of different ways to improve your skill set. Get involved in different projects, take some classes, get yourself noticed.

In todays economy doing a good job is not good enough, you've got to be great.

The Crash

The modem fried in my computer 9 days ago. I felt a sense of panic. All of the work I have been doing is in my computer. All of my pictures, all of my writing, all of my personal thoughts, struggles and visions for what I dream my little business would someday be. I called Toshiba and talked with Tech Support several times before realizing that I would have to send my laptop off for repair.

I back up my computer once a week so everything is saved, and I am glad that I did. I finally got my pc back last night and everything is gone. My Toshiba Satellite is in original condition. No files, no pictures, no documents, nothing. I'm wondering at this point why all of my hard drive had to be dumped to change the modem? Is this a standard practice at Toshiba? I don't claim to be very computer literate and called my internet service provider (Surfbest) who walked me through getting back online and getting my email back up and running and has always been great in the customer service department. They always make you feel like you are the only person they have to deal with and are happy to help! A shout out to Wesley at Surfbest for great customer service this morning!

However, Toshiba customer service has some serious problems. They are rude and degrading. When I talk to a customer service technician I want to feel better about my problem when the conversation is over. I want to feel that the person that I have talked to cares about the product and the person on the other end of the phone. When I pay hard earned money for a big ticket item, I expect service to match.

Granted, Toshiba makes a good product, but they sorely lack in customer service.

This rant brings me to the reason for the post. Customer Service! As business people, our reputation is decided by how we treat our customers. Has Toshiba made me a repeat customer? No. Will my ISP (Internet Service Provider) get referrals from me for being so helpful and happy to talk to me this morning? A wholehearted YES! If you are having a bad day, don't take it out on your customers. If you don't care about your job, get a new one. If you have a bad attitude, change it, or someone will change it for you in short order.

Employees can make or break a business. Maybe you handle your business as it should be, but what about your employees? How are they answering the phone when you aren't there? Something to think about...

Keywords and Links

As an online presence and a store owner we rely on search engines to bring our customers to us. How can we use the search engines to our best advantage? I've written about keywords before, but they are important enough for another article and I will include links here as well.

Keywords are how our customers find us. What are keywords? Keywords describe your item. I make handmade clay jewelry, so the keywords, for my store items, would be, polymer clay, handmade clay jewelry, clay jewelry, polymer jewelry, North Shore Clay Jewelry, North Shore Clay, I think you get the idea. Use these keywords throughout the text of your site. What makes it tough sometimes is that some words are so obvious that they are only implied and are never stated often enough. Like your town name, state, or brand name. So let me go back to my keywords and revise the list now with the keywords that I left out. North Shore, Lake Superior, MN.
Be sure to use these "implied" words often throughout your text, certainly more than once.

Regarding links. Search engines consider incoming links as signs of popularity and will move you right up the list in a quick fashion. A successful tactic is to guest author an article at another site in exchange for a link. Exchange links with a fellow crafter. Etsy has many wonderful store keepers who help with this all the time. http://Etsy.com

A final word regarding your online profile. It is much better to use a few tools wisely and consistently than be spread so thinly that you can't keep up and have outdated information. Find out what works for you, what you have time for, and remember that keywords and links are, well, key!