Category: Business Tips

Customer service isn’t a nice-to-have in today’s competitive market. It’s a necessity that directly impacts a brand, customer loyalty, and sales growth. We’ve all been in the situation where we’ve had to call a business for a technical issue, account question, or other matter requiring some resolution.

Even if you begin the call in a frustrated manner, the representative’s tone, willingness to help and empathy can instantly change your view and create a positive experience. The bottom line of customer service is simple; your clients won’t be doing business with you for long if you do not provide the support they need.

Did you know that 91 percent of unhappy customers will not willingly do business with you again 70 percent of the time? That is a huge negative impact on your sales. Further, customers are more likely to complain about a situation to their family and friends than share a positive experience. So you’re not only losing the business of your existing customers, you’re losing potential business from people in their network. Customer service is the only way your customers will interact directly with your business, so keeping them happy will keep your business profitable and your reputation positive.

Resolve a complaint in the customer’s favor and they will do business with you again 70 percent of the time. It costs more for a company to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing customers because of advertising costs, sales calls, and marketing activities. When a client has a positive experience with a company, the consumer feels that their business is important to the company and that he or she is not just another sale. The consumer knows that if he or she encounters another issue in the future that the company will work to resolve the issue professionally and efficiently in a positive manner.

Customers overwhelmingly show appreciation for great service with their wallets. Measuring customer service over time helps an organization deliver better service as the company grows and evolves.  An example of measuring customer service includes surveying your clients after an issue was resolved over the phone. Customer service is a leading indicator of repeat business and differentiates your organization from your competitors. If you’re selling similar products or services, your service will make you stand out and ensure your customers choose your business every time. Your customer service not only allows you to maintain your client base but is essential to attracting new business.

The drive of business is profit and community betterment. To accomplish this goal, efficiency must be pursued. Automated customer service attracts business owners with the hope of streamlined processes and magnified manpower. But, does this promise bear out actual results in customer service? Research indicates live customer service reaps benefits over automated voices.

Customer frustrations

According to a poll by Harris Interactive, 75 percent of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent. Frustration with options that do not meet needs or address problems causes issues for consumers and, therefore, businesses. An American Express Survey (2011) reported that 67 percent of customers hung up the phone in frustration when not reaching a live voice. Living in a “Please listen carefully as our options have changed” world does not fit the fast pace of the society in which companies conduct business. Consumers want issues handled efficiently and to know their voice has been heard. Live customer service addresses these needs. Competent service representatives and personalization create a happy customer according to the Genesis Global Survey in 2009.

Customer experience

Customer service is the heart of a company’s business. An excellent product grabs the attention of a potential investor, but service holds that attention and leads to loyalty. According to McKinsey, 70 percent of product purchases are based on how customers feel they are treated. A difficult task for the automated voice is to sense and respond to a customer’s feelings. The inability to perceive and react in positive ways hinders profits. In fact, 78 percent of consumers have opted out of an intended purchase because of a poor service experience and 59 percent of Americans switch to a new brand or company for better service, according to the American Express Survey.

Superior customer service

While 80 percent of companies say they deliver “superior” customer service, only 8 percent of consumers of those same companies agree, according to Lee Resources. Talking to the customer is vital in assessing a business’ track record. Connecting with the consumer and identifying areas for improvement fit the role of the live customer service representative in ways automated systems cannot. This role becomes even more valuable considering data from Ruby Newell-Legner. Only four percent of dissatisfied customers voice complaints, and yet, many of the dissatisfied will not return. Businesses desiring positive outcomes must create natural opportunities for customers to offer feedback. Also, a live voice on the phone can gauge customer reaction and resolve issues in the best interest of both company and customer.

Every business knows that customer service is crucial to its survival. Without satisfied customers, companies will find themselves slowly losing business until there is no one left to sell to; as a result, maintaining a steady base of happy, loyal customers is the best way to ensure your long-term success. However, despite this knowledge, many businesses continue to make customer service mistakes that end up costing them in the long run. Here are four facts about customer service and what you can learn from them:

1. Customer service affects purchasing.

78 percent of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience, according to a 2011 American Express Survey. So, even if you have a superior product, don’t neglect your customer service department if you want your business to thrive; in the long term, the way that your business treats your customers matters. You can’t count on the quality of your product or service to see you through interactions with multiple dissatisfied customers.

2. Negative experiences are more long-lasting.

A business needs 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience, according to “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner. That’s why putting in time and money to build your company’s customer service skills is worth the investment – in the future, you won’t have to attempt to repair damaged relationships, and can instead build on a stable base of happy customers.

3. Dissatisfied customers turn to competitors.

59 percent of Americans  would try a new brand or company if it meant getting a better service experience, according to a 2011 American Express Survey. As a result, failing to provide a positive experience for your customers not only leads them to terminate their business with you, but to take their purchasing power to bolster your competitors.

4. Technology can impede customer service.

75 percent of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent, according to Harris Interactive. This means that the majority of customers have deal with Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems, which experts recognize as contributing to poor customer service. That’s not just because they often malfunction and are unable to recognize accented voices the way live agents can; overall, customers want to talk to real people, and see automated phone conversations as impersonal and unwelcoming.

The fastest way to upset a consumer who calls in requesting customer assistance is to place them on a quick hold where they’ll repeatedly hear an automated message reminding them of how important their call is, and then leave them on hold for 30 minutes or more. Just add a transfer to another department once or twice after that and you’re sure to get one infuriated individual. Why stop there, though? Why not ask them to verify their account information multiple times.

Time and time again, consumer study results exhibit the dichotomy that exists between how a company proclaims they treat their customers and how they actually treat them. In fact, being placed on long holds is the primary foundation of customer frustration when dealing with contact centers.

The naked truth is that there is a massive dichotomy in the area of customer service. Those workers that ring you up at the cash register or who answer the telephone at a call center are often the lowest paid, the least trained, highest turnover workers at the company, and yet they are still expected to be the most serviceable and knowledgeable out of everyone in the entire business. Even though we all intuitively know what decent customer service feels like when we’re on the receiving end, everyone doesn’t instinctively know how to deliver good customer service simply because they were told, “You have to.”

Managers are accountable for ensuring that their staff is empowered with the needed tools to provide excellent customer service which can be accomplished through vigorous training and providing efficient support when needed. We can’t expect our teams to deliver excellent customer service if they’ve been set up to fail with poor training and lack of support.

With customer service being available on multiple channels today, it is so important to train staff to deliver quality service and know who the customer is as well as their recent account history to avoid forcing your customer to repeat themselves time and time again. Inconsistency across data systems can also cause dissatisfaction in a client.

Budget cuts are a reality to many companies, and with that comes staff layoffs. Reducing staff as the number of customer inquiries continues to grow, may also cause a strain on the quality of service many contact centers can offer. In other words, maintaining a good call center will become a challenge. Alhough, it is not impossible. So long as companies are willing to learn from their mistakes, they have the ability to improve service and grow together as a united force.

The groan and impatient facial expression give away an inkling that the man on his cell phone has just hit the first series of automated options, “Please press one to …,” or maybe the seventh series. The generic and complicated automated message tries the most patient of souls. Talking to a live person is becoming an anomaly. Businesses are choosing automated phone menus to offer efficiency and cost savings.

Though automated systems may save money, the real hit comes to a company’s customer satisfaction. Customer irritation arises with the wait times of automated systems averaging one minute and 51 seconds, while live voice wait times average 51 seconds, according to Stella Services. Add the mere annoyance of wading through endless options which “may have changed” and not reaching the information or department sought after, and irritation is magnified.

Live human customer service can begin a sales relationship that benefits a company. The voice, automated or live, which picks up the other end of the call is a company’s first impression. A live attendant reinforces that customers are valuable – a powerful message in an increasingly impersonal world, and something the automated voice cannot accomplish.

How do the options of one, two or three solve problems? Not very well. While the menu may direct a customer to areas of information, it is less likely that the options presented can answer the complexities of customer service questions or solve problems. Also, with automated phone menus, the caller is likely to be further agitated when the call reaches a live agent (if it ever does).

Agitations of wait time, feeling unimportant and not getting answers or solutions can lead customers to hang up. In a society pressed for time, the call likely will not be repeated. Perseverance may just equate to calling another company. This solution, nor the result, are things a company wants to hear. The bottom line: lost sales.

While many of the top Internet retailers use automated phone menus, calling 21 percent of the top 100 will take you to a live voice. Amazingly, substantial business is being done on both accounts. However, the question remains, does good business equate to good customer service? The typical customer service line does not employ a live attendant. To be seen as atypical, to make their mark in an impersonal, automated world, it stands to reason that a company benefits from a live voice at the other end of the customer service line.

If you are interested in hiring a virtual receptionist, adding a live voice to the other end of the customer’s phone call, contact GabbyVille today.

Are you having issues staying inspired in your day-to-day life? Podcasts are a great way to connect with like-minded people, and find new ways to increase inspiration, productivity, and many other useful skills.

Knowing where to start with podcasts can be difficult, especially if you’ve never listed to one before. To help readers out, we have scoured the Internet to find the 11 best podcasts you need to listen to for inspiration. Check out our choices and start finding new ways to get inspired today!

1. Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll is famous for his vegan-fitness lifestyle. If you want to learn to mix entrepreneurship with excellent nutrition, there are few podcasts out there that are as high quality as the Rich Roll Podcast.

2. Runner’s Connect

Do you fancy yourself a running enthusiast? If so, the Runner’s Connect provides a great way to feel connected with your fellow runners, and become more and more inspired with each passing day.

3. This American Life

A podcast continuation of the uber-popular NPR radio show, This American Life provides a wide variety of topics that keep you informed about the pulse of America. Listen up if you want to be inspired in a humble manner.

4. StartUp Podcast

Need to understand how you can get your business off the ground successfully? The StartUp Podcast features tons of amazing guests who will set you on the right path.

5. The Moth

Do you love a good story? Increase your inspiration for telling a good story to customers, or whoever, with this entertaining and accessible podcast. The Moth is known for helping readers to connect to inner-feelings to inspire new productive trains of thought.

6. The Tim Ferris Show

Winner of a “Best of iTunes” award in 2014, The Tim Ferris Show helps people “de-construct excellence.” For valuable insights into how excellence, success, and innovation can occur, this podcast is a must-listen.

7. Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Need more happiness in your daily life? Gretchen Rubin’s podcast helps millions of listeners adapt their lives to be more satisfying. His inspiring tales and guest hosts have many stories to get you excited about the next big challenge in your life.

8. The Chalene Show

Fitness expert, social media coach, author, life coach; these are just a few of the honorable titles given to the host of The Chalene Show podcast. For a variety of energy-filled tips to improve your daily life, be sure to check out this inspiring podcast.

9. The Foundation

Hosted by Kevin Rose, The Foundation podcast is meant for tech-savvy entrepreneurs looking to stay updated about new giants in the tech world and beyond.

10. Genius Types

Made by a self-described “student of creativity, entrepreneurship, and personal growth,” the Genius Types podcast will help you determine new approaches for becoming inspired and productive.

11. LifeHack Live

A quality weekly podcast from one of the web’s most popular lifestyle blogs, LifeHack Live provides great tips, tricks, and hacks to help improve your day-to-day life. Your next big breakthrough in productivity could come from the awesome information in this informative podcast.

Trying to keep inspired can be difficult if you are constantly weighed down by small, frustrating tasks. If you hire a virtual assistant, you will free up tons of time on your schedule, allowing you to completely focus on other valuable activities that will keep you productive. To start a free trial of a quality virtual assistant program, check out Gabbyville!

Customers are the lifeblood of your business organization. You may offer the greatest product or service on the planet, however without customers to purchase these items your company will fail. Your lifeline to prevent this from happening is the phone line that delivers calls from customers and potential customers. Missing a phone call is equivalent to missing a sales opportunity.

It is impractical to think that you, or your office staff, can answer every single phone call made to your business on a given day. Here is where an answering service steps in. Answering services can serve as an extra set of hands helping you capture as much customer interaction as possible, even at your busiest times of the day.

What It Is

An answering service serves as the virtual receptionist for your office. This service is there to handle phone calls when you are out of the office, in a meeting or with another customer. You can also use an answering service to handle the overflow of phone calls when your office lines are full.  It frees up time for your in-house office staff to handle other tasks without leaving customers feeling unimportant because their phone call went unanswered or they were unable to get through to an actual person.

The answering service can merely serve as a messaging point that makes customers, and potential customers, feel value and appreciation when reaching out to contact you. Your virtual receptionist can answer a real-time call to your office, place the call on hold for a brief moment and forward it to you wherever you are at the moment the call comes in. The customer on the other end is never made aware of the fact that you may be on the golf course. To that caller, it is business as usual.

Answering services can also do more than handle incoming office phone calls. Additional features often include scheduling customer appointments and making reservations as needed. It just depends on what products or services your business offers.

How It Works

The first step in having an answering service in place for your business is finding a company that you like. Take the time to find a service that feels like a perfect fit. The right one will feel like an extension of your business and not an outsider.

This answering service will serve as the initial point of contact for your customers and any potential clients that reach out to you. Remember that first impressions are everything when it comes to doing business. Your answering service of choice will be the one to provide that crucial first impression. Once you find an answering service that creates an excellent customer perception of your business, they can start working as early as that next call that comes across your business phone line.

Upon account activation with your new answering service you will receive a phone number that you can use to forward incoming business calls to the service as you need. Most phone services allow for a hassle free set-up for you to forward phone calls from one phone number to another. A click of a button forwards incoming calls to the answering service. It turns off in a similar manner when you can handle incoming calls.

You never miss a phone call as the answering service is now in place to handle the calls until further notice. You will also have no worries about customers needing your immediate attention.

When those type of calls come into the answering service, they reach out to you instantly to give you the necessary details before forwarding the call to you.

Other phone calls and tasks that you have selected for the answering service to manage receive the appropriate action. You can pick up your messages throughout the day or at the end of each business day or period that the service handles your incoming phone calls.

Personalize It

An answering service works in the same manner as your in-house receptionist does. You have the liberty to personalize how the service answers incoming calls, what the service says to the person on the phone line and how to resolve issues that arise.

The answering service works for you. That means that if your in-house receptionist answers all incoming phone calls with a personalized script that you created, your answering service does the same. Your attention to such a simple detail will establish a sense of familiarity with your customers that call your business. It will be impossible to tell which calls are being handled right in your office and which are passing through to an answering service located elsewhere.

You will have the peace of mind in knowing that all of your incoming phone calls are being handled in the same approach each time the phone rings. It’s a small amount of consistency with a big impact on your reputation and ultimately your profitability.

Your productivity level is a major key to the level of your success in business. Productivity goes hand in hand with meeting deadlines and satisfying higher-ups, underlings, and customers. However, maintaining a high level of productivity is often more difficult than it seems. Too often, we try to juggle too many bowling pins only to see them go crashing to the floor. One way to boost your productivity is by hiring a virtual receptionist. A virtual receptionist can perform many of the necessary tasks to help keep your business continually productive.

Lead Generation

One way a virtual receptionist can help you maintain a high level of productivity is by generating leads. Any small business owner knows that good leads are essential to sustaining the company, especially one that is Internet-based.  A strong virtual receptionist knows the ins-and-outs of generating good leads for any business and can spend the time and effort that is necessary to do so. Generating good leads is a skill that requires dedicated time that most business owners do not have to give, so hiring a virtual receptionist can easily and quickly bring in new customers that can help sustain the business.

Maintaining an online presence

We live in a world that is driven by the Internet. Any small business owner who wants to survive needs to have on online presence. Businesses used to be able to get by with a simple website, but that is no longer the case. Now, the website needs to have a regularly-updated blog as well as fresh content. A business also needs to be accessible through social media. So, a Facebook page, Twitter account, and Instagram account are all essential. But, managing all of these tools is time-consuming. It is impossible for a business owner to maintain and update a website and multiple social media sites. But, a virtual receptionist can step in and handle all of the day-to-day responsibilities of monitoring the website, writing blog posts, and maintaining a social media presence, allowing you to concentrate on the other parts of your business.

Administrative tasks

You never realize how much time and effort it takes to complete daily administrative tasks until you have to do them yourself. A small business can easily stagnate if administrative duties are not taken care of. However, when you are completing those tasks, the work you need to complete to propel your business suffers. Hiring a virtual receptionist can solve your problems. A virtual receptionist can take control of the daily administrative tasks, leaving you time to focus on the bigger picture.

If you are looking for ways to be more productive in your business, consider hiring a virtual receptionist. The extra set of hands can help you maintain your productivity without having to take the time to hire additional staff, train them, and hope they are a good fit. Contact gabbyville.com today to see how hiring a virtual receptionist can help increase the productivity of your business.

If you can pinpoint the exact emotion you’re feeling, or if you can easily read the emotions of others, you may be emotionally intelligent. People who have a high level of emotional intelligence (EI) can manage their emotions in a productive and healthy way. Here are seven bad habits to avoid when trying to become more emotionally intelligent.

1. Ignoring Your Emotional Reactions

Many of us are so busy with meetings, deadlines, and other demands that we sometimes brush off the emotions we feel about particular events or situations. Our emotions can give us valuable insight into the situation at hand. Hiring a virtual receptionist can give you the extra time you might need to listen to and trust your emotions.

2. Blaming Others for Your Feelings and Behavior

Fortunately, none of us are on puppet strings being controlled by the people around us. However, when someone says or does something that hurts us, we feel like they caused us to feel a certain way or react a certain way. Once you take responsibility for your feelings and actions, your life will be positively impacted.

3. Refusing to Empathize with Others

Your EI will improve greatly when you take the time to understand why someone feels a certain way and communicate that to them.

4. Judging Others and Yourself Critically

Judging others just makes you feel superior to them and does nothing for your EI. Restraining from making negative comments can boost your EI.

5. Panicking Under Pressure

Rather than blowing up or freaking out, take a minute to calm yourself and work to find a solution to the problem at hand. Help avoid the pressure that may cause panicking in the first place by hiring a virtual receptionist to take some of your daily responsibilities off of your hands.

6. Allowing Negative Emotions

An important part of increasing your EI is changing your perspective on situations that may typically give you negative emotions. Don’t personalize other people’s behaviors. This will help you avoid misunderstandings.

7. Ignoring Your Body

Our minds and bodies are connected, and our emotional responses often manifest themselves physically, too. You can improve your EI by paying attention to how certain emotions make you feel physically. For example, stress can give you a knot in your stomach or shoulder pain.

By adjusting these seven bad habits, you will be well on your way to improving your emotional intelligence. Hire a virtual receptionist from gabbyville.com to give you the extra time during the day you need to focus on how you are feeling.

 

You see them all the time: people who seem to have it all, who are able to somehow make their businesses take off, win coveted awards, or achieve national acclaim. You watch them make headlines and wonder how you could ever achieve “success” on the level that they have.

What few people realize, however, is that those seen as “successful” actually aren’t so different from the rest of us; they aren’t supernatural beings, but just regular people who happen to be really good at what they do. The way they achieve success is by utilizing a few common qualities that few people ever fully harness. As a result, highly successful people have these six common denominators:

1. Passion

The number one difference between a person who succeeds and one who doesn’t is the passion and effort that they put into their work – because chances are that if you don’t care about what you’re doing, you’re not going to get very far with it. Successful people are highly passionate about their work, and this allows them to work harder without ever burning out, because they care about the outcome of their efforts.

2. Focus

Energy is great in the search for success, but it does nothing if your energies are scattered. Instead, it is important to have goals and focus on achieving them. You can start dozens of projects, but move on to the next one before you really have time to fully develop each one, or you can focus all of your efforts on helping one project succeed and reap the benefits.

3. Risk-Taking

You’ve heard it many times before: “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” Highly successful people take this to heart – recognizing that you can’t really achieve without putting yourself out there and getting out of your comfort zone. This comes with taking risks, and sometimes losing. However, determination will see you through to the idea that finally takes off.

4. Innovation

Success doesn’t come from resting on your laurels; you have to constantly be searching for the next big idea, the newer model, and the next innovation that will catapult your work to the next level. Success means never truly being satisfied. More can always be done and achieved.

5. Hard Work

It may seem like a no-brainer, but success requires hard work. Most of the highly successful people you know haven’t gotten there without a significant amount of time, effort, and sometimes monetary backing.

6. Help

Even though the road to success may be a solitary journey, few people could realistically balance all of the tasks needed to achieve their goals. A virtual receptionist, such as those offered by gabbyville.com, helps you manage your to-do list and keep track of important appointments so that you can focus on the bigger picture.