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"I wish I'd had this book when starting my business! I have read
many books on the topic of starting a Virtual Assistant business
over the years and can honestly say "Failure Is Not An Option" is
the most comprehensive handbook I've seen. Patty walks you through
every aspect of setting up and starting your VA business, including
examples and templates of important forms and documents. Throughout
the book, concrete examples make it easier to adapt the advice to
your own situation. If you set up your business as you work through
the book, you will have a solid business model and a jump-start on
landing your first client by the end. If you're serious about
starting a Virtual Assistant business, you need to get this book!
It's an investment you won't regret."
Cindy Opong President, Creative Assistants, President-Elect
2009-2010 IVAA, www.ivaa.org,
www.CreativeAssistants.com
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Customer Dis-Service
By Patty Benton
On any given errand day, I can walk into almost any store and deal
with a bad customer service representative. While looking for an
item, such as out-of-stock laundry detergent, I’m met with frowns,
blank stares, and “I don’t know” types of answers. Whatever happened
to great customer service and pride in one’s work?
Customer service can be defined as simply the ability to provide a
product or service in the way promised, but it should be viewed by
business owners and employees as so much more. Customer service
should be viewed as customer care. Not only should you treat your
customers the way you’d want to be treated, but you want to go above
and beyond even that. Customer care should be viewed as one of the
basic philosophies of your business. Without your customers, you
wouldn’t have a business. They should be treated with respect at all
times. Not only should you be providing the highest quality goods or
service in your market, but you should be doing so with the right
attitude, the highest amount of knowledge, technical support and
doing so with a smile.
Customer service is a dying art form in most businesses today. It’s
like they don’t care about their customers at all. Salespeople and
store employees often display a complete lack of respect for the
customers, no willingness to learn about the products or services
they’re representing, and even the lack of a smile on their faces.
Lack of good customer care leads to disgruntled customers who
complain to other potential customers about their bad experiences,
loss of income and potentially even a complete shut-down.
Customer service skills shouldn’t be employed only when customers are
complaining, nor should it be used only as a last resort by a manager
who’s called over to deal with an escalating situation. Customer
service should become one of the cornerstones of your organization.
Every contact with your business should leave the customer feeling
respected, cared about and content with the outcome.
Train your employees to think about angry/rude/impatient customer
situations like this:
-
Am I
doing something to elicit this response from the customer?
-
Do I
deserve this behavior?
-
Why is
the customer acting this way? What can I do to improve it?
Any representatives of your business should always answer any and all
questions from your customers as promptly as possible, as politely as
possible and with a smile.
When you utilize good customer service skills and truly value your
customer’s place within your company, you will earn more business.
They will refer friends and family to you for the same great service
they received and they’ll keep coming back themselves. Let your
customers know that they’re the backbone of your business and build
relationships with them. Give them the “mom-and-pop” shop
sentimentality, even if your company is more like a mega-mall.
Looking for more resources on customer service? Visit:
www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz
www.customerservicemanager.com
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