Having to deal with angry and upset customers is by far one of the worst responsibilities we must face on a day to day basis in the world of sales and business. However, this responsibility, like so many others we must face on a daily basis, just comes with the territory.

Customers become angry for all sorts of reasons. Some are legitimate reasons.  Some are not. In any event it is our job to defuse the situation. Here are a few tips on how you can calm your customer down and put them at ease. (more…)

With so many automated answering services for businesses out there, customers often find themselves extremely frustrated, wishing they could talk to a live answering service instead.  Answering services have gone the route of letter writing – it’s all gone to computers in an attempt to make life simpler.  However, most customers prefer to talk to an actual person when it comes to their concerns, rather than a cold, unfeeling machine.

From the moment that an actual person answers a call made or transferred to a live answering service, a bond begins to form.  Personal interaction begins from the very first greeting, and the feeling that your customer is not just a commodity to be transferred over to an automated recording can be overwhelmingly touching.  Of course, with today’s busy communications demands, your customers may only receive a friendly sounding voice and an upbeat manner, but that’s really all that’s necessary to maintain a positive outlook regarding your business. (more…)

How would you like to get paid to go shopping? That’s right! Get paid to shop for clothes, eat in restaurants, watch movies, play golf, travel, and so on.

You can have your cake and eat it too! Enjoy the best of both worlds. Make money and have fun at the same time as a mystery shopper.

What is a Mystery Shopper?

Sometimes known as a secret shopper, a mystery shopper looks like any other customer but is working undercover to perform market research or other tests on business establishments. (more…)

Call center monitoring software provides quality monitoring that improves the life cycle performance of campaigns. Phone calls received by a call center are monitored to make sure that customers are given the appropriate and correct information for solving their problems. Monitoring tools can track calls from the time they are received by the call center agent to completion.

Call monitoring can be live or recorded.  Most call center systems provide for both ways to monitor live calls.  The “barge in” facility means that a supervisor is able to join the call in a conference, while “listen in” means that a supervisor can only listen to the call, and cannot talk with the customer or the representative. In addition to these monitoring options, some systems allow a supervisor to take over and close the call. (more…)

When you listen to a customer (or co-worker, spouse, significant other), your brain is constantly making hundreds of assumptions.  Each word, inflection, and tone of voice is interpreted, but not always as the speaker intended.  Research shows that 2/3rd of all employees feel management isn’t listening.*

We all think we know how to listen, yes?  The fact is that very few people know how to truly listen.  In our earnestness to serve, we get pulled out of a conversation by preparing for the answer while the other person is still talking.  We wait for a pause and when the person takes a breath, we jump in to improve or remedy the situation.   (more…)

Most businesses spent time attracting customers to a product or service, trying to win their trust and then ending the whole process with a sale. That tactic seems obvious to most people. What often is neglected is the post-sale follow up with customers, particularly when it comes to online businesses. We should look at the time after a sale as an opportunity not only to improve our products but also to establish long-lasting relationships with our customers.

It takes much more effort to win a new customer than to maintain a relationship with an existing customer. But maintaining current customer relationships is just as critical and I’d even dare to say, more important than gaining new customers. What can we do to keep our established customers feel appreciated? You need to follow up with your customers. (more…)