March 30, 2010 Can I Speak with a LIVE Person…PLEASE!?! Why are businesses using automated answering services during normal business hours, as a replacement to nice, friendly, helpful, AND LIVE, customer service representatives? Do business owners actually believe this is a good idea? An upgrade in customer service? I don’t know anyone who hasn’t felt utter frustration, at least once, after encountering an automated answering machine when calling to place an order or ask a question. The worst is the kind that is supposed to recognize your voice commands, but no matter how perfectly you enunciate, it can’t differentiate yes from no. When people call your business, they want to…
November 11, 2009 Always Question the Question…What Should Your Survey Questions Be? Like most things in life, form follows function, so when designing a good survey, you should be asking yourself what the purpose of the survey is, how often you will send out a survey, and to whom is your survey being sent. As we discussed last week, we are just talking about simple one or two minute surveys for your clients and prospects…anything longer or more intense should definitely be handled by a professional research firm. Try to keep the survey to 4 or 5 simple questions. You should always leave room for comments to be written in by your…
November 6, 2009 And the survey says…take a survey! How great would it be to have information such as: How your clients like your products/services? Would they recommend you to a friend? What other products or services that you offer are they interested in hearing about? How much money they plan to spend next year on your products/services? How was their last experience with your company or organization? What could be done to improve the quality of your products and services? Who are your competitors and why? What a treasure trove of useful and valuable information! How can you get all of that vital data? Just ask for it!…
