Posts in "Communication"

Communication Customer Service Technology

Integrate Technology

0 Comment read

“The purpose of a business is to create a mutually beneficial relationship between itself and those that it serves. When it does that well, it will be around tomorrow to do it some more.” John Woods

With escalating costs and the need to constantly maintain bottom line numbers, many companies are switching over to handling customer support services via technology platforms. Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Self Service Kiosks and online knowledge banks have greatly reduced costs for organizations, but, has an over reliance on these technologies resulted in a decrease in overall customer satisfaction?

Like most things in life, balance needs to be kept, so it is with integration of technology into your customer service function. The telco I was dealing with has an IVR service which you need to dial out from your mobile, since my phone was not able to make any outgoing calls the system directed me to another number which did not work either. At this point, I switched to the next logical source for information which was the website. The website did not have any knowledge banks relating to the issue at hand and did not even list the call center number I could call from a land line. In this day and age of web technologies this was disturbing. I ended up having to google several keywords to finally find the number.

The lesson to be learnt is, that focusing all your energy on just one touch point, such as a contact center is not the best of strategies, specially when deploying other web based and self service options are not as expensive. It is true that return on investment is marginal for these strategies, however, they lay the foundation for a much more holistic and comprehensive customer service solution for the future. Leveraging on tools for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) such as Salesforce, ZohoCRM, HighriseHQ can also be effective ways to keep track and even develop metrics around your customer service function.

Either way, as a startup organization you need to develop strategic roadmaps to help you handle customer service requests as you begin to scale. These will involve a number of technology solutions, what needs to be remembered when integrating is:

1. Keep a balance between technology and the human element.

2. Leverage on your website to provide detailed knowledge banks on prior complaints & questions.

3. Develop strategies to store and easily refer to archived customer interactions and data.

4. The ability to escalate complaints which have a higher level of priority.

5. Doing all of this while keeping it simple for the customer.

 

Advice Communication Customer Service Teams

Hiring the Right Individual

1 Comment read

“As far as customers are concerned you are the company. This is not a burden, but the core of your job. You hold in your hands the power to keep customers coming back – perhaps even to make or break the company.” Anonymous

My extensive interaction with the telcos’ customer service department brought to the fore, the job vs responsibility concept which I have talked about briefly in previous posts. The concept is simple . When you are in hiring or partnering, you should look for individuals who are problem solvers and have it in them to go further than just completing the task at hand in a hierarchial manner. Those who willingly take the initiative to do more than is asked of them for the organization.

Customer service revolves around making all the touch points within your organization as simple, reliable and efficient as possible. Most of the time these touch points will result in a direct connection between customers and the employees of the organization. This is a critical connection, one upon which your business relies on heavily. It is therefore essential, when hiring individuals for this function, that you place relevant emphasis on the personality and temperament of these individuals. Bypassing this process because it has a high upfront cost and no apparent tangible return on investment is shortsighted. In the case of this particular telco, it has over 20m subscribers and a massive network of contact centers. At this point, to re-structure their hiring policies and procedures will be prohibitively costly. This is why a culture for superior customer service must be put in place from the start.

In essence if you are looking to develop world class customer service capabilities, you should hire individuals who:

1. Know the difference between a Job vs Responsibility.

2. Are truly passionate about helping others and problem solving .

3. Believe in the service/product that your organization provides.

These qualities may appear to be simple, yet many companies do not even factor them into the hiring process. Hiring the right kind of people for the job will give your organization the competitive advantage to help the customer choose you!

Communication Culture Customer Service

Creating a Culture

2 Comments read

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” Max DePree

Building an organization where you want exemplary customer service requires senior management to build a culture from the top down. If you are a new startup this should be an area which needs to be emphasized right from the beginning to help you create a culture which will permeate throughout the organization when you scale. So how do you go about creating a culture for customer service?

1. Make customer service as objective and tangible as possible. Place benchmarks on just about everything which relates to the customer from the time it takes for you to reply to an email, send out a quotation to delivering the product. Customer satisfaction surveys should be in place to help you assess how satisfied the customer was with the product/service, how you are doing with trouble shooting over the phone and email and what needs to be done to increase the customer’s level of satisfaction.

2. Once certain procedures and benchmarks are in place, training to optimize the level of customer service must be provided on these processes. This will equip your employees to better understand, perform and serve customers. It also reflects how serious the organization is about this function. A lot of great companies such as Disney, Starbucks and Commerce Bank are prime examples of how intense training from the time you are hired has created a world class customer service culture.

3. Showcase and reward staff who display outstanding customer service. Employee recognition sends a message through the organization and creates personal benchmarks for everyone to achieve. It motivates them to perform at their highest level and this sets a much higher standard in the organization.

4. If you do hire an employee who ends up not sharing the same core values relating to customer service, as senior management, you should let those employees go as soon as possible. This shows how important senior management takes this function and their level of dedication to delivering the highest levels of service.

During the 30 hour period while I was disconnected I probably spoke to approximately 20 representatives at the organization. I went to their office, talked with them on the phone and exchanged emails. All three contact points gave me a completely different experience. I came across different types of individuals some who took their jobs seriously and others who simply couldn’t care less.

Being entrepreneurs and individuals responsible for the direction our companies take we need to establish a culture for superior customer service from the start. This will ensure that when we eventually scale, these values will be deeply embedded and scaled likewise as well.

Communication Customer Service Strategy

Please hold your call is important to us

0 Comment read

“The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.” Peter Drucker 

Those are 8 words I really do not  enjoy hearing from a machine, especially when I am not having the best of days. In this day and age when customer service is a deciding factor in whether a company is successful or not I am continually surprised by the lack of importance given to this function. This blog series was inspired by a nightmarish episode of customer support at one of the largest telco’s in the country. It took them approximately 30 hours to reconnect me with the world.

During this 30 hour period I went through a gamut of emotions ranging from diabolical anger, confusion, disappointment, curiosity, denial to euphoric happiness. I learnt about the intricacies of mammoth call centers, the lack of sufficient support systems, just how insignificant one complaint can be when you process thousands of such queries every hour and how destructive one such incident can be to a company’s reputation. (Lost Laptop = $54m , Bloggers reaction) The internet has transformed the voice of the customer and corporations must definitely factor this into their customer service strategy.

Over the course of this week I will be talking about how to put customer service into your startup strategy from the word go and other topics related to improving and focusing on the customer service department. We have to carefully balance technology with human element to ensure that customer issues are resolved promptly and efficiently. However contrary to common belief, that the customer is always right, this author & blogger has generated a lot of buzz promoting the fact that the customer is ‘not’ always right. What do you think?

What was the worst customer service experience you have been through? How do you think the company could have reacted differently to address your complaints? I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Communication

5 steps to write winning business proposals

4 Comments read

“You can never quit. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” Ted Turner

Proposals are a critical component of business. They are the medium for promoting  your company with the objective of convincing clients to buy your product/service. To achieve higher levels of success in writing winning business proposals you need to put in substantial work. This will not only refine your own thought processes, it will help your client to better understand your proposal and make a more informed choice. I have listed five basic components which should be covered by every proposal. I will be doing a week on advanced components for proposals in the near future as well:

1. Focus & Clarity: When a client requests a proposals they require a document which clearly identifies a plan to help them reach their goals. They do not want flowery complicated writings and diagrams to complicate their decision further. Understand your audience , their requirement and the purpose for the proposal and write clearly.To learn more on how to plan this, click here.

2. Business Case: Understanding the client’s current position and where they want to be is more than 50% of the challenge. You need to correctly identify the client’s need , then create steps and action points to achieve those goals and highlight the benefits it will accrue. To learn more please click here.

3. Methodology: When creating a proposal you need to keep things simple and clear. You need to develop a methodology to guide the client through a clearly understandable process which defines your plan and implementation process. Identify major objectives, create detailed action items, set time frames and clear deliverables. To read more please click here.

4. Competitive Analysis: Clearly identify how your offering is superior and more beneficial to the client as compared to others in a fair, ethical and passionate manner. Help solidify your position in the clients memory so he is able to identify where you will be able to add the most value. To learn more please click here.

5. Establish Credibility: The customer will always ask him/herself why they should choose your firm over others. You have to use this section to highlight your team, customer testimonials, industry experience and value proposition. You have to do your best to help your firm stand out from the rest and prove that your firm will be the most apt and beneficial choice for the contract.To learn more please click here.

Proposals are more often than not, deal makers or breakers in the business world. It is hence, a responsibility to continue to strive to improve the processes so that when the next proposal goes out it is a clear reflection of who the company is, what it stands for, how it will cater to a need and why the client should choose them. The extra work goes a long way. I strongly suggest spending more time on evaluating the next proposal you send out.

Communication

Establish Credibility

0 Comment read

“The more you are willing to accept responsibility for your actions, the more credibility you will have.” Brian Koslow

There will always be competition, you will hence need to establish credibility in your proposal to the client, which will highlight your strenghts as well as, why they should choose your firm. This is a challenge,  because as young startups there is usually not too much experience or a big client list to vouch for you. If there is a prior client you should definitely add their testimonials or appraisals of your service in your proposal. If you have worked previously in that particular industry, that work must be highlighted.

In your proposals, build on your team as much as possible. Include all possible and valid information about your team, in particular their specific domain knowledge, to provide the client with enough data to swing the contract. In this section you should add any industry advisors who may be your mentors or your corporate investors, with their permission. This will add credibility and establish a comfort level in clients.

Just remember this entire proposal is geared to answering the question, “why should I choose you?”. This is a section where copy pasting your profile is not recommended, rather, you should be building on it to help establish a level of trust and credibility in areas specific to your clients needs and requirements. This is where you should direct the clients focus to concentrate on your company and help set it apart from the pack. This section is way too valuable to rely on copy pasting .

Customer lists and references are built gradually, they do however have to start, somewhere. If you are still looking for that elusive first contract make sure your pitches are aligned, focused, competitive and credible to make the selling process easier. Just keep plugging in there with your head held high, I have no doubt  you will succeed with that particular valuable proposition.

Communication

Competitive Analysis

0 Comment read

“The person who figures out how to harness the collective genius of his or her organization is going to blow the competition away.” Walter Wriston

Competition, this is a word that excites me rather than conjure up images of losing a deal. It wasn’t always like that. You begin to appreciate this a lot more when you repeatedly get into the David vs Goliath scenarios. From the very beginning of my forays into business,  I have learnt that the one thing which keeps you on your toes even more than your customers, is your competition. Complacency is a word which should not be in an entrepreneurs dictionary. If you want to win, then you have to do everything you can to go out there and fairly, ethically and passionately convince the customer why they should choose you. Jack Welch had the same philosophy at GE, it was either striving to be 1st or 2nd in the industry or quitting the business if you didn’t have the necessary competitive advantages.

Your proposals must reflect this attitude. I have received proposals where the competition has blatantly bad mouthed or down played competitors. Others have conveniently and completely forgotten to mention them. Unfortunately, your client may share a very different perspective on the competition. The proposal has to include counters to your competitor in a clear and precise manner. You have to highlight your strengths in relation to your competitors.

If your firm is much smaller than the competitors use your agility, speed and client focus as advantages. If you are large, then leverage on your size and resources. Play to your strengths with both your customers objectives and achieving those in relation to your competition. In one of my earlier print media based business there was tremendous pressure from larger players who were bidding for the same university contract. However we had an office based in the university campus and had the ability to designate resources to work closely with the client. Even though we weren’t the cheapest alternative, we won. If there is one thing I learnt from that business was NEVER get into a price war. It is not in your clients or your interest in the long run. Focus on developing value and your client will pay.

Use the competitive analysis section of your proposal to help draw lines on how your offering differs from your competitors. If it doesn’t, then that, is something you need to build upon; focus on customer support, the internet, human resources or your supply chain to help you develop that competitive edge. There is no room for complacency, do whatever it takes to win.

Communication

Methodology

0 Comment read

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

In the last post, we discussed objectives being the building blocks of a proposal. Once you have identified these blocks you need to put into words a plan to achieve your objectives. These have to be in the shape of action steps that need to be taken. It may appear to be a simple step , however this is where the “copy paste” functionality is used the most.

For example, if a client requests a psychometric assessment proposal for their organization, the methodology would be different for every company. The reason for this is, that methodology is directly influenced by objectives and given that the objectives of each organization are unique this calls for different set of action items.

When setting action items, make sure you outline them clearly and define each step to the next. The reader may look at them and  think that the process is either simple or missing critical steps which may lead to confusion about the process. This could in turn, lead to the proposal not being accepted or creating expectations which may not be met.

For a methodology to be successful in relating to the client, the exact process to achieve the outlined goals needs to identify major objectives, create detailed action items, set time frames and clear deliverables. This process is often overlooked or not given the attention it needs for creating a successful business proposal. By developing a clear and focused methodology you make it easier to outline actions that need to be taken and allows the client to understand how you plan to achieve your milestones and targets.

Communication Strategy

Business Case

0 Comment read

“The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.” Jim Rohn

The concept of purpose which was discussed in my prior post deals with the ability to create a compelling business case surrounding the objectives of the client. In most cases the client has reached a situation where they require some assistance to take them from their current position to where they want to be eventually. To get to that final destination several deliverables will need to be met and, as a result of them the client will enjoy certain benefits.

The tricky bit here is to firstly understand the clients current position and then, where they eventually want to be. Lets take Innovo as an example , I deal with the psychometrics division of the company. A lot of the time I get calls from prospects who may have heard of us and want to integrate psychometrics into their company. There are times when the client is clear as to how they want psychometric evaluation to help them decrease the time of the recruitment cycle by eliminating 2 interview rounds, other times the clients want psychometrics to help their recruitment cycle but are not sure how and some times the client just wants to integrate psychometrics without any end goal.

From a business point of view you could sell to all 3 potential clients and make money. However it is client #1, who is aware of the limitation of his current scenario and wants to achieve a certain result using our tool, that we take on. It all comes back to the concept of value creation and delivering tangible results to the client. You need to help identify the potential clients position clearly and decide precisely what the final outcome will be.

Steps to develop a business case :

1. Identify your client’s current situation (any problem or opportunity)

2. Clearly define clear results which will be required at the end of the process

3. Outline the deliverables at each stage

4. State all the benefits which will accrue along the way.

Communication

Focus and Clarity

1 Comment read
“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” Anthony Robbins

One of the cornerstones of maintaining focus and clarity of vision when writing business proposals is to understand your target readership and what they are looking for in the proposals. Use a mind map or any other visualization tool to help you outline your discussions with prospective clients clearly and highlight the area where he/she puts the greatest emphasis on. The last thing the prospect wants to see from a proposal is one which briefly touches a multitude of topics and achieves no real impact.

Just the other day I requested a proposal for an in-house motivational training package for our sales personnel. I had a long talk with the program director and told him the specific areas we wanted the training to help us with. However, I was most disappointed when I got the proposal. It started off highlighting all the training packages the company offered and had conducted. It then went right into the training material for the course I had requested. It went into much complicated detail and then concluded with some benefits and an overview of the course. As you can imagine, it was most unhelpful. You have to develop and build your idea in a gradual manner to introduce the reader to the concepts, preferably one at a time. You need to do away with all the complicated and flowery vocabulary and keep things simple. Keep the customers needs and requirements at the forefront of your pitch. In this way the customer will be able to keep pace with the developments and be able to fully understand the value of your offering.

Three fundamental tenets of your business proposal should be:

1. Know your audience: Keep in mind your proposal’s readership and the key areas they have requested emphasis on.

2. Purpose: Why are you writing this proposal?. What is your primary objective?. By answering these questions you are able to develop a framework to work within, in order to best address the situation.

3. Clarity: Keep things simple by not using complicated language and diagrams. Have a clear theme running through your proposal to get your message across.