She had a permanent workforce of fifteen people and about thirty-five part time outworkers who all relied on her for their income.

Then the bottom fell out of the market and the only way for her and the company to survive was to change direction. The car, her pride and joy, was the first to go along with the dining out and theatre.

She had enough good clothes to still ‘look the part’ and they’d last a while. But, as time went on, employees became disaffected, morale was low and she was losing confidence in her own abilities to successfully ride the storm.

Could she do it?

The answer at this stage was: Possibly. Yet she was smart enough to realise she’d reached a point where she was ‘too close to the wood to see the trees’ and couldn’t do it on her own.

She didn’t wheel in a business coach with a track record running companies; she approached someone who would help her think differently. And, together they got results within weeks:

• After a get together of the core workforce fourteen were totally ‘onside’ and the remaining one, who clearly wasn’t, left the company.
• She was made to follow up a potential contract that had gone suddenly quiet: She discovered there’d been a misunderstanding that was about to scupper the deal. She was able to clear it up and get an order that immediately put £25,000 into her company’s funds and not only considerably eased the financial pressure but also boosted her personal confidence.
• She was made to ‘go play’ with those who still owned the make of car she’d had and found they automatically regarded her as one of them – whether she happened to actually own one at the moment or not.

She and her company did ride the storm; she got another dream car, a second home in Europe, where she now spends much of her time…

The ‘moral of the tale’ is in the story – what’s your view on what it is? Post your thoughts in the comments here

Background

A land line went down here the other day and I was having real hassle getting through to the telecomm provider to report it.

• The recorded service I got through to (using a cable line) said it couldn’t run the test on the faulty line as it was busy… and suggested I call back…
• The form on the website accepted all the details I inputted then wouldn’t process…
• When I finally got through to a human being, English wasn’t her first language and she insisted on trying the web route again on my behalf – only to discover it wouldn’t register the fault…

I was eventually transferred to someone in the UK who manually logged the necessary information and started the process of sorting it out. From then on, I must admit in all fairness, it all happened pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, the interesting bit

Half an hour into this malarkey I was really getting hacked off, so I tweeted about it on Twitter, naming the company. Within about a further 20 minutes I had a direct tweet from its Care team inviting me to email them the info and they’d get on the case!

I did email them and thanked them for spotting my dilemma and offering to help. I also suggested they get the ‘powers that be’ at their (blue chip) company to phone in with problems/ use the website to try and solve them and see how they get on see how they like the experience.

Even when I received a follow up call the next day to check that everything was okay I still felt that they were playing catch up from a customer service viewpoint:

The competent human interaction should be there right from the first contact.

Now a question for You

What happens when a customer phones your company with a complaint?

PS: You Plc coming soon – Customer service happened to be more topical for me right now

So apologies to the thousands of you who visit this site and read our blogs if you feel we’ve been neglecting you over the last couple of months!

We really appreciate all of you yet are currently looking to work directly with 12 special people. Are you one of those 12?

Many people who come to us want things in their business and their lives to be better. They’re genuine and they mean it but often not enough to put the effort into making it happen: That’s mind, body and soul.

How many times do you think, just before sleep takes over: “Wow! Today was awesome!”?

So try this equation:

Self esteem = Reality
__________
Expectation

If your reality isn’t what you want it to be, just a little way off, or nowhere near, do you say: “I deserve more than this and so do the people I care about” and up your game? Or do you lower your expectations?

We’re looking for 12 people who are determined to up their game – are you one of them?

If you believe you are, give us a call on +44 (0)20 7209 1284 business hours GMT

We hear how they’ve been “stitched up” by rogues or, at the very least, let down by incompetents whom they’ve charged with responsibility for sales, marketing, financial, legal or IT issues and it’s all gone horribly wrong.

So how did they allow this to happen? Well, in hindsight they’ve obviously made the wrong choice(s). Brilliant. We know that in hindsight we all have 20:20 vision. So how do we get the 20:20 before we get to the potential disaster?

The two obvious ways are:

• You buy in the expertise you need from somebody proven to actually be able to do the job well (outsourced or employed)
• You learn how to do it yourself from a reputable source

Yet there are two potential flaws in this (somewhat flippant) answer.

The first assumes that you know at the very least what questions to ask and what answers to expect in order to ascertain whether an individual claiming expertise in any of the essential areas is actually any good at what he/ she does and whether you would be getting value for money in the service you’re paying for.

The second presumes you know where to go, whom to go to, have the time and can make the commitment to learn how to perform these functions to the best of your ability and to the credit and success of your company.

Once again good old common sense has an often sadly ignored role in this. What about a middle ground where you could pool teaching and learning skills, gradually building mutual trust and without anybody spending huge amounts of money ?

Networking groups abound yet they seem to be set up with the prime reason (if not sole purpose) to introduce and refer business rather than trading skills and services.

You may have tried networking and love or hate your experiences of it. It doesn’t really matter for our purposes here because, regardless, you will know at least some people whom you trust and who can either help you directly or put you in contact with someone who can.

• Start inviting people who are each as good in their field as you are in yours to come and talk to each other
• Ask how willing they are to help each other
• Find out what additional help they in turn need and build a group that ultimately can fulfil all, or at least most of your collective business skills needs

It’s a good idea to agree a unit value for each function – an hourly, daily or part-day rate is usually favourite. Then barter time where possible either to perform the function for each other or use that time (where practical) to teach/ show how to do it. I prefer the latter for reasons I’ll go into further down the line.

Introduce members gradually and monitor the value of their contributions. Some may turn out to be mainly “takers”: They’ll pay for the services on offer that they need rather than really enter into the spirit of the group. And that may be perfectly acceptable until somebody else comes along and wants to join who does what they do but wants to give, too. You just have to decide as you go along what’s in the best interests of the group.

Try it out and let me know how you get on .

It reminded me of one of a series of training videos that were used a generation ago that often used humour to put the main points across. This particular one was “Meetings Bl****y Meetings!” and reading the webinar promotional blurb this morning made me think that maybe not much has changed if managers and bosses are still making the same mistakes (I guess they’re a different set of people now).

There are statistics from surveys quoting the number of hours per week spent in meetings, percentages on how many are ineffective and even a claim that the level of meeting effectiveness is the single most powerful factor in job satisfaction (?)!

It seems to provide reasonable content, though a bit basic but, in my opinion it shoots itself in the foot in two ways:

1. Though it goes on at length about people resenting their time being wasted in ineffective meetings, it assumes there is a valid purpose to each of them in the first place and doesn’t once say we should ask why we’re planning a meeting – is it necessary?
2. Neither does it tackle the question of who should attend and why (maybe that’s because it goes on to suggest you get everyone in your office – whether they set-up or attend meetings – to join in because as many as you like can attend for the one price…)

To me these two issues are key before any meeting is arranged. The skills we bring to making our meetings effective should be addressed, yes, but only after we’ve satisfactorily answered these two questions.

• Two thirds of firms put advice on controlling cost top of the agenda
• 60% want advice on attracting customers
• 44% want help on how to keep them

So we had a quick look around the guides on website and watched the customer video.
And it’s the Lloyds TSB customer (business owner) input that’s really down to earth:

• Keep your name out there
• Bring the customers in
• Look at your sales figures weekly not monthly or quarterly
• Keep in close contact with everyone to avoid nasty surprises: Bank Manager, Accountant, Suppliers, Customers
• Provide value for money: Maintain quality and standards
• Don’t be too inward looking
• Keep a keen eye on budgeting, planning and cash flow
• Tighten credit management – it’s often not necessarily bad debt but too slow payers
• When you get your customers look after them: Understand their problems

We’ve picked up on the final point we’ve listed from the video and the fact that many small firms want help on how to keep customers.

Lloyds TSB has a Guide on Market Research. They’re right to have it up there yet we believe they’re wrong not to put it into perspective as, in our experience, small firms tend to see this is as questionable expenditure in good times, let alone in a recession.

Focus groups need an experienced facilitator and should probably be outsourced to a company that knows its stuff – once you’ve decided on what the purpose is and that focus groups are the best way to achieve it.

On the other hand, telephone market research is something many small businesses can do themselves with a little thought and preparation. And the good news is, if you provide good products or services, you should find that your customers are happy to help you.

If you wake up every day raring to go about your business that’s great – maybe you’d like to share some tips here!

If you’re more often dragging yourself out of bed, dreading the day ahead, ’shoving the reasons under the carpet’ won’t help. Here’s your chance to be honest with yourself and give them an airing:

False bravado won’t get a business through this recession and if what used to work doesn’t anymore it’s time to get creative!

• What one, two or three things would you change about your business if you could?
• What one, two or three things would bring back your enjoyment and help make your business soar?

Don’t worry for now about whether or how you think you could bring these about – that’s likely to stop you in your tracks – just concentrate on the ‘whats’ for now.

The ‘hows’ come later and are for us to work towards together – if you want to.

What we’re aiming for here are the biggest issues and blocks that are holding businesses back.

Once we’ve identified them we can set about systematically removing them.

Put your responses up here in the comments or, if you prefer, send me an email privately.

1. What I can only refer to as severe errors of judgement and monumental short sightedness on my paternal grandparents side back down the line (one married out of his faith and the other ran off with her gypsy – so both were summarily disinherited from their respective well-to-do families) meant that I wasn’t born wealthy!

Do I see a disturbing familial trait? Well:-

2. At the age of about five, encouraged by these same grandparents, I entered and won a colouring competition in the local Evening Argus. Great! The prize was two tickets to see Swan Lake. Mum and Dad ended up forking out for three more tickets so the whole family could go.

3. Then, at about nine I was elected Queen of the May at our school. Huge honour but, again, Mum had to buy the material and spend hours making the dress for the grand occasion. And all that fancy foot work I’d been practising for dancing round the maypole went to waste as I sat there all day on my throne watching the proceedings with a stupid grin plastered on my face.

4. I passed the eleven plus exam and was lucky enough to get into the best grammar school in the area. That was really rewarding for me but, er, meant that money for the uniform (only available from one exclusive school outfitters), sports kit and social activities then had to be found by my parents for the next five years.

5. Fast forward a few years and guess who bought into a Tessa just before the market bottomed out?

Am I downhearted? You bet not! Because that paternal grandmother of mine worked hard and worked smart and carved out success in what was then well and truly a man’s world. So I have a brilliant role model and I’m following her!

You’ll have to excuse me for now, I need to go find someone else to play tag with – have a great and glorious Christmas if we don’t “speak” before hand.

• Companies big and small are ‘going to the wall’
• Even good, established customers are taking longer to pay
• Cash isn’t flowing as it was even 6 months ago

So let’s have a quick update:

The telephone can be your best friend – a very useful tool in chasing money, second only to presenting yourself at the customer’s premises, so keep lines of communication open!

1. Be prompt in chasing – you’ve provided the service or product
2. You are entitled to the money by the agreed time
3. The longer you leave it to chase your money, the further down the queue you’ll go when the cheques do get written out
4. Speak initially to the Decision Maker who bought from you – three reasons for this:

This is the person who values the purchase

This is the person with whom you are building an ongoing business relationship

In short, this person has a vested interest in keeping you sweet – don’t know about you but I can remember numerous occasions standing over Financial Directors and making them write out a cheque after ‘getting it in the neck’ from a totally fed up supplier!

5. Don’t back down – be prepared to state your case to the top man or woman
6. Be pleasant but firm – no-one wins if a slanging match is allowed to develop

Over to you and best of luck!

How to Get Paid in a Recession]]> http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/finance-accounting/how-to-get-paid-in-a-recession/feed 1 http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/finance-accounting/customer-service-and-customer-care http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/finance-accounting/customer-service-and-customer-care#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:12:16 +0000 Linda Mattacks http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/finance-accounting/customer-service-and-customer-care Estimates vary but most agree that it costs between five and six times as much to gain a new customer than to retain an existing one, so having invested so much in winning the customer, for heaven’s sake look after him!

As you win more customers you will see the 80/20 rule come into play: Often 20% of your customers provide 80% of your business. (You need to be aware of numbers as well as percentages here to ensure that your customer base is large enough and that your business remains profitable should one (or more) big customer defect to the competition or go out of business).

There can be a natural but dangerous tendency to concentrate the majority of your time and resources on keeping your key customers happy whilst ignoring the smaller ones (and not going after new ones at all). However, it takes time to develop a relationship with each customer so it may not be immediately obvious which ones have the most potential over time.

A startling potential result of this can be found in a book called “Keeping Customers For Life”, by Richard F Gershon. In it he states the reasons why companies lose customers as the following:

• 68% are upset with the treatment they received
• 14% are dissatisfied with the product or service
• 9% start to deal with the competition
• 5% seek alternatives or develop other business relationships
• 3% move away
• 1% die

Don’t you find it frightening that nearly five times as many customers go away because of the way they are treated rather than being dissatisfied with the actual product or service on offer?

You don’t necessarily need expensive software or systems to manage your customer relationships. Just give them that extra little bit of professional, polite attention and see how well you are rewarded!

Don’t forget to add your comments – or you may have a story you’d like to share that illustrates or refutes my thoughts…

Customer service and customer care]]> http://www.smallbusinesstraining.co.uk/finance-accounting/customer-service-and-customer-care/feed 4