Recently while fetching lunch for the office crew, my view of customer service hit a pivot point. Shocked at what I’d just heard, I was eager to bring back some lively discussion along with our sandwiches and gluten free cookies.

While at the restaurant, I asked the cashier how they manage customer complaints. The young woman chirped, “We get our complaints on Yelp.”
It’s not that they are doing a bad job of customer service, she was pleasant and engaged and I had no complaints. I was just curious about their process.

Her response told me that their approach toward complaints was trendy versus active. Has the day arrived when we no longer need to listen to each and every customer because of apps that tell us whether we are good or poor?

Take back control of your customer service.

The lesson learned is confusing. On one hand apps like Yelp are helpful and fun to use. On the other hand I would prefer that the businesses I frequent be in a position to receive my feedback without expecting me to use a third party customer service provider.

In transportation his is called Third Party Logistics or 3PL’s. Third Party Customer Service is not effective or genuine. Your customers want to know that you care. When a company uses an app like Yelp, it does show that they care somewhat, thus the confusion. They obviously care enough to engage via social channels and this is important. It’s critical that companies don’t confuse good ratings for good customer service.

Review apps should not be the primary way that customer feedback is handled. I encourage you to take control. One way to do this is to always respond to customer emails, phone calls, tweets or any message you receive with a request for a response. Another way is to track the feedback diligently each and every time you get it. It’s a good idea to keep an independent record of customer feedback received via social media interactions.

This is easier than you think and will provide you with a valuable data that is important to your business. In addition, if the comments or reviews happen to disappear from the review site, you will have your own record of the information rather than losing the valuable feedback that was captured on the third party site.

It’s crucial to have a customer feedback process and software in place that is managed by you to ensure that all information is recorded and utilized to improve the customer experience. Only then will you be in control of the feedback that drives your company to greater success.

The fact that your front line employees provide the vast majority customer service is not news, but what if they were empowered to do more than extend a kind greeting and apologize for any mishaps? We at C3 Touch Solutions believe that there is a valuable opportunity that many retail and service organizations are missing. The opportunity lies in the ability for front line customer service reps to record the feedback that customers provide.

“Oh, you didn’t find the Cabot Cheddar Cheese? Let me make a note of that in our customer feedback system so that management is aware. Would you like us to notify you when it comes in?

This level of empowerment has two major benefits. First, it shows the customer that you really do care about their experience. You care enough to implement a system and train your employees to offer a level of service that is rare. Second, employees gain the satisfaction of actually being able to take action when an unhappy customer is in front of them. This added level of empowerment engages the employee and lets him or her know that the well-being of the customer is important to the organization.

We call this “Trickle Up” customer service. What better way to keep management informed of the customer experience than to empower your front line to capture what customers are saying? C3 Touch makes this easy with its touch screen capability and simple web form. It can be tapped into an iPad or typed into a web form placed anywhere you’d like. Further, it’s free for all employees at this level. The low monthly fee for C3 Touch only extends to managers who want to access the data and reporting features.

Please your customers and empower your employees by integrating a simple and affordable customer feedback system today.

www.C3Touch.com

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Scott Stratten, Author of UnMarketing, speak at the Governor’s Tourism Convention in Phoenix. I was looking forward to hearing him speak because he has a unique message about the waning value of traditional marketing. The essence of his message is that exceptional customer service is more important than ever in a world where people freely share their opinions via social media. Hearing this put a big smile on my face, as he echoed what my team and I at C3 Touch Solutions have been saying for quite some time. This very message is what inspired us to launch C3 Touch as a simple, affordable customer feedback tool.

Ways to market your company through excellent customer service include:

1. Encourage authentic customer service.
2. It’s better to have an active social media presence than to have one and let it go dormant. Stratten states that untouched social media gives a bad impression and should just be deleted.
3. Utilize tools such as C3 Touch to let your customers know that you are listening while giving your company the feedback needed to improve the bottom line.

In a world that is becoming more transparent by the day, marketing without substance is falling on deaf ears. The process of engaging is truly the most powerful way to market your product or service.

The vast majority of customer feedback is not being captured. Consider the following scenario. You enter a store or any kind of business establishment only to encounter a problem. You proceed to tell the sales/service representative your concern. It may get taken care of right then and there, or, it may be an issue such the store not having a specific product you needed. The rep will often say something like, “Oh, we must be out of that. Sorry for the inconvenience. How frequently do you think the feedback is formally recorded for management to review? The answer is almost never.

Call centers do a little better, as they record the feedback in your file. However, in terms of face to face customer service, complaints, comments, and even compliments all too often fall through the cracks.

Doing what most companies do now–leaving it up to the customer to call a hotline, go to the website or send an email, means that the vast majority of customer feedback is never captured.

This is a lost opportunity for an organization to see itself accurately through the eyes of customers. Not only are opportunities for improvement lost, but there is no way to track trends and see patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Perhaps the most offensive part of this widespread practice is that the customer leaves the business establishment knowing that no one but the representative that he or she told will ever hear about their experience. In today’s world of sleek technology and software solutions, this is completely unacceptable.

The solution lies in products such as C3 Touch that provide a simple web form that both customers and employees can access. Here’s the rule: When a representative is told about a problem, he or she is responsible for entering the information right then and there.

If the customer doesn’t want to provide a name, the information can be recorded as anonymous. Either way, the organization now has the voice of the customer formally recorded.

There is no reason that vital information such as customer feedback should fall through the cracks. Register for your copy of C3 Touch today and try it for 30 days at no cost. We can’t just say we care, it’s time we show the customer we care by letting the organization hear what they have to say.

At C 3 Touch Solutions, we Love Our Customers. And because we believe that “love” can be a powerful action word, we want to share ten ways we are committed to providing an excellent experience for you, our customer:

We will:
1. Always listen and seek to understand your requirements and objectives.
2. Be responsive to your needs, as our valued customer.
3. Strive to exceed your expectations.
4. Exhibit friendliness during all interactions.
5. Do our best to share worthwhile, timely and helpful information about our industry
6. Accurately inform you as to the capabilities of our products.
7. Provide a healthy, positive work environment for our fellow employees.
8. Offer informed, unbiased advice.
9. Deliver solutions to problems in a prompt, friendly and efficient manner.
10. At all times, demonstrate respect for you, our customer.
Thanks for stopping by our blog. Before you move on, please take time to visit our demo and learn more about how our streamlined solutions can help you engage with your customers in the best way possible!

Meanwhile, love your customers!

Purchasing has become quality driven. Research now shows that consumer reviews are the most trusted source for advice when making a purchasing decision. What does that mean? The product and service delivered by an organization has to be top quality.

This is a golden age for consumers who can now refer to a vast amount of advice from people just like them to help with decisions on what to purchase. And companies who have an excellent product or service, but have not had the advertising dollars to get the word out should be rejoicing right now. Your customers will spread the word for you!

I just returned from the dentist after having three metal (read: mercury) cavities replaced. Was it fun? Yes and no. Yes, because my dentist and dental assistant were great. No, because I had my mouth propped open for thirty minutes while drooling. As I was leaving, I was asked to write a review on Google and given a $5.00 Starbucks gift card as a thank you in advance. Do I plan on writing that review? You bet, and I guarantee it will give them a handsome return on their five bucks. But glowing reviews on consumer driven websites are only part of the picture. They may drive new business, but repeat business requires a consistent quality experience. Direct feedback in the form of comments, complaints and compliments is just the report card organizations need to continue receiving A’s on external websites.
This is one of the reasons we created C3 Touch. We know that engaging customers is a win/win and whether the feedback received is good or bad, it needs to be captured in an organized format and reviewed regularly. Those who listen to their customers and use the feedback to continuously improve are going to float, while those who turn a blind eye to the voice of the customer will sink. We wish you much success and smooth sailing.

C3 Touch is quickly taking off. Businesses such as restaurants, ski resorts and even government agencies are looking at C3 Touch as an efficient and affordable way to manage valuable customer feedback.

So what are the 3 C’s is C3?

Comments, Complaints, Compliments

Do you ever feel like making a suggestion or giving an idea to a place that you frequently do business? Do you want your favorite restaurant to serve more vegetarian dishes? Would you like your dry cleaner to be open on Saturdays? C3 Touch is the perfect way to capture customer comments.

However hard we try, no business is perfect. When things don’t go quite right, management needs to know. With C3 Touch, your customer can either press the C3 button on your home page, Facebook page, or tell someone face to face or over the phone. Heck, they can even Tweet you the complaint! We never want to let a genuine complaint slip through the cracks. Complaints, when captured and handled correctly, help your business improve. Giving your customer a voice can also go a long way toward helping them forgive and sometimes even forget a bad experience.

The third and final C stands for compliment. Why not give customers an opportunity to tell you how much they enjoy your product or service? With C3 Touch, you can keep track of which employees are most loved, or simply, what, when and how things went right for your customers. Compliments feel as good to send as they do to receive – there’s no reason not to share good news!

Try C3 Touch for 30 days free and never worry about comments, complaints or compliments falling into a black hole again. Instead, stay connected with your customers, listen and grow!
www.c3touch.com

In his book, Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World, Peter Shankman addresses the challenges and opportunities of social media when it comes to damage control. Shankman acknowledges that really big problems are rare, but small problems that could grow into big problems are abundant. He uses a great metaphor to describe this simple phenomenon: “Big problems never start out as big problems. Like weeds, they start small. The problem comes when you ignore them. Then they start to grow. Next thing you know, your lawn is destroyed.”

So how does a customer service team handle small problems before they get big enough to do serious damage? Should you invest in an expensive social media analytics program to capture your product or company name every time it’s mentioned on the web? Perhaps. But why not start by picking the weeds in your own back yard?

When a customer is not happy, they tell you. Whether they Tweet you, Facebook you, or call you, the question is still the same: Are you listening? If you love your customers like we hope that you do, you are most certainly listening and taking their small complaints seriously. They know you take them seriously when you take the time to record the complaint so the organization can find out the origin of the problem, regardless of the size.

Products like C3 Touch that are simple, affordable and social, allow either the employee or the customer to quickly enter the information. This process doesn’t need to be complex. It involves putting the tools in place to collect the customer feedback and then engaging in a way that is genuine and caring. Most companies do not have the resources to respond to every mention of them on the web, but listening, recording and responding to direct feedback is essential, and not that hard.

Most experts agree that it is best to solve problems the very first time the customer tells you about it, but if for some reason it can’t be solved immediately, at least let them know that you have an organized approach to handle these things and will do so as soon as possible. Shankman recommends recording the time of the initial complaint and then searching for the customer in your database. See what kind of customer you’re dealing with. Is he a chronic complainer? Has she been a customer for years? If they’ve never complained before, they won’t be in your system, so add them in. Make sure to record the name, type of complaint and any other relevant information. All this is a breeze in C3 Touch.

The important thing is to not get overwhelmed with this process. Get a simple solution in place to help you manage customer feedback and then show them you care by taking their small complaints seriously. That way, instead of waking up to a yard full of weeds, you’ll wake up to a business full of loyal customers.

Are you looking to set your organization apart from the crowd?

Love your customers!  Here are 52 ideas, tips and strategies that will help you chart the course to impressive, socially smart relationships with your clients, guests and customers:

1. Free and effective:  smile!
2. Remember: Mistakes are the portals of discovery – -James Joyce
3. There are no traffic jams along the extra mile – -Roger Staubach
4. Consider: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Think Different -  Steve Jobs
5. Remember, a customer is your most important visitor.
6. A man without a smiling face must not open a shop. -Chinese Proverb
7. Treat your employees well. As Helen Keller once said: Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.
8. Your customers won’t love you if you give bad service, but your competitors will.
9. Always be a first-rate version of yourself.
10. Step up! Always do more than is required of you.
11. Never fail to astonish the customer.
12. Remember: Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you into the game. Service wins the game. – -Tony Alessandra
13. Business is not just doing deals; business is having great products, doing great engineering, and providing tremendous service to customers. –Ross Perot
14. Wise advice: Care more than others think wise. Risk more than others think safe. Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible. –Howard Schultz, CEO Starbucks Coffee
15. Never forget: Consumers are statistics. Customers are people. –Stanley Marcus
16. Reminder: Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from which we learn.
17. Customer loyalty is priceless.
18. Customer service is awareness of needs, problems, fears and aspirations.
19. Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
20. Treat others as you wish to be treated.
21. Keep your word.  Always.
22. Monitor your feedback carefully. Respond quickly and with respect.
23. Every contact we have with a customer influences whether or not they’ll come back.
24. Expect greatness.
25. Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change. -Tom Peters
26. Forget about the sales you hope to make and concentrate on the service you want to render. -Harry Bullis
27. Exceed expectations.
28. Remember, if we don’t take care of our customers someone else will.
29. If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful. -Jeff Bezos
30. If you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want. -Zig Ziglar
31. Reminder: If you make customers unhappy in the real world, they might each tell six friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. -Jeff Bezos
32. Heed this voice of experience: If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. -Ray Kroc
33. In the world of Internet Customer Service, it’s important to remember your competitor is only one mouse click away. -Doug Warner
34. The sound of one’s name is music to the ears.  Make music for your customers. .
35. Heed this bit of wisdom: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. -Charles Darwin
36. Words of beauty: Thank you, thank you, thank you!
37. Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
38. Listen very carefully.
39. Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing, and conveys much.
40. Remember, nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm. -
41. One customer well taken care of could be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.
42. Know this: In our humanity, we crave appreciation.
43. Repeat business or behavior can be bribed. Loyalty must be earned.
44. The customer is king….or queen.
45. Become legendary for your customer service.
46. The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule. -Albert Einstein
47. Tip: The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people. -Tom Peters
48. Too often, customers won’t complain. They just won’t come back.
49. The price of greatness is responsibility. -Winston Churchill
50. “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”  Walt Disney
51. Connect, engage. Repeat.
52. Love your customers and they will love you back.

This list is sponsored by: C3Touch Solutions,  where the focus is on helping clients manage the three Cs – Compliments, Complaints and Comments. Discover how to manage  feedback  in the most timely and effective way possible.  Demo the streamlined solution that enables you to be socially smart and customer responsive here!

A new era of customer service has dawned. Some would say that the power of social media has tipped the scales into a consumer driven market. This new era, however, is actually very balanced. Yes, the customer does have a voice and his or her voice can be quite loud. And yes, organizations are practically see-through–more transparent than ever. But even though customers have acquired more power, the customer service relationship has become reciprocal. Just as in personal relationships, if one party buries their head in the sand, the union is not likely to sustain. So by reciprocal, we mean that organizations have a responsibility to keep their eyes wide open, to communicate often, and to make changes when necessary.

Keeping your organizational eyes open suggests a lack of denial and the willingness to look at things as they are. Do you have a customer ranting about you on Facebook? Are you willing to make an effort to hear what they are saying? To research and find out what’s happening? This is step one. Whether it’s through social media or other channels, really listening and caring what the customer says is critical.

As with all reciprocal relationships, a communication exchange is required. This is a simple step that is completed through acknowledging what the customer is saying with a desire to fully understand them. An apology is often in order, though on its own, is rarely enough to preserve the union.

Finally, none of us can have a healthy relationship without ongoing growth. Listening and understanding should be followed by real change. Without the mirror of customer feedback, we wouldn’t know what we’re doing right and wrong. The communication exchange provides invaluable information that not only leads to a better product or service, but deepens the customer/company bond.

A new era has dawned–an era in which the voice of the customer is louder. But getting more feedback at a higher volume is something to embrace rather than fear. The only cause for concern is if the customer stops talking all together.

In a recent Forbes piece, the writer notes that sometimes people get confused because they see that Apple is making a lot of money. Thus, they conclude, making money must be Apple’s goal.
Simply not true.

 
Consider, for example, what happens within Apple’s retail stores where the stated mission is not to make money (although, we have all witnessed that this is a happy by product of their effort) but rather to “enrich the lives of customers and employees.”
The stores were designed to be gathering places where people could learn, share,engage….and think different; not just buy. Employees are encouraged to create an ongoing relationship with customers, not just facilitate a purchase transaction. In part, the idea is that happy, well-cared for customers will share their positive experience with their friends, and they too will join the circle.

Not surprisingly, it is reported, that mature Apple stores exceed $6,000 per square foot in revenue—the highest productivity in retailing of any kind.
There is much to be learned from studying the Apple model. We’ll continue to discuss some of those fine points in the days to come. Meanwhile, you can learn more in the Harvard Business Review-published book The Ultimate Question 2.0 , in which the authors demonstrate how leading companies like Apple, Southwest Airlines and others are focusing on customer delight. Find it here.
What’s your focus?

Lynn O’Rourke Hayes