The Keys to providing world class service

Every so often, I'm hired by a company to develop a marketing plan for its activities. Yet, after conducting my initial assessment, I find that the lack of a company's marketing plan is not the problem. The real problem is the company's bad service. For these companies, spending money at all marketing is like pouring wine down a sinkhole, a complete loss.
If the service of your company stinks afore. Then, worry about promoting your business.

The pillars of a cool service

Without good service, your business is doomed from the start. But what exactly constitutes a good service? There are three fundamental pillars of my service Cool. They are:
Timeliness
Follow through and
Integrity.

1. Timeliness
In today's "want it now" society, timeliness can be the trump card of your company. Yet, too many companies do not seem to respect the timing of its customers. Witness:

In a recent study by Jupiter Research, 33 percent of all Internet companies surveyed took three days or longer to return to customers who e-mailed to ask for help.

A study by Portland Research Group found that the average consumer must call a company 2.3 times before having solved their problem.

2. Follow-through
What is a golf swing without follow-through? Accumulated energy without an outlet. A beginning without end. Effort without results. The same applies to the marketing of a company. "You can have a terrible logo and pathetic signage, but if you are known for their incredible commitment and follow-through, which will succeed," says Jim Logan, marketing consultant and blogger popular www.jslogan.com. "Reversing the formula and you'll fail every time."
With diligent follow through, your company will demonstrate its commitment, without a shadow of doubt. From this, you can expect to collect repeat purchases, positive word-of-mouth and referrals, the triad of successful marketing.

3. Integrity
Buyers today are suspicious of a group. Is it any wonder? Just look at the ethical lapses seen in today's market:

In 2005, Sony Pictures Entertainment quoted the praise of a nonexistent film critic to promote some of his films. For A Knight's Tale, The Patriot, and many other films, consents have been attributed to David Manning, a supposed film critic The Ridgeview Press. But at the time of the reviews, The Ridgeview Press, a weekly in Connecticut, had not even a movie critic on staff. Sony was ordered to pay $ 1.5 million to settle a class-action.

In August 2001, McDonald and the FBI revealed that an employee of Simon Marketing, a marketing agency McDonalds', had distributed winning game pieces for "Monopoly" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" promotions to a network of accomplices. The accomplices then claimed prizes ranging from $ 100,000 to $ 1 million.

In 2005, Abercrombie and Fitch, a clothing brand favorite among teenagers, has launched a T-shirt line with alcohol-related slogans such as "do not worry, I'm not drunk yet", "Bad Girls Chug, Good Girls Drink Quickly , "and" Candy is dandy, but Liquor is quicker. "The T-shirt line was immediately withdrawn from the market when it is reported by the media and advocacy groups to the surface.

Marketing of these companies, all have shown a disturbing ethical lapse. To avoid errors like this, I suggest you keep the marketers to a higher ethical level, that's why I created the Lipe Code of Ethics Marketing:

The Code of Ethics Lipe Marketing

-There will always be clear and truthful in our marketing communications.

-We never intentionally deceive or mislead our customers. If we do, we apologize - immediately.

-We will fully disclose, in large print, all pricing information.

-We will always respect the privacy of our customers.

-We will always give buyers the opportunity to opt-out; quickly honoring their desire to do so.

-We stand behind our products if they can not keep their promises.

-We will listen to our customers' needs and concerns, and make every effort to incorporate their input.

-We will not use strong-arm tactics to get people to buy.

-There will always justify their claims, testimonials and comparative statements.

-We will always accept responsibility for the consequences of our actions.

Do not let years of creating your brand identity to be swept away in an instant by an ethical lapse. Disseminate the Code of Ethics of marketing to all your marketing, and hold them accountable to stick to it.

The first 7 Customer Service Mistakes

Before you learn how a company can offer world class service, could be useful to highlight the common problems of today's business services. Fix these and reputation could be the marketing program you need:

7. Not adequately training staff - Financial Services call center in the United States, which enjoy the highest levels of customer satisfaction, routinely invest 180 hours of initial training and seven hours of continuing education each year in each agent. Does your company take its service training this serious?

6. Trying to win an argument with a customer - Arguing with the customer is a bad deal. You can win the argument, but probably lose the customer. On the contrary, show empathy. Tell the buyer to understand how they feel and that together we are going to find a solution to their problem.

5. Besides relying on voicemail - Customers who take the time to contact the company wants to know that there is a face behind your company. Work hard to get customers to talk to the man in your company, not its technology.

4. Spending too much time with chronic complainers - Some people will never be happy with your service. If you have received at least three complaints from the customer, it's time to get rid of them, and focus on those who can help.

3. Taking criticism personally - Most callers do not want to attack you personally. Although they may be lashing out against you, they are really more frustrated by the problem they face. Take their attention off of you and keep it right back on the problem.

2. Do not act like you care -68 percent of buyer defections place because customers feel they were treated badly. Most customers do not expect an immediate resolution to their problem, but expect your concern. Usually they use terms like "sorry to keep you waiting" and "thank you for contacting us today."

1. Not delivering what you promise - Because some buyers are constantly misled by businesses, are understandably wary. For world-class service, deliver exactly what you promise. If it's "I'll call tomorrow with the answer" or "I'll put it in the mail today," do it.

Concierge Marketing: How to transform information into a marketing tool
At the root of it, a concierge marketer - much like the hotel concierge who dispenses invaluable information about restaurants and local events - try to make life easier for a buyer, providing useful information.
The first step to being a successful concierge marketer is to provide passive marketing tools that are printed or on-line information products. Using one of these, buyers can quickly get answers to their nagging questions:

-Tip Sheets

-Booklets/pamphlets

-White Paper

Checklists of

-Buying Guides

For example, I offer on my site, http://www.emergemarketing.com, a "Marketing Lingo" section with over 200 common marketing terms and their definitions.
Another set of marketing tools are concierge called buyer involvement tools. These are designed to create dialogue with your market and include:

-Post-installation follow-up calls

The online forum customer

Interactive Tool-box

One of my favorite tools is customer involvement Amazon.com 's "Wish List" program. With this tool at the Amazon site, I can develop my "Wish List" of books, and then send it by mail to the members of my family. In this way, my family knows what to get me for Christmas, without having to ask, I get Christmas presents I want, and Amazon gets the sales. Everybody wins.

Next steps for concierge marketers
To become a marketer of welcome, to first identify the information gaps facing the most common buyers. Ask yourself these questions:

-At what stage of the buying cycle are our buyers confused?

-What information is missing?

-What questions does our customer service staff repeatedly field?

Then, design tools to address the highest priority. If, for example, buyers are confused about which elements of your service are given and to which they are performed in-house, you could develop a PowerPoint slide that covers this topic in more detail.

In closing ....
Milton Hershey once said that quality was the best form of advertising around the world. For your corporate identity to be successful, the service provided must be of the highest quality possible. Focus on providing world class service, then and only then consider marketing it ....