Customer loyalty is an essential success ingredient for any business. It’s particularly important for Direct Sales success. Every customer who becomes a regular buyer helps you generate predictable income. It makes it much easier to manage your cash flow. And you know what they say about the cost of a new customer – it costs ten times more to get a new customer than to keep the ones you have.

 
So how do you build customer loyalty? A few offline and online tactics can help you take great care of your customers.

Exceptional Customer Service
Customer service is about more than simply offering contact information or a FAQ page. Customer service is about going out of your way to make sure your customers feel appreciated. It’s about addressing their problems and concerns immediately and with great concern. It’s about taking measures to provide the best products and services possible so there aren’t any customer complaints or concerns. Exceptional customer service makes your customer want to buy from you again.

Consistent, Frequent, Communication (but not too frequent)
Okay, so you probably don’t want to email or connect with your customers every day. However, frequent interactions help keep your company at the front of their mind. When they have a need, they’ll remember to turn to you. You might consider communicating with your customers via a monthly email newsletter, on social networking sites and occasionally by mail.

Personality Marketing
Your personality is one of your strongest assets as an entrepreneur and a Direct Sales consultant. People buy from people they like. Share your personality with your customers and give them your best.

Giveaways, Promotions and Freebies
Who doesn’t like getting something for free? Help your customers become engaged with your company and excited about your products by occasionally offering giveaways, freebies and special promotions or offers. Generate excitement!

Easy To Use Website
Make sure connecting with you and/or making a purchase from your website is as easy as possible. If you’re unsure, ask your existing customers what you can do better. Then follow their guidance.

Get Your Customers Involved!
Contests, quizzes, and questionnaires – ask for your customer’s opinions and get them interacting with you and your company. Interaction breeds community. People gain a sense of belonging. Also when you ask their opinion they feel appreciated and valued – great for customer loyalty!

Create a customer loyalty strategy and integrate it into your overall business plan. Each of the above tactics can be implemented and integrated into your existing customer service, marketing and communication strategies. It’s an extremely valuable step to take. Customer loyalty makes growing your business easier and more enjoyable.

For many direct sales consultants and other home business owners, September marks the start of their busy season. For some it may be the time to gear up for holiday sales and for others it’s simply a time to refocus and work harder after a more laid-back summer. Whatever the reason, here are some tips to help you handle a more hectic season:

1. Make a plan. A good plan is the basis of a successful busy season. It helps you prepare for the sudden increase in customers and orders and gives you a concrete system to follow when things seem overwhelming. Think back to previous years to incorporate what worked and improve on what didn’t work.

2. Consider hiring help. Small business owners are sometimes reluctant to hire help because it cuts into profit. But often, it has the opposite effect. When you can get more done you can make more sales.

3. Use all your available resources. If possible, let your direct sales company or wholesale distributor drop ship to your customers. If you’re packing and shipping yourself, use online shipping services and have the packaged picked up to save time driving the post office or shipping store and standing in line. Even fifteen minutes saved here and there can be a big help.

4. Don’t be afraid to say no. You may have to turn away some customers. It’s better to be honest and turn away orders that you won’t be able to fulfill than to take orders and not deliver. Make sure you cut off holiday orders early enough to get them all shipped and delivered in plenty of time.

5. Keep communicating with your customers. Even though business may be hectic, customer service should continue to be a priority. Be sure to address the needs of all your customers. If you have problems fulfilling an order or it’s delayed, notify your customer right away and offer an alternative. Customers will understand that problems occur and are much more likely to be forgiving when you communicate openly with them.

Your busy season is an exciting and hectic time that can also be very stressful. With a good plan system in place, you can make it through relatively calmly and profitably.

This is the last post in this series on communication with customers and prospects: It All Adds Up To Great Customer Service.

Communication is the core component to providing top notch customer service. From the first moment a customer or prospect visits your website, meets you at a home sales party, or calls on the phone, until their last order is delivered, good communication is the best customer service.

It’s not too hard.
Providing great customer service is not difficult nor does it require a lot of effort. What good customer service requires is a belief in the philosophy that the business is dependent on the customers, and that their needs are important.

One of the most important customer service skills is the ability to understand and effectively respond to the customer’s needs and concerns. Excellent customer service starts by first taking the time to get to know the customer and her needs. Customers want to buy from businesses who demonstrate a sincere desire to help them with anything they need, and they are willing to pay for it. Yes, they want quality products to work. More importantly though, they want someone to provide good service and to care when something goes wrong.

Everything discussed thus far in this series leads up to this point. By following the communication tips you are essentially creating the manual for a customer service plan. Making the customers feel appreciated and listened to will keep them coming back for more and make team members loyal and hard-working.

Looking over this article it’s easy to sense a general theme. Communication is key!

Communication is the most important tool that a direct sales business has to establish, grow and maintain a customer base and productive team Communication is found in every aspect of business. In fact it is not just in every aspect of day to day operations; it is the core of them. We are never more than a click or number away from talking to someone about what is needed and how it is going to be provided.

Technology provides the necessary functions of phone and email. These tools are used daily to make first contacts, follow up, and provide ongoing updates.

With customers looking to get the best for their money, it behooves consultants to focus on continually evaluating and improving communication as needed. The tips in this series are a good starting point. Not only do they outline the importance of communication, but they create a basic protocol, that if followed, will help consultants firm up a strategy for customer and team communication and training.

Good communication can be one of the most important tools you have.

Missed the other communication tips? Here they are:
Tip one – Listen
Tip two – Email Etiquette
Bonus – Mailing List PLR
Tip three – Phone Etiquette
Tip Four – No One is Perfect

No matter how successful you and your company are, and no matter how well you communicate, mistakes and misunderstanding will happen. How you handle those times is probably the true measure of your communication and customer service skills. When things go amiss, placing blame is not productive, but it makes good business sense to take the time to review what went wrong and why.

There are going to be times the ‘why’ is because the business made an error. Never be afraid let your customer or team member know an error was made, and more importantly, that it is being corrected immediately. Communicating issues makes it clear that your customers are dealing with someone that recognizes mistakes and doesn’t try to cover them up. It isn’t the occasional error that will hurt your relationship. Mistakes happen. However, an attempted cover-up, denial, or lie will have negative and far-reaching consequences.

Other times the “why” will be because of a customer’s miscommunication or mistake. Whenever possible, apply the old adage, “The customer is always right.” Remember, even if it costs you a bit to correct their error, it’s can be far more costly to lose a good customer. Making the customer “right” doesn’t mean you have to pretend the error was your fault. A skillful consultant will listen to a customer and communicate the desire to fix the problem. Taking steps to rectify the situation without admitting fault or placing blame is great communication and customer service.

It can be difficult to deal with a customer or team member who is upset over an issue, but it’s the time when a professional, calm approach is most needed. Even if the customer becomes unreasonable and insulting stay focused on solving the problem. How you handle the whole situation can result in gaining one of your most loyal customers. Mishandle an upset customer and you’re likely to end up with a very vocal, unsatisfied ex-customer.

No matter what you do, there will be situations when there’s nothing you can do to please your customers or team. When you’ve exhausted all attempts, you’ll have to accept the consequences and move on. Exit with an apology, follow-up with one last offer, and let it go.

Always remember, no one is perfect. Admit your mistakes, forgive others’ mistakes, and let criticism roll of your back. You’ll be less stressed and more successful.

What’s the biggest mistake you or your customer made recently and how did you handle it?

Next in the series (later this week):
It All Adds Up To…
Subscribe to our email notifications so you won’t miss it.

Missed the other communication tips? Here they are:
Tip one – Listen
Tip two – Email Etiquette
Bonus – Mailing List PLR
Tip three – Phone Etiquette

In direct sales you are likely to have telephone contact with your customers fairly often, particularly if you regularly hold home sales parties. Many people still like the immediate response they get in a telephone conversation.

Talking on the phone is second nature to most of us, but making a plan for business phone calls can improve relations with your customers and prospects. Here are a few tips to make sure things go smoothly on the phone.

1. Minimize interruptions and background noise. If you have small children it can be challenging to find a quiet time to make phone calls, but it is worth the effort. If you have call waiting you might want to disable it before you call customers. Customers appreciate your undivided attention.

2. Stay focused and on topic. It’s easy for a conversation to go off track so make an effort to stay focused on the purpose of your call. Everyone is busy and while your customer will definitely appreciate the customer service, she will also appreciate taking care of business in a relatively short amount of time. Of course you also don’t want to seem like you’re cutting her off if she has additional questions or needs. Find the balance.

3. Follow-up. A follow-up email or postcard summarizing or confirming the conversation can keep misunderstandings to a minimum. It also shows customers that you really listened and understood their needs.

A little common courtesy and focused attention will make your customer feel important and appreciated, and help assure customer loyalty.

Next in the series (later this week):
No One is Perfect
Subscribe to our email notifications so you won’t miss it.

Missed the other communication tips? Here they are:
Tip one – Listen
Tip two – Email Etiquette
Bonus – Mailing List PLR

Do you have any tips to add? Leave them in a comment below. Thanks!

A good deal of business communication takes place through email, especially if you do business online. Customers and prospects will expect to be able to reach you by email and will expect a timely reply. Making the effort to deliver the business image you wish to portray will pay off in customer satisfaction.

Of course all of your email communication must comply with the law and your email service company’s terms of use, but also be aware of your customers’ perceptions of unsolicited email (spam). With so much spam already coming to our inboxes, people are intolerant of anything they define as spam, even it doesn’t meet the legal definition. Adhere to a privacy policy regarding contact information, always use permission based email marketing, and include opt out instructions in every mailing.

Written communication is more easily misinterpreted than face-to-face communication because all the non-verbal cues we use to communicate in person are missing in email. Choose your words carefully, use the appropriate tone, and use proper spelling and grammar to help make sure your meaning is clear.

One of the most common complaints about email communications is the lack of timely response. While it used to be acceptable to take up to three days to reply, now most people expect a response within a day. If you are unable to regularly respond within 24 hours, consider using an autoresponder to acknowledge receipt of email and to indicate when you expect to be able to respond. It might be wise to provide an alternate means of reaching you for more immediate response. To help reduce email inquiries provide an FAQ section on your website to answer the most commonly asked questions.

Another problem with email communication is that messages don’t always get through. Be certain that the filters you use and those used by your email service aren’t filtering out legitimate email. Additionally, avoid words and practices that trigger spam filters so that your messages aren’t blocked on the receiving end. Always ask for an alternate method of contacting customers and prospects, so if it becomes clear that your email isn’t getting through, you can still make contact.

Customers and prospects often may not even notice the extra effort taken to deliver the perfect email. But they will be quick to react negatively to errors and poorly written emails. Taking the time to carefully develop your email protocol will result in a more professional appearance, higher customer satisfaction, and better relationships with your team.

Resources:

• My favorite email spam filter is MailWasher Pro because it works really well, gives me a great deal of control, and adds an extra layer of protection by filtering email before it’s downloaded.
• My favorite autoresponder service is AWeber because it’s affordable, full-featured, and the company works diligently on deliverability.
• And my favorite email client is Mozilla Thunderbird because it’s easy to use and supports multiple email addresses.

Next in the series (in a few days):
Phone Etiquette
Subscribe to our email notifications so you won’t miss it.

Missed tip one? It’s here.

Communication is key to business success, especially in a relationship based business like direct sales. Effective communication will help you establish, grow, and maintain a customer base and a productive direct sales team.

Today’s savvy customers are looking to get the best products and services for their money. They have loads of information at their fingertips and can easily research companies and products. Your ability to communicate how you can meet their needs will determine whether or not they make that first purchase, and you must keep communicating to retain them as customers.

This is the first post in a short series about communicating in which we’ll talk about some of the many components of communication, and provide tips for effectively communicating with your customers and prospects.

Thinking about communication most likely brings to mind all the methods you use to provide information about your business and market it to customers and potential team members. But one of the first things to keep in mind when communicating is this:

Sometimes the best way to reach out to people is simply by listening to them. Customers and prospects will never be shy about expressing their needs and concerns. But often we spend so much time developing our information delivery strategy that we forget to really listed to what our customers have to say. It’s also important to remember that customer relationships are dynamic and needs and wants change.

Of course it’s important to follow a well developed sales and marketing approach, but an essential part of that strategy should involve regularly listening to what customers and prospects have to say. Good listening skills not only allow you to collect valuable information necessary to assist them and answer their needs, but it also demonstrates sensitivity and understanding.

“The best salespeople are great listeners – that’s how you find out what the buyer wants.”
~ Larry Wilson and Spencer Johnson, authors of
The One Minute Salesperson

Listening sets the tone for the rest of your communication. It will direct your efforts. By actively listening you’ll know the best way to communicate. Whether face-to-face or through email or phone, listening skills will foster the next steps in customer and team relations. This can not only help you fine tune your sales and marketing techniques, but it will also help to create long term relationships and increase visibility, referrals and market share.

Taking the time to improve listening skills and really paying attention to what customers and prospects are saying will improve customers satisfaction and team productivity. Perhaps we’d all be better communicators if we practiced what Greek philosopher Epictetus noted, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Next in the series (later this week):
Email Etiquette
Subscribe to our email notifications so you won’t miss it.

This morning my blog reader listed several posts about customer service. This morning my blog reader listed several posts about customer service. Seth Godin offers three reasons why customer service is broken and how to fix it. And he pointed me to Joel Spolsky’s article “Seven steps to remarkable customer service,” where step #4 is “Take the blame.” I think that’s one of the hardest things for many of us to do. Perhaps rephrasing it to “take responsibility” might make it a little easier.

When presented with a tough customer service situation, I ask myself, “What will be of greater benefit to me… being right or keeping a customer?” The answer is always the latter. It’s easier and less expensive to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. And an unhappy ex-customer can be extremely costly. In fact, the customer who is happy with how you solved a problem will often be one of your best word-of-mouth referrers. Continue Reading