customer service

Stop Treating Your Customers Like Consumers

I was having coffee recently with a brand manager from a multibillion-dollar food and beverage company who was struggling with the launch of a new brand. "We need to be entrepreneurial," he said, "but I don't know how. How do I start thinking like an entrepreneur?"

As we continued to talk about the presumed consumer need and the demographics driving their marketing decisions, it struck me that the biggest opportunity he was missing to think like an entrepreneur was to stop treating the people who buy his product like consumers and start treating them like customers. Read more...

The Art of the Soft Sell

Walk into one of Yoforia's three frozen yogurt stores in Atlanta, and you'll get a warm hello from a server, who will encourage you to try all four of the company's frozen yogurt flavors. The server might also describe the organic milk used to make the yogurt and talk about the all-natural ingredients that go into the premium dark chocolate, mango, pomegranate, and blueberry desserts. Read more...

Showing Customer Appreciation During the Holidays

With the holiday season fast approaching, it’s essential for small business owners to think about what they can do to make sure their best customers know they are appreciated. While it’s always important to let customers know that you value them and their business, it’s certainly a good idea to do something special around the holiday season. Read more...

The Elements Of A Great Shopping Experience

Paula Courtney found "wow" when she took her daughter to the employee washroom at her local grocery store. A sign by the door instructed workers to remain physically by the side of any customer experiencing a problem until that problem was resolved. Later, when Courtney was in the checkout line, the cashier noticed Courtney's blueberries were squishy. The cashier insisted on walking back to the produce section to find a fresh box. Read more...

Holiday Shoppers Treated Like Celebrities

With retail sales at their weakest in more than three decades, stores and businesses are going above and beyond to get shoppers inside to spend money. Many stores are offering consumers some unique incentives for the holiday season.

Some stores and malls are trying to lure shoppers by treating them like A-listers, offering massages, drinks and a chance to relax at "rejuvenation stations."

"We are seeing a lot of flexibility at the retailers," Farnoosh Torabi, a senior correspondent at TheStreet.com, said. "That's a code word for desperate. Really, anything goes. ... We're seeing retailers really pull out all the stops. They are upping their customer service." Read more...

Small Business Advocate: Excellent customer service is golden

Before 1975, consumers enjoyed what I call The Golden Age of Customer Service. Sadly, based on recent research, we now appear to be in the Plastic Age of Customer Service.

An American Customer Satisfaction Index found that the average customer satisfaction rating was less than 60 percent. Read more...

Gray Drug store thriving in community

Gray - It has already been half a year since Dottie Walker moved her Gray Drug Co. to a much larger building she had built on Bill Conn Parkway, but there are still times when she is struck by the contrast in space.

One day a couple of weeks ago when she and her staff were particularly busy, the pharmacists and technicians and clerks all bumping elbows as they scurried around to fill prescriptions and wait on customers, she thought, 'How did we ever manage in our old store?' Read more...

Finding the Right Price for Your Retail Products

You often see or hear retailers' advertisements that promise you "quality merchandise at a fair price." Well, just what is a "fair price?" As you enter the retailing arena, you will soon learn that there really is no universally accepted definition. Most of the time the answer is "It depends. . ." Read more...

Carving piece of customer pie

Gail Watson was surprised and delighted when she received a big apple/cherry pie and a note apologizing for a missed appointment from Nurse Next Door, a Vancouver-based elderly home health care company. While she was initially upset about the missed appointment, the company's prompt apology and "humble pie" helped turn Ms. Watson into a loyal customer. Read more...

Gift bags for out-of-town wedding guests have local favor

Brides and their families who are too overwhelmed with wedding planning to even focus on making up those cute welcome bags left for guests at the host hotel, have a friend in Jane Van Eaton.

Van Eaton creates "hospitality" or "welcome" bags full of snacks, cookies, chips, bottled water, maps and wedding event itineraries for out-of-town wedding guests through her company, Bags by Janie Girl. Bags are customized to the bride's specifications, including color and size, and items for the bags. Prices vary based on what's ordered. Read more...