digital media strategy blog

According to a Forum Corporation survey of commercial customers lost by 14 major service and manufacturing companies:

15% found a better service/product

15% found a cheaper service/product

20% cited “lack of contact and individual attention from the company”

50% said; “contact from old suppliers” personnel was poor in quality”

These days, it seems that everyone from dog walkers to dotcoms is making “customer service” their mission. Department, discount and convenience stores have all transformed the workers who used to be known as “sales clerks” into “customer service associates”- in theory at least. A recent survey of large corporation CEOs revealed that 67% had customer service earmarked as their top priority. Here are the 5 ways successful managers should implement to increase customer focus.

1. Targeted recruiting and hiring. Today’s managers are faced with the challenge of recruiting and hiring people who value customers. The concern far exceeds hiring the right talent; it includes the awareness of hiring for the cultural fit of their organization. It is true that a strong correlation exists between hiring the right customer service talent and customer satisfaction, effective productivity and increased bottom line profitability.

2. Listen for what customers really need. While the extra effort being put forth to be customer focused is encouraging, there is a big difference between customer service and customer satisfaction. This is where many companies get confused and customer service efforts can go awry. Customer satisfaction is an outcome; customer service is a means or strategy for achieving that outcome. To move toward greater customer satisfaction, businesses must focus on what it is that, indeed, satisfies the customer instead of just focusing on the activities themselves.

3. Handle tough customers with tact. Quality of service is what distinguishes one company from another. Far more than in product-producing companies, in service organizations. The actions of people are the key to quality. The leadership skills of managers in service organizations can contribute significantly to the quality of customer service efforts.

4. Conduct customer surveys. Develop and implement a customer survey program. This will attempt to understand customers’ satisfaction with the company, its products and services. Companies will ask key questions about the customers’ experiences and determine the overall level of customer satisfaction. Compare results of survey against internal performance measurements to ensure their validity. Managers will use such survey results to understand customer expectation and increase customer loyalty.

5. Motivate employees to be customer-focused. Managers need to create a sense of enthusiasm and energy that would be powerful and contagious for their employees and customers. Employee excitement, know how and determination offer insights to the growth of customer base and success of any organization.
Incorporating true customer focus into company practices simply makes good business sense. It not only helps good managers become better managers, but more effective leaders. Bringing with it continual improvement, it also aids organizations so that they are better able to take advantage of, and adapt to, the changing environment that is today’s marketplace.
Business can’t exist without customers, and customers don’t let businesses exist without customer service. This all-important aspect of your company begins with becoming customer-focused. Instead of viewing things from your business’ perspective, you must learn to view circumstances from that of your clients. To stay successful, customer satisfaction is a must!

Tips & Tactics

• Pay attention to customer feedback:
It’s the only way you’ll really know what they want

• Embrace Technology:
It can help you save tremendously on customer service costs.

• Make customer satisfaction a priority:
From the top executives down, give your corporate culture a customer-focused angle.

Vera Haitayan, Principal Consultant of The Leadership Laboratory., a California-based employee development and process improvement consulting firm and is the senior editor of The Stepping Stone Newsletter featuring leadership and process improvement best practices.
http://www.1leadershiplab.com
mailto: vera@1leadershiplab.com

An “affiliate” is a business that sells them products or services of another business, called a “merchant”, via a link on the affiliate’s website. When a sale take place, the affiliate receives a commission.

Affiliate business is popular because it is performance-based; merchants with affiliate programs incur promotional costs, in the form of commissions, only when sales are made. By comparison, sellers that promote their products or services via ads, TV commercials, direct mail and the like, pay for these marketing costs whether or not the media is successful in bringing them sales. Affiliates typically do not pay to participate in affiliate programs.

When a business joins the affiliate program of an online merchant, they are assigned a unique link that they put up on their website, or include in email messages. When one of their site visitors clicks on the link, they are directed to the merchant’s website. If they make a purchase, the affiliate is credited with a commission, but if they don’t buy, there is no charge to the merchant for “window shoppers”.

In order to maximize their earnings, it is important for affiliates to choose merchants whose products are expected to be of great interest to their site visitors. For instance, it is unlikely that a link for custom fishing lures will generate many sales from a site selling professional cookware. However, a site for potted culinary herbs may do quite well. By entering into affiliate relationships with appropriate merchants, businesses can not only increase their online earnings, but provide a valuable service to their site visitors by introducing them to merchants of interest and products they’re ready to buy.

Karen Kari’s articles and more information on the affiliate business can be found at:

http://www.affiliatebandit.com

http://www.advertisingcellar.com

http://www.billionfreeads.com

We all know one. There is at least one in every family, and one
in every circle of friends. There is even one in every office!
There is always that one person that you know who is absolutely
impossible to buy a gift for! These people either have
everything, or want nothing. They don’t drop hints at all, and
when asked, they simply say that they don’t know, they don’t
care, or they don’t want anything.

Well, now you can buy a gift for that person. The solution lies
in an eBay gift certificate! This will allow your loved one to
essentially buy anything that they want, in a very exciting way.
eBay gift certificates can easily be purchased through paypal,
in varying amounts.

There are things that you should point out to the gift
recipient, however. For instance, eBay gift certificates do
expire. eBay gift certificates will not be accepted for all
auctions either - they can only be redeemed for those auctions
that accept Paypal as a form of payment. Other than that, your
loved one should not have any problems redeeming their eBay gift
certificate!

Get all the latest cordless drill reviews instantly by visiting
cordlessdrillworld.com, choose the best cordless drill for you.
Nowadays every handyman/professional tradesman needs a cordless
drill, but there a huge number of different choices available,
including hammer drills, combo sets, drill/drivers and right
angles drills. They come in a range of battery voltages, from
9.2 up to 18 volts and beyond and are powerful enough to drill
into most work surfaces.

The buyer needs information to make an informed decision, we
help to make that decision easier by offering reviews and advice
on all the latest cordless power drills on the market today.

The new cordless driver drills are designed to address and
exceed the needs of both professionals and DIY users alike

Cordless drills have evolved like the personal computer - as
they have become low cost, very light and extremely reliable.
Today we wonder how did we ever got along the without the
cordless drill? They can be used for both screw driving as well
as drilling into a large range of materials including both
masonry and concrete.

A “drill” just spins a drill bit. A “hammer drill” adds tapping
on the bit to help drive it into masonry, concrete and tile. A
“driver” or “drill/driver” disengages the drill’s moor from its
drive shaft at a specific level of resistance you choose.

To help make an informed decision which is the best cordless for
you and save you money visit cordlessdrillworld.com today.

The Cordless drill is now a must have item in every DIY man’s
toolbox, nowadays they are cheap, light and very reliable - most
people wonder how they ever got along without one.

Which cordless drill should you choose? Here at
cordlessdrillworld.com we have the answers you need, you can
find cordless drill reviews on the most popular brands including
Dewalt, Makita, Black& Decker, Bosch as well as a host of other
cordless drill manufacturers.

There are a number of different types of cordless drill on the
market today, there is the cordless hammer drill, the
drill/driver and the right angled drill.

The cordless hammer drill adds hammer action to the drill’s
functionality allowing the user to drill into surfaces such as
masonry and even concrete!, the drill/driver allows both
drilling as well as screw driving functions, it does this by
disengaging the drill’s motor from the drive shaft at a preset
level of resistance whilst the right-angled drill allows the
user to get into all those hard to reach spaces such as between
joists and noggins.

The cordless combo pack should also not be overlooked, these
excellent value packs include a range of cordless tools along
with 1 or 2 batteries as well as a charger - you save money
because you only need 1 charger and at most 2 batteries whilst
you can buy 3 or 4 cordless tools.

When big industries and the common man collide, there is usually only one financial winner. However in the online world of opportunity, there are chances to turn this tide and to even start making money off of the backs of the large industry. Affiliate programs offer Internet users the chance to earn money by hosting advertising for specific companies or industries. However the online sports betting industry have come up with another marketing strategy, which is as unique as it is lucrative. Rather than simply giving away a few dollars for a new customer or a small percentage of a sale, like so many of the other programs, sports betting provides a percentage of each players lifetime revenue generated. So an affiliate can earn money just by attracting one or more players, through links on their sites. It sounds simple, because it is.

There are no strings, no hidden charges and no customers to worry about. The affiliate program is a fully automated and highly successful way for big online sites, including the giants of the sports betting world, to spread their brand and encourage new custom. Because of the success of affiliate marketing, sports betting sites and affiliate programs do not charge or discriminate between people who are and are not able to host an advertising package. The more people that join, the greater their potential sphere of influence can grow, with more influence the betting sites can hopefully encourage more customers. For their part, affiliates are given the carrot of a lucrative percentage of each player that they can persuade to join an external site. The more customers, the more money an affiliate can earn. There are no caps, no limits, just those that an affiliate imposes on themselves.

But for those cynical people, who just can’t believe that there must be a catch, there is not. Affiliates are masters of their own destiny, whilst hard work and a little investment can go a long way, they are by no means essential. Others may note that whilst bookmakers may win a high percentage of times, they can’t win every time, therefore making it a slightly rocky industry of ups and downs. It is true that bookmakers can lose as well as win, which will no doubt affect the amount of revenue an affiliate makes. However most programs protect the affiliates from this potential downfall, simply by implementing a stop that does not allow an affiliate to earn a negative balance. With payments coming over a period of a fortnight or a month, this gives sports betting affiliate programs the chance to accurately judge the overall success of an affiliates customers. The worst thing that can happen to an affiliate is to receive no money, therefore if an affiliate doesn’t make any money the onus is on them to attract more players to increase their revenue sources, which in turn favours the sports betting site. There is no guaranteed pathway to affiliate success, but joining the sports betting program can certainly increase ones chances of earning a substantial wage.

Discover the secrets of top poker affiliates and discover how to find the best poker affiliate program at http://www.epokeraffiliate.com/