Author Ari Weinzweig offers low cost tips for giving great customer service in the June issue of Specialty Food Magazine. As Mr. Weinzweig points out, “great service is about getting the big and small things right—and in this economy, keeping customers happy has even greater significance”.
Read the full article to learn how you can help your staff give your customers the service they want and deserve. One of my favorite tips that he offers is to “be welcoming on the phone”. Too often, we answer the phone while we’re working on other projects. Possibly, we’re working on something that has been frustrating. Or maybe, we just finished dealing with a difficult situation. What we might not realize is that the caller can “hear” our distraction and moods.
Weinzweig suggests that we answer the phone as we would open the door to welcome a customer. “No one would say to a customer walking in the front door: Hurry up and get in here!” Nor should we answer the phone with that tone, but rather should welcome the caller into our business. Instead of just declaring our business name when answering the phone, we can say our name, and ask how we can of service. Instead of just transfering callers to someone they’ve asked to speak with, we can assure them that we’ll check back to make sure they’re not hanging “on hold”.
Sometimes, it’s the little things that leave the best impression on our customers. What other phone techniques have you tried to welcome your customers to your business?
June 30th, 2009 at 06:29pm
Lorie Obernauer
I just reread an article about skills that employees need to be successful in any work environment. This list is great! It outlines all of the qualities and traits that you, as an employer, might want in all your employees. Here’s what is included on the list. Read the full article for more details of each item.
- Carefulness
- Cooperation
- Creativity
- Discipline
- Drive
- Good Attitude
- Good Will
- Influence
- Optimism
- Order
- Safe Work Behaviors
- Savvy
- Sociability
- Stability
- Vigor
Our employees are one of our most critical resources for the success of our businesses. It’s important to let them know what we value. When our employees are clear about our expectations, they can help our business thrive.
June 22nd, 2009 at 09:44am
Lorie Obernauer
It’s often difficult to stay upbeat when we’re worrying about the financial stability of our businesses. We can become obsessed with cutting costs and forget about all the creative things we’ve done in the past to build our businesses. But in order to be creative and flexible and open to new ideas, we have to feel creative and flexible and open to new ideas! While we may think that putting in 10 hour days is what is needed to get our businesses in shape, it is often that unrelenting focus on problems and how to “fix everything” that is our worst enemy.
Read “Learn to Glow” from Incentive Magazine to learn how to make the shift from problems to possibilities. According to the author, people who “glow” are able to motivate themselves (and their employees) to be energized and embrace innovation (a necessary ingredient to success in difficult times). “People who Glow have mastered three distinct areas of their life:
•They have built deeply trusting and cooperative relationships with others (a co-operative mindset).
•They have extended their networks beyond the obvious to encompass the unusual (jumping across worlds).
•They are on an inner quest that ignites their own energy and that of others (igniting latent energy).”
Read the full article for more ideas on how to turn on your “glow”. Look for new ways to ignite your own energy: exercise, meditation, or hobbies. Don’t deprive yourself of these important activities that help us be the best we can be. When we take care of ourselves, we are better positioned to take care of others and deal with difficult situations in new creative ways.
June 19th, 2009 at 03:12pm
Lorie Obernauer
Have you ever created a great gift basket design that isn’t selling as well as you expected? This is a good time to sit down with your staff and start asking questions!
Get your staff together (with some coffee and snacks) and take a serious look at the design. Come to the meeting with some facts and figures.
- Look at the overall design. Consider the colors and shape of the basket. Does it look elegant? fun? sophisticated? feminine? masculine? Is packed full with product or include just a few gourmet items? Did you use enhancements? Is there a theme? Does the send “send the message” that you had intended? (For example, if you designed a basket full of spa products, you probably want to send a message of “luxury”, “pampering”. Does the container, product, and enhancements that you used convey that message?)
- Look at the individual products. Are these your most popular items? What is the combination of cookies vs. snacks vs. chocolates, etc? What are the price points of each item? Are the individual boxes/packages large or small; simple in design or upscale? (For example, if you created a basket for a corporate setting, does it include products that can be shared by staff instead of all “single serve” items?)
- Look at the customers who have purchased this design: male? female? corporate? For what type of occasion was the basket purchased? Is the basket being purchased by the customers you thought would buy it?
Once you’ve answered some of these questions, you can brainstorm ideas for changes to the design that might better match the goal you had in mind when you originally created the basket.
How can you use these questions to create baskets that are sure to sell? What other questions should you be asking?
June 14th, 2009 at 10:05am
Lorie Obernauer
Unfortunately, we all face situations in our businesses where a customer is dissatisfied or disappointed with the products or services received. While we strive to do our best, these circumstances require that we use our best communication skills to rectify the problem.
In an article in Incentive Magazine, author Kerry Patterson has six suggestions for resolving conflicts with customers or co-workers. Each suggestion offers a fresh look at how we can use our communication skills to effectively find solutions to what might otherwise seem like an insurmountable problem.
- Never let email replace talking face to face. While it may be convenient, email can cut you off from hearing the real concerns that a customer may have.
- Listen for hesitance. While a customer may be angry, he/she may not want to appear rude or may be cautious about giving their real opinions. Often times, what a customer is not saying is more important than what is actually said.
- Choose tentative language. While it’s important to express your position, try to couch your words in a tone that invites conversation. It’s important to be firm about your position, but avoid sounding harsh or defensive.
- Seek different views. Once you’ve expressed your ideas about resolving a problem, ask the other person for his/her thoughts.
- Play devil’s advocate. Although you might have a great resolution in mind, your solutions might not match the customer’s needs. Point out how your solutions might be better with feedback and suggestions from another point of view.
- Allow time. The unhappy customer might need some time to consider how your suggestions will help to correct the problem. This gives your customer to clarify what he/she really wants.
Read the full article to get the most of the author’s ideas. As Patterson says: “Your goal should be to come to a shared understanding, not to win”. Try out some of these ideas and discover how you can keep your customers satisfied.
June 7th, 2009 at 05:41pm
Lorie Obernauer
Visit from Beth Groundwater, Author of the Claire Hanover Gift Basket Designer Mystery Series
Many thanks to Lorie for inviting me to submit a guest article to her blog as part of my virtual book tour to promote the second book in my series, To Hell in a Handbasket. This book, along with the first, A Real Basket Case, stars a Colorado Springs gift basket designer as an amateur sleuth who solves murders that fall in her lap (literally, in the first book!). Claire has a part-time gift basket business in the basement of her home and puts together different types of baskets in the books.
I’d love to answer any questions you have about what it’s like to write a mystery series based on someone in your profession, and anything else you want to talk about. Every person who comments is automatically entered into a contest for a free set of both books autographed by me. If you have any funny or embarrassing stories to tell me about baskets or deliveries gone wrong, I’d love to read those, too, and may even use them in a future book!
Here’s a favorite gift basket recipe that I hope you’ll enjoy and use for someone who adores all things mysterious.
Recipe for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket
Color scheme: black, red, and either white or gray
Container: black-painted basket, bucket or box, with a lid or handle sticking up, from which you hang fake spider webbing
Stuffing: dried Spanish moss or red-dyed tissue paper, shreds, or wood shavings
Contents:
- A Real Basket Case and/or To Hell in a Handbasket mystery books (email me at beth07@bethgroundwater.com to find out how to obtain discounted copies)
- CD of eerie music such as Mystery Movie Scores or Mystery Sound Effects
- Pocket-sized mystery party game or travel Clue game
- Movie DVD: Clue, Mousetrap, an Alfred Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes movie, or a movie collection (Mystery Classics: 50 Movie Pack)
- Chocolate or bubble gum coins or other mystery-related chocolate shapes such as blood drops, knives, or guns (see http://www.chocolatepen.com/pieces.html for a sample vendor)
- And a selection from the following list:
– Magnifying glass
– Pair of play handcuffs and/or sheriff’s badge
– Rubber knife
– Glasses, nose, mustache disguise
– Skull-shaped/logo item(s): tea-light candle holder, squeeze ball, notepad, drinking cup (see the Halloween collection at www.orientaltrading.com)
– Bottle of stage blood from a costume or makeup supply store, or make your own (see chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm)
I hope many of you gift basket designers will use this idea for a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket, and don’t worry, you won’t have any competition from me! Unlike my amateur sleuth, Claire Hanover, I do not have a gift basket business of my own. My business is writing mystery novels. My debut, A Real Basket Case, was released in March, 2007 and was nominated for a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award (named for Agatha Christie). To Hell in a Handbasket, the second in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series, was released May 15th.
I live in Colorado Springs, where I defend my garden from marauding mule deer and wild rabbits and try to avoid getting black-and-blue on Colorado’s black and blue ski slopes. I have loved to read since I was a child and savor those monthly meetings with my Book Club, and not just for the gossip and wine. For more information about me and my books, and to sign up for my email newsletter and enter a contest for free books, go to: http://bethgroundwater.com/. You’ll also find the schedule for my blog book tour there.
So, readers of Lorie’s blog, do you have any more ideas for creative ingredients to add to a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket? Do you have any interesting stories that I can use in future Claire Hanover novels?
May 29th, 2009 at 07:29am
Lorie Obernauer
Looking for fresh ideas for your gift basket business? Think about attending the Summer Fancy Food Show, June 28-30, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. There will be over 100,000 products on display from 2,300 exhibitors representing more than 70 countries.
You can also take advantage of a great educational program that starts on June 26th. Learn from industry experts in more than 20 seminars. Check out special showcases for natural and organic foods. See the hottest, newest products that your customers will want to buy.
Get more information and details for registration and hotels at NASFT FANCY FOOD SHOW.
May 25th, 2009 at 01:12pm
Lorie Obernauer
As we try to regain our share of the market and keep our customers coming back, we often turn to strategies for advertising and marketing. And many of these approaches cost money which we might not have in our budgets during these tough economic times.
In the May issue of Specialty Food Magazine, author Ari Weinzweig offers some “no cost” ideas for attracting and keeping customers. Here’s some ideas that you can easily implement.
- Make Your Customers Feel Welcome. Whether you have a “brick and mortar” store, or you do most of your business by phone, it’s critical that we make our customers “feel good” as soon as they contact us. If you have a store, this can be easily accomplished by greeting each customer with a smile and a big “hello”. Make sure that your employees don’t assume that someone else is taking care of the customer. Every employee should stop what they’re doing for a moment to say hello and inquire as to whether the customer needs some help. Likewise, your employees need to be attentive when they answer the phone. I’ve had many experiences when I’ve called a business and the person answering the phone sounds harried or bored or generally, less than enthusiastic. Frankly, that type of greeting makes me cranky (not a good attitude for a customer)! Ask your employees to stop what they’re doing when they answer the phone and act as if the person is right in front of them. In other words, smile and say hello with warmth…and mean it!
- Actively Engage the Customer. Whether the customer is in your store or on the phone, your employees should spend as much time with them as possible (instead of trying to finish up the sale quickly). Taking some time to “chat”, and using good questioning techniques coupled with good listening, an employee can learn a lot. While the customer might be purchasing a gift for her mother, she might remark while chatting that her husband’s birthday is around the corner or a friend just had a baby. These could be two more opportunities to sell a gourmet basket.
- Make Time for Employee “Tune-ups”. While we might do an excellent job with orientation and training with our new employees, we sometimes forget that our long-term employees could also use a refresher course in customer service. In addition to traditional training opportunities such as workshops, have your older employees help train the new recruits. Ask them to tell the “newbies” how they treat new customers: what they do to keep the customers happy and coming back. This might be just the reminder they need to “perk up” when they are greeting and waiting on your customers.
Read the full article and take advantage of these “no cost” ways that you can increase customer loyalty and satisfaction AND see the results in your bottom line. Please share your ideas on “no cost” ways to make your business grow.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:52am
Lorie Obernauer
I was contacted a couple of months ago by Beth Groundwater, the author of two mystery books. Beth just published her second novel: “To Hell in a Handbasket” and the principle character in the book is a gift basket designer. To promote her new book, Beth has offered to write a post for this blog that will be posted on Thursday, May 28th.
Join Beth Groundwater on her book blog tour right here at Apexgiftbasketpros.com. She’ll discuss her new book release, “To Hell in a Handbasket“, give behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the book was created, her life as an author, and answer your questions about her blog posts. You may even get a chance to chat with her protagonist, Claire Hanover, and other characters from the book!
In addition to discussing her book, Beth will make some suggestions for creating a Mystery Lover’s Gift Basket. With summer quickly approaching, customers start to ponder their “beach reading” and this might be a great gift idea for your customers who want to share a new mystery novel with their best friend, spouse, boss or anyone who is a lover of mysteries.
If you comment on Beth’s blog post, which will appear here on May 28th, you will be entered into a drawing for an autographed set of both books in the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series: “A Real Basket Case” and “To Hell in a Handbasket”.
May 11th, 2009 at 08:09pm
Lorie Obernauer
As small business owners, we manage many facets of our businesses. Processing credit cards for customers seems like one of the easy parts: we swipe the card, get electronic approval from the bank, and everyone’s happy. But, “according to the Merchant Risk Council (MRC), Seattle, a trade association focused on e-commerce risk, small businesses in particular are at jeopardy because many are overly confident or under informed about how common fraud is.”
There are many ways that we can experience credit card fraud. And it goes far beyond a customer using a credit card that has been stolen. I was especially surprised (and dismayed) to learn that “in-house” fraud was one of the most common problems that small business owners face!
Read the full article in Specialty Foods Magazine, “Credit Card Fraud: What You Need to Know”. Learn the most common types of fraud and some ways that you can protect your customers and your business.
May 5th, 2009 at 07:47pm
Lorie Obernauer
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