Posts Tagged ‘Customer Service’
Developing Lifelong Customers
As a business, we invest a lot of resources to find, develop and sell new customers. Once we obtain the gratification of a sale, what do we do then? Hope they come back? Maybe buy from us again? Don’t let that treasured client disappear! Follow the steps outlined below and maintain that relationship for life!
- Deliver on promises – sounds simple, but by following through with a commitment, you show your integrity, that the customer is important, and that you have their best interests in mind.
- Exceed expectations – don’t do the minimum! Take the extra step to put an exclamation at the end of their customer experience. Make them think “WOW!” when they walk out the door.
- Make the Customer #1 – don’t sacrifice a long term relationship for a short term profit gain. Do what is right for the customer and keep the door open to additional business opportunities. There is a great deal of truth in the old adage “the customer is always right”.
- Nurture your staff – they are the face of your company! Keeping a loyal, happy, empowered, long tenured staff is one of the single best steps to keeping lifelong customers. Treat your staff as well as you expect them to treat the customers….
- Choose the right lifelong customers – I know this seems crazy, but some customers are just not worth keeping around. Knowing the cost to keeping a customer long term is essential. If you are putting more resources into keeping the customer around than you can ever hope to recover in revenue, it’s necessary to cut them loose. Re-invest those resources into customers that a good fit for your business.
Monitoring your customer’s experience with your company and listening to what they say will help keep you on track in your efforts. Informal surveys, personal observation and simple conversations with clients will provide invaluable clues to how good a job you are doing. Southwest Airlines and Chick-fil-A are doing something right!!
Selling with the Stars
People often buy based on emotion and then use logic to support their decision. Hollywood has perfected the art of tapping into our emotions: happy, sad, anger, fear, and hope to name a few. What lessons can sales people learn from Tinseltown to increase our success in business?
- Know their emotional motivation – which of the 4 major emotions is driving your customer’s need? Glad, Sad, Mad and Fear are powerful motivators, knowing where your customer is coming from will help you tailor your approach to showcase the value of your product and service.
- Create a Unique Brand/Image – in the movies, they used “hooks” to get your attention and keep you interested. Think of all the classic lines, unique names, theme music and character names that are iconic in our culture. Bogart, Grant, Taylor, Bergman, Hitchcock are still relevant names in our society. Find your unique brand or tag line and use it to set yourself apart from your competition.
- Customize your message to the Audience – “Toy Story” appeals to a much different audience than “Star Wars” or “True Grit”. Know your audience and target your approach to appeal to their sensibilities. Some people prefer “formal” instead of “informal” approaches. Don’t expect a “one size fits all” approach to yield the level of success you want to achieve.
- Cover the Details – ever watch a movie and catch the lack of continuity between scenes? My youngest son loves to catch those inconsistencies in a movie and point them out to me. You know what I’m talking about; the clock in the background shows 10:00am in one frame, they pan away and come back to the clock within a few additional frames and now it shows 5:30pm! Make sure you have your facts straight and details covered. This builds confidence and loyalty with your customer.
- Edit – that age old adage “less is more” is very true! Cover the relevant facts and shut up. Let the customer talk, they will tell you a lot if you give them a chance. Truly listen to what they are saying and you will gain invaluable insights into their motivations and needs.
- Tell Good Stories – the customer has to feel like you relate; that you share common experiences, can empathize with their needs and help them with their situation. Showing you can offer relevance, value and put their interests first, will help build long term relationships.
Delivering Great Customer Service
Every company says they “Focus on Customer Excellence”, “Our Customers Are #1”… but how effective are they in delivering GREAT customer service? Review the list below for some insights and ideas on how to create a GREAT customer experience:
- Know your Customers – Who are your chosen customers? What are their needs and expectations? How well are you meeting those needs
- Empower Your Front-line Staff – train your staff to handle customer issues themselves. Allow them to act independently and with flexibility. Nothing kills customer service quicker than “I have to check with my manager”.
- Organization/Importance – Customer service must be a priority for Senior Management! Develop an organizational mentality that facilitates a smooth flow to resolve customer issues and places a priority on a positive, successful resolution to customer issues.
- Turn Problems into Opportunities – if handled quickly, fairly and effectively, you can turn a customer with a complaint into an advocate for your brand!
- Learn from Your Mistakes AND Your Successes – View mistakes by your staff as learning opportunities! Be willing to change procedures or practices based on customer and staff feedback. Review your successes and incorporate those practices and principles into areas that may need improvement.
- Anticipate the Future – Technology changes constantly! Don’t fall into the trap of “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. The business landscape is piled high with the corpses of businesses that failed to recognize and embrace change. Webchat, email, text messaging, Facebook, Twitter are just a few of the high tech avenues to communicate with customers. Don’t let your customers disappear into the technology dimension without you!
Contact AgencyIQ today for a FREE 15 Day Trial and let us help you provide a GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE for your prospective and existing clients!
Email Marketing NO-No’s
In past articles we have covered various aspects of email marketing from a “big-picture” viewpoint. Now let’s get down to some “nut and bolts” about some email basics that will help increase your open ratios! The list below shows words to avoid using in your email messages:
Spam filters are programmed to search for and reject emails with these “key” words in the body of your text. It’s important to remember that the use of 1 or 2 or these words will not automatically reject your email and send it to the “Junk” email file. But, use of more than that will certainly trigger a rigorous scrubbing of your message by spam filters. Be creative and use alternative words to convey the same message and use this as an opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition when approaching a potential client.
So, get creative, dust off the cover of that old Thesaurus and get your message to your Clients!
Building Stronger Customer Relationships
One of the easiest and most effective ways to grow your customer base is through existing clients. What better advertising than loyal, happy, long-term clients giving you a “two thumbs up” endorsement!
Use these tips below as a guide to success:
- Be Authentic – people usually know when they are being given “the treatment” and they also recognize when someone genuinely has their best interests in mind. Be upfront and honest, it pays tremendous dividends.
- Don’t Rush – you are building for a long-term relationship, and that takes time to earn your customer’s trust. Let your actions over a period of time speak for your intentions.
- Build a Partnership Relationship – get to know your customer and what they need or what their goals are long term. By understanding their needs and goals, you can then tailor your efforts to “assisting” them meet those goals. Making the transition from “just another” company to being perceived as someone with a personal investment with them is HUGE!
- Acknowledge Loyalty – if your business permits loyalty programs, discounts, special offers, then get moving! If not, then identify a means of recognizing their loyalty by hosting special events or sending cards of appreciation on anniversaries, birthdays and holidays. If you’re sending a card, at a minimum, personally sign your name…. nothing is worse than a personalized “stamped” signature!
By thinking about how you would like to be treated if you were in the customer’s place, you will be well on your way to building a strong customer following, who will be one of your most effective marketing tools!
Keys to Delivering GREAT Customer Service
Every company say the “Focus on Customer Excellence”, “Our Customers Are #1”…….. but how effective are they in delivering GREAT customer service? Review the list below for some insights and ideas on how to create a GREAT customer experience:
Know your Customers – Who are your chosen customers? What are their needs and expectations? How well are you meeting those needs
Empower Your Front-line Staff – train your staff to handle customer issues themselves. Allow them to act independently and with flexibility. Nothing kills customer service quicker than “I have to check with my manager”.
Organization/Importance – Customer service must be a priority for Senior Management! Develop an organizational mentality that facilitates a smooth flow to resolve customer issues and places a priority on a positive, successful resolution to customer issues.
Turn Problems into Opportunities – if handled quickly, fairly and effectively, you can turn a customer with a complaint into an advocate for your brand!
Learn from Your Mistakes AND Your Successes – View mistakes by your staff as learning opportunities! Be willing to change procedures or practices based on customer and staff feedback. Review your successes and incorporate those practices and principles into areas that may need improvement.
Anticipate the Future – Technology changes constantly! Don’t fall into the trap of “if it’s not broke don’t fix it”. The business landscape is piled high with the corpses of businesses that failed to recognize and embrace change. Webchat, email, text messaging, Facebook, Twitter are just a few of the high tech avenues to communicate with customers. Don’t let your customers disappear into the technology dimension without you!
Contact AgencyIQ today for a FREE 15 Day Trial and let us help you provide a GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE for your prospective and existing clients!
Staying Relevant in Today’s E-Commerce World
Survey results from an online insurance comparison site CoverHound.com indicate that consumers of auto insurance still prefer to deal with local agents versus online or telephone purchases from direct carriers. While direct carriers continue to gain market share, shoppers still prefer that personal connection. That’s great news for agents!
The survey shows that 39% prefer to deal with a local agent, 32% prefer direct contact with carriers and 29% are indifferent. Not surprisingly, 50% of 18-25 year olds preferred a direct carrier association, while only 27% of 41-50 year olds held a similar preference. As an agent, this provides some valuable insights into market demographics and should assist you in defining your marketing strategy. Utilizing online technology should be an important part of you marketing plan. Having a presence online is crucial to reaching a significant percentage of the market, regardless of age, but is essential to reach the younger age demographic. By making contact in an environment clients are comfortable in, you make yourself available to begin the process of developing a lifelong relationship. Reality is, the younger age demographic will probably have less extensive insurance needs early in the relationship, but as they mature, their insurance needs will increase to keep pace with larger homes, more expensive cars, life insurance policies, and health care needs. Branding yourself as a valuable resource that will assist a client with wealth retention and protecting them from loss from young adulthood will create a steady, reliable income stream potential.
The use of online technology by consumers will only continue to grow in the next ten years and beyond. Position yourself NOW to be an active participant with your potential clients online. If you haven’t already done so, take a look at what AgencyIQ can do to assist you with our online program. Our customizable software and drip email marketing campaigns will assist you in growing you business!!
Updated Reports
Now agents can track their sales and activities easier than ever. We’ve updated two reports, the Lead Source Summary Report and the Lead Source Detail Report, and we’ve added the Agency Activity Report.
Lead Source Summary and Detail Reports
This report shows you how many leads you’ve received from each source during a given date range. In addition to the raw numbers, a graph is also produced that visually compares these different lead sources to each other.
In this update, we added the ability to narrow down leads assigned to individual agents, as well as to show close ratios across these lead sources. By checking the box “Show Breakdown By Class” (circled in red in the screenshot below) and clicking “Refresh,” the report will expand to show Prospect vs. Client (and Cancelled) contacts. We show both the raw numbers as well as the percentage breakdown.
Lead Source Summary Report
As before, if you click on any of the detail numbers inside the report, you’ll be taken to the Lead Source Detail Report, showing you all the contacts that roll up to that number. On this detail report, we’ve expanded the selection criteria to allow you narrow down by Agent(s) and Class, and we’ve added a column to show you the last date that an email was sent to this contact.
Agency Activity Report
If you are an agency owner or agency manager, you’ll have a new report called the “Agency Activity Report” at the bottom of the Reports screen. This report allows you to see the detail of what’s going on in your agency, such as contacts edited, leads received, emails sent, and all other events inside your agency account.
Agency Activity Report
Above the detail in the report you have several options to narrow the events you’re interested in. You can select all agents or a specific agent, whether or not to show agency events or user events, what type of events to show (events related to email, leads, billing, or the agency), and what severity to display (ranging from informational and notices to critical events). This will give a manager a large degree of detail to be able to see what is going on in their agency.
We hope these reports give you more information to help you effectively manage your agency. We’ve got more on the way!
AgencyIQ Customer Service Updates
AgencyIQ was created in 2003 with the premise of being a system developed for insurance agents, by insurance agents. All along we have striven to provide superior customer service and respond to customer needs as quickly and efficiently as possible. This philosophy has shown us to be a system dedicated to our clients and the process of working together to achieve growth.
As many of you have seen, we have greatly improved the system in the past year and a half, adding many valuable features and helping agents with the many needs of their agency. We have rolled out the ability to have customizable email marketing, customizable statuses, many new subscriber maintenance features, and even an update to our look.
Through working with agents, the staff at AgencyIQ have recognized the need for multiple channels for customer support. In an effort to make it even easier to connect with a customer service specialist, we are introducing five different outlets for connecting with our staff. One of the features that sets us apart from other systems is our unlimited training. We want to maintain this service, and we have added other options to make sure we are available to you. These can be found within our support tab, located in the top right corner of your screen:
- IM Chat: The IM Chat feature is available during normal business hours (Central Time Zone) to answer your questions and assist you with any needs you might have. If you would like assistance after hours, you can post a question and an email will be sent to the representative on call.
- Personal Training: Utilizing an online calendar feature you can now schedule a personalized training appointment with one of our lead management specialists. Schedule your appointment and we will call you to answer all of your questions. Appointments are booked an hour at a time and can be open to any topic you need to cover.
- Email: You can always connect with one of our representatives by email. Simply email your questions to support@net-lead.net and we will answer it in a timely manner.
- Webinars: We will be hosting regular webinars on Tuesdays for trainings on the system, and on Wednesdays covering educational topics. All webinars will be held at 2:00 Central. Visit our schedule inside the support tab to view the topics and sign up.
- Phone Support: Phone support is offered by our customer service team through return phone call. Our goal is to make sure that you get all of your questions answered, so feel free to call us at (877) 985-7400 and leave us a message. Your call will be returned promptly by a customer service representative.
Utilize one of these options or all of them. It is our unlimited customer service and easy interface that sets us apart. Contact us today so that we can partner with you to grow your agency!
