Customer Service – How to do it right!

Bad Customer ServiceIt would be great if providing good customer service was something that came naturally, but the truth is, it takes training and personal motivation to meet the customer’s needs. A company should make customer service a priority since over 65% of a typical company’s business comes from existing customers, noting it can cost about five times more to get new customers than it does to market to existing ones. So let’s explore ways to improve on customer service and how the Internet and social media impact your success.

Customer service to me means a deep rooted desire to do the right thing. All too often people just roll over and take bad business for the sake of customer service forgetting it is really about working together with your customers to be partners in their business. Being open and transparent with all of your stakeholders and following the golden rule.

Businesses should continually improve their customer service, noting customer’s needs may change the longer the relationship continues. Again, having a deep rooted desire to do what is right and making sure the people who are interacting with your customers have that same passion. Start by writing down your passions on paper, create your motto and actually live by it. It is not good enough to just have this motto on your business card, rather you need to continually make your business decisions based on this mindset to ensure long term customers.

Frequently reviewing your customer service practices so they can be modified to stay current. Most importantly, leave your ego at the door! I have seen way too many small businesses get involved in emotional ego driven spats with customers or even made decisions about operating their company based on emotions. For example, small businesses in our industry get upset with difficult customers instead of looking at their decision to price a job too low, not giving a full explanation of a project or having them sign off on a proof before production. Simple things that could have been completed to prevent a conflict with a customer. Personally, I cannot make my problems my customers’ problems. They are coming to us for a product/service to solve their problem/need, not to create more issues. This means, before you explain why you cannot do something for them, ask yourself, why do they care? Can you fix your problem without even letting them know? Overall, just taking the time to think through some procedures and provide training to those who will be representing your company will take you on the path of great customer service.

With the Internet, social media and websites like Angie’s List and Yelp, the customer has several sources to express their level of satisfaction with the service provided by your company. These tools have now made providing excellent customer service a necessity as anything less may lead to a bad review that can be difficult to recover from as a business. On the positive side, these tools help companies learn what customers need and want for services. Further, businesses can respond quickly to any issues if these websites are monitored closely and will improve the relationship.

Top 3 Things Every Small Business Must Do

When talking to people about how things are going in their business, I have discovered some common tasks.  People who have successful businesses are doing certain things on a regular basis that appear to be marketingimmagesimilar. Also, it seems those who are struggling are not doing these things. In addition, I have noticed that sometimes small businesses believe that the normal business principles that work for larger companies do not apply to them because they are a small company.  At times, small business operators are not necessarily formally trained in business, rather, just nice people with a great idea trying to figure out how to make it work. That got me thinking about what key elements that I feel make businesses successful to avoid potential pitfalls. Below are the three things that I feel are critical for every small business to ensure success. Continue reading “Top 3 Things Every Small Business Must Do”

Tracy Takes On…“I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part I

Everybody always wants to tell you how great a specific process is, but nobody wants to tell you the downsides. No worries… I’m here for you. Feel free to call me “Negative Nancy” today. I’m here to ruin your day! I … Continue reading

The post Tracy Takes On…“I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part I appeared first on Blogging with Coastal – Transfer Paper, Sublimation, Heat Press, Vinyl and More!.

Everybody always wants to tell you how great a specific process is, but nobody wants to tell you the downsides. No worries… I’m here for you. Feel free to call me “Negative Nancy” today. I’m here to ruin your day!

I do promise to tell you my favorite PROs about each process as we go along. And, since this is my blog… well, I’m gonna write what I want.

Let’s start with the one of oldest forms of garment decorating… screen printing.

It became a popular form of application in the US around the 1960’s. In Artistic screen printing, stencils are used. Ink is then pulled across the screen using a squeegee and as the ink enters the open areas it will create an impression of the image.

With Commercial screen printing, there is a chemical emulsion that is applied to the screen, then the artwork is printed on a vellum like material and it’s attached to the emulsion. The screen is then placed under a light (a powerful one), which burns the image from the vellum material to the screen. When the vellum is removed, the screen is sprayed with water, which will reveal the open image area created in the emulsion.

Confused? Yeah, me too… so let’s get down to the heart of this process.

There are 6 major steps to screen printing:
1. Create your artwork
2. Create your screen
3. Develop your artwork using stencil prep
4. Print
5. Cure/Dry item
6. Finished Product

CONS: It’s messy, so have your clean up attire ready! It’s time-consuming, so small jobs aren’t a good idea since each color has to be printed separately. Most screen printers will charge a setup fee to make those screens – those take time! Simple designs only, there’s no fancy-pants printing going on here! The frames warp, so you do have to replace them after some time! You have limited colors to work with! And finally, screen printing is NOT suitable for photographic reproduction!

Now… I told you I would be nice in every department, so… believe it or not, screen printing does have quite a few positives. It was a tie on my top two, so my friend Positive Peter stopped by to help. He suggested I give you both!

PROS: It’s great for mass production! Screen printing will keep your cost down and your profits high! It offers excellent durability – washing and rewashing many times over and over usually won’t affect the color or the application!

Just to let your suspicion grow… I‘m going to make you check back for Part II!

The post Tracy Takes On…“I’m Confused, Tell me What I Need?” Part I appeared first on Blogging with Coastal – Transfer Paper, Sublimation, Heat Press, Vinyl and More!.