Excellent customer service practices can help a good business become great and keep your company in the forefront of people’s minds. I’d like to share some tips that have helped make Elements successful.

Everyone in the world has dealt with someone from the a customer service department. However, not everyone is satisfied at the end of the interaction.

Two statements come to mind when I think of this topic:
“The customer is always right,” and “You can’t satisfy everyone.”

The biggest problem for customer service departments is that these two statements contradict each other. So, if your business follows these beliefs, throw them away.

Instead, keep this thought in mind;

“How may I help you?”

The customer is not always right, but they are justified in needing assistance, which is why they have contacted you. That being said, you cannot always make everyone happy, but you can try to help reach that goal, by keeping “How may I help you?” in mind when ever dealing with clients or potential clients.

In some cases, your company may be too big, or too small, to assist the client, but you can always give them a reference, or some tips, or just be there to listen to their complaint.

By striving to ‘Help’ a client or potential client you will accomplish two things.

One: you will potentially win a life-long client or at least have good word-of-mouth from their interaction with your company.

Two: you have neutralized a client’s attitude and allowed yourself to become part of their solution, rather than their problem.

You may not fully satisfy the client’s issue, but by offering anything to move them closer to their goal, you will move further and further away from an upset or angry client. You’ll turn clients into happy individuals who are confident in seeking your assistance, opinion or tips because of your professionalism and desire to ‘Help’.

For example:

I deal with two communication companies:
One lacks general service areas, but excels at customer service, while the other has incredible service areas, but I cannot reach a representative when I need to resolve an issue.

I’ll give you one guess as to which company I refer, look forward to working with and will renew my contracts with. Need a hint? It is not the company I have trouble reaching.

My point is, follow these easy tips and you will find an increase in customer satisfaction and a decrease in customers leaving your company for your competitor.

1. Be honest!

• If you don’t have the answer, but promise to provide one … follow through and do what you say you’re going to do.

2. Be Realistic

• Nobody wants something they are not looking for. If a customer comes to you with a email issue or product issue, don’t try to sell them a product or service that doesn’t solve the issue they came to you with.

3. Create relationships with other companies

• If a company can highlight your services with their own and you can with theirs, create an open dialogue with them on how you want to refer them and have them refer your company.

Elements did just that with two companies: Digitalwest & Mind Body Online. Both are great companies, with great customer service that share the same values as we do. It was a ‘no-brainer’ to become partners and because of this relationship all parties have benefited.

Take some simple steps to ‘Help’ your clients and you will see BIG retuns in the long run.

As the primary trainer for ELEMENTS software, I work with many first-time users. It’s been my experience that working on a website is intimidating to many people. I also encountered this same fear when I first began working on websites.

Let’s focus on items first-time users should become very familiar with.

Kid’s Play with Links and Images

Websites are like play dough: there is little that cannot be tweaked or fixed. I always tell my users, get your hands dirty because it is the easiest way to learn; you’ll always be able to fix or undo something you didn’t quite intend to happen.

I would recommend learning to do these 2 items first:
1. Add an Image
2. Create a link

Images will allow users to become more familiar with a product or service you are displaying on your site. Links will allow users to move freely from one page to another. Links can also be used to highlight partners or affiliates, and allow them to view their own websites as well. Both features will increase the amount of time your users spend on your site.

With very little effort you can move to the next step, combine these two features and create exciting ‘Pop-up’ images. By mastering these two, simple, but key items, you will find yourself quickly editing your website making it more interactive and user-friendly.

One of the top ways Google determines website ranking is by how many different websites link to your website, which will be discussed in a future Elements Daily.