Customer Service

  • Negotiating Your Schedule When You Work Online

    onlineBeing an online business entrepreneur has lots of advantages! Besides being your own boss you can save a ton of money on gas if you work from home and you don’t have to worry about dressing a certain way for work unless your taking appointments. You can even take work with you anywhere you go, as long as there is an Internet connection.  But every type of business has its pitfalls, and online businesses are no exception.

     

    One of the biggest challenges you might be facing is staying on task.  The Internet is a big place with lots of distractions.  Social media, emails and videos with cute puppies and kittens.  There may also be friends and family sending you instant messages, too.  There’s also the phone calls.  The list goes on and on.

     

    It’s very easy to get sidetracked when you work online.  But it is important not to let distractions affect your productivity.  Even if you’re not getting paid by the hour, time is money as the old saying goes.

     

    Set Hours and Stick to Them

     

    One of the advantages of being your own boss is the ability to set your own hours. But that can also be one of the negatives. In the online world your hours can be long because you are dealing with different time zones and people have a tendency to think that you should be open 24 hours a day sometimes.  Especially, if you have an online store. I’ve had this happen to me. I had a client who didn’t know how to download his product and got upset because he couldn’t talk to me since it was 2 am in my time zone.

     

    Since we can’t stay on the job 24 hours a day we have to be able to draw the line and create our business hours. This helps our client’s know what to expect when reaching out to us and it gives us a life. After all, work is just part of who we are.

    work day

     

     

    So let’s talk about designating work time and avoiding Internet use for non-work related activities. Here are some ways you can help yourself do that:

     

     

    • Separate your email.  Use one address for personal correspondence and another for business purposes.  I even recommend having what I call a junk email address. You know for those places that make you sign up with an email address to get a free offer.  Set your email program up to automatically separate your email so that you can concentrate on the business ones and leave the rest for later.

     

    • If something pops into your head that you must attend to, don’t let it interrupt your work.  Write it down and take care of it during non-work hours.

     

    • Write yourself a note reminding yourself that work time is for work only, or put up an “Open” sign.  It can serve as a gentle reminder that business is the only thing that should be taking place.

     

    • Make sure you stay away from the temptations that working from home can bring like doing laundry while you are working.

     

    Use Flexibility Wisely

     

    Another great thing about working online is flexibility.  If something comes up and you need to attend to it right away, you can drop what you’re doing and attend to it.  But it’s crucial that you only use that privilege when absolutely necessary.

     

    When you have an unexpected interruption, you lose working hours.  If you were working at a regular job, you would have to either take sick or vacation time or lose pay.  When you work for yourself, you can make the hours up at a time that is convenient for you.  It is, however, important to make them up at some point.

     

    As an online entrepreneur you chose a convenient and flexible way to work from home.  Even though it presents more opportunities for distraction than many people imagine it is manageable with some discipline.  Online business success requires a lot of discipline, but the rewards are many.

     

    Here’s to your online business success! 🙂

     

    Wanda

     

     

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  • Ignite Your Business Branding

    Branding is all about the customer’s perception of your business.  Your brand is the promise that you intend to make to the client.  The ultimate goal is to ignite an emotional connection in order to create a positive feeling from the client. 

     Build Your Brand with Strategize Your Success

    Most clients are loyal to products they enjoy.  It is very common for a client to be impressed with a brand and continue to buy a product based on that brand.  You want to create these feelings of loyalty to bring them back for more.  This is the ultimate goal.

     

    Mission and Vision of Your Business

     

    The mission and vision of your business should sustain excellence in providing a quality product to clients that you care about.  These are statements about your business regarding the ultimate goals you wish to achieve with in your endeavors.  Many businesses focus their vision or mission on their employees while others extend their mission outward to their clientele.  There should be a fine mix here with both. 

     

    Many clients do not read into a vision or mission statement too often.  However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take it seriously.  Your vision and mission are both a part of the branding process because they define what your company is all about.  These two statements need to be believed and practiced by employees and all staff of the business.

     

    Benefits and Features of Your Products or Services

     

    A big part of creating a brand for your business is proving to the client why your products and services are the best to buy.  Highlighting your benefits and what sets you apart is important. Determine what the benefits are with the products you offer, the services you offer, or something else that makes your business unique.  How does the client benefit when they shop or buy from you?  You will have a very hard time establishing a brand if you cannot determine the benefits or your products or services.

     

    The features of your products and services are also important and they go hand in hand with the benefits.  The features of a specific product should provide a benefit.  Determine the features and see what stands out from the rest then use the biggest benefit for your marketing campaign.

      Brand Loyalty


    Customers Perceptions

     

    Branding is about a client’s perception.  When you create a brand you want to create a perception to that client that you are the best and that you provide quality services and products.

     

    It is important to have a good idea of what a potential client might currently think of your business when you are building a branding campaign.  Today prospective clients may not know that you exist or they may have a negative feel for your business because you haven’t been practicing proper methods.  Have a clear understanding on exactly what people think of you.

     

    If you are unsure what people think of you then you may need to send out surveys and questionnaires.  These types of things can help you get a good idea where you stand with the perception of potential client. It’s okay if it’s not positive today.  It will give you something to build on with your branding campaign.

     

    Perception of Quality

     

    The next thing you need to do with a branding campaign is to determine the different qualities that are perceived about your products by the public.  Do you have a good reputation with the consumer world for providing total quality in your products or are your products considered to be garbage and not worth the money?

     

    The qualities of your business may be many things.  When you think about how clients consider the qualities of your business, make sure you consider the products you offer, the customer support you provide, your image, or anything else that would make a client think of quality coming from your business.

     

    The vision and mission statement are very important for every business no matter how big or small.  Make sure that your brand works well and matches what you say you want to deliver.  Determine what the benefits and features of your business are and have a clear picture on this.  You will need this information to provide a clear picture when you focus on developing your brand.

     

    Also learn about what the client really thinks of you.  You might think they absolutely love you when they are really bashing you on the quality of your product.  Knowing what the customer thinks is very important.  Creating a brand based on client input can be successful, especially if you change the design of something for them.  This gives them a sense of ownership and it shows them you really do care.

     

    Now that you have the information that you need for branding go out and ignite excitement about your business and create an irresistible business brand.

    Are you looking to learn more about how to promote your Facebook Business Pages and navigate the in’s and out’s of this truly wonderful business tool. Join us for a new (7) part series called “Navigating Facebook Pages”. This series starts August the 20th at 2:00 PM EST and 11:00 AM MST/PST. Sorry this event has past.

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  • Keeping Customers is Better than Finding New Ones

    Getting New ClientsAsk any experienced business owner how important their customers are, and they will tell you that customers are the lifeblood of their business.  Because of that, many business owners believe that the key to success is to constantly find new customers.

    Smart business owners know that the real key to success is to develop long-standing business relationships with their clients and keep them coming back.

    This has many benefits.  First of all, when a business owner has clients coming back for repeat purchases, the business owner will not need to spend as much time on finding new customers.

    The business’ income will not suffer, as new work will be coming to the business, instead of the business constantly chasing new work down

    Sphere from dollar sign isolated on white.Not only will this save time and resources, it is also a more cost-effective way to do business.  The business owner won’t need to invest as much in their marketing and advertising campaigns. 

    Happy customers are also more likely to send referrals to a business.  If a satisfied customer runs into a friend or colleague needing the type of services you offer, they will give that person your contact information.  This results in even more work coming into the business without the business owner chasing after it.

    If you like the sound of enjoying repeat business with your current customers while spending less time and money attracting new clients, you may be wondering how to put this into action.  Here are some tips on how to keep your customers happy and coming back.

    Business handshakeOffer Quality Products and or Services

    While it is hard to say which of the following tips is the most important, this one is extremely important.  Without a quality product or service, there is not much reason for your customers to come back. 

     

    Practice Effective Communication

    This is important whenever a business owner is dealing with a customer or client, but it really comes into play for service providers.  It can be very difficult for a business owner to turn over a piece of their business to someone else, especially someone who does not live close by.

    But that is exactly what happens whenever a business owner hires a virtual assistant, ghostwriter, web designer, or other service provider. 

    Service providers can keep their clients happy and at ease by providing regular updates on project statuses and asking questions whenever they are in doubt about something.

    Provide Good Customer Service

    In the above tip, we talked about effective communication skills, but that is just one part of a good customer service plan.  You have probably received poor customer service from a business in the past.  How did that make you feel about the business, and did it change your mind about doing business with them again in the future?

    A general rule of thumb is to always treat your customers the way you would like to be treated.  That simple statement will ensure you will have customers coming back time and time again.

    At Strategize Your Success we help entrepreneurs, coaches and small business owners with online strategic goal setting, marketing and planning.  We know what struggles you face and offer solutions to help make your business THRIVE. Contact us today for a FREE 30 minute Discovery Session. 

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