Fire your worst customer....

Here are a few steps for how you can navigate dealing with your worst customers, and professionally get rid of them with your dignity and reputation intact.

1. Uncover the REAL issue: The thing about "bad customers" often is that it can often be due to a combination of circumstances that evolve over time. Few people enter into a business relationship they know will be negative from the start. When it comes to identifying your worst clients, part of what you must be willing to do is looking deeper to uncover the real issue that has caused your relationship to sour. Is your main customer detached from the day to day and now you are dealing with a subordinate who lacks ability or knowledge? Could it be a clash of personalities between your employee and the customer causing the friction? Digging deeper to learn the real issue is a necessary first step to give you insights on how to handle the problem and most importantly, to learn whether this is really a customer you need to get rid of.
2. Fix what you can fix. Once you get to the heart of the issue causing the negative relationship, you need to try and make an impact on your own end. If there is an irreparable difference in personality between your team members working with the customer, try changing the team on your end. If there is a contractual issue, try to work with the right people to resolve it. Showing good faith to fix what you can fix from your end will be important not only to try and salvage the relationship, but also to demonstrate to your customer that you are really trying to make the relationship work better.
3. Raise the issue. Once you have exhausted all possible solutions on your own end, it may be time to raise the issue in a sensitive way with your customer. This should obviously be treated with care, but in the best of cases, your customer may not realize the issue they are causing for you and your employees and be open to making a change. Even if they are not, this is an important step if you eventually do decide to "fire" them as a customer.
4. Establish a "3 strikes" approach. Assuming your activities to fix the issues are not working, you need to establish a clear path forward. This is not always something that you can communicate to your customer, but internally your employees need to know that there is a process that you will be using to put the customer on final notice before you make a decision. These "strikes" can be anything from repeated negative behaviour to recurring months with low margins.
5. Terminate and refer. Once you have reached the point where a change must occur, you owe it to your customer to be upfront about the issue and your intention to terminate your relationship. Your aim at this stage should be to remain positive and resolute by following through on your decision. This is the point where you can lose the respect or trust of your employees if you fail to take action, so making the hard decision a reality is crucial. You should also have a strategy in place to help your customer get to their next relationship as well. Just because your relationship with a particular customer was not positive does not mean another organization might not be able to have a more productive one, so do your best to find a good referral and make the connection for your customer. 

Move on. In the first few months it will be easy to focus on the lost revenue from that customer, no matter how minimal it may have been. Losing the drain of that customer, however, can be the best thing to happen to your business. Use the fresh start to refocus on all your other current customers to make sure none of them get to the same stage - and more importantly, put a plan into place to replace that customer with one you and your team would be thrilled to have.

Chris Wilkinson.                              

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Ten Tips for Resolving Customer Service Problems…..

Most companies preach the importance of Customer Service,  yet excellent Customer Service remains an elusive ideal for many businesses. A big part of the problem is that Customer Service needs to be  viewed as a basic human to human interaction as opposed to an idealistic business goal. 

As consumers, most of us have experienced the delight of making a purchase, only to have that delight turn into animosity and disillusionment by an ambivalent and unresponsive customer support employee. 

Who should get the blame for this behaviour is not so clear-cut. Obviously, management is ultimately responsible, especially if they do not hire and train properly. But Customer Service employees also have to take responsibility for the way they conduct themselves.

We all have  good and bad days. This includes customers as wel!. That said, it is not always easy to be engaging and empathetic 40 hours per week. Effective Customer Service Reps are paid to be helpful and professional at all times.

 Here are ten steps  that every CSR should review before they begin their work day: 

1. Be personal, and use gestures and voice tone that makes the customer feel valued.

2. Clearly summarize the problem, as expressed by the customer, back to the customer.

3. Research the problem and review in detail what your analysis of the problem indicates.

4. If the customer is in error, fully  and tactfully explain. Never assess blame.

5. Should the customer have a legitimate problem, take responsibility and thank them for bringing it to your attention.

6. Offer solutions that are workable and mutually acceptable.

7. Provide a telephone number, or other contact information in the event the customer has any additional questions or concerns.

8. Thank the customer for their business.

9. Draft a written response summarizing your actions. 

10. Follow up with the customer in a reasonable time, to ensure the problem has been resolved.

These are basic steps for sure, but it's usually when the  basics are ignored that situations can quickly deteriorate. Post these steps in a conspicuous area of the CSR lunch room. Of course, doing so may not make the CSR job any easier, but at least it can serve as a gentle reminder as to how provide superior service even on bad days.


Chris Wilkinson.                              

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

14 reasons why job descriptions are important:

(non exhaustive)


Job descriptions improve an organization's ability to manage people and roles in the following ways:
1·   Clarifies employer expectations for employee
2.    Provides basis of measuring job performance
3·   Provides clear, legal description of role for job candidates
4·   Provides a structure and discipline for company to understand and structure all jobs and ensure necessary activities, duties and responsibilities are covered by one job or another
5·   Provides continuity of role parameters irrespective of manager interpretation
6·   Enables pay and grading systems to be structured fairly and logically
7·   Prevents arbitrary interpretation of role content and limit by employee, employer and manager
8·   Essential reference tool in issues of employee/employer dispute. (Save legal costs at court).
9·   Essential reference tool for discipline issues
10·   Provides important reference points for training and development areas
11·   Provides neutral and objective (as opposed to subjective or arbitrary) reference points for appraisals, performance reviews and counselling
12·   Enables formulation of skill set and behaviour set requirements per role
13·   Enables organization to structure and manage roles in a uniform way, thus increasing efficiency and effectiveness of recruitment, training and development, organizational structure, work flow and activities, customer service, etc.
14·   Enables factual view (as opposed to instinctual) to be taken by employees and managers in career progression and succession planning.

Chris Wilkinson.                              

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga) Canada.

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net

Strategic Planning.....

How far along are you in the planning process?

1  Our company has identified its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)..          

We do not know our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. 1          

They are in my mind of the owner(s) but not on paper. 2          

They are written down but not shared with key employees. 3          

We only focus on leveraging our Strengths. 4          

We consider our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in all our planning processes. 5          

      

2  Our company has written strategic goals and objectives.          

We do not have strategic goals and objectives. 1          

We have goals and objectives, but they are not written down. 2          

Our goals and objectives are written down, but are only occasionally worked on. 3          

Our company's goals and objectives are written down and are acted on, but we never seem to complete them in a realistic time frame. 4          

Our company’s goals and objectives are written down and usually completed in the allocated time frame. 5          

      

3  Our company prioritizes all of our strategic goals and objectives by impact on the company's sales and profit..          

We do not have strategic goals and objectives. 1          

Our company has strategic goals objectives, but have not prioritized them. 2          

Only the owner(s) are aware of our strategic goals and objectives and they are not in writing, but have been prioritized. 3          

Our company has its strategic goals and objectives in writing, but only occasionally prioritizes them. 4          

Our company has its strategic goals and objectives in writing and always prioritizes them. 5          

      

4  Our company has identified its Strategic Driving Force (The one Critical Success Factor that drives the future of your business).          

Our company does not know its Strategic Driving Force.  1          

Our company has an idea what our Strategic Driving Force is, but is not absolutely sure. 2          

Our company knows its Strategic Driving Force, but has not prioritized the activity in its business.  3          

Our company insures that its Strategic Driving Force is always considered. 4          

Our company insures that its Strategic Driving Force is always the priority of our company’s strategic planning process. 5          

       

5  Our company develops written Action Plans for all our goals.          

 We do not Action Plans for our goals. 1          

We have Action Plans for our goals, but they are not in writing. 2          

We have Action Plans for our goals and they are in writing. 3          

Our Action Plans for our goals are all in writing, but are difficult to complete. 4          

Our Action Plans for our goals are all in writing and are always completed in a 12 month period. 5          

       

 6  Our company holds scheduled strategic planning meetings.          

 We never do. 1          

We have held one or two but no more. 2          

We hold meetings when we can. 3          

We have a schedule for meetings but do not always adhere to it. 4          

We hold planned strategic meetings at least four times a year.. 5          

       

7  We know all our competitors.          

No 0           

Yes 5          

      

8  Our company creates various scenarios before deciding on a strategic direction.          

No 0          

Yes 5          

       

9  Our company is clear on what resources are needed to execute our planning process.          

No 0          

Yes 5          

       

10  Our company assigns our employees specific areas of our planning process to execute.          

  

No 0          

Yes 5          

     

11  Our company uses time schedules for completion of goals.          

No 0          

Yes 5          

       

12  Our company uses a independent Facilitator for company strategic planning sessions.          

No 0          

Yes 5

  

                        Your score out of 60………………….?

Chris Wilkinson.                              

Certified Business Behaviour & Attitudes Analyst.               

Business Coach.

Tel: (905) 275-2907 (Mississauga).

E-mail: buspilot@bell.net