The Value of Personal Service

Personal Service.  A buzzword used so often – by support agents, customers and marketers alike – that it’s lost meaning for many of us.

Which is a darn shame, because personal service, when done right, is incredibly powerful.

It can be the difference between a customer forgetting about you the minute their transaction is over, and that same person returning to become a loyal customer for life.

But there’s a difference between saying that you deliver personal service (as so many companies do), and actually doing it.

Today, I’m going to share what personal service really is, why it’s so important for your business, and actionable tips you and your team can use to start making your support more personal.

The Value of Personal Service

A few years ago, a survey by Genesys asked more than 9,000 consumers about what mattered to them most when it came to doing business with companies.

What did the respondents mark as the improvement they’d like to see most among the companies they do business with?

40% of them – more than double the responses that the second place answer received – said “better human service”.

Personal Service is about making the person feel like they are doing business with a person, not a company.  It’s a simple concept, but incredibly valuable. Why?  Because when customers feel like they’re getting personal service, they become better customers.

The benefits of personal service extend beyond your customers and their immediate social circles, too.  As your business builds a reputation for great service, you’ll begin to draw more customers from around the market.

In fact, another study found that 72% of customers are “very” or “extremely” likely to do business with a company because of their reputation for strong customer service.  The benefits are clear. Now let’s talk about the approach.

How To Make Your Customer Service More Personal

Am I making the customer feel like they are doing business with a human or a business?

Just by keeping this question in the back of your mind, you’ll begin to subconsciously add personal touches to every support interaction.

To get you started, here are a few tips you can use to make your support more personal right away:

Use Names (Both Yours and Your Customer’s)

When Dale Carnegie said that “a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language,” he may not have had access to the latest medical research.

But as recent studies have shown, he was spot on.  As it turns out, our names are so important to us that hearing them light up an entirely different party of the brain than any other words.

Using your customer’s name makes them like you more, and on the flip side, using your own name makes the interaction feel more personal, too.

Who would you rather get an email from, “Mike” or “The Support Team”?

Show Your Face

Want to make a deeper connection with your customers when they read your emails?  Help them put a face to your name.

Using photos of faces doesn’t just increase conversion rates on your site; it help to humanize your business, build trust and make your customers feel as though they’re dealing with real people.

And real is key here. No cheesy stock photos of “business” people wearing headsets.

Try putting photos of your team on your site’s about or customer support pages, or even in the emails themselves.

Know Each Customer’s History With Your Business

Last week, I had to call DirecTV to fix an issue with my service.  After I told the support agent about my problem, she told me that she’d be happy to help. But right before she put me on hold, she casually noted:

“…and by the way, thank you so much for being a DirecTV customer since 2001. It means a lot to me that we’ve had your business for so long.”

That small touch made the interaction for me.

Simply by knowing a tiny detail about me as a customer, the agent made me feel like she (and the company) cared about my business, and made the interaction a lot more personal than a simple support transaction.

You can do the same thing

Personal Customer Service Is Worth It

Don’t let the buzzword status of “personal service” fool you; it really is an important, and valuable concept that can help you increase retention and grow your business.

Delivering personal support isn’t terribly hard, but it can pay off in a huge way.

Compete On Quality, Not Price

I learned from my father that price is a onetime decision but quality is a life time decision.  It made me think, what does quality mean in the answering service industry?  What does quality mean in our customer’s industry?

Quality in the answering service industry means an attentive telephone agent will answer every call live without a recorded greeting, within 3 rings, with the correct tone of voice and answer phrase.  An integral part of a quality answering service is dispatching.  A quality answering service, like All City, will dispatch the calls correctly to the correct on call person handling a specific call situation, either an urgent call or a general message by texting, emailing and calling.  If we didn’t perform at a high level then our price, no matter if it was the lowest in the industry, wouldn’t matter to most. 

Quality for other industries is just as important.  An important part of providing a quality service or product is communication and availability.  Even if our customer’s service or product were the lowest priced company in their industry, if there was poor communication or limited availability, the lowest price wouldn’t matter.  This is especially true today where social media can have a drastic effect on your company, both positively and negatively.

All City Communications will improve the quality of our customer’s product or service by enhancing the communication and availability for our client’s current customers and potential customers.  We answer every call live as your business, ensuring our client’s availability, whilealso providing enhanced communication.  A decision to turn to an answering service will help with two crucial areas of your business, availability and communication.  This is a big difference maker versus your competition.  Instead of competing on price alone, consider the small investment in an answering service.  The decision to enhance the quality of your service or product in your industry will have a greater long term positive impact on your business than simply cutting your price.  

Don’t be a transaction only business

Many of us purchase products and services by simply finding a website that offers that specific product or service.  There is no interaction with anybody in order to complete the purchase.  A decision is made solely on price and availability and the occasional review by someone you have never met.  The limited criteria many customers use to complete their transaction eliminates a major differentiating factor for all businesses, QUALITY!

If you allow your product or service to solely be valued by price, you will ultimately lose that business to someone offering the perceived same product or service, cheaper.  If you allow price and availability to be the only reasons that someone decides to use your product or service the only way to compete with other companies offering the same product or service is to lower your price.  Eventually you are doing the same work or offering the same product at a lesser value which ultimately lessens your value.

One simple way to enhance the transaction only culture that many companies fall in to is to increase your availability and perceived quality by having a person answering your phones live without a recorded greeting.  The impact of having that personal touch, guiding that caller to a solution is a difference maker.  We can answer as your business name without the caller knowing that we are not in your office.  Your caller will not have to navigate through a confusing automated phone system in order to get their question or concern answered on the product or service they are interested in.  Essentially, by simply having an answering service available to answer your calls live, you have added a very important differentiating factor that makes you more valuable that simply price and availability.          

4 Ways a Telephone Answering Service Helps Small Businesses

Running a small business as a contractor often means wearing multiple hats within the same day. In the morning you might be visiting job sites, then meeting with clients around lunchtime, then trying to handle your finances in the afternoon. That’s the life of a small business owner.

One thing you don’t need to be doing is dealing with phone calls all day. That’s where a telephone answering service can become your best ally. Keep reading to learn more about how a professional telephone answering service can help your business.

Focus on Business

As a contractor running a small business, you need to spend your time getting new clients and keeping your current ones happy. That often means making phone calls and sending out what could be a staggering number of e-mails.

It doesn’t mean answering the phone when credit card companies call with special offers or when prospective clients want to inquire about your business. Let a telephone answering service that understands the needs of small contractors handle that end for you.

Appearances Matters

As the owner of a small business, you don’t want to be the one answering the phone. If you have a small staff though, hiring a receptionist may not make a whole lot of financial sense.

Using a professional telephone answering service will give your small company the appearance of being a larger firm. If you do quality work there’s no reason consumers shouldn’t view you as the competent, professional contracting company you are.

On a Job Site?

When you’re out on a job site and nobody is in the office, all of your calls probably roll to voice mail. This looks unprofessional and it might make potential clients turn to your competitors. With an answering service at your disposal you won’t have to worry about that.

After Hours & Emergency Calls

Many potential customers work during the day and will call you in the eveing. With a professional answering service, they’ll still be able to reach a live person.  Emergency calls may not be the bulk of your business, but if a current client or a recent one has an emergency, you better believe they will be calling you. Responding quickly is often very important when you’re a contractor. Having a 24-hour telephone answering service means you dont have to worry about missing emergency calls —even if they are relatively rare.

Finding the Right Employee Can Be Time Consuming and Costly

Finding the right employee to do an excellent job answering the phones for your business but also an employee that fits into the culture of your business can be difficult, even for the most efficient of hiring managers and owners.  Not only can it be difficult but the process of finding that employee can be time consuming and costly.

 

No business wants to miss a call, especially in this highly competitive marketplace.  That is why the need to make sure you have an excellent receptionist answering your phone during the day or after hours is essential in all industries.  The time needed to find that employee to represent your company can be long.  Your time will be consumed by posting the job on various internet sites or your local newspaper and waiting for the candidates to come in.  Once you have a few interviews set up, you will need to make the time to interview each candidate to make sure they are a good fit in the job you are looking to fill but also for the culture in your company.  After many interviews, you will most likely narrow down the candidates to a few and then you will do the background checks and reference checks needed to ensure you have a good candidate.  This will take more time.  Most likely, after narrowing the candidates down you will bring them in for a second interview.  More time again will be needed.  Time may be somewhat of a luxury if you already have someone answering the phone but it isn’t if your current receptionist gave you their 2 week notice or if your current call volume can’t be handled by your immediate staff.  Your need of a receptionist most likely is an immediate need.   Once you have found the correct employee you will need to train your employee on the job.  Training takes more time.  After training, there is still no guarantee you picked the correct candidate.  After all, you only had so much time to thoroughly interview and investigate your new employee.    

All City Communications has a group of highly experienced, professional Operators available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer your phones.  The set up time is usually 48 hours and our staff can be available answering your phones just as if they were in your office.  We will answer as you would answer your phones and we can transfer callers to extensions or take messages and dispatch those calls via email or phone as an in house receptionist would do.  We already have that excellent employee available to answer your phones.  We have already invested the time in training our staff and ensuring our people are qualified in call handling.  Don’t waste your time and money by hiring a new employee to answer your phones.    

PLEASE READ. XYLITOL FOUND IN MANY SUGAR FREE PRODUCTS CAN KILL YOUR ANIMALS

I personally have had an experience recently with my wonderful 1 year old standard poodle puppy, Wrigley that I wanted to share.  Especially, if you are a dog owner.

Wrigley, our puppy, tends to get into mischief, as most puppies do.  On Saturday evening this past weekend, his mischief almost cost him his life.  My wife and I returned from a Memorial Day get together with leftovers.  The leftovers consisted of 3 banana bars and one low carb piece of cheesecake.  We had it on a plate and made sure we placed the plate on top of the coffee maker on the counter to hopefully not allow Wrigley to get to the food.  We were wrong, terribly wrong.

My wife found Wrigley licking the empty plate on the floor in the kitchen.  She asked me what was on the plate and I informed her I brought home one piece of cheesecake and three banana bars.  She mentioned to me that she hoped the cheesecake wasn’t made with that one sugar substitute that is dangerous for dogs.  My wife decided to text my sister-in-law who made the cheesecake and found out that a half a cup of Xylitol was used in the entire cheesecake.  Unfortunately after checking the internet, Xylitol is the sugar substitute my wife heard is harmful to dogs.  We never knew any real detail of the dangers of Xylitol.  After searching on the internet, Xylitol, found in many sugar free gums and sugar free foods can drop your dog’s blood sugar to dangerous levels which can cause extreme lethargy, breathing issues, seizures and even death.  In addition to the initial low blood sugar that Xylitol can cause, it is extremely harmful to your dog’s liver.  

We then immediately called an emergency veterinarian in our city and they advised that we attempt to make Wrigley throw up by using a peroxide mixture.  We tried, but unfortunately Wrigley only vomited the peroxide mixture, not any of the banana bars or the cheesecake.  The emergency veterinarian told us to call a poison control animal hotline which we immediately did.  After answering many questions on the amount of Xylitol Wrigley ate, they advised that we take him immediately in to the emergency veterinarian since they believe that Wrigley had a lethal amount of Xylitol. 

We loaded ourselves and our puppy Wrigley in the car and went to the Veterinarian.  My wife and I were extremely saddened by what just happened.  We couldn’t believe that a small piece of cheesecake made with Xylitol could harm our dog.  Why is something so harmful out there without any large warning labels?  My dogs are part of my family and if some dog food were found harmful to babies, who put everything in their mouth, would that still be allowed to be on the market?  My assumption is no.  

We arrived at the emergency Veterinarian’s office and after anxiously waiting to see the Vet we finally went back to the examining room.  Wrigley’s temperature was good and his breathing was good.  He was showing no signs of low blood sugar, which was positive.  The Veterinarian then informed us that he wasn’t out of the woods yet.  She contacted the poison control office that we called earlier and confirmed that Wrigley had a lethal amount of Xylitol.  It doesn’t take a large amount of Xylitol either.  Some dogs have died from eating two pieces of sugar free gum.  Wrigley is 65 lbs and he had ingested what was equivalent to two teaspoons.  The Veterinarian believed he had enough to cause liver damage but possibly not enough to cause liver failure.  She then took blood work to get a base line reading on his liver.  Xylitol damage on the liver doesn’t typically show up until 24 to 48 hours after ingestion so we needed to know a starting point on his liver function.  His initial liver test result came back with no damage but we will need to get Wrigley’s blood work done two more times during the next two days to measure the amount of damage to his liver.  The Veterinarian prescribed liver pills that will help Wrigley’s liver function more efficiently during the next 30 days to help reduce any liver damage.  The full amount of what damage was done to Wrigley’s liver will not be known for a couple of days.  Now we must wait.

Xylitol can kill.  A little amount can kill.  If you have animals or know somebody that has animals, please pass this story along.  I didn’t know about Xylitol poisoning and I don’t want anybody to be surprised as my wife and I were with Wrigley.  I can only hope the damage isn’t too serious going forward.  Maybe Wrigley was lucky.  We need a little luck these days.    

Do You Know The Difference Between Price, Total Cost And Value?

Once focused strictly on price, today's leading purchasing departments also focus on total cost and value.  An answering service, such as All City Communications provides an immense value to your business.  All City provides 24 hour phone coverage to your potential and current customers resulting in increased sales due to your ability to be available to your potential customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.   We will ensure you will never miss a call from a prospective customer or current customer needing emergency services, to your competitor. 

Price – Price is simply the amount of money an organization pays to a supplier for a product or service. When price is the focus, purchasing departments work intensely to pay less than they had in the past for goods and services. If particular goods or services were not purchased in the past, purchasing departments will work intensely to pay lower prices than initially proposed by suppliers. When price-oriented purchasing departments report their performance, they only take into account the effect they had on prices paid.

Total Cost – While seeking lower prices is noble, it shouldn't be done without considering factors that could make costs go up. For example, let's say that you've begun buying a lower-priced component for a manufactured item. The price reduction has caused your company to spend $10,000 less per year for that component. However, the lower-priced component is of a lower quality than the previously purchased component. As a result of a higher defect rate, your company has incurred $20,000 per year in new costs for repairs, tech support, etc. That's obviously a bad outcome. A total cost focus assesses expenses that a price-only focus ignores. Total cost includes all expenses associated with the acquisition, receipt, storage, use, maintenance, and disposal of purchased products and services. When total cost-oriented procurement departments report their performance, they take into account all components of cost.

Value – Simplified, improving business performance means increasing revenues and/or reducing costs. Historically, the purchasing function has been associated exclusively with cost reduction. But modern purchasing departments can also help to increase revenues. For example, imagine that you implemented a program with a supplier that gave your company a unique advantage over competitors and, as a result, increased your company's market share and revenue. You may not have reduced the price or cost of the product purchased. But your work delivered a financial benefit to the company in the form of higher sales. "Value" is the word used to describe any type of financial benefit, whether it is a reduction in price, reduction in total cost, or an increase in revenue.