You have heard it all before - to provide good customer service and make a sale, you need to understand needs, have good product knowledge, find the "fit," and so on.  All true, but it's no longer popular to be stiff and calculated in how you serve and sell.  You need to be MEMORABLE.  So what happens when you take those skills and throw in personality, fun, and genuine rapport and care when connecting with your customers?  I will tell you what you get- better relationships, increased loyalty, and more sales.  

Let me prove this to you. My family and I are getting ready to move, and one super fun task I have (insert sarcasm here) is getting quotes from movers.  So I am going to share two moving company experiences from the last couple of days, and I want you to pick which one you would choose to do business with. 

Albert Einstein has many famous quotes, but this quote said by the "mad scientist" is one of my favorites since it is applicable in both our personal and professional lives:

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." 

This concept is well, so simple, and should give you pause to consider how exactly it can be applied to your business, specifically your customer service practices.  Generally speaking, here are thoughts and ideas for you to consider and implement...

A few weeks ago we talked about quick reactions and timely responses. When a company really gets it right, it needs to be recognized, celebrated, and we all need to learn and apply what we can with their winning formula. 

Unfortunate situations, like accidents, happen daily that require us to count on the service providers that we hire. It becomes the moment of truth between how you hope they will respond, to how they actually respond. We recently changed our car insurance company to Geico. The financial savings was impressive, and we certainly hoped if we had to use the company, their services would be just as impressive. 

"Knowing and doing what's important rather than simply responding to what's urgent is foundational to putting first things first." Stephen R. Covey

 You only get out of it what you put into it. So how much effort are you putting into making sure that your customer service and sales practices are top notch? Do you have training and quality assurance measures in place?  If not, you might be losing out on untapped revenue.  Never fear- we have some delicious ideas for your "pudding" so you will know what to do to make sure that you are putting in what it takes to make a difference.  

Having strong customer service and sales skills are your key ingredients in making sure your "pudding" is something your customers continue to want to taste, buy, and talk about.  What 5 ingredients do you need in your "pudding"?  Here they are (click on the image to download it and share as you please- you're welcome!)...

 Some of you may recall when we introduced this concept nearly a year ago, and we are re-introducing it due to some great love for it and since we want you all to have the freebie that we are including. 

So you ask: what does KISSing have to do with customer service? A LOT!  For those of you who don't know, K.I.S.S. stands for "Keep it simple, stupid."  Implementing good, basic customer service practices is not hard (in fact, it's rather simple!), and for many people, it comes naturally once they are given a gentle nudge to embrace these skills.  What simple (K.I.S.S.) customer service standards and practices should we all embrace, no matter what business we are in?  Just nail these 4 skills...

Faulty assumption #1 – The customer is always right.  Using such polar thinking – right versus wrong – precludes getting at the real issue of how we can build mutually useful relationships…Rightness and wrongness is less important than finding solutions.

- Dr. Paul R. Timm, Seven Power Strategies for Building Customer Loyalty