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Would you ever let your phone ring in your customer call center and not pick it up? This is what happens on a daily basis inside social media tools. I see where people are praising companies or complaining about a recent experience and no one is responding back to those comments. Are your customers talking about you or your company right now? Don't let that phone go unanswered!
What kind of information should you be listening for? Everything from comments about competitors to keywords, event triggers, and positive or negative comments. But don't worry—you don't have to be perusing social media sites all day long in order to catch these things. Here are some tools you can use to monitor what is being said about you, your company, or your brand:
You can use google.com/alerts or socialmention.com for free. Be sure to set the search for your name, leader names, company name, event triggers, or company brands.
For larger brands, consider using a tool that you pay for, such as alterian.com or radian6.com. These are dashboards that come with great workflows and analytics. They show user sentiment, identify the influencers in a situation, and allow more keyword search capabilities.
Social media is a great tool for research and customer service. When using it for research, listen for new ways that your product is being used. For instance, a manufacturing company recently learned that their product was being used in a different way than it was originally designed. This opened a new business opportunity that the company had not recognized before, and it might not have occurred to them had they not been using social media.
You can also use social media to improve your customer service efforts. A friend of mine once stayed at a hotel in Cleveland and had a bad experience there, so she posted it on Twitter. Within two minutes, the hotel was following her in Twitter and sent her their customer service number. She couldn't believe it. She called the number and they were very apologetic about her experience. Then they offered her a free night's stay for the next time she visited the hotel. That hotel turned around a negative situation. They answered the phone.
Have you thought about using social media to listen for potential customer needs? Has your company identified event triggers that it would look for in social media?
This article series, Mistakes You Must Avoid, highlights three mistakes entrepreneurs must avoid to achieve success. These mistakes are based upon my many years working with business owners as a marketing strategist, consultant and host of my own Mastermind Groups.
Super Hero “I can do it myself!”
Beyond the obvious burnout, stress and exhaustion, this tends to show up when you are trying to do too much, over-committing your resources or simply doing it all yourself. This cheats you out of the very thing that makes owning a business fun and rewarding—the ability for you as the owner to do what you do best. The solution isn't simple or quick, but you need to ask yourself every day, Am I doing what I do best for the benefit of the company right now, or should someone else be doing this? What do I have to do right now to eventually get to the place where some one else can be doing this for me? What college student or part-time intern (free or low pay) could I find to do this for me?
Not Asking for the Price You Deserve
By not exhibiting the self-confidence and courage to ask for what you deserve, you put yourself at risk of the very first mistake above—not having the money necessary to outsource the work that someone else needs to be doing. You can ask your customers for an increase, you can stop saying “yes” to, or going after the “wrong clients.” You can start by asking more and being more creative with the offer. For example, for the benefit of our customers we prefer to sign up our new members on a minimum 6-month service agreement or a 1-year agreement. We offer X and Y for our service agreement clients as our way of saying thank you for making the commitment to us, and in return we make a great commitment to you. Our service agreement clients receive priority rescheduling in the event you need to change a schedule appointment, and you receive 5 free cleanings for a year of service (this is just a 10% discount for a weekly customer on a 1-year agreement).
Not Getting a “Number 2” Person
The difference between the company who breaks through the $500,000 Revenue Wall and those who don't is this very issue. You must do whatever it takes to get a trustworthy, quality person as “second in command” if you ever want to grow beyond $500,000 in revenue, at least in a sustainable, quality way. One strategy is to find a smaller business owner and offer them a “merger” whereby they maintain their company's brand and customers, while also managing your larger operation. The increase in sales from their company helps cash flow your need of a second person. My MasterMind Members are shown a variety of ways to do this as well.
Three Mistakes You Must Avoid - Part 2
http://franchiseprofs.com/Steve_Rowell/blog/three-...
Steven Rowell, Your IDEA Doctor, helps franchisees and business owners double their sales, triple their net profit and retire in 2 to 3 years by building the business of their dreams in record time. Contact Steven for keynote speaking, consulting, coaching or to learn more about joining one of his Mastermind Groups. 800-268-8170 www.retiremenowsteven.com/neweconomy-replay2
Although you may not find it hard to fill job openings in this economy, attracting and recruiting great employees will make a difference in your operations' performance. Follow these 10 tips to enhance your hiring process and business success.
Identify your UEP (Unique Employment Proposition)
What do you offer that your competitors don't? Make a list of the top 10 reasons why a great crew member should work for you. The easiest way to get started is to ask your best employees why they joined your team; what makes them stay; and what they like most about their jobs and the company.
Ask sources if they are offering a referral or a recommendation
This will confirm if they know the person and are willing to put their own name and reputation on the line.
Do not help your competition
When you are asked for a reference on an outstanding former employee, you've just been put on notice that he or she is looking for a new job. In response, tell the person that is inquiring you have to contact their applicant for permission to release the information. Ask for the former employee's current telephone number and reach out to them, soliciting their return to your organization. If their answer is no, you have made the person feel good and he or she may think of your company next time they're ready for a change.
To change the results, change the sign
The same headline, same message and same location will continue to attract the same types of applicants. If you want more and/or different kinds of candidates, change your approach. For example, if you mainly hire men, take your ad out of the newspaper's employment section and run it on the sports page. For part-time jobs, try a headline that states "Be Home When Your Kids Are Home."
Think inside the box
Before you look outside your organization, consider the people you already have on board to determine if anyone can do the job or be trained to grow into it. Promoting from within motivates your entire staff and it's nice to discover the person you need for the new position is someone you are already grooming.
Divvy up recruiting responsibilities
If you have more than one manager at a location, divide the recruiting responsibilities between them. Have one address referrals, while another manager focuses on outside organizations (schools, church groups, state employment agencies), and another reviews Internet postings (Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media and job boards).
Get rid of "Help Wanted" signs
Help wanted isn't a good reason for anyone to want to work for you. If you desire great applicants, you need to tell them why they want to apply. Instead of posting that you are "Now Hiring," how about saying "Our growth is your opportunity" or "Come for the job, stay for the career."
Frustration is good as long as it is the other company's employee who is frustrated
Somebody else's frustrated employee may be one of your best prospects. Research shows that over 20% of employees are frustrated by their jobs. The same research reveals that these workers, in most cases, are trying to do a great job but they have not been given the tools, training and respect they need to excel. Why not run an ad with a headline that reads, "Are you frustrated and looking for a change?"
Never stop looking for your next employee
Today's employees do not believe it is disloyal to look for a job while they are working for you, and the same needs to hold true for hiring managers. Recruiting is a proactive function and a key component of building your business.
Sell the sizzle, not the steak
No one really wants a job; they want the benefits the job gives them: security, growth opportunities, challenges, recognition, respect, relationships, etc. Ask candidates what they want or expect from their job and address their specific desires.
Content excerpted from Mel Kleiman's book "100 1 Top Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Attract and Recruit Top Talent."
Bio:
Mel Kleiman, CSP, is an internationally recognized consultant, author and speaker on strategies for hiring and retaining the best employees. He is president of Humetrics, a leading developer of systems, training, processes and tools for recruiting, selection and retention of the best hourly workforce. Mel is the author of four books, including the best-selling "Hire Tough Manage Easy." For more information, contact 713-771-4401 or mel@melkleiman.com.
Service is so awful, customers expect to be abused. Cold food in restaurants, dirty public washrooms, late deliveries, rejected parts, lost orders, lazy staff — it's all normal. Bottom line, people expect bad and rude service. Give ‘em junk and they're not surprised. Just what they expected. As long as the abuse isn't any worse than they expected, they'll be back for more. Your customers are a revolt waiting to happen. They're only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing any better. Let's start a change. I always say change what needs changing, not what's easy. It's not about service anymore, because service is a mechanical skill, but about hospitality and the heartfelt relationship that you have between two people.
I want to really move over and create a hospitality revolution. The key is to treat your internal customers as your most important customer. Once you have really have this process down, you can watch sales and profitability grow as your employees grow in terms of how they feel about working in your business. Remember your front line is your bottom line and many companies are using innovative and creative ways to show employees how much they're valued. So, I really want to what are you doing to show that you value your employees?
Mel Kleiman (7)
