Smile when you're on the phone

All employees who have phone time with your customers must be happy, or they have to be removed. A smile can be "felt and heard" even through e-mail or phone lines. Ask your employees to look in a mirror to see how they look when they are on the phone speaking to customers.

Ask your clients what they want

Then give it to them, if it's in your power to do so. Marketing becomes easy when you care enough to ask how you can serve people. Do surveys, hold contests, simply ask and pay very close attention to the responses you receive.

If someone wants their money back, return it cheerfully

Then ask if you can do anything else to make it right. One refund done well could produce 10 or more positive referrals. How many times have you been disappointed with a product, but happy with the customer service you received when you sought a return or refund? If you make it easy for unhappy customers to be satisfied, chances are, they'll be back.

Take customer loyalty seriously

Give bonuses, offer free shipping and do unexpected "nice" things. When a client says they are in a hurry, offer them upgraded shipping at no cost. Add a personalized card, follow up on purchases, and make your customers feel special. Closeness matters, especially in the digital marketplace.

Thank your customers for their business

Make sure they know that you value their business. Don't take it for granted. Train your staff to always thank your customers for doing business with you.

Build community with your clients

Make them feel as though they have joined a family that cares enough to give them excellent service. Keep them involved with your business, and your business "top of mind" with e-mail messages, postcards and announcements, all as a way of saying, "we appreciate you."

One of the biggest paybacks of loving your customer is how it affects your team as a whole, your company mission and how it sets you apart in a marketplace where far too many firms focus only on the sale and not on the happiness of the consumer.

Love your customers. It makes all the difference in the world.

Thanks to low interest Calgary mortgages, many people will be able to go into retirement without certain types of debt. However, according to a recent survey, back payments are something that many Canadians will still have to deal with.

The survey, which was conducted by Leger Marketing on behalf of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, found that one in every four Canadians who are between 50 and 59 years of age expect to have some debt in retirement. In addition, of these people, 80 per cent said that these cost obligations would likely last throughout their retirement years.

"While some Canadians may feel they can incorporate monthly debt payments into their retirement, the reality is that repaying debt before retirement remains an integral component of maximizing cash flow," said Christina Kramer, executive vice president of CIBC.

In order to reduce some of their back payments, it may be a good idea for those nearing retirement to consider meeting with a Jencor Mortgage advisor. They can explain how low mortgage refinance rates are a great way to reduce debt obligations so loans can be paid off more quickly.

SEEDS

It’s time to harvest the remaining vegetables from our garden.  While we enjoy the taste of garden fresh vegetables, a big reason for planting the garden is for our grandchildren.  They are excited to pull carrots, get them washed and then eat them with the tops still attached.  Whenever they get the chance they like to pull their own, which many times results in the tops being in their hands while the carrot is still in the ground.  This is particularly true of the larger carrots.  Often there will be a large carrot and right next to it a small one.

How can this be?  The seeds we planted were all the same, put side by side in the same soil, at the same time and cared for in exactly the same way.  Yet they have not all matured at the same rate.

As I think about this I wonder, if this is true for seeds, is it not also true for people?  Deep within each of us we have many seeds.  We have seeds of potential, of love and kindness; seeds of confidence and self-worth.  We also have seeds of disappointment, of anger, of discouragement and low self-esteem.  Some of these seeds grow larger and stronger than others, depending on which ones we focus on.

No matter the seeds, they need the proper nourishment to grow and flourish.  For me, I know that I have a choice to feed the negative seeds by focusing on them, or to let God nourish the positive seeds that He has planted in me.

As I look at the various sizes of carrots, side by side in my garden, I stop and wonder, which of the seeds in my life am I putting my focus on.

“What a person plants, he will harvest.  The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others – ignoring God! – harvests a crop of weeds.  All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds!  But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life”    Galatians 6:7b-8   The Message

Visit:   www.timewithtandy.com  -     written by Tandy Balson 

Tandy is a local business woman and motivational speaker in Airdrie/Calgary Alberta

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