Productivity Hacks

Tips for Customer Retention & Keeping Your Cool.

“The customer is always right,” is an old cliché, but here’s why it’s true. It’s harder to win new customers than to keep old ones. A recent survey conducted by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers found that it costs five to ten times more to acquire new clients than to keep existing ones happy. And with customer turnover of about 50 to 65 percent on average every five years for the typical shop, learning to keep customers is a key part of doing business. Even when your customers are upset (or worse), take a deep breath and remember that their satisfaction is literally part of your bottom line.

Here are 10 tips to manage your clients successfully and to increase retention and overall customer bliss:

• First impressions about how you communicate are important: Your first contact with customers is often pivotal in determining the tone of your business relationship. When you send your project proposal on time, it signals you are diligent and efficient. When you send an email follow-up, it signals you are organized and thoughtful. When you produce correspondence and all other branded material in the same way, it signals you are consistent and professional. On the other hand, you don’t want to set up unrealistic expectations. If you respond to an email within minutes of it being sent, that might set a precedent you can’t live up to later. If you allow your customers to call you at anytime, they may call you when you are on a deadline or have other pressing priorities.

• Set boundaries and expectations and then live up to them: Particularly if you are a freelancer, you should make your customers aware of your boundaries. Freelancers have to balance their development time with customer consultation time, which can become impossible if customers call at inopportune times. Try to make a routine for emails. Instead of checking emails all day, consider checking email only once or twice per day, but make it a point to respond within 24 hours. As for phone calls and IMs, make sure that you schedule them so they don’t become disruptive. If you explain to your customer that setting an appointment for a phone call will be more productive because you can prepare ahead of time, you can make the customer feel appreciated without needing to be on high alert for random calls. When you keep up habits and patterns, customers will know what to expect and will adapt accordingly.

• Be transparent and professional about billing, time sheets, and turnaround times: If you show how much you bill and how, your customers will face less sticker shock. One of the most frequent complaints in customer care is a lack of billing transparency or a gap between perceived value and price. Being upfront can ease this. It also helps to develop real plans for turning around project work items so that you can accurately and confidently quote this information in future correspondence. If the customer suggests a change but you don’t know how long it will take, follow up with more information instead of offering a vague promise. It’s better to follow up with more information confidently than to set your customer up for later disappointment.

• Build self-service, timely updates, and useful features into your website: Your website should offer continuing value for your business. Freelancers should sign up for project management and billing sites to make sure they make professional and accurate communication with their clients. Self-service can help customers to feel empowered, but make sure that your site provides a quality personalized experience.

• Approach confrontation with the customer with their perspective in mind: Everyone eventually faces the irate call from a customer due to a missed deadline or some other problem. Listen to the customer, and respond gracefully and professionally. It helps to repeat back the customer’s question or complaint to confirm that you have listened. It also helps to use positive phrasing such as “Here’s how we can solve this problem”. If the conversation becomes particularly personal, gently remind the customer by saying something such as “I know that these comments are not directed towards me but this situation, which if I were you I wouldn’t be satisfied with either.” Some social scientists have discovered that in the case of refunds, it can actually be helpful to ask the customer to suggest a fair refund price. More often than not, the customer will offer a price lower than you expect, and if you keep the customer, this goodwill will pay dividends.

• Personalize all correspondence and communication as much as possible: When you send correspondence to your customers, use their name and information about a recent conversation to make the correspondence seem more urgent and timely, which gives the customer greater satisfaction. If sending a generic email, at least give users a chance to opt-out. Sending email too often will seem like spam, so use software that detects whether the user is reading your emails or not. Use a service like Scrubly to make sure that your address book contains the best name to use to address customers and that all email addresses in your address book are clean, neat, and up-to-date, which will prevent annoying customers with accidental duplicates and improper salutations.

• Use automated telephone systems with care:If you use a computerized telephone system, make sure that customers are able to speak to a real live person at any time. If you can afford it, use professionally recorded audio instead of text-to-speech, which can sound robotic and unfriendly.

• Ensure that customer care representatives have everything they need to interact successfully with the clients: You should keep a log that documents all customer interactions. No customer likes the sense that they’ve had to repeat information from earlier conversations. This log will also help you to develop a rapport and to find leads.

• Under-promise and over-deliver: Customers get excited about big project plans at deep discounts, but this is a recipe for disaster either because you can’t meet the price or you can’t meet the high expectations. Going the extra mile on a smaller project plan will delight the customer and will show extra value than failing to deliver a bigger plan.

• Cold-call old clients and win them back: One of the difficult things to do, particularly for freelancers, is to learn to cold-call old clients. Old clients could be easier to win back than you think even if you parted on not-so-good terms. Focus on a technique called “the soft sell”. Instead of convincing customers they should come back, remind them of what it was like when they did business with you. Talking about the past conversations you had and other information about your relationship shows that you are considerate and remember their specific business. If they talk about their current projects, suggest how those projects would have been on time and on budget if they were still a client.

Up Next: “Avoiding the 10 Common Killers of a Small Business”

Social Collaboration or Using Yammer to communicate & collaborate on projects.

Yammer which started in September 2008 as a microblogging service has blossomed into a fully fledged private social network. With Yammer, your employees will be able to collaborate on projects across the world with real-time communication using file and imaging sharing, direct messaging, and mobile applications. Yammer, while similar to Twitter and Facebook, is much safer and more secure. It can only be accessed by people within your organization that has a valid company email address.

Yammer enables users to communicate, collaborate, and share information quicker and easier than ever before. By using this system, the need for meetings will be reduced while communication throughout you company will be increased. This system has the ability to connect remote workers with other workers in your company. By connecting workers from around the globe, your employees will have access to areas of expertise which they normally would not have.

It has been shown that the use of Yammer within organizations has decreased the amount of corporate emails by one-third. Employee engagement has also been shown to increase when using Yammer. Another benefit is that in several companies employee turnover has dropped from twenty percent to two percent. Lastly, it has been shown that by increasing employee engagement, employees will take ownership in your company.

There are tools for your IT department including Directory Integration which enables you to control certain aspects of your Yammer application. With the use of Single Sign-Ons, you will be able to have more control of your Yammer network. Yammer also uses several key features including:

• Enterprise Microblogging – Employees can start a conversation thread, read posts, and actively communicate and work with their coworkers in real-time. Feeds can be displayed in either chronological order or by threads making it easy to quickly find the information that you are looking for.
• Profiles – Employees can upload a picture of themselves and enter their expertise and past work history along with contact information, which will help your employees find the help they need quickly and accurately.
• Groups – You will be able to create public and private groups within your organization. By using groups, you will be able to collaborate in small teams among your network.
• Direct Messaging – With direct messaging you can create private messages with one or multiple co-workers in real-time.
• Files, Links, and Image Sharing – By utilizing Yammer’s file sharing you can upload and share documents with your co-workers, groups, or your entire company making it easy to collaborate on several different projects at the same time.
• Communities – With Yammer you can work with people who are outside your network to complete projects.
• Company Directory – By using Yammer’s company directory feature, employees will be able to locate and connect with other employees among your organization.
• Knowledge Base – All conversations are archived and searchable making it easy to find what you need within your company’s knowledge base with a few clicks of your mouse.
• Administrative Tools – With Yammer’s administrative tools, you will be able to keep your network running efficiently using a suite of administrative features that are designed to increase your control of Yammer in your company.
• Security – With Yammer, security is a top priority. You can rest assured that you can message privately and securely across your network.
• Topics – With the ability to tag content and messages using Yammer’s easy tagging system, you can organize and discover messages quickly.
• Applications – With Yammer you can install third-party applications to help increase the functionality of your network.
• Mobile – You can download free iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile applications so you can connect to your network from any location.

Considering that there are over one million users spanning eighty thousand different organizations using Yammer; one can ascertain that it is a worthwhile social network endeavor. In addition to the millions of users, according to TechCrunch, eighty percent of the Fortune 500 companies are currently using Yammer to increase their communications. In the field of technology, clients include LG Electronics, AMD, and Corel. Internet businesses include Edmunds, PayPal, and Yahoo. Professional services that use Yammer include Adecco, Kinetic Worldwide, and the TNS Group. Mercedes-Benz, Honeywell, and Anheuser Busch use the services for their manufacturing facilities. In the healthcare industry, clients include Astra Zeneca, IPC, and United Therapeutics. Educational businesses include East Carolina University, the Smithsonian Institute, and Stanford Student Enterprises. Government and non-profit organizations which use Yammer include AARP, the European Commission, and UNICEF.

As you can see from the above listed of industries, Yammer can be used by any company that wishes to improve communication within their company infrastructure. The basic version of Yammer is free and the premium version is only $5.00 per user/ month. Volume discounts are available for larger companies, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions.

By using company email addresses, Yammer creates a safe, secure platform for you and your employees; however, one thing to consider before integrating Yammer into your company is updating your email address book. All duplicate contacts should be removed. Doing this will ensure the efficiency of the application and help to account for team members who may only be cursory and just need periodic email updates.

In keeping with services such as Yammer, our next article covers “Consolidating Your Online Work and Increase Productivity with Gist” .

Tips for Employee Retention & Increasing Productivity

The task of employee retention is one of the many problems that people face as business owners and managers. If you are good to your employees, you will find yourself having a stronger business than your competitors. The health care industry, for example, loses 1 out of every 5 employees each year. Allowing for your employees to leave your company is not only a financial burden, but it hurts the morale of the remaining workers you are leading.

Financially, losing an employee does not work out to one’s benefit. There are a few costs associated with employee loss that most management does not think about. The first unexpected cost is the cost of the company while there isn’t a person in that position. Assuming that this was a necessary position, it is going to cost cash if there is no one there to operate it. In some cases the other employees will need to be paid overtime. Secondly, there is the cost of advertising for the replacement. Assuming that this isn’t a ‘help wanted sign in the window’ type of job, money will have to be invested to find a new worker. Finally, there is the cost of training your new worker. Training is not typically a cheap endeavor. These, along with some miscellaneous other costs, are all things that can be avoided if the originally hired employees are retained.

Even with the twenty tips for employee retention highlighted below, there are some circumstances that are not avoidable. Occasionally the retention of your employee is out of your control. It may be a life emergency, or a planned change, but whatever the reason you need to accept that some things cannot be changed. However, for the situations that you have control over, here are a twenty tips on how to keep the employees you hired.

• People need reliable equipment– It’s nearly impossible to work to your full potential if you have to constantly worry about the computer you are working on crashing, or the air conditioner in the office going out. As a manager it is your duty to make sure that your employees have the necessary supplies to get their jobs done.
• An orientation program is a must-Making sure that your staff is familiar with the different departments is something that is often overlooked. Assign your newbie a mentor that they will feel comfortable with. Starting your employee out knowing the basics will ensure that they will not be blindsided by something in the future.
• Promote knowledge in the workplace-Always allow for an opportunity to learn. There are many programs that someone can take to better their knowledge on a specific subject. Encourage your employees to broaden their skills, and make such programs an option for them.
• Keep the tasks fresh-Make sure that your employee knows that they are needed in more than one area. Assign them tasks that differ from their mundane daily assignments.
• Allow for some down time-Even though your main priority is work, it’s important to remember that you need to make room for some fun. Allow for office birthday or holiday parties. Keeping the spirits up in your office will benefit you in the long run.
• Encourage teamwork– Encouraging teamwork will not only increase your productivity, but it will create a better working atmosphere. A great way to do this is to involve your employees in the office decision making process.
• Assign someone the job– Make it someone’s job to keep that turnover rate low. When you have someone paying specific attention to it, it is easier to find where the underlying problems are.
• Allow for promotions– Having advancement opportunities will ensure that your employees will have something to work for. Not all people are motivated by money, some need the incentive of a promotion to put in 100%.
• Make sure your frontline workers are well trained– If the people who are watching over the employees don’t have effective management skills bad things may arise. By making sure that your management team is well-trained you will be able to avoid unnecessary issues.
• Do not be stingy– If your pay is not competitive, then there is always the chance your employees will leave to find a company who compensates correctly. Be sure to know what the going rate for the business you are in is.
• Don’t forget about benefits– You won’t always be able to out pay your competitors, but you can tack on some nice benefits to the job. Benefits are almost always looked at by employees, and they make a job seem much more doable.
• Don’t be vague– If you start out by clearly identifying responsibilities you will not leave much room for error. Setting out the roles and duties will help them to know what is expected of them.
• Offer bonuses– Most companies offer a sign on bonus, however offering a retention bonus is a bit wiser. Offer bonuses for 5,10, and 15 years!
• Ask your employees– By conducting employee satisfaction surveys you will be able to see how they feel about the company. Sometimes it’s even better to make the surveys anonymous.
• Promote efficiency– Try not to have your employees spending their days filling out needless paperwork. While some paperwork is necessary, filling out paperwork that is tedious and mindless will enable your workers to lose motivation.
• Mission statements are your friends-Writing down a small statement of goals for your employees will allow them to see the bigger picture. Having a mission statement encourages teamwork and efficiency.
• Be open– Employees like to know what is going on with their company. By having some of the companies issues out on the table the employees will feel as if they are a part of a team.
• Flexibility is appreciated– So often employers think that their issues are more important than the ones of their staff. As a manager you need to remember that emergencies do happen, and you need to be flexible when they arise.
• Get help when needed– Hiring assistants and aides to help your employees get their work done is not a bad idea. If an employee can get a little assistance they are less likely to get overwhelmed.
• Show your appreciation– Working in an atmosphere where you feel appreciated is typically on the top of most job seekers lists. That is why it is imperative to always show your employees how much they are valued. You can do this by bonuses, incentives, or even a simple thank you card.

Telecommuting: Keeping those offsite on target.

With the economy in the state is in today, telecommuting is fast becoming a popular alternative for employees. The question is how to keep these employees on task so that productivity is still achieved at a maximum level. Telecommuting offers flexibility which is highly desired by many employees; however, companies are sometimes hesitant to offer this opportunity due to bad experiences in the past with employees who did not pull their weight and were a drain on the company. Most remote workers understand the need to work harder than their counterparts on site and strive to make it happen.

Although there are many advantages in being an offsite employee, there are disadvantages too. Telecommuting employees are not able to participate in the water cooler conversations that happen on site. They do not get to develop strong personal relationships with their cubicle neighbors. They also tend to bear the brunt of blame when things go wrong. Looking deeper at these disadvantages; however, reveals that they might not be as negative as they seem. Water cooler is often centered on gossip, employees can still get to know their team without being in a cubicle next to them and people often try to find scapegoats wherever they can, regardless of where they are located.

Remote employees need to recognize that although a flexible schedule contributes to a better work and life balance, they need to be accountable, stay connected and communicate in ways that lets the office know what they are working on as well as establishing relationships with the teammates back at the office. Do not give off the appearance of a robot that sends emails and has an electronic voice. If you take the time to get to know the onsite employees at your company, you will be appreciated and accepted by them even if you are not physically with them all the time.

Consider these five tricks and tips to help you maintain those relationships and stay productive:

1. Track your work output – Let your manager or supervisor know what you work on every day. If it makes sense, keep your teammates up to date too. There are lots of resources on the Internet, including free online tools to keep track of work output.

2. Use Instant Messenger like it is your best friend – Most likely you are working near a computer with Internet accessibility. Utilize an IM program that allows you to send links, information or questions whenever you think of them. This makes you feel connected to those at the office and lets them know that you are actually working. The conversation that you have with IM is more fluid than simple emails.

3. Stick to a schedule – Although a flexible schedule is one of the desired outcomes for an offsite employee, having clear work hours is still a necessity. This makes you accessible to your teammates at the office so they know when to get a hold of you.

4. Set up weekly communications – If you are unable to make it to the office once a week due to distance, set up a weekly communication with key members of your team. Video chats or conference calls are important whether you perceive a need or not, so you can show off your personality and talk shop. You will find that there is always something to talk about even if you did not have a list of topics ready beforehand.

5. Make your voice heard – Just because you are not physically at the office does not mean you are not a vital part of the team. Make your voice a part of the conversation when emails are sent or during conference calls. This is an excellent way to digitally brainstorm with your fellow teammates and clarify what happens at the office when you are not there.

Keep these five tips in mind when working at a company that allows the flexibility of telecommuting. Get to know your fellow teammates, stay connected with management and communicate regularly on what you are doing to ensure that you stay accountable and visible from your office at home.

To help with the idea of productive telecommuting, why not check out our next article on the “Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), What it is and How it can Help Your Business.”

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