Becky Rhone-Nowlan

In internet marketing, we get a lot of email.  Some has great content. Some not so much. Almost all of it is meant to make a sale at some point in time.  Recentyly I purchased Tellman Knudson’s List building CD and I was looking forward to the bonuses he offered.  When I tried to access the bonuses, I ran into a bit of trouble.  As happens with me sometimes, my name caused me not to be able to access them.  Many times website scripts only allow letters and sometimes numbers however, I have a hyphenated name.  My hyphen is considered a symbol and therefore not allowed.  This was the problem in this case. 

I went to Tellman’s support area and submitted a ticket.  It was in a place that was easy to find and once i logged in, easy to use.  This is very important on your website as it can make the difference in how irritated your customer is by the time you get to them.  I was only mildly irritated because i know this does happen.  The irritation was mostly that the scripters didn’t take us hyphenated folks into account. 

I received the usual “your ticket has been received” email.  Less than 12 hours later, I received the solution to my problem.  Instead of just telling you about it, I have gotten permission from Tellman’s Customer Experience Manager to post the reply so I can actually show you what can be accomplished in a short email and why it impressed me so much.  Obviously some things will have been removed  for privacy sake.
 

Hi Becky-

We have reset your username and password.

We are so excited to help you with your Listbuilding efforts.

The Listbuilding Club is PACKED with useful information that I am confident will
help you to turn your
business into one that is successful.

To access your account, please go to:

Access Page: (removed for obvious reasons)

Username: my user name
Password: my password

***When you log into ListBuilding Club, there is one offer, however, if you wish
to decline, all you have to do
is scroll to the end of the page and click “cancel.”  Then, you will
automatically be rooted to the homepage of the club.***

Don’t forget about the Live Members Only call tomorrow evening 8PM EST.
Call in details are located on the homepage once you login.

Please let us know if you have any further client support needs.

Sincerely,

Andrea

Determination is Everything!

P.S.

Let Us Know What You Think: http://overcomeeverything.com/cs

We take pride in being able to offer you support as you develop your On-line
Business and

have made the lofty goal of providing our clients with the best support that
they have ever experienced!

Please help us to accomplish our goal by letting us know about your experience:
http://overcomeeverything.com/cs

We look forward to providing you with continuously improved client support.

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: (removed)
Department: Other
Priority: High
Status: Open
 
That is the email I received.  Let me tell you why I am so compelled to share this mail with you and why if you implement a few of these techniques you will earfn more loyal customers who will come back time and time again.

It starts off with a friendly casual greeting.  After that, you will notice, that it immediately addresses my problem and offers a solution.  As a customer, this difuses any irritation I might have and it shows me that you respect the fact that I had a problem.  This is important because you aren’t wasting their time.

The next thing she does is tell me that they are excited to help me.  She doesn’t just say thank you.  When I read this, I was anxiousto get started. I was inspired to take action and use the material. She showed enthusiasm and that translated in the email.  With all the noise out there, anytime you can differentiate yourself from others, go for it!  Enthusiasm is an excellent way to do that.

She goes on to tell me about the pproduct I purchased and gives me explicit instructions on how to access and use my product. Telling me what to expect and then she even reminds me about a call the following evening and how to access that call.  Everything she has done here is to help and support me in reaching my goals. Here she is using the company’s goals and ideas in a way that feels supportive to me as the customer. She has sold me further while solving my problem. Remember, part of the package I bought is a free trial of Tellman’s List Building Club.  In one short support email, Andrea has already created customer loyalty and I haven’t even tried the club yet. 

Then at the end of the email,she does something I am always going on about. She asks for feedback.  Not only does she ask, she gives me the URL of where to go to give her that feedback. She has made everything so easy and understandable that I feel happy and satisfied.  She has done everything right for me as the customer and right for the the company, Overcome Everything Inc. She has done a wonderful job of supporting both and creating a win/win situation.

I know not all of you are at a point  in your online journey  to have a customer support department as Tellman is.  However, you don’t need one to create this sort of loyalty. All you need to do iswrite your support emails using he same or similar techniques that Andrea has.

Here is the process in a step by step fashion.  I have counted 10 of them. 

1. Make sure your support area is easy to find andeasy to use.
2. Respond quickly (24 hours or less is optimal)

3. Friendly, casual greeting

4. Address customers problem/issue witha solution

5. Write in a way that differentiates you from your competitors (Andrea used enthusiasm to get me excited about the product)

6. tell your customer about your product and how to access it. Also tell them what to expect. (Allow no surprises)

7. If you have other support information, products, or trainings remind them about that.

8. Write this in a way that supports your customers goals. (This sounds difficult but it’s not. You know your product. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes.  Just tell them about it in a way that creates a winning situation for both you andyour customer.

9. Ask for feedback. Customers love to communicate with you.  You will find you get more compliments than anything else.

10. Provide a place forthem to give  you that feedback that is easy for them to find and use.
So there you have it.  Hard to believe that much can be accomplished in a short email? Not really, help your customers in a way that shows you care and they willremember you.  If you use one or more of these techniques and your support emails will create more loyal customers.

If you would like to learn more about how to get your customers to keep coming back time and again, check out my book, Secret’s of the Second Fortune.

Go check out Tellman Knudson of Overcome Everything Inc. at http://www.listbuildingpower.com

I can personally vouch for the service they provide.  Do you have a situation I can help with?  An email you’d like me to help you with or give an opinion on?  Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment.

After all, that’s what I do.

I interviewed Becky Rhone-Nowlan about Customer Service dynamics.

The following is Part 2 of the interview:

MagicBecky Messmer: May I take it from an on-line perspective?

Mooie Infinity: Yes indeed.

MagicBecky Messmer: I talk about this in my book, “Secrets of the Second Fortune.” When you begin the process of creating your on-line business you look for a problem to solve right?

Mooie Infinity: Right.

MagicBecky Messmer: So you start researching and getting into your prospects head, thinking how they think, figuring out how they feel.  Your next step is to create your product and start communicating with them.

So you expend all this energy and time making a connection with them.  Are you not at this point working on *serving* your customers needs?

Mooie Infinity: Yes.

MagicBecky Messmer: At this point you are doing customer service.  That’s the very interesting distinction that people don’t seem to get.

Mooie Infinity: Customer Service is a genuine attention to the needs of the customer.

Mooie Infinity: Customer Service is a genuine attention to the needs of the customer.

MagicBecky Messmer: Problem resolution on the other hand- is solving
(or resolving) a very specific problem they are having.

MagicBecky Messmer: Yes, Mooie! I love that statement, Genuine attention to the needs of your customer.

Mooie Infinity: Yes you can use that somehow–it has a certain ring to it.

MagicBecky Messmer: Sounds like the title to an article.

Mooie Infinity: I want to address the lack of communication skills.

MagicBecky Messmer: So, back to what I was saying.

Mooie Infinity: People need to altruistically learn how to
communicate.

MagicBecky Messmer: After someone plunks down there money, most people on-line
want to automate the rest of it.  So they are basically automating their customers right out of their business which does one thing. It alienates the customer which ruins all the time and energy the business owner has spent in connecting with them in the first place.

Mooie Infinity: Yes.

MagicBecky Messmer: I agree about the communication.

Mooie Infinity: Communication is key, and largely overlooked.

MagicBecky Messmer: Yes it is but then that goes back to the whole
taking responsibility issue.

Have you listened to how we as adults communicate with each other and our children?

Mooie Infinity: Yes, we all can fall prey to negative communication.

Also–people tend to allow their emotional hot buttons to be pushed as opposed to learning the art of detachment in talking to others.

MagicBecky Messmer: Glad you brought that up Mooie.  This is one of my favorite parts of service.

Mooie Infinity: As I said in Ho’oponopono and Stellar CS (a bonus to your forthcoming electronic book). Love is all you need.

MagicBecky Messmer: We are emotional creatures. We have 2 sides of our brain,
the emotional side and the thinking side. 

Mooie Infinity: Yes–creative and rational, spiritual and practical.

MagicBecky Messmer: When you are upset, the emotional side takes over.  That is why its so important for someone doing problem resolution (or CS) to learn how to let a customer rant while supporting them in their right to be upset.

Once they get done ranting their brain equalizes itself out and they  can then *hear* what I or any CS person has to say.

When a customer is really angry, you could say, I am going to give you a million
dollars and they wouldn’t hear you.

Mooie Infinity: Are CS people trained in communication?

MagicBecky Messmer: Whether they are trained in communication, depends on the company.

Where I worked we took CS classes all the time- including one called Communication 101.

Mooie Infinity: You could write an ebook about that very problem: Lack of communication skills and the solution for CS workers.

MagicBecky Messmer: I did want to speak on one more issue if that’s ok.

Mooie Infinity: oh please, do.

MagicBecky Messmer: The idea that customer service is not a revenue producing activity.

Mooie Infinity: Ah, yes.

MagicBecky Messmer: Many believe that because it doesn’t immediately put
a check in your bank account that it doesn’t make you money and therefore
not such an important part of business.

Mooie Infinity: How wrong “they” are.

Everyone in an organization needs to be CS minded

MagicBecky Messmer: My thoughts on the matter are if you don’t take care
of your customer they won’t stick around.

Mooie Infinity: Every one must be a CS person in any organization.

MagicBecky Messmer: Everyone in an organization should be treated like a customer,
whether they are internal customer or an external customer.

Mooie Infinity: Now there’s a good point! As an employee, I recently wrote
to the Vice President of my hospital about a very serious problem–and got absolutely no response.

A few weeks later I sent the letter back, saying I expected the nursing staff
to be empowered and not blown off.

MagicBecky Messmer: Are you not HIS customer?

Mooie Infinity: I am. And that’s why I sent it back, and got an answer then.

MagicBecky Messmer: But see that’s another reason why CS is not done
correctly in many cases. Everything trickles down from the top.  If the people at the top don’t value service, then who is teaching the employees?

Mooie Infinity: Good point.

MagicBecky Messmer: It all works together. If a marketer on-line doesn’t think customer service is important, how well do you think his or her staff is going to take care of the customer?

Mooie Infinity: I believe whole organizations could learn from this, from several
hundred or more to the lone marketer, like us.

MagicBecky Messmer: I agree, because it is such an integral part of business.

Mooie Infinity: Respect, cooperation, compassion, kindness, humanity.

MagicBecky Messmer: Whether it be a huge corporation or a small online business,
the one thing everyone seems to forget is the reason we are *in* business is for the customer. Is that not who we create products and services for?

Mooie Infinity: Yes.

MagicBecky Messmer: So let’s not forget them in the equation.

Mooie Infinity: Building relationships and trust, loyalty– Fans!!!

MagicBecky Messmer: Trust me they will remember it and thank you for it
by spending with you again and again.

As I like to say, A customer will never remember what you do for them but They will ALWAYS  remember how you made them feel.

Mooie Infinity: True. That’s what I always remember, as a customer.

MagicBecky Messmer: Me too!

Mooie Infinity: Thank you Becky! This has been enlightening.

MagicBecky Messmer: And of course that goes right back to your idea about love your customers.

Mooie Infinity: Love is all you need.

MagicBecky Messmer: My pleasure Mooie. You got me to talk
a lot.

Shhh– It’s a secret.

It’s the Secret of the Second Fortune!

Mooie Infinity: Yes it is.

MagicBecky Messmer: Definitely. How to tap into your customer’s heart.

Mooie Infinity: Our conversation today will help people see the mportance of nurturing Customer Service in their businesses.

Thank you for coming!!

A new friend I have made at Pat O’Bryan’s YiPE-U, That’s Your Portable Empire University, recently wrote an excellent article on her blog about choosing Happiness. You can read it here: Choose Happiness.  Her article really got me thinking about Customer Service and how there really is a lesson in just about every encounter. Since Customer Service is really only about the connections we make with our customers and clients. Your success is based upon how you choose to respond. If you go into the encounter thinking UGH! That’s what your customer will feel and they will return that same energy. In Susan’s article she talks about the health food store she owns called Hopes Harvest.  She says “I am most happy when I’m doing creative work that inspires others. It happens at my store every day with the customers I encounter…..” She sees her customers as “super fun and quite the gift” Because that is what she focuses on, that’s what she attracts. It’s an energy exchange. A customer will respond to you in the manner in which you approach them.

The other important take away is where she talks about the network marketing group that convinced her to buy in by treating her as if she was “cool.” This allowed her to feel cool as well. Once again, this is how they approached her as a prospect. Where they failed her, and themselves by the way, is once she opened her wallet and paid her money; they were gone. She received no response to her repeated requests for information. Of course this changed Susan’s feelings immediately.

Unfortunately many internet marketers unknowingly make this same mistake because they were told this by someone else who has gone before them. This is the sort of thing that happens when you completely automate your customer service. Treating your customers as if they are gold is essential to your business because they ARE your business. Without them who would buy your products?

Pat O’Bryan gets this. He looks at things a lot different. He really gets what his customers want. That’s why Your Portable Empire University has a unique energy about it. He makes sure that you feel like you can succeed and he has surrounded himself with people who also give off this same energy. He cares about the success of those he teaches. Whether it be through his newly released book “Your Portable Empire” or through the University he created. He has also created a unique space in the virtual world  Second Life.  He is there off and on interacting and answering any questions you pose to him. He has made himself accessible to his customers and those who are thinking of becoming customers. How cool is that?!

I’d like to leave you with this to think about:
How do you make your prospective customers feel in order to get them to buy?

More importantly, how do you make them feel once they do buy?

Remember it’s all in what you do and how that has made them feel.

I would love it if you would leave me a comment. You will need to register but it’s free and I would love to hear what you think! If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.

After all, That’s what I do…

Becky