Today I witnessed a customer service miracle in action. I took my son to our local fast food restaurant, so he could have some lunch and play in the indoor playground. While I was waiting for our food to be ready, a woman approached the counter with a crushed Styrofoam cup. She said, 'This cup fell off of our table and broke. I need another drink and I need someone to come clean up our table and the floor.' The tone of her voice suggested that somehow the restaurant was responsible for her broken cup. And of course, there was no, 'Hey I'm so sorry, one of my horrible children was fooling around and caused you a mess.'

It was then that right before my eyes a customer service miracle occurred. Rather than replying with the same nasty treatment they had just gotten from the customer, the staff quickly gave her a new drink. Then a man appeared with a smile and said, 'I would be glad to clean that up for you.' The staff never heard the words 'thank you' from that customer, yet they acted as if they had. All were professional and conveyed an attitude that said, 'We love having the opportunity to serve each and every person in this restaurant.'

Not surprisingly, the place is almost always busy. The restaurant is clean, the management supports our community with various school spirit fundraising nights, the food is better than most fast food, and most of all, the people that work there make you want to come back.

Watching customer service interaction is my hobby and my work, and today's experience was a living, breathing example of the 21 Rules for Excellent Retail Customer Service that we share with the participants in our courses. Most of them are not that hard to follow. However, they can be hard to follow consistently.

If you work with customers in retail, take a look at the list and ask yourself how closely you follow the rules.

1. Smile when greeting a customer in person and on the phone (and yes, they can tell if you are smiling over the telephone!).

2. Use age-appropriate greetings, and avoid referring to older customers and women as 'guys.'

3. Be proactive and ask how you may be of service.

4. Stay visible and available, but don't hover.

5. Don't turn away, walk away, start to make a phone call, or duck beneath the counter as a customer approaches. (We've all had it happen to us.)

6. The live customer standing in front of you takes precedence over someone who calls on the phone.

7. Never judge a book by its cover--all customers deserve attention regardless of their age or appearance.

8. Leave food and beverages in the break room.

9. A customer doesn't want to hear about your upcoming break.

10. Makes any personal calls when you're on a break and out of earshot.

11. The correct answer is never 'I don't know' unless you add to it, 'but I can find out for you.'

12. If a customer wants something that isn't on display, go to the stock room and try to find it.

13. If the item isn't in the stock room, offer to call another store or order it.

14. Learn to read body language to see if a customer could use some help.

15. Don't let chatty customers monopolize your time if others are waiting.

16. Call for backup support if lines are forming.

17. Be discrete if a customer's credit card is declined by asking if there is another method of payment he or she would like to use.

18. Never discuss customers in front of other customers (they'll wonder what you're saying about them once they leave).

19. Inspect merchandise before bagging it to make sure it's not defective or the wrong size.

20. Make sure customers receive everything they've paid for before they leave your store.

21. Smile as you are saying goodbye and encourage the customer to come again.

And here's one more tip: if you can, give people more than what they expect.

Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.

At some point in our lives most of us have heard the old saying, 'The customer is always right'. This means that even when they're wrong they're right. This is the number one most important rule in giving good customer service. Implementing this rule is absolutely necessary for a business to be 100% successful.

People have communicated with each other since the world began. It's part of our everyday lives. Think about all the people that you communicate with throughout your day. You would probably be amazed at the number. How many of these people were in a, what you could call, 'Customer Service' position?

No matter what time a person starts work the chances are good that they are going to stop at a gas station, coffee shop, a fast food restaurant, or maybe even a party store to grab a cup of coffee. When you go inside or drive up to the window, the employee that is taking your order is required to give you good customer service. An employee that has been properly trained will have their focus on you, the customer, not having a food fight with their co-workers or talking on their cell phone. (The order being correct is a thumb's up from me.)

The majority of the places that you shop have a Customer Service Department. This is the place where you go if you want to return something or if you have a complaint of some kind.

Customer service over the telephone isn't much different except, you cannot see the person that you are talking to. It is important to keep your voice pleasant and to speak clearly when on the phone with a customer.

Giving good customer service is just as important to online businesses as it is to offline. It is absolutely necessary that our customers have a way to contact us. Before signing up on a website try sending them a support ticket and wait for a reply. If you receive a reply within a reasonable amount of time, then go back to the site and sign up. A reasonable amount of time would be 24-48 hours, and in some cases 72 hours. It is very frustrating to deal with a company that does not have good customer service.

There are websites on the internet that do not have any form of contact whatsoever so, please try and avoid these sites.

Doing this type of work is not always pleasant, and, can be stressful at times. I think that for the most part people are easy to deal with, but, once in a while you will have an irate customer. This is where the challenge of rule number one comes in. Keep your customers happy and not only will they come back, but they will bring their friends and family with them.

Just be friendly, speak clearly, keep you voice pleasant and smile!

As business owners we need to be certain that our employees are trained properly. Our employees are the reflection of us.

Author: Cathy Lindsay

About the author:
Easily Build A Website or Build Your Own Website Using 'Point and Click Technology' in minutes with BuildAGreatSite.com.

Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.

Building information modeling (BIM) is the creation and use of coordinated information for design, production of high quality construction documents, predicting performance, cost estimation and construction planning. Building information modeling (BIM) is a model based technology linked with a database of project information to enable perfect communication between all stakeholders associated with the construction process.
BIM Services provides the potential for a virtual information model to be handed from Design Team (architects, surveyors, consulting engineers, and others) to contractor and Subcontractors and then to the owner, each one is adding their own additional discipline-specific knowledge and tracking of changes to the single model. The result is anticipated to greatly reduce the information loss that occurs when a new team takes the project as well as in delivering extensive information to owners of complex structures far away from that which they are currently familiar to having.
Advantages of BIM Services:
� Compress design lifecycle by increasing collaboration between owners, architects, engineers and contractors.
� High quality and accurate documentation of construction process
� BIM technology is used for the entire building life cycle, including the facility operation and maintenance
� Production of high quality accurate construction documents
� Co-Ordinate different services to avoid conflicts
� Remove clutter on the site by accurate quality take-offs
� Improving Quality of construction by enabling pre-fabrication
� Coordination with different components of the building lifecycle to recognize, analyze and eliminate conflicts.
� Minimize building lifecycle to increase interaction between architects, engineers and contractors
� Construction management
� Cutting project cost may eliminating waste of construction material.
� Improved construction management

The main and important advantage of BIM is the ability to create construction and determine whether the various design elements will work before they are included in the field. All four major producers of BIM software packages have beneficial qualities, but none is fully compatible with the others. The most logical solution - purchasing a copy of the program from each manufacturer - is expensive. The only reasonable solution is source- code sharing by the major software developers, which would create software compatibility.

Author: James Soul

About the author:
About The Author: James Soul


URL: http://www.structuraldraftingdesign.com


Email: info@structuraldraftingdesign.com


Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.

Are you opening a dollar store? If so, one of the never-ending challenges for every business is to continually locate and then motivate new prospective customers to give your business a try. The same is true for every dollar store. No matter how well your business is performing, it is critical to continually invest time and money to retain current customers and to bring new customers into your store. In this article I present 6 sources of prospective customers when opening a dollar store.

1) Current customers. Satisfied current customers are a great source of new customer traffic for your store. While you can expect some word-of-mouth advertising to come from those who feel you have a truly outstanding store it is important to make a concerted effort to motivate existing customers to help grow your customer base. This can be easily done by providing rewards to those shoppers for bringing in new clients for your business. Often existing customers will also be happy to tell others if there are rewards or discounts to those who are referred; family and friends who come in as a result of their efforts.

2) Organizations within your community. Many local organizations are in need of donations, ideas and participation. After opening a dollar store get your store noticed by selecting one or two that interest you and becoming involved. While only a small amount of time and little investment is required, you will be recognized. Don't forget to make meetings an opportunity to network with others.

3) Schools close to your store. One of the surest ways to become known in your community is through the schools. While there are a variety of options, the two most effective ways to gain attention and recognition may be the easiest. First is to offer school teachers a small discount on their purchases. Even 10% off of their purchases goes a long way toward helping when teachers purchase stickers, paper, pens and other supplies for their classroom. Donating to school functions and classroom parties costs little, but pays big dividends in good will as well.

4) Homeowners and renters within your local area. A well-written flyer mailed to those within your shopping area can mean more new traffic for your business. Include details about the benefits your store and products offer to these prospective buyers to motivate them to take action and actually come in. Don't forget to provide some sort of discount or prize for those who bring their mailers with them.

5) Charities within your community. What better way to gain new customer traffic than to help others in your community. Offering small discounts or donating needed items will gain lots of attention and recognition for your store. These donations are also very much appreciated. The word will get out about your generosity.

6) Other businesses within your shopping area. Other businesses in your area are seeking new customers as well. Why not meet your neighbors and work together to gain exposure for your businesses? Meeting your neighboring businesses should start during your investigative due diligence before opening a dollar store. Introduce yourself as you examine the neighborhood and the opportunity. After opening your store, return and start building teamwork.

To your dollar store business success!

Author: Bob Hamilton

About the author:
Find out how you can open your own dollar store business.
Bob Hamilton is an entrepreneur, author, writer, business consultant and trainer.


Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.

When somebody is far away from home, the urge to talk with his realities or close ones arises. The mobile phone has emerged as the most important communication gajdget which is helping people to communicate with their dear ones.
Domestic calls do cast less than that of the international calls however, most of the users of phone complain that they get huge phone bills for which, theses users are bound to speak less on their phones, So that they get less phone bills at the end of the month. With the advantages of the internet it has become possible to make cheap international calls.
Today, most the individuals around the world are using the VOIP calls to make endless calls. This VOIP service is accessible through both personal computers as well as mobile phones. If you want to make cheap international calls then do get touch with these websites. When you visit these websites then you will be presented with the necessary information.
Today prepaid cards or cheap international calling cards are also available in the market which you can use to make international calls to your friends and relatives across the globe with the help of these world calling cards or VOIP calling services. The user can surely get minimum amount of bills.
Most of the multinational companies all over the world have taken the services to make cheap internatonal business calls.
There are so many benifets of using international calling cards rather than signing up for a long distance phone plan or racking up the minutes on a cell phone and paying the monthly bills.
There are many advantages that come with international calling cards. First of all, prepaid calling cards can be purchased and use with cell phones that don't reqire contracts to purchase. Phone card have been specially advantages for those, who often work overseas or travel frequently, as well as students and those with family abroad.
The cheap phone cards that are on the market have advanced telecommunications by making international calls easier and more affordable to make. Now long distance calling in easily accessable to every one at a low cost.

Author: Safi

About the author:
Atelecards.com , Is providing prepaid calling card services for last 5 yeas. We are managing PIN less dialing and affordable calling.
Cheap Prepaid Calling Cards
This Article is written by ' Safi Saleem'


Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.

What do you do to save energy in your home? Do you shut the lights off each time you leave a room? Perhaps you make sure you buy only energy saving appliances? In the face of current environmental concerns everyone should be doing their bit to conserve energy. However, that is not the only reason why it is so important. Did you know that just by making a few small changes to the way you use your energy you could save substantial amounts on your energy bills? Take a look at these tips to help you save:

1. Turn your thermostat down. Reducing your room temperature by 1�C could cut your heating bills by up to 10 percent. If you have a programmable boiler, set your heating and hot water to come on only when necessary.

2. Is your water too hot? Your cylinder thermostat should be set at 60�C/140�F.

3. Close your curtains at night to stop heat escaping through the windows and check for draughts around windows and doors.

4. Always turn off the lights when you leave a room.

5. Don't leave appliances on standby and remember not to leave laptops and mobile phones charging unnecessarily.

6. Fill up the washing machine, tumble dryer or dishwasher with one full load. This uses less energy than two half loads.

7. Only boil as much water as you need as this uses a lot of electricity.

8. A dripping hot water tap wastes energy and in one week wastes enough hot water to fill half a bath, so fix leaking taps and make sure they're tightly turned off.

9. Use energy saving light bulbs. They last up to 10 times longer than ordinary bulbs, and using one can save you around �45 over the lifetime of the bulb. This saving could be around �70 over its lifetime if you're replacing a high wattage incandescent bulb, or one used for more than a few hours a day.

10. Do a home energy check. By answering a few simple questions your energy provider can give you a free, impartial report telling you how to save money on your household energy bills.

Author: Lex Braxtor

About the author:
Choose British Gas over other energy suppliers and get great energy prices for your dual fuel, gas and electricity.

Article source: Free Customer Service Articles.