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If you want to make money on the internet you must be willing to commit to the customer. Remember, it is the customer that has a say in whether or not they purchase anything from your site or visit it all together. By making the customer feel appreciated and supplying heavy customer service, you will be on the right track to make money on the internet.

The first part to strong customer service is building the relationship. You want to let the customer know you are there for them and willing to handle any and all of their needs. Offer your email so they have a way to contact you if they have any questions regarding your website, the product, or anything else. By showing you care, the customer will feel appreciated.

To build a relationship and provide quality customer service, you have to view the customer as a person. Too often people handle their customers as just another consumer. The problem with this is the consumer feels like just another customer mixed up in the crowd. Even if it is going out of your way to make ONE personalized email the customer will see that you took time out of your day for them.

Once you get into the business aspect of the relationship, customer service becomes crucial if you want to make money on the internet. It is vital that for EVERY sale you follow-up with the customer. This allows you to not only thank them, but also to maybe throw in some advertisements for other products you sell. This way you are taking time out of your day to acknowledge them as a person and benefiting yourself at the same time with free advertising.

Another way to make money on the internet through customer service is by throwing in free add-ons. It could be bumper stickers, a t-shirt, or anything related to your business. This adds to your company appeal and will make it a more pleasant experience, which will increase the odds of a customer return rate.

Everyone knows that incentives are intriguing and appealing to customers and workers. If you can offer incentives to customers, you have the possibility to make money on the internet as well. For instance, tell a customer that is purchasing an item that if they can refer 4 other customers, they will receive a full rebate for their purchase price. This will allow them to get a product free while getting you three more customers.

When it comes to making money on the internet, customer service is crucial. Since you typically don’t have the face-to-face contact when offering your products, you want to show the customer that you care about them. By taking the time to build relationships or follow-up with the customer, they will notice and appreciate the customer service. It is the extra work behind the scenes that will help you make money on the internet.

Shep Hyken is a professional speaker and business author. This story about a cab driver is an amazing example of great customer service. For more information about Shep Hyken, go to www.hyken.com or call (314) 692-2200.

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Technorati Tags: Cab, customer, Driver, Hyken, Loyalty, service, Shep, Speaker

The customer service at Walt Disney World in Florida had always
been exemplary. Yet on this occasion, as the new
millennium began, there was something wrong…

We had been there a number of times. Ever since our first trip
there in 1980 - quite an adventure at that time when travelling
from the UK. On that very first visit, my wife was pregnant with
our first child, yet this visit in the year 2000, seemed to show
us how things had changed.

Back in 1980, we bought ‘Disney Dollars‘ a gift voucher
featuring all the stars of the shows. There were three
denominations and we brought them home and had them framed, back
and front.

In 2000, we wanted to add to our collection with the souvenir
millennium ones, yet left it to our very last night to make our
purchase.

Imagine our disappointment when we went to Guest Services at the
bottom of Main Street to hear that the $10 voucher was being
only sold in EPCOT, as a ‘trial’. Not being one to give up on
this, I wished to register my complaint and asked for a senior
manager, only to be told that there was no-one about.

So I then asked for the name of the manager at the most senior
level in Disney World, but again, I was told just to write to
Customer Services and I was given an address in Florida.

That wasn’t good enough for me, so I suggested that I would
write to Michael Eisner in Burbank, California, where Disney’s
corporate head office is. I was told by the guest services
representative that, ‘I’d never hear back from him’!

When I got home, that is exactly what I did. And about three
weeks after I sent off the letter, I had a phone call - in fact,
I had two phone calls, because I was out when the first one was
fielded by my wife. In the second 20-minute call (not, I hasten
to add, from Micheal Eisner, but from a nice lady ‘in his
office’), she profusely apologised, questioned me a lot
on the issue that I’d raised and pointed me in the direction of
where I could buy these vouchers by post. It was a detailed
enquiry, so that ‘we can learn from your experience and put it
right’.

I was impressed.

But not so impressed as I was four months later when I
received a two-page letter from another department, explaining
what they had done to rectify the experience I’d had, in detail,
as well as sending me a full set of the vouchers I’d
wanted in the first place, free of charge.

The Disney experience is one which is well known - in fact the
way their customer service process works has been described at
length in a great little book called ‘Be Our Guest‘ as
part of their Disney Institute offer.

Both these are worth checking out if you want to understand
better how exemplary customer service works, from an
organisation who truly know how to do it

Customer service is the most vital asset for a Business, whether
it is online or offline. It’s the critical factor which
determines if your business has a future or not. There are two
vital components to every interaction you have with a customer

1) The purchase or transaction 2) The relationship

In order to distinguish yourself among your competition,
providing just good service is not enough. Your competitors do
the same. You must provide EXCELLENT service. That will happen
if you follow these rules:

a) Solve your customer’s problems as fast as you can without
hassles.

b) Your employees should know their stuff and should be
well-trained.

c) Treat customers with respect, a quick response, and
appreciation.

d) Authorize employees to provide as accurate information as
they can and make things happen for customers.

e) The customer should leave with a positive feeling.

One of the most serious problems corporations and small business
deal with customers is the defection effect. It is the silent
process where the customer takes his business from you and start
dealing with your competition. This happens without yelling or
showing disappointment for your service up-front.

That process applies to many industries and trade sections. It’s
an epidemic. The cure here is to do the best you can in order
for the customer to come back again and again. Most of your
profits will come from few large accounts ordering continuously.

It is with these kinds of customers you should focus your
efforts and customer service. For example you could create a
toll free call line 24/7 for tiding your large firms you do
business with.

On the other hand, that does not mean that you should leave your
small clients “out in the cold”. Supporting them is important
too. Imagine what would happen if a large customer stops working
with you? What do you think the consequences for your company
would be if you leave your small customers?

Of course it costs less keeping a customer who makes revenue by
continual orders than chasing and finding new clients. It’s not
a secret the 80/20 rule, meaning that 80% of your profits will
be produced from the 20% of your clients. The rates of course
are not absolute, it could be 98% to 2%. There are Real life
examples for these rates.

After all, the most effective advertising in the business world
is the “word-of-mouth advertising.” It’s so effective because
the testimonials gain you trust , which means the happy client
has no self-interest causes for proposing a particular firm to
his friend. This can be accomplished if you have provided
exceptional service to your clients.

Another important factor of a great customer service is that it
has to be countable. For example: ” You must answer the phone
fast” doesn’t mean anything . On the contrary : “You must answer
the phone sooner that the third ring” is an accurate customer
service rule.

Finally, one of the most important leaps in customer service we
can find in today’s business world is the individual section
mindset most of the companies follow. That means the
interactions between the different sections of the company
(Sales/Telemarketing, Shipping, Technical support,
Credit/Collections, Order processing) do not function as a team
but more often as individual sectors of the firm.

The most discouraging feeling for a customer is dealing with
more departments with lack of critical information between them
and not being able to find a solution to the problem.