business

by Phil Dowsing Creative

Article by food 35service

One of the reasons that people are drawn to Internet marketing is because they, perhaps incorrectly, assume that once they start they will have to put little effort into it. The thinking is that all you need to do is set up a website where you offer items or services for sale, use marketing methods like links to get people there, and then watch as those people buy your products and services without you having to lift a finger.

Working online tends to make people forget about customer service. The truth is that making money online often depends on your having quite high customer service standards. Earning a customer’s business is much more likely when you treat them like a human being and not just a chance to make money. If you just set up your page and wait for people to come to you, you might make some money. The return business of your customers is what really earns you more money. It shouldn’t be hard to provide good customer service to your buyers. Start today by offering the following solutions to your customers.

There is no reasons why an Internet based business should provide any different standard of customer service than other businesses. The truth is, when you are running on online business, you should exceed the normal expectations of great customer service. It is so much easier these days to shop online, which probably contributed to your decision to begin internet marketing, that people are looking for the best customer service that is offered from each business. It is what will turn your potential buyer into a repeat customer.

Here is some good advice that will allow you to enhance your customer service immediately.

Use the email list of your customers to ask for any suggestions about what you should do to improve the services you offer. Let them know that even though you might not be able to fulfill each suggestion, you will definitely take it into consideration and thank them for helping. Some of the things you may learn could surprise you. You may even remind some customers that they’ve been meaning to utilize your services. Your email, though not actually soliciting sales, may add to your bottom line.

This one gesture that doesn’t even cost you anything can increase your business!|Once your customer makes a purchase from you, get their mailing address from them and write a thank you note to them. Naturally, this will be a much easier task to undertake if you run small business or else you may find yourself doing hundreds or thousands each day. If you are operating a small business, though, these are the little things that customers will notice.

Sending a handwritten thank you note for choosing you will often convince your customers to return to you when they are in need of your specific type of service again. Writing a proper thank you note should not take long at all anyway. The few minutes you invest in it could turn into piles of repeat sales!

Sponsor some kind of giveaway for those on your customer list. This will also remind people to contact you. Don’t offer something free to each person who gets back in touch. You choose how the contest will be run. People are very happy when they win things. You could opt to pick a random name from those who reply to your email. Then, you could offer that person a free service or item. It doesn’t matter what kind of question it is, either trivia or something about your business. Get ready to get a lot of responses, no matter what question you ask. Because people who aren’t on your list might respond, too, you could even build your original customer list.

It’s important that you go over your sales copy, blog posts and e-mails before you make them public. Correct any mistakes in spelling or grammar. In the world of internet marketing, your website is what makes your first impression. If you cannot take the time to make sure that your potential buyers enjoy your website and don’t have to wade through typos and errors, how can they be sure that your product is worth buying? If you aren’t very good or experienced at writing, find someone who can do it for you! There are many places online where you can find people who write or edit; shop around and find one who can help you.

It’s extremely easy to make this possible, especially if you use an automatic responder, and the customers will oftentimes come back to your site to redeem the discount! You could do hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in repeat business this way. No one will turn away from a great deal! You can go about this a couple of ways either by creating a set of coupon codes that you give to previous buyers or by offering a product or service created just for them if they respond directly to you.

Clients will always be thrilled if you give them occasional free offers and bonuses. You’ll also want to give them free information they can use instead of only flooding them with one sales pitch after another. You’ll risk the chance of having your emails deleted before they are even opened if you become known as someone who’s only after the sale. But if you provide them with useful information, they will be more apt to read the emails you are sending. When your emails focus on projects that other people are involved in, your popularity will rise even more. In addition to appreciating you for the free information they love to receive, your customers will view you as someone who isn’t just interested in making money but who cares about the market you are serving.Supporting your own products or services is of paramount importance.

You’ll find that technology use is easier for some of your customers, and that others struggle. You’ll keep your customers very happy when you offer free support to those who ask for it. It will also encourage them to recommend you to their friends. Word of mouth is often completely dependent upon getting good customer service. When you offer free support for your products, word will spread that you care about your customers more than your bottom line and the sales should come rolling in!

You want to provide as much personal service as your customers want. This means allowing them to contact you. Yes, this creates more work for you, but isn’t it worth it if it helps you make the sale? Simply seeing that you are someone who is reachable may be enough to convert a visitor to your site into someone who makes a purchase. Good customer service is smart business. Look at what kind of customer service other internet marketers provide. Those with good customer service will bring in more sales than those who don’t. The fact is that your customers are real people. Don’t think of them as money pots. If you treat these customers as friends and not as money, they will come back to you over and over again.

There are a lot of ways that you can practice good customer service as an internet marketer. Keep in mind that good customer service is just as important for online marketers as for someone with a retail store.

It isn’t a tough job to offer great customer service. In fact, good customer service should only take up a little bit of your time-if you do it correctly. Spending five or ten minutes a day to make sure you are offering your clients good customer service is certainly worth it. These ten or fifteen minutes of caring could result in thousands of repeat sales. Now that you are thinking in terms of satisfied customers, you can get to work doing these things immediately. What could you possibly lose?

About the Author

Customer service training programs have a long lasting and positive impact on business. Find out more about training in customer service today at Skillstrainingtoronto.com

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by Metro Transportation Library and Archive

Article by RealWire

Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. announce agreement to combine the power of “Big Data” and natural user interfaces into a new enterprise cloud platform for customer service.

CAMPBELL, Calif, and REDMOND, Wash – Feb 7, 2012 – Microsoft Corp. and 24/7 Inc. today announced an agreement to jointly bring the power of natural user interfaces (NUIs) and data analytics at cloud scale (Big Data) to enable the future of customer service for businesses. The agreement includes Microsoft merging its interactive self-service assets (clients, people and technologies) into 24/7 Inc. The agreement also includes an R&D partnership, long-term IP licensing and Microsoft taking an equity stake in 24/7 Inc.

Microsoft has pioneered the use of NUIs, including gestures and speech, across a broad range of devices, and the broad adoption of NUIs by consumers has changed the way people interact with technology, companies and one another. 24/7 Inc. is a leading innovator in harnessing the power of Big Data for customer service, using Internet-scale data and advanced analytics to help businesses predict customer preferences and deliver proactive, efficient and intuitive consumer experiences. With this agreement, Microsoft and 24/7 are combining technologies that span interactive self-service across mobile, Web and voice channels, Big Data analytics, and speech and conversational interfaces to create a next-generation cloud platform for customer service. The combined Predictive Experience (PX) platform will manage more than 2.5 billion speech and online self-service interactions annually, enabling large businesses to derive and apply insight and intelligence across these customer service interactions and delivery channels. With this combination, 24/7 Inc. will be positioned to generate total revenues of more than 0 million annually by delivering solutions and services that enable large businesses to anticipate consumer needs, simplify the consumer experience and learn from every consumer interaction.

“Microsoft is an industry leader in NUI and established natural, intuitive consumer experiences on mobile and entertainment devices,” said Zig Serafin, general manager, Online Services Division at Microsoft. “From speech to touch to gestures, consumers expect and demand more natural and intuitive ways to interact with technology. This same demand will change how consumers interact with businesses, and it creates an inflection point for how people will expect businesses to provide customer service. “

Consumers today not only expect businesses to deliver service in more natural and intuitive ways but also expect these same businesses to be able to reach out and interact intelligently with them across a wide variety of channels, including on mobile devices, through social media, on the Web and even through the living room TV. This consumer expectation has created a key need for businesses to gather, analyze and gain insight by using Big Data to proactively anticipate and predict customer needs.

“The ability to exceed customer service expectations through Big Data analytics across all service channels offers unique value for businesses,” said PV Kannan, CEO of 24/7 Inc. “By bringing Microsoft’s interactive self-service technology together with 24/7 Inc.’s predictive consumer experience technology into one unified cloud platform, we will deliver solutions and services that truly enable businesses to differentiate through customer service.”

Enterprises already working with Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. are applauding the solution and believe it will accelerate their ability to deliver more natural and intuitive customer service experiences, and this agreement will enable 24/7 Inc. to accelerate delivery of solutions and services for the future of customer service.

“24/7 Inc. and Microsoft are helping Avis deliver customer experiences in the way that customers want to be served,” said Thomas M. Gartland, president, North America, Avis Budget Group. “We applaud the agreement between the companies that will harness the power of Big Data, apply advanced analytics to that data, and bring more intuitive experiences to customers. We see the future of customer service and are working together to lead the way.”

“Today, consumers are engaging with businesses in more channels than ever with the proliferation of mobile devices and social media. As a result, their expectations of customer service are changing,” said Daniel Hong, lead analyst of Customer Interaction at Ovum. “Enterprises that embrace these trends will uncover opportunities to deepen their relationships with customers and optimize their investments in customer-enabling technologies (such as self-service) across channels. We feel the PX platform, along with the partnership between 24/7 Inc. and Microsoft, creates opportunities for businesses to better anticipate their customers’ needs, simplify their consumer experiences, and learn from every consumer interaction.”

“United has been working closely but independently with 24/7 Inc. and Microsoft to improve customer service,” said Martin Hand, senior vice president Customer Experience, United Airlines. “We believe this agreement will better position them to help us innovate across our service channels by leveraging Big Data and natural user interfaces. We look forward to working together to achieve our customer service goals

Additional Details

Microsoft will merge its interactive self-service assets (clients, people and technologies) into 24/7 Inc.’s PX solutions.

24/7 Inc. and Microsoft will forge an R&D partnership moving forward, and 24/7 Inc. will utilize Microsoft Tellme speech and natural language technologies for natural user experiences in customer service. 24/7 Inc. will also be integrating its solutions with Windows Phone, Bing and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Microsoft and 24/7 Inc. have also agreed to a shared technology road map and a long-term IP licensing agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for speech-related technologies.

Microsoft will take an equity stake in 24/7 Inc.

About the Author

About 24/7 Inc.24/7 Inc., (www.247-inc.com), the intuitive consumer experience company, provides software and services that make life simple for consumers to connect with large companies to get things done. 24/7′s software helps companies anticipate what consumers want, simplify interactions, and learn from those interactions so that future experiences get better all the time. 24/7 is based in Campbell, California.

About MicrosoftFounded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

by Eric Eggertson

Article by Harrison Barnes

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” Those words, spoken by historian Daniel Boorstin, have never been truer than in today’s corporate climate. Those who are dedicated to their public relations careers find themselves always “on”; always working to promote their company. They miss no opportunities to ensure the message is heard at every turn. Gone are the days of public relations being solely for the celebrities.PR, or public relations, is a must for large companies, however, many feel their PR departments are the “cure all” and fix any public scandal or problem that emerges. This simply is not true. A good PR person can certainly affect the public’s view on the company announcements. From being accused of hiring illegal immigrants to a very public and scandalous affair among company leaders, the public relations department can often determine how it plays out in the media and ultimately how quickly it becomes yesterday’s news. It’s not surprising that experienced PR personnel usually do quite well when negotiating salaries and bonuses.The better the relationship between your company’s PR department and the media, the more advantageous it is for the corporation. If you cannot depend on your public relations representative to successfully pull off a media release regarding labor relations or any other uncomfortable event, then it is time to reconsider your choice for your company’s media contact. To say this person must be likeable, convincing, authoritative and even physically attractive is an understatement. It is an unwritten and unspoken rule, personal appearance including being healthy, “camera friendly,” and physically attractive counts. PR specialists have many titles, including public affairs representatives, communications agents, company points of contact and many others; but it still comes down to the one person who acts as the liaison between a company and the general public. He or she must be well versed, objective, convincing, remain cool under pressure and must, at all times, provide thorough information. It is a fine line between revealing too much about any particular subject while providing enough not to appear as though anything is being hidden from the public. Often, the PR representative is the bearer of bad news, but there are many times your company PR agent provides good news from a company standpoint. New contract awards, which translate into new jobs; expansion announcements and other information that is of the public’s interest offset the times when bad news is broken.Other responsibilities of a public relations specialist include research, providing input for company manuals, including employee guidelines, remaining current with global issues to ensure company representatives aren’t traveling to unstable international areas, coordinate company films for new employees, schedule conventions and tradeshows and many write bid proposals for their companies. Many PR reps find themselves providing statistics and other confidential information during shareholders meetings and staff meetings. Public relations is an exciting field, albeit a bit overwhelming at times. Most PR reps have assistants and sometimes entire departments for their support. With so many media reports, proposals, event coordination and other events, an assistant is vital, especially in larger companies. As with most executives, the assistant is the one who makes sure meetings are attended, flights are caught and engagements are kept. For those who choose Public Relations, most thrive on the fast pace and even the stress that is involved with walking the fine line of responsibilities to the public as well to their employers. They must be organized, able to speak with authority and clarity and a healthy knowledge of psychology is always a bonus. Human nature plays a big part in these positions. Hours are long, but rewarding, and deadlines are always looming. Educational requirements vary by company, but most who have degrees are usually in communications and business areas, or sometimes journalism. Even then, most employers are more interested in their skills and experience as much as the education of their candidates. For those who are wondering if jobs will be available or not, the answer is an absolute yes. In fact, the job outlook is considered excellent for all fields related to public relations. For those who do not mind unpredictable events, long hours, travel, and can work well under stress, public relations is often a first choice. The pay is excellent but determined by many factors, mostly the size of the company and its budget. It is both rewarding and exciting. One final note, in a survey done in late 2006, 87% of all companies surveyed indicated a growing need for a solid public relations specialist and/or department. Of those, more than two-thirds anticipated adding to their staffs within twelve months. The trends from 2008 reflect those anticipated changes as more companies, even as they were undergoing lay-offs due to current economic times, found themselves adding to their staffs those who could improve the company’s public image.

About the Author

A.Harrison BarnesEntry Level PREntry Level PR Jobs