In order for a manager to remain focused and successful, he or she must demonstrate effective leadership skills.

Similarly, a good leader must be able to properly manage their employees.

Managers juggle varied personality traits such as strictness and kindness through assigning tasks to their employees while simultaneously motivating the group and letting them know there is purpose behind their accomplishments at the workplace.

Management training works on improving organization and coordination while leadership training focuses on how to inspire and motivate others. By incorporating skills from both areas, trained managers will be able to successfully lead their employees.

David Shoemaker is Vice President of Learning Solutions and Innovation at eCornell. For more information on management training, leadership training or eCornell, please visit eConell.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Shoemaker

Think back to when you were a teenager and it was time for the kiss goodnight at the end of your date… or when you leave a party and you want to express your appreciation to your hostess… or when you leave a business meeting… Those last moments can make or break an experience.

SEND ‘EM HOME WITH A SMILE… AND AN OREO COOKIE.

Give your customers an Oreo cookie when they check out.

Almost everyone loves Oreo cookies and we guarantee nobody on your street is doing this. So, in addition to being known for your wonderful staff, great selection, and outstanding customer service, you will now also be known as the “Oreo store”!

Simple, inexpensive , memorable.

Then keep that smile on their face by…

SENDING A THANK YOU.

No doubt about it. We live in a fast-paced, high-tech, rat-race world. If you do not keep you eye on the future you will be left behind. It is easy to focus only on what is next and forget about what has just happened.

However, it is extremely important to take some time each day or each week to reflect on the many people who have helped your business and send a thank you. Sending a thank you is especially important if someone has gone the extra mile for you – expedited a shipment, rearranged their schedule for you, answered your important question, given you something special, helped you solve a problem, done you a favor, gotten you out of a bind, or purchased a product from you.

You undoubtedly would have SAID thank you to someone who did any of these things for you, but taking the time to remember the kindness in writing is rare. And wonderful. The thank you does not need to be elaborate – it could be a quick email or a simple one-line note in the mail. But I guarantee you the impact will be huge.

I have a very dear friend who writes a thank you each time she has dinner at our house. It is not at all necessary, but I always appreciate her thoughtfulness.

Content Copyright © 2008 WhizBang! Training By Bob Negen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3208315

1. POST ‘EM AND KEEP ‘EM.

I know all too well the temptation to close ten minutes early when nobody has been in your store for the last hour or two. But, keeping the store hours you post is a basic customer service standard that should never be violated. Opening at 10 a.m. means 10:00, not 10:15. Closing at 8 pm, means 8 PM, not 7:55 PM. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way…

One cold and dreary evening, early in my retail career, I locked up my store several minutes before the scheduled closing time. I’d done it dozens of times before – and who cared? When I arrived at the store the next day, there was a note (and not a very nice one) on the door from a customer who had driven several hours specifically to shop at my store. They arrived ten minutes before closing and I wasn’t there. Ouch. I’d certainly lost a customer, but I gained a valuable lesson. So, I’m passing the lesson on to you in hope that you won’t lose any customers to this customer service faux pas.

2. LEAVE YOUR NAME AND PHONE NUMBER AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF ALL YOUR TELEPHONE MESSAGES.

This tip is another example of little, but important ways to make your relationships with your customers and vendors easier and more pleasant. Remember, building a great business is about doing lots and lots of little things well. Yesterday afternoon I got an important telephone message. It was very long and full of details. I needed to call back and have a conversation with the caller. And I had to play the whole dog-gone message again because I missed his phone number the first time…. terribly annoying.

If someone has to listen to your whole message a second time just to catch your phone number, you are wasting their time.Bad customer service. Leave your information at the beginning and end of your messages and always speak slowly and clearly when giving your phone number, it makes it so much easier to understand.

Content Copyright © 2008 WhizBang! Training
By Bob Negen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3064252

1. STAY ON THE SALES FLOOR

Generally nobody sells more, or gives better customer service, than the owner and managers of a business. Yet you often find those same people at the post office, in the bank, or out buying office supplies.

A surefire way to increase your sales and give the best customer service is to stay on the sales floor and work with your customers yourself. Send someone else to run errands like going to the bank, post office, or office supply store!

Not only will your customers get great service, but your staff will learn from your example. They will quickly realize that selling and service are the most important jobs in your store.

2. MAKE IT RIGHT

Despite what some “customer service experts” say, the customer is not always right – but they are still your customers.

And they still need to be treated in a way that will keep them happy with you and your store. You want them to keep spending money with you!

Sure, it is annoying and frustrating when the customer blames you for problems they create. But get over it…

Make your customer happy. Let them “win”. You will make your money back in repeat sales.

Here is a great statistic to illustrate the point. A customer who has had a problem solved to their satisfaction will spend, on average, THREE times as much as a customer who had no problems at all.

So, the next time you are talking to that knuckle-head who is blaming you for their mistake; smile, make it right, and whistle a happy tune on your way to the bank.

Content Copyright © 2008 WhizBang! Training

By Bob Negen

Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is the fun in the shopping experience. It is different for each of us.

When I go shopping I am frequently frustrated, annoyed,and disgusted by nonexistent sales people. Or the ones who ignore me. Or do not help me find what I need. Or who do not suggest everything I need to complete my purchase.

So I was momentarily taken aback when someone told me they hated being hassled to buy all the new merchandise. She felt like the employees were being to pushy when they asked for her contact information and and tried to sell her complimentary pieces at the register.

Wow. Her feelings about the shopping experience are so different from my own! I love lots of help – she does not.

Neither of us is right, and neither of us is wrong. We are just different.

PAY ATTENTION TO HOW YOUR CUSTOMER WANTS TO BE TREATED.

I am sure my friend above sends out plenty of signals that she would rather shop solo. I am always trying to make eye contact with someone – anyone! – who can help me out. The trick is to read your customers’ signals and give them the kind of service they want.

People in a big hurry do not want to hear a four minute explanation of your preferred customer club – you would be better off acknowledging their time pressure, getting them out your door as fast as you can, and then sending something about your preferred customer club in the mail. They might actually join because you have proven good at REAL customer service.

Someone who HAS to buy two new outfits for a business conference might welcome you bringing several additional combinations for her to try if her fist choices do not work. No one likes to put all their clothes back on again to go search for more stuff.

The examples are endless.

The point is this: there are as many different ideas of a good shopping experience as there are different shoppers.

Your job is to figure out how your current customer wants to be treated and give them what they want!

Content Copyright © 2008 WhizBang! Training

By Bob Negen

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3104290

I was in Sydney last week with my friend, Irene, and while we were  there we did a little shopping. One of the places we shopped is our favorite  furniture store.

Great stuff, super cool store, and friendly people.

But there is the rub. The friendly people were merely friendly. We got plenty  of smiles and lots of associated sitting at a desk peeked around their computers  to say, “Hello!” in a wonderfully warm way, but nobody ever came up and actually  engaged us in a sales conversation.

And it was not because we were not send signals. I sat in almost every couch in  the store, and it is a big store! But not a single associate made the jump from  friendly to, “Hey, I think I will go sell that guy a couch.“

Selling if done correctly is not pushy or intrusive. It is great customer  service !

Of course you would, what marketing professional or business owner wouldn’t be interested? By the time you have finished this article you will have figured out how to do just that.

Take a few moments and think of all the inactive customer files you have in your file cabinet. Business owners often make the costly mistake of servicing a customer once then assuming “they’ll stay” as a customer or client without maintaining and growing that relationship.

A year later that business owner is wondering what happened to that customer and where they went. Why haven’t they heard from them?

                             Did they leave?

                             If so, why?

There are many reasons a customer or client may leave you, but the ones you will hear most often are:

• They felt your pricing was too high or unfair.
• They had an unresolved complaint.
• They took a competitors offer.
• They left because they felt you didn’t care.

When you consider that the last two make up the majority of why a client or customer will no longer use your service or buy your products – it can be a hard pill to swallow. After all it means they are an inactive client because they felt you didn’t care about them and your competitor did.

Ross Shafer is the writer/producer of HR training films on Customer service, Leadership, and Motivation. He is the author of the business books, The Customer Shouts Back, Customer Empathy, Nobody Moved Your Cheese, Are You Relevant?  Ross is also the founder of the Customer Empathy Institute in conjunction with Calif. State Univ. at Monterey Bay…which helps coach leaders to understand the changing mindsets of evolving customers.

We found this video on Ross to be very helpful in researching about Customer Service. We would love to hear your feedback as well, so please leave a comment to share your opinion or experiance.