Surfing The Channel

Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

In this day and age, there might be something visionary about being old-fashioned.  Old-fashioned doesn’t necessarily have to mean stuck in an imaginary past, where a sense of purpose comes from trying to keep things as they are.  It can mean something much more creative, hinting at a kind of steadfastness at adhering to the time-honored values that have stood the test of history.  At the risk of repeating history, we sometimes fall into the fashion of constantly reinventing things, when in fact, it might be more radical to place more trust in the things that worked for us before.

This is certainly helpful in corporate training, when so much of the contemporary theories about systems and customer service turns out to be nothing more than twaddle when it’s all ironed out.  Of course, as a species we grow and evolve, and we do move into the future all the time.  This has never been more true than it is today.  But we do so by trusting in the things that worked before.  The test of time can be our greatest ally, even in times of great transformation.  The things that worked for our parents’ generation may not work for us, when you get down to it.  However, the things that worked for our parents and our grandparents may, in fact, be exactly what we need for the present moment.

It’s an interesting contradiction to consider that one of the most revolutionary things we can do, in sales training today, is to mine the past for those things that have always worked.  With a little bit of foresight, and hindsight, we can recuperate the values that have withstood the tests of time.  There is no doubting that we are at an unusual point in our history, where new technologies are changing the way we do things.  It’s also true that the things that customers have always valued, like trustworthiness, honesty, friendliness, and courtesy, will never go out of style.  With insights from the generations that came before ours, we can move into the future, riding on the shoulders of giants.

When a customer service and sales team is focused on the people, on making the customers happy and not on the sales or the commissions.  This is the attention to detail and quality that sets Steven Barbarich at the top.  The customer’s business and their needs are met, with their desires in mind, and creating happy customers will ensure that your search to expand your company will take care of itself.  Consumer analysts have stated that it costs a company six times as much, in time and resources, to attract new clients, than it does to keep current clients coming back.  And the best form of advertising and market that simply can not be bought is word of mouth.  Your happy customers will bring you new, prospective customers.  Any retail business, whether it is located in a physical location, or online, knows that the easier it is for customers to make a purchase, well, it just follows that the more sales your organization will be guaranteed.

Going through an online catalog can be confusing, so a great IT person may be someone you should keep on hand, to ensure that your site is easily navigated.  Offer explanations on the products, on how they work, and an email address or phone number that people can use if they have further questions.  This is especially important for online sales as you do not have the advantage of face to face contact and communication.  A strong customer support team is another great addition to those whose business is based on the Internet.  The faster one can provide the answers to the questions of the customer, the more you can be guaranteed that the transaction will be a successful one, for the customer and for your bottom line as well.  There is much competition online these days, and providing the best possible service will help your company stand out, among the best.