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Category: management training

Public Relations: A Necessary Tool in Your Marketing Kit

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by Kent Boehm

Interviewing businessman or politician, press conferencePublic relations, by it’s most basic and simplistic definition, is using media contacts and exposure to make a person or business famous. It’s an important facet of any marketing strategy, and is, unfortunately, also one of the least practiced and understood.

So, what are public relations? Well, it’s basically an effort to influence the public or target demographic in some way. This could mean drafting a press release, pitching media or coordinating media outreach for an event.

The key to an effective PR campaign is understanding what IS a story and what is not a story. This can be a tricky task if you have no experience working with media. But there are a few guidelines that, if followed, may help you better how to navigate these muddy waters. Continue reading “Public Relations: A Necessary Tool in Your Marketing Kit”

Your Most Precious Resource is Time – Use it Well

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by Kent Boehm

Most precious resource

If you ask a business owner what their most precious resource is, they’ll usually give one of a few answers. Money is the most common, while others say their employees, community, or family. What is less stated is the one resource that can never be replenished or gained back – time. Once you waste your time with something, you can never get it back again. Some busier business owners understand this, but newer ones haven’t yet learned how to utilize their time effectively.

Business owners that don’t have enough time to do things usually have the same problems: they don’t delegate tasks well, they don’t prioritize tasks, and/or they aren’t well-organized in their day-to-day life. These issues are as simple to fix as they are common; most of the time, you only need to make a slight change in how you accomplish or go about completing certain tasks in order to squeeze more productivity in the time that you use. Continue reading “Your Most Precious Resource is Time – Use it Well”

How to Delegate Effectively

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by Kent Boehm

How to Delegate

How to delegate effectively means understanding that delegating tasks and authority is a defining aspect of being a boss, yet personal experience has likely shown you that it’s a skill that many managers lack. Whether it’s a lack of delegation, too much delegation, micromanaging, or putting the wrong people in the wrong places, a failure to properly assign tasks to people can result in a dysfunctional workplace. As the boss of your own workplace, you’ll be responsible for deciding who goes where and who does what. Much of your workplace’s productivity and morale will depend on your ability to not just lead but lead well. Continue reading “How to Delegate Effectively”

Why Customer Complaints Are Great for Business

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by Kent Boehm

Customer complaints can create a sense of doubt about how we run our business, however, what if we approached them as opportunities? The reality is complaints are ok, if you respond and do something about them. If no words were spoken by our customers about how we do business the same mistakes would go unnoticed. Only a small amount of people will speak up while the majority of others will quietly ignore and move on. In fact, only 4% of customers who are unsatisfied take the time to speak out.  You would never know that you are losing potential business if some complaints did not arise and you weren’t proactive in making needed changes.

Employees

Customers may make complaints about a specific employee.  This may be an innocent mistake or a continual recurring problem that again is affecting all the customers they come in contact with. By channeling the problem to a specific individual you can deal with that individual one on one and ensure that the issue does not affect the company as a whole. We are not involved in every interaction that our individual employees do and therefore when customers speak out it’s a great opportunity to really learn how that individual is handling their job. Continue reading “Why Customer Complaints Are Great for Business”

Happy Employees Leads to Higher Profits

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by Kent Boehm

Happy employees higher profit

Are your employees just as happy as your customers? When we think of profits we usually associate them with our customers and while they are the mainstream of revenue employees are a major factor when it comes to increasing profits. Focus and invest time into ensuring your customer service team are truly happy with their job and their workplace. Fostering an environment that allows the customer service team to enjoy what they do and excel will translate into a stronger and happier team who want to fulfil customer needs. The quality of life that is provided to employees is one of the greatest factors in how they decide to interact with customers. Continue reading “Happy Employees Leads to Higher Profits”

Handling Difficult Customer Service Situations

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by Kent Boehm

Cartoon hand holding sign that reads how to keep the customerHandling Difficult Customer Service Situations

Through the day to day interactions of your business there are many scenarios that can arise in relation to customer service. You will likely find yourself in difficult situation at some point and although a customer may be upset, the main thing they will remember is how you handle yourself.

If you find yourself in one of the following situations know what to do…. Continue reading “Handling Difficult Customer Service Situations”

Customer Service Questions?

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by Kent Boehm

Customer ServiceGreat customer service not only leads to referrals and increased business, but it also creates an excellent reputation. Solving customer service problems, however, can be challenging. Do you want to learn more about customer service or maybe you already have some of your own questions about customer service problems? We want to help your business.

Ask yourself the following questions about your customer service experiences and your own business:

Have you had a poor customer service experience in the past 2 weeks?

Do you think there is a customer service problem in Calgary? Continue reading “Customer Service Questions?”

Avoid These Common Customer Service Mistakes

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by Kent Boehm

At Nine Business Group we enjoy helping retail businesses here in Calgary provide the best service to their customers while increasing their bottom line.  Therefore, it is important to factor out any customer service issues that may be hindering your company’s reputation. Here are a few common mistakes to avoid when running a retail business:

Not Listening to Customer Needs

As soon as you have your first interaction with the customer, your job is now to start listening. Hear what they have to say, and then offer help. If you are focused on what to say to them to sell a product, while they are speaking, they are likely not going to make a purchase with you. Your intent may not be what the customer wants, and since consumer needs are always changing and evolving, we can provide the best value by listening to their needs and offering help.  If you are not focused while they speak, then you can’t provide valuable insight. Continue reading “Avoid These Common Customer Service Mistakes”

Customer Service – Empowering Your Employees

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by Kent Boehm

The customer service team is essentially the face of the company and the first and last impression that the client receives. It is important that there are appropriate actions to take when a customer has a problem that needs to be fixed. One method is allowing your team to take care of the details without requiring management to step in. If front line employees are equipped to manage customer inquiries immediately, your service reputation will increase and your team will feel empowered in their roles. Employee empowerment not only saves you time and resources, but it also builds a sense of confidence in your employees who are essentially one of the strongest aspects of your company!

Think about your own past customer service experiences. Have you heard one of these answers before?

“Sorry, that is not my department I cannot help”

“I will have to speak with my manager who will be in at a later time” Continue reading “Customer Service – Empowering Your Employees”

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