The Little Ways Remembering Someone’s Name Can Build Your Brand or Customer Loyalty

By Mike Stack | 01.25.2012 |

Today’s guest blog post comes to us from Mike Stack, the Area Manager of Dale Carnegie Training_® for Oregon & SW Washington. He has been with Dale Carnegie since 1985.

I recently took a pair of my favorite dress shoes into (New Shoes in Tigard, Oregon) to get the worn down heals replaced. It seems like I take a pair in at least once a year. When the store owner took in the shoes he smiled and said, “Nice to see you again,” I was surprised he recognized me since it’s a once a year deal for me and he had four others in the shop. I was impressed. When I picked up my shoes a few days later – which looked brand new by the way – I gave the owner my claim slip where my name was printed at the top. He looked at my claim skip, looked back at me and said “Hi Mike, let me get those for you.” My name was printed on the top of the claim slip and was in plain view, but he took that extra step of calling me by name which I did like. I recommend Don to anyone needing shoes repaired. He cares about his customers and does excellent work.

Why did Don make an impact on me? A Dale Carnegie principle from his book How To Win Friends and Influence People states: “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” It’s true for me, and I know it is true for you! We like our name.

I have been blessed to be a trainer for The Dale Carnegie Course for just over 25 years and we begin each course with tools for remembering names. I ask the same question at the beginning of every course I teach which is “Who here says they are horrible at remembering names?” The majority of hands in the room always go up. Remembering names is a challenge for most of us. If we tell ourselves we are bad at something it can become a self fulfilling prophecy. We need to have the right attitude for remembering names. Here are a few quick things you can do to remember names:

• You have to want to remember the person. The tools for names will be easier.

• Tell yourself that it’s like you to remember names and that you are good at remembering names.

• Stop thinking about yourself when meeting someone new and focus on them (you already know and like your name; you don’t need to remember that). Get a good visual impression.

• Try repeating their name if you can by first confirming you have it correct, then repeating the name several times in your mind. If possible, introduce the person to someone else.

• The strongest, and yet for some most difficult, tool to use is to create a mental image or association of the person.

Remembering names is a skill. It’s a skill that takes time for most of us to get better at doing. It is like any skill activity: fly fishing, golf, tennis, mountain climbing, or knitting; these are all things that need practice.

One social benefit is that others will consider you a genuine person because you took the effort and time to remember their name.

The benefit in business is showing your customer or prospective customer you care about them as a person, not just a new account. People like to do business with those they know, they like, they trust or are friends. We remember our friends’ names.

Make it a goal of yours in 2012 to remember just one new person’s name a week. This is not an all or nothing deal. Start slowly, build your confidence, and you too can develop brand and customer loyalty.

When people take the time to remember us, we remember them and their organizations. Remembering a customer or client’s name may be your best form of advertising.

Make 2012 your best year to date!

Dale Carnegie Training helps individuals improve key soft skills such as: Communications and Presentations, people skills, transformational leadership, sales, and management. The goal is for individuals to take these new performance shifts back to their organizations and improve the overall performance of the company. Dale Carnegie Training has been in business since 1912 with over 8 million graduates, and Ruby’s Director of Culture, Sarah Sackett, recently completed the course — we highly recommend it!

Customer (DIS)Service: What’s Lacking and How to Get It Back

By Katie Wilson | 01.17.2012 |

CNBC recently aired a special entitled “Customer (DIS)Service: A Maddening Look at the State of Customer Service” where they shined a spotlight on the customer service provided by outsourced call centers, waiters, retailers, recorded menu options, and a host of other industries. Not surprisingly, most of what they found left much to be desired. Man-on-the-street interviews showed an overwhelming frustration with regards to customer service, or as CNBC puts it, “customer disservice.” For all the advancements in technology — computers, databases chock-full of information, sophisticated phone systems — it seems that customer service has actually declined over the years. But why? And why is customer service so important for businesses, anyway?

To answer the first question, we think interviewee Shaun Belding, author and CEO of The Belding Group, put it best: “All the technology was designed to connect us to each other. And that’s what we did. But we lost the beauty of connecting with each other.” Since our interactions these days are often over the phone, it’s easy to become disassociated – they’re just a name and a disembodied voice, right? However, missing that opportunity to connect is missing an opportunity to make a person’s day better, maybe even your own, and certainly make a good impression for your business. You never know who that voice may be attached to: the next evangelist for your company, someone who’s having a rough day that you could cheer up, your neighbor?

In thinking about personal connections, it reminded me of a call I took when I first started at Ruby as a virtual receptionist. We take calls from businesses across North America, and this particular business happened to be on the East Coast. In the course of taking a message for the client, I learned that the caller was from my hometown of Huntington Beach, California, and not only that, he lived at the same intersection as my childhood home! What are the odds? We had a lovely chat about the area and the lively Main Street, and we both ended the call smiling. It could’ve been a very rudimentary call; I could’ve simply taken a message, and we could’ve gone our separate ways. But I wouldn’t have remembered it nearly three years later, and my caller wouldn’t have been nearly as happy.

When people make a personal connection or have an extraordinary experience with a business, they not only become loyal to that company, they’re going to want to talk about it. They’ll tell their friends, colleagues, and family about how someone went above and beyond for them or invested in them or just plain listened to them. Word of mouth – whether it’s positive or negative – can spread like wildfire.

Making meaningful connections with callers and clients isn’t something extra, a nicety; it’s something to cultivate, and it’s imperative to the success of our business. In fact, we put it at the very top of our Ruby Hierarchy of Service Pyramid. Making meaningful connections is at the crux of truly outstanding service, and as ING Direct CEO Peter Aceto said at the end of the CNBC special, “Customer service is the new marketing. It’s the only differentiator businesses have left.”

Training for WOWism: Focus on Basics First, Then on Outcomes

By Phoebe Osborn | 01.12.2012 |

Small Business Tips

Staff Cultivator Holly and receptionist Jenny S. going through the Ruby training guidebook!

The virtual receptionist training program at Ruby_® is ever-changing and ever-improving. However, one thing that stays the same is our goal to equip our phone answering team with the tools they need to field calls efficiently while putting smiles on callers’ faces. And it all starts on the first day of training. As Joseph A. Michelli outlines in The New Gold Standard, focusing on outcomes rather than idividual tasks can create memorable moments of customer service, and we’ve taken that philosophy to heart.

In line with our Ruby Hierarchy of Service Pyramid, Ruby training begins with basics. In initial training, our virtual receptionists gain the skills they’ll need to thrive as members of the Ruby team. We show them how to use our unique software: what button answers a call; where to find the client’s custom greeting; what to say when introducing the call; and how to transfer it to the client, take a message, or transfer it to voicemail. We also introduce our Core Values right from the start, because once a groundwork of basic skills has been established, we come back to them to work our way up the pyramid. Trainees then focus on the outcomes of fostering happiness, creating experiences (showing how tone and phrasing can make even the briefest exchange an uplifting one), fulfilling unexpressed needs, and making meaningful connections.

Achieving these outcomes is all part of what we call ”practicing WOWism.” (It’s so important to us that Practice WOWism is one of our Core Values!) Our concept of WOWism was captured perfectly in a recent post: “The WOWism that we hold so dear is really a commitment to listening, always looking for ways to help without being asked, and most importantly, making a personal connection.” When we hear a “Wow!” from a caller, we know it’s working!

How do you train your employees to inspire excellent customer service? We’d love to hear from you in our comment section below!

The Ruby Service Pyramid

By Jill Nelson | 01.10.2012 |

If there’s one thing Ruby_® Receptionists is passionate about, it’s our knock-your-socks-off service, for our clients and their customers alike. “Good customer service” is table stakes for us. At Ruby, if we aren’t hearing “WOW!” every day from our clients, we’re not hitting the mark.

The Ruby Hierarchy of Service Pyramid, modeled after Maslow’s famous Needs Pyramid, a fundamental of Psych 101 classes everywhere, is our roadmap to that WOW experience.

ABOUT THE RUBY SERVICE PYRAMID

Like Maslow’s pyramid, the Ruby pyramid lists fundamentals at the bottom, and introduces the finer practices of Ruby service at the top. Receiving a card congratulating you on your son’s college graduation isn’t going to win any points if we aren’t consistently answering your phones — that’s why Be Prepared with the Right Infrastructure is our foundation, and Make Meaningful Connections is our peak.
While the higher levels are dependent on the lower levels, they are all equally important, and improvement at all levels is a constant endeavor.
Mastering each level is a balancing act of empowering people and adhering to consistent processes. When we’re looking for new ideas, we rely on the creativity of our staff. When something is broken, we look to our process to see where we can improve.

THE LEVELS OF THE RUBY SERVICE PYRAMID:

Be Prepared With the Right Infrastructure. At the base are the systems and technology that enable us to provide our service: our ININ communications platform and our proprietary software and databases. But it also includes our staffing models and metrics to deliver an average answer time of four seconds.

Do What We Say We’re Going to Do. This concept speaks for itself, but we’ve found it takes an amazing amount of attention to ensure consistent delivery. Our training programs, feedback systems, and performance monitoring help us know if we’re on track.

Foster Happiness. Again, a pretty straightforward concept: be nice and make others happy. But when you can do this with every phone call, you find you stand out. Ruby’s strategy? Hire the nicest people on the planet and do everything we can to make sure they’re happy and stay happy.

Create Experiences. Have you ever ended a conversation with someone and found yourself in a better mood than before you called? That’s Ruby’s aim with every interaction. Our receptionists strive to engage each caller with friendliness and professionalism. Grammar, tone, word choice, and confidence all come together to create that mood-changing experience.

Fulfill Unexpressed Needs. This concept is also known around Ruby as “Practicing WOWism.” A hesitation in your voice when we ask you if you want to speak with “Joe from Warehouse Unlimited” is a cue for us to offer to handle the call for you. A whereabouts update mentioning an unexpected trip to school to pick up a sick child might prompt our receptionists to offer to call and cancel your afternoon appointments.

Create Meaningful Connections. Getting to know our clients isn’t just a fun, rewarding part of the job — it’s integral to our success. We train on it, measure it, create incentive campaigns around it, and develop technology to support it. We know we’ve succeeded when we are no longer viewed as a service, but an integral team member in your growing business.

How can the pyramid work in your business? In the coming months we’ll be digging deeper into the pyramid and how Ruby practices each of the levels.

Ruby’s WOW Story of the Month!

By Sarah Sackett | 01.06.2012 |

We’re adding a new feature to the Watercooler called “The Ruby_® WOW Story of the Month!” We’re in the business of WOW here at Ruby, and we believe that whatever your industry, dazzling customer service is not only “a nice thing to have,” but in fact, it’s vital to making your business stand out. The key is having the right tools and the right culture.

One of the ways we shape our culture to makes exceptional customer service possible is by sharing stories. Stories are a vital part of our business; from sharing compliments to nominating coworkers for a Core Values in Action award, storytelling can create “legends” that will foster happiness, inspire, teach, and perpetuate the remarkable customer service that makes our clients rave about us. Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing some of the narratives that inspire us and celebrate those who make Ruby who we are. We’ll kick things off with a WOW story brought to you by thoughtful virtual receptionist Whitney L.!

The ever-cheerful Whitney L.!

As you might know, last March, Ruby completely revamped our communications platform and designed one-of-a-kind proprietary software to provide even better receptionist service for our clients. We also hired our own full-time Software Architect, Steve Severance, so that we can add more features. One such feature we added recently is our “About” field, where our virtual receptionists can add helpful information and get to know our clients better.

Whitney was transferring a call to one of our clients, and she noticed in his “About” field that he was a runner, so she asked him if he had gone for a run that morning. It turns out he had in fact gone for a run, and he shared that it was part of his training routine for his first time in the New York Marathon! Whitney was really inspired by that, and she wanted to make sure that he knew that his Ruby team was behind him and cheering him on from 3,000 miles away on his big day. She did a little searching and found the perfect gift for him. She sent him a running go-belt that could hold his cell phone, keys, and credit cards while he was focusing on getting to the finish line. Whitney also sent a card letting him know that we would all be rooting for him and couldn’t wait to hear how it went.

The wonderful part of the story was when we got a response from this client. He told us that the timing was extraordinary; he was about to order the exact same thing for himself that day!

This story is definitely a favorite around the office, and it is a perfect example of how our Core Values guide us. I will let you in on a little Ruby service secret: Good service comes from doing what is asked of you, but one thing that will propel you to exceptional service is going above and beyond and filling unexpressed needs. That “WOWism” that we hold so dear is really a commitment to listening, always looking for ways to help without being asked, and most importantly, making a personal connection.

When’s the last time you were surprised with some really excellent customer service? We’d love to hear your story and share the love!

Resolve to Make Your Clients Happier this New Year!

By Katie Wilson | 01.05.2012 |

Photo by Caleb Roenigk

2012: A new year, a fresh start for your business! Great customer service can be an incredible boost to your company; happy customers will stay with you longer and word-of-mouth buzz can grow your client base exponentially. But how can you make your customer service wow-worthy?

Here at Ruby, Fostering Happiness is one of our Core Values, and we aim to make our clients’ and their callers’ days brighter. Besides doing a crackerjack job at answering phones, we’ve developed quite a few ways to accomplish this. Here are five ways we make our clients smile – you may find that they’d be just what the doctor ordered for your customers, too!

1. Hand-written note cards. These days, most of the snail mail people get is junk mail and bills — who doesn’t like to receive a bit of personal mail in the bunch? Just about anything can be an occasion to write — delight your customers by dropping a surprise note in the mail!

2. Following up calls with an email. Like our virtual receptionists, our Client Services department is incredibly helpful and always looking for ways to make our clients’ lives easier. One way they do this is by following every call from a client with an email. It’s a great way to summarize or confirm the information you discussed, especially if it was complicated or may be useful to have on-hand in the future. If you don’t have much to relay, it’s also a great way to create a personal connection; a simple “It was wonderful talking to you” may make their day!

3. Be flexible. At Ruby, we empower our virtual receptionists and staff to make judgment calls on based on our Core Values. Rather than sticking to policy, we believe that not all situations are one-size-fits-all. For example, if one of our clients has instructions to take messages only, of course the majority of the time we’ll only take messages. However, if a family member calls with an emergency, we’ll try to put them in touch with them right away.

In fact, virtual receptionist Kristen C. has experienced exactly that scenario. An extended family member called one of our clients’ lines, and Kristen was able to connect him to the client’s cell phone.

4. Listen. This one’s pretty basic, but it bears repeating: listen to your customers. Sometimes all it takes to make your client happy is to make them feel heard. If a caller sounds emotional, rather than interrupting them, our receptionists will take a moment to listen and let them vent. Try also repeating what your client says back to them to reassure them that you’ve understood their concerns and reassure them that you’ll make things right. Being compassionate and responsive can make a big impact.

5. Check back in. Making a big change to a client’s account? Don’t stop there! When our Client Services department revamps one of our clients’ call handling instructions, they always check back in with them to make sure everything’s working out correctly. Our Sales department also follows up with potential clients after a few days just to see if they thought of anymore questions or they can do more to help. Just knowing that your company is thinking of them and values them enough to take that time will make for some happy campers!

In addition to making your customers happier, resolve to make yourself happier! Happiness is good for you, and it’s contagious. If you’re smiling, relaxed, and have more time to focus on your work and yourself, your clients will notice. And as always, the virtual receptionist team at Ruby would be delighted to help you become more productive and foster happiness with your callers.

We wish you and your business the very best in 2012! Happy New Year!

4 Questions to Ask When Looking for Phone Service for a New Business

By Katie Wilson | 01.03.2012 |

Eureka! You’ve got a fabulous idea for a new company and can’t wait to get things up and running. As a virtual receptionist service for small businesses, we know that there’s a lot of work that goes into building one from scratch, even before you open your doors; not least among them is choosing your phone service. Hearing your phone ring with potential clients will be a thrill but telephony may not be your specialty. To take some of the headache out of picking a phone system, we put together a few questions you may want to mull over when considering which out of the myriad of options is right for your budding business.

Do you need a local number, a toll-free number, or both? If your customers are locally based, or are based in a certain area code, you may want a local number. If you deal with customers nationally, a toll-free number may be more appealing. Ruby clients are welcome to publish the toll-free number we assign them; we cover any charges associated with the number, and at the end of service you may take it with you.

Do you need a physical phone installed? You may not need a landline if you will be maintaining a virtual office. Remote call forwarding lines or number hosting services may suffice.

Will you have more than one employee? You may be flying solo to start, but looking to the future couldn’t hurt. It’s handy to have a central, published number that your customers can call to reach anyone in your business. If you have a physical phone line installed, you will most likely be able to add lines through your service provider in the future. However, if you’ve opted not to have a landline and end up hiring additional employees, you could set up an auto attendant to route calls or step up your customer service by forwarding your number to a live virtual receptionist service like Ruby. That way, your new employees don’t have to give out their direct number which could lead to problems if they’re out on vacation or someone else takes over their responsibilities. With a centralized number, your callers will always reach someone who can direct them to the most appropriate person.

Who will answer your phone? Many soloprenuers answer their own phones, but perhaps it won’t set your company up for success. You may be in meetings or away from your desk and calls will have to go to an impersonal voicemail system. And when potential clients do reach you, they may wonder why the CEO is playing double duty as receptionist. Every phone call is an opportunity: an opportunity to set a great first impression for your business, an opportunity to WOW a current client, an opportunity to make a meaningful connection. Whether you answer your calls yourself, have in-house staff to help, or hire a service like Ruby, being prompt, friendly, and professional will always make a splash.

There are lots of factors to consider when choosing a phone service, and we would be happy to help in any way we can. Do you have other questions? Post your comment below!

Tips for Gathering Customer Feedback

By Jason Lander | 12.13.2011 |

Jason Lander - Founder & CEO of Hively

Guest blogger Jason Lander is the Founder and CEO of Hively. Hively lets your customers give you real-time feedback with 1 click, at their convenience. Ruby_® will soon be incorporating Hively’s interface into our Problem Solver & Happiness Makers’ email signatures to get real-time feedback on how we’re doing. We asked Jason for his advice on what other small businesses can do to get stellar feedback.

How many times a week do you get this email? “Will you please take a few minutes to fill out our survey?” My personal email inbox currently holds requests for survey feedback from more than 10 companies. Apple’s in there, a hotel, two retailers, a car company, etc.

The key to success for any business is to keep your customers happy. Yet, measuring customer happiness can be a challenge. For over a decade I’ve worked with various methods for measuring customer happiness including surveys, public support forums, phone calls, the Net Promoter Score, etc. Over time, I watched my customer engagement rates decrease dramatically and the feedback become less and less relevant.

They main issue I’ve discovered is that customer satisfaction surveys rarely provide you the data you need to improve your business. Surveys are time consuming to administer and time consuming for customers to complete. Furthermore, the data gathered isn’t actionable because it’s often aggregated and the responses come in too far after the touch point with the customer.

So what’s a company to do? Our suggestion? Ask the right question at the right time. Here are some tips for effectively gathering customer feedback.

The first tip – ask one question and one question only. It’s always tempting to ask more, but why ask more when one will do? Ask one question with a simple answer choice and allow your customers to leave additional details if they want.

Tip number two – ask specific questions about a person or a product, not a general “how do you like our company?” General questions are too vague and are better suited for things like the Facebook ‘Like’ button. Asking specific questions about how one of your employees did resolving an issue or how your new product performed, provide you with much better feedback.

Our third tip – ask the question at the right time. There are several touch points you have with your customers that offer excellent opportunities to ask for feedback. For example:

After a product demo or training. It’s always good to get feedback after a demo or training to make sure your audience understood the information presented.

After initial set up. Once a new customer is up and running with your product or service, it’s an excellent time to ask for feedback. Talking to a new customer here can help overcome any initial frustration that might naturally exist when getting started with something new.

After the first 30 days. After your customers have been using your product or service for 30 days they should be in full swing. This is a great time to get initial impressions. If there are any issues, you’ll be able to address them quickly without the risk of losing a new customer.

After any phone call. Any time you speak with a customer on the phone, especially if they’re asking a question or reporting an issue, it’s always a good idea to send them a follow up email. In this email, give them assurance you’ve understood them be summarizing your discussion and take this opportunity to ask for feedback.

After cancellation. Losing customers is not something anyone wants to talk about. But let’s be honest – it happens. When it does, don’t run from it. Instead, take it as another opportunity to improve by asking for some final feedback. Who knows, you might just win them back!

Our final tip – provide your customers with a way to provide you real time feedback at their convenience. If you’re just asking customers for feedback when it’s convenient for you you’re missing a lot of opportunities. Be sure the mechanism you’re providing delivers customer feedback to you in real time and that you follow up in a timely manner. This helps your customers know you take their issues seriously.

Asking the right question at the right time gains you invaluable insight into your customer happiness. You’ll learn things about your customers, products and services that have a major impact on your business as a whole. So start asking your customers for more feedback, at the right times and start improving your customer happiness.

Learn more about Hively at http://teamhively.com/. Readers of this blog also get a chance to try Hively free for 60 days with any subscription plan by entering the code ‘CALLRUBY‘ (without quotes) during the payment process.

3 Ways to Offer Help in Your Telephone Greeting

By Phoebe Osborn | 11.15.2011 |

First impressions when answering the phone

Photo by macinate

The virtual receptionist crew at Ruby_® shared some tips for creating a standout company greeting in a previous post, and today, we’ve got a few more thoughts on this popular topic. Our telephone answering pros recommend ending a greeting with a friendly question that offers assistance. If you’re crafting a greeting and looking for the best way to show callers you’re ready to help, here are some welcoming words to consider:

How may I help you? This standby is a wonderful way to invite questions and comments from callers. If your phone answering team loves fielding questions and chatting with callers, consider wrapping up your greeting with these friendly words. Just because it’s a common part of many greeting doesn’t mean it’s ineffective — asking “How may I help you?” lets callers know you’re on their side and ready to lend a hand, and that’s great news for them!

How may I direct your call? This question allows your phone answering team to speedily route calls where they need to go. If you’re a Ruby client hoping to reduce your receptionists minutes, this offer of assistance may help, because it politely prompts callers to give our live virtual receptionists the info they need to direct each call quickly. Looking for tech support? Have a question about your bill? Calling to chat with a salesperson? Callers need only say the word, and the Ruby crew will get each one to the right place.

A custom question, like How can I make you smile today? Customizing every element of your greeting can be a great way to make your company stand out among competitors. Your greeting may be a potential client’s initial impression of your company, so why not use the first words of each phone call to make that impression a lasting one? If you feel like being quirky, funny, or extra-engaging with callers, a custom question might be the ticket.

Can you think of any company greetings that stand out to you? What do you think makes a greeting great? We love comments — share your thoughts by posting one!

3 Easy Ways to Welcome a New Employee

By Phoebe Osborn | 11.08.2011 |

A welcome gift can also set the stage for a great first day!

We’re all about great first impressions at Ruby_®, and making every new member of our virtual receptionist team feel welcome on day one is especially important to us. If you work one-on-one with a new hire, you have a great opportunity to establish a connection from the get-go. But you don’t have to be a new employee’s trainer or manager to connect — in fact, it takes just a minute or two to make a positive impression. Here are three easy ways to welcome the latest addition to your office:

Say more than “Hello.” When you’re introduced to a new employee, don’t stop at “It’s nice to meet you!” Try asking a get-to-know-you question or two when you meet. Anything that sparks a bit of dialogue will do — it can be as simple as asking “How is your first day going?” or “What do you think of the office?” You may be having a busy morning, but take a moment to learn a little about your new teammate. A quick conversation will establish rapport and help the new employee remember your name.

Offer to help. Being the new kid on the block isn’t easy, but you can help put a new employee at ease by letting your teammate know you’re happy to lend a hand. You don’t have to offer anything grand to show you care. Here are some examples:

“If you have any trouble with the copy machine, I’d be happy to help you!”

“Let me know if you’re looking for good restaurants nearby for lunch!”

“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to let me know!”

Check in. After you’ve met, make a follow-up visit to your new teammate. It’s as easy as swinging by your newbie’s desk to say hello and chat a bit. This is a great opportunity to offer help, if you haven’t had a chance yet. A quick conversation will mean a lot to your teammate, and ease new-hire jitters. You might just get a new friend out of the deal, to boot!

How do you and your teammates welcome new employees? Comment below with your suggestions!

The Watercooler.

Keeping it personal in a virtual world.

Category: Small Business Tips