March 16, 2012 | Leadership
Have you heard of the new film John Carter? Based on a story by Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs, it opened this past weekend to disastrous results. The New York Times described the film as “a Big Budget Debacle That No One Could Stop.” At an estimated cost of $350 …
March 13, 2012 | Sales and Customer Service
In today’s challenging economic climate, companies in every industry find that their customers crave excellent service experiences, courteous first-call resolution, and consistency across all service delivery channels. At the same time, companies need to retain customers, increase referrals and repeat business, and achieve higher customer lifetime value through up-selling and …
Service Leads The Way To Sales
February 16, 2012 | Sales and Customer Service
For over 20 years The Elkind Group has been helping companies define their sales and service strategies and execute those strategies effectively on the front line. Over that time, we have trained thousands of leaders, managers, and front-line employees to deliver outstanding service that leads to increased sales. Recently, Kerry …
An Important Holiday Story: A Lifetime of Customers
December 27, 2011 | Sales and Customer Service
Yesterday I called to cancel my monthly delivery of organic fruits and vegetables. The representative didn’t seem to care about the cancellation – she was only interested in the fact that I still owed $50 on my account. This surprised me, since I was holding an invoice for $25.00. As my confusion …
Take CARE Of Your Customers During Peak Season
November 29, 2011 | Sales and Customer Service
For some of our clients, Thanksgiving heralds the arrival of their peak season for sales and service. Now is the time when front-line representatives can really use the service and sales skills that their managers have been coaching and developing all year. But the time between Thanksgiving and the end …
October 20, 2011 | General
The question is no longer “if”… rather “when.” Are you ready to change? That is the question that advertising executives asked themselves last month in San Diego at the Western Classified Advertising Association annual conference. Kerry was fortunate to be a keynote speaker, and she conducted a three hour session …
Coaching To Keep Your Best Employees
October 6, 2011 | Coaching
On October 19 Kerry will conduct a webinar on Coaching Skills To Keep Your Customer Service Reps From Leaving. (For more details, please click here). We hope you’ll join her. But we think the title may be a bit misleading. Although every organization desperately wants to retain its best employees, …
The Case For Moving From Service To Sales
August 12, 2011 | Sales and Customer Service
Over the past months we’ve received a lot of comments and questions about our April 27 blog Stop Trying To Delight Your Customers. Conventional wisdom holds that customer delight drives loyalty, and to delight customers you have to meet and exceed their expectations. But we reported on an article Stop …
Make The Most Of Your Coaching Time
July 5, 2011 | Coaching
First-line managers have one of the most difficult jobs in any business. To put it simply, they usually have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Then, when you add responsibilities for coaching and developing employees, nearly every first-line manager faces a …
Stop Trying To Delight Your Customers
April 27, 2011 | Sales and Customer Service
For years, customer service experts have emphasized that customer delight is the key to building loyalty. Companies and their front-line representatives have been urged to “exceed customer expectations” and “under-promise and over-deliver.” But a new study reveals a different secret to gaining loyal customers.