by: Ntsikelelo

Customer service complaints are a part of the territory when you deal with the public.  There are many reasons why you may receive a complaint; but in the final analysis, the reasons inevitably involve an unreasonable expectation of some sort or some type of miscommunication.  Customer service issues can be successfully resolved if you employ the tips outlined in this article, which allows you to stop, look, listen then act with effective consequences.

Stop and let the customer tell you in his or her own words the problem, as they perceive it.  Observe the emotions and attitudes being exhibited as well as the environment and surrounding.  Actively listen to understand and make the customer feel heard and respected.  With these factors included in your mind-set and thinking, you can proceed to act in effectively handling the problem, with the results being a satisfied loyal customer.

Five tips to helping you bring successful resolution to customer service issues.

• Actively Listen
• Clarify to get understanding
• Acknowledge something happen
• Resolve it
• Advance the relationship forward

Listening allows you to understand the matter from the customer's perspective, right or wrong. You get to share their thoughts, feeling, emotions and possibly have them even recommend a feasibly resolution, without charge.  In many cases this is all that is required to bring a successful resolution to some situations. There was a simply misunderstanding on someone part. The customer or sales associate allowed their emotions or irrational reasoning to guide their judgment, so tension was created or it somehow became personal verses staying in the business arena. It is now on your desk and you have to resolve it in the best interest of the customer and company.

Treat your customers with respect; listening is an excellent example of showing your concern, compassion and respect.  The customer will perceive that you and your company care when you take the time to listen to their concern.  In some instances it will be a legitimate issue your company needs to address.  In other cases, it maybe the wrong day, the wrong time, or the wrong people!  Just like mixing fuel with flames, an accident waiting to happen. 

Listening to your customer gives them an opportunity to release some steam and get the heat off their chest.  After the customer has had an opportunity to vent, it can become a no harm, no foul situation or let us just forgive and possibly forget, then move on with our lives!  Learn from the experience as a business and company.  Once a mutual solution is reached, everyone usually fells better for the experience. The act of listening will allow you to take inventory of the way you do business and possibly clear up some policies or procedures that are outdated or could be deemed confusing and/ or misleading.

Clarifying the issues gives you an opportunity to understand the problem and factors that lead to the matter being an issue that requires your attention.  Think about it for a moment, how or why would you fix something you didn't know or think was wrong or broken.  Investing time and patience to understand the problem and factors that created the problem is time well spent.  This is your chance to right a wrong or lay the foundation for building a lifetime relationship.  You need to be clear of the issues before you can intelligently act on the matter.

Next, acknowledge there is an issue.  This is not a time to point blame.  It makes no difference whose fault it was. Something is broken!  You have to fit it.   If you haven't acknowledged anything being wrong, why are you encouraged to correct anything?  Point being, you would not be face to face or in a communication fist-ti-cuff (whether verbal or written) if everything was hunky-dory.  There is a problem, and it needs your attention.

Once you acknowledge it you can then determine what level of management to direct the matter for resolution.

In many cases the customer will have already told you how they want to see the problem handled.  As earlier stated, the matter could be as simple as one created by a misunderstanding in communications or an unreasonable expectations from the customer.  A simple apology, shake hands and everyone walks away with the problem solved.

I'm not an advocate of retaining all of my customers.  A very small percent of customers in the marketplace are mean, rude and/ or criminal.  Some customers maintain a nothing will ever please them attitude.  Others are intent on ripping you off from the moment they walk through your doors or click on your website.  They only bought your product or service to use it and refund it, criminal behavior at it finest!

This being said, the vast majority of customers are honest and reasonable people. Without them there would be no reason to be in business.  Your mission statement should include existing, as a business to serve your customers wants needs and desires.  This attitude will allow you to seek resolutions that are perceived as reasonable and equitable in your customer's eyesight.  It also allows you to maximize the revenue potential of the relationship and not get blinded by the glitter of pennies. Penny-wise and pound-foolish is not a good revenue model for long-term business success.

Some customer relationships need to be ended before they begin. DBF, Dead Before Arrival. It is best for all parties if you never meet to do business.  You don't like them, they don't like you, and it is not a good fit for either party.  One excellent reason to end these toxic relationships early is they can literally suck your energy and time, which will take away creative juices from other areas of your business.  Look at the long-term impact to your company and make adjustments for the grief you will experience in accepting business from this category of customers. 

There are some dollars and some customers your business could do better without.  The costs don't justify the benefits.  Then there are those times when you have to make a decision that is in the best interest of the customer, company and future business relationships.  It is so very important to understand the lifetime value of your customer to be able to apply this last tip with sound judgment. It is a skill to knowing when to hold'em and when to fold'em

Finally, remember it cost 5 - 10 times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing client.  A loyal customer is likely to refer others to your product or service for years to come.  With that said, you can see why it would be logical to work to advance the relationship forward in successfully resolving customer service issues.  The proof of the pudding is in the tasting; there was an issue, it got out of control and created a mess between your company and the client.  You step up to the plate and make the client feel important, whole and respected.

Bonus points!  The client is happy and tells their friends and associates that your company has integrity and value their business.  All because of five simple techniques that demonstrate you care: Listen, Clarify, Acknowledge, Resolve and Advance.

Bottom-line; remember you are dealing with another human being.  Somewhere there was a breakdown in communications or they failed to get what they expected.  Either way, be willing to listen to them; understand the issues involved; recommend viable solutions that benefit all parties and work to move your relationship with the customer to an even higher level in your clients mind.  Your customer's perception is their reality, it must be changed or bad-will will continue to persist.  The next time a customer complains, remember this could be a wonderful opportunity to make a new friend along with a loyal customer. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Activerainers out there.  sorry for being late in my greeting but, Verizion installed some new fiber optic lines in my area and created an outage and believe it or not convinced me they would have it fixed by 6:30 pm on Wednesday. 

I called at 5:30 pm and and was assured all was well and they still had an hour left in their business day.  I called back as 6:45 pm to raise hell and was transferred to the Phillipines and was told there was no order to come out in the system. 

Called on Friday and Monday is as soome as i can expect the ticket to be resolved.  What a nightmare?

Anyway, I wish you all had a wonderful day and enjoyed family, food and be grateful for that which you do have and not worry about that which you don't have.

God bless you and keep you and may you prosper as your faith increases.

If you're an entrepreneur trying to raise capital for your business venture, you've found the right place.  

I will be posting links inks on this page, which can help you to find and identify investors and venture capital companies to help you fund your projects.  There will be some good deals that fall out from the current credit crisis.

Since buyers and sellers are reluctant to make a move, why don't we identify the bargains and put together the funding packages in conjunction with others in the industry.  We can't make other move of the dime, but we can certainly move ourselves.

Bookmark this for further updates.

Many of these firms I will list offer:

• Advisory Services

• Private Placement of Debt and Equity 

• Bridge Financing 

• Growth capital for expansion and acquisitions 

• Acquire subordinated debt or other debt instruments 

• Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Preparation of and completion of IPOs documents

• Prepare and execute recapitalizations 

• Reverse mergers 

• Valuations and due diligence 

• Public Fundraising 

• Sales and Divestures 

• Corporate Reorganizations 

Morris was removing some engine valves from a car on the lift when he spotted
the famous heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey, who was standing off to the side,
waiting for the service manager.

Morris, somewhat of a loud mouth, shouted across the garage, "Hey DeBakey . .
. . Is dat you ? Come over here a minute."

The famous surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to where Morris was working
on a car.

Morris in a loud voice, all could hear, said argumentatively, "So Mr. fancy
doctor, look at this work. I also take valves out, grind 'em, put in new parts,
and when I finish this baby will purr like a kitten. So how come you get the big
bucks, when you and me are doing basically the same work?"

DeBakey, very embarrassed, walked away, and said softly, to Morris . . . "Try
doing your work with the engine running."  

"Drive a higher quality traffic to your website!"

Why do you want to submit your site to search engines and directories?  There are lots of good reasons and you probably know them all!  First and foremost, you can have a fantastic website, but it won't do you any good if nobody knows the site is there.  You need to submit your site to all of the search engines, directories, and websites that people go when they want to search for information.

Google, Yahoo!, DMOZ, AOL, Netscape, Lycos, Alta Vista, WhatUSeek, Dogpile and the list continues.

Would it be nice to list your in one place that all the search engines like to frequently read and keep your site in the limelight of the search engines.  A listing in QECIS is the prescription to solving the dilemma of getting your site listed and keeping it indexed.

QECIS is one of the gems on the Internet, a 100% Search Engine Friendly Directory of quality sites that have been humanly indexed and highly ranked by Google. Why spend several hours each month submitting your site manually to each search engine, when a listing in QECIS.com will get you listed and keep you indexed as the Google bot and other spiders visit QECIS in some fashion of form daily.

Submitting is a necessary evil, but it is more beneficial to be independently found in a search directory link QECIS.  Currently, there is no charge for a listing in the QECIS Search Directory.  However, next year that will change.  We have significant upgrade that will be installed; but all listed links at that time will be grandfathered if the email address on file is valid in our database.  We will send one-time only link verification request and honor a Lifetime link to all sites that reply after our upgrade.

We're heading to the top, join us!

This was once a very personal business where referrals could make or break an agent's career. A client would be dependent on their agent for information about property values, market trends, and current inventory available in their local market. If a client had a question for his agent, he would have to leave a message at the agent's office and wait around for a reply. Depending on the number of other clients the agent had, the client could be kept waiting for a very long time.

This waiting game could be a very frustrating experience for proactive buyers and sellers who wanted to be in the know when it comes to handling the biggest investment of their lives. Fortunately, new technology has made the real estate industry much more accessible to the average person.

Cellular phones have had a huge impact on the real estate industry. Rather than sitting around playing phone tag with your agent, you can now reach them directly, and leave a message where they will be sure to get it. Communications are sped up and made more effective, meaning that much less time is wasted, and misunderstandings are less likely to occur.

Another benefit of the cell phone is that real estate agents are always in touch with their offices as well as with other agents. This means that they are on top of local market activities such as when a hot new property enters the market. Buyers who want to make an offer on a home can also get their bids on the table as quick as possible. The real estate market is always in flux, and cell phones enable agents and clients to roll better with the punches.

The Internet has changed the way buyers, sellers, and Realtors do business. Internet search technology is continually improving, making it easier for searchers to find relevant information in a short amount of time.

Buyers can search online MLS databases to view homes from all around the country. Sellers can have their homes featured on their agent's homepage as well as on online databases. This has been an excellent development for clients because they can see examples of what they like, what price ranges are out there, and the availability of homes in their market area.

Some argue that because clients are able to locate properties on the Internet, that real estate agents' value will decrease. What is important to keep in mind is the fact that real estate agents provide a much greater service than simply providing a list of available properties on the market. While you may be able to find homes on the Internet on your own, not every available property will be on all of the databases. Your agent will have inside info and can pare down the house search for you. They also navigate the many other issues that are involved with buying or selling a home. The Internet has not changed the need for good quality agents in the least.

Blogging is a great tool for real estate agents. With such a focus on online technologies, the real estate industry can lose some of the personal interaction that was once such an integral part of the industry. Blogging can change that. By writing a blog for their websites, Realtors are able to share their opinions, prompt discussions, and show a bit of their personality. This can be invaluable in showing potential clients why they should hire you. Also, it is of benefit for you personally, as you are able to express yourself and network with other real estate professionals.

While some people believed that the Internet was going to spell the end for real estate agents, this has not come to fruition. In fact, the real estate industry is continuing to thrive. For agents who are willing to go with the flow and adjust to the changing technologies, both clients and agents can benefit.

I frequently hear the question asked in this forum  “Short sale” vs. “REO”, which is better.  Either can be a good buying opportunity for an investor or potential homeowner.  In a short sale you a buying pre-foreclosure and with a REO it is post-foreclosure.  In a short sale you are at the mercy of the lender for approval where as you are in competition with other potential buyers for the collateral.  When a lender considers a short sale there is a work up of the net/net proceeds to the lender.  From a borrower’s perspective, their credit standing is somewhat protected in a short sale vs. a foreclosure.  

As an investor or buyer a proposal is required and it usually takes 45 to 60 days with no guarantee of approval. During this time the lender is studying values in the local market, determining the local absorption rates, and conducting due diligence on both the homeowner and buyer in order to render a decision.  An Account Manager or Workout Specialist performs the actual work of loss mitigation.  See it is pretty simple to run an asset check as there maybe recourse the lender can pursue in a short sale.  If the foreclosure is non-judicial then there is no recourse.  If the absorption rate is low and selling fees are minimal lenders will often time choose to foreclose rather than accept a short sale. If it is found that the borrower have other significant assets that can be liquidated in a reasonable time the lender can choose to accept a short sale and proceed against the borrower for any loss. 

The account manager handling the workout usually never reveals his hand early in the process and he would loose leverage in the negotiations.  Not all cases will a transaction qualify as a short sale, since by definition a short sale is when the collateral (usually a home) is to be listed for sale that, when sold, it will not yield enough to pay all the costs of the sale and the existing mortgage in entirety.  So in essence the lender is being asked to accept less than the amount owed plus expenses.

See financial institutions don’t look at one’s home as an investment.  Fun, many homeowners do!  In today’s economy many of the issues facing homeowners are relative to affordability and not property valuations.  This in many cases will rule out a short sale, as there are no asset that can be pursued market values in most communities are not severely depressed.  A homeowner in many cases would be better served with a workout arrangement than requesting a short sale.  There is a negative stigma to the subprime lending that in some cases created the crisis that homeowners can save their property if they are able to enter into a repayment agreement.

No of the banks want to be perceived as “The Big Bad Bank” if there is a chance the borrower can become current and pay any out of pocket expenses in a reasonable period of time.  My suggestion is seek a workout and repayment agreement first unless if you think you will be able to afford the debt service at a future point in time, unless you have to sell for some compelling reason.

Telephone answering skills are vitally important to realty professionals.  In real estate we have a saying time is of the essence.  Sure we can look at the caller ID to see who maybe calling and selective choose to answer or not.  The telephone is one of the most business tools a professional can have in their arsenal if used correctly and professionally.

It is the primary vehicle for contacting and staying in touch with customers.  If and how you answer the phone say a lot about the way you operate your business.  If you choose to answer the phone or not answer really signals what your priorities are and how you conduct business.  The manner in which you answer your phone forms an initial impression in your customer's mind.

There should be some phone etiquette I feel that should be observed by business professionals.

To screen calls I feel is unprofessional.  You never know the exact nature or intent of the callers on the other end of the phone, even if you are familiar with the caller ID.  Have you ever been surprised by the message or reason you received a call? 

You should in all earnest try to answer the phone before the third ring.  When you do answer you want to sound pleasant.  Give the caller an impression that you are warm and friendly.  Identify yourself in clear enthusiastic voice. "Good afternoon, ABC Realty and Loans, This is Jack!  Thanks for calling how may I help you?"

How many times have you called a business and wondered if it was someone just getting out of bed.  If you have your cell number listed on your business card, website, or have given it to customer you should consider your self a business and no customer should ever ask, "Did I reach a business?" Just by the fact you have used it in the public domain, makes it a business.

Granted there are times when you can't or should not take calls, in those instances you should try to return the call and get back in touch with the caller at you earliest convenience.

I've seen some crazy stuff when it comes to phone usage and isn't it funny how these are the agents who struggle and have a hard time in the business.  The older I get and longer I’m in the business the more I realize it is your attitude that determine your altitude and ultimate success.  The games you play with your phone reflect back on how serious you take your business.

In today’s competitive real estate and business environment, you have to be creative, out of the box and a little low-tech to get down to basics.  We have all kind of gadgets and devices to make this and that faster, quicker and easier. 

It is good to have a marketing strategy that brands your face to the public, give you instant credibility and lead to repeat business from loyal customers.  I've always considered myself an out of the box thinker. But, I never allowed myself to forget that if it worked in the past, it can work today.

You’re probably asking yourself what is this guy talking about.  I’m talking about “Farming”.  You know that practice of owning a neighborhood, community or area in your city.  There are many approaches that have been used to various degrees of success. Some do mass mailing, few cold call and some put on their walking shoes and hit the pavement.

Personally, I prefer not to do generic mass mailings.  You know the type - from merged electronic farm packages you get from title companies or Dear Mr. Jones and you have never established a relationship with the guy.  I think mass mailing is a complete waste of time and money, except! I'll explain further.  Every now and again, you will catch a big fish.  It is the law of large numbers.  More often than not you’ll lay a goose egg.

Cold calling is something you couldn’t pay me to do today.  When I first learned this business some 25 odd years ago, I was actually pretty good at Gold calling.  See we did not have Do-not-call list and people were not so saturated with salespeople interrupting their day.  Cell phones were not readily popular so you would not have peeved a potential client by calling them and using their precious cell minutes.  People back in the day would come home about 6:00pm or so have dinner and 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm was always a good time to pick up a listing or two.

I suggest walk your farm area at least once a week for about 2 hour at most. Knock on doors; get to know folks! Three good things will happen. First you get some exercise and fresh air, we all need it. Secondly, you add a personal touch to your marketing; don’t underestimate the power of your face. And finally ask anyone you engage in conversation if you can put them on your mailing list and keep them abreast of market condition and over valuable trivia in your newsletter, bit snail mail and email.

If nothing else have them complete a contact card with their contact info, including email address. It can be as simple as a blank 3x5 card. This way you are speaking to people who want your info and not spending time trying to figure out how to address them.  You can share a little about yourself and over time your commitment to that community will come through.  If you not serious it will show if you are people will take you serious.  Your actions will give you away.

I'm from the old school if you have a farm, people ought to know you! This way when neighbors speak to each other and they are about to buy or sell, you have bird dogs on the street. This is not a quick cure but will serve you well in the long term. Many realty professions want a quick fix. Your marketing strategy is like major surgery so the band-aid approaches do not work real well.  We’re only talking about 2 hours a week.  How much time have you spent this week in idle conversation or unproductive efforts?  Have you taken a good walk this week to keep you in shape?  Any of your bird dogs called you this week with a question about real estate or a referral to buy or list?

I always amaze me as to how this strategy kept our predecessor with a healthy pipeline and physically fit but we have abandoned it in lieu if cell phone, emails and purchased leads. Remind me of the oldie buy goodies.  Whenever you hear them on the radio they always seem to sound so good, refreshing and timeless.