Customer Service Excellence for Team Members

Excellent customer service is an essential aspect of your most valuable asset: your customers.

Customer service is so vital that it can be a powerful competitive advantage. 70% of Americans have spent more money on better service, according to Forbes. 

Excellent customer service is not solely for the customer service representatives. Instead, everyone on the team should practice exceptional customer service because every job ultimately affects the customer. 

Below is a list of concrete ways your team members can exceed your customer’s expectations. 

Customer Service Excellence: Hire Smart

Certain personalities and strengths are better suited for customer service jobs. Hiring the right people will set the company and employees up for success. 

When hiring, look for people who excel in the following traits. 

• Problem-solving. Give the interviewee a scenario and ask how they would proceed.


• Communication. Ask the interviewee to explain a complex topic.


• Listening. Tell the interviewee a little bit about yourself and the company. Check to see how much they retained.


• Time management. Ask them about a time in their life when they were very busy and how they got through it.


• Empathetic. Ask the interviewee about a time they saw someone hurting and how they reacted.


• Attentive. Gauge how attentive they are at the interview.


• Patient. Ask them to wait a little bit before or during the interview.


• Curious. Ask them if they have any questions for you about the company. Gauge their natural curiosity.

Hiring the right people gets you off on the right foot. After hiring customer service-oriented people, training will further define their natural skills. 

Customer Service Excellence: Training

Training creates more knowledgeable and skilled team members. 

The more trained and knowledgeable your team members are, the happier your customers will be. Happier customers are more likely to create word-of-mouth advertising, which is the most effective form of advertising: 5 times more powerful than paid ads. 

Training and development can take on various forms. 

• Hire a trainer. Find a professional who excels in teaching customer service skills. Pay them to come to talk to your team members.


• Do it yourself. Research ways your company can improve customer service. Ask your customers what they’d like to see. Share your findings with your team members at a meeting.


• Online courses. Direct, or if it’s in the budget, subsidize your employees to take online courses to help them improve their customer service.


• Mentor-mentee programs. Pair a more experienced staff member with a less experienced one. Have them get together to share information and tactics that have helped them.

Whichever route you choose, you’ll see the benefits pay off in higher customer satisfaction and improved customer relationships.  

Customer Service Excellence: Customer Relationships

Encourage employees to develop positive customer relationships. 

Keep it natural. Try asking customers questions about themselves. Some just want to get in and out. But others enjoy talking and will appreciate the opportunity. If you remember the customers’ names and the stories they tell, they’ll be happier and more loyal. 

Further, increase customer relationships by sending customers birthday gifts or cards. Companies that prioritize emotional connections with customers do better in the long run, outperforming their competitors in sales by 85%. 

Customer Service Excellence: Let Customers Help Themselves

71% of consumers reported wanting to solve customer service issues independently. 

Counterintuitively, some of the best customer services you can provide are the gifts of not needing customer service. By providing efficient, straightforward methods for customers to solve their own issues, the customers leave happy. 

There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. 

• Q&A page with answers to the most commonly asked questions.


• Information. By providing relevant information in a convenient place, such as a brochure, you can proactively prevent frustrated customers by providing all the information they need beforehand. 

Customer service is one way your business can stand above the rest. If you do it well, profits will increase. 

We know customer service can be tricky because of the wide range of inquiries and emotions. However, we’re here to help you with our excellent printing services. For example, we've got you if you need promotional products for a birthday gift, birthday cards, or informative brochures!

Word-of-Mouth Marketing: What is it, and How Does it Benefit Your Business?

Since the introduction of social media, word-of-mouth marketing has dramatically increased.

Before the internet, someone would tell a friend or two if they had a good experience. Today, if they have a good experience, they tell thousands with a short post.

Word-of-mouth marketing allows your business’s brand to potentially get noticed by thousands of consumers, which, if done correctly, can spread like wildfire.

Understanding how word-of-mouth marketing works and how it can benefit your business helps increase your chances of attracting new customers.  

Why Word-of-Mouth Marketing Is Important

According to the American Marketing Associated and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, 64 percent of marketing executives believe that word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective form of advertising.

However, only about 6 percent claim to have mastered this marketing technique.

With a majority believing in word-of-mouth marketing and so few learning the skill, understanding this marketing tool can put your business in front of the competition and keep your products and services in the minds of consumers.

Even if a person does not need a product or service, they may be more inclined to tell friends and families about what they know about your business through word-of-mouth marketing. 

Using the Three Es of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Three tactics can help you increase your word-of-mouth marketing reach, often referred to as the “Three Es.”

1. Engage

The first E is “Engage,” which means you engage with your followers and customers by setting up a presence in their lives.

Some ways to engage include sending birthday cards, offering special discounts and gifts, and consistently responding to social media posts, comments, and messages related to your business. 

2. Equip

The second E is “Equip,” which means giving your customers something to talk about, such as a fantastic product, high-quality customer service, and fun facts about your business.

When consumers like a company and have things to talk about and share with others, it encourages them to let everyone know about their favorite products and services, which could be yours. 

3. Empower

The final E is “Empower,” giving consumers different ways to talk and share their experiences and recommendations.

The more methods you offer for consumers to share your business, the greater the chance they will. Additionally, empower consumers to feel like they are a part of the process, such as asking questions, running contests, etc. 

Word-of-mouth marketing has been around since the first caveman started trading, and with technological advancements, it has become significantly easier to utilize this advertising method.

Additionally, it has become more crucial for businesses to understand how word-of-mouth marketing works to use this tool best and achieve optimal advertising results. 

Becoming a Mindful Leader

Everyone is different, which is why various leadership styles exist.

Some of the most common ones include democratic, autocratic, laissez-faire, strategic, transformational, transactional, coach-style, and bureaucratic leadership. However, one often overlooked and quite effective leadership style is the mindful leader. 

Mindfulness is one’s ability to be fully present and observant while also being in control and not overreacting. 

Mindful leaders possess specific beneficial characteristics, making them stand out and be successful. 

Mindful leaders have emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to notice and manage one’s feelings while seeing and responding adequately to the emotions of others. 

Psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of The New York Times bestseller book Emotional Intelligence has created a model that divides emotional intelligence into 4 quadrants. 

• Self-awareness is the ability to be aware of one’s mood and thoughts and their impact on others. Some aspects of self-awareness include emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence.


• Self-management is the ability to effectively manage one’s feelings, thoughts, and actions. Some aspects of self-management include emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, and optimism.


• Social awareness is the ability to accurately gauge others’ emotions and situations, allowing you to make better decisions and actions. Some aspects of social awareness include empathy, organizational awareness, and service.


• Relationship management is using the above skills to manage social situations effectively. Some aspects of relationship management include influence, conflict management, and collaboration. 

According to the Harvard Business School, emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of what makes high performers stand out. Responsible leaders are also sure to stand out. 

Mindful leaders take responsibility. 

When you let go of the desire to insert blame, you can take responsibility for yourself and the business better. 

Blaming people or situations is often a waste of time. Instead, observe to accurately understand the circumstances so you can focus on the decisions you can make while accepting the areas you can’t control. 

By taking responsibility, you open up doors to possibility. Blaming, victim thinking, and fear create limitations and barriers. By taking full responsibility for the aspects you can control, you’re opening yourself and the business up for success. 

Mindful leaders are powerful.

Power isn’t just for the loud and strong, it’s for those who acquire respect. 

Mindful leaders are often respected for their ability to…  

• Give the situation and the people before them 100% of their attention.


• Filter their thoughts before they speak.


• Lead by self-motivation instead of fear or manipulation.


• Stay calm under pressure.

Research has shown people spend 47% of their time thinking about something else and not on what they’re currently doing. Almost half of people’s time is spent not being mindful!

Where do you lie on the mindfulness spectrum? Try taking a quick self-assessment from the Harvard Business Review. If you’re like most people, you have room to grow.

Luckily, there are tactics you can use to become a more mindful person. 

Practice mindfulness to become a mindful leader.

Aim for at least five minutes every day of mindfulness. 

This means finding a quiet place to sit and focus on your breathing. It’s a way to calm down, push away future anxieties, and focus on the present. By practicing in neutral times, when stressful situations arise you’ll be better able to focus on your breath to calm down. 

Many find mornings the best time to practice mindfulness, mainly because we release the most stress hormones within minutes of waking up. Practicing mindfulness can be a great way to counteract this. 

Stop multitasking to become a mindful leader.

Multitasking fragments your focus. 

Multitasking is also ineffective because humans are terrible at it. Research found that only 2.5% of people can effectively multitask. Do yourself and your mind a favor by cutting back on this ineffective work tactic. 

Decrease distractions to become a mindful leader. 

By decreasing distractions that break your focus, you’ll be able to stay in the present. 

One major culprit of distractions is your phone. It’s constantly pinging with notifications from texts, missed calls, emails, and social media apps. Try sectioning off times of the day when you’ll be phone free. Communicate this with coworkers, friends, and family. Then, you can use these phone-free, distraction-free times to get your most challenging work done. 

Emails are another common distraction. They go off throughout your day. Responding to emails feels productive, but in reality, they disrupt your work. If possible, try pausing all email notifications, instead blocking off a time of day to check your email box. 

Mindfulness is both a leadership style and a way of life. By incorporating it into your life, you’ll be better able to calmly tackle day-to-day problems with focus. 

Mindfulness: Paper Versus Digital

Speaking of mindfulness, when it comes to advertising, you want your target audience to be as present and focused as possible.

Although digital advertising does have its advantages, one major problem is focus. It’s often harder for people to focus and be mindful when using screens because of all the distractions. 

However, paper can be a powerful tool to initiate mindfulness in the recipient. It’s much less distracting, allowing the viewer to focus their entire attention on the paper at hand.

We can help you capture your potential client’s attention with print! 

Top 3 Reasons Small Businesses Should Consider Offline Marketing

Jingles used to incorporate business phone numbers quite frequently.

But now, we direct people to our websites or a physical address. Sure, things have changed, but it’s still advertising. We still need to reach people and ask them to visit our location.

And now that more people are working from home, they have more time to read their mail.

You can send flyers, postcards, and brochures in the mail, and they’ll get noticed. So here are three reasons you should consider offline marketing in addition to your online marketing efforts.

Top 3 Reasons Small Businesses Should Consider Offline Marketing

1. Offline Is Still Relevant

Offline marketing tools reach many more people than just online. This is because people do much more than just spending time online looking at websites.

In 2018, Nielsen found that Americans spend half the day (11 hours) interacting with media. Out of those 11 hours, over four hours are live TV, 36 minutes are “time-shifted TV” (DVR), and almost two hours are radio.  

This means that seven hours has nothing to do with online. Radio, newsprint, and direct mail marketing are good reasons to shift your advertising offline. People want information more tangibly.

2. Solidify Your Message

The more you get your name out in front of people, the better. And using different methods, such as offline, helps solidify the message and make your budget stretch farther.

Repeated brand exposure not only keeps a brand’s messaging and products top-of-mind for consumers, but Entrepreneur reports that it can also instill a sense of familiarity and trust.

Not everyone wants to spend time online looking for answers to their issues. And direct mail, for example, allows you to target specific people ideal to your market.

In addition, people perceive direct mail as more reliable and trustworthy.

3. Offline Marketing Is For All Ages

We tend to think offline advertising is for the older people who typically don’t use online to gather information. However, this is simply not true.

All ages love to get mail, listen to the radio, and watch TV.

The USPS Household Survey found that response rates from 18- to 21-years-olds doubled in 2016.

That’s good news because offline marketing is affordable.

Using both online and offline marketing is best to get optimal results, and we’d love to help you with it. Contact us today!