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Solutions May 2006
Cover
story
Continued
Masters
of the Game
Team
Player
You
Can’t Have a Bad Day. Ever.
IN BRIEF
A
CSR with 21 years’ experience
details how to retain and expand
business with major accounts:
•
Ask the client for business
•
Never assume you know what the
client will say
•
Write down all the information
you get
•
Organize your notes
•
Stay calm, even when the client
isn’t
No
matter how talented and motivated,
no sales representative is an
island. Keeping and growing a
client’s business over the
years is an important sales task
entrusted, in many companies,
to the diligent customer service
staff. CSRs don’t always
leave the office, they aren’t
often showered in praise, and
only some earn commission. But
many sales reps will affirm that
their CSRs, right-hand men and
women, are key to sales growth.
Millie
Camacho, customer service manager
at Vanguard Direct in New York
City, has been in the print business
for 21 years. Today, she handles
about 10 clients a day –
all have been with Vanguard a
decade or more – and between
$600,000 - $700,000 of business
a year. She also manages a team
of CSRs, each of whom touch $1
million to $3 million of business
annually. Throughout her years
at Vanguard, she’s learned
more than just a few tips and
tricks to good customer service.
Club
Selection
Asking
the right questions, Camacho says,
is essential to penetrating an
account. “Last week, I got
a call from a woman who wanted
envelopes delivered to a mailing
house. I asked her, real friendly,
‘What’re you putting
in the envelope?’ She was
stuffing brochures. So of course
I asked her, ‘Who’s
doing the brochures for you?’”
Sometimes, the customer will inquire
about new products, Camacho says,
and that’s an easy sale
to make. But most times the CSR
has to be thinking on his or her
feet about what the client is
doing and needs next.
Middle
of the Fairway
Good
CSRs also know the company’s
products so they can make the
right suggestions. “Another
customer called me because he
wanted log books for the Long
Island Ferry,” Camacho says.
“Actually he had no idea
what he wanted. I sent him some
samples because we’ve done
jobs like that before, for hospitals
and the police department, and
he ended up ordering five other
books.” Always suggest a
product, Camacho advises. If you
don’t know what to suggest,
ask another CSR or a manufacturer.
“I
think I’ve got a lot of
experience from working in this
business so long,” Camacho
says. “I listen a lot. I’m
very nosy, and I’m always
paying attention to what’s
going on.” That curiosity
is how she learned, Camacho maintains.
If you don’t know, find
out.
Perfecting
the Swing
“A
common rookie mistake I see is
that people assume a lot of information.
They’re afraid to ask a
question because they think they’re
going to look stupid, or sound
like they don’t know what
they’re doing,” she
says. But that’s the mark
of someone who really doesn’t
know what he or she is doing.
“I still ask questions!
You’re always learning.”
Most
new CSRs have to learn to write
everything down, she continues.
When you’re done writing
things down on the phone, review
your notes with the client. “Gathering
information is one of the most
important parts of being a customer
service rep.” Those notes
can help you brainstorm ideas
for more orders, and they can
help the company’s sales
representatives, too.
Once
you’ve got the notes, Camacho
says, you have to remember where
you put them. “If
I didn’t have an organizer
on my computer,” she says,
“I couldn’t survive.
Even when I make computer folders,
I make a desktop directory telling
me where I filed it.” Camacho,
who confesses she’s not
this organized at home, makes
a color-coded file for each client
that she can access while on the
phone. When she has an item for
follow-up – and almost every
client merits follow-up, she admonishes
– she will make a note on
the calendar. “I’m
serious,” she says, “so
many things happen all day that
you’re going to forget.”
Sand
Wedge!
When
something goes wrong, Camacho
advises, the CSR has to maintain
composure to maintain the business.
“The hardest part is when
your company doesn’t provide
what the client needs,”
she says. “If there’s
something we don’t do, I
look for other companies to help
them. I try to get them a comparable
solution. Just keep smiling and
picking up the phone. As a customer
service rep, you can’t ever
have a bad day.” When a
CSR is having a difficult time,
she suggests going for a walk,
taking a break or finding some
other way to relax.
From
time to time, of course, something
will go wrong. “We had a
problem with a client once where
the plant printed the form numbers
on the wrong form, which the client
needed the next day,” Camacho
says. “I called our warehouse,
which has a small press, and asked
them to do me a favor. We had
enough forms printed to hold the
client over until the problem
could be fixed. By the time I
talked to the client, I had already
produced the correct forms and
had them sent over.” The
client, however, wasn’t
satisfied with this service. He
called Camacho’s supervisor,
upset at the mistake. It was the
only time, in more than two decades
of work, that she had been called
in to the head office, she laughs.
“The
client was still screaming and
yelling at me, and I just had
to let him. You just tell them,
‘I understand, I understand.’
You just let the client vent,
and then you go back to normal
work and don’t let it affect
you,” she says. Most clients
aren’t like that, of course,
but a CSR must be prepared for
a client to express his or her
frustration.
Figuring
How the Putt Will Break
Over
time, Camacho says, a CSR begins
to build a reputation with a client,
through good times and bad. “Most
of my clients are easy to deal
with only because I’ve been
dealing with them for so long.
They know that if there’s
anything I could do for them,
I would do it.” By establishing
a reputation of trust and dependability,
the customers are open to Camacho’s
product suggestions and eager
to do business with Vanguard.
“You
treat the clients like family,”
she says. “If I don’t
hear from a client in a few weeks
or a month, I call them and ask
how they’re doing. Sometimes
we send cards or emails, because
so many people are too busy to
talk on the phone.” Recently,
Camacho saw a Vanguard production
employee who reminded her of a
customer she hadn’t spoken
with in a while. “After
she left, I sent him an email.
Then, the next day, he calls me
with an order.” Simply touching
base with clients often jogs their
memory for a need you can fulfill.
On
the opposite end of the spectrum,
some clients may try to hog a
CSR’s time, constantly calling
with quote requests or asking
complicated questions. Camacho,
however, maintains that her time
is never wasted.
“At
times, of course, you can tell
they’re not serious by
what they say or who they claim
recommended them,” she
says, “But you really
never know. You have to give
somebody a quote when they ask.
I’ll pursue them, even
if they are pulling my chain.
You won’t know if it’s
going to be legit or not unless
you follow up, and at that point,
maybe it will turn into a sale.”
Cover
story continued...
