Tag: Customer Strategy

Only 30% of Your Workers are Engaged – Really!?!

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

Every couple of years, Gallup releases its State of the American Workplace annual report on trends in the U.S. working population.  The report places a particular emphasis on employee engagement and it highlights that in order to have engaged customers, companies first must engage their employees. According to Gallup, this is proving to be extremely challenging in businesses of all sizes across America…On that note, we’d love to see a more recent version of this report that accounts for the fact that so many employees now work from the comfort of their home due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Key findings from Gallup reveal:

  • Employee disengagement costs American businesses between $483 to $605 billion per year.
  • Nearly 70% of the American workforce is considered to be disengaged (in other words, only 3 out of your 10 employees are fully engaged at their jobs – YIKES!)
  • Disconnected, underperforming firms in the bottom quartile of employee engagement severely lag their more actively engaged top quartile peers as they experience:
    • 22% lower profitability
    • 21% lower productivity
    • 10% lower customer satisfaction
    • 41% higher defects
    • 25% higher employee turnover

Say it ain’t so!  Such apathetic employees negatively influence co-workers and damage client relationships to destroy company performance.

Whatever happened to the days of maximum collaboration, frequent communication, and tight camaraderie at the company foosball or ping-pong table?  If you’ve ever grinded at a start-up, you know what I’m talking about!

Photo by Proxyclick Visitor Management System on Unsplash

So the question becomes, how can you as a business owner or executive overcome employee disengagement and improve financial and business results?

Well, the business growth advisory and customer experience strategy consulting practice and research team of RevSherpas finds that industry leaders are choosing to equip their staff with superior Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology and simplify, standardize, and streamline their core business development, sales conversion, client onboarding, ongoing marketing communication outreach, customer service, and client retention processes.

Serving as the centralized data hub, knowledge repository, and business intelligence tool of the organization, CRM provides a clear, comprehensive picture of client, prospect, and partner relationships for all employees, regardless of their role in the front, middle, or back office.

Compared to the 1990s and even 2010s, you’ll be amazed at how many high-quality, low-cost, and easy to implement CRM solutions there now are that are exclusively built for small to mid-sized businesses.

Furthermore, CRM empowers all employees to harness the necessary insights to foster more efficient information sharing and more effective decision making in order to exceed client expectations and deliver optimal levels of service. With CRM, administrative search time and costs are reduced, as employees know where to go to get answers. Plus, no one wants to be known as the individual whose missing key client interaction notation resulted in the sales team being unprepared in route to botching a huge deal. Therefore, employees develop a greater sense of ownership, pride, and accountability in updating CRM and leveraging it as a productivity and performance enhancer.

As employees become more engaged with CRM, customers will certainly begin to notice the elevation in client service levels. In particular, customers will notice how the employees they interact with are much more focused, committed, and responsive compared to the competition. In a nutshell, a more engaged workforce at all customer touchpoints leads to a more engaged, loyal client base that is more likely to make repeat purchases, promote the firm’s brand in the marketplace, and actively send referrals to significantly grow revenues.

“RevSherpas…Client Focused. Elevated Results.” 

Yes, that’s our motto, but the secret to customer-driven growth and delivering a world-class, differentiated customer experience that many firms repeatedly ignore is that your employees need to be locked in, fully engaged, and fired up to go to work and serve your client base every day.  The reality is that without efficient business processes in place, your employee engagement will stagnate, and thus your deals won and customer service will suffer as well.

After all, happy, motivated employees = happy customers!

If you’re a small business owner struggling with increases in employee disengagement or staff turnover, let’s talk and devise a gameplan before your client service levels and market share erode even further!

*** Let’s commit to one another ASAP that our respective firms will not be one of the companies going forward where only 30% of our staff is focused and engaged at work!  That is absolutely unacceptable and not what our increasingly demanding clients, partners, and investors deserve! ***

Please leave a comment below if you concur.

 

Provide 5-Star Service and Optimize Customer Delight with RevSherpas

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

What if I told you that consumers will tell 16 people about subpar service encounters?… Conversely, they will inform only nine others about positive, memorable customer service experiences.

Did you know that consumers will pay more to receive quality customer service because they value it so much and they even will pay more to receive it?… In fact, 70% indicated they would spend 13% more on average with businesses that deliver stellar service.  As you can see, higher customer satisfaction levels lead to more spending!

Are you aware that 78% have canceled a transaction or taken their business elsewhere upon encountering negative, frustrating customer service?… If it wasn’t obvious already, consumers will indeed rebel with their wallets and then proceed to influence and persuade many others to avoid those lackluster establishments as well.

These findings and more originated from the American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer reports on consumer sentiment concerning the state of customer service in America… Pretty interesting survey findings, right?

It’s clear that customer experience can profoundly impact client acquisition, engagement, and retention.  Although this research study is typically targeted towards individuals, it is safe to say that the same attitudes and preferences on customer service hold true in the B2B world as well.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Companies that differentiate themselves from the competition by providing superior customer service will earn repeat business from clients and begin to receive more referrals. On the other hand, customers that do not consistently deliver positive and meaningful customer experiences will suffer instant client churn and defections and lose drastic revenue.

Based on our ten plus years of experience in working on high-priority, high-profile customer experience management strategic initiatives for rapidly growing small businesses and global financial institutions, our client results match up with the findings of American Express.  By continually measuring, monitoring, and improving the customer experience, firms can be more in tune with evolving service preferences and provide better service to their high-value clients and outperform their competition.

If you are looking to considerably improve your customer retention rates, response times to customer inquiries, customer lifetime values (LTV), and customer satisfaction rates year in and year out, RevSherpas can help.

The RevSherpas Customer Experience Strategy Consulting Services Suite:

  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Readiness Assessments
  • CRM RFP Vendor Selection, ROI, and Business Case Formulation
  • Digital Customer Experience (CX) Transformation Strategic Roadmaps
  • Sales and Marketing Current State Audits
  • Customer Journey Mapping and Future State Process Improvement
  • Market Dominating Brand Positioning and Lead Generation Maximization
  • Account Segmentation and Pricing Optimization
  • Client Retention/Reactivation Strategies
  • Voice-of-the-Customer (VoC) Feedback Surveys and Analysis
  • Memorable “Wow” Customer Experience Design
  • Employee Engagement Assessments and Organizational Change Management

Due to our extensive CRM and revenue growth acceleration consulting background, we’ve developed a solid understanding of the complex challenges facing inundated business owners in today’s extremely volatile economy and highly competitive landscape. We’ve seen firsthand how the prevalent use of flawed, ineffective marketing tactics, cumbersome sales pipeline opportunity tracking tools, and the overreliance on decentralized client data stifles the operational efficiency, decision-making velocity, and growth of many businesses across a multitude of industries.

Luckily for small to mid-sized businesses, the recent onslaught of technological innovations and improvements in mobile, cloud computing, P2P payment systems, artificial intelligence, and robotics has made streamlining and automating core marketing, sales, customer engagement, and service activities easier and more affordable than ever before!

In fact, many sophisticated prospecting, lead tracking, sales pipeline management, and marketing autoresponder solutions that were previously only available at the larger enterprise level for Fortune 500 corporations and leading global brands are now accessible to everyone, including both established and aspiring, hungry business owners, such as yourself.

Let us show you how to set up systems in as little as sixty days that increase your client retention, repeat purchases, renewals, referrals, and revenue without having to spend a dime on marketing or hiring a team of 20 high-priced management consultants!

Please call (800)569-1374 or email Sales@RevSherpas.com if you would like to further vet, evaluate, and candidly discuss how we can quickly elevate your service levels to stand out from their competition.

We are committed to empower and enable local, mission-driven businesses to exponentially outperform in any economy and avoid brand extinction.

Will yours be next?

Stellar Service Is Vital To Your Success (“Same As It Ever Was”)

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

Recently, we came across an excellent inventory of Customer Service Quotes from legendary business leaders, past and present.  Thank you to Salesforce for capturing and compiling these quotes.  It’s rare to find so many solid quotes consolidated together on a business strategy so near and dear to our hearts.

As CRM strategists and customer experience improvement and innovation experts, the RevSherpas consulting practice is passionate about delivering optimal service to our clients.  Moreover, during our client engagements, we always underscore the importance of providing unrivaled customer service to reduce churn, increase satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately grow revenues.

While other consultants and coaches typically try to convince you to utilize the latest social media shiny object tactic of the day, we’re far more into cultivating deeper relationships with your prospects, clients, and referral sources. 

It’s much more effective and just makes more business sense.  After all, our motto in our logo does say, “Client Focused.  Elevated Results.”

What’s interesting is that many of the quotes and points of view that were established in the 1800s are still valid today.  In fact, they are so legit that they serve as the fundamentals of how to effectively grow and scale a business even now.

To begin, let’s take a look at some of our favorite quotes from the pioneers of Retail.

“THE OLD SCHOOL”

Marshal Field, founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores:

“The customer is always right.”

“Assume that the customer is right until it is plain beyond all question he is not.”

“Give the lady what she wants.”

“Goodwill is the one and only asset that competition cannot undersell or destroy.”

Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-British retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges:

“Honesty always pays.”

“People will sit up and take notice of you if you will sit up and take notice of what makes them sit up and take notice.”

“Get the confidence of the public and you will have no difficulty in getting their patronage.”

“Treat [the customer] as guests when they come and when they go, whether or not they buy.”

John Wanamaker, founder of department stores, including Philadelphia-based Wanamaker’s; Also, invented the price tag and was the first merchant to utilize advertising agencies:

“When a customer enters my store, forget me. He is king.”

“Courtesy is the one coin you can never have too much of or be stingy with.”

“Courtesies cannot be borrowed like snow shovels; you must have some of your own.”

Again, many of the above quotes were declared by individuals born in the 1830s and 1850s!  Yet, their philosophies still hold up and are applicable in the present environment…they’re really the “SAME AS IT EVER WAS!”

https://www.amazon.com/Same-Ever-Was-Talking-Heads/dp/B0028G1OU4

To balance out the “old school” perspectives, we also wanted to share some fascinating quotes on the importance of customer service from current CEOs and business leaders representing the “new school” as seen below.

“THE NEW SCHOOL”

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist:

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

Dr. Gary P. Hamel, founder of Strategos, a management consulting firm:

“Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It’s the only insurance against irrelevance. It’s the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty…It doesn’t matter much where your company sits in its industry ecosystem, nor how vertically or horizontally integrated it is—what matters is its relative ‘share of customer value’ in the final product or solution, and its cost of producing that value.”

Elon Musk, founder/CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company, among many other companies (does he ever sleep?):

“I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”

Jeff Bezos, founder/CEO of Amazon:

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos; Previously was co-founder of LinkExchange:

“We take most of the money that we could have spent on paid advertising and instead put it back into the customer experience. Then we let the customers be our marketing.”

Joseph Jaffe, consultant and thought leader on growth, marketing, and innovation:

“Customer Service is everything and anything that touches a customer – directly or indirectly. Customer service means servicing customers, and it’s so much more than just solving problems or addressing complaints. Customer service is part of a holistic customer experience that is capable of providing a critical competitive advantage in today’s increasingly cluttered and commoditized marketplace.”

Larry Page, co-founder of Google:

“We have a mantra: don’t be evil, which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone.”

Marc Benioff, founder/Chairman/CEO of Salesforce:

“The future of communicating with customers rests in engaging with them through every possible channel: phone, e-mail, chat, Web, and social networks. Customers are discussing a company’s products and brand in real time. Companies need to join the conversation.”

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group:

“Setting customer expectations at a level that is aligned with consistently deliverable levels of customer service requires that your whole staff, from product development to marketing, works in harmony with your brand image.”

Sam Walton, founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club:

“There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

Seymour Fine, marketing expert:

“When a customer complains, he is doing you a special favor; he is giving you another chance to serve him to his satisfaction. You will appreciate the importance of this opportunity when you consider that the customer’s alternative option was to desert you for a competitor.”

Shep Hyken, customer service expert:

“True loyalty doesn’t come because of an app. It doesn’t come because you have a punch card where after ten punches you get a free sandwich. It is about the relationship. Take away those “perks” and would the customer still be loyal?”

Steve Jobs, co-founder/Chairman/CEO of Apple:

“Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”

Walt Disney, founder of The Disney Company, animation pioneer, and film producer:

“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”

Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker and sales trainer:

“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.”

These customer service philosophies are truly time-tested and they should be at the cornerstone of your digital customer experience transformation strategic initiatives. Any company in the midst of becoming more client-focused and shifting from a product-centric to a client-centric mindset to better serve its customer base can likely utilize many of these famous quotes as the guiding principles for the changing of their company culture.

As for your company, are you in need of assistance in designing and revamping your customer experience and CRM strategy?

Have your service levels been declining and running into frequent bottlenecks and backlogs lately?

Have you been experiencing high customer turnover of late?

If so, it’s probably time to simplify, standardize, and improve your client service operations!  Please email Hello@RevSherpas.com to request an initial discovery and strategy consultation.

Lastly, we encourage you to leave a comment below to let us know what your most-liked quote in this article is or if you have another favorite customer service, CRM, or customer experience management quote not listed here. 

Thanks!

Get Your Business Back On Track With RevSherpas!

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

Has the recent prolonged uncertainty from economic volatility stalled or veered your business off course?

In today’s turbulent conditions, elevating to the top and reaching your target destination can definitely be nerve-wracking and exhausting.  Trying to navigate such treacherous terrain by yourself is no longer a winning formula.

Photo by Lucas Clara on Unsplash

So there has to be a better way, right?

That’s where RevSherpas comes in!

As your Trusted Advisor or Sherpa, we promise to:

  1. Steer you in the right direction.
  2. Lead you up faster, smoother, and less bumpy paths.
  3. Better insulate you from unexpected disruptions.
  4. Help you quickly adapt and course-correct as needed.

Our seasoned revenue growth acceleration coaches and customer experience strategy consultants will guide and support you to achieve your goals swiftly and safely en route to taking your business to new heights!

Onward…Upward…Forward!

RevSherpas. Client Focused. Elevated Results.

Schedule your initial strategy consultation to get your business off shaky ground here.

P.S. If your business is struggling and you would like assistance in securing additional funding, training, and support to get back on track, ask us about our new Small Business Grant Program to see if you qualify.

Why RevSherpas?

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

Thank you for your continued support and interest in RevSherpas!  To aid your due diligence, we wanted to highlight who we are, what we do, and what makes us unique.

Who We Are:

Based in Houston, we are a boutique customer experience management strategy and revenue growth acceleration coaching agency serving small to mid-sized businesses in Texas, as well as the rest of the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.

What We Do:

Our Core Competencies are:

  1. Boosting employee efficiency and engagement.
  2. Optimizing the customer experience to deepen client loyalty.
  3. Maximizing lead generation and marketing campaign results quickly, inexpensively, and with less effort.
  4. Improving sales conversions to increase 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦.

Why Clients Choose Us:

Specialized Expertise and Proven Track Record

We have 10+ years of experience leading global customer relationship management (CRM) and digital customer experience strategic transformations.  As an industry thought leader for over a decade, we know what to coach you to do and what not to do. Unlike many other consultants, we are specialists and not generalists. Our specialization and sole focus is IMPROVING AND INNOVATING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.  To do so, we enhance your CRM strategies, processes, and emerging technologies to drive operational efficiencies, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately ACCELERATE REVENUE GROWTH.

Proactive Attention and 1-on-1 Senior Leadership Support

Our Founder, Managing Director, and multi-published author, Kevin Wessels, is your dedicated business growth advisor, sales and marketing strategist, and daily point of contact.  We do not staff your project with non-business-savvy junior or offshore resources.  Nor do we use it for on the job training.  Plus, you won’t get bounced around between departments for any customer support inquiries.  Overall, we provide a more timely, PERSONALIZED LEVEL OF SERVICE, just like we advise our clients to do.

Fresh Perspectives and Fast Track Results

To kickstart your firm’s revitalization, we deliver high-impact results in days and weeks rather than months and years with sales and marketing “quick wins”. Ongoing, we provide innovative, yet achievable business growth strategies that consistently deliver a SUPERIOR, DIFFERENTIATED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and also establish and solidify your MARKET DOMINATING POSITION.

Ignite your startup, turnaround, or expansion TODAY!

Contact us or call (800)569-1374 to request your free initial business development strategy session.

 

Revitalize Your Small Business With RevSherpas!

Posted on by Kevin Wessels

Are you a small business owner spending countless hours attempting to generate leads, attract new clients, and increase your revenues and profits, but seeing very little in the way of results? 

Unfortunately, you’re not alone, particularly with today’s economic turmoil.

What if I told you that DOUBLING YOUR REVENUES and CREATING STEADY, PREDICTABLE CASH FLOW was more achievable than you thought and that it could be done quickly, inexpensively, and with less effort, even in a down market?

Would you be interested? 

Absolutely, but how is that even possible, right?

Enter RevSherpas…

As a boutique customer experience strategy consulting and business elevation coaching agency, RevSherpas equips small to mid-sized businesses to not only SURVIVE turbulent economic conditions but also THRIVE going forward.

Sounds awesome, right?

Let’s explore how…

Your Problems and Pain Points

As we partner with you to IGNITE YOUR TURNAROUND, here are some common examples of client problems we solve for:

In terms of your Lead Generation and Marketing…

  • Are you discouraged by your sporadic or non-existent lead flow and the increasingly low quality and infrequent referrals you receive?
  • Are you fed up with the weak ROI produced by your paid advertising campaigns?
  • Are you overwhelmed and confused by which social media “shiny object” advertising tactic of the day actually delivers results?
  • Are you disappointed with the number of leads coming from your company’s website?

Do any of these pain points hit home? 

We thought so…Don’t worry, you’re definitely not alone!

In the case of your Sales Process and Results…

  • Are you dissatisfied with your sales closing ratios?
  • Are you concerned with your lack of repeat business?
  • Are you sick and tired that you frequently have to discount to win business?
  • Are you unsettled and vulnerable to wild month-to-month revenue swings?
  • Are you embarrassed to admit that stale, inconsistent, and inaccurate sales forecast data kept in separate spreadsheets repeatedly flaws or delays leadership’s decision-making?

Which of these problems are holding you back? 

In the area of Client Service…

  • Are you overly stressed about a recent rise in client defections?
  • Are you alarmed because your competitors have higher levels of employee engagement, better understand the needs of your clients, and have more loyal customers and raving fans than you do?
  • Are you inundated with the amount of inquiries from clients, suppliers, partners, investors, and colleagues?
  • Are you baffled as to how long it takes to search for and locate prospect or client data points, documentation, and past interaction and purchase history?
  • Are you handcuffed and burdened by manual, inefficient tasks when collaborating with teammates and do you seem to run out of time every day?

Which of these pain points resonate with you the most and how much are they costing your business?

Not to fear, we have reliable remedies to your most pressing business challenges.

If you’re highly motivated and committed to overcome and address your biggest obstacles, we can help, regardless if you are in startup, turnaround, or expansion mode.

Imagine having a personalized step by step game plan to GROW AND SCALE FASTER than ever before while drastically SAVING TIME and LOWERING YOUR STRESS!

Photo by Aaron Sebastian on Unsplash

Let’s talk NOW about how we can ELEVATE your business or practice to the NEXT LEVEL! 

Call (800)569-1374 or send an email to hello@RevSherpas.com to request a free initial business growth strategy consultation.

It’s your time!