Customer loyalty may seem like a myth from the distant past. In these days of intense competition — both from brick-and-mortar businesses and e-commerce operations — a company either provides quality customer service or pays the price of failure. That’s simply because today’s customers demand it. If they don’t get the service they want from you, they know...

If you’re like most sales professionals, you probably spend much of the day keeping your existing customers happy. Because there often isn’t not much time left to drum up new business, it’s essential to make the most of your precious networking hours – or even minutes. Fortunately, you probably attend community functions where you rub elbows with...

If your company has a successful relationship with most of its clientele, you may think that it’s not necessary to put too much effort into customer relations. But you can’t just sit by and watch your policies work. To remain “best in class,” managers and staff members must continually be responsive to customers and their changing...

Online advertising is expected to grow even more this year. And although Internet advertising is still relatively new, the Federal Trade Commission is watching and going after companies with ads that it doesn’t consider truthful and substantiated. By its nature, the Internet combines aspects of print, television and radio, giving consumers a multimedia, interactive environment. This...

Quality is undeniably the single most important facet involved in retaining your clientele. Improving satisfaction is critical to boosting profits and quality is the key to keeping customers happy. But how do you define quality and inject it into your relationships with customers? By living it.  Your company’s commitment should be to meet or exceed your...

Not that long ago, it was considered distasteful to mention a competitor’s name or show its trademark in ads. Instead the advertising industry came up with phrases like “Brand X” and “The Leading Brand.” Today, many ads go right for the gut: You can’t go a day without seeing bar graphs, taste tests and surveys directly...