Acquiring customers is one of the most important factors in the success of a business. The importance of acquisition not only lies in the volume of customers acquired, but the profitability and value that the customer will bring.

Adopting a strategic approach is advised when it comes to acquiring customers. Determining what type of customer best suits the business needs, enables you to target customers which will be profitable and add value to the organisation.

Some companies will take the decision of land-grab customers in order to secure new business. It is inevitable that this strategy will acquire customers but not necessarily the customers who will best suit the business needs.

A successful customer acquisition strategy is that of which adopts a fully integrated multi channel approach. Giving customers the choice to utilise their preferred channel, instantly creates a positive impact on potential customers. Also, this fully integrated method means businesses increase availability to their potential customer base.

Companies with successful acquisition strategies recognise that consumers; communication channels evolve throughout the customer lifecycle. This enables the company to prepare to adapt to such changes in a responsive manor.

Another important factor of customer acquisition is ensuring that a company’s brand immersion methodology is aligned with their customer acquisition strategies. Cultural beliefs and values of the company need to be highlighted in any acquisition campaign a business implements in order to not only acquire but retain high value and profitable customers. This will not only create a positive experience for the customer, but have a positive impact on the overall brand of the business, heightening it’s brand awareness to the customers.

This straight forward question is effective and to the point. I believe that asking a question about how you can help begins showing that you are placing their needs before your own, which is extremely important.

Customer: Sure, I’m looking for some flowers for my wife. She’s been a little under the weather.
Customer communicates their needs to you.

You: I’d be glad to help you make your wife feel better. My name is Joseph. May I have your name?
You communicate that you understand their needs. It may be good to phrase this in the form of a benefit. It is OK to tell them your name and get theirs.

Customer: Tom Moody.

You: Thanks, Mr. Moody. Sheila Jackson runs the floral department. If you’d walk this way, I’ll show you. Walks. Sheila, Mr. Moody is trying to cheer his wife up with some flowers, do you think you could help him find something nice?
You are letting your customer know how you will be helping them. You could also make sure that you communicate your customer’s needs to any other employees that will be involved. Or would you rather hear, “There’s a lady in the floral dept. She’ll probably be able to help you.”

Sheila: Sure, I know just the thing Mr. Moody.

You: Have a nice day, sir.

Interpersonal skills which are also called as social skills or human skills refer to the ability of a person to get along well with other members in a group. It can also be defined as the skills involved in understanding the relations between the people. It is treated as the first and foremost skill of the soft skills. All animals and human beings always move in groups and it is the human beings who are blessed with the ability to talk, reason and memorizes many things. Since man can not live alone as he needs security, he has strong inherent motive to talk with fellow human beings. And it is through IS he builds relationships with other human beings and finds himself safe, secure and more comfortable. To put it in a nut shell, the objective of IS are to communicate effectively so as to build relationships amongst the people.

IS are essential and has paramount importance in the creation of any environment. It is imperative for all levels in the organization. According to Robert K. Kalz, three skills are essential for managers; they are technical skills which are required at their lower level of management, conceptual skills which are a must at the top level management as because of these skills the managers are able to see big picture and thirdly the human skills which are required in all levels of management i.e. lower level, middle level and top level. And subsequently, the design skills have been added due to the fast growing techno logical revolution. The managers never discount, nor overlook nor underestimate the significance of human skills at work place.

Mintzberg cited studies which indicated that managers spend 45 per cent of their contact time with peers, about 45 per cent with people outside their units and only about 10 per cent with their superiors. This study obviously indicates the importance of IS in every organization. It also highlights that communications and IS are two sides of the same coin and one without the other has no meaning. The noted business schools in India teach everything about the technical skills and conceptual skills and not about IS which one has to lay a lot of emphasis. The people who are good at these skills become highly successful in their careers and lives.

It is fundamentally the process of hearing and listening which play a pivotal role in IS. Hearing is involuntary and it means picking up of sound vibrations. Whereas listening is voluntary and must be attentive and it is the process of generating sense out of sound vibrations so received by way of hearing. For instance, when a pedestrian walks on the road he picks many sounds and that is hearing and when he finds the sound of horn suddenly then it is listening. The listening is classified into active listening and passive listening. In active listening the listener is highly attentive and alert and there is a sense of responsibility, involvement and concentration. In passive listening the listener just listens like a tape recorder for the sake of listening.

What Is Time Lag?

Scientific research reveals that most of the people can listen around 300 words per minute. On the other hand, they can speak 150 to 200 words per minute. The gap between the same is around 100 to 150 words per minute thus resulting into time lag. This give rise to monotony and boredom on the part of the listener as he is capable of listening more words but the speaker delivers 150 to 200 words. It leads to poor listening comprehension. Of course, God gave two ears but one tongue, may be for the same reason. The listener should fine tune this gap by various techniques. The listener may resort to paraphrasing during this time i.e. he must restate in his own words whatever the speaker has said. And also, the listener must go for note taking if he is in a position to do so.

What Is Relationship?

Franklin D.Roosevelt put it, “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships . . . . The ability of all people, of all kinds, to live together in the same world at peace”.
Man is a social animal and he can not live alone and he always depends on something for somewhere. He needs to survive and thrive only by building good relations with near and dear ones. It is a combination of biological, social and materialistic needs. Relationships; make the world go around. Relationships are built brick by brick and it needs lot of faith and trust with many years of continuous sustained efforts. But it takes a few seconds to break it. Etiquette extends relations such as using the terms like ‘thank you’ when some one extends help, then again saying ‘sorry’ when some one is hurt. Such things promote healthy relations. Memorizing the names of the people and addressing them by adding either as prefix or suffix to the sentence, with respect, can develop relations faster. Remembering the important events and dates of our colleagues or friends and offering gifts on important occasions can further relations. Calling a very close friend by his short or nick name strengthens the relations. Defence people are very good at building relations as they are always far away from their relatives. Only alternative opportunity for them is to mix up with diversified people with diversified cultures and get adjusted socially. Empathy is the best tool to promote relationships as it requires flexibility and broadness to step into the shoes of another and feel the pulse.

Tools for Excellent Conversation:

One who is good at conversation can develop IS automatically because the communication process involved in it. The speaker should have confidence in himself. He must be bold and free from all types of inhibitions or hesitations. Any superiority or inferiority complex will automatically vanish as one understands the niceties and pitfalls of the other persons. It is always advisable to address the other person by greeting such as ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’ depending upon the particular time. By greeting in the morning regularly at the work place initiates for healthy conversation and it provides positive vibes and the same vibes will continue till the end of the day. Active listening is the key to any conversation. According to Carl R. Rogers and Richard E.Farson, “There are four essential requirements for effective active listening – intensity, empathy, acceptance and a willingness to take responsibility for completeness”. Positive presentation of the body language leads to healthy understanding on the part of the receiver. Continuously nodding head by the listener to the speaker arouses interest. Smiling at an appropriate occasions encourages the speaker to continue conversation further. By posing open ended questions rather than close ended questions can stimulate the conversation as the close ended questions provide a simple answer either yes or no; where as the open ended questions stimulate the speaker to think and speak with many details and the conversation also continues for long time. Asking questions relevantly to the speaker creates a feeling that the other person is listening with care and attention. Ultimately both the speaker and the listener should make a smart exit with right etiquette. It is always important to note that it is not the quantity but the quality of conversation that counts.

How To Build IPS?

Never condemn, never criticize and never complain. Always radiate energy and enthusiasm to talk and converse with people by way of your body gestures, facial expressions, tone control and smile. Empathy is a great quality and it teaches us to be open, flexible and helps us to see others’ point of view also. Meet the people especially when they are in sorrow as it provides a great source of strength and in turn strengthening long term relations.

Never back bait and never resort to poking or blabbing out as truth is very strong and powerful and it will come out one day and puts the individual in a negative light. Provide proper care and attention. Always appreciate the good and great things in the other man. Try to see at the bright side of the character and highlight the same. When one does good things then good things will bounce back. Smile as and when required as per the situation and occasion. Good communication paves the way for good IS. Resolving the conflicts rather than promoting will help ease the situation thus leading to better results and performance. Active listening helps and builds skills. Right and good sense of humor will prove to be handy.

In organizations, conducting regular get together is a welcome sign. Consistency in what one speaks with that of his body language conveys right signals. Setting personal examples rather than theoretical teachings would help. Sympathizing when somebody is ill or at the death of their relatives will quickly builds relations. As the saying goes, ‘Helping hands are better than the praying lips’. Always using the words like ‘we’ rather ‘I’ will not only promote togetherness but also demonstrates strong leadership qualities.

Results:

Right IS lead to good rapport and better human relations which give rise to conducive work climate in any organizations. The performance in the company will rise resulting into better productivity and profitability. Mutual trust and openness increases with in the organization. Whether it is a manager, or leader or an entrepreneur, possession of IS are an imperative for achieving the organizational goals and objectives.

Key Component in Soft Skills:

Soft skills are a cluster of various traits and abilities such as communication skills, team spirit, interpersonal skills, social grace, time management, motivation, goal setting, organizing skills, leadership qualities, decision making, conflict management, corporate etiquette, negotiation skills and many more. Many students after passing out of their educational institutions possess strong technical or qualification related skills. But hey find a great difficult in adjusting to the organization due lack of soft skills. Even B school passed out candidates also faces the same problem.

During Interviews:

A great emphasis is laid on IS during the interview. The employer looks for soft skills and especially communication and IS because recruiting a social inept person will prove to be very costly for the organization. The interviewer poses several questions of open ended ones so as to find out at depth the communication and IS. At the time of group discussions and again at the time of series of interviews the psychologist analyzes the candidates from all dimensions to see the suitability.

The inclusion of IS and soft skills in the academic curriculum from XI standard onwards will prove useful and the students gets tuned to it automatically and they feel comfortable when they pass out of academic institutions.

To sum up, having excellent command over IS and maintaining sound relationships either in our personal or professional life is essential. We all interact with many people in our day to day life from dawn to dusk and possession of IS will prove to be highly productive and fruitful.

T H E E N D

1. Your organization increases profit. According to several books, articles and professors – it costs five times as much to gain a new customer than to retain a current customer. If your organization is able to increase its level of customer retention by only 1 %, it makes a 5 % increase direct on bottom-line. Business studies tell that the longer the company keeps a customer, the more money it will make in the long run. This is due to the fact, that customers always spent a little money in a new business relationship, and a lot more – when the business deals are running smoothly.

2. Your organization will survive in a competitive market. Effective customer service has grown in business for staying. With an increasing globalization, faster competition and a fast running technology and the reducing of trade barriers, competition is fierce. There are several suppliers around the world, eager to make business and to snatch your customers and the opportunity to satisfy customers. If you do not deliver to your customers – you will not survive.

3. Your organization will reach a higher level of efficiency. When your employees and managers focus their efforts on areas, that directly affect customer satisfaction, you will be able to use your resources in a better and smarter way. An effectively customer relation management strategy provides a plan for focus areas and non-focus areas as well at all levels in the organization.

4. Your organization will also have better morale and greater satisfaction, due to the customers increasing retention rate. Staff gets happy, when customers are happy. When you show, that the customer relation management strategy really works, it will also reduce customer complaints and thereby reduce stress among the staff

In most businesses, once a customer begins dealing with the customer service department, he or she is already in a negative mindset. The best customer service representatives aren’t those that simply neutralize the problem. Outstanding customer service representatives take a negative and turn it into a positive that ensures the customer is not only happy, but is convinced he or she has had an outstanding experience – the Wow Factor – that he would not have gotten with any other company.

The key ingredients of the Wow experience are:

• Seamless Service
• Trustworthy Service
• Attentiveness
• Resourcefulness
• Courtesy
• Pro-active Service

Seamless Service means providing everything the customer needs, not just what is required to meet the minimum standards. It’s about making sure that they don’t have to wait and wonder. Customers will appreciate a smooth, seamless process for addressing their needs. If there are several steps needed to take care of their concerns, keep them in the loop – update them by email or with a quick phone call so that they know you are working on the situation and progress is being made. By keeping them abreast of what is going on, you are letting them know you haven’t forgotten about them and that you understand their concerns – reassurance and communication are powerful customer service tools.

Trustworthy Service is essential to retaining customers. Promising a customer anything and delivering nothing is the surest way to not only lose a customer, but get the kind of “word of mouth” bad press that can ruin you. Under promise and over deliver – If you promise a satisfactory solution and then go the extra mile to not only satisfy the customer, but gain their appreciation and “Wow” them, you will get word of mouth that will bring new customers to you.

Attentive Service means paying attention during and after the initial contact. How many times have you contacted customer service and been subjected to an obviously scripted response from the customer service representative? Does it give you the feeling they aren’t really listening, but just trying to get to the end of their canned presentation?

Attentiveness should run through every customer service experience, from listening carefully to the customer’s concerns to following up after the exchange is over to make sure their needs have been met. Listening isn’t just about hearing – it is about understanding what is really being said. The words are just the beginning –what about the customer’s tone of voice? Her mood? Is she disappointed, angry or frustrated? Keying in to the customer’s mood and responding appropriately is essential, and it means not following a script.

Resourcefulness means finding solutions when there appear to be none. Many companies have iron-clad policies that must be followed whenever a problem arises; however, sometimes a customer won’t be satisfied by the “company line” approach. Resourceful customer service representatives know that there is always a way to move beyond the standard procedures in order to make a customer happy. Resourcefulness involves finding a solution when a solution isn’t apparent. This may mean moving up the chain of command before the customer demands to talk to your superior. Companies with excellent customer service also give their representatives some leeway so that they can come up with creative solutions on their own. When a customer senses that you are going beyond the norm to help them, they will feel valued and respected.

Courtesy is a commodity that is becoming rarer every day. It takes so little to be polite but it is becoming a lost art. Say please when you ask a customer a question, thank them for their information and take your time talking to them. Nothing makes a customer feel more devalued than being treated like a number. Use the person’s name, make requests rather than demands and know when to apologize. When something goes wrong for a customer, they want to hear that you understand their frustration and that you are genuinely sorry that they are being inconvenienced. It takes nothing to say, “I’m so sorry you aren’t satisfied and I hope we can do something to correct this.”

Pro-Active Service means not waiting for the customer to come up with a solution that you simply follow through on. A pro-active customer service representative anticipates the needs of the customer and follows through. Don’t wait for the customer to ask you what you are willing to do – anticipate the question and answer it before they can ask. If they call and say they aren’t satisfied, apologize and immediately suggest some solutions. Customers want you to take the lead – acknowledge their unhappiness, offer a solution or solutions and explain to them how you are going to follow through. Pro-Active service means taking the lead, which will reassure your customers that you know what you are doing and that you will follow through.

If you keep these six keys in mind – seamless service, trustworthiness, attentiveness, resourcefulness ,courtesy and pro-active service – you will be able to offer every customer the Wow Customer Service Experience that inspires loyalty and keeps customers coming back for more.