Osman Gulum's Blog: Success is already yours - Posts Tagged "self-help"
The difficult second album!
So, as promised, I have returned to post a new entry for my blog. A little later than I promised, apologies, but things have been very hectic this month. As I'm sure they have been for the vast majority of you guys - well it is the festive season after all!!
So as the title suggests, here is my attempt at the fabled 'difficult second album'. Not that I am implying that my first post was a huge success, more that this second one will be far more difficult to construct!
The intention for this post is to achieve the following:
1. To give the blog some substance and relevance to my book Climbing Mountains by discussing a business related topic area - which this week will relate to 'Customer Service'. Hopefully this will also inspire some discussion on the blog and allow me to interact better my followers!
2. To give out my social media links and book links, but this time using proper hyperlinks as opposed to typing them out (big thank you to Anne-Rae Vasquez for showing me how to do this!).
My book Climbing Mountains details my personal exploits in the world of business. It follows the highs and lows of my journey from a small farming village in Turkey to the United Kingdom.
In my 42 years on the planet, I have held a wide range of different employment positions; from shining the shoes of business men, to owning my own award-winning takeaway and a large property portfolio. Although all of these roles have required different skill sets and each varied dramatically in the day to day tasks, one similarity is glaringly universal - the importance of customer service never dwindles!
Never undermine your customers, never underestimate their importance to your business. Let's face it, the majority of industries depend on the end product/service user to generate the revenue required to run the business. The revenue that hopefully will be high enough to become profit at the end of the day.
Excellent customer care is the most important method for improving customer loyalty. Put yourself in the customers shoes. Why would you use a company, product or service again and again if you did not feel that you were receiving the highest standard of customer service? The market place is highly saturated in most sectors. It is easy for a customer to go out and find a competitor company who does understand the importance of providing exceptional service.
In any industry the true value of customer service comes from the relationship you build with a customer. Whether it be good or bad, you are building a relationship every day by the way you interact (or don’t interact) with your customers. If you can establish a personal relationship with your customers, you are on the right path!
So how can a positive relationship be built with your customers? I feel that the following points are pivotal in establishing long lasting (and lets face it, in the long term, profitable) relationships with your customers:
(a) Listen To The Customer - if your customer is telling you about an aspect of your company that he/she appreciates, thinks is positive, would like to see more of. LISTEN. Develop strategies based around this. Inform your staff of the positive feedback and instill the mindset of providing this preferred aspect of service on a regular basis. This could be for example, based on my time in the food industry, making your kitchen open plan. Following feedback from several customers I spoke to whilst working at a number of places in the food industry, I discovered that there was a definite demand to know how the food was being cooked and what happened behind closed doors in a restaurant. I utilised this information and when I opened my restaurant "Bella Roma" I made it so the kitchen was open plan. Customers could see their food being prepared, they could see that it was in a clean environment and that it was being cooked from fresh. They even got to witness the odd argument between the chefs - but this all added to the customer experience!
I think the fact I listened to the customers, listened to what they actually wanted and then acted in a way that ensured I delivered it, meant I provided excellent customer service. It also allowed my business to flourish, gave it a real USP and differentiated it from the competition - in what was a very competitive market. I think I was the first person with an open kitchen restaurant in Warrington at that time and it was through listening to the customers that I developed the idea!
Perhaps each more essentially, listen to customers criticisms. This information is gold dust, as from it you can learn how to improve your business, how to meet customer demands and how to establish yourself apart from your competition!
(b) Employ Staff Who Care - no matter how hard you personally try to deliver exceptional customer service. At the end of the end it is really down to the staff whom you employ, who are on the front line, to truly ensured this belief is upheld. If you are looking for the cheapest option in order to save yourself on expenses, I urge you to really evaluate what you require from your staff. If you pay peanuts, you generally get monkeys! If you want your staff to care, to deliver the highest standards and to truly instill your corporate beliefs - well the best incentive is to remunerate them accordingly. Spending that little bit extra on staff who are capable of fulfilling their roles effectively may cost more in the short term, but I have found it is always cost effective in the long term. Satisfied customers lead to repeat business. Repeat business is likely to lead to profits. Who has the main say on whether excellent customer service is provided? Your front line staff - always remember that!
(c) Adaptability - the customer is always right (well not always but in theory they should be). It is therefore essential that you are adaptable to this fact. You need to provide the service or products which your customers demand. You must be able to react to changes in society, advances in technology and changes in legislation. These changes will affect demand of not only the products your customers desire, but also the level of service they expect. Strategic planning is essential. Market research is pivotal in establishing what the customers want from you and what they may want/need from you in the future. Stay up to date with this and stay one step ahead of the competition!
So that is my brief discussion topic on 'Customer Service'. What I would like now is for you, the reader, to tell me what you think defines providing exceptional customer service?
As promised, following are the links to my book on Amazon, Kindle and Ebook:
Paperback
Kindle
E-book
Also, the links to my different social media platforms:
Twitter
Facebook Fan Page
Finally, please take a look at the recent interview I participated in, in relation to my book Climbing Mountains, on DigitalJournal.com. Here I was interview by the wonderful talent Anne-Rae Vasquez - author/journalist/film-maker and all round inspiration. My thanks to her:
Interview on DigitalJournal.com
Thank you all for taking the time to read my post. I hope I will have started some fierce and valuable business based discussion and hopefully I will also have given you some useful tips.
Until next time - may you all have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
So as the title suggests, here is my attempt at the fabled 'difficult second album'. Not that I am implying that my first post was a huge success, more that this second one will be far more difficult to construct!
The intention for this post is to achieve the following:
1. To give the blog some substance and relevance to my book Climbing Mountains by discussing a business related topic area - which this week will relate to 'Customer Service'. Hopefully this will also inspire some discussion on the blog and allow me to interact better my followers!
2. To give out my social media links and book links, but this time using proper hyperlinks as opposed to typing them out (big thank you to Anne-Rae Vasquez for showing me how to do this!).
My book Climbing Mountains details my personal exploits in the world of business. It follows the highs and lows of my journey from a small farming village in Turkey to the United Kingdom.
In my 42 years on the planet, I have held a wide range of different employment positions; from shining the shoes of business men, to owning my own award-winning takeaway and a large property portfolio. Although all of these roles have required different skill sets and each varied dramatically in the day to day tasks, one similarity is glaringly universal - the importance of customer service never dwindles!
Never undermine your customers, never underestimate their importance to your business. Let's face it, the majority of industries depend on the end product/service user to generate the revenue required to run the business. The revenue that hopefully will be high enough to become profit at the end of the day.
Excellent customer care is the most important method for improving customer loyalty. Put yourself in the customers shoes. Why would you use a company, product or service again and again if you did not feel that you were receiving the highest standard of customer service? The market place is highly saturated in most sectors. It is easy for a customer to go out and find a competitor company who does understand the importance of providing exceptional service.
In any industry the true value of customer service comes from the relationship you build with a customer. Whether it be good or bad, you are building a relationship every day by the way you interact (or don’t interact) with your customers. If you can establish a personal relationship with your customers, you are on the right path!
So how can a positive relationship be built with your customers? I feel that the following points are pivotal in establishing long lasting (and lets face it, in the long term, profitable) relationships with your customers:
(a) Listen To The Customer - if your customer is telling you about an aspect of your company that he/she appreciates, thinks is positive, would like to see more of. LISTEN. Develop strategies based around this. Inform your staff of the positive feedback and instill the mindset of providing this preferred aspect of service on a regular basis. This could be for example, based on my time in the food industry, making your kitchen open plan. Following feedback from several customers I spoke to whilst working at a number of places in the food industry, I discovered that there was a definite demand to know how the food was being cooked and what happened behind closed doors in a restaurant. I utilised this information and when I opened my restaurant "Bella Roma" I made it so the kitchen was open plan. Customers could see their food being prepared, they could see that it was in a clean environment and that it was being cooked from fresh. They even got to witness the odd argument between the chefs - but this all added to the customer experience!
I think the fact I listened to the customers, listened to what they actually wanted and then acted in a way that ensured I delivered it, meant I provided excellent customer service. It also allowed my business to flourish, gave it a real USP and differentiated it from the competition - in what was a very competitive market. I think I was the first person with an open kitchen restaurant in Warrington at that time and it was through listening to the customers that I developed the idea!
Perhaps each more essentially, listen to customers criticisms. This information is gold dust, as from it you can learn how to improve your business, how to meet customer demands and how to establish yourself apart from your competition!
(b) Employ Staff Who Care - no matter how hard you personally try to deliver exceptional customer service. At the end of the end it is really down to the staff whom you employ, who are on the front line, to truly ensured this belief is upheld. If you are looking for the cheapest option in order to save yourself on expenses, I urge you to really evaluate what you require from your staff. If you pay peanuts, you generally get monkeys! If you want your staff to care, to deliver the highest standards and to truly instill your corporate beliefs - well the best incentive is to remunerate them accordingly. Spending that little bit extra on staff who are capable of fulfilling their roles effectively may cost more in the short term, but I have found it is always cost effective in the long term. Satisfied customers lead to repeat business. Repeat business is likely to lead to profits. Who has the main say on whether excellent customer service is provided? Your front line staff - always remember that!
(c) Adaptability - the customer is always right (well not always but in theory they should be). It is therefore essential that you are adaptable to this fact. You need to provide the service or products which your customers demand. You must be able to react to changes in society, advances in technology and changes in legislation. These changes will affect demand of not only the products your customers desire, but also the level of service they expect. Strategic planning is essential. Market research is pivotal in establishing what the customers want from you and what they may want/need from you in the future. Stay up to date with this and stay one step ahead of the competition!
So that is my brief discussion topic on 'Customer Service'. What I would like now is for you, the reader, to tell me what you think defines providing exceptional customer service?
As promised, following are the links to my book on Amazon, Kindle and Ebook:
Paperback
Kindle
E-book
Also, the links to my different social media platforms:
Facebook Fan Page
Finally, please take a look at the recent interview I participated in, in relation to my book Climbing Mountains, on DigitalJournal.com. Here I was interview by the wonderful talent Anne-Rae Vasquez - author/journalist/film-maker and all round inspiration. My thanks to her:
Interview on DigitalJournal.com
Thank you all for taking the time to read my post. I hope I will have started some fierce and valuable business based discussion and hopefully I will also have given you some useful tips.
Until next time - may you all have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Success is already yours
"If you want to go forward, You must take action and apply yourself" - Osman Gulum
This is what comes to my mind and what I truly believe is needed to succeed in any area you choose.
Help to inspire som ...more
This is what comes to my mind and what I truly believe is needed to succeed in any area you choose.
Help to inspire som ...more
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