I remember a few years ago sitting in our webinar “studio” dressed as Santa Claus as sweat ran from my forehead causing the polyester strands of hair from the white wig to stick to my face as I kept pulling pieces of the fake beard out of my mouth.
Next to me were two “normal” people who wouldn’t even go as far as throwing on a Santa hat!
Somehow I think the idea to do the “get-your-eCommerce-store-ready-for-the-holiday” webinar dressed as the fat man came from a customer.
Yeah, it did.
I don’t think we’ve spoken since.
That’s when our webinars used live video. Since then, everyone has suddenly become camera shy and screams “NO VIDEO” when I ask them to join me for one.
That’s a good thing, because I don’t really feel like putting on the red suit in the 90 degree south Florida weather for the holiday webinar that’s coming up next week. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be in the holiday spirit. After all, this is my favorite time of the year.
There’s something about a warehouse that’s bulging at the seams with incoming freight and outgoing orders, stacks and stacks of orders that seem to get bigger every day, and overtime pay that I don’t mind shelling out.
Couple that with ringing phones, the sound of customer service reps trying to up-sell callers, the queue board that keeps flashing “Calls Waiting,” and the reps assisting first-time customers with choosing the right item as a gift, and you’re singing Jingle Bells to me in a seductive, sexy voice that has me ready to crawl up the Festivus Pole.
Yeah, there certainly is something about the holidays!
While all this sounds fine and dandy, it’s not all mistletoe and holly for many eCommerce store owners this time of year. There’s plenty of them (and maybe even you) who keep getting caught with their pants down because they didn’t prepare for the mad rush that kicks off with Cyber Monday.
Many store owners don’t get the fact that just because they’re online, they don’t need to provide good service to their customers. Today’s shoppers are savvier then ever. They expect the same level of service they get from the mom and pop down the corner from the faceless eCommerce store they found online.
You need to meet their expectations in order to earn their business. And never is that more crucial than right now as we enter the busiest shopping season of the year. It’s imperative that you make first-time customers want to buy from you again so they become customers for life.
On Wednesday, October 23rd at 2:00pm I’ll be joined by Katrina Domkowski and Donna Werts from the Solid Cactus Call Center for a free webinar where we will share our tips for fine tuning your customer service department. Some of the things we will discuss include:
- Important dates to consider when putting your holiday schedules together.
- How to handle increased call volume.
- The importance of writing customer friendly policies.
- Tips on up-selling and cross-selling.
- Information every customer service page should have on it.
- Benefits of using Live Chat on your website.
If you’ve joined me on past webinars, you already know they’re not stuffy and we don’t kill you with boredom as we read slide after slide. Instead they’re fun, informal and are packed with info that you can use to better run your business.
So if you’re schedule is free next Wednesday and you want to walk away with some tips to improve your customer service, click here and register for the free webinar.
As always, there will be plenty of time for questions.
Just don’t ask me what I’m wearing.
I’ll be in my underpants.