I called one of our vendors this morning with a quick (and very basic) question. The woman who answered the phone let me explain my question, and then simply responded with “I’m sorry, you’ll have to speak to a representative.”

Really? Isn’t that what you are? You are after all, representing your company.

Do your employees do this or do you train and empower them to answer customers’ questions and solve their problems?

When your customers have a problem with their order, do you have a strict set of rules that dictate how you can solve their problem? Or do you go above and beyond to ensure that they get what they want, how they want it? Do you take the extra steps to ensure that they know you care and appreciate their business? If not, you could learn a lesson from Zappos on doing customer service right.

It would seem so. A recent initiative by GM dealers allows potential car buyers to compare and even test drive competing cars, much in the way that many web sites show detailed comparisons of their products vs. the products of their competitors.

“In that side-by-side comparison, we come out really well,” said Mark LaNeve, head of North American sales and marketing for General Motors.

As transparency becomes more common in today’s technology influenced world, giving your prospects all of the information they need to make an informed buying decision can mean the difference between your company being average or succeeding.

When you’ve left a client really happy with your service, do you simply wait around hoping that they offer a testimonial or do you actively seek one? The latter should be the case, and there is an easy, pain free way to ensure that you get it.

Rather than just asking your client to write a testimonial for you, write it for them. Actually, what you want to do is write three versions. The first will be a little over the top, another will not really say much for you, and the last one will be a reasonable and well written testimonial. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they will toss the one that’s over the top and the one that’s not really saying much, leaving you with the middle of the road, more reasonable one.

Since all your client has to do is simply approve what you’ve provided them instead of actually writing their own testimonial, your chances of getting what you need are increased dramatically. Since you are crafting the testimonial to meet your needs, you can word it to help persuade your target market more effectively. In the end, everyone wins.

Most businesses invest in marketing and advertising each month but overlook another vital investment that they are already making. That investment is their employees. I’ve said before that your employees can make or break your company, and recently I ran into a very poinient example of that fact.

I was on the telephone with UPS trying to track down a shipment that had to be intercepted so that we could get it to a client sooner. I spoke to a woman at UPS about this and she took all the necessary steps to make it happen. After two hours had passed and I had not received a phone call saying where we could meet the driver to get the packages, I called UPS back. This time I spoke to a gentleman who seemed to be new. He insisted on telling me all the reasons that this could not be done. Fortunately I had dealt with this situation before and knew that it could. After a great deal of frustration I ended the call and called back, this time speaking with another woman. This woman was one of the best customer service reps that I have ran into in a long time - she handled everything and went far above and beyond to fix the situation and make everything work for us. Before long, we got the packages and delivered them to our client.

The attitude of the gentleman that I spoke to, unfortunately, seems to be the norm in customer service these days. UPS is in a fairly unique position due to their almost monopolistic position in the market, but most companies would quickly loose customers if they handled them this way. The attitude of the last woman that I spoke to, however, was completely different and actually solved my frustrations on the situation. The best marketing campaign in the world will fall flat if your employees do not treat your customers right, while the best employees can often multiply the effectiveness of an average marketing campaign. To get the most out of your marketing dollars you should make sure that your employees are properly trained on how to deal with customers and occasionally use “mystery customers” to spot test them.