• What is a customer? The role of QA in working with the client
• Rules of communication in the mail
• What can be said and what is not
• DEMO and everything connected with it
• Update / exit to Production, Sanity tests

An example from life - making categories of clients.

Since I set a goal - not to give boring and uninteresting excerpts from books, and practical observations and conclusions, I will lay out some of my works, opinions and research. The numbers and names will be changed or removed - excuse me.
Today I will show an example of how I divided customers into categories. Of course, all customers are important, and we all love them equally. But, do not forget that, nevertheless, the result of any commercial activity is profit (it is important - commercial, we do not consider social programs, funds, etc. Social marketing is a separate layer, I would even say a separate science, and we will dwell on it separately). So, if the result of our activity is the company's profit, then the accents should be set accordingly. One customer buys 1 product per month, paying 10 money. Another - 10 units of goods, paying 80 money, and the third - 5 units, and pays - 400. It turns out that everyone is equal, but some are “smoother”.
Of course, if you are engaged in some kind of individual production and you have only 5 clients, then it is not necessary to divide them into categories. So you should know them all by sight. But if you have dozens, hundreds, and thousands of them, there is no way to divide them.
I want to immediately notice, we are not talking about customer segmentation, but about the categories of profitability / profitability.

Classically, it is customary to distinguish 3 groups:

Vip-clients - clients giving the main income of the company. They have large supplies, they enjoy benefits, they are invited to corporate parties. To lead such a client for any manager is honor and praise. But in the strength of these customers lies their danger. Realizing their strength, often, customers begin to "put pressure" on the company, demanding more and more favorable conditions for themselves, even selling their goods at cost price. It is very important to follow this moment, because the client can pay huge funds, and the profit will tend to zero. In addition, the care of one such client is a strong blow to both the budget and the company's image. Therefore, only the most experienced managers are trusted to work with such clients. Often, decisions regarding them are made at the very top.

Regular customers are a large part of your customers, which are “routine”. Each “ordinary” client thinks he is worthy of being VIP. Working with such clients is the ordinary work of managers.

“Other” clients (although they are often referred to as “gummors” or “problem” among themselves. Although, problem clients are a little different, as for me. They are a relatively small number of clients who give, in general, minimum incomes, but they require maximum attention. They are always dissatisfied with something (first of all, with prices and conditions of work), at the same time, they have good potential, both of growth and pressure on the company. Each manager wants to “shove” such a client to his colleague and in the soul rejoices when another "other" client reports that he has to Yen refuse to use our services, because he "does not satisfy the quality for a similar price."

One of the main tasks in this question is to determine exactly where to draw the line separating one category from another.
I did it this way: I wrote out all our clients in one list for the last six months of the year, and separately for each month. The table consisted of three main columns: client, amount of payment, amount of services rendered. The fact is that we are working on a prepaid basis, and having paid a certain amount, say, in January, the client could work for it also in February and in March.
We all know the Pareto law 20/80 (20% of men drink 80% of beer, 20% of women speak 80% of words, 20% of customers bring 80% of profits). In general, I want to say that I treat such universal approaches very skeptically. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that 20% of customers bring in 82% of cash receipts. And 80% of the amount of services rendered goes to 18.6% of customers.

I want to note that in the first and second case - the list of customers was different. Of course, the intersections were (about 60%), but still, these are DIFFERENT lists. Therefore, you must determine what is the most important criterion for you. This may be the number of payments, the amount of payments, the number of units ordered or shipped, etc. Of course, all parameters are important. But one is always more important, and depends on the chosen strategy at a given time.

For example, your goal is to expand the market, you are ready to make discounts, deferred payment and other bonuses. In this case, the most important indicator for you is the number of units shipped. There are periods when the company is in dire need of working capital. In this case, your indicator is the amount of money received on the account within a certain period, regardless of the quantity and delivery time. If the chairman of the board wants to stay for another term in his chair - it's time to think about the net profit that goes to dividends. In general, I want to note that marketers rarely think about net profit, as it is not regrettable.

They are primarily interested in market share, income and turnover of the company. This is primarily due to the fact that the profit is highly dependent on overhead costs (for example, business travel to warm countries or new cars for certain employees, the level of salary plans). The impact on such expenses is not in the competence of marketing, and therefore the profit is not in their field of vision.
So, as a key factor in our example, I chose the amount of payment. In separate tables by months, I sorted all the customers who paid this month, calculated the total number of paying customers and took 20% from it. Thus, I got a table (the figures are made-up, given for example):

Month: January
Paid Bills: 100
Payment amount: 150,000
Companies that paid: 65
Services rendered for the amount of the period: 180 000
20% of companies : 13
Their payment amount: 120,000
They spent: 160,000

List of VIP clients for January:
No. | Customer | Amount of replenishment | Amount of expenses

Each VIP client of the “monthly” table was recorded in the general table of VIP clients. Thus, I received a table of VIP clients for half a year.

Then, every month new clients were added here based on the results of the month. Some were removed.
There is a different approach. You can make a list of clients not for each month, but a total for the entire period, 3-5 months for example, and take 20% of that total. But then there is a chance that we will miss some potentially important client who paid a lot in a certain month, he did not like something, and he left and did not pay again. And so, in a certain month, he would have got into our field of vision, and we would probably contact him and find out why he ceased cooperation.

So, we have a list of VIP clients. What should we do with it? Well, of course, to call / write at least once a month, to be interested in how they are doing. How do they cooperate with us, why did they pay so little this month to congratulate the director on his birthday or another holiday ...
But besides this, you get information about the average payment, the average expense, the average amount of goods per month. Looking through new accounts or orders, you can immediately identify a potential customer applying for a VIP caste.
Well, in general, how to love customers, a lot of information. The purpose of this example is simply to highlight the clients we need. After we have defined the premium category, the second category should be defined. There are two main approaches. One, as shown in the figure above, is marked by “difficult” customers, who constitute 20% of the total. Those. similarly, the same number of clients is “cut off” from below. What remains is “ordinary” customers. Such a division distinguishes groups of clients who must be loved, clients that, if necessary, can be eliminated, and clients with whom it is necessary to work.
There is another option:

After VIP customers have been allocated, 20% of the remaining number of customers is taken again. These are good customers. Those. they are on the way to serious orders, they just need to be pushed. Also here are customers who have “dropped out” of VIP. And the rest is just customers. This approach is more loyal. There are no bad customers, there are good, very good and excellent, i.e. we work almost equally well with everyone, only some of them have additional privileges and advantages.

The first approach highlights a clear "ballast", which it would be nice to get rid of. It is clear that in practice, even a small client is always a client. But there are often situations when you are very limited (in a product, in time, in other resources). And it is in this situation that the third category of customers is immediately discarded, and decisions are made “as if they are not there”.

Well, in short, that's all I wanted to tell about division. How to work with each of the categories I will tell you in more detail some time next.

customer satisfaction - how to say what he doesn’t want to hear and get money that the customer doesn’t want to pay?

15 rules of perfect customer support.

I stumbled upon a small list of rules of conduct for customer support services. This applies to both technical and general support. I decided to translate and slightly decipher, taking into account our realities. I think this will be very useful to everyone who has tens of customers (if less, then an individual approach is needed for each client).

So:

1. The customer is always right. With no exceptions

One of the most controversial principles. If only because a part of clients, to put it mildly, with adequacy below average. BUT! If these people choose your product or use your service and pay money for it, then they are entitled to receive any answer to any, even the most stupid question.
Well, or explain to him why it is not so and that the client does not understand.
From myself I can add that in the most extreme cases, you just have to transfer this client to the category of "non-clients" (that is, to say so directly, sorry, we refuse to work with you for such and such reasons). Unless, of course, this is not contrary to your contract.
And now, when he is no longer a client, you can say everything you think about him. Although I would still refrain from such actions, because They can greatly damage your reputation in the future.

2. 24 hour support

Of course, not everyone needs such support, although it will not hurt anyone. But the main rule, the client must wait no more than 24 hours of response. Those. if the request is sent today at 10 pm, then the answer, it is desirable that he received before lunch the next day.
Not counting the weekends and holidays. But in general, the faster you respond to emails, the better.

3. Use an individual approach

In this case, it means personal address, with respect. People are annoyed by standard pattern answers. Reading such a message, the client may have a message that his letter was not read at all, but simply sent a standard reply.
With a personal message, it is clear that at least the person read.

4. Use the correct names.

There is no greater insult than a wrong name (or surname). We, most often, turn to people by login / nicknames. But in more serious companies, the treatment usually goes by full name. Be careful and do not allow such annoying misunderstandings (for example, write the name with a small letter).

5. Always read your answers.

Do not make grammatical and spelling errors in your messages. This is very negatively perceived by customers (even if they themselves are illiterate). Always check your posts (especially for me).

6. Put yourself in the user's place. Is that the answer he wanted to hear?

When answering a client's question, consider whether the client needs this answer? Perhaps you think too globally, or vice versa, too narrowly? Too technical or abstract? Carefully read the question and then answer. Do they match each other?

Unfortunately, we rarely do that. Just a couple of days ago, I sent a request to one company about advertising. I asked specific questions: how does option 1 differ from option 3, what discounts are provided, do they make banners themselves, etc.
In response, I received a link to their price list and that's all (I saw the price list before that, and it was after I got acquainted with it that I had questions).
Alas, this attitude is not uncommon. Try that in your company this was not.

7. Never answer late in the evening or drunk.

It sounds funny, but alas, it happens. In my youth I could do that myself. For example, at night there is nothing to do, I decided to see what was written on the forum or by mail. And you begin to answer drunk.
And the main problem in this case is not mistakes, but the style of communication itself.
If there is an urgent need to answer, try to answer correctly, and several times subtract your answer.

8. Be attentive to trust credits.

Trust is something that is difficult to earn even over years of honest work, easy to lose in a few minutes and almost impossible to return.
Do not fool customers. If the problem does occur, you or your employees make a mistake — admit it, correct it, and compensate the client for the loss and give a bonus.
Otherwise, everything can end very badly.

9. Answer ALWAYS

This is the golden rule - the client must receive a response to each letter. Even if he wrote, he writes the same thing and asks for some kind of nonsense. Anyway, answer him. Correctly. With respect. Within 24 hours

10. Short and on topic

Nobody likes to read big texts. And even more long letters. Your answer should be as short as possible, but so as to fully answer all customer questions.
Try not to be distracted by third-party things, unless the client asks for an answer in an expanded and detailed manner.

11. Use normal language

Your clients are not your employees, so they do not know your lingo, cuts, jokes and half hints.
Try to respond in a cultural, common language. This applies to both technical specifications and Internet abbreviations.
No "LOL", "Good day" and "FAQ".

12. Think Globally

The same words and phrases in different social groups can cause completely different attitudes. Therefore, think about who you are communicating with and try to write in such a way that anyone can perceive your answer and understand exactly what you wrote, without thinking about it yourself.

13. Do not be too abstruse.

If the client wanted to know the technical specification - he would definitely find it on the Internet. The client turns to you for help on a specific issue with a specific problem. And your task is to solve the client’s problem, and not to “load it” with technical features, so that he understands how difficult it all is and that he doesn’t understand such elementary things.

Most often, the support tries to explain to the client the reason for his failure, but should actually correct his problem and try to make sure that he does not have such errors (to remake the interface, to make the help more understandable).

14. Specify the question, get feedback

If you do not fully understand the question - specify it. After all, if you start answering the wrong question that the client expects, he will get the impression that something is being hidden from him, yule or simply you don’t know what and how you work. And it is not known what is worse.
Therefore, it is better to once again clarify with the client exactly what interests him.

15. The customer is always right!

Here you go. It seems that everything is simple and clear.

However, it is extremely rare to meet companies that carry out at least some of these tips.

How to communicate with the client by phone

Looking through the statistics of my site, I noticed that the article on how to communicate with customers is very popular. But since the vast majority of my communication with clients takes place by telephone, I decided to separate this type of communication into a separate article. It should be emphasized that with the development of e-commerce, the number of sales by phone is constantly growing, and the telephone conversation has its own characteristics. But still, it should be remembered that any conversation on the phone is first of all a conversation, which means that all the principles described in the previous article should be used here.

What should be remembered when starting any telephone conversation with a client? If you are trying to sell him something, then the main result of the negotiations should be an agreement on a meeting. Of course, there are rare cases when the sale itself is carried out by telephone, without live participation. But this is rare, and rather the exception. The main pressure on the sale can still be made in person. After all, you will see the reaction and weakness ... In general, only a personal meeting. But, of course, you can not immediately call and start to impose. You will be immediately sent. For a successful phone call, I want to show a simple scheme, which I regularly use when I talk with customers on the phone.

If the customer calls you himself.

If a customer calls you, we need to be aware that the customer has a problem. After all, he went out of balance, made some efforts: found your phone, dialed the number, waited for someone to pick up the phone. It does not matter if he calls to quarrel, find out the cost of the new equipment, or is simply boring for him. It is in “emotional imbalance,” and this should be taken into account. Your actions:

1. Be sure to say hello. This is a trifle, but you can not imagine the offense of a person with whom you did not greet. This is the trifle that can cross out the sale from the very beginning, end the conversation without letting it begin.

2. Introduce yourself. Do this unobtrusively, but not automatically. When I call to find out some problems, most often you hear a mechanical one: “technical support we listen to you”. What is bad? Why do they introduce themselves, have you ever thought? If something breaks at you, or the Internet disappears - you have every right to be angry with your provider. But to shout at "Nicholas", in general, it makes no sense. You can shout at an employee of the company - impersonal, who is somewhere far away. But this particular person who is talking to you on the phone right now - he has nothing to do with it. Therefore, when you introduce yourself, the conversation between the offended client and the evil company smoothly passes into the plane of conversation of just two people.

3. Learn what the customer needs. There is nothing more simple and clear and at the same time the most unfulfilled. The idea that you need to listen to a client is so banal that it is even embarrassing to write it. But then why practically nobody does it? For example, you make sites. And it would seem - what is there to listen to, since a client calls you, it means he needs a website! Alas, it is not so! The client does not need a website! He needs a source of sales through the Internet. So, he needs a beautiful mold with a yellow bow, or a strict business card with a photo of the chief, or an online store with many functions. The bottom line is that even the same product can be sold to completely different customers with completely different needs. You just need to carefully listen to them and understand which side of your product to show them. (Of course, if your product or service really solves the tasks set by the client. I do not in any way say that it is necessary to "push" the product the customer does not need).

By the way, at this stage, finding out what the client needs, you can find out how his name is, so that the conversation becomes even more friendly.

4. Specify what the client really needs. Paradoxically, customers rarely know what they really need. You must understand that the client is not a professional in your industry. That is why he calls you. It often happens that a client calls, asks about one thing, but during the conversation it turns out that he really needs something completely different. Therefore, focus not only on what the client wants in the process of work, but on what he wants as a result (for example, he needs not an exact watch, but an expensive accessory, not flowers, but a gift from his beloved, not a ticket to Egypt, but pleasant travel impressions, etc.). Therefore, having carefully listened to what the client wants, you speak again, but in your own words, what exactly he wants, and wait for his approval.

5. Make him an offer he cannot refuse. Now that you know who you are talking to (after all, the client introduced himself, and he called himself Vanya or Ivan Ivanovich, you already have an idea how to communicate with him), and you know what he needs, you can make the perfect offer for him. Alas, very few people can do this for real. It's funny when you are "sent" to the site, to dig deeper into their price list. After all, I ALREADY was on the site, picked up the phone there and calling to clarify! Or they ask for the article number (I’m deeply convinced that there’s no such information on the site or anywhere else. It’s purely for internal use. I’ll never buy No. 28 / 6-79. I will buy a beautiful pen, or an armchair, or a TV, but definitely not an article). Another option - I begin to list dozens of options. What for? I'll buy only one. After all, you already know what I'm looking for? Offer me 3-4, and at the same time recommend some specific, SPECIALLY FOR ME!

6. Make an appointment. After you have discussed everything, you have convinced the client, in principle, you can already arrange a personal meeting. You must understand that the resulting effect of customer confidence, that he needs to buy from you is very short-term. Therefore, the meeting should be as early as possible (depending on the scale of the purchase, it is one thing to buy a chair, and another thing is the factory).
But still, try not to delay with the meeting.

If you call.

If you call the customer yourself, you should insert one more step - find out if it is convenient for the customer to speak now. Alas, many people do not do this, and clients, being busy, can give you 1-2 minutes, but without really thinking about your words, and having made an appointment - they will simply forget about it.

Therefore, specify whether he can speak, and if he cannot, when it is better to call back. You should not trust this question to the client, they say how free you are, dial me. Firstly, it is indecent (to load others with their work), secondly, he will not call anyway, because will forget.

And the rest, the scheme is exactly like this:

• introduced themselves;
• listened to customer needs;
• repeated, whether you understood his problem correctly;
• made an offer;
• We agreed to meet.

Of course, in each area there is a specificity, and in different markets the situation may be different (especially in the service sector). But still, the main sales steps are similar everywhere. I hope these simple tips will help you in your business, and your clients more satisfied with working with you.

10 rules of etiquette email

Communication between people is a natural and vital process. Once the epistolary genre was the only available way of communication between people who were far from each other. Mail existed since the time of ancient Rome, if not earlier. People corresponded. Even novels and novels in letters are known in the literature.

Modern advances in information technology offer new, more advanced ways to communicate.

At the same time, mail correspondence is preserved. This is an old, but reliable way of communication, which has its own unique qualities. The modern format of mail correspondence is e-mail, otherwise E-mail.

E-mail, in contrast to the usual, allows users to communicate almost instantly. I pressed the "Send" button (letter), and after a few seconds, the recipient sees this letter in his mail in the Inbox.

Having become accessible and common among users, e-mail has certain rules of correspondence. Such rules allow you to organize and maintain correspondence within the accepted cultural and business norms. A set of systematized rules for e-mail correspondence was called the unspoken e-mail etiquette.

Etiquette of electronic correspondence includes the design, writing letters, as well as the principles of communication of recipients. To begin, we will announce the entire list of rules:

Rule 1. In an email, fill in all the fields.

Rule 2. The postal address and the name of the sender must be clear.

Rule 3. The topic (title, title) of the letter should always be indicated.

Rule 4. When answering any letter, consider whether you need to change the subject of the letter.

Rule 5. Fill in the mailing address of the recipient last.

Rule 6. Save the text of the letter in a separate file before sending the letter.

Rule 7. The text of the letter must meet certain requirements.

Rule 8. Emails must be answered.

Rule 9. Do not e-mail confidential information.

Rule 10. Do not publish information from personal letters without the consent of their senders.

And now more about each of the ten rules.

Rule 1. In an email, fill in all the fields.

For clarity, we use a screenshot (Fig. 1), which shows how the new letter looks in Yandex mail (after clicking on the “Write” button):

Fig. 1 Basics of e-mail etiquette

In almost all mail services (Yandex mail, Mail, Google, Rambler, etc.), the email contains the following information:

1. The mailing address (e-mail address) and the name of the sender (possibly another surname) - figure 1 in fig. one.
2. The mailing address (e-mail) of the recipient of the letter is figure 2 in fig. one.
3. The subject (title, title) of the letter is figure 3 in fig. one.
4. The contents of the letter (number 4 in Fig. 1), which includes:
   • greeting,
   • main text,
   • conclusion
   • signature.
5. Attachment to the letter (attached files or attached files) - figure 5 in fig. one.

All listed items, except the last (figure 5 in Fig. 1) are obligatory for filling - attachments to the letter. If you do not need to attach any files to the letter explaining the text of the letter, then you can forget about this item.

Rule 2. The postal address and the name of the sender must be clear.

Correspondence presupposes the existence of two sides of communication, so you should pay attention to personal data. Personal data should be clear and as complete as possible, so as not to cause the recipient to be incomprehensible, alert and mysterious.

The highest confidence is caused by the postal address containing the last name and first name, for example, NadezdaTimofeeva@yandex.ru.

For example, info@inetgramotnost.ru. After the sign (inetgramotnost.ru), you can’t find out what it’s about.

If the mailing address is abracadabra966@mail.ru, then it will be decided. If there is a letter, it is not a virus?

Rule 3. The topic of the letter should always be indicated.

The title of the letter is the only thing that the recipient of the letter sees when it comes to him. Very often, his fate depends on the name of the letter:

• the recipient will open it
• or delete without looking.

Therefore, the letter headers should be treated with special reverence (that is, with reverence).

Variants of the fate of the received letter, depending on its title:

• the letter will not be noticed among the heap of other letters,
• they will consider it useless and therefore they will not even open
• without hesitation, immediately sent to the folder "Spam" or "Deleted",
• read partially or completely
• maybe even answer.

The title of the letter is the key in order to interest the recipient to open the letter, or rather, “hook”, to attract attention. This is especially important if you are writing a letter to someone for the first time. Paraphrasing words from the book “The Adventures of Captain Vrungel” (“how you call a ship, it will float”), you can say that “as you call a letter, it will come to it” to the recipient.

Thus, the title of the letter should be short (no more than 50 characters), interesting and to the point (express the essence of the letter).

At the same time, in the course of correspondence, if the recipient of the letter answers the author, the title of the letter should not change. It also should not change during repeated correspondence, when a letter is sent to one or the other many times.

If the topic of discussion changes during the correspondence, it makes sense to change the subject of the letter or, perhaps, to create a new letter with a new topic for further correspondence.

Rule 4. When answering any letter, consider whether you need to change the subject of the letter.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, the subject of the letter should NOT be changed; I will explain the reasons below. But from the rules, as you know, there are some exceptions. However, first things first.

How to write an answer letter

Many novice users respond to the letter incorrectly, namely, having received the letter, they read it and press the “Write” button for an answer. This is fundamentally wrong.

Click on the "Answer" button to understand where you came from. For this:

• Need to open a letter. A “Answer” button will appear above or below the open letter (number 1 in Fig. 2).
• Click on "Answer".
• “Re: ...” will be in the subject (title) of the letter (number 2 in Fig. 2). The letters "Re" - a letter.
• The following is the case.

Fig. 2 How to write an answer letter

In many technical support services, they are asked to press the “Answer” button when e-mailing about any problem. And while in the correspondence does not change anything in previous letters. More precisely, any technical support asks “to keep quoting when replying”. For it is easier to understand how they started to solve the problem and what they came to.

Many novice users cannot find the previous letter, or for some other reason they often DO NOT respond (that is, do not use the “Answer” button), but write a new letter (they press the “Write” or “Create” button). Receiving a new letter each time, it is difficult for the recipient of a new letter to remember “from scratch” all the details of the previous letter, which makes it difficult to correspond.

A professional technical support for incorrectly designed letters may not respond at all.

I note that "Re:" is an abbreviation for English "Reply:" or "Response:", which translates as "My answer to:". If the subject of the letter has changed, you should delete this “Re:” and write a new subject letter, reflecting the essence of the new turn of events.

Rule 5. Recipient's postal address (To) fill in the last.

The "To" field is best filled out last, after the letter has been written and verified. This will avoid frequently repeated errors when the sender of the letter sends it to the addressee not finished by accidentally clicking on the "Reply" button.

And even if you click on the "Answer" button, then before clicking, check first of all whether the letter is sent to that addressee. It can be very disappointing when a letter, especially if it contains personal or confidential information, goes to the wrong place where you intended to send it.

Rule 6. Save the text of the letter in a separate file before sending the letter.

Unfortunately, this rule is remembered only when

• when sending a letter unexpectedly failed,
• or when a letter is asked to be sent again, because it was not received for some reason.

When sending important letters with a “wall of text”, typed by hand and not copied from somewhere, this is a very good rule. It greatly simplifies life.

Rule 7. The text of the letter must meet the following requirements:

1) The text of the letter should contain a greeting.

At a minimum, "Hello." Or "Good day.". If you know the name, then "Dear (th) Name (possibly