Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Power of Customer Service in Business



The majority of businesses involve customer service on some level.  Whether you are directly selling a product to the consumer or dealing with vendor and suppliers to provide a product to a retailer you are involved in customer service.

As a business owner the words of a "dissatisfied customer" are like a knife in the back.  Research has shown how positive and negative customer service feedback is handled directly impacts your bottom line in business.

According to Forbes.com:


  • 1st Impressions last - Surveyed respondents were more likely to recall negative experiences vs. positive ones. 
  • Bad reviews & experiences travel faster than positive ones - People who experienced a negative experience shared their story with 5+ people on avg. compared to 1 -2 people for a positive experience. 
  • Social media reviews impact online shopping - 88% of consumers in a study reported they added an item to their cart based on a customer service review. 
  • Happy customer lead to larger sales - Consumers who had a positive experience had larger shopping carts than consumers with negative experiences. 
As you can see consumers "drive" business in many ways.  It is always in your best interest as a business owner to strive for positive customer service at all times.  There are many factors that can improve your chances at positive customer service.  Research has shown that employers who treat their employees well have a higher positive customer service rate.   Businesses who responded swiftly to negative feedback were able to salvage the relationship more often than not prior to the consumer spreading negative feedback to other consumers. 

Considering the impact customer service has on your bottom line, you cannot afford to allow poor customer service within your business.  Always monitor online reviews and quickly respond to both the positive and negative.  It also never hurts to ask your customers for online feedback - simply tell them "Your review and referrals are our biggest compliment."  You might just be amazed at how it can impact your business.  

urBook$ strives to provide our clients with the best chance at success.  Equipping your business with up to date information regarding your business pay roll, bookkeeping and bill paying is only part of the equation.  Contact urBook$ today to experience the urBook$ difference and allow yourself to concentrate on things that impact your bottom line such as great customer service! 

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

How to Set Achievable Goals for 2016



Top-level athletes, successful business-people and achievers in all fields set goals.  Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation.  It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the most of your life. 

By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals.  You will also see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. This will raise our self-confidence as you recognize your own ability and competence in achieving the goals you have set! 

Here are a few tips of how to begin setting your achievable goals for 2016:

1. Create the “big picture” of your goals. These are big 10 year goals that you would like to achieve. Examples of these areas could be:
  • Career 
  • Health 
  • Financial 
  • Spiritual 
  • Educational 
  • Public Service 
2. Break-down these goals into smaller and smaller targets that you must hit in order to reach your lifetime goals. Breaking down your long-term goals into shorter achievable goals will ensure that you allow yourself to not only see progress but actually achieve the 10 year goal.

For example, if you choose to save a certain amount of money over the next 10 years. You need to break this down into monthly or quarterly savings amounts over the next 10 years. Seeing your savings account increase each month or quarter will let you realize your progress with each deposit.

3. Set systems in place to remind yourself when and where you are to act on your goals. If you have weekly weight-loss goals or exercise goals then set calendar entries or physically write down your work-outs for each week. Putting your goals to pen or electronic calendar entry will increase your chances of actually completing the tasks.


urBook$ wishes you and all of your team a successful & productive 2016!