eKourier Oct 2014

FEATURES

No Margin F

The Feeling of Good Customer Service I t’s not every day we experience exceptional service. Unfortunately for some businesses just meeting status quo gets them by.

we have an opportunity to build trust. Every customer who interacts with Kennards should be followed up as regularly as it takes to convert them. During the prospecting and qualifying stages for new National Account customers we follow up anywhere between 5 and 50 times through various forms and at different times. Each contact allows us to communicate something different or learn something new, getting to know them and build trust. By the time they join the programme they are well informed and excited about the conversion. “ Take the time to enjoy the customer journey and follow up more than once. Both you and our customer won’t be disappointed ” If we apply the same finesse to all our customers we have a great opportunity to improve our relationships. Each time you pick up the phone to make a follow up call think about these five things: • Are you calling at an appropriate time? • What do you need to know from the customer? • What are the next steps? Take the time to enjoy the customer journey and follow up more than once. Both you and our customers won’t be disappointed. Fiona Harding Business Development Manager • What is the purpose of the call? • What do you want to achieve?

As a consumer when we come by good customer service something happens to us. It’s infectious and our mood changes, we become open to conver- sation and we start to Tweet, Facebook and share our experience with the people around us. More importantly we return! After a recent visit to America the differ- ence in their standards of customer service compared to Australia was a stark contrast. Shop assistants introduced themselves, when my hands were full they handed me a shopping basket. Taxi drivers provided compli- mentary guided tours pointing out were the best eats were and when dining my water glass was never empty. Great customer service is embedded in their culture. They were engaged, genuine and definitely profitable, after all the better the service the greater the tip. Thankfully this was a nice Aussie parallel to our service at KSS, but we should not let ourselves become complacent. As Aussies are we sometimes too relaxed about engaging with consumers for fear of being “pushy”. Consumers do business with people they know, like and trust. If as sales people we don’t contin- ually engage with our consumers the results can be detrimental. The relationship begins when the customer is first aware of your existence. If the value we provide is “Store With People Who Care” that first encounter “Hello, Good Morning, I can certainly help” immediately starts the customer journey. Regardless of whether we think a customer is going to rent a space today or in two years; engagement, persis- tence and follow up of these customers is a critical part of the customer journey. Each time we engage with a customer

I n the previous editions the analogy between merchandise and cash and what this means to our business, the distinction between inventory controls and inventory management and the features of an inventory control system were discussed. Physical inventory counts are a prominent feature of any effective inventory control system and let us discuss why it is so. An inventory count is a process that involves a physical count of each item in stock. The objective of the inventory count is to ensure that all inventory records are accurate. Should the physical count and the records not agree, the differences need to be examined and variances reconciled in accordance with company’s Best Practice. Accurate and timely physical inventories are one of the most important responsibilities in assuring profitability and success for any business. It can be the difference between profit and loss and can have many far-reaching consequences. An inaccurate physical inventory which overstates the total amount of merchandise will result in overstated Gross Profit and Net Profit for the current year which, in turn, can result in the paying of excess income taxes. On the other hand, an understatement will result in reduced profits and overstated expenses.

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Kennards Kourier October 2014