Customer Service

Why Companies Are Needlessly Losing Business

By ronkarr.Admin | May 14, 2012 |

Companies are losing the battle of sales and customer service because their reps are not trained in critical thinking.  Instead, they are loaded with scripts and computer programs on what to say next versus the next logical step one should take to help solve the problem and build customer loyalty. The key to building any…

It’s the Experience That Sells

By ronkarr.Admin | March 12, 2012 |

Let’s face facts. Steve Jobs was a genius when it came to developing the Apple Store.  It is an experience just going into one of the Apple Stores regardless if you buy anything. Besides dazzling displays of their products on tables throughout the stores, they use their own products to move the sales process along…

Using Your Blind Side to Grow Your Business

By ronkarr.Admin | February 28, 2012 |

In the movie The Blind Side, Sandra Bulllock plays the part of a wealthy woman who takes in a homeless young man (Michael Oher) who goes on to become an NFL Star.  In the movie, Michael tries out for the high school football team and struggles a great deal. Michael is a young man in…

Validation Sells

By ronkarr.Admin | February 18, 2012 |

If you are a leader or a sales professional, consider that validation is an extremely powerful tool for getting your point of view accepted. I have learned in working with CEO’s that they value validation of current strategies as much as suggestions of what they could do better. You want to position yourself as a…

What Did You Say?

By ronkarr.Admin | February 17, 2012 |

When I wrote the book The Complete Idiots Guide to Great Customer Service in 1998, we interviewed the Vice President of Hertz Reservations who shared this story with me. Hertz did a survey of their top customers and found out that they were highly dissatisfied with how long it took to return their cars and…

Success Starts with Sales and Service

By ronkarr.Admin | January 1, 2012 |

Sears announced it is closing 79 stores (Sears and Kmart stores) due to poor financials of the company. The closing of these stores was not due to poor financials. It is due to bad management. Senior management spent money on every strategy except improving its customer service and sales process. Instead of creating great customer…

Growing Your Business And Sales Through Great Customer Experiences

By ronkarr.Admin | August 31, 2011 |

The fastest way to grow your business and sales is by providing your customers with great customer experiences. Great customer experiences occur when everyone in the company, not just the sales reps, accept the responsibility and accountability for the role they play in the process. This video shows one example of how people were not…

Supercharge Your Success in Life the Justin Bieber Way

By ronkarr.Admin | January 31, 2011 |

Justin Bieber is by far the biggest teen sensation today and for that matter one of the biggest stars of all. At the ripe old age of 17, you may be wondering how he achieved this phenomenal success. Truth be told, he did it the old fashioned way; a lot of hard work coupled with…

Coach -You’re Fired!!!

By ronkarr.Admin | July 20, 2007 |

Okay, here is another golf anecdote. For all you non-golfers, I promise to make this relevant to your sales success. Golfer Phil Mickelson fired his long time coach last weekend. Yesterday, Mickelson won the US Players Championship. Phil will be the first one to tell you he got a lot out of his old coach,…

Are You Like the IRS?

By ronkarr.Admin | February 2, 2006 |

In an effort to keep tax payers honest, the IRS is stepping up both its audit and customer service efforts at the same time. Interestingly, the IRS has created the position of Tax Advocate, an individual who monitors how tax payers are treated and makes recommendations to the IRS on how to improve its customer…

Archives

Unlocking Success: How Starbucks Boosted Velocity and Customer Satisfaction

By John Lusher / September 28, 2023 /

So how can you enhance the customer experience while at the same time increasing your own Velocity? You may have read this week that Starbucks is investing billions of dollars to cut down customer wait times by 55 seconds. Their solution? The new syrup machine. With it, baristas can simply press a button to access milk and…

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What is the Biggest Reason People Get Stripped of Velocity?

By John Lusher / November 22, 2021 /

What is the biggest reason people get stripped of Velocity? In this video, Jay Baer, a successful entrepreneur, author of six bestselling books on marketing and customer experience, and founder of five multi-million dollar companies, reveals one of the most common mistakes businesses make when marketing their products or services. Check it out! #VelocityMindset #leadership…

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WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING: HOW TO UNLOCK THE CONVERSATIONAL POWER OF YOUR CUSTOMERS

By John Lusher / August 5, 2021 /

Many of the most successful businesses in the world advertise the least, because their customers take on that role voluntarily on their behalf. Yet, studies show fewer than 1% of businesses have a word of mouth strategy. So what does it take to unlock the conversational power of your customers and turn them into your…

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DO YOU SHARE THE SAME PERSPECTIVE WITH THOSE YOU ARE TRYING TO INFLUENCE?

By John Lusher / October 16, 2020 /

How often do we push our perspective on those we are trying to influence, when it has nothing to do with what they are trying to achieve? In this video, I share how to go beyond your perspective and understand the perspective of others, so you can connect with them, which is critical for Velocity.…

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Spring Forward with Velocity

By kristina@ronkarr.com / March 19, 2019 /

As spring approaches, I’ve been thinking of new starts and renewals, specifically of the time I decided to launch my speaking/consulting business over thirty years ago.  I was in an unfulfilling management job at the time—successful but not satisfied. My business skills had helped me to succeed but so had two important questions: What is…

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Selling with Sight and Sound to Gain Velocity

By kristina@ronkarr.com / March 12, 2019 /

Selling an intangible idea can be tough. When you are trying to sell your competitive advantage, it can be challenging to verbalize the concept in a powerful way that resonates with your prospect. Intangibles leave a lot to the imagination, and that doesn’t necessarily work in your favor. If you’re running into trouble, you may…

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Memorable Experiences Bring Customers Back

By ronkarr.Admin / October 10, 2017 /

Loyalty is a valuable commodity. First and foremost, of course, our loyal and valued customers buy from us, and better yet, they come back, again and again. But they also tend to sell us in a way that we can never sell ourselves. As a Sales and Leadership expert, but also as a customer, I have seen that loyalty…

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From Lost Trust to Lost Business—How to Avoid This Business Killer

By ronkarr.Admin / June 27, 2017 /

A key executive for one of my clients passed away recently, and although I tried desperately, I could not make my travel arrangements work out properly to get to the funeral service. To make matters even worse, the morning of the funeral I realized I had forgotten to send flowers. I immediately called a florist,…

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The #1 Obstacle Preventing You from ImpactING Your Market

By ronkarr.Admin / April 11, 2017 /

If I were to ask about the biggest issue preventing you from ImpactING your markets and closing more sales, most of you would say low-cost competitive pressures—and you would be wrong. The biggest issue that prevents us from ImpactING our markets is actually…us! By us I do not just mean sales execs, but all of…

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From Trusted Advisor to Exponential Sales Growth

By ronkarr.Admin / March 14, 2017 /

In 1988 before I launched my speaking and consulting business and become known as a sales and leadership expert, I was a regional manager for a computer company. In that capacity, I learned a critical lesson about sales that has served me—and my clients—ever since. In my region I was responsible for several distributors, and…

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