Top 10 Customer service tips:
Remember to think from the customer standpoint - why do I want to be loyal to MK?
- Focus on what is in it for our customer!
- The below notes are from a training done by Tammi Leppla, Independent Sales Director. They are “thoughts” and not necessarily full sentences! J
10. Professional message on our phone line. If a customer calls and there is no MK message - they can wonder if they really have the right number. Make sure the message you have on your phone is a professional message. Something like this, “Hello, you have reached___________, Independent Consultant (or your title) with Mary Kay Cosmetics. Your call is very important to me. At the sound of the tone, please leave your name and number and the best time to reach you. We will get back to you right away. Meanwhile, have an awesome day!”
9. Offer the MK Opportunity to every single customer at least once! Someone will come along and ask her one day if her consultant has ever offered her to chance to get her product half price? She will wonder why you did not offer it to her. Even if you think she would never do it -- "Should you ever be interested in ever doing what I do - I am sticking in a little brochure and giving you a little info just in case you are ever interested!” Put something little like this in her reorder bag if nothing else!
Invite her to a meeting where she’ll hear some marketing!
Have her “Listen for a Lipstick” as part of your training!
Just SOMETHING that she KNOWS you once mentioned it to her…
8. Have a website. It is so economical for a new consultant - $25 for a year - and only $50 for a year after that. You may not even realize they are on the website - they do go on it and look - and it increases order size. Give them the flexibility of ordering in the wee hours of the morning to order and check out all the new stuff! Also having a website gives your customer multiple ways to contact you.
7. Offer yearly and seasonal updates! (Liz W. gives them the opportunity to be a model at her meetings as part of their birthday service) If we have a customer who is not into hosting classes but likes to reorder and is happy with MK - I think we still should offer them seasonal and yearly updates. They stilll want to be in the "Know"! Call and say something like this, “Just checking in to see if you would like to have a “Summer Update” and see some new colors - which is better for you???____or ____?
I believe this is really important - they can walk by a cosmetic counter in the department store and see and try everything new, and we need to be available to them, too!
6. Go the extra mile. What extra thing can I do? Every single order leaving my office is packaged so pretty and has a bow! I feel this always makes them feel extra appreciated! I love it when I shop at a boutique or nice department store that has darling bags or ties the bags up with bows, etc… and I know my customers love it too! Find great bows! I like to do fun seasonal ones…or just basic black ones look great with our pink MK bags right now. Find a way to make it special! Easy - but fun and special! ALWAYS include something FREE in with their order! When they order $40 or more of course it is the current PCP gift - but even if it is an $8 order, I will put something in there - can be anything - maybe just a cute little tulle bag with samples in it! Or a discontinued product I want to write off on taxes and move off of my shelf. Even when I mail out a package, I make sure it is professional looking - I buy the labels from MK Connections. When they get it - it gives them a good and professional feeling about YOU and YOUR MK Business.
I also like to go the extra mile around Thanksgiving or Christmas. I send customers a card with my signature for one of those holidays each year. One year I delivered my best (local) customers a Pumpkin Pie and a Thank You Card the week of Thanksgiving and told them how much I appreciate them and their business! They were surprised and loved it!
5. Hold Preferred Customer Events at your home and also at Unit Meetings. Preferred Customer New Product Previews and Test Panels…on new products to get their opinion. I do at least one a year in my home. I do one in advance of the Holiday to really get their opinion so I know what to order the most in my Holiday orders. I have a decadent dessert and on those nights and get them feeling in the festive mood with a great atmosphere. I give them a Christmas List of whom they may need to purchase gifts for… and anything they pre-order I do give them a discount on. When they prepay it helps me pre-order fast before things sell out. They LOVE seeing what’s new and trying new products! This is super informal and lots of fun! It gets them excited about our holiday line and they end up reordering THROUGHOUT the season because they know EARLY what we have…and they continue to think of others they can use our gifts for.
4. Open HousesI believe these are an important customer service opportunity - if not in your home - have it in a free place somewhere and allow your customers to come to you and see everything and have a fun event - keep cost down - but still have it very nice. Once you have more people coming you can do more. I suggest having one in the Fall or Pre-Holiday and I find the next best time is in the Spring - they are ready to get out and get a new look and get over the Winter Blahs! Want to walk around and experience the new Spring Colors - Stop and Shop! Repetition for Open Houses is so important! It sometimes takes holding multiple ones before they catch on and GROW! If you aren’t having luck having lots of people show up, then the next time have them make an appointment for their own personalized time at your Open House – then it becomes a personalized shopping appointment during the open house days - one consultant had about a thousand dollars one last year after not having much the year before - just keep building it! I enjoy having open houses generally in excess of $2000 from the “learning experiences” I’ve had over the years and what works best for ME and MY CLIENTS.
3. Notes, notes and more notes. Customers do want to hear from you but not just when you are selling something. Send articles that you know they will like - send her a quick little note - "was reading this and thought of you – have a great day"! They love it - not asking for any kind of a sale - just on your mind. Consider sending a note to people at a party who purchased -- and how about a quick note to the person who did not purchase?
How cool is that? Check out the ecards on MK In Touch! Also Birthday Cards in the mail - as well as a little email birthday card. Put a little coupon in the one that is mailed = send all birthdays out at the beginning of the month and they get this little gift card that they can use all month!!! They love this and it helps you do all cards at once versus having to remember specific dates throughout the month.
2. Preferred Customer Program – The LOOK with samplers is only 65 cents to send out!! A no brainer!! But make the calls and ask them if they got the Look Book??? Follow Up! Make sure they got them - is there a problem - find out so that they know you are checking and see what the response is. You will get so much benefit from this program. I use the excuse when I call that I am just CHECKING to see if they got the latest version of THE LOOK in the mail…and wanted to make sure that they saw the FREE GIFT with a purchase of $40 or more—while supplies last! I mention that it’s a great time to reorder skincare if they need to…and get in on the free gift! They appreciate the reminder. Often they HAVE overlooked the FREE GIFT! They will get used to your reminder calls! Just a courtesy and not pushing hard for a sale…but just checking on them and reminding them of the free gift.
1. Have product on hand. MK has the #1 loyalty in reorders. I believe the main reason customers will stop using it is that they cannot get the product when they want it! They get frustrated when they cannot get the product. Someone going through the DRIVE-THRU at the bank saw my Look Book laying up in the window and asked the bank teller if she could HAVE it! The lady called and asked if I had product on hand and if I did not, she was going back to another product in the store. She was so frustrated by the consultant she had been dealing with and she said that she never got a return phone call and never could get the product when she wanted it. There is NO excuse - we can always get the product to them - even if we have to order it – as it arrives to us within a few days. Servicing customers promptly is why it is so important to build inventory so that you have it!
Tammi Leppla
