by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Management
Working with customers is different today than it was just a few short years and even months ago and you must offer exceptional customer service in your embroidery business to stay in the game. In today‚’s world, customers expect to have a great customer experience with you and are much more demanding than they used to be. With the internet at their fingertips, there is so much available to them and they have many more choices today than they did in the past. It is to our benefit as embroiderers to offer our customers exceptional customer service and the best buying experience that we can possibly give them.
In this competitive market place you must you must offer better customer service or at least more customer service than your competitors if you want to stay in business. Unfortunately, this is a concept that is so hard to understand for so many embroidery business owners. Many embroidery business owners think that they need to offer the lowest price not the best customer service to stay in the marketplace. This is a total falsehood and I wish that I could abolish it!
Offering exceptional customer service can be the one area that can make all the difference and make you stand out from the competition. Not all customers today are shopping for the lowest price. They want to be treated with respect, and be shown that you really have their best interest at heart!
Here are 7 ways to help raise your level of customer service, and if followed by your entire organization, will change your business and give it a whole new life!
- Start Out Each Day With A Positive Attitude!
There is no better way to create an atmosphere of Exceptional Customer Service than to be very upbeat and positive. When you have a great attitude it is reflected in everything that you do, from waiting on a customer or getting employees started in the morning, to finishing up the day with your family. Everyone around you benefits from your attitude.
- Always Wear A Smile!
Treating your customers with dignity and respect and always wearing a smile is the most important principal in creating exceptional customer service. This policy applies to direct contact in person, as well as on the phone. People can tell how you feel and know if you are wearing a smile.All of your customers should be treated as if they are the most important customer you have; it does not matter if they are a large account or a small one. Small accounts very often grow into large accounts.You want your customers to feel that you are a partner in their business success, and as a result, you will receive more orders from these same customers.
- Have A Clean And Well Organized Environment!
Invite your clients or customers into a clean well organized environment when they visit your showroom or office. This goes a long way in making that first impression.Have your samples clean, well-organized, in top quality condition, and available for quick viewing as you are giving your presentation.Make sure that all of your samples are labeled with the information that is pertinent to that sample. Having a system in place makes your presentations more effective and creates a feeling of trust with your customer.
- You Must Be Willing To Work With Your Customer-Give Them A Reason Why They Need To Come Back!
In the marketplace today, you need to be available and be willing to work with your customers in whatever capacity they are requesting. Today, the customers are demanding more and more from their suppliers in the way of services. If you do not meet their demands or wishes, someone else will. If this is not possible for you to accomplish, given your situation, you must let them know up front immediately.Sometimes their requests seem to be unreasonable, especially delivery dates, but you must deliver on time or ahead of schedule of the agreed date, in order to keep them happy and coming back for more. Customers become very unhappy and untrusting when they have to wait past the due date for goods they were promised.
- Always Return Phone Calls And Always Respond To Emails!
When a customer or potential customer calls and has to leave a message, make sure that you get back to them in a timely manner. If you do not return their phone call, they will feel that you do not want their business. All present and future customers need to be made to feel important!
This same principle applies to emails. If a person takes his time to email you, you must be courteous enough to take your time and reply to that email. They do not care how busy you are; their time is as valuable to them as yours is to you! This type of customer service is expected!
- Take Accurate Notes!
Take accurate notes when you are working with a customer in person, over the phone, or my email. Customers very often want to make a change in their order and this must be taken care of immediately, as to not hold up their order.You should have a system in place for this type of procedure, with forms to use to take the notes or make changes. Make sure that the notes get connected to the customer‚’s order. This is also true with email. If the customer sends you an email letting you know that he is requesting some changes in his order, print it out and attach it to the original order. Then you want to bring it to someone‚’s attention so that it is not missed.
- Never Show Anger With A Customer!
If a problem or mistake has occurred by either you or the customer, never show anger towards that customer, even if they show anger towards you. It does not matter if they are right or wrong; you must hold your head up high, keep your composure, and talk to them in a manner that will diffuse their anger.Being angry does no one justice, and in business it is one of the best ways to create bad relations. I have found many times by offering the customer a bit more or giving the customer a slight discount that they were much happier, and I was able to smooth over a bad situationand build a better relationship with the customer at the end of the problem. They must be treated with dignity at all times.
Offering Exceptional Customer Service is not hard and is expected at all times! If you give all of your customers more than they expect and you will be greatly rewarded.
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
Do you find that meeting your customer deadlines can be a real issue for you and your business? This seems to be a universal problem, especially with the small embroidery shops. I have many Clients that come to me because they want to learn how to run their embroidery business smoothly and be able to get the jobs completed on time or ahead of schedule.
They are missing their deadlines and their customers are very unhappy with them. But they don’t want to have to work 7 days a week to make it happen. Even though they have a scheduling system in place, they still are not getting the work done on time and they are losing customers as a result. And they tell me it makes them very frustrated and fear that they will lose more customers.
And if that sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. How can you not feel frustrated and scared when you do everything that you know how to stay organized and keep the work on schedule and you still can’t seem to get the work out on time.
Here’s what I tell people…If you are not able to meet your customer deadlines and you are losing customers…the one thing that works is to stop and re-evaluate exactly how you are scheduling your work.
- Are you sure you have the right system that is going to help you schedule your work correctly?
- Are you spending too much time on each process?
- Do you have your processes timed out so that you know exactly how much time it is going to take you to do each process? Without this, it is very hard to schedule properly.
If you are using a scheduling system that does not take all of this into consideration, then you are using the wrong type of system. I have found that there are many management systems with scheduling systems build in that are being used in the decorating apparel industry today that tell you your job will take x amount of time, based on your stitch count and your machine speed.
This is sort of true, but does it take into consideration, your thread breaks, thread color changes, trims and even the time that it takes to load and unload the machine? If this is not part of it, then you definitely have the wrong type of scheduling system.
It reminds me of how I used to work so hard and struggle with trying to get my work out on time and I worked night and day trying to get it all done.
After feeling very frustrated and ready to quit, I finally got help from my accountant. He helped me get organized and create a great scheduling system that truly worked. Between my new organization, my new scheduling system and a great pricing system that he helped me create, I was able to start running my business more easily and creating a profit. My business grew and prospered as a result. I was for the first time, meeting my customer deadlines or was ahead of schedule almost all of the time and my customers were very happy.
Here’s the deal… Meeting your customer deadlines is a must in this business and if you want to make it easier to get your jobs out on time, schedule your jobs, not necessarily by due dates alone, but by like kinds, thread colors, and garment types. Maybe you even need to give a little more lead time. Are you trying to give an unrealistic turnaround time like next day or 2 to 3 days?
I know that many companies today are trying to give a next day turnaround time thinking that they are going to be able to grab a segment of the market that needs it in a hurry, and this will be their niche. This can be true, but realistically, you are just training your customers to wait until the last minute to place their orders. Not a good technique!
To start creating a system for scheduling correctly, you need to follow these steps.
- Start by timing all of your processes – From the time you talk to a customer to the total completion of the order.
- Taking the order
- Ordering the product from the distributor
- Receiving the goods from the distributor- Checking to make sure the Packing Slip matches the Order Form
- Planning out how the job will be done – Which hoops-Thread-Backings, etc
- Loading the design into the machine – How many color changes, how many trim, how many stitches
- Hooping the garments – hoop several different types and come up with an average time that you can plan on
- Loading the garments into the machine
- Running the Design
- Unloading and unhooping the garments
- Removing the backing, trimming the threads, steaming the garments, folding them
- Packing for shipping or pickup
- Creating an invoice
I did not include design creation or the time to get the design ready to go to the digitizer, that is another whole process. That is not part of the production process to be timed. That is part of Design Creation process that also needs to be timed.
Another item to take into consideration is to schedule Left chest sized designs, thread colors and knit shirts all on the same day. You will save time if you do not have to change hooping systems or thread colors between jobs.
Another great tip that will save you time, is to put ball point needles on the first half of the machine and sharp needles on the remainder of the needle bars on the last half of the machine. You always have the right needles in the machine no matter what type of fabrics you are going to embroider. Remember, ballpoint needles for knits and sharp needles for woven fabrics and caps. If you have a 15 needle machine and you also embroider tiny letters in corporate logos, then you will need one needle dedicated to using a 65/9 needle and 60 weight thread. This is another huge time saver in scheduling.
If you want to know more about how to save time and create the right systems to help you get organized, meet your customer’s deadline and run your business with less frustration, go to… ProfessionalEmbroideryTraining.com. Fill out the form and I will send you my Production Timing Checklist. Becoming a professionally trained embroiderer is going to help you create the right systems to grow your business efficiently!
Get this simple Production Timing Checklist today that will help you get started scheduling your work so that you can be meeting your customer deadlines and make those customers very happy!
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Planning
7 Key Elements To A Highly Profitable Home Based Embroidery Business
I am Joyce Jagger, The Embroidery Coach and I simplify the complex world of embroidery into easy to understand lessons for the new embroiderer. My passion is to show you how to start an embroidery business and help you get off to a fast start. I will help you, if you are an existing embroiderer, improve your skills so that you can provide higher quality embroidery and increase your profitability!
When beginning your embroidery business, it is important to start on the right foot. These 7 key elements will help you to properly plan your new business venture the right way, saving you time, frustration and costly mistakes.
- Planning
It'’s important to create a simple working plan, road map or guide for you to follow. A business plan is supposed to provide you with a clear direction and act as a guide for you on how you intend to run your embroidery business and plan for future growth. With this plan, you will be able to stay on track by analyzing and measuring each step along the way to ensure that you are sticking to the plan you originally laid out.
- Marketing
You will need to create an off line and online marketing plan to cover all angles of your business. Marketing does not have to be scary, as it is a plan and method of helping you to stay in touch with customers and helping to create and attract new prospects. Marketing entails following channels that will help you to get your embroidery products in front of your target market (the right people, persuade them to purchase your product or service, and keep them coming back for more.
- Pricing
Many business people recommend that you survey other, similar embroidery businesses in order to create your own price list. This may actually kill your business. The most important thing to remember is that you are in business to make money, not just to survive. You will need to let go of any fear you have and charge what you think your product or service is worth to your customer by developing a total pricing structure that will cover every pricing scenario.
- Niche Marketing
The most common question regarding niche marketing is, What is a niche?‚ A niche is a small section of the market that you can specialize in. This section is one that others in your market have either overlooked or are not willing to service because of the special nature or size of that section. You can specialize in this particular embroidery section and brand yourself as the expert (that‚’s the marketing part!), ensuring that you always have an audience and low competition.
- Finding Good Employees
Before you begin actually looking for an employee, you will need to decide if your business is in the right place to actually pay a competitive wage and/or offer benefits to that employee. Once you have determined that, it‚’s a good idea to ask friends and family for recommendations first. If that does not yield any results, then check with your State Unemployment Service, but be sure to let them know exactly what kind of worker you are looking for.
- Education
You really need to make the commitment to investing in your education. Set aside time and funds so that you can attend seminars, embroidery trade shows, buy books and videos etc. Your business with flourish when you have the proper skills, so don’t cheat yourself of valuable information.
- Creating an Action Plan
I have a fill in the blanks Embroidery Business Plan Template for you inside of “How To Start An Embroidery Business” to download to get started. While you are working on the business plan, begin to market your product or service. Write down the steps you plan to take and break them up so that you do some each day. Then, stick to the plan! Taking action is the only way to get your business up and running.
I have created a program teaching you How to start your own Embroidery Business as well as how to plan out each area of your embroidery business. This is a course that will teach you how step by step how to write your own Embroidery Business Plan, plan out your entire promotional calendar for the year as well as your business. This is a course that every embroidery business owner should be required to take.
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
Saving time helping your customers make quick ordering decisions can sometimes be very frustrating. Is your customer ordering process taking too much time away from your production time? I want to talk about how you can cut back on the amount of time that it takes you to help your customers make a final decision.
As embroidered, we want to be able to offer our customers a full range of lettering and design options but in the process of doing so, we sometimes have the tendency to overcomplicate the process causing us and the customers unneeded frustration. There are 4 simple ways that will help to save time and speed up your customer's ordering process.
Design Layout Options
Create several Design Layouts Options for your customer to choose from. By giving your customer choices of different layouts for him to look at before he places his order, you prevent him from asking you to create his logo with several different options for his approval. These Design Layout Options save time and instill confidence in the customer that you know what you are doing and know what will be the best option for him or his logo
Create Design Layout Sheets with several design templates that you have you already set up in your embroidery design software. Give each one of these design templates a Style No. When the customer orders a specific style no. you can quickly recall the design template from your system that he has ordered, change the lettering to what he or she is asking for and your design is ready to be sewn out. You can create two sets of identical design templates, one set to be sewn on woven fabrics and one set to be sewn on knit fabrics. These two sets of Design Layout templates will work for 95% of your customer's garment or fabric choices.
Limited Lettering Style Options
Limiting your lettering style options is huge in saving time as you are waiting on your customers and helping them to make the right decision quickly! In each of the embroidery software packages today you have many lettering styles to choose from and it is very tempting to want to show our customers all of the lettering styles that we have available. Many new embroiderers make the mistake of offering all of these styles to their customers and letting them chose which one they want to use. In order to do this, you must sew out every embroidery font that you have available and know what the capability and size restrictions are for each one. This takes a lot of time and is totally unnecessary. Our customers get so confused when they are faced with so many choices. I have found that the best way to handle this is to offer 2 or 3 Block lettering styles and 2 or 3 Script lettering styles. This is enough for them to choose from and will prevent the customer from being overwhelmed with your vast selection.
Samples Tagged with product information
Your showroom should be complete with high-quality samples that are tagged with all of the order information that is applicable to that product sample. This tag should include the style number, colors, and sizes available, manufacturer, price and quantity pricing. All of this information can be on a Tag that is attached to the sample garment. Having all of your samples tagged ahead of time with the appropriate information will save you a lot of time and prevent you from having to look up the information in the catalogs.
An Organized Ordering System
An organized ordering system is simple to put into place. This is true when you have all of your information computerized and even if you are using paper forms to be filled out while you are waiting on the customer. You can create Sales Order Packets with all of your forms included so that you do not have to look for your information forms while you are working with your customer. Inside of this Sales Order Packet, you should have a Customer Quote form, Order Form, Form of Payment, Production Timing Form, Artwork Production form, and your Packing slip.
When you are first working with a customer, they usually want a quote before they place an order. Prepare your customer's quote and make a copy of the quote form for him to take with him. Place your copy along with all of the other forms into a file marked Customer Quotes. When the customer comes back to place his order, pull the packet of forms from the quote file and you are ready to complete your order-taking process. By having all of these forms together in one packet, you will keep all of the customer information together and you will prevent mistakes from occurring.
You want the order process to be a pleasant experience for both you and the customer. When you offer your customers so many options they only get confused and it takes longer for them to make a final decision and sometimes that final decision is no decision. Reducing the number of choices you have to offer will save you and the customer a lot of time.
Inside of EmbroideryBusinessAcademy.com I teach you how to make all of your Selling Tools. Saving Time helping your customers make quick ordering decisions is huge in cutting the costs of working with your customers.
by The Embroidery Coach | | Embroidery Business Marketing
People work with businesses and professionals they trust. Building customer retention and loyalty in your embroidery business is an ongoing process. Here are 9 tips for building customer retention, trust and loyalty with both customers and new prospects.
- Always keep your word with your customers
If you promise delivery on a particular day, make sure to deliver when it was promised. Even something as small as the time you have scheduled an appointment is extremely important to that customer. He or she is trusting that you will keep that appointment and be on time if not, you did not keep your word. Each time you break a promise or do not keep your word to that customer, you break their trust in you.
- Create realistic customer expectations
Make sure the customer understands exactly what you will do for him or her and what is included in your service and what is not. What will create extra charges? How and when will you be billing the customer? Living up to the expectations you create helps to build trust with your customers.
- Help customers to understand the process and strategy for their order
If your customer understands how you and your business works and what the process of their order is, the customer can then know what to expect and when to expect it. Trust comes when the customer feels confident and comfortable with the plan and the strategy.
- Never over promise
It is tempting to promise whatever the customer wants to hear without looking at your schedule or asking if it is doable. When you do not deliver on your promise this causes broken agreements and broken trust.
- Carefully explain the customer’s role
When a customer is clear on what his or her role is then he or she gets clear on what progress can be made without their involvement. Getting really clear on what the customer needs to do to move his or her order forward, helps you work as a team and builds trust.
- Discuss potential problems that can happen
Nothing disturbs the trust of a customer more than when something unexpected happens. Guard against something negative happening as a surprise by discussing the potential pitfalls with the customer.
- Review the work order in detail
Any decisions that the customer is going to have to make should be discussed in detail. Relationships and trust are built over a long period of time, but it can be broken easily. An unexpected issue that is a surprise to the customer that he or she was not expecting can break that trust quickly.
- Avoid making the customer feel stupid
No one likes to feel stupid. If customers feel that you think they are stupid they will no longer entrust you with their ideas or work. Customers who don’t feel valued by you may stop trusting you. No one sets out to make a customer feel stupid, but it could be an attitude, an inadvertent comment, or a look that gives the customer that impression. Be aware of your inner thoughts. They show up without your noticing. Be very careful with your language.
- Don’t allow interruptions when you are meeting with a customer.
It gives them the feeling that they are not important to you and you really do not want their business. Everyone needs to feel special no matter how large or small their order is. This can ruin the goodwill and trust that you had with them.
Building relationships and customer trust with both your customers and prospects help you to build loyalty. Loyalty is something that is very uncommon in the embroidery business anymore, but it is not impossible to get. When your customers feel that they are valued and you give them excellent customer service, they will become loyal! This helps in building customer retention.
Really think about these tips and how you work with your customers and prospects. Building customer retention, trust, and loyalty in your embroidery business is extremely important in today’s world and is a process something that is not often seen. It can make the difference in a business that is OK and a business that is growing rapidly and building a huge repeat following, Focus on building customer retention and this will help you become a sought-after embroidery provider!
