Corrections or additions?
Customer Service: Not a Mystery
Mystery shopping is no mystery, says Mark Csordos,
founder and president of C&S Mystery Shoppers Inc., a customer service
consulting company in East Brunswick (732-432-5533, E-mail:
“Mystery shoppers pose as customers and formally rate their
shopping
experiences. Companies use mystery shopping to get an objective view
of their customer service.”
Is customer service so important that you need to hire another company
to grade your company? Apparently so. Research has shown that
retaining
only five percent more customers, can make up to a 75 percent
difference
in profits. Customers are delighted with great service. Delighted
customers are loyal and loyal customers increase profits.
Csordos speaks on customer service Thursday, January 21, at 7 p.m.
at Encore Books in the Princeton Shopping Center. Call 609-252-0608.
He will offer tips on how you can turn good service into great
service,
handling complaints, and how to provide great service online.
His comments are included in the book “Celebrate Customer
Service,”
edited by business writer Rick Crandall. Csordos, along with
10 other experts, discuss the value of customer service, service
skills,
and how to implement great service. Published by Select Press, the
book is priced at $14.95.
Another meeting on this topic, sponsored by the International Customer
Service Association, will present Robert G. Maher speaking on
“Customer Service: the Need for a Process Focus,” at the
Newark
Airport Marriott on the same day, Thursday, January 21, at 5:30 p.m.
Cost: $50. Call Bruce Silverman at 973-285-4141.
“All companies already have mystery shoppers,” says Csordos,
“but most of them never give you feedback. Every customer who
deals with you is making his or her own mental ratings of your
service.
When employees know a customer might be turning in a written
evaluation
of their performance, it is only natural that they try harder.”
Csordos has a degree in communications from Rutgers and has been
featured
in the New York Times, Vogue, and Business Start Ups. He has appeared
on the national radio program “Shopping Smart” with Phil
Lempert. His clients include firms in the grocery, banking, hotel,
and restaurant industries, including ShopRite, Pizza Hut, and the
New Jersey State Lottery.
In the past mystery shopping was sometimes used to find out what
employees
were doing wrong. It is more sophisticated today and many companies
use mystery shopping to find out what employees are doing right, says
Csordos. “The data mystery shoppers provide can be used as an
objective way to reward employees, as well as to uncover problems
in your operation. The reports can be used as a training device to
help train new employees to avoid common mistakes made in the
past.”
You can also use mystery shoppers to evaluate your competitors and
benchmark yourself against them. Csordos suggests asking your
employees
to shop your competitors. “They will have unique insights about
customer interactions and if they can help create the forms they are
rated and rewarded on they will be less suspicious of the
process.”
A good mystery shopping program is one where everyone in the company
knows what is going on and why, says Csordos. The only mystery is
the exact time at which it’s being done and by whom. The mystery
shopper
could be a college student, a mother of two, or a senior citizen.
Besides making in-person visits, mystery shoppers can be used on the
phone, online, or any other way a customer might interact with you.
Csordos lists some good and bad service received by actual mystery
shoppers. Good service:
Employees who accommodate customers’ slightly unusualrequests.For example, “Can I return an item from Store A to Store B?”This costs relatively little money, but creates a lot of good will.Deli employees who offer tastes of products without beingasked.If a customer is looking for an out-of-stock item, theyare given a substitution for a comparable item instead of a rain checkor being told, “Sorry, we’re out.”Stores that allow customers to use competitors’ couponsor rain checks to prevent customers from shopping at that store.Bad service:Employees who complain about how they hate to work therewhile they are waiting on customers. (This is a frequent experience.)Employees who bad-mouth their boss or, worse, othercustomers,while waiting on customers.Employees who won’t look. In supermarkets, a commonresponseasking if there is any more of an item is, “If it’s not on theshelf, we don’t have it.”Horseplay. A shopper observed two employees throwing eggsat each other down one of the aisles. A customer was splashed withsome yolk.Costs can vary widely between mystery shopping companies, saysCsordos. A good company guarantees its work and checks its customerservice. “If their customer service isn’t good, how can they helpyou improve yours? In this case, you are the customer and they haveto meet your needs.”Great customer service is a key differentiation in attractingcustomersand mystery shopping is a tool to deliver great service, says Csordos.”Studies show that 96 percent of dissatisfied customers nevercomplain, they just never return. Providing great customer serviceis what keeps customers from coming back.”– Teena ChandyTop Of PageVolunteers SpeakingIf you are going to make a talk, your most likelymistakeis that you will try to tell everything you know instead of gearingeverything to the listener’s interests. “It is your presentation,but it is all about them,” says Sallie Goodman, founderof Public Presentations Inc. “Gear the message to the specificaudience.”Goodman will give one of the workshop sessions for “CommunityWorks,” the convention for volunteers organized by Marge Smithof Community Works and sponsored by the Rotary Club of Princeton onThursday, January 28, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Princeton University’sWoodrowWilson School. The cost is $20 including the box supper. Eachparticipantattends two workshops: Register with your first three choices ofworkshopsby January 23. Send checks to Rotary Club, 283 Nassau Street,Princeton08540, or call 609-924-8652 for information.Wayne Meisel of the Bonner Foundation has the keynote address.The workshops include: “The ABCs of Building a Team” and”WhyDo You Need the Money?” Barbara Blumenthal teaches”StrategicPlanning for Boards and Organizations” and Smith leads”Workingwith Volunteer Boards.” Linda Meisel, formerly of Corner House,discusses how to maximize the effectiveness of volunteers.Nancy Kieling of Princeton Area Community Foundation and a panelof seven tell how to access foundation and corporate funding. On thepanel are Tom Borden of the Mary Owen Borden Foundation, MarkMurphy of the Fund for New Jersey, Dianne Vatalero ofAmericanReinsurance, Barbara Rambo of First Union Regional Foundation,and Debra Perez of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s local healthinitiatives program. “Planning a Successful Fund Raiser” isthe topic for Andy Armstrong of the Eden Institute and AnneBorella, immediate past president of the Rotary Club, PrincetonCorridor.”Public Relations is the Key to Visibility” will be addressedby Pam Hersh, former editor of the Princeton Packet, now withPrinceton University, Barbara Fox of U.S. Newspaper, andLauraHarris of cable television. Tom Sullivan of PrincetonPartnersteaches “Marketing: Can You Afford Not To?”Goodman is an actress, director, and teacher who trained at the RoyalAcademy of Dramatic Arts, had a career in the theater and television,and opened her business in Princeton in 1984. She coaches corporateand private clients and provide videotapes to each. “The reasonpeople don’t have the message clear is that they are not aware ofwhat they can cut out, so they ramble,” says Goodman. “I havefound that as the delivery improves, the message improves.”Find out everything you can about your audience. Do yourhomework, says Goodman. “If you have something worthwhile telling,you sell it differently to different kinds of customers.”Use the “You” word in catch phrases such as”Youmight be interested in this,” or “If you are interested insaving money, this is a good way.” Saying the “you” wordlets people believe that you understand their interests and understandtheir worries. You are “playing” to peoples’ self interest.”You can be very nervous, but if you acquire the skills ofeffectivespeaking the audience doesn’t know you are nervous,” says Goodman.Don’t identify with your stage fright. Realize that stagefright is something everybody has. If you identify with your fright,you are likely to talk in a monotone or talk too fast to cover upthe nervousness. “You don’t identify with your fear any more thanyou identify with your headache,” she says, “You can havea headache and make a good speech. It is a retraining of the thoughtprocess.”Program your own mental tapes Reverse the “fright”tapes: “Will I do a good job? Do I look all right? Will I remembereverything?” Instead, let these tapes run through your head: “I’mhere to give you some good news. I really care about you.”Says Goodman: If, in your head, you really care about the otherperson, you will overcome your fright.Top Of PageHome Health:Compliance PlansDo you need to know the latest legal requirements fora home health provider corporate compliance plan? Or what to do whenthe Federal Office of Health and Human Services shows up at your doorwith a subpoena?If you are associated with a home health provider or consult for one,you may be interested in a “nuts and bolts” seminar organizedby the Tamborlane & Printz law firm on Friday, January 22, from 8:30a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the New Jersey Hospital Association, 760AlexanderRoad. Cost: $60. Call 908-789-7977 for information.Providers of home health care services face an ever more complex arrayof federal and state requirements that call for strict complianceand carry severe penalties for non-compliance. Attendees will gainpractical guidance on their legal, operational, reporting, and auditresponsibilities.The kinds of care that are provided in the home setting includeskillednursing services. Once the patient’s home health care needs areaccessedby a nurse, the care plan can call for the administration of IV drugs,arranging for a home health aide for assistance in getting in andout of bed, and buying or renting durable medical equipment such aswheelchairs.For the uninitiated, corporate compliance is a term that has evolvedover the past few years that describes directives from the UnitedStates Office of the Inspector General (OIG) out of the Departmentof Health and Human Services for any agency or company that provideshome care services. These directives tell home health providers whatthe government expects them to have in place to ensure proper patientbilling services and to prevent fraud, abuse or waste.”The government’s scrutiny of the billing and operationalpracticesof these home health providers followed the growth of the home healthcare industry over the last five years, which has meant more moneybeing drawn down out of federal and state coffers in the form offederalMedicare program and the state Medicaid programs,” saysTheodosia(Theo) A. Tamborlane, a principal at Tamborlane and Printz inMountainside(908-789-7977).”The OIG is not looking for just paper compliance, they want tosee that the company audits billing and operational practices andthen — based on those audits — takes steps to correct theproblem,” says Tamborlane. “OIG is looking for problems ina number of areas: billing for services not rendered, billing forunnecessary services, duplicate billing, falsification of records(nursing notes or medical plans of care), type of admission anddischarge,insufficient documentation — if the agency is operating in a jointventure with physicians — and if so, are the physicians gettingany form of kickback.”OIG requires a home health agency to have a “top down and bottomup” program and everyone within the agency — from a nurseto a receptionist to the billing clerk — must participate in atraining program, at a minimum of once a year. The training programfocuses what the company is doing in regards to fraud and abuse andcontinual corporate compliance.According to Tamborlane, one of the most interesting aspects of theprogram will be a discussion on what to do when you get a call froma state or federal agency or if they arrive at your doorstep to doan audit. James Vaules, director of government relations atthe National Fraud Center, will lead this seminar segment. One likelypoint of discussion: Do you have to have to let federal or stateagentsin if they show up as your door?The answer is “yes” if they have a search warrant but notnecessarily if they have only a subpoena.The result of an audit is a report that may in turn result in asubpoenaor a search warrant. “In reality this is happening nationwideto many agencies as the OIG and other federal and state agencies goforward with their investigations of home care,” says Tamborlane.”Over the past five years the federal government poured millionsof dollars into their fraud and abuse detection programs and theynow are linked to the state agencies so that many times there willbe joint investigations.”Making sure individual staff members know what to do in the eventa search warrant is served is very important. “You want to trainyour people, particularly your front desk staff, to know who to callimmediately and how to respond,” said Tamborlane. “If astrangeperson walks into the office and says `get up from your desk and walkacross the room and don’t move’ the office staff person should ask`May I please see a search warrant and your identification’.”This happened to Cathedral Hospital in Newark several years ago.”They(federal agents) walked in with search warrants and the employeesgot up from their desks, went into a different room and they tookout computers and everything,” said Tamborlane.Tamborlane’s law firm partner, Rebecca Printz, will participatein the seminar as will Joseph Aiello, a home care administratorfor 20 years, who will describe the “how to” of operationalcompliance focusing on nursing practices and billing procedures. Alsopresenting will be Richard Serluco CPA, who will providecomplianceprocedures relative to cost reports and intermediary audits.Tamborlane, 56, graduated summa cum laude from Drew University witha BA in political science, holds an MPA degree in human resourcesmanagement from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a law degree fromSeton Hall. Prior to founding the law firm in 1989, she was of counselwith Riker Danzig Scherer and Hyland. She has been deputy attorneygeneral assigned to the New Jersey Department of Health and a lawclerk with the United States Attorney’s office.Tamborlane hopes that seminar attendees come away from the programwith the realization that home care providers must do two things:1.) Set up a compliance program. Even insurers, not justthe government, are now asking to see corporate compliance plans asa prerequisite for insurance reimbursement.2.) Have a blueprint for how to do such a program tailoredto your company since no two home health companies are the same.Home care providers need to know, says Tamborlane, that thereare professionals out there who can help them both initially and onan ongoing basis.– Jeff LippincottTop Of PageLook Twice: PostageLook twice before you pay too much for postage. Yes,the price of the first stamp went up by a penny. But the price fora two-ounce letter remains the same, and any other first-class letteris now less expensive than before.For example, the three-ounce letter was 78 cents and is now 77 cents.Five ounces was $1.24 and is now $1.21. Seven ounces is now $1.65but had been a nickel more. And 11 ounces is $2.53 but used to be$2.62.Nevertheless, priority mail has had a big increase. You used to pay$3 for up to two pounds, and now it is $3.20. For each pound you pay10 cents more than before. A package of four to five pounds costs$6.50.Top Of PageRadio AdvertisingIf you think advertising on television is outrageouslyexpensive, and your business needs the advertising, you can chooseanother medium that can be just as effective. The ubiquitous radio.And considering how busy people are these days and the time everybodyspends on the road, your radio audience could be just as big as yourtelevision audience. All you have to do is make them listen.The Studio by MDL Inc. at 210 Scotch Road, Trenton 08628(609-771-8788;fax, 609-631-0177) was founded in 1997 and moved to this locationlate last year. It is the only commercial facility within a 50-mileradius from Trenton, claims Dave Micanko, president.Almost any product that can be advertised on television can beadvertisedon the radio, says Micanko. “What matters is quality.” Micankonotes that the radio is being used more than television in this area.Most consumer and service-based products can be advertised on theradio, he says. Exceptions would be niche products such as newtechnologiesand transportation businesses.The studio does commercial recording for television, radio,voice-overs,corporate commercials, and music, analog and digital. BobbieJones,the manager, is chiefly responsible for production. Jones and Micankowrite, record, and produce for their clients, which include radiostations, advertising agencies, and film makers. Simple radiocommercialsmay be completed in a week, but working on big budget accounts cantake six months to a year.Micanko, the owner, is an alumnus of Mercer Community College’stelecommunicationsprogram. Jones, who went to Trenton State, comes from an engineeringbackground and has been in the commercial recording field for abouta decade. A musician himself, Jones has four albums to his credit.Background music, animation, etc. are some of the tools used to grabthe attention of the listener or viewer, which is the whole purposeof advertising. Budweiser, says Jones, made a whole line of ads witha frog, and everybody’s talking about it. It all depends on “whatyou say and how you say it.”– Teena ChandyTop Of PageSoftware Strategy:Unified LanguageDifferent software development teams can now sharemodelsbecause the symbols used in their models and the semantics of thosesymbols is consistent. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is thenew standard for object-and component-based analysis and design ofsoftware systems. Lou Varveris and George Leibman willdiscuss UML in a joint meeting of the Princeton ACM/IEEE on Thursday,January 21, at 8 p.m. at the Sarnoff Center. The meeting is free;students accompanied by parents are welcome. A dinner with thespeakerswill be at 6 p.m. at the Rusty Scupper. Reservations are needed forthe dinner. Call 609-924-8704 for information.Varveris majored in engineering at the College of Staten Island andhas a master’s with graduate engineering work in communication theory,from Polytechnic University. He has worked at Unisys and is nowproductmanager for object technologies at Popkin Software.Leibman majored in mathematics at MIT and has a master’s fromPolytechnicUniversity. He has done graduate work in database theory at HarvardUniversity and is getting his PhD in math from CUNY Graduate Center.He has worked in Handwriting Recognition at IBM’s Watson ResearchCenter, and developed real-time retail pricing display systems.Leibmanimplements object and component-based technology at Popkin Software.They will explain UML notation and semantics, why UML is useful, whatproblems it introduces, and how it integrates with othermethodologies.They will also show how a leading modeling tool vendor has implementedUML, both semantically and notationally, to provide better insightinto UML.Top Of PageUtilities and CapitalLearn about how to save money on your company’s electricbill at a conference on deregulation sponsored by the New JerseyTechnologyCouncil (NJTC) on Thursday, January 21, at 8 a.m. at the PrincetonPlasma Physics Lab. Choose from six forums for $200.The conference, entitled “Where Utilities, Communications, andDeregulation Converge,” will include topics such as CommunicationsTechnology and Utility Industry Restructuring, Impact of ElectricUtility Restructuring on Telecommunications Industry, Role of theAdvanced Customer Communications Systems in the Deregulated EnergyMarket, Competition in Utility Metering and Billing Systems (LessonsLearned from California and the UK), Regulatory Issues, Technologyand Software Issues Related to the Utility Industry.Learn how to get money for your company at a Capital Conference, alsosponsored by the NJTC, at the New Jersey Hospital Association onFriday,January 29, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost: $140. Scott Baxter,president and CEO of Icon CMT Corp., will give the keynote. Panelswill address state tax credits, private equity, sales and mergersas exit strategies, IPO outlook, financing technology companies,growthby acquisition, and joint ventures/strategic partnering.Caren Franzini, executive director of New Jersey EconomicDevelopmentAuthority, moderates a panel with Michael Batelli of ArthurAndersen; Lee Evans of the New Jersey Division of Taxation;Pat Lang, CFO of Sensar; and David Shipley of DechertPrice & Rhoads.John Martinson of the Edison Venture Fund discusses privateequity with Victor Boyajian of Sills Cummis et al, GerardDiFiore of Reed Smith Shaw & McClay, Perry Pappas of BuchananIngersoll, and Ned Prentice of BT Alex Brown.Exiting via a sale or merger is the topic for John Aiello ofGiordano Halleran & Ciesla, along with Brendan Gougher ofPricewaterhouseCoopers,James Hunter of Janney Montgomery Scott, and W. DavidTarverof Bowthorpe Inc. Buchanan Ingersoll’s David Sorin tells aboutIPOs with Brian Hughes of Arthur Andersen, MarkKuperschmidof NationsBanc Montgomery Securities, David Proctor of JanneyMontgomery Scott, and Tom Werthan, CFO of Emcore.Mike Nelson, executive vice president of PNC, tells how tofinancetechnology companies with the help of Progress Bank’s StevenHobmanand Silicon Valley Bank’s Ash Lilani. Steven Cohen ofMorgan Lewis & Bockus plus Jeffrey Dunne ofPricewaterhouseCooperscover growth by acquisition. James Marino of Dechert Price &Rhoads talks about joint ventures and strategic partnering withexecutivesfrom two pharmaceutical firms, Ronald Pepin of Bristol-MyersSquibb and Lewis J. Shuster of Pharmacopeia.To register for either conference call 609-452-1010.Top Of PageInsurance at RVCCRaritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is offeringan insurance option in Business Management this spring. This newoptionis the result of a collaboration between RVCC and representativesfrom the Independent Insurance Agents of New Jersey, Chubb Group ofInsurance Companies, Hunterdon County Polytech, and Thomas EdisonState College. The degree includes specialized courses in propertyand liability insurance, personal insurance, commercial insurance,sales agency management, and multiple lines in insurance production.RVCC is also offering English I, Web Page Development, Javascript,Java, Internet Navigation, and Global Patterns of Racism, throughthe Internet this spring. To participate in this Web-based course,students must have a personal computer with access to the World WideWeb, a browser, and the ability to send and receive E-mail. To findout about on-line courses, E-mail:infodesk@rvcc.raritanval.eduor call 908-231-8819.Spring semester begins Wednesday, January 20. Late registrationextendsto Tuesday, January 26. Call 908-218-8861.Top Of PagePharmacyFellowshipBristol-Myers Squibb is donating $500,000 over afive-yearperiod to establish a fellowship program at Rutgers’ College ofPharmacythat will allow graduate students to conduct cutting-edge researchand work with the company’s scientists. The Bristol-Myers FellowshipProgram in Pharmaceutics will fund one post-doctoral and twopre-doctoralfellowships annually for students interested in conductingpharmaceuticsresearch. Pharmaceutics involves the development of innovative andmore efficient delivery systems for new drugs.Pharmaceutics is a highly competitive field, and there is a greatdemand for graduates who are trained in modern pharmaceutics research,says John L. Colaizzi, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “Weare very excited about the Bristol-Myers Squibb Fellowship program,because it will help us to continue to attract the very best studentsfrom throughout the nation and support them in a way that bestfacilitatestheir education and research progress.” Bristol-Myers Squibbfellowswill have the opportunity to conduct research, gain high-tech skillsand interact closely with scientists at one of the nation’s leadingresearch based pharmaceutical companies.”These fellowships are an expression of Bristol-Myers Squibb’srecognition of the importance of drug delivery research and willensurea steady stream of well-trained research scientists in this area,”says Kenneth Weg, B-MS executive vice president. The fellowshipsare renewable annual appointments and candidates will be selectedbased on prior academic achievement, involvement in professionalactivities,and leadership potential.The pharmaceutics department, established in 1985, conducts from $1to $2 million in research annually. Current initiatives includestudyingnew methods to improve vaccine effectiveness and delivery; identifyingenzymes that can enhance the performance of medications used to treatcancer and AIDS; and isolating specific genes that could be used todeliver drug therapy into the body to treat ovarian and breast cancer.Top Of PageWith Lions’ EyesLions Clubs worldwide support efforts to improve sight.For the northeast, George Johnson, 609-882-3332, is in chargeof collecting used eyeglasses and processing them for clubs locatedfrom Maine through Maryland.Glasses may be donated to drop-off points hosted by the club or tothe Lenscrafters location at MarketFair. Glasses are processed atthe Katzenbach School in Trenton and by inmates at Avenel and aresent to such countries as Bolivia, Mexico, San Domingo, and thePhilippines.Volunteers are needed at the recycling center at the Katzenbach Schoolto process these glasses on Fridays at 6 p.m. on January 29, February26, and March 26. The center has processed more than a millioneyeglasses.Stanley Pukash is in charge of the New Jersey Lions Eye Bank(908-879-6591) and George Vinci is president of the DelawareValley Lions Eye Bank. The eye banks seek donated eye tissue andsupplycorneas for transplant — corneas are available in New Jersey forthose in need. For information on the Lions, call 800-554-6675.Top Of PagePens for HireThe Mercer County Writers’ Collective has updated itsfree directory of professional writers, “Pens for Hire: theDirectoryof Professional Writers.”The collective will not admit fledgling writers looking for guidance,nor does it include those who write only fiction. “Our collectiveincludes a diverse group of nonfiction freelance writers, includingauthors, journalists, editors, and public relations specialists whohave been meeting monthly since January, 1997,” says RobinK. Levinson, founder of the group and formerly the health columnistat the Times of Trenton. “If you are looking for a wordsmith topen your biography, corporate communications expert to write yourpress release or brochure, or a top-flight journalist to write storiesfor your newspaper, magazine, or newsletter, you have come to theright place.”The directory includes one-page biographical sketches of members withspecialties ranging from business, finance, and health, to travel,parenting, psychology, education, and entertainment. For a free copyof the directory call Marie Recine at 609-584-7724 or E-mailrecines@erols.com. For information on joining the group callLevinsonat 609-584-9330 or E-mail: levinson@ixnetcom.com. Websitesare at https://www.trampsteamer.com/mcwc orhttps://community.nj.com/cc/writers.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
