After feedback from different customers, one feature we have been able to introduce is to add business names to customer’s payment transaction on their credit card.  This listing currently appears on the customer’s bank account statement but not their credit card statement.  From 27 February 2012 business names will also appear on the customer’s Visa and MasterCard statements too. 

If you are a customer of Ezypay and would like to more information about these new FREE features please call the customer service team on 1300 300 553 or customerservice@ezypay.com.au, and they will abe able to help

Be Proactive with Socila Media

I recently found this great article with 7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media.   They are really simple, but easy to follow steps that everyone can do in their business.  I know we are all time poor so I thought that I would break it down into a step by step guide.

Step 1: Give Your Customers a Place to Talk 

Step 2: Integrate Social Media into your Customer Service

Step 3: Activate Your Existing Customer Base

Here is the fourth step in the series – Step 4: Be Proactive

You don’t have to wait for your customers to talk to you – you can go out and interact with them.  There is nothing to stop you from finding them and thanking them for their business.  You can especially interact with them if they are talking about your brand or mentioning an issue that your brand can help them solve!

When your customers come into to see you and they fill in a customer or membership enrollment form do you ask them for their social media contacts?  What’s stopping you from doing this?

How do you proactively connect with your customers?

Here is the link to the full article http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/

Step 1: Give Your Customers a Place to Talk 

Step 2: Combine social media and customer service

Here is the third step in the series.

Step 3 – Activate your Existing Customer Base

Who do you really want to connect with in your social media?  Your customers right?  Maybe even your prospects.  Have you noticed that different people seem to like one social media site more than others?  I really like Facebook and my husband prefers LinkedIn.  You will have customers with preferences too.  So as part of your customer service connections have you considered offering these different social media sites?

Can your customers post a question in one of your sites and receive an answer?  Are you inviting your customers to these sites?  You can create competitions, insert them in your newsletters, put links in your emails, ask your customers if they have a Facebook or LinkedIn profile and you can go and connect with them.

What do you do to connect with your customers in your social media sites?  What works for you?

Here is the link to the full article http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/

Integrate social media into your customer service

I recently found this great article with 7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media.   They are really simple, but easy to follow steps that everyone can do in their business.  I know we are all time poor so I thought that I would break it down into a step by step guide.

Step 1: Give Your Customers a Place to Talk  

Here is the second step in the series.

Step 2: Integrate Social Media Into Your Customer Service

If you are using social media you will get all kinds of comments on your pages – some good and some bad.  However you need to respond to them just as you would in any other environment.  Don’t be afraid of them – they will happen anyway but being in this environment will mean that you actually have a chance to see them and respond.

Don’t delete these posts unless they are abusive or rude.  If it is a reasonable complaint you are much better to leave it because you are creating a level of transparency and respect.

Have you even had the experience of dealing with negative customer feedback in social media?  How did you manage it?

Here is the link to the full article http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/

Give Your Customers a Place to Talk

I recently found this great article with 7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media.   They are really simple, but easy to follow steps that everyone can do in their business.  I know we are all time poor so I thought that I would break it down into a step by step guide.

Step 1: Give Your Customers a Place to Talk

Have you got a Facebook page?  Do you work in a business that is afraid to create one?  I have talked to lots of people about this and some have decided not to have a page because they don’t want someone to say something negative.

The reality is that there will always (unfortunately) people out there who say something negative.  What you are doing by having a Facebook page is giving them a forum to communicate with you if they wish and they are giving you an opportunity to help them and turn their bad experience into a positive one.

We have done this on our blog, and Facebook page.  We leave not so great comments there but we respond to them too.  If the comments are rude or you really don’t want them then you can always delete them.

Customers who care enough to give you feedback and engage are actually very valuable.  Listen to them and do what you can for them.

Do you have an experience where you have received a negative comment in one of your social media forums?  How did you manage it?

Here is the link to the full article http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/

1. WOW Your Customers With Memorable, Share-able Experiences - Saucy Social Media
2. Creating Memorable Moments – Dynamic Experiences Group
3. Making Customer Experiences Memorable – Business Opportunities
4. Creating Memorable Customer Experience – David Finch
5. What is Customer Service Like at the Level of Creating Memorable Experiences and How Do You Create It? - ehotelier
6. What Ways Can I Create Memorable Customer Service – Ask Inc
7. Customer Experience – Corproate Health Group
8. 6 Ways to Create an Unforgettable Customer Experience – Business Insider
9. Create Memorable Experiences to Build Customer Relationships – Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
10. Knowing the Importance of Good Customer Service – Strategic Workplace Solutions
11. Six Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience – Entrepreneur
12. Turn Adequate customer Service into a Memorable Customer Experience – VIP Desk
13. Create a Memorable Customer Experience – Hurlbut Associates
14. Top Five Tips – WOW Customer Experience in 60 Seconds – CSM Surveys

Which of the links do you like the best? Let us know – we would love to hear about what you do in your business to create memorable customer experiences.

Follow the Creating Memorable Customer Experiences: articles, stories and video updates on our Facebook page and on our Blog .

Fitness club members leave because their expectations are not met

This year so far 12,810 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging. The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay, is the go-to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Twenty percent (20%) of members have told us that they leave their fitness club because the club never met their expectation.  What expectation are we creating when a new member joins?  That they will look amazing, feel amazing, lose weight, build muscle etc.  Something is going wrong here because one in five people who join a club have an expectation that is not met.

If you could impact any percentage of these people by helping them have a reasonable expectation of their membership or their exercise outcomes then you will stop members from leaving. Meet their expectations, create reasonable expectations or manage their unreasonable expectations and you will lose less members.

The survey is still open for members to respond.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au. 

About Ezypay

Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing members’ bills.

With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au

Creating Memorable Customer Experiences

Thanks to everyone who made a comment on our 31 Day Cash Flow Challenge that we ran in January.  We also had the pleasure of having guest blogs from Justin Tamsett from Active Management, Rohen Burton from Fit n Fast, Rowan Brown from Recovery Partners, Heather Stone from You’ve Been Promoted.  Thanks for sharing your tips with everyone.

February is the month of love so we are going to be talking about ‘Creating Memorable Customer Experiences’.  Awesome customer experiences generate raving fans and raving fans create revenue in your business. Follow our blog and Facebook for lots of interesting articles, videos and stories about Creating Memorable Customer Experiences. This month we are planning to take advantage of the leap day on 29 February and will be having a Creating Memorable Customer Experience web event.

If you would like to win a cool orange prize make your way over to our Facebook page and enter the competition.  You can win an orange watch, an orange drink bottle or an orange plate.  We are also over at LinkedIn if you prefer to hang out there.

The Australian and New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey will be closing soon but is still open for members to respond.  This year so far 12,810 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey and some interesting results are emerging. If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.

31 Daily Cash Flow Tips

During the month of January 2012 Ezypay shared our cash flow expertise and running a 31 Day Cash Flow Challenge.  Here is a reveiw of all the daily tips.

An eBook will be available soon.

Day #1 – Make sure you know your current financial position

Day #2 – Make sure the price is right and you are covering your costs

Day #3 – Reconcile your membership income on a weekly basis

Day #4 – Reduce non-core-expenditure

Day #5 – Carefully budget payments for essential expenses

Day # 6 – Keep stock levels to a minimum

Day #7 – Set your credit terms carefully

Day #8 – Planning for the lumps

Day #9 – Pay your creditors strategically – guest blogger Heather Stone – You’ve Been Promoted

Day #10 – Are you addicted to lump sum revenue? Guest blogger Justin Tamsett – Active Management

Day #11 – Don’t incur tax and other statutory penalties

Day #12 – Send invoices on a daily or weekly basis

Day #13 – Invest spare cash in a high interest account

Day #14 – Be really stingy and eradicate unnecessary expenses

Day #15 – Get finance products working to your benefit

Day #16 – Don’t forget about Pro-rata payments

Day #17 – Spread out payments over a reasonable time frame

Day #18 – Do a cash flow projection

Day #19 – Bring in the professionals

Day #20 – Make more sales

Day #21 – Do you know the difference between a balance sheet and profit and loss

Day #22 – Get another quote or two

Day #23 – Discount …. but only for profit

Day #24 – Regularly complete an expense audit

Day #25 – Make someone responsible for debt recovery – guest blogger Rowan Brown, Director, Recovery Partners

Day #26 – Understand the impact of payment cycles on your business – guest blogger Rohen Burton, Chief Financial Officer, Fit n Fast

Day #27 – Use Paretos 80/20 rule – guest blogger Rohen Burton, Chief Financial Officer, Fit n Fast

Day #28 – Set up a USD account – guest blogger Rohen Burton, Chief Financial Officer, Fit n Fast

Day #29 – Collect Bad Debts ASAP – guest blogger Rohen Burton, Chief Financial Officer, Fit n Fast

Day #30 – Growing a business using 3 to 5 yr projections-  guest blogger Rohen Burton, Chief Financial Officer, Fit n Fast

Day #31 – Ways to find hidden money in your business –from the Australian Business Centre

Fitness clubs ignore a member’s motivation to get fit

This year so far 12,810 members across Australia and New Zealand have responded to the survey.  Some interesting results are emerging. The Australian & New Zealand Fitness Industry Survey run by Ezypay, is the go-to place for fitness club member’s thoughts feelings and perceptions.  It is now 5 years old and is the largest of its kind in the world.

Members are telling us that the biggest influencer on them to go to the gym on a daily basis is their own self-motivation (43%).  Again it is their self-motivation that is the biggest influencer on their long term commitment to keep coming back (39%). What then are clubs doing to impact a member’s self-motivation?

According to over 12,000 members – not much if anything.  The fitness test or a personal training session does not help the member increase or exercise that self-motivation which is driving their attendance. What if anything are you doing in your club to help your member’s with their self-motivation to exercise?

The survey is still open for members to respond.  If you would like to receive the full report, then help us by sending the link to your members.  For more information contact Simon Hall, Marketing Manager, Ezypay simon.hall@ezypay.com.au.

About Ezypay

Ezypay is an outsourced direct debit service provider dedicated to offering a payment collection system that assists businesses in the regulation of their cash flow and revenue without the hassle of managing members’ bills.

With close links to the fitness industry Ezypay offer small to medium growth business of all types an easy online payment collection options at www.ezypay.com.au.