Of the many things that can help drive sales for your business, perhaps few could be more important than customer service. While your core products or services may get most of your attention during business planning, customer service deserves to be front and center in your operations, no matter what kind of business you run or what type of clients you serve. Quality customer service will influence the overall experience of your customers, directly impacting their satisfaction and retention rates.

A couple of months ago, I visited a well-known establishment in Miami for dinner. Even though it was a regular weeknight — not nearly as busy as a weekend rush — I noticed one of the staff members seemed completely overwhelmed. The table next to me was making endless demands, and the employee was visibly stressed, trying to accommodate them all. Watching this unfold, I couldn't help but think: "Is this really how businesses should operate?"

"Difficult prospects are a fact of sales life, and dealing with a difficult buyer who makes a sale harder than it needs to will always suck — and from time to time, you're bound to deal with an especially difficult buyer who makes a sale especially harder than it needs to be, and that experience will especially suck."

It wasn’t that many years ago when the expected image of a hotel general manager was a tall, most likely white, man sporting a folded handkerchief in the pocket of his perfectly tailored black blazer. Things have come a long way, and quickly, in the hospitality industry since that era. Corinne Heyl has worked at multiple luxury hotels in leadership positions and is now VP of Hotel Operations for The Boca Raton, overseeing four related hotels in South Florida: The Yacht Club, The Tower, The Cloisters, and The Bungalows.

There aren't enough hours in the day. No one is answering the phone. The dog ate my homework. Excuses abound when deadlines are tight. Life happens, and things come up. But in order to meet targets and goals, businesses have to find a way to persevere especially when it comes to sales. Luckily, there are strategies that sales teams can follow to avoid common problems and eliminate excuses altogether. Three seasoned sales experts share their tried-and-true tactics.

Businesses are bound to make mistakes and disappoint their customers. But how you build your apology message and your careful attention to executing it appropriately can make the difference between losing those customers or increasing their loyalty. When delivered well, your apology message can improve the customer relationship to the point where it is stronger than if the mistake had never happened — a phenomenon known as the service recovery paradox.

Businesses are bound to make mistakes and disappoint their customers. But how you build your apology message and your careful attention to executing it appropriately can make the difference between losing those customers or increasing their loyalty. When delivered well, your apology message can improve the customer relationship to the point where it is stronger than if the mistake had never happened — a phenomenon known as the service recovery paradox. In this article, the author outlines five steps for writing an effective apology message and explains why it’s important to share the apology process internally and with external stakeholders. It not only shows vulnerability from the organization but also shows other customers that the company can be relied upon in times of distress.