My workshop on “Hearts & Smarts” was well attended, roughly 60 participants.  The “traditionals” and “baby-boomers” sat audience left, and Y-Gen and X-Gen on the right (best I could tell).  We jumped in with the basics of the distributor service department mission:

1. Create Happy Distributors
2. Improve the Company
3. Develop Service Professionals

Building on “Business in HD” (Happy Distributors as well as High Definition), we explored that High Def is the important definition around staff selection and development (selecting people who possess the soft skills–”heart”– and the hard skills–”smarts”) along with implementing distributor service best practices.  Participants who register at the ServiceQuest website will receive a copy of the book Hearts & Smarts when it is released.

The law requires that you purchase back product from a canceling distributor if the product is in resalable condition, and if the product was purchased within 90 days of the requested refund. The refund can be adjusted for as much as 10% for handling and re-stocking, less any commissions or rebates paid to the distributor returning the products. This is a standard provision that will appear in your distributor agreement and company policies and procedures. (If not, quickly get in touch with an MLM attorney specializing in our industry.)

Many companies go far beyond the minimum 90-day requirement, if for not other reasons than to (1) maintain sound standing with state and federal regulatory agencies and consumer protection bureaus, and (2) to maintain goodwill with the field and to contribute to the overall soundness of the reputation of direct selling .

On the other hand, there will always be reasons to follow your stated policies precisely-in fact, this must be the rule, rather than the exception-and a good customer service executive will know when policy administration requires a careful evaluation of when to go beyond the policies.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Solid companies earn the respect and confidence of their customers and distributors by guaranteeing the satisfaction of their customers and distributors. This is especially important when you consider that person-to-person marketing requires that a distributor stake his or her reputation on your ability to fulfill your promises (and sometimes the distributors’ promises!) and to take care of those who take a chance with you. Our society is geared to doing business with companies who offer no-haggle, no-hassle guarantees, interpreted by consumers to mean that the company will do what it takes to keep them happy. This is especially important in the early stages of a distributor’s efforts to attract a new customer or recruit.

The “100% Satisfaction Guarantee” is rooted in creating a safe haven for a new customer or distributor making a decision whether to take a chance on your company. It follows, therefore, that the guarantee has a short life before the stated guarantees concerning product returns and account cancellations take over. Normally, the stated policy for such a guarantee is 30 days; the life of such a guarantee, whether publicly stated or just followed internally, is ninety days. This gives a customer or new recruit ample time to have taken the chance, gotten started, and established a comfort level. Perhaps most importantly, it is a tool for your distributors who often work very hard to bring new customers and recruits to your company.

MLM and Party Plan Companies that set and enforce the time limit for returning products report the following: (a) the practice has reduced the number of returns; (b) returns are received earlier; (c) it apparently has not adversely affected sales; and (d) the company now has the option to handle late returns on a case-by-case merit basis

Naturally, the goal is a happy customer, ecstatic MLM distributors and thrilled Party Plan consultants. If you pause to think about it, the better job you do of keeping your promises, the better chance you have that expectations will be met because promises are kept. This begins with product that fulfills the promise, compensation plans that do what they say, and fulfillment on time every time. Visualize the customer receiving his or her order-or commission check-opening the box-or the envelope-and experiencing excitement or disappointment. Every element leading up to that experience must be in your focus as you design the system for fulfilling your promise.

With this foundation laid, consider how to handle disappointments to minimize their impact, and with the hope of keeping a customer for life, and therefore, keeping productive MLM distributors and Party Plan consultants for life.

Marketing studies have indicated that anxiety about returning unwanted merchandise and the actual chore of doing so are two of the major deterrents to at-home, long-distance shopping.

In an effort to alleviate some of this problem, companies are offering customers and distributors one or more of the following options: (1) USPS Merchandise Return Service; (2) UPS call-tag service; or (3) acceptance of returns at the company’s retail stores or will-call centers.

1. U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Merchandise Return Service.
   To utilize this service, a company completes Form 3625-Merchandise Return Permit Application, obtainable at any Post Office. There is an annual fee for the permit. Package-return charges are regular postal rates plus an additional small charge. Return charges are paid through an advance deposit account established by the company. 

   A return label is sent to the customer with the merchandise or mailed subsequently when the customer obtains permission to return. Return label requirements are described in the Section 919 of the Domestic Mail Manual. Customer affixes label to the package, places in mail box or delivers to Post Office. USPS delivers to company and deducts charges from the company’s deposit account. There must be sufficient funds in the deposit account or the package will not be returned.

   This service simplifies the addressing of the return package, eliminates the postage cost, and sometimes relieves the customer of the burden of going to the Post Office. The package can be put into a mailbox.

2. UPS Call Tag Service.
   After a request is received from the customer, the company notifies both UPS and the customer. UPS picks up at the address given by the customer (where someone is available to turn over the package-either home or office) and delivers the package to the company. UPS will make three pick-up attempts before the company has to issue another call tag. Cost of the service is the same as the outbound delivery charge. 
   An Important Note About Your Policies on Returns and Refunds

   The call-tag service is widely used by companies for customers who are not satisfied with merchandise. Total cost is born by the company. To keep a level playing field in the network marketing game, companies regularly only issue UPS call-tags when the merchandise pick-up is necessitated due to an error or oversight by the company. Given the layer of complexity added by MLM commission plan and Party Plan compensation considerations-namely, that an order is placed not only because the customer wants the products, but also because the order is placed by the MLM distributor or Party Plan consultant who is attempting to qualify for their commissions-the cost of returns should only be borne if your company policy is so stated (not likely) or if you make a mistake. Otherwise, you would be making it too easy for consultants, field reps, and distributors to play the game of placing a qualifying order, thereby earning the commission volume, returning the product, and getting a refund.

   For this reason, your company will have counter-balancing policies, not the least of which is the policy that a distributor must cancel his or her distributorship in order to obtain a refund. There really is no way around it. Bear in mind that you are not precluded from carrying a credit on account, particularly to accommodate those distributors and customers who receive an order and who truly have an issue with the product received. So long as you are not paying out cash refunds, you should be happy to carry a credit on account to be used strictly for exchange for products with equivalent cost and volume considerations. The natural extension of this analysis is that the exchange can only be for commissionable products, and not sales aids and non-commission-volume items.

   The call-tag service makes the return process markedly simpler-no charge and avoidance of the inconvenience of delivering to the Post Office. The package, however, still has to be securely wrapped. UPS also has a merchandise exchange service. This is particularly applicable for products needing repair or where an even exchange is involved. Here is how it works: (1) your customer contacts your company requesting an exchange; (2) your company ships the replacement via UPS with instructions that it is to be an exchange; and (3) the new item is delivered to your customer and the item to be returned is handed to the driver at the time of delivery. The company is billed for the normal delivery of both products plus a small service charge.

3. Acceptance at Your Company’s Retail Store or Will-Call Center.
   This service is not universally available, but must be considered. This is because some companies have at least a small store front associated with the corporate office, or even if they don’t, they have distributors who come to town to “look you over” and while there, wish to place orders. In a few rare instances, a difficult distributor or customer will bring the return to your corporate office. Hence, brief mention is made as to how you might handle these situations. 

   Well-established leaders in our industry are likely to accept order returns at their stores or will-call centers and offices for any reason. Of course, these locations are not convenient to at-home shoppers, and they reside outside the standard model for conducting long-distance business that reaches across the nation.

   However, when a customer shows up, the most satisfactory solution to the customer’s return problem-or any other problem-is to keep your company’s service reputation soundly intact, win a friend, and take care of the customer. Period.

In working with and visiting scores of customer service operations all across the nation, the founders of ServiceQuest are often struck by a surprising situation. The companies have not documented any customer service policies, or if such policies have been formulated, those employees who must implement them: (a) are not aware of the rules applying to their jobs; (b) are functioning under some outdated policies not in effect for many months or even years, or (c) don’t know how or where to find the applicable policies. In addition, when employees don’t know the ground rules, one should not hold them at fault. Management is deficient.

If there is any aspect of the business that requires clear, documented, well-implemented policies, it is the customer service, fulfillment, returns, and commissions adjustment functions. Failure to set and monitor policies can result in unnecessary expense to the company and customer, and the ultimate loss of the customer and any goodwill. Customer adjustments, service and returns goods policies should include these nine aspects.

1. Rules that apply directly to the customer, such as when the customer’s word will be accepted.
2. Standards of performance for the department, such as requiring that all commission checks are mailed on a specific day, communications have a reply initiated within a specified number of working days, or that unprocessed returns not exceed a designated carryover standard.
3. Time limits for effecting a customer adjustment. For instance, for how long a period after shipment will a return be accepted.
4. Application of service techniques, such as when the customer will be called instead of written or when the company will initiate a UPS pick-up of a return or send a replacement by an expedited carrier.
5. Refunds and other adjustments, such as when customer’s return postage will be reimbursed, how much of an allowance will be given for damaged products and when a customer will be sent a “gift” to rebuild goodwill or to compensate for aggravation or inconvenience.
6. Filing standards. That is, deciding what customer correspondence and pertinent replies should be retained and for how long. In general, most companies keep too much correspondence, and what they do keep is difficult to locate when it is needed.
7. Approval requirements. For example, deciding who, by job position, shall approve certain adjustments that exceed policy limits.
8. Limitations and changes in procedures deciding who, by job position, shall approve any changes in techniques, particularly initiation of and modifications to forms, form letters and form paragraphs sent to customers, governmental agencies or consumer advocates.
9. Insuring compliance with all government regulations pertaining to the company’s policy administration, compliance administration, order and commission adjustments, poison control reports (where applicable), returns activities, and similar practices.

“Perception Kickers”
Use these ideas to give your thought process a little “kick” and boost your ability to think “outside the box” to identify MLM and Party Plan customer services that will put you first in the minds of your field reps and customers.

• Track all positive and negative feedback from field reps and customers. Determine if they form a common thread and point you to identify a new system or modify an existing system.
• Ask your field regularly whether you’re meeting their expectations and what you can do to improve your performance.
• Solicit suggestions from your employees – especially those who interact regularly with customers – on ways to add value to the customer experience.
• Determine if the standards/evaluation criteria you use for your products and services are the same standards your customers use.
• List 10 things you’d love to discover about your company if you were a customer (even if they’re not a reality now).
• Play “devil’s advocate” and list the 10 least satisfying things about your business from your customer’s point of view.
• Review your customer-related policies and procedures from the customer’s point of view.
• Identify the one thing you’ve always felt was “impossible” to do but, if you could do it, would completely transform your business in the eyes of your customers.
• Grade yourself objectively on your MLM customer service and Party Plan support services performance at least once a month. Ask your employees and your customers to grade you as well. If all of you don’t agree, start digging to find out why!

Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems are built on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, you must make the commitment to become the undisputed leader in service and support. These tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, will help point the way.

A survey conducted by Consumer Dimensions of North Brunswick, NJ, a company specializing in consumer relations, showed that 52 percent of all consumers were “disappointed” “annoyed,” or “angry” with the responses they received after contacting a company to complain about a product or service.

Furthermore, 35 percent of those who complained said they “definitely would not” repurchase that company’s products or reuse its service in the future. Sixty percent of those who complained reported the company had been “pleasant” and “helpful.” Thirty percent described company representatives as “rude,” “unpleasant” or “uncooperative.”

An MLM company or Party Plan company can determine how well it is performing in comparison with the foregoing survey results by utilizing one or all of the following quality assurance procedures.

1. Monitor telephone conversations between customers and customer service personnel on a regular basis. This will provide direct evidence of customer reactions and the degree of their satisfaction with the service provided and the adjustment, if one is appropriate.
2. Send follow-up questionnaires to field reps and customers who have contacted the company with a problem, either by mail or telephone. Questionnaires should be keyed to the customer representative handling the transaction and include a business reply or a stamped envelope directed to a member of senior management or, if they are conducted via email and Internet, directed to the key manager.

   Questionnaires should ask the following:

   • Were you satisfied with the adjustment?
   • Was it handled promptly?
   • Was the telephone representative courteous, friendly and empathetic?
   • Was the response clear?
   • Were all your questions answered?, etc.

   A few companies contacted reported an 85 percent response rate on their questionnaires. A stamped reply envelope was found to elicit a higher response rate than a business reply or a metered envelope, and e-mail responses are only slightly higher than postage-paid responses.

3. Call customers who have experienced a major disappointment with the company’s products or enrollment experience, or who have written aggravated complaints. Ask them a structured series of questions to determine whether they are now satisfied and will continue to buy as a customer or build as a distributor. Such interviews should determine whether some adjustment policies should be modified to assure satisfaction in extreme cases.

Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems thrive and survive on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, you must make the commitment to become the undisputed leader in service and support. Finding out how well you are meeting these needs is essential. And by applying these tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, you may become better service-givers in the exciting world of multilevel marketing and party plan distribution.

Working in a customer service or returns department can be satisfying, nerve wracking and even amusing. Frustrated field reps and customers often take very unusual actions. Here are some examples:

• Returned merchandise is enclosed in a large package that also contains the sender’s garbage.
• The complainer works in a computer department, so she prepares the complaint in the form of a floppy disk that must be fed into a computer for translation into plain language. When translated, it reads, “I can’t get anything accomplished with humans, will you please help me?”
• The complainer makes many photocopies of his original complaint and mails one each day until he obtains a satisfactory answer.
• A business reply envelope is returned with hundreds of dead flies and insects.
• A complaint is written in poetry with the hope that it is more likely to get attention.
• A letter is taped to a 10 foot by 10-foot piece of plywood with the notation, “I am sure this won’t get lost in your system.”
• Bullets are enclosed in the envelope with instructions to the president of the company to “blow his head off.”

All of these have happened. On the other hand, some people do send “thank you” notes, gifts and pictures of their families to customer service representatives who have been helpful.

Publications To Help Consumers
In an effort to assist consumers who have problems, two publications are available to them. How To Write A Wrong-Complain Effectively And Get Results is a pamphlet published by the FTC in cooperation with the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). It tells how to provide the necessary information to resolve complaints and how to use appropriate levels of business and government to get results, if a call or letter doesn’t. A copy can be obtained without charge from FTC Distribution Branch, Washington, D.C. 20580.

The booklet Mail Order Rights was developed by the Consumer Affairs Office of American Express Company in cooperation with the USPS and U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. It is available without charge from Consumer Information Center, Pueblo, CO 81009. The purpose of the booklet is to instruct on how to order by mail.

Efficient and effective customer service and returns processing are essential and fully justified in terms of the contribution they can and should make to company growth and success. Nevertheless, they do represent overhead. The lower the volume of communications and returns handled, the lower the cost.

Minimizing unnecessary communications and returns depends to some extent on how those service activities operate, but much more depends on the functioning of other parts of the business-specifically, marketing, distribution, packaging, and billing.

Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems thrive and survive on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, making the commitment to become a leader in customer service and support is essential to your long-term success. And by applying these concepts and using these tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, you may become better service-givers in the exciting world of multilevel marketing and party plan distribution.

If there is one aspect of structuring a response group that has to be emphasized, it is the importance of the “Sort.” The business axiom of “plan your work then work your plan” has far-reaching implications in this step of your business cycle. Because the sorting function is so important, it should not be assigned to the most-recently-hired or lowest-paid employee. Those assigned to sorting the mail in the customer service department should be among the most experienced and best-paid workers in the group. In a small operation, the manager should perform this function. In some other operations, the team leaders perform the overall departmental sort. Thus, the first step is to assign the sorting function to the right people.

Second, using a multi-position sorting rack, sorters should segregate the mail, based upon their complete familiarity with it, into three major categories by team: simple, medium, and complex, including contacts from VIP’s. That stands for Very Important Persons, which includes letters personally addressed to company officers, registered and certified mail, letters from attorneys, governmental agencies and newspaper columnists, TV commentators, and those letters where the customer complains that no response has been received to a previously written query. This sort can be accomplished by a quick scanning of the letters. There is no need to read the letters word for word.

Third, consider the following information regarding production ranges for sorters. As a rule, trained personnel can perform this task, at the rate of 130 to 150 pieces per hour, including removal from the rack and counting by category. See the example below.

Most communications fall into the “simple” category-between 55 and 65 percent. These require little, if any, researching, and usually can be answered by a form card or form letter. Stressing the rapid handling of simple problems and keeping current with such communications should enable your company to provide superior service to the maximum number of customers and distributors. This policy does not mean that correspondence with more-complex problems is set aside, but by disposing of as many simple communications just about immediately and in an informal manner; the department will find that it can handle the more-serious and more-complicated complaints and inquiries expeditiously as well. Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems thrive and survive on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, making the commitment to become a leader in customer service and support is essential to your long-term success. By applying these concepts and using these tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, you may become better service-givers in the exciting world of multilevel marketing and party plan distribution.

Objectives for the MLM Customer Service Superstar

1. Be a Perfect Problem Solver
2. Be a Warm, Caring Human Being

Perfect Problem Solving by the MLM Customer Service Superstar

• Knowledge in the following areas
  • Compensation Plan
  • Products
  • Policies & Procedures
  • Company Resources
• Skills in these crucial interpersonal areas
  • Listening
  • Issue identification
  • Critical thinking and analysis
• Company Support from the top down
  • Customer Service Calls It, We Support It
  • Measure, Report, Reward
  • Systems Support (Computer, Work Flow)
• Follow-up as a way of life
  • Close Each Case with Speed and Care
  • Identify Dangers and Opportunities

PERFECT PROBLEM SOLVING by the MLM Customer Service Superstar

Make sure every customer service rep has the knowledge required to be perfect problem solvers.

• Compensation Plan — Certification program: know the compensation plan and be able to apply knowledge to a variety of situations to build solutions to all the problems and concerns of Marketing Executives
• Products — Product champions: know the literature and all training offered regarding products; be users of the products, be able to confidently and knowledgeably answer the important basic questions about the products, and be able to administer a technical product question referral.
• Policies and Procedures — Demonstrate Understanding and proficiency in the basis of each formal policy, in order to consistently administer interpretations and applications of the policies, and to assure that the underlying intent of each policy drives both administration and systems support of the policies. Know the policies so well that it is easy to find a way to say “yes” to a customer’s request.
• Company Resources — Know how to obtain all the information necessary to confidently fulfill the customer service mission of WOW-ing customers.

A great deal is written about customer service, and the best companies devote substantial resources to developing superstars. MLM customer service and Party Plan support systems demand the very best in a competitive environment.

Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems thrive and survive on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, making the commitment to become a leader in customer service and support is essential to your long-term success. And by applying these concepts and using these tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, you may become better service-givers in the exciting world of multilevel marketing and party plan distribution.

In a study of consumer complaint handling in industry, government, and retailing conducted for the Consumer Affairs Council, it was reported that over 40 percent of the companies surveyed provide customer service personnel with some sort of incentives. Furthermore, those offering incentives generally provided a higher level of customer service.

Incentives are also effectively applied in companies employing telephone marketing, inbound sales, direct marketing, and direct selling. Of the 181 companies that responded to an Employment Survey of the Direct Marketing Association’s Telephone Marketing Council, many indicated that they employ incentives in the telephone marketing function. Thirty-two percent provide recognition incentives; 26 percent cash; 21 percent events or parties; and 21 percent merchandise. In smaller call center functions, however, less than a quarter provide any type of incentives.

There are two basic types of incentives: (a) cash payments; and (b) non-monetary rewards. Each of these will be discussed separately, particularly as they apply to call center services and customer service.

Cash Payments The use of cash incentives as motivators, when personnel have direct contact (by phone or mail) with customers, has always been controversial. Questions are frequently raised as to whether commissions to retail sales clerks and telephone order takers or production bonuses to those responding to service calls or letters might degrade the overall service level.

Some executives suggest that employees could become more interested in increasing their own earnings than genuinely attempting to help the customer with his or her shopping or service problem.

Notwithstanding the above concern, cash incentives have proven to be very effective with a number of companies in increasing both sales and worker productivity. Further, those companies with professionally developed programs do not report any adverse effect on MLM and Party Plan customer relations. Here are three examples of the successful application of cash incentives.

1. Telephone order clerks are paid a percentage of the sales dollars of “specials” they personally sell to customers.
2. Telephone order clerks are given a monthly cash bonus based on the total dollar amount of orders taken over a predetermined base (hourly, daily, weekly, etc.). In both examples, payment is based on orders actually shipped.
3. Customer service correspondents are paid an incentive bonus for production above a standard processing volume. Separate standards are established for simple and complex problems. Work is assigned to correspondents based on complexity.

Non-Monetary Rewards
This refers to anything from addition of gold stars on identification badges to personal commendations by senior management. One executive said, “There can’t be too much in the way of acknowledging the contributions of top-notch customer service personnel.”

A wide variety of non-monetary rewards have been put to use, most with very positive results. Here are a few.

1. Selection of one or more customer service representatives-of-the-month who are rewarded with one of the following:
   1. Preferential parking spaces
   2. Flowers at the work place
   3. Trophy placed on the desk for the month
   4. Announcement and picture on the bulletin board and in the company newsletter
   5. Naming of a space and putting up a sign (“The Chris Starr Lunchroom”)
2. Sending letters of commendation addressed to the residences of top performers
3. Presentation of a merchandise certificate of nominal value or tickets to sporting, musical or cultural events when an employee receives compliments from four customers, indicating something extraordinary in the way of service.
4. Giving outstanding representatives the latest management/business best sellers or a subscription to a business publication.
5. Luncheon or dinner (sometimes spouses are invited, too) when an individual or department exceeds its sales or production goals.
6. Sending employees to special seminars, workshops outside the company, covering topics related to customer service.
7. Award of a pin, certificate, or achievement plaque for “plus performance,” with presentation made in front of colleagues by a member of senior management.
8. Creating a “Best Accomplishments Of The Year” booklet and include the picture, name and statement of the best customer service achievements.

In sum, there is positive evidence that monetary, semi-monetary, and non-monetary rewards, or a mix of these, all play an important role and encourage telephone and customer service personnel to help customers effectively. Since multilevel marketing (MLM) and Party Plan compensation systems thrive and survive on relationships, and because their continued existence is wholly dependent on the customer service environment that you create within your culture, making the commitment to become a leader in customer service and support is essential to your long-term success. By applying these concepts and using these tools, and others presented in the series on MLM customer service, you may become better service-givers in the exciting world of MLM and party plan distribution.