"Don't talk during the movie or we will take your ass out." If you've been to an Alamo Drafthouse, the movie theater chain in Austin, Texas, then you've seen that semi-serious warning couched in a fun "public service announcement" before a movie showing. Theater founder Tim League knows that talkers mar the movie-watching experience for everyone else, and he does not tolerate them -- even if they punch the windshield of his car.See, Tim was a customer recently at one of his theaters. A nearby loud-talker was asked by a theater waiter to keep it down. The customer protested, loudly, demanding…
Customer Service
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Church of the Customer Blog
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Kicking out unwanted customers
30 Oct 2009 | 10:35 am -
Twitter: the killer app for customer service
22 Oct 2009 | 10:31 am"Hello, this is Sam Kaufman from the AT&T Internet Executive Office, and I am calling about your tweets."That's what I heard yesterday after posting a few tweets about my less-than-stellar customer service experience with an AT&T DSL technical support rep. The rep was trying to diagnose my DSL problems and after telling me to stay on the line for 10 minutes, he never returned after 30 minutes. I hung up. He never called back.With a few hours of my AT&T tweet, @ATTJohnathon, a customer care rep on Twitter contacted me, asking if he could help. I DM'ed him my account number as he… -
Fees are penalties. Always.
19 Oct 2009 | 1:24 pmIt's a wonder why some businesses can't grasp this. Consider the U.S. airlines last month: Southwest reported an 8.8% increase in revenue passenger miles. Its load factor, the percentage of seats that were filled, increased 11% from a year ago, to 74.7% — a big increase for a month in which schools reopen and summer vacation travels stop. JetBlue saw a 9.8% jump in passenger miles. Its load factor rose about 1% from the prior year, to 77.6%. Compare those numbers to other airlines. Delta: Down 5% on its mainline operation. It also cut capacity by 5%. American: Down 2.6% domestically. It cut… -
4 questions with author Jeanne Bliss
16 Oct 2009 | 1:30 pmWhat makes the difference between having customers who like you and customers who love you? Many businesses are admired, but only an elite few have passionate, loyal, vocal fans. The kind of customers who not only come back time and time again, but rave to friends, family, and even strangers. Jeanne Bliss has been the Chief Customer Officer for Lands End, Coldwell Banker, and Allstate, to name a few. Her new book, "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad,is her take on how companies create beloved brands. Q: You describe… -
A social media truism
13 Oct 2009 | 8:01 amWhen times are good, participate.When times are tough, participate more.(Doesn't that read better than "advertise" in that old saying?)
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Kevin's Blog
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Leadership Lessons from the Berlin Wall
6 Nov 2009 | 7:29 amIn 1961 the East German government built the Berlin wall to stop the flow of people into West Germany. Over time, the wall did more than stop the flow of people. It became a powerful symbol of oppression and stopped the flow of ideas and freedom.On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. This historic change opened the flow of people, and again became an equally powerful symbol of change, creativity and a return to greater freedoms.Both the building and tearing down of the wall are powerful metaphors for leaders. Many leaders put up walls to "protect" or "isolate" themselves from those they… -
Five Ways to Keep People Focused on Their Goals
6 Nov 2009 | 7:26 amOn December 4th, I am delivering a one-hour teleseminar on helping teams and individuals focus on their goals more successfully. This article/recommendation previews one small part of what you will learn and be able to apply after participating in the teleseminar. Sign up now!Goals, whether formally stated or not, are critical to all organizational success. We (hopefully) all have over-arching organizational goals; but on a more practical and immediately applicable level, we have project goals, productivity goals, quality goals, developmental goals, and the list could go on.Setting effective… -
Four Ways to Engage Your Team Everyday
30 Oct 2009 | 5:10 amOne of the biggest business buzzwords today is engagement. Everyone suddenly seems to have realized that we need to have employees who are engaged in their work. It seems to be the latest "holy grail" in leadership and management circles (teams, lean and total quality are just three past examples).Like the other examples, creating and nurturing engaged employees is important and will make a difference both for the individuals and the organization. I believe in the importance of engagement and the value of engaged employees. And I believe leaders can make a big difference in this area.And, if… -
101 Ways to Have a Great Day at Work by Stephanie Goddard Davidson
30 Oct 2009 | 5:07 amYou won't get a simpler book than this. It fits in the palm of your hand. The left hand pages contain brief quotations. The right hand page contains a tip for making it a great day at work.Here are two examples. I just randomly opened the book and . . .#41 Take Ten! The next time you can't get started on a task or project, tell yourself you will only work on it for ten minutes. Chances are you will stick with it once you've started, but even if you move on after ten minutes, you have accomplished that much more.#21 Find Inspiration. Find a quote that really inspires you and post it somewhere… -
Five Keys to Blazing Inspiration
23 Oct 2009 | 7:45 amEveryone I know loves the feeling that comes with being inspired. They like the mental lift, the energy, the attitude, the productivity, the satisfaction and even the way it makes them feel physically.And as wonderful and valuable as inspiration is, for most of us, it's hard to capture, expand and make last. We want the eternal flame, but far too often settle for a spark as fleeting as the flame provided by a match.There are predictable ways you can extend the life of your inspirational flame. When you learn these ways, they become important to not just you, but also those you care about,…
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AllBusiness.com - Customer Service Experience
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Fleshing Out Your Social Media Strategy
5 Nov 2009 | 8:45 pmJohn promises to expand on these 11 goals in future posts, but let me jump in here and either contribute to the discussion or muddy the waters, depending on your perspective. -
Every Thing You Do Comes Back To You
26 Oct 2009 | 2:50 amI had some 'splainin' to do, as Ricky Ricardo would say. -
Creating A Customer Service Course: Part 5: Identifying The Abilities Your Organization Values
22 Oct 2009 | 11:05 pmWe found in building our customer service course that we needed to discuss the abilities we expect staff to demonstrate. -
Building The Business Case For Customer Service, Part 2
20 Oct 2009 | 11:00 pm...your employees should have a clear understanding of why it’s important to deliver superior customer service... -
Building A Customer Service Course, Part Four: The Relationship Between CRM And Customer Service
20 Oct 2009 | 10:30 pmIf you use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy, you should discuss how it relates to superior customer service.
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vancouver | restaurant, retail, entertainment service review information
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indian oven vancouver
7 Nov 2009 | 12:40 amIf you’ve ever talked to anyone from Winnipeg, you may have heard of a strange and ritualistic event that elicits great emotion - “socials”. If you happen to be from Winnipeg, that’s awesome…keep reading anyway. Regardless of whether you’ve heard of or been to a social, you’ll probably know exactly what I mean when I reference these typical traits: simplistic - just enough decoration and dressing up to get things done un-assuming - in looking at the venue, nothing jumps out as being over-the-top (e.g., roller rinks, church basements, and legion… -
beauty bar
30 Oct 2009 | 7:15 amAs you may or may not know, timinganddelivery.com welcomes your stories relating to service! And…from-time-to-time we publish some of them - like the one you are about to read. If you think you have a service experience worth sharing (good or not-so-good), send it in! It had been three years since I had been in to Beauty Bar at 2142 West 4th Avenue in Kitsilano. So…having just moved back into the neighbourhood with my boyfriend, I decided to pop in. My reason for stopping by, aside from it being a cool store that is fun, bright, organized and great for gift ideas (my two cents), was… -
welcome savoury chef!
22 Oct 2009 | 10:23 pmWe at timinganddelivery.com would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest partner, Savoury Chef! Savoury Chef is located at 826 Renfrew Street and is focused on two things we are very big fans of: 1) food; and 2) service According to their Web site, Savoury Chef Foods happily offers a number of different catering services in and around Vancouver and their menus feature seasonal and local products wherever possible. The back-story: What began as a small catering business has grown exponentially since Chef Taryn Wa moved into their commercial kitchen space in 2006. As business… -
jonker street
8 Oct 2009 | 12:03 pmTommy Ng and Jonker Street epitomize Malaysian Hospitality. Friendly and welcoming, always ready with a joke and a smile, Tommy Ng is the face of Jonker Street. At this Malaysian restaurant (on Pacific Boulevard in Yaletown), the food will transport you to the streets of Malacca, Penang and Kuching, while Tommy’s warmth and hospitality will welcome you in and bring you back, time and again. Unlike the Kopitiam’s (coffee shops) or Hawker Stalls (open-air food courts) native to the region, where the clamorous sounds, colorful sights and pungent smells grab a hold and surround you,… -
welcome body politic
1 Oct 2009 | 6:52 amWe at timinganddelivery.com would like to take this opportunity to welcome its newest partner, body politic! body politic is located at 208 East 12th Avenue (SE corner) and is centred around sustainable design and limitless style. According to their Web site, it’s about choice, not sacrifice. Independent designers from Vancouver to New York are showcased at body politic. The back-story: Growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, owner Nicole Ritchie-Oseen always had a determined spirit and a love of fashion. Packing up this determination (and, she confesses, a lot of clothes and shoes) she set her…
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toronto | restaurant, retail, entertainment service review information
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top 10 posts (October)
28 Oct 2009 | 8:29 amThe results are in! Ranked by number of page views, the following is a list of the top 10 Toronto service reviews for the month ended October 27. Some recurring trends in this month’s top 10: meat, leather, and coats… 1) Lorne’s Coats - Vanessa Green 2) Copacabana Brazilian Steakhouse - Vanessa Green 3) Northbound Leather - Frances Avalon 4) Ronnie’s Local 069 - Frances Avalon 5) Black’s Photography (on Bay) - Connie Tsang 6) Chez Cora - Connie Tsang 7) The Brant House - Frances Avalon 8) Hoops Sports Bar and Grill (Yonge) - Connie Tsang 9) … -
dance cave
30 Sep 2009 | 9:40 amThe Dance Cave 529 Bloor St. West 416.532.1598 I’m pretty sure The Dance Cave has been around since before dirt. It’s situated above famed live-music venue, Lee’s Palace, and it’s about the same footage and layout-a big square, but without a stage for bands. It’s got that late-80s boho Queen St. vibe that the Bamboo had and the Horseshoe has in spades. The walls are even decorated in a Keith Herring rip-off paint job of black squiggles that go nowhere. Pros: Fridays and Saturdays have had a line up four deep and a block long for over a decade. It’s only $5… -
midtown
28 Sep 2009 | 10:04 amLittle Italy is absolutely bursting with bars and clubs and somewhere in the middle, you’ll find Midtown (522 College). This is a crowd favourite for the university crowd and late twenty somethings and the place is always bumping. You’ll have a rough time getting to the bar and dance floor area of Midtown as this place is constantly ram-packed with drunken revelers. Once you do get through the crowd of people, you will most definitely be waiting again at the bar. There aren’t nearly as many bartenders required to serve the mass of people, but what else is new in Toronto? Midtown is not… -
studio gallery
24 Sep 2009 | 9:27 am294 College Street 2nd Floor 416.832.3933 In the 90s there was an illegal after hours above the paint store on the corner of College and Spadina. I only mention it because every time I go to Studio Gallery (also on the second floor on College, but a few door down) I think of that space. It’s an alternative gallery that caters to the hipster Cive-Guide-to-cool set. The layout is basic: up a flight of stairs and down a long hallways there are two square 500 sq. ft or so rooms that are used as gallery spaces. On occasion they use the back fire escape as the entrance for smaller, one-room… -
flo’s diner
21 Sep 2009 | 8:46 amThe skins on Flo’s Diner are these: it was a gorgeous 50s diner in the heart of Yorkville on a corner lot. It WAS where that stupid condo that’s also the Roots is now and the corner was on a parking lot which is now that park fail. Flo’s had to move to the second floor of what I can only describe as a micro-mall on Yorkville Ave. I used to go with my mom every weekend for brunch and old-style 50s fare like root beer floats and red vinyl covered swivel chairs. It was the real deal alright. But alas, those days are long gone. I boycotted the new down-sized location for at…
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CustomerThink - Blog Posts
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Lessons Learned at the SCRM E2.0 Conference
6 Nov 2009 | 4:22 pm -
Seven Critical Questions to Ensure Master Data Governance Success
6 Nov 2009 | 8:21 am -
Manager “Chaperone” for Demo Prep Calls
6 Nov 2009 | 7:37 am -
7 Print Newsletter Design Tips to Get Your Client Newsletter Opened & Read Every Time
6 Nov 2009 | 4:23 am -
Budget for a Great Client Experience
5 Nov 2009 | 11:22 pm
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Conversation Agent
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Is Your Conversation About Scarcity or Abundance?
6 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amYou need to decide now, because your results depend on the answer. I have a problem with scarcity mindset - it's myopic, unnecessarily restrictive, and in fact destructive for you and your organization. Scarcity presupposes that you're the center of the universe, that the work box is the only box available for packing a life, and it doesn't have a good ending. It's a very lonely ending. Yesterday we talked about the difference between getting recognition for its own sake and getting the idea done. The latter is in the abundance camp. Which incidentally is the same place or context where weak… -
Participation and Getting Ideas Done
5 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am[Maestro Salieri and the priest, from Amadeus, 2:35]This week, so far, we talked about setting up listening posts to serve customers better as first line of response and to be proactive, building a framework to develop valuable content to deliver as a service, and measurement. Today we focus on participation. That mix of attention, time, interaction, with a sprinkle of human thrown into it that makes relationships start and grow.What did you see in the movie clip above? [hat tip Rohit Barghava for leading me to Amadeus] Antonio Salieri was the most famous composer in Europe. He wrote 40… -
Avinash Kaushik, Web Analytics 2.0
4 Nov 2009 | 4:00 am“In God we trust, all others bring data.” — Framed plaque from the ‘60s at NASA’s Johnson Space CenterWhen it comes to deep smarts, curiosity, with practical advice and sprinkled with a healthy dose of good humor, I cannot think of anyone more qualified than Avinash Kaushik. He's not only a real dynamo in all matters analytics, he's also a genuinely passionate, interesting, and kind person. Think that he wrote the answers to our conversation while his hand was healing from an injury because he had made a promise.Every single one of his posts - and now I can say the same for the… -
Developing a B2B Content Strategy: Start with Who
3 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amBusinesses that want to create long-term sustainable growth will be increasingly moving towards connected company status. That is the place where being social benefits the business by providing insights, strengthening relationships with partners and customers, and building and connecting a community with common grounds and needs. In many organizations, the listening post resides within the marketing group. As we discussed yesterday here and on Twitter, customer service should co-own the space and collaborate to develop big ears during customer conversations and interactions. In many B2B… -
Twitter, Customer Service, and Good Brand Management
2 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amIf monitoring conversations and knowing what you're listening for is the first ingredient in good online best practices, knowing when and how to respond is much more than good etiquette. It's become an integral aspect of brand management and can mean the difference between a flop - or worse, a crisis - and a deposit in your company's reputation bank.It's easy to dismiss Twitter's usefulness as a tool. That is until you figure out that on Twitter you can find mentions of your brand and you can actually connect with customers directly and provide a first line of response. Chances are, that in…
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CRM Daily
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Is Google Dashboard Really Transparent or a PR Stunt?
6 Nov 2009 | 11:06 amA new product that gives users a new level of insight into what the world's biggest search engine knows about them was launched Thursday. Google Dashboard lets users see reports on the data Google has collected on them. In a blog post, Google said the Dashboard is an improvement on past efforts like the Privacy Center to give users access to retained information. Dashboard is "an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control ... (and) designed to be simple and useful," the posting said. "The Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account)… -
TioLive Unveils SaaS ERP/CRM Solution
6 Nov 2009 | 6:25 amDover (USA), Paris (France) -- November, 4th 2009 - Nexedi, the company behind ERP5, the Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution in use for over seven years by large organisations such as a multi-national Central Bank spanning eight countries as well as Infoterra (EADS Astrium group), Beteire Flow (Abertis group) and The Artois-Picardie Water Agency, is proud to present TioLive, a SaaS (Software as a Service) version of ERP5 available immediately through the Web. TioLive: On-line Enterprise Management Software for Free. TioLive is marketed by TIOLIVE LLC (Dover, USA), a… -
Psst! Private-Sale Shopping Sites Are Hot
6 Nov 2009 | 4:02 amDuring last year's bleak holiday shopping season, fashion designer Lauren Merkin greatly overestimated the number of handbags she'd sell in upscale retail stores such as Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's. She found a good way to sell them elsewhere without consigning them to a bargain-basement rack that might tarnish the brand in the eyes of would-be customers. All year, she's been selling the excess goods for half-price on the members-only Web site Gilt Groupe, during 36-hour sales that are hidden from the view of the general public. "What we're selling is first-rung, but if it sits around at… -
Commerce Search Aims To Help Retailers Boost Sales
5 Nov 2009 | 10:54 amAs part of its quest to organize the world's information, Google is upping its commitment to organizing everything you can buy. On Thursday, the search giant announced Google Commerce Search, a new hosted enterprise search product that will help customers find products at online retail stores and e-commerce sites. Google noted that, while the last 15 years have seen advances in e-commerce, the search methods used for e-commerce have been a barrier to growth. "The average online retailer conversion rate is just three percent," the company said, "but could potentially be five to 10 times… -
Presence Technology and CGS Join Forces
5 Nov 2009 | 7:38 amAtlanta, GA & Edison, NJ -- Presence Technology, a global software provider of a modular all-in-one contact center solution suite, and CGS, LLC, a leading provider of high-technology and hosting solutions, have signed a collaboration agreement to extend the reach of their contact center applications. "In today's economy, there is no room for wasteful capital expenditures and operating expenses," observes Joseph Teichman, CGS president and CEO. "Contact center organizations are agile, flexible, and extremely price conscious. They require rapid deployments and quick adaptation of their business…
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Customer Experience Crossroads
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Catching up: immersive experiences, bathroom blogfest and simplicity
3 Nov 2009 | 8:24 amI've been away from my office for a week, but it feels like a month, things are so backed up. This morning, trainer TK (aka the princess of pain) wanted to know why I didn't get any hotel workouts in... at the time, just getting enough sleep felt like a victory. Some experiences are very immersive, and don't leave much room for anything else. A good vacation is like that, but so are some conferences, and some of my work projects are like that. Immersive experiences and simplicityHere's the thing - many of your target customers are in some kind of immersive experience. Their day to day life is… -
New methods for a digital world: agile, iteration + prototyping, not top down plan
20 Oct 2009 | 10:37 amI'm no expert on the Agile development process, but I love the concept - - that every small piece of work that is done in the development stage should yield a usable function. I like this approach to customer experience too, but give me a sec to explain how I see the connection. I was trying to explain about Agile development to someone recently, who likened it to the auto assembly process. But it's not, really. With auto assembly, you know what the finished car is supposed to look like. You have a detailed plan. You divide that plan up into small pieces of efficient manufacturing, and… -
Respecting your customers
8 Oct 2009 | 6:55 amI think you'll like this little story, but I have to tell you the situation first: I'm in Palm Springs at a Renaissance resort for the annual QRCA conference. Since I'm three time zones away from home, I'm up early.So yesterday, I decided on a quick swim and a hot tub shortly after 7 am, when there was no-one around except the guys making the pool ready for the day. I thought I saw a big pile of towels on the lounge seating. These are like giant outdoor livingrooms with fire pits to ward off the desert chill at night. The chairs are oversized bamboo and cushion affairs that are quite nice. -
A little inspiration at the right moment: A girl named pants
7 Oct 2009 | 6:58 amI'm in lovely Palm Springs this week at the QRCA Conference -- more on that in a minute. You may imagine that I'm enjoying warms sunny days, but actually, I was freezing in my pashmina during a day of board meetings inside the hotel. It was a long day, and I got up feeling rather uninspired. But then ... [trumpets going da-da-da-daaaaah here please]My e-mail flashed me back to two years ago at the AGILE Alliance conference, for agile software developers. They let me run a panel for them, and we had a ball. Which is where I met Tom Coulson, who signed a poster of A Girl Named Pants for me.
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Customer Relations
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Analytics, the Key to Efficient Customer Service
Companies these days are seeing the value of using customer data to better serve customers. It usually goes back to the adage that you can't serve those you don't know. The companies who have a system in place to gather and store their customer data has information technology to thank. Without ... -
How to Lodge Your (Customer) Complaint (Effectively)
Customers refrain from complaining for fear that the situation may even be made more difficult. And there are stories that support this: a customer complaining about his food ended up being given dirty food from the kitchen or a customer being given the roundabout because he is perceived to be ... -
Customer Service That Spells the Difference
Susan Hoekstra of Susan Hoekstra & Associates and author of The Service Journey shares with us how customer service can give you that competitive edge. She lists down the following: Take your purpose to a higher level. Standardize the Experience. Connect with Your Clients. Own the Experience. When the Answer is “No”. When Your Clients Don’t ... -
5 Attributes Of The Best Real-Time Customer Call Centers
My laptop has keypad problems, so I had to borrow another laptop so that I could still get some work done at home. This also meant that I had to register the other laptop to the ISP's portal. So, I called the ISP's hotline and as expected, I had to wait ... -
Microsoft Improves Customer Service Further by Tweeting
More and more companies are now seeing the value of joining Twitter. The latest to do so is Microsoft. It's Customer Service arm joins twitter. I agree with the article on ghacks.net. Twitter may not be a good venue to share all the technical stuff, but it's a good way to ...
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makeorbreakmoments.com
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Carpet Cleaning Challenge
3 Nov 2009 | 2:09 pmI have company coming for Thanksgiving and as I make a list of all that needs to be done before they arrive, I realize the carpets need to be cleaned. The cleaner I used to use is no longer in business so it was back to the Yellow Pages to make a few calls. I called [...] -
Do We Make it FUN for Our Customers?
2 Nov 2009 | 9:31 amI just saw a video from Stockholm that tested the theory of added fun to the mundane. People, when given a choice of the stairs or escalators – chose the escalators. The Fun Theory, by Volkswagen, wanted to see if they added FUN to walking up the stairs if there would be a difference in behavior. Check [...] -
Customer Service: A Thing of the Past
30 Oct 2009 | 9:10 amI was just reading John DiJulius’ recent newsletter in which he shares the latest statistics on customer service. In the past (survey from 1997-2007)38% of companies ranked a “3″ on a 1-5 scale in terms of customer service. One representing the worst possible experience and “5″ as World Class. That’s a “C” on my report card. [...] -
Customer Must-Haves and Can’t Stands
28 Oct 2009 | 6:58 amAre you on e-Harmony? Do you know someone who is? Well, if so you know that during the initial communication stage each party has the opportunity to share their relationship must-haves and can’t-stands. You can pick from a set list of options or make up your own. For example, must-haves might be: Must love animals and [...] -
Defining Customer Service The RIGHT Way
27 Oct 2009 | 6:48 amI had an aha moment a few months back. In all this talk about customer service and building relationships and earning customer’s loyalty I suddenly asked myself: “Who decides what great customer service looks like?” In every company I’ve been with, a team of executives and operational leaders will sit around a room and decide how many [...]
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Customer Service and More: The Shep Hyken Blog
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4 Nov 2009 | 7:07 am
4 Nov 2009 | 7:07 amBook Recommendations!On Marketing“The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Target Marketing” by Susan Friedman is out this month. This new book is part of the well-known and respected “Complete Idiot’s Guide” series. It is packed with clever and practical strategies to help any type of business get their message to the right people. Go to http://bit.ly/JERZ9 (Amazon.com) to buy it today.On Sales and Relationships“The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients For Life” by Maribeth Kuzmeski is about… Just read the subtitle! Maribeth… -
29 Oct 2009 | 3:56 pm
29 Oct 2009 | 3:56 pmOld Milt LinderThe other night I had dinner with my mother and we were talking about some of my Grandfather’s friends. Somehow we started talking about Milt Linder, who would have probably been, if he was still living, about a hundred by now.About 30 years ago Milt was selling magazine subscriptions, working on commission. I remember that Milt could get me any magazine or newspaper; Golf Digest, Runners World, NY Times, etc. One day I asked him if he could get the St. Louis Business Journal. He hesitated and then told me that he could.Several years later, I somehow found out that he… -
4 Oct 2009 | 4:33 pm
4 Oct 2009 | 4:33 pmCelebrate Customer Service WeekThis week is Customer Service Week. It shouldn’t be a week. It should be all the time. None the less, it has become recognized as a week to celebrate and promote customer service. Take the time to do something special for your customers or employees. Here are some ideas:- Take the time to write or call your customers to show some (extra) appreciation.- Have a short customer service training session (or two) for your employees.- Each day have employees record an example of when they provide a great customer service experience.- And, my favorite idea: Buy a copy… -
15 Sep 2009 | 6:41 am
15 Sep 2009 | 6:41 amTwo Book Recommendations and New iPhone Apps“Who’s Your Gladys? How to Turn Even the Most Difficult Customer into Your Biggest Fan,” by my friends Marilyn Suttle and Lori Jo Vest is fantastic. Constant feedback pays off with big results. If you ask them the right way, your customers will tell you what they want and need. Client comments can help you create a company that attracts customers like bears to honey. The book has been getting rave reviews. When you order “Who’s Your Gladys?” today, you get a special package of 40+ electronic bonus gifts in customer service, sales,… -
30 Aug 2009 | 4:01 pm
30 Aug 2009 | 4:01 pmCustomer Service Is a Team EffortThis is considered to be a joke… A guy walks into a diner and sits down at a table. After sitting for a half an hour and watching all of the guests who came in behind him get served, he asked a server if someone was ever going to come to take his order. She responded by saying, “You’re in Suzie’s station and she’s not here tonight.As ridiculous as the above scenario sounds, it is has truth to it. The opposite of the above happened at the Bristol restaurant in St. Louis. We were sitting for a few minutes when a server came over and explained that our…
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Customer Service Point - The Blog
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Oct 22, An affordable way to start your own business
22 Oct 2009 | 2:08 pmAs you may or may not know, this year I was able to 'escape the corporation' by becoming my own boss. Running Customer Service Point has been instrumental in that. In the 5 years of its existence, I've learned so much about what goes into running a business, that I started to see myself as an entrepeneur. I have to credit Ken Evoy, who has created nothing less than an MBA in a box. I've learned so much about what goes into establishing a successful online business (not 'just' building a site), that I finally could see myself as a free man. I mention this because Ken Evoy just released SBI… -
Oct 4, Finding Customer Service Jobs Online
4 Oct 2009 | 11:55 amTips to find great customer service jobs online - You do not have to leave your house to find good customer service jobs. You do not even have to have years of experience to get hired! -
Oct 3, Favorite Customer Service Quotes
3 Oct 2009 | 3:08 amThese Customer Service quotes have been the most inspiring or insightful to me, maybe they are an eye-opener for you too! -
Oct 3, Sugar CRM - Sugar Express, CRM for Small Business
3 Oct 2009 | 3:04 amSugar CRM offers smaller and more budget-conscious organizations an excellent opportunity to leverage the power of CRM with minimal cost and effort. -
Oct 3, My Customer Relationship Management definition. CRM defined.
3 Oct 2009 | 3:04 amCRM is THE buzzword on the Net. Read my Customer Relationship Management definition, and the benefits it promises to bring.
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Customers Rock!
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Bathrooms and Customer Experience
30 Oct 2009 | 7:50 pmYes, it is that time of year when the Bathroom Blogfest comes around and our thoughts turn to those forgotten spaces where the customer experience, and customer perceptions, are still impacted. Yes, even the bathroom at your establishment (restaurant, retail store, hotel) reflects on your brand. As you know, here at Customers Rock! there is a strong focus on looking at your business from the customer’s perspective. Sometimes, that perspective takes place in the restroom, and this blogfest focuses on exactly that. The Bathroom Blogfest 2009 has been taking place all week this week, with a… -
San Diego Chargers Connect with Their Fans via Social Media
24 Sep 2009 | 9:14 pmAs many of you know, I teach a popular class at UC San Diego Extension on Marketing via New Media. I help my students understand how to look at social media as an opportunity to build relationships with customers rather than just as a campaign or tactic to “increase buzz”. This summer, I had Joel Price from the San Diego Chargers as a guest speaker. He shared with my class how the football team has been using social media to get closer to its fans and create a “virtual tailgate party”. Joel took us on a historical journey of fan interaction during his presentation. -
Guest Blogger: Avoid the Customer Tug of War
26 Aug 2009 | 11:06 pmAs you can probably surmise, I have had a very busy summer and haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like! (Note: You can find me fairly frequently updating on Twitter at twitter.com/bcarroll7). As the summer wraps up, I am scheduling some new posts for you, my loyal readers, which focus on customer service, marketing, customer experience, and social media. Today I have a guest blogger for you. Sean McDonald was formerly the director of Global Online Activities at Dell and is now a principal at Ant’s Eye View. I love these guys because they are cut from the same cloth as… -
Expert’s Corner: Lori Wizdo on Improving Customer Service From the Ground Up
17 Aug 2009 | 12:31 pmWelcome to another edition of Expert’s Corner here at Customers Rock! This time our guest blogger has a technology focus. We are happy to have Lori Wizdo, VP Marketing from Knoa Software, as our author today. Lori will share with us ways for organizations to get a handle on a major customer experience roadblock. Enjoy the post, and let us know what you think! Improving Customer Service From the Ground Up In need of a new laptop, you spend hours walking around your local Best Buy comparing prices and features of endless devices each claiming to be the thinnest, sharpest and fastest on… -
Expert’s Corner: Chip Bell on Service with a Grin
23 Jul 2009 | 9:23 pmI love to bring in outside experts for you to share other perspectives on the Customers Rock! attitude. Today I am pleased to introduce you to Chip Bell. Chip is the founder of The Chip Bell Group and works from the Dallas, Texas area. His consulting practice focuses on helping organizations build a culture that supports long-term customer loyalty. Chip R. Bell is the author, with John R. Patterson, of the newly-released book Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers. He can be reached through www.taketheirbreathaway.com. Service with a Grin by Chip Bell We…
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Demand Satisfaction!
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Tomorrow: Join Our Enterprise 2.0 Panel on Customer Support
3 Nov 2009 | 1:02 pmThe Enterprise 2.0 conference is under way here in San Francisco. If you’ll be attending, check out our very own Wendy Lea. She’ll be speaking on a panel. What’s it about? It’s about Facebook and Twitter and branding and all the trends that have been shaping customer service in the past few years — away from the “all-your-answers-are-to-be-found-in-these-10-FAQs” mentality and toward customer participation, company engagement, and ultimately transparency. Things are changing in customer service, and this is one place to be to hear how companies are —… -
Last Week’s Webcast Ready for Watching
3 Nov 2009 | 10:19 amDid you join us for the Webcast last week? It was a demo by our very own Scott and Kat, followed by a Q&A session. If you were there, thanks for asking all those great questions! If you weren’t there, we recorded it. The recording is a walkthrough of the Get Satisfaction system, and it’s a good introduction to how Get Satisfaction works, with some specific examples of how to use widgets and kick-start a community. For this demo, we used ReadyTalk, a service for Webcasts and such things. Worked great. Recommended. Give it a watch! -
You Want a Demo? We Got Your Demo Right Here.
23 Oct 2009 | 1:03 pmHow about a demo? We get this request a lot. Our customer outreach manager, Kat, calls up random customers all the time to ask them how it’s going, listen to their feedback, give them a pat on the back — she’s our very own Queen of High Touch (put that on a business card). Her calls sometimes end like this: Some of those folks ask us for a demo, sometimes because they want a walkthrough to figure out how to get started, and sometimes because they have particular questions about how our site works. If you want the same thing, join us on Tuesday. We’re having a big demo… -
Get Satisfaction and CustomWare Team Up to Integrate and Collaborate on Salesforce AppExchange Social CRM Solution
21 Oct 2009 | 1:47 pmOctober 21, 2009 The partnership brings together two customer-centric organizations focused on integrating public user communities with internal CRM support systems. San Francisco, Calif., October 21, 2009 — Get Satisfaction, the popular Web 2.0 platform that’s transforming customer support with community and crowd-sourcing, today announced a partnership with CustomWare, an Australian company specialized in developing collaborative technologies for enterprises. The partnership brings together two customer-centric organizations focused on integrating public user communities with… -
Lane to Speak at 20th Anniversary of Bioneers Conference
16 Oct 2009 | 11:03 amBioneers are a bunch of do-gooders who want to save the planet, feed the world, and fix a myriad of social problems. I can get behind that. This weekend is the 20th anniversary of their Bioneers Conference, which will be held at the Marin Civic Center. Lots of interesting folks will be speaking, including one of my own faves, the foodie demi-god Michael Pollan. Another one of my faves who will be speaking? Our very own Lane Becker. Lane will be participating on a panel that will focus on how social media channels — like Get Satisfaction — can be used to encourage corporations…
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Dennis Snow Blog
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When You Receive Poor Customer Service
4 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pmAs we get closer to the holiday season, the news is full of reports that retailers plan to hire fewer temporary workers than usual because of lower sales expectations. While this might make short-term sense to a business’s bottom line, it’s a recipe for frustration for you and me as shoppers. Busy shopping seasons are often riddled with dismal customer service experiences, and this one will likely be no different, and perhaps worse. So, what should we do if we receive poor service? A clear option, of course, is to leave and never go back. Poor service sometimes occurs, however, in… -
Customer Service Thought for the Day
27 Oct 2009 | 2:21 pmAre your company’s processes designed for the convenience of the customer or for the convenience of the company? How would customers respond to that question? Think about a process you can tweak (or overhaul) that will result in customers asking, “Why can’t other companies do it like yours?” -
Four Strategies for Dealing With Employee Burnout
22 Oct 2009 | 11:55 amAn article appeared in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal titled, “Firms Keep Brakes on Hiring: Unsure About Strength of Upturn, Employers Produce More With Fewer Workers.” The article notes that while hiring always lags behind economic recoveries, this time the lag is likely to be worse. Doubts about the strength of the recovery and concerns about the potential costs of health care reform are two of the reasons the WSJ says companies may be slower to replenish their employment ranks. One sentence in particular jumped out at me as I read the article: “Employers shed workers… -
Simply Excellent Customer Service
29 Sep 2009 | 2:45 pmMy wife and I had dinner a couple of nights ago at a local Uno Chicago Grill. I hadn’t been in an Uno’s for a while and was very impressed with the look of the facility. Lots of energy, but not loud (I don’t like loud restaurants - it makes conversation too hard). They had it just right. But my focus, as usual, was on the service; and the service that evening was wonderful. But here’s the point: no one did anything breathtaking, they just did the little things very well. Every employee we encountered made us feel welcome. My wife commented with what I think were… -
The Need For Top Management Commitment
25 Sep 2009 | 1:36 pmFrom 10+ years of working with organizations on customer service improvement initiatives, I can say without hesitation that the number one ingredient for success is top management commitment. While an improvement initiative can begin anywhere in the organization, top management support quickly becomes required for the initiative to gain any real traction. Without such support, the organization’s naysayers and skeptics will eventually squeeze the life out of the effort. The situation is effectively explained in an excellent book, Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to…
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Steve Curtin
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What’s more memorable, T-Rex pancakes or a bowl of Cornflakes?
2 Nov 2009 | 5:13 amSeveral years ago, after the birth of our first child, I began pouring pancake batter in unique shapes that our son would recognize from his world. When he was very young, I poured shapes ranging from puppies to pacifiers. As he grew older, I adapted the shapes to his interests—whether dinosaurs or chess pieces. And holidays always provide fodder for themed shapes. I pour shamrocks in March, firecrackers in July, Jack-O-Lanterns in October, and candy canes in December. The kids love them and enjoy making requests for made-to-order shapes. Breakfast transforms from a predictable meal, a base… -
Leaving lasting impressions
29 Oct 2009 | 12:46 pmOne drawback to living in a relatively new neighborhood is that the landscaping is not yet fully established. This means small trees with few leaves. I suppose if you can’t stand raking leaves, small trees would be a plus. For me, however, with four young children who love to play in a big pile of leaves, it’s a drawback. One year, a friend of mine from a well-established neighborhood with plenty of mature trees allowed me to pick up his lawn and leaf bags, bursting with leaves, and transport them back to my own yard. Another year, I helped myself to leaves at a well-landscaped industrial… -
What my two-year-old taught me about customer service
23 Oct 2009 | 10:33 pmEarlier this evening, between dinner and dessert, my two-year-old son began singing the ABCs Song from his high chair. Not once, but again and again as he was cheered on by his siblings and me each time after completing the song’s finale: “…Next time won’t you sing with meeeee?” His face lit up every time he was acknowledged at the end of his song. And then, as if it was the very first time, he launched into another rendition of the ABC Song. And what did we, his audience, do throughout each new performance? We smiled, nodded, encouraged, and clapped as though it were the very first… -
Who’s more important: the division president or the customer?
13 Oct 2009 | 10:04 pmIn an earlier post I asked the question, “Why is it okay to behave indifferently toward customers and roll out the red carpet for the division president?” Specifically, why do employees paint, wax the floors, and polish the chrome for the division president and text friends, smoke near store entrances, and complain and banter in the presence of customers? I have a theory about this. Here it is: Familiarity breeds contempt. Most employees rarely come into contact with and, thus, aren’t familiar with the division president. Oh sure, they may know his or her name but they’re usually not… -
Chipotle’s got humor in the bag
12 Oct 2009 | 3:12 pmCompanies that make me laugh create positive memories for me—of the service experience and brand. Using appropriate humor is an authentic way for companies to express their uniqueness while making it memorable for customers. Here’s an example from Chipotle Mexican Grill: Employees at Chipotle place to-go orders in brown bags with handles. Handles are unique—you don’t see that at most quick service restaurants—but what’s truly memorable to me is the message printed on the bottom of its bags: Don’t throw this bag away! Try these other uses: Cat carrier Put handles over…
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Experienceology
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Bathroom Blogfest 2009: Bathrooms Around the World
28 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pmOnce again, it's time for the Bathroom Blogfest, where bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of forgotten spaces in the brand experience. Visit the website, follow us on Twitter, become a Fan on Facebook, and check out the special cleaning deal offered by this year's sponsor, Kaboom.List of participating Bathroom Blogfest bloggers:· Susan Abbott Customer Experience Crossroads· Reshma Anand Qualitative Research Blog· Shannon Bilby From the Floors Up· Shannon Bilby & Brad Millner My Big Bob’s Blog· Laurence Borel Blog Till You Drop· Jeanne Byington The Importance… -
Bathroom Blogfest: 2009
26 Oct 2009 | 12:03 pmOnce again, it's time for the Bathroom Blogfest, where bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of forgotten spaces in the brand experience. Visit the website, follow us on Twitter, become a Fan on Facebook, and check out the special cleaning deal offered by this year's sponsor, Kaboom.List of participating Bathroom Blogfest bloggers:· Susan Abbott Customer Experience Crossroads· Reshma Anand Qualitative Research Blog· Shannon Bilby From the Floors Up· Shannon Bilby & Brad Millner My Big Bob’s Blog· Laurence Borel Blog Till You Drop· Jeanne Byington The Importance… -
Sunday's Signpost
25 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pmGreat example of Southwest Airline's humorous tone, which is very consistent across all their branded communication. -
Why I work with museums and their visitor experience
6 Oct 2009 | 4:46 pm -
WMA's Balboa Park Day
3 Oct 2009 | 1:03 pmOn Wednesday, October 28 the attendees to the Western Museums Association will be heading to San Diego's Balboa Park for the afternoon. This will be an amazing opportunity to tour the "Smithsonian of the West," with all the cultural institutions opening their doors for free. The day is sponsored by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, with the transportation underwritten by the Barona Band of Mission Indians.The San Diego Host Committee has put together a map and schedule of events for the day, which you can download here. The map design was donated by Tanya Bredehoft of Artefact Design.Many…
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Free Articles in Customer Relationship Mgt
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Dealing with Difficult People
7 Nov 2009 | 4:12 amThese notes are primarily designed to help deal with difficult people when we have made a mistake. We often have to deal with other people where we have not made a mistake however the people we're dealing with often prove to be difficult and unwilling to accept what we say. -
Make Customers Come Back - Winning Customer Retention Strategies
7 Nov 2009 | 4:10 amCustomer Retention marketing is a tactically-driven strategy to keep relationships with customers going and increase customer interest. This strategy relies on the study of customer behavior. -
The Power of Questions to Attract Ideal Clients
7 Nov 2009 | 4:10 amBusiness owners realize that some clients are easier to work with than others. It is possible to have a practice or business full of clients or customers that are perfect for you. Asking the right questions before you ask for the business will help you do that. -
Never Burn a Bridge
7 Nov 2009 | 4:10 amWhy should you always maintain a good report with a business even when you are parting ways? It is human nature to get mad and then rant and rave about what is not going well at work. -
10 Reasons to Follow-Up with Prospects
5 Nov 2009 | 11:59 pmIf you focus on the customer at all times, you are likely to increase the amount of business you get from them. You will be in their minds when it comes time to select the correct person to fill a big order or to manage a project.
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Maximum Customer Experience Blog
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Inspiration Points: Are You a Fiddler or a Composer?
3 Nov 2009 | 11:13 pmWednesday Words To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business. The opportunities of man are limited only by his imagination. But so few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer. —Charles F. Kettering “So few have imagination that there are ten thousand fiddlers to one composer.” Dang, I love that. Don’t wait for some conductor to tap a stick and tell you what to play. Imagine. Risk. Lead. Get out there and compose. Grow and be well, Kelly Erickson Tweet This! -
Is There a Spooky Tie Between Halloween and Your Business?
30 Oct 2009 | 12:16 amOr, How To Get Candy From a Meanie (with side-trips to small-town Illinois and Massachusetts, circa caveman days) This charming fellow won The Kid first prize in the pumpkin-decorating contest at school. Now residing chez nous. The Kid’s been practicing her schtick for a week. You know the one: Trick-or-treat! Smell my feet! “You’re not saying that while I’m walking around with you,” I say calmly, without looking up from my writing. Fine. Gimme candy… I raise one eyebrow. Gimme candy please! She knows that’s not going to happen. Funny enough, she also… -
Inspiration Points: Is it Possible to Give 110% to Your Customers?
28 Oct 2009 | 12:14 amWednesday Words To Go Where Your VisionPoints, a few inspiration points for you and your business. Our mission statement about treating people with respect and dignity is not just words, but a creed we live by every day. You can’t expect your employees to exceed the expectations of your customers if you don’t exceed the employees’ expectations of management. —Howard Schultz Truth is, it’s almost pathetically easy to exceed customers’ expectations these days. When we’re the customers, we have our hopes set pretty darned low. No wonder, when so many… -
I’ll Never Go Back There Again! QUIZ
27 Oct 2009 | 12:17 am1, 2, 3… 1. Quick! Name the last store you went to where you had an awesome experience—the kind you could hardly wait to tell a friend about. What was so special? Take your time. I’m stringing this out right now while you remember back. Oh, that was a nice time, wasn’t it? I can almost imagine it. 2. Ready? Name the last store you vowed you’d never step foot in again. What did they do? To you, or to a friend you were with? Now that you think about it, were there other signals? Yes, I hear you. Wow. All that? And how many times before had you thought,… -
Imagine You Needed To Kick Ass, Starting Today
23 Oct 2009 | 12:19 amDid you notice? Imagine’s a mighty powerful word.* In copywriting class, the professor reminds you to get your reader to imagine the successful outcome of purchasing from you. Funny thing is, first you have to do the imagining, in order to write the copy that helps that reader’s imagination. In every self-help book you can pick up, you’ll be advised to imagine you already have (the lady, or the career, or the healthy lifestyle, or the cottage in the mountains, or the productivity, or the empty laundry basket, or the Rolex and the chauffeur and the private jumbo jet with male…
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QAQNA
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The Call Center as Social Media Outpost
4 Nov 2009 | 5:07 amAt ICMI's ACCE 09 conference last month, the buzz was around expanding the call center to become a social media outpost. It is rapidly becoming clear that interacting with customers is no longer just through phone calls. Interacting with customers must happen through the emerging communication channels like Facebook and Twitter.I recently had an article come across my desk from Keith Fiveson of ITESA. He agrees:Agents can outreach and act as a “social media outpost” casting their net to capture conversations, hear, and deal with hearts, minds, problems and people that impact your business… -
Reminder: Quality Programs Need Someone in the Bull Pen
29 Oct 2009 | 4:39 amYou get what you measure. That's one of the fundamental truths of Quality Assessment. If people know they are being held accountable to a standard, they generally perform to that standard. By the same token, if they know they are not being measured, their behavior will often ease back into old habits (I've been able to quantify this effect with data). It's important for a quality program to keep momentum.I was recently reminded how critical it is for smaller contact centers to be prepared for turnover in their quality team. It is quite common for call centers with less than fifty seats to… -
Allocating Time and Resources in Call Coaching
27 Oct 2009 | 6:45 amA client called me yesterday to discuss some of the internal call coaching they are starting in their call center. The supervisor has limited time for coaching and has chosen to focus the coaching on just the Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) who are below goal.Given the circumstances, I understand the focus on those who need a little extra motivation to improve their service delivery. If you're not careful, however, you'll end up with some of your best performers alienated and feeling left out. Everyone needs feedback. Everyone needs encouragement. Whenever you focus all of your time… -
Iowa Telecom's Healthy Mix of Service & Sales
23 Oct 2009 | 8:38 amI had a great time Wednesday at the Association of Contact Center Professionals (ACCP) get together at Iowa Telecom's (ITC) Newton, Iowa contact centers. ITC was a fantastic host and gave those of us in attendance a terrific overview of their contact center operations along with a tour of their facilities.Our group has worked with ITC for many years providing Customer Satisfaction surveys. We also helped them start their QA process and get it off the ground. I have to admit that I felt some pride as I toured the facilities and saw what a great job their team was doing.One of the things that… -
Sore Throat Remedies for CSRs
15 Oct 2009 | 6:04 amHere in the northern hemisphere, it's the beginning of cold and flu season. Everywhere I go I hear people coughing and wheezing as they speak with gravelly voices. My own household is a cacophony of hacking, sneezing, and snuffling. Colds can be killer for CSRs whose livelihood depends on using their voice all day (or all night) long.So, thanks to the folks at Reader's Digest, I pass along four common remedies for those pesky sore throats that plague everyone in the contact center:Tomato JuiceFor temporary relief of sore throat symptoms, gargle with a mixture of 1/2 cup tomato juice and 1/2…
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Ragsdale’s Eye on Service
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Meeting the needs of remote and mobile workers
4 Nov 2009 | 7:28 amI am preparing for tomorrow’s webcast, “Developing a Support Strategy that Embraces Change in Today’s Increasingly Remote Workforce,” and though we don’t have a tremendous amount of data on the topic–YET–in the TSIA benchmark, I have found lots of interesting data from the US Department of Labor and various research groups who graciously shared their [...] -
SAP CRM: Momentum followed by innovation
27 Oct 2009 | 10:57 amToday I attended the SAP CRM Virtual Influencer Summit to get an update on SAP’s CRM practice. I love the virtual approach for analyst summits as I have access to all the content without having to lose a day flying somewhere. Here are some updates: Twitter integration. SAP unveiled a CRM Twitter Solution that pulls in [...] -
Final Day of TSW: Top Attended Sessions
22 Oct 2009 | 7:54 amI am back home after our 3 day Technology Services World Conference in Las Vegas, and starting to process all that I heard into some trend ‘buckets.’ For now, I wanted to highlight the top attended sessions from yesterday. Very interesting. The first day of breakout sessions showed that the basic challenges of [...] -
Announcing TSIA STAR Award Winners
21 Oct 2009 | 2:27 pmToday at the closing ceremony of our Technology Services World Conference, we announced the winners of the Fall 2009 TSIA STAR Awards. These awards are presented to outstanding service and support operations, and let me tell you, winning ain’t easy. There is a required deck of 50+ PowerPoint slides including business and customer [...] -
Hot Topics from TSW: Top Attended Sessions
21 Oct 2009 | 9:38 amGreetings from Fabulous Las Vegas, where 800 of my closest friends are together for our annual Technology Services World Vegas. Yesterday was our first full day of breakout sessions, and I wanted to highlight the top attended sessions since this is an instant read on the top challenges facing our professional services, technical support and [...]
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Return Customer
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Forced Selling Doesn’t Work
4 Nov 2009 | 7:02 amWhen you force your employees to say something or try and sell something to customers at the point of sale, it will come across as unnatural. On my last trip to Fry’s electronics, as I was paying for my purchase, the cashier asked if I wanted to apply for a Fry’s credit card. You’ve probably heard that request before at numerous retail locations and it rarely sounds compelling enough to take action. I asked the cashier how often people take him up on the offer for the credit card. He replied, “Not many.” “Do you get in trouble if you don’t ask?”… -
Make Sure Your Company Isn’t Acting Like These Halloween Characters
28 Oct 2009 | 8:02 amAs a business, you may unknowingly be putting on a costume or facade that tarnishes how you interact with customers. Frankenstein Frankenstein is the classic monster built from a bunch of different parts. The result was a hideous creation that didn’t really work so well. Your business is a Frankenstein if, to the customer, you appear as a hodge-podge collection of independent departments and divisions. Your customers expect a unified experience with your company, regardless of your internal org chart and departments. Don’t be Frankenstein. Witch Think of the wicked witch from… -
Notify Customers of Your Mistakes
21 Oct 2009 | 8:03 amI’ve got some bad news for you: you’re not perfect. You, your employees, and your business will make mistakes that directly impact your customers. When you make a mistake, you may be tempted to hide it, ignore it, or even deny it. Don’t run from your mistake. You need to be proactive in addressing the issue and resolving the problem with the customer. How you handle mistakes speaks volumes about you as a business. The last time we had to get a battery for our van, we went to the nearest Sears auto center. They installed a new battery and about 30 minutes after we had gotten… -
The Importance of Honoring a Quoted Price
14 Oct 2009 | 8:02 amIf you quote a price to a customer, you need to honor that price. This may seem obvious, but unfortunately, we live in a day where people and companies don’t always live up to their commitments. When you honor a quote you’ve given customers, it is an important step in building a solid relationship with them. We recently stayed at a beach condo on the Texas coast. When we made our reservations, the condo’s website had stated a certain price for the days of our trip. By the time we checked into the condo several months later, their rates had increased. We realized this when we saw… -
How to Handle Additional Customer Requests
7 Oct 2009 | 8:01 amIf a customer wants or needs more from you than their original order, don’t view it as an inconvenience, but rather more business for you. We recently took our van into the dealership for a manufacturer’s recall. We scheduled an appointment and showed up promptly on time. As I was checking into the dealership, I asked if they could take a look at the vehicle’s alignment. This extra request was greeted with disdain and I was told “we can do that but it will take a lot longer to get your car ready.” The message I got was clear: you don’t want that alignment…
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Secrets of Effective Customer Service
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Check out this new reality TV Show from Canada
10 Oct 2009 | 6:34 pmhttp://www.citytv.com//toronto/show/micro/44002--my-rona-homeCheck out this new reality TV show based in Calgary Alberta. Two couples are finishing their respective homes... the winner gets their $400,000 home as a prize... the runner up gets their's for the cost of the $160,000 mortgage... a win win...I'm rooting for TEAM YELLOW as I know their mom....check it out and vote... help these kids get a new home -
Foundational Success is now available online
9 Jun 2009 | 8:18 amFoundational Success - Building Blocks for Personal and Professional Success is now available online at: www.foundationalsuccess.comThis amazing collection of wisdom from 30 top experts from North America and around the world was created by Bob 'Idea Man' Hooey to support the CAPS Foundation.Visit: www.foundationalsuccess.com today and safely purchase your own copy for only $20.$19 of each purchase goes directly to the CAPS Foundation. $1 is used by our CAPS National Office to cover credit cards and processing.Tell your friends and family to visit as well. Share this with your colleagues and… -
Foundational Success to launch in May
27 Apr 2009 | 12:38 pmA new joint venture with 30 top experts and authors from around the globe is set to launch in May 2009.Foundational Success - Building Blocks for Personal and Professional SuccessThis value added e-publication is led by Canada's Ideaman, Bob Hooey and is a fund raising project for the CAPS Foundation. Canadian Association of Professional Speakers.Pre-order price is only $20 and proceeds go directly to the CAPS Foundation.Visit: www.foundationalsuccess.com to see who contributed their wisdom to this new tool in your personal and professional success. -
Service sells
14 Apr 2009 | 4:03 pmService is the secret to long term business and sales success.Canadian Ideaman travelled to Iran in November to speak on this and other topics.He also spoke in Mumbai, India to keynote at the 2nd annual Innovation Summit. He talked about the human side of innovation as a tool in building long term relationship with our clients.Click here to view a clip from that keynote -
Canada's first ever Red Day event launched
29 Nov 2008 | 10:01 amThe Brick leads the way in creating a new shopping holiday. Canada's first ever Red Day is their answer to the famous Black Friday promotions in the US.Staples and other retailers have followed their lead.It is hoped this will become a national sales promotion and each year more retailers will sign on to promote it.We will be assisting in this process for 2009.
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Service Untitled
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Exam Room Flags for Customer Service
28 Oct 2009 | 10:53 amIf you’ve been to a doctor’s office in the past, you’ve probably noticed those colorful things outside of each exam room. I recently learned these are called exam room signal flags. I have no idea what each color means (and I imagine they vary from office to office), but the idea of them is interesting and appliciable to other industries as well. The flags do just what their names imply – provide signals to doctors and other personnel about what needs to be done or what’s going on. If a patient is in the room waiting for a doctor, I imagine they have a flag color… -
Call Abandonment Basics
21 Oct 2009 | 10:57 amPhone systems (also called IVRs or PBXes) usually measure something referred to as a call abandonment rate. How exactly the call abandonment rate is defined varies from company to company and from phone system to phone system, but in general, the inbound call abandonment rate tracks the number of people who hang up before they start talking to an employee. (There are call abandonment rates for outbound calls that telemarketing companies track, but that’s a different thing entirely.) Some companies actually strive for high call abandonment rates (a higher proportion of people who hang… -
Customer Service: Better or Worse?
15 Oct 2009 | 6:45 pmThe ‘50’s version of Dilbert was a very popular comic strip called Mutt and Jeff. The clever “tongue in cheek” style made many a reader chuckle over their eggs and bacon before rushing off to the office. One strip had Mutt and Jeff enjoying a bit of verbal sparring. “If everyone saw like I did,” boasted Jeff, “Everyone would want my wife.” “If everyone saw like I did,” quipped Mutt, “No one would want your wife.” It provided a humorous lesson on the “eye of the beholder” side of understanding relationships and experiences. When someone asks us, “Why has… -
A Wake-up Call for Bored Customers
8 Oct 2009 | 8:35 pmA large brokerage company added a twist to their toll-free telephone cue – “…punch 6 if you’d like to hear a duck quack!” Word of the playful feature spread and soon millions of people were weekly calling just to hear the duck. The company had to remove the unique feature because it overloaded their phone system and ran up a huge tab! The story communicates just how bored customers have become. Something else has happened to customers. They’ve been getting way over-stimulated. Television has become both high definition and multi-media. The nightly news now shows the… -
Are your employees familiar with your website?
6 Oct 2009 | 11:40 pmIt shocks most managers to see, hear, or experience this, but a lot of customer service representatives aren’t familiar with their company’s website. They aren’t sure what the customer’s screen looks like when an order is taking place, how to use the front-end knowledge base, or anything along those lines. Needless to say, this can present a number of problems. To address these problems, you can try one or more of these things: Include a review of the company’s website in the training process. During your initial employee training, have the company’s…
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The Chief Happiness Officer
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Friday Spoing!
6 Nov 2009 | 6:40 amWhere can I go and try this? Looks like fun! Have a happy weekend :o) -
The Happiness Hat will hurt you until you smile
2 Nov 2009 | 1:37 amSmile, dammit: This is not meant to be taken seriously – this is art. Or social commentary. Or both. The Happiness Hat was created by Lauren MacCarthy, who calls it: A wearable conditioning device that detects if you’re smiling and provides pain feedback if you’re not. Frowning creates intense pain but a full smile leaves you pain free! The first in a series of Tools for Improved Social Inter-Acting. To me, this is a great commentary to the pressure to be happy that exists in society today. There seems to be a sense that “if you’re not happy, there’s… -
Friday Spoing
30 Oct 2009 | 4:53 amThis Friday it’s really more of a Spoooooooooooooooooing :o) Have a happy weekend! -
A question for ya
28 Oct 2009 | 11:29 amI have a simple question for you: What’s the one thing you wish your manager understood about you, which still hasn’t sunk in with him/her? I ask because I’m giving a ton of presentations to groups of managers about happiness at work these days and I’d like to give them an even better idea of where managers and employees often don’t connect or misunderstand each other. So what do you think? What doesn’t your manager seem to get about you? Please write a comment, I’d be very happy to know your take on this! Great comment: Marks says “I wish my… -
Hooray, it’s Monday!
26 Oct 2009 | 4:28 amBelow there’s a message for all my Danish readers. For everyone else: I bet you’re sorry NOW, that you weren’t born Danish, huh :o) We’re launching a new web site (in Danish) for everyone who’s lost their happiness at work and would like it back. Har du mistet arbejdsglæden? Og vil du gerne have den igen? Er du en af de mange danskere, der engang har været glad for sit arbejde, men lige nu har glemt hvordan det var at glæde sig til mandag morgen? Vi har nemlig lavet en lynhurtig lille video netop til dig, der har mistet arbejdsglæden – og gerne vil have…
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The Engaging Brand
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Show #269 - 3 Steps to Design Thinking
6 Nov 2009 | 11:57 amShow 269 of The Engaging Brand leadership and marketing podcastis ready just for you. To subscribe or listen on your PC now - both for free, you don't need to download anything - all explained at the end of the post and don't forget GotoMeeting hold your meetings online for just $49/mo. Try GoToMeeting FREE for 30 days Today I am talking to one of my favourite authors - Roger Martin. Roger really makes me think about thinking! If you have listened to the podcast interview with him on how we need to learn to hold opposing thoughts together at the same time, then you can listen here. Tonight… -
Why bonfire night is so special to me
5 Nov 2009 | 3:15 pmBonfire night is a wonderful night in the UK and one which brings families together. It will always be special as it was 6 years ago today we lost my Dad...so I thought I would share a little story... I asked him about how to decide whether to join a company, he said"Only join healthy companies, check if it has the dreaded CDAIC"Looking totally confused I said "That sounds awful what is it...something contagious?"He looked and said "Highly....and it needs to be guarded against at every turn...it stands for corporate diarrhea and idea constipation. ....some symptons are... When faced with… -
Who are you...you are a diamond?
4 Nov 2009 | 4:03 amTalking business with Dad was always....infuriating and exciting...both at the same time :) I remember talking about "Work Anna" and "Home Anna" and wondering how much the two should overlap. We had a discussion about how core values have to apply to all parts of your world but then he said something which I think is as relevant to brands as it is to people....and very relevant in a world of social media. He said"You are a diamond"Clearly I started to smile and look very proud of myself because Dad then said"You are obviously a gem to me however that is not what I mean here., I mean that… -
How do you spend your time?
3 Nov 2009 | 2:02 pmI am reading all about design thinking in a book by one of my favourite thinkers Roger Martin (can't wait to record The Engaging Podcast about thinking later this week) He has made me think about how we spend our thinking time and how we should use the outcomes of thinking time to find more thinking time! It is a continual investment program.Here are my thoughts on thinking!Thinking time is about freedom, the freedom to think of new ideas and to see how the world could be....Thinking is then about taking those ideas and turning them from concept to reality.Thinking is then learning about what… -
It's not what you know....
2 Nov 2009 | 12:14 pm....it is how you use the knowledge that you have.... I have always been a learner, I just crave learning new things, going new places, meeting or connecting with new people. I never feel more alive than when I get the chance to connect new ideas, find new ways or learn from inspiring people.It is not necessarily the knowledge, it is the chance to use that knowledge to benefit others. For me, life is about taking that knowledge and applying it to your world and making the world a better place. 3 questions to ask yourself every nightWhat did you learn today? How can I use it to make the world…
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The Social Customer Manifesto
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The Laws of VRM
5 Nov 2009 | 3:21 pmIn conjunction with this week's Internet Identity Workshop, a number of folks including @dsearls @deanland @joeandrieu @judico @juliangay @dariusdunlap and others have been thinking a lot about ProjectVRM. As part of the conversations, an activity this group was doing was trying to distill down to its essence what "makes" something "VRM" (or VRM-like, at least). We came up with a couple of core concepts, the first of which is that in a system that is VRM-ish, the following holds true: "VRM Law #1: The individual is the point of integration." In other words, instead of myriad… -
Thought of the Day: Single-Sign Off
5 Nov 2009 | 12:51 pmLots of folks have looked at integrating online identities, and there are various types of "single sign-on" (cite) systems around. Thought experiment for today: what would single sign-off look like? In other words, what would happen if an individual had the ability to conceptually "unplug" from the Network? -
Customers Take Back The Beep
28 Oct 2009 | 9:44 amA good case study in how a customer can start a snowball rolling that effects vendor change. Back in August, David Pogue of the NYT went on a tear to get the major telecom providers to eliminate (or at least give customers a way around) the voicemail instructions that are given every time an individual calls her own, or someone else's, voicemail. It doesn't sound like a big thing, but at 15 seconds per, times millions of calls, it adds up to a whole lot of wasted customer time and money (in the form of minutes) in a hurry.Here's the story. -
Should Customers Control Their Own Information?
27 Oct 2009 | 5:02 pmCross posted from 1to1, where Ginger Conlon and the 1to1 team were kind enough to allow me to guest post. Original is here.--Should Customers Control Their Own Information?by Christopher Carfi Information about us--our actions, our activities, our current "status," and the like--are increasingly public, shared...usually willingly...on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, a number of current trends and issues highlight that we, as customers, may want to take a more active role in managing those bits of social information (and much, much more). As more of our information moves… -
Backstage with the Google Wave team
15 Oct 2009 | 8:24 pmHad the chance to have a great conversation with the Google Wave dev team today. Here's the audio and the full chat transcript.
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Think customers: The 1to1 Blog
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4 Global Business Trends to Watch
6 Nov 2009 | 7:07 amEarlier this week, during his keynote at ad:tech, WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell presented four global business trends--and one marketing trend--executives should be watching: -
Darwin and Social Media
5 Nov 2009 | 9:14 amWhat separates the winners and losers in social media? Why does one idea catch on while a similar one fail? Do the same principles that apply in other channels translate to social networks, blogging platforms, communities, and the like? I don't have the answers to those questions, but I'm curious to find out what thoughts people have. Lately it seems Twitter and Facebook are the two dominant social platforms, but it wasn't so long ago that everyone was touting MySpace's 100 million members and the endless possibilities presented by SecondLife (anyone still own an island?). MySpace isn't dead… -
Forrester's Jonathan Browne: Assumption Personas (Handle With Care)
4 Nov 2009 | 5:35 pmAbout 10 years ago, when Forrester was writing some of our early research on effective Web design, we noticed a pattern among leading companies. They told us they were finding it very helpful to use design personas -- models of customers based on qualitative research into real customers, but presented as vivid stories about individuals (not segment descriptions). These tools enabled them to stay focused on the needs of their most important customers when designing online experiences. Since then, design personas have become fairly mainstream design tools in North American companies, and… -
Two New Companies Offer Innovative Solutions
4 Nov 2009 | 8:59 amOn October 22, I posted a blog titled, "The DMA Needs a Paradigm Shift," which garnered some passionate responses from readers about their frustration with the DMA needing to evolve. -
Guest Blogger Dov Seidman: How You Do What You Do Is the Real Competitive Advantage
3 Nov 2009 | 5:52 amYou can find the words outperform, outfox, outmaneuver, outspend, outthink in the dictionary because they describe deeply engrained habits of how we think and act. The source of sustainable competitive advantage in the 21st century, however, is such a new idea that the term has not yet entered Webster's or Oxford's. You will not find outbehave in the dictionary--not yet, anyway.
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The Intervals Blog by Pelago
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Why Evolution is Better than Revolution
3 Nov 2009 | 8:29 am“In art there are only fast or slow developments. Essentially it is a matter of evolution, not revolution.” — Béla Bartók The landscape of web-based time tracking, task management, and project management tools has become a little noisy. It seems that each month another company is throwing their app into the fray and hoping for the best. While those of us behind Intervals believe this to be a good thing, because it offers the small business more options in finding a solution that will fit them best, it has become interesting to watch how various web-based offerings… -
A New Collaborative Web Site for Project Management Questions
2 Nov 2009 | 2:25 pmA new web site for helping people find answers to project management quesitons has recently launched over at AskAboutProjects. The site does a great job of allowing the community to participate without being overwhelmed by the big words and acronyms that usually go hand-in-hand with project management discussions. Go on over and participate. It would be nice to see this web site take off like its counterpart StackOverflow. Related posts Project Landscape Report (0) Periscope Report (0) Create Multiple Tasks at Once (0) Improved Email Request Queue (0) Invoice Alerts (0) -
Project Landscape Report
28 Oct 2009 | 10:52 amWe’ve added a new report to Intervals, the Project Landscape Report. This report is useful for comparing data across several projects at once. Whether taking a glance at how your projects are doing, or digging in deeper to view tracked time, task totals and financial balances and budgets, this report is ideal for gauging project health. The report filters enable project managers to break down the project landscape into a countless number of perspectives — view all billable projects across your company or run a history of all active and inactive projects for a specific client. The… -
Periscope Report
28 Oct 2009 | 10:52 amIntervals has focused most of its features on tracking time, task and project data for making informed decisions on how to best plan and manage upcoming projects. To help make this process more complete we’ve added the Periscope Report. This new Gantt-like chart gives project managers a view of their projects along a timeline. Find out when projects are beginning and ending, and how far along each project has progressed. The timeline view empowers project managers to schedule projects according to how they will impact overall workflow. We are considering this report to be in beta… -
Create Multiple Tasks at Once
28 Oct 2009 | 10:49 amIntervals now offers users the ability to create multiple tasks at once for projects and milestones. Project managers and others will find this feature useful when the need arises to quickly create several homogeneous tasks. When starting a new project it is often the case that a project manager will need to add several new tasks to get the project moving. It is also common for a project already in progress to require several similar tasks distributed among different team members to keep the momentum going. Whatever your need, creating multiple tasks at once will move projects and milestones…
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Consumerist: RSS
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Update Your Consumerist RSS Feed
20 Oct 2009 | 8:55 pmThe RSS feed for Consumerist has changed. Please update your feed reader to http://www.consumerist.com/index.xml No new posts will appear after this one on the old RSS feed. Thank you! UPDATE: For those of you who are still getting redirected to the old feed, we are working on it. -
Read My "Google Power Reader" Feed
17 Sep 2009 | 3:03 pmGoogle selected me to be one of their "Power Readers," which means you can easily subscribe to an RSS feed with some of the blogs I recommend reading. I encourage checking out The Red Tape Chronicles, Bankrate, Credit Slips, Elliot.org, and Frugal for Life, as well as the other blogs recommended by my fellow "Power Readers." Yes, we all got issued special laser rings. Google Reader - Featured Reading Lists [Google] -
Read Consumerist In RSS
20 Nov 2007 | 10:00 amIt's easy to follow The Consumerist in your favorite RSS Reader. Here are the magic links to paste in: * Full Content (with ads) http://consumerist.com/index.xml * Partial Content (no ads) http://consumerist.com/excerpts.xml * Comments http://consumerist.com/xml/comments -
RSS RSS Double Double Wonkiness Wonkiness
5 Dec 2006 | 12:14 pmIf you read Consumerist via RSS feeds, you may have noticed double posts and general wackitude lately. We've received several emails from you, and our tech team is on it, lickity split. Sorry for the inconvenience! Should be fixed relatively shortly. — BEN POPKEN -
Bloglines Feed Fixed, May Need To Resubscribe
26 Nov 2006 | 8:14 amIf you read us through Bloglines, you may have noticed our feed didn't update after November, 16th. Readers report it working now. Personally, we we had to unsubscribe and resubscribe to show the new posts. Give it a whirl, and as they say, y'all come back now, ya hear? — BEN POPKEN
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KANA Global Consulting Services Blog
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Cast YOUR Vote Today: Search!
6 Nov 2009 | 1:35 pmCast Your VOTE Today: Search! This week’s elections got me thinking about a voting process most of us do many times a day but hardly think of that way: searching on the web. If you really break it down, a search isn’t some deep, technical thing we do – it’s more of a guess, an approximation, a forecast, a VOTE about what words we think exist in content we think we want to view. This process works quickly, magically and consistently most of the time so we rarely give it much thought. We enter a few words, as unique and meaningful as we can make them upon 2 seconds reflection,… -
10 Reasons KM Doesn’t Work
2 Nov 2009 | 12:19 pmIt’s no fun to state things in negatives, but sometimes it’s important to identify common patterns and issues, so we don’t keep doing the wrong things over and over. It’s also quite easy to enter into a comfortable state of denial, where things are because “that’s always they way they’ve been”. In an effort to help identify areas that might actually be hurting you that you’re not aware of, or not aware you can CHANGE, I present to you my KM ‘Letterman List’ for November. KM DOESN’T WORK BECAUSE: 10. The knowledge… -
Email Done Right
27 Oct 2009 | 3:52 pmEmail Done Right Customers don’t trust email as a reliable communication channel with a service organization. How many times have you sent in an email to a company, and received no response? Or received only a partial answer after waiting for days? Poor performance of email tools can usually be traced to their implementation history – email systems were typically deployed years ago with little tuning to maximize their productivity. Even with history working against you, here are some basic steps to follow in setting up your customer service email. Make email part of your multichannel… -
The Ants Go Marching
22 Oct 2009 | 3:25 amThe Ants Go Marching If ants have to choose between two unequal length paths from a source of food back to their colony, they ultimately always choose the shortest, easiest one. Here’s how it works: 1. Ants run around the colony, more or less randomly, looking for food. 2. If an ant finds food, it returns back to the colony, and leaves on the ground a scent trail. 3. This scent trail attract nearby ants, which will follow this path and strengthen the scent of the trail, attracting more ants, strengthening the trail… Ant colony optimization can be analogous to customer service. Think of… -
FINDING Depends on How you SEEK –
16 Oct 2009 | 2:16 pmFINDING Depends on How you SEEK - One of the most important things to think about in making knowledge delivery systems work is HOW users will find what they’re looking for. At first glance it may seem simple: type in a search, find your stuff. But is it really that straightforward? Do you really know what you’re looking for? Do you really know what the right query is? Do you even know what content exists in the system you’re using? One of the main reasons we all engage in building and managing support-focused search tools and portals is because we are trying to…
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Customer Service That Astonishes
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Valued Based Pricing
3 Nov 2009 | 4:11 amRecently I deposited a cheque from a US client into my US funds account. I then immediately transferred a portion of that deposit into my current account which is in Canadian dollars. Two interesting things happen. First, the bank was unable to guarantee an exchange rate from US to Canadian funds. It seems that there is variation over the course of the day based on when “they” transfer the funds. I have learned that this is also the case when transferring funds online. Of interest, if I had withdrawn the funds and then deposited them into the Canadian account, I could have gotten… -
Don’t Be A Jack of all Trades
20 Oct 2009 | 5:31 amI read a post by Dumb Little Man that encourages people to focus on their strengths versus their weaknesses. This advice seems counter-intuitive, since we all should be striving for improvement in our lives — and our businesses. Their point is “you’ve got the potential to go further with your natural strengths than you do with your weaknesses.” When we build on our strengths, we continue to set ourselves apart from others who do not share the same strengths. It contributes to our uniqueness that makes us memorable — either as a person or a business. If we spend… -
Thank You
13 Oct 2009 | 5:36 amThese are 2 of the most powerful words in the English language — they are equally powerful in any language. They express our gratefulness for the benefits we have received, either in personal or business relationships. This past weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada so I wanted to share a thanksgiving story about one of my clients — PRO-TAX, headquartered in Charlottesville Virginia. I have had the privilege to work with this organization since 2008 and they have consistently demonstrated their values and commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. And they are… -
When a Volume Discount isn’t a Volume Discount
6 Oct 2009 | 5:23 amDo you put barriers in the way of your customers that prevent them from giving you their money? My wife and I recently dropped by our local Blockbuster video to rent a movie. There was a special on previously viewed movies that offered 4 movies for $20.00 vs. $6.99 each. They had a large selection and we noticed there were a number of movies that either we hadn’t seen or thought they would be good to add to our home library — so we decided to purchase some. After sorting through the selection, we chose 10 movies - assuming that anything over the 4 movies would be available at… -
Customer Experience vs. Customer Service
29 Sep 2009 | 4:41 amSeth Godin recently wrote a post Cultural Wisdom that got me thinking about the difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience. He makes the point that cultural wisdom is the ability to discern when things don’t fit with your overall brand. The sophistication to know what fits with the norms of your brand culture — and the resultant opinion people form about that brand. Very often people will describe what I do as “Customer Service” or something along those lines. Whether as a speaker or a consultant, they quickly slot me into the term customer service…
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Constructive Grumpiness
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EVERYTHING you Love is Dead
6 Nov 2009 | 7:45 amImage Credit Taking a note from Seth Godin, I’m going to admit, my title is bogus and a small shot at the all too common blog posts declaring “X” dead. The things above aren’t dead, their status quo is dead. People crave seeing that which is unique. They need to hear stories. They want help discovering what’s new. They can’t help share their life through melody. They seek to be part of a community. This hasn’t changed. The means in which those needs are satisfied has. The following is a short but hopefully positive and helpful list of examples of how… -
So Proud of my Alma Mater
3 Nov 2009 | 5:50 pmPurdue University has developed a system that will soon integrate social tools such as Twitter and Facebook into the classroom. Taking a cue from many tech conferences, students will be able to post questions to a public forum visible to the professor and rest of the class. In addition, the system employs a Digg-style system which lets students vote up and down questions that they think is most important. I'm incredibly proud of my former school for not just using this kind of technology, but for BUILDING it. Go Boilers! -
Squarespace iPhone App
3 Nov 2009 | 2:50 pmThis will serve as my first post via the Squarespace iPhone application. I've gotten somewhat used to mobile posting through my use of Posterous however this seems to be a much more tailored experience. The first version of the app lets you manage previous posts, view previews of your blog, and see analytics for the current week. I additionally am impressed with the fact that you can upload up to 8 pictures from your iphone library post. It did take a bit of time to upload just 1, but I am going to chock that up to a slow network and not the application. I am growing much more impressed with… -
Why People Use "." in front of their @ replies
2 Nov 2009 | 5:50 pmLast week podcaster Bob Knorpp (@thebeancast) explained to me why some people use a period on front of the twitter handle they're responding to. Ever since, I've started noticing many people exhibiting this behaviors. As you know, when you @reply to someone, the only people who will see that tweet in their stream are those who are following both you (the tweeter) and the intended receiver (the person who the @reply is directed at). In some cases, that situation works out best because the response is fairly specific and your masses don't need to see the out-of-context response. In other cases,… -
My Beancast Debut. Episode 77: It's A Conspiracy
2 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pmI've mentioned this a few times on this blog already but "The Beancast" is the reason I started listening to podcasts. This particular show, hosted by Bob Knorpp covers the world of marketing and media and I was incredibly lucky to be a guest on yesterday's show. Below is a repost from beancast.us that provides links and show notes to episode 77. Enjoy! DOWNLOAD THE SHOW NOW SUBSCRIBE FOR AUTO DOWNLOADING WITH iTUNES I'm running out of superlatives for my shows. Each one is like a little island of sanity for me these days. So if I go with that metaphor, this island was like the one from…
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The Amazing Service Guy
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Let your customer lead
6 Nov 2009 | 1:38 pmHere is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Let your customer lead And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… I can’t seem to sit down in a restaurant anymore without being offered something I have no interest in. Take sweet tea for example. Everywhere I go a server offers me sweet tea. Yet I don’t drink sweet tea. I have never liked sweet tea. I probably never will. If one more person offers me sweet tea, someone’s going to need a paramedic. So why do servers keep offering it to me? Because their managers, owners or corporate marketing people tell them to. And… -
Customer Service Quote for November 6, 2009
6 Nov 2009 | 1:13 pm“Championship customer service isn’t a matter of what you think it is. It matters what the customer says it is.” -Ray PelletierSimilar articles: Customer Service Quote for September 17, 2009 Reward Yourself When You Deliver Amazing Service You’re Here to Serve Your Customers Customer Service Quote for November 4, 2009 Customer Service Quote for November 5, 2009 Share This -
Be a better customer
6 Nov 2009 | 6:27 amby Kevin Stirtz If you’ve read much of my work, you know a big part of what I preach is that Amazing customer service starts with treating everyone well. If you want more loyal customers, treat them well. But in doing so you need to treat everyone well, not just customers. What’s amusing (but in a sad way) is how many people who contact me violate this very basic idea. They request information. They want pricing. They have a question. They expect me to stop what I’m doing and respond to them. They want my help. Yet, when I do what they ask, many never have the courtesy to… -
Know your customer
5 Nov 2009 | 8:11 amHere is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Know your customer. And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… Sitting in my favorite coffee shop recently I noticed a man in a white shirt and tie (carrying a briefcase) walk up to the counter. He looked like a salesman. Rather than order something, he asked to speak with “JoJo”. I chuckled to myself as he said this. The name of the coffee shop is “JoJo’s Rise and Wine”. The owners each have “Jo” in their names but neither is named “Jo”. (There is no person named… -
Customers expect (and deserve) more
5 Nov 2009 | 7:21 amIf you’ve been paying attention, you know things have changed in the world of business. As customers, we are smarter than ever. We know we have more options. We know we deserve to do business with companies that help us accomplish our goals. And we understand it’s okay to expect companies that will work WITH us as partners rather than adversaries. Companies that ignore this will end up just like “Mr. Advertising” in this video: alone and wondering what happened. Similar articles: How to reduce customer complaints Don’t go overboard for your customers What are you…
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Can I have that with!
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Focus on aspects that raise revenue.
2 Nov 2009 | 10:55 pmAngel investors want you to focus on aspects of the business that generate revenue. Kermit Pattison's article addresses the metrics investors use.There has been a sea change in risk sensitivity; the more self-sufficiency a company demonstrates, the less risky it appears. “Bootstrap it as long as you possibly can to validate your business model and to get some traction,” Mr. Cerullo said. “The more traction you have, the more leverage you are going to have in a valuation negotiation with an angel or private equity investor.”Entrepreneurs should find ways to finance their own growth:… -
Are you kidding me?
2 Nov 2009 | 10:50 pmThings are getting out of hand now.Technomic reports a decrease of on-premise liquor consumption.Total alcohol sales in all away-from-home venues are expected to decline 2.5 percent in 2010. The biggest declines will be seen in casual full-service restaurants and high-end white tablecloth restaurants. -
Be consistent throughout
2 Nov 2009 | 10:42 pmBruce Buschel's post offers a list of tips for servers;Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated. -
All Halos Eve
31 Oct 2009 | 6:19 pmIt is very scary out there tonight. There are ghosts and goblins wandering the earth unimpeded by their chains. Even more scary is the economy which continues to struggle at all levels. I was visiting my favorite bakery cafe when I asked the proprietor how things were? She replied that she wished she had a little more business. Ever the bright know-it-all, I informed her that the recession had ended and happy days were here again. She looked bemused and informed me that there are a lot of her customers that are unemployed and they do not believe the recession has ended...Really now who should… -
What people pay for?
31 Oct 2009 | 4:00 amThe thrill of possibility, the chance for recognition, the chemical high of anticipation. That's what people pay for. Seth GodinSeth's quote is interesting because it encapsulates the thought process of the first few moments in any dining or purchasing decision. The purchaser examines the menu offerings while engulfed by the atmosphere that has been created by the entrepreneur. The decision resulting from those moments of contemplation is based in large measure on the thrill of possibility.
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The Sun Rises Today
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What do traditions mean to you?
5 Nov 2009 | 6:58 amThe word traditional often leaves a funny taste in your mouth. These days, word on the street is traditional is bad. Traditional signifies the way things used to be, not the way things will (should) be. But are traditions really that bad? Or can they be the foundation of greatness? Think of the traditions in your life. Christmas. Weekly staff meetings. Getting up at 2am on Black Friday to get all the deals with your girlfriends. Monday night football with the guys. American Idol nights. Choosing and cutting down the family Christmas tree. Board games on New Year's Eve. December ski… -
Are you aware of the (extra)ordinary?
4 Nov 2009 | 10:53 amThe beaten up old shoes you've worn for a year and are ready to throw out might be a saving grace for a kid somewhere without shoes. The annoying rain you've gotten all week could be a slice of heaven for a village that has been dry for three months. The thirty-five minute drive from your house to your parents is a godsend compared to the two hour trip somebody else experiences via public transportation. What is ordinary to you could be extraordinary to someone else. Are you aware of the (extra)ordinary? -
Are you the one that opens the other door?
3 Nov 2009 | 7:48 amSometimes, when you're leaving the train station, everybody's coming into the train station. And they're all coming in through the left door. Because the first person went through that door, so everybody else follows. Twice the amount of people could get in if somebody simply opened the other door too. But nobody does. Are you the one that opens the other door? -
Are you taller and yellow?
2 Nov 2009 | 6:23 amSometimes you don't need to be bigger, scarier, cheaper, wackier, or smarter. You just need to be taller and yellow. -
Your kids are going to read this - is that ok?
29 Oct 2009 | 3:00 amWalk with me for a moment. The year is 2021. The Internet still exists and has evolved into something you and I can't fathom right now. Flying cars still haven't emerged yet. In fact, they finally broke it to us that it was a hoax all along. One large part of the Internet still remains though - all the blog posts, YouTube videos, tweets, Flickr photos, and comments that were published in 2009. Except the authors of all that 2009 media are now twelve years older. So are the viewers. Many of the viewers were babies in 2009. Now they're in 7th grade. Chris Brogan's daughter is…
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Customer Service Voodoo
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It Would Be A Great Business, If It Weren’t For The Customers
27 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pmI saw this on Twitter today: What is with my customers today?! They’re all slow and stupid. I mean they’re like that everyday but today it’s worse. #customerservice I don’t even know where to start… I will spare the person the shame of having their name posted on here, but I will ask that we all take a good hard look at our business and our processes. Are we encouraging or instilling this type of behavior in our employees? As Charles Shulz would write – “Good Grief!” Let’s get with the program, thanks for reading! Brandon … -
Twitter and Bringing Potatoes to Market
13 Oct 2009 | 10:01 pmThere is an old saying about farming that goes, “Every mile that you are closer to your market is a tangible advantage.” Actually, it comes from a book originally published in 1867, however, the maxim is still true. While Peter Henderson was originally talking about getting produce to market, this principle applies to virtually every facet of business. For example, we have to look no further than the off ramps on major highways to see that fast food restaurants and gas stations jostle for signage and physical location, all with the goal of attracting more Customers. After all,… -
Hey, Jones Soda! I Want Cola Flavor Soda! Send Me Crate Of It!
12 Oct 2009 | 9:37 pmLegend has it that when Coca Cola first came out a century back, it contained a substance (Cocaine) which made it highly addictive! While the addiction part may not be entirely substantiated, I have met a fair number of people who ‘can’t live’ without a Coke (or Pepsi). Having grown up in the South, I have had a few “Co’ Cola’s”, as we call them, and while I love their taste, they simply can’t compare to the “new” flavors that have emerged recently of soda with Cane Sugar instead of Corn Syrup. Pepsi has tried it, Coke makes a… -
Wrapping Up Customer Service Week
9 Oct 2009 | 3:19 pmWhat a great week! I am always happy to experience Customer Service Week and this one exceeded my expectations. Great webinars presented by HDI, countless Customer Service Week video from around the world, and, of course, free book giveaways! Our winners for the week are: Monday – @jmwernette Tuesday – @BACox Wednesday (4 Winners!) – @vickirogers, @yeseniachappell, Ken Brown and Michelle Andersen Thursday – @Ibyte2 Friday – @sherryaggie02 *A special thanks to ServiceSphere for donating their win back to the Customer Support community for a re-drawing. Thank you,… -
And We Have A Winner! Several Actually…
7 Oct 2009 | 4:17 pmMy thanks to the 300 or so people who attended today’s HDI webinar – Save the Customer, Save the World. I appreciate all the emails and tweets that people sent in and I would like to share some of them with you all. There were so many entries that I expanded the number of winners to four! I’ll share some of their feedback later this week, however, here’s the winners of today’s drawing for my book – Customer Service Voodoo. Thanks to Chris Dancy of ServiceSphere for donating his copy he won today back to the pool so another person could win. Here are…
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spark new thinking
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Posts from Day 2 of NACCM Customer's 1st Conference
5 Nov 2009 | 7:09 amOn day 2 of the NACCM Customer's 1st Conference, I followed the "Strategic Leadership and Customer-Centric Culture" learning track. Here are the sessions I covered for the Customer's 1st Blog:Designing and Developing Performance-Support Learning ProgramsKathleen Peterson, Chief Vision Officer, Powerhouse ConsultingFrugality is Reality! Management Imperatives for Leading on a Limited BudgetJohn McQuaig, Executive Director, St. Jude's Children's HospitalGlobal Culture Transformation: Changing the Behavior of Leaders at All LevelsGloria Roberts, Staff Vice President of Service Experience, FedEx -
Posts from Day 1 of NACCM Customer's 1st Conference
4 Nov 2009 | 11:45 amFirst of all, let me tell you that you can get a TON of content from the NACCM Customer's First Conference on their blog. The blogging team that I'm a part of has been capturing content from every single session, plus extra video interviews, etc. from the speakers, sponsors, and attendees. What's been nice is that the conference let me choose the sessions I wanted to cover, so I considered the sessions that I thought YOU would want to hear about. Here are my posts from Day 1. Click on the title to get the full post on the Customer's 1st blog.The Ultimate in Customer Centricity: Chief Customer… -
Changing my approach to Customer's 1st Conference Coverage
4 Nov 2009 | 11:32 amI realized that live blogging from a conference is a much different animal than writing a typical blog article. It's a bit more like journalism than my typical writing style. So, I've made an executive decision: I'm not going to post my writing from the NACCM Customer's 1st Conference on this blog.HOWEVER, what I AM going to do is post links to the posts I write on the Customer's 1st conference blog. Fair enough?So you'll see several posts that are basically just titles of the sessions I've attended and blogged about. The content is great (on most of them), but the style is, well, not my… -
Customer's 1st Conference Starts Today!
3 Nov 2009 | 7:09 amThis week, I'll be blogging "live" from the NACCM Customer's 1st Conference. All of my posts will appear here on the spark new thinking blog. If you'd like to follow the entire conference, posts from sparkspace and a few other bloggers will also be appearing on the Customer's 1st BlogYou can also follow tweets at #NACCMThis is a first for us (and a growing trend in conferences). If you subscribe to our blog via RSS or some other form of automatic notification, bear with us this week as we post throughout the day. After this week, we'll go back to normal, once or twice per week posting.I'm… -
Do You Inspire Yourself?
28 Oct 2009 | 9:35 amForget your customers for a minute. If you're reading this post, I'm pretty sure you think about your customers quite a bit. In fact, that's one of the main goals of this blog (and our whole company): to give you ideas and insight to help you serve your customers better.But aside from reading our blog religiously every week -- as I'm SURE you do -- do you do anything else to inspire yourself to better service? Service-oriented people are a strange breed. We spend so much of our energy serving other people that we sometimes forget to stop and re-energize ourselves once in awhile.I know the…
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ClickSoftware
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Art of outsourcing
1 Nov 2009 | 11:40 amWhilst on holidays recently, I finished reading a book titled “War PLC – The rise of the new corporate mercenary” which looks into the evolution of corporate soldiers (mercenaries) and the privatisation of war. The United States and the UK have outsourced key military and security functions to private military companies to carry out; primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Functions that have been outsourced include: logistical support, training military personnel, operating and maintaining military weapons, interrogation and translating.This article is not about the morals and justification… -
Seriously, How Tough is Panasonic ToughBook?
20 Oct 2009 | 6:37 amSome of our ClickMobile customers are using Panasonic ToughBooks, but I doubt if any of them took the time (and courage) to check how tough those beasts can really get...We, in ClickSoftware decided to go al the way and check it ourselves!Luckily, someone already did it for us...So here's a short video by Forbes, showing the capabilities of the ToughBook, and if you think that surviving a tiger's teeth and carrying a real elephant's weight is considered to be tough - then it's tough! Author: Gil Bouhnick Wan't more mobile? Visit the Mobilefever blog for all mobile, all the time. -
How to select a mobile device - Part #1 (Keyboard)
5 Oct 2009 | 7:22 amWhen it comes to picking the best mobile device for your organization, there are many parameters that needs to be considered. Price, performance, operating system, ease of maintenance, security, stability, resistance, usability, memory, screen size, compatibility with the mobile software and more.The "How to select a mobile device" guide is based on our experience and includes some tips you will hopefully find useful.In this part of the guide: Keyboard. One of the questions I often get relates to the keyboard, especially when thinking about PDAs.There are many kinds of form factors, many of… -
Project Success = On Time + Within Budget … + Full User Acceptance?
23 Sep 2009 | 11:22 amAt the end of each project I ask clients for lessons learned. The most commonly cited takeaway is the importance of getting the employees who are affected by the project onboard with the new implementation. As one client told me recently about a ClickSchedule implementation, “If our dispatchers and technicians hadn’t accepted the new software, we would have failed. They meant everything to the success of this project.” In other words, it’s not enough to install some software and assume the implementation is a success. We only achieve success in a project if we also help our people… -
Speed and flexibility
9 Sep 2009 | 7:03 amI once listened to NFL quarterback Steve Young describe how San Francisco 49er coaches carefully scripted each play in the week before a game. Every offensive player was assigned precise pass routes, blocking assignments, running lanes, etc. Young explained each play worked perfectly in practice but the moment the ball was snapped in the real game, everything changed. A block was missed. A receiver slipped. The defense lined up in a different formation or blitzed unexpectedly. He said the success or failure of the play was determined not so much by how it was originally outlined but rather…
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Your Source for Providing a Better Customer Service and Customer Support Experience
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Support Makeover Earns Coremetrics Top Analyst Marks – Even as Company Reduces Support Costs
6 Nov 2009 | 6:26 amDownload the Coremetrics success story Every day, more than 2,000 online business sites globally – with transactions representing over $20 billion per year – rely on Coremetrics to optimize their online marketing. Most significantly, the company’s clients are happy. Yet not that long ago, Coremetrics recognized it was time to take support to the next level to drive client satisfaction. “We recognized the need to provide our clients the 24×7 help needed, but in a scalable way,” said Paige Newcombe, senior director, Global Client Services. “The metrics spoke to the need to… -
How to Tell Anyone Anything Part 4 – Discussing the Issue
4 Nov 2009 | 7:45 amHow to Tell Anyone Anything - Discussing the Issue If you have been following this blog series faithfully, you have seen the first steps in painlessly having difficult discussions with your staff: starting in a safe place, asking good questions, and acknowledging people. Now, in this final installment, we get to the fun part: getting the issue itself on the table, whether it is performance, attitude, or even personal issues like hygiene. When you do these first three steps well, you will find that you can now be extraordinarily frank about whatever you want to discuss – IF you do the… -
Parature and ThePort™ Network Announce Strategic Partnership
28 Oct 2009 | 8:50 amParature and ThePort™ Network Announce Strategic Partnership Parature announced today a referral partnership agreement with ThePort™ Network, social media solutions provider for associations and nonprofit organizations. Parature and ThePort Network, both software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, have a significant focus on the association and nonprofit markets. “As a leader in on-demand customer service software, we are delighted to enter into a partnership with a proven social media solutions provider,” said Parature Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Duke Chung. “Parature is one of… -
How to Tell Anyone Anything Part 3 – The Power of Acknowledgement
27 Oct 2009 | 12:55 pmHow to Tell Anyone Anything - The Power of Acknowledgement When you coach someone, you are probably hoping it will go something like this: first, you ask someone to change something. Then the other person politely nods their head and says that forthwith they will start logging their cases better, being nicer to customers, coming in on time, showering more often, or whatever. But it doesn’t ever seem to work that way, does it? Instead, you often hear excuses, defenses, and their side of the story. And I am here to tell you that these things are all *wonderful* to hear. Why? Because they… -
Parature and Rosetta Stone Share the Same Customer Philosophy – Listen and Become Better
27 Oct 2009 | 8:44 amRosetta Stone Focuses on Customer Success with Parature Customer Service™ Software Parature announced today that Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE) , a leading provider of technology-based language learning solutions, selected Parature Customer Service™ software to efficiently manage their customer service and strategically support their customer-centric focus. “Rosetta Stone is committed to changing the way the world learns languages. With the introduction of our innovative, online language-learning solution, Rosetta Stone® TOTALe™, we are completely focused on our customers’ success and…
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Customers Are Talking
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Is everyday management a social threat to employees?
6 Nov 2009 | 6:33 amThere’s a neat article by Reuters discussing how workers’ brains and management practices often work at cross-purposes. They cite, among others, Charles Jacobs, author of the book “Management Rewired,” recently reviewed here. An excerpt of the Reuters piece: “One of the things organizations need to do is respect the deeply social nature of the brain. People are not rational, they are social,” David Rock, author of “Your Brain at Work” (HarperBusiness), told Reuters in an interview. “The social brain is such that we are really driven to… -
My reading journal: Tim Brown’s “Change By Design”
5 Nov 2009 | 8:25 am“Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation,” by Tim Brown with Barry Katz. 2009: Harper Business, 264pp. When did you read it? October 2009. Subject: A presentation of the idea of “design thinking” – the use of close observation, imagination, and consideration of constraints to conceive and implement innovative solutions to problems in business and society. Did you like it? How many stars would you give it (1-5)? 3.5 Summary: Brown is the CEO of IDEO, the acclaimed design consultancy that helped Apple create the iPod,… -
Department of dubious innovations: a brief history of the frialator
4 Nov 2009 | 6:25 amI listened to a Fresh Air interview with “Omnivore’s Dilemma” author Michael Pollan and couldn’t get this passage out of my head (it comes 14′40″ into the interview): But it’s very interesting to watch, as the amount of time spent cooking has fallen by about half since the 1960s, you know, obesity has risen dramatically. Now why should that be? Well, there is some very interesting research that correlates the amount of time that a culture spends cooking with its obesity rates, and that when you don’t cook and you rely on corporations to cook for… -
My reading journal: Morten Hansen’s “Collaboration”
2 Nov 2009 | 7:51 amI’ve finished a few books recently but am a bit behind on reviewing them. My kids have started documenting their books in reading journals that help them with reading comprehension. To add a bit of variety (and to make sure I’m not getting lazy), I’m going to use the reading journal format for this week’s reviews. “Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results,” by Morten Hansen. 2009: Harvard Business Press, 231pp. When did you read it? September-October 2009. Subject: A study of collaboration in business; when it is and… -
P&G’s strategic review of brands isn’t really strategic
29 Oct 2009 | 11:31 amThe Wall Street Journal today reported that Procter & Gamble’s new CEO, Robert McDonald, had put a number of brands on notice that they had to improve results or risk being sold off. Many of the brands reviewed, such as Duracell, IAMS and Braun electric appliances, “have long been considered extraneous to P&G’s focus on beauty, health and nonfood household staples,” according to the Journal. If that’s the case, why is McDonald threatening to sell the brands if they don’t improve results? Why isn’t he just going ahead and selling the brands?
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The Think Zone
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A Seat at the Grownups' Table
1 Nov 2009 | 5:55 amMany of us can remember Thanksgiving dinner in an extended family setting where those of us who were very young were sent to eat at the kids' table—usually a folding table set up just for the purpose. When we were "old enough" we were able to move up to the grownups' table. It was and is a rite of passage. For those of us who are the youngest sibling, this rite was even more important.In business, a "seat at the table" means that your department or division or function gets to participate in decision-making processes. Your people get to be in the room when decisions are at least discussed… -
Finding Opportunities in Change
15 Oct 2009 | 6:08 pmThere were two significant changes in my workplace this week. They weren't new servers or databases. They were changes in staff.One person has left the Service Desk to take a new and exciting position closer to home (it will save him about 3 hours a day). Another will be leaving my Desktop Support group to head across the building to take up systems administration duties.Neither of these changes is easy. Work needs to be absorbed or modified. There will be the inevitable challenges to get up to speed on things these people know and things they did. Oh, sure, we have documentation. The… -
Customer Service Week: Celebrating Your Best
4 Oct 2009 | 8:18 amWho picks up the phone when someone calls your company with a question or a problem? After your customer has navigated what is sometimes a long Winding Path through a phone tree or waited on hold—or both—who handles a confused, sometimes angry customer? Your Customer Service people do. Customer Service Week is meant as a time to honor and celebrate the people who do this difficult and sometimes personally rewarding job. Like a lot of well-intended celebrations, however, it has become focused more on celebrations in Customer Service rather than celebrations of Customer Service both as a… -
Customer Service Week: What Makes Great Service?
27 Sep 2009 | 8:21 amFrom time to time, we are struck by the quality of service we experience at a particular store, restaurant, or from the support folks associated with a Web site or company. As we approach Customer Service Week, which starts on October 5 this year, let's examine the particular things that make us say, "That was great service."By great service, I mean the kind of service that makes us change our mind about a purchase or item; it's the kind that not only makes us feel good, but makes us want to tell people about the business, to spread the word, to become an advocate for that business. Anyone in… -
Starting Something New Over Again
20 Sep 2009 | 7:41 amSeptember has special meanings for those of us who spent lots of years going to school, and who enjoyed it. I loved getting ready for a new round of classes and teachers, buying new books (except for the money!), and meeting new classmates with whom and from whom to learn. Another year, the next level, new challenges, new opportunities.Then there's that autumn thing: Crunchy leaves under your feet, the emotions of watching a year die and knowing that the winter is coming on.Well, I'm not going to school this year, but even now things change in September. Vacation times are over, and rounds of…
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AFFINA Blog
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What are People Saying Online about Your Brands, Products, and Promotions?
28 Oct 2009 | 9:46 amWhy Social Media Strategies Should Integrate with Customer Care.By Lori BoyceSenior Director – AFFINAImagine a never-ending, virtual focus group during which your customers openly share candid feedback and opinions on your products, promotions, and brands. Let’s say this virtual, never-ending focus group includes participants who have actually used your products, and the audience is thousands or even millions of individuals in your target market.Wouldn’t you want to listen-in? Facilitate conversations? Dispel myths? Thank those who praise your products? Make things right with those who… -
Use Customer Data to Make Strategy Decisions
23 Oct 2009 | 10:37 amBy Lori BoyceSenior Director - AFFINAThrough hundreds of thousands of contacts across multiple channels, your customers are saying, “I have this product,” or “I use this service,” and most importantly, “here’s what’s happening,” and “what can you tell me about it?”When analyzed carefully, data can uncover trends and customer feedback that can be used to help improve the service experience and reduce overall service cost. Using data to your advantage should start with an overall review of the information at hand. A few suggestions include:Fully understand call arrival… -
Social Media and Customer Service: Your Questions Answered
15 Oct 2009 | 2:29 pmBy Lori BoyceSenior Director - AFFINASocial media sites of all types have become powerful channels for companies to use for smart marketing strategies that reach targeted customer segments and further evangelize their brands.The influence of social media on customer loyalty is unmistakable. Social media channels – including blogs, message boards, networking sites, and many more – are full of comments from customers who are offering opinions, complaints, compliments, and advice on millions of brands and products.A customer service strategy for social media is understanding the online buzz,… -
Is Reducing AHT a Good Cost Savings Strategy for Your Operations?
25 Sep 2009 | 7:57 amBy Lori BoyceSenior Director - AFFINACompanies everywhere are seeking ways to cut costs at no risk to the customer experience. Is it possible to achieve both? Absolutely.When customers reach out to you, they are seeking resolution, and doing so quickly, accurately, and to their satisfaction is one way to keep them coming back for more of your product or service.There are a lot of ways to achieve cost savings; in this post, the focus is on one: reducing average handle time (AHT) in ways that will protect the customer experience and reduce your overall costs. Here are two quick ways to… -
Bright Ideas for Upcoming Customer Service Week in October
16 Sep 2009 | 7:30 amBy Lori BoyceSenior Director AFFINACustomer Service Week (CSW) is October 5-9. Do you have plans to mix things up in your customer care operations to recognize and reward the team members who work each day to delight your customers and maximize their experience with your brand?Here are a few quick ideas to get you started on planning:Go with a theme. Last year when our company celebrated its 35th anniversary, we chose the week of CSW to celebrate, and rolled back the style to the 1970s. Our teams had fun with 70s trivia, jargon contests and 70s costume day! Have some fun and get silly with a…
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Scott McKain Viewpoint
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Short….or, demanding?
6 Nov 2009 | 3:31 pmWe’ve heard it a million times! Attention spans are incredibly short — and for young people today, they’re even shorter. Kids don’t — or won’t — pay attention to anything. Right? Wrong. I realized this watching my stepson, Faron, the other night. My wife (and Faron’s mom), Tammy, had been critical of him…pushing him to “pay more attention” toward his school assignments. Yet, here he was just a few night’s later, on a weekend evening, playing a video game with passion and intensity. He was engaged with his PS3 online… -
Recent interview on success…
3 Nov 2009 | 8:27 am…just wanted to share a recent interview I did on “Live at 9″ on Memphis television… -
Friendly, speedy service – “Lonesome Dove” style…
31 Oct 2009 | 8:44 pmIt’s hard for me to believe that my all-time favorite work of art ever committed to film is now TWENTY years old! “Lonesome Dove” is to me the epitome of storytelling — the book is one of my favorites, too — and the performances are uniformly brilliant. If you haven’t watched it, it is the definition of MUST SEE. Robert Duvall as Gus is simply the most astounding acting that I have ever seen. I had an opportunity to interview him several years ago, and he told me that not only was it his favorite role, it was also a bit depressing to think that he will… -
The sophisticated gullible…
29 Oct 2009 | 10:23 amThe continuing news regarding the deaths in the Sweat Lodge during the “Spiritual Warrior” retreat in Sedona, Arizona continue to mortify and mystify me. CBS News had an interview with Dr. Beverly Bunn — an orthodontist taking part in the weekend program. Her version of the event is shocking and devastating. And, the pain she is so obviously enduring makes this difficult to watch. Yet, who are these people would will pay so much — and willingly subjugate not only their thoughts, but also their very safety — for this kind of program? Let me state from the outset,… -
Random thoughts on “motivational speakers”…
20 Oct 2009 | 6:01 amWhat is a motivational speaker? Wikipedia defines motivation as “the activation or energization of goal-oriented behavior.” And, while there are a myriad of theories regarding motivation, Dr. Douglas McGregor’s classic “Theory X and Theory Y” states: • Motivated employees always look for better ways to do a job. • Motivated employees are more quality oriented. • Motivated workers are more productive. Therefore, it seems obvious that “motivational speakers” –- at least in business — are those who make presentations conveying content to audiences encouraging the…
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crm intelligence & strategy
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Lessons Learned at the SCRM E2.0 Conference
6 Nov 2009 | 9:19 amFunny thing happened to me this week. I attended the Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco and an SCRM conference showed up. It all started with the keynotes on day one: Tammy Erickson from nGenera delivered the opening address (she did a great job) talking about the differences between traditional enterprise and Enterprise 2.0: changes in society, people [...] -
The Roadmap to SCRM, Part 3 of 5
3 Nov 2009 | 9:34 amPart 1 – Introduction Part 2.1 – Pivot Point Part 2.2 – Business Functions It is important to recap a couple of things that we said before: The SCRM Strategy is composed of multiple sub-strategies, some of which you may already have in existence The roadmap to SCRM is an iterative process, where you will re-visit many times each strategy [...] -
Quick Update, United Responds – Still Does not Understand
29 Oct 2009 | 1:15 pmAlmost as soon as I clicked the button to publish my previous entry I received an email from United in regards to my tweets from yesterday (not of all of them were kind). Here is the text of the email: Dear Mr. Kolsky: I’m sorry to learn that you were inconvenienced when your most recent flight resulted in [...] -
How United Broke My Experience
29 Oct 2009 | 10:21 amThis a tale of six airports, 16 hours, and one long failed experience. It has two parts, first the story and then the lessons learned from it. Critical learning: experiences are not about technology, are about people. Read on. Disclosure: I hate all airlines equally, and don’t expect to ever be paid by any of them for [...] -
What if RightNow Was Just One of Us? (and Why That is Good)
29 Oct 2009 | 8:53 amI came back last night from the RightNow Technologies User Group meeting (you will see another blog today about my “experience” getting here). It was a great experience; it corroborated what I’ve been thinking lately: SCRM is not at the 101 (introductory) level as we all thought, it is actually at the remedial level. We really, really [...]
