"Wherever life is, it never retreats" Words of Kevin Kelly during his 2005 Ted Talk on How Technology Evolves. As much as we sometimes would like the world to stop so that we can catch our breath....it won't. I have written about social business a lot recently and that is because I feel that technology evolves then business models adapt to cope with the technology. Social media was a use of the technology. The greater effect though was raising the expectation of the consumer. Now the consumer has found their voice, they want more.....like Oliver Twist! A voice is wonderful but what about the…
Customer Service
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Most Topular Stories
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Stepping Stones to Social Business Model
The Engaging Brand15 May 2012 | 10:05 am -
7 Small Business Internet Marketing Blunders
Return Customer7 May 2012 | 10:01 amOn the surface, Internet marketing for a small business can seem fairly simple. You assemble an email list, you put up a website, you create a Facebook page, and people will come flooding into your business. At least, that’s the picture many small business owners have in their minds. So, they jump in, expecting great returns for relatively little effort. The reality, of course, is very different. The Internet is a tremendously competitive marketplace. To be successful, you need to be able to connect with prospects faster and more efficiently than your competition. It’s easy to make… -
What the “Avengers” can teach us about business…
Scott McKain Viewpoint14 May 2012 | 5:16 pmFrankly, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a movie about superheros or a new tech device you just have to own…ANY product or service that can attract over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in sales over its first couple of weeks in the marketplace can probably teach us something or two we could learn about improving our own organizations. So it is with the hit film, “The Avengers,” which over the weekend became only the eleventh movie in history to join the Billion Dollar Club of features earning that level of ticket sales. Here’s an astounding aspect — the movie is only… -
Bridging the Digital Marketing Gap
Think customers: The 1to1 Blog15 May 2012 | 9:40 amA new study from PulsePoint on the digital marketing capabilities and shortcomings of companies finds that "overwhelming complexity" and a "lack of unified measurement" are the key stumbling blocks in aligning these efforts with consumers' multichannel behaviors. There's a growing body of research on this topic, most of which support this thesis that marketing leaders are, in fact, overcome by the difficulty of managing and coordinating marketing efforts across the flood of channels that customers use. They also struggle to measure the results, often because marketing efforts are siloed by… -
When is Net Promoter the wrong customer loyalty question to ask?
Good for customers, great for business15 May 2012 | 12:25 pmIn a casual Tweet I counselled against indiscriminate use of the Net Promoter ® question. It prompted an anxious reply from one of our most valued customers who wondered whether he was using the question inappropriately. He should rest easy. I often find it’s the people who are most concerned to do the right thing who have the least cause to worry. For those not familiar, the Net Promoter model is a popular customer loyalty measure based on one simple question “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” It’s a good…
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Kevin Eikenberry on Leadership & Learning
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How to Hire Rock Stars
16 May 2012 | 6:37 amI put this slide on the screen yesterday, while giving a talk on hiring strategies for Choice Hotels International Convention. . . If you want to hire rock stars, you can’t wait until you have an opening to start thinking about hiring. Here’s an exercise to do today to help you implement this idea. [...] -
Leadership Lessons from Hamburger (Yes, Hamburger)
14 May 2012 | 5:00 amPerhaps this post will prove you can stretch a metaphor a long way (almost as far as a mother of six can stretch a pound of hamburger). The reality is that I decided to see what I could come up with because this week is National Hamburger Week. I spent some time thinking about hamburgers [...] -
Two Opportunities to Solve Your Biggest Leadership Challenges
13 May 2012 | 1:00 pmAre you a leader who . . . - Has challenges you aren’t quite sure how to solve? - Finds themselves frustrated with different aspects of your work? - Knows you can build your skills and make a bigger difference, but don’t know how? - Wants a promotion to a higher level of responsibility? - Has high expectations for yourself? [...] -
Why Leaders Should Celebrate Mothers Day
13 May 2012 | 6:08 amIt’s Mother’s Day in the United States – a day to set aside to thank, honor and remember our mothers. As a leader, I hope you are doing those things for the mothers in your life, and after reading this post, I hope you do a little bit more. This post isn’t meant to [...] -
Linus, His Blanket, and Change
11 May 2012 | 8:07 amIn the last 10 days, I have spent time with three groups, totaling well over 500 people, talking about change – how to understand and lead it. Change is an important topic for us today, as there is so much of it around us. What I find in both my study, work, and through observation, is that we have [...]
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Call Center Perspectives
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7 May 2012 | 10:10 am
7 May 2012 | 10:10 amBy Colin Taylor I read an interesting article by Jennifer J Deal at strategy+business looking at five myths we hold about Millennials. For the past number of years we have all heard horror stories about organizations that gave away iPads, spot bonuses, socially conscious and social responsible activities, but still had staff leave for greener pastures. This point has been used time and again to characterize the lack of loyalty that Millennials are supposed to posses, which makes hiring and retaining them difficult. Call centers I know of have changed their mobile phone policies to allow… -
Why Most Call Center Customer Service is So Bad?
5 May 2012 | 10:10 amBy: Colin Taylor We have all had the experience, we phone our cable company, wireless provider or our utility and Bang! The pain and suffering begins: “Your call is important us, Please hold”. Well if my call was really important I would have thought you would have answered it. Of course some hold messages can be even more frightening: “We are experiencing higher call volumes and you should expect a longer than average hold time”. No I don’t make it a habit to phone my wireless provider often enough to know what their average hold time is, but I am scared nonetheless. Perhaps the… -
Customer Quality Reporting: Real Customer Satisfaction Measurement - from the horse's mouth
20 Dec 2011 | 9:19 amA Customer Satisfaction and Contact Center Quality Performance Monitoring Service Contact centers deliver services to customers and prospects by telephone, email, and chat. It is essential that organizations have insight into the quality of those interactions. The internal perspective is often delivered through a quality listening team which reviews contacts and scores measuring based upon predetermined set of criteria. In many organizations the internal quality measures are those elements of the interaction that are believed to be important to the customer as well as company focused… -
Closing the Revolving Door – Part 2
17 Dec 2011 | 9:18 amBy: Colin Taylor So how do we build an enduring structure in our call center that will support engagement, motivation and allow us to deploy aligned reward/recognition programs that succeed in meeting the objectives of the center and the business? But what happens if we can design an environment where the agents push us? What happens when the agent is proactive, rather than reactive? But what happens if we can design an environment where the agents push us? What happens when the agent is proactive, rather than reactive? Structural design focus creates a push model where staff are motivated to… -
Closing the Revolving Door – Part1
29 Nov 2011 | 3:05 pmClosing the Revolving Door – Part1 By: Colin Taylor Staff and Agent retention was a ‘hot’ button topic in the call center industry 20 years ago and still is one now. So how is it that the same issue that ‘dogged’ call centers two decades ago is still a ‘front burner’ issue today? I think there are a number of factors that contribute to this: • The nature of turnover and staff attrition is such that you are never done this process, • Successive regimes have built up and eroded successful programs that addressed this topic, • Regular and expected fluctuations in employment…
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Conversation Agent
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Most Marketers Still Not Making Data-Driven Decisions Surveys Find
16 May 2012 | 4:00 amHow do large corporate marketers collect and use data? Are practices in marketing measurement and ROI changing? How about the integration of digital and traditional marketing? Has the excitement around big data brought about a shift in how marketers conduct their business? These are some of the topics for investigation in a recent study conducted by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership and the New York American Marketing Association (NYAMA). The short answer: there is still a big gap between where organizations would like to be and where they actually are in… -
Answering Common Inquiries About Content
15 May 2012 | 4:00 amThree kinds of inquiries I receive regularly: write about us give us your content allow us to post Many of you find the contact form for consulting work. In that case, I'm happy to provide a quote and scope of work. If that's not what you're after, the quickest way to find out what is accepted for review and publication is by following the link to -- submit your question on the top menu. In all cases, the best outcomes come when the ask is appropriate. Note the term "pro" is part of the word. Making the ask Don't know how to ask? Here's how to write an email that stands out for your review. -
Why Experience is Key to Customer Loyalty
14 May 2012 | 4:00 amWhenever I travel, I'm reminded of the many amazing opportunities that come from being able to reach many parts of the world relatively easily. Let's face it, things can go wrong with the weather and with technology. It is how an airline -- or any company, for that matter -- handles customer fairness that will make a big difference to its bottom line. Will they have to discount fares more deeply so people will do business with them again next time? There is plenty of room left for improving customer experience in the travel industry -- airlines, hotels, car services, even airports, with a few… -
Business Lessons I Learned from my Mother
13 May 2012 | 5:00 amMy mother was Miss Romagna. Her name is Anna Laura. I wanted to have her purple blue eyes and ready smile. She has the welcoming spirit of a woman always ahead of the times and comfortable in her own skin. In addition to being a mother of three (all girls), she has had multiple careers -- accounting, sales, public office, geriatric care, and beautician; some overlapping for years. Mother really gets communications -- the listening part especially -- the organization of work, along with the care of the individual. Whether she negotiated credit rates or the recovery of the elderly, she made… -
Fair Pay, Participation Value, and The Intention Economy
12 May 2012 | 5:00 amDo you know the pay scale for your industry? I'm not talking about the job wanted ads -- those may mislead you and take you down the generic path. You're not generic, you have specific skills, and you should be able to calculate market value. Just like with salary, where you don't have a cut and dry answer, interaction and involvement are not exactly the same thing. Community participation has highs and lows, and they may not follow the touted 1% route. How active are people online? Has it changed in the last couple of years? Marketers can optimize campaigns and programs only so far. Without…
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CRM Daily
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Wireless Customer Satisfaction Evens Out
16 May 2012 | 10:27 amImprovements in customer satisfaction at Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc. have narrowed differences among the Big 4 wireless carriers to the point that they're basically even in terms of pleasing their subscribers, according to a study released Tuesday. The American Customer Satisfaction Index puts Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless within two points of each other on a 100-point scale of customer satisfaction. That's the smallest spread since the survey started looking at all four companies in 2005. It's also within the margin of error at plus or minus three points. Last year,… -
Facebook Updates Data Use Policy To Give More Info
15 May 2012 | 9:40 amFacebook is updating its data use policy in an attempt to give people more clarity on how the company uses information they share. As part of the changes, Facebook is also signaling that it may start showing people ads on sites other than Facebook, targeting the pitches to interests and hobbies that users express on Facebook. The move comes a week before Facebook Inc.'s expected initial public offering of stock. Facebook held events with potential investors this week, including one in Silicon Valley on Friday, and it has posted a version of its road show online. The offering could value… -
LiveTime Reduces Government IT Resource Costs
15 May 2012 | 9:24 amNewport Beach, CA, May 15, 2012 -- The U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC), and the Department of Defense (DoD) have successfully deployed LiveTime's Service Manager to provide streamlined ITSM services that save time, and reduce costs of Government IT resources. With a $14B budget and 142,000 employees, the DoC used disparate IT systems to manage all of its business processes, from Request Fulfillment through to Problem, Change and Release Management. The DoC wanted to standardize on a single centralized service management product and identified the need for a scalable cloud-based solution… -
Digital Wallets Take Center Stage at Cell Phone Show
14 May 2012 | 9:38 amCash, coins and credit cards are so Twentieth Century. At least, that's the opinion of the electronics manufacturers, phone companies, banks and credit card issuers that expect cellphones to be the main way consumers pay for purchases in the not-so-distant future. The trouble is, that vision-of-tomorrow is somewhat blurry, as evidenced at the U.S. cellphone industry trade show held this week in New Orleans. There are a lot of ideas, but little agreement. The stakes, however, are high. "Eighty-five percent of the world's transactions are still made with cash and checks. We have a wonderful… -
Facebook Spawns New Ecosystem of Startups
14 May 2012 | 9:36 amTo get the true measure of what's often called "The Facebook Effect," look beyond the company. Generally ignored in the klieg lights focused on Facebook's IPO is a growing ecosystem of other startups that are using the social network's 900 million users to launch their own businesses. The startups already have a much bigger collective economic footprint than Facebook itself. And one sure bet is that an IPO is in the future for many of those still-young companies. Consider Wildfire Interactive, a 3-year-old Redwood City, Calif., startup that helps the likes of Sony, Virgin Atlantic Airways and…
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theIdeaStudio (Customer Crossroads)
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This just in: [1] dealing with shopping bags; [2] world of apps and app data [3] upcoming webcast on mobile qualitative
25 Apr 2012 | 10:51 am[1] To bag or not to bag at checkout? In Toronto, where I live, the city has a bylaw that retailers must charge you 5 cents to give you a bag. But many retailers are using really cheap bags now, likely for environmental reasons. The result is you pay for a bag that is kind of horrible. Or can buy a re-usable bag for a buck or two. I was in a clothing chain called Laura yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised to be given a really nice re-usable bag for my 5 cent charge. Nice little loyalty initiative, and of course great free advertising. Positive experience. [2] World of apps and app data The… -
Which social network can get you business? LinkedIn is for B2B
17 Apr 2012 | 10:27 amI'm a big fan of the work of CB Whittemore (@CBWhittemore), who I have previously interviewed on this blog. When I was building my presentation "Hate Selling? Build Profile Instead", she kindly provided me with some compelling examples, and this wonderful quote: LinkedIn is for your professional network; Facebook is for your personal network; Twitter is where you find kindred spirits" Obviously, this is not the whole story, and she would be the first to tell you that Facebook can be a fantastic marketing resource for consumer-oriented businesses. Today, I'm talking B2B however, and just found… -
Instagram fan reaction to Facebook acquisition defines customer passion
11 Apr 2012 | 9:45 amI'd heard of Instagram, but wasn't a user. Listening to all the fan love in the last while following the Facebook purchase makes me wish I'd been there, though. The commentary makes interesting reading, and not just for what it says about Instagram, but also how Facebook has clearly becoming a big brother figure. Facebook becoming a walled garden David Meerman Scott on WebInkNow suggests that Facebook is following the long-discredited "walled garden" approach of the former AOL et al. It seems to me that the big social players – Google, Facebook, and Twitter – are building walled gardens… -
Reverse innovation: a story that's just getting started
27 Mar 2012 | 9:56 amWe may finally solve our productivity issues by looking to emerging markets for ideas. [The government and any number of think tanks keep telling me I need to get my productivity up. Pretty much the pot calling the kettle black, but whatever, right?] I read a marvellous article about this recently, that describes a phenomenon called Reverse Innovation. Here's the definition: A reverse innovation is any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world. The innovators could be anywhere, it's where the customers are that is crucial to the distinction. Author Chris Trimble, a professor…
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custserv.gbwatch
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Customer Service is for Children, Too: Creating Customer Touchpoints Through Children
24 Apr 2012 | 4:26 amOne day my son went out with his classmates to Yellow Cab, a pizza parlor. They were in their pre-teens, aged 12. According to the story, they went in, seated themselves and waited for someone to get their orders. Nobody came. After some time, they waved their hands to get anyone’s attention. When finally a server came to them, one of them joked, “Ba’t di mo kami pinapansin, kuya?” (“What took you long to take our orders, big brother?”) To which the server quipped, “I was busy.” My son then intervened and said, “Sumbong kita sa manager… -
Customer Loyalty: What It Is and Why It Is Important [Infographic]
16 Apr 2012 | 2:13 amA business would not exist without its customers. Therefore, keeping your customers satisfied is imperative to keeping them loyal. Today, businesses embrace an online presence, which allows customers to leave reviews and comments about them that are open to the public. For this reason, it is more important than ever to keep your customers satisfied. Customer service is an indicator of whether or not your customers will remain loyal. If you are able to satisfy your customers, they are likely to return and increase same-store sales. NBRI has created this infographic to explain what customer… -
The Test of Customer Service: The Holiday Customer Experience
15 Dec 2011 | 1:14 amImage Source Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams! So if you were to test an establishment’s customer service, this is the best time to do it. Is there grace under pressure? Here in the Philippines, Christmas time equates a mad rush of shopping frenzy. Parking lots overflow into the streets, and so expect terrible traffic jams! So if you were to test an establishment’s customer service, this is the best time to do it. Is there grace under pressure? I went to SM… -
B2C’s 7 Virtual Customer Service Tips
27 Oct 2011 | 4:09 amAs companies go online to expand business and reach customers, customer requirements, on other hand, have become more demanding. There is now a competition between which company is timely at giving feedback to customers. Social media has made that possible. This is in fact good for customers. So, Business2Community, an independent online community focused on sharing the latest news surrounding social media among other things, comes up with seven virtual customer service tips. Over communication. Just like with your virtual workers, your clients cannot look over their cubicle wall to see if… -
How Not to Serve Your Customers
27 Oct 2011 | 1:30 amImage Source During the past month or so, I have observed quite a number of customer service faux pas. And I could only sigh and say, “this is not the way you treat your customer!” Thus this blog post is born. I want to list instances where you are not serving your customers. Let’s start. Choose the options for them Popular notion has it that if you do everything for your customers, they will feel like a king. And true enough, you often hear customers gushing about not lifting a finger, yet get the best service there is. However, this does not work all the time.
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Gartner Blog Network
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SAP SapphireNow 2012 – One last item – Might Hana run too fast for your organization?
16 May 2012 | 9:29 amSome years ago in the Supply Chain Space, when i2 Technologies and Manugistics were talking about ATP and Capable to Promise, I was trying to think up something unique, competitive, and innovative. I was working at American Software Inc/Logility at the time. After thinking hard about how consumer goods companies do ATP, I came up with idea of “profitable to promise”. This idea was not, despite its name, focused on “quantity times price less cost equals profit”, but it was actually about opportunity cost. The reality is that firms always accepted orders they had little chance of… -
Review of Oracle Fusion CRM
16 May 2012 | 7:33 amOracle has released Oracle Fusion CRM for sales organizations’ sales force automation initiatives. It offers enhanced capabilities; however, more customer proof points are needed. In a just publish research note I discuss the top 5 impacts for sales organizations considering Oracle Fusion CRM. -
Forget Big Data, forget Facebook, until you protect yourself from the hammer coming for your face.
16 May 2012 | 5:27 amDay four of my mobile phone fiasco. Four hours, four days, seven phone calls, and now the wait for the replacement phone. And today, I have a replacement phone. Beautiful packaging. Explicit, step by step instructions on how to return defective device. Big RED Stop Sign: IMPORTANT telling me how to avoid punishing processing fees, and by returning I agree to extend the Warranty for the maximum time allowed by law. Basically: the company and the telecom provider have bent over backwards to make sure that they get their material back and that they lock you in as an unhappy customer. But wait! -
On DoS Detection
15 May 2012 | 5:11 pmIn the past, I used to cringe when I heard that somebody offers "DoS detection" capability. After all, detection of a successful DoS attack should be trivial: you have no service, it has been "denied." I am happy to report that I was wrong. DoS detection is a sneaky little problem today. First, you might have no service, but how do you know you are under a malicious DoS attack? A lot of factors may affect the availability of networks, servers, applications and whatever other part of modern IT – from your business sudden popularity to your server team sudden idiocy. Maybe… -
How a shared GPU can change the landscape of the virtual desktop market
15 May 2012 | 2:52 pmIn my previous blog post I discussed how virtual desktops are a growing market, and that I give most of the credit to an increased user experience (as opposed to Server Based Computing). I didn’t mention that there is a glass ceiling with virtual desktops and that historically it just wasn’t possible to use virtual desktops in some conditions. Today, an announcement is being made that I believe will shatter that ceiling and also make waves in some unexpected areas. What’s today’s announcement? NVIDIA has created a new GPU, the VGX (Virtual GPU Experience), that has the…
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Shep Hyken
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Work Environment Helps Create Company Culture
16 May 2012 | 10:06 amThis past week I had the wonderful opportunity of working with PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). They support their customers (members) who run dive centers and resorts around the world. I presented a customer service speech at their headquarters in Southern California. As I toured their offices I noticed several things. Their walls were painted blue, like the ocean. There were dozens and dozens of large pictures of their members SCUBA diving. They have a pool for their employees to learn and practice diving, or to just relax in during lunch or after work. A nice locker… -
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 7, 2012
14 May 2012 | 10:59 amEach day I read a number of articles from various online resources. Someone suggested I compile a list of my favorites for the week. Great idea. So, here you are. And, I’ve included a short description and a comment about each article. Top 5 Reasons to Understand Your Customer’s Customer by Penny Herscher (Huffington Post) For B2B sales teams looking to recapture growth during these early days, it’s critical to understand who’s really paying their bills and keeping the lights on — and guess what? It’s not your customer … it’s your customer’s… -
Spirit’s Customer Service Debacle Teaches Several Business Lessons
9 May 2012 | 7:39 amSpirit Airlines made it big in the news this past week, for two reasons. Unfortunately, it was for all the wrong reasons. Spirit Airlines is known as a low-cost, no-frills airline. They charge extra fees, as many airlines do for baggage. They even charge for carry-on bags that go into the overhead compartment. More on that in a moment. First, the big PR nightmare for Spirit came when Jerry Meekins, a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, asked for a refund because his doctor told him not to fly. The response from the customer service rep at the airline was flat out,… -
5 Top Customer Service Articles
7 May 2012 | 10:11 amFor the Week of April 30, 2012 Each day I read a number of articles from various online resources. Someone suggested I compile a list of my favorites for the week. Great idea. So, here you are. And, I’ve included a short description and a comment about each article. 8 Things Great Bosses Demand from Employees by Geoffrey James (Inc.) An extraordinary boss communicates his expectations clearly to his team. That way, everyone understands what it will take to make your company succeed. Here are the rules for keeping your boss happy. My Comment: First thing I thought about after reading… -
Customer Recovery: Guarantees and Communication
2 May 2012 | 10:16 amRecently I had an email exchange with Jeff Frank of Simplicity Sofas, an online furniture retailer. Simplicity Sofas uses their website as a showroom, and have evangelized their customers who give some of the best word-of-mouth advertising ever. Jeff shared an email exchange that is worth featuring in an article. One of his customers had a problem. Read the email and you’ll be… amazed. What would the world be like if all problems or complaints were handled like this? Hi Mary, It’s nice to hear from you. Simplicity Sofas has come a long way in the 3 1/2 years…
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Customer Service Point - The Blog
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May 15, Favorite Customer Service Quotes
15 May 2012 | 6:49 amThese Customer Service quotes have been the most inspiring or insightful to me, maybe they are an eye-opener for you too! -
Mar 7, How to handle customer complaints
7 Mar 2012 | 1:36 pma customer complaint is your opportunity to LEARN. See how to best handle customer complaints -
Oct 18, Outsourcing of Customer Service and Call Centers, what's the buzz?
18 Oct 2011 | 2:52 pmThe buzz is all about customer service and call center outsourcing, also known as BPO (Business Process Outsourcing). However, the subject is not without controversy... -
Oct 18, Customer Service Articles to sharpen the Mind
18 Oct 2011 | 2:23 pmWe've written these customer service articles to shine some light on how we see customer service. -
May 4, The customer is always right, right?
4 May 2011 | 3:30 pmThe adage, The Customer is Always Right, is heralded by thousands of customer service reps and business owners alike. But I think most of us have had at least one experience that made us question this
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Customers ROCK!
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Lithium’s Customer Heroes
11 May 2012 | 1:45 amI recently attended the 2012 Lithium Network Conference (LiNC for short) in San Francisco to hear about the latest and greatest from Lithium Technologies as well as from thought leaders such as Brian Solis, photo left, who shared about Digital Darwinism from his new book The End of Business as Usual. Lithium’s software powers the social customer experience, including online branded communities, for over 300 brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Sephora, Skype, and most recently added Nestle, Aruba Networks, and Guitar Center, among others. I have attended two of these events in the past… -
Customer Experience Food for Thought
4 May 2012 | 2:58 pmI want to eat there! As many of you know, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling lately, speaking about my book and sharing the Customers Rock! message all over the world – most recently in Bogota, Colombia! As most travelers are aware, the customer experience is especially important when you are away from home; it becomes something we are truly living. So as you can imagine, the sign in the above photo really caught my eye. It was on the wall of a restaurant, Max’s Cafe, at the San Francisco Airport. Here is what it says, “We run the restaurant for the ENJOYMENT AND… -
Measuring the Impact of Social Media
24 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pmThis post is part of the Social ROI Blog Carnival at Think Customers: the 1to1 Media blog. Visit the blog carnival post at the link above to check out the full list of posts from numerous well-known social media thought leaders. There are many ways to measure the success of social media at an organization. Some of these metrics are often focused only on tactical results (ex: number of followers or fans). Other metrics tie directly back to the bottom line (ex: value of sales coming directly from Twitter). On occasion, we see true ROI calculated from social media initiatives. Most companies,… -
Using Social Media to Build Relationships
10 Jan 2012 | 9:53 pmA lot of businesses love social media because they feel it helps them spread the word about their organization and what they do. And it does. However, I strongly feel one of the most effective uses of social media is to build and deepen relationships with customers – be they consumers, clients, donors, or constituents. I predict this will be a big focus for social media in 2012. How can this be effectively done? Let’s take a cue from local government. No, really. Tweet the Mayor One of the most interesting stories about local government and social media is that of Newark, NJ mayor… -
The Bathroom Experience
28 Oct 2011 | 3:28 pmOnce again I am participating in the Bathroom Blogfest. As I have mentioned before, if you have a physical presence, whether you are B2C or B2B, your bathroom is an important part of the customer experience. What does it say about your brand? I have been on the road A LOT these past few months since my book launched, so I have had the opportunity to stay in many different hotels across the country (and at a variety of hotel brands). I thought it would be fun to post photos of some of the bathrooms I encountered during my travels (mostly in my hotel room). Which bathrooms do you think belong…
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Social Studies Blog
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Get Satisfaction Teams Up With Citrix To Provide One-Click Screen Sharing Access from Communities
9 May 2012 | 2:00 amGreetings from the Get Satisfaction Partner team! Today we are excited to announce a new product integration with Citrix GoToAssist, which will bring an even deeper quality of service to our joint customers.Brands love Get Satisfaction because we provide the best place for them to engage their users. We give brands a place to listen, a place to resolve, and a place to allow community members to talk to one another and discuss products. Our ability to pump serious SEO juice into these conversations make Get Satisfaction topics a self-service support dream–resolve an issue once in our… -
Get Satisfaction Engage: Social Conversations, Anywhere Your Customers Are
1 May 2012 | 9:47 amOver the past year, we’ve been heads down at The Satisfactory listening, learning, and creating our next big move in this hyperactive “social-everything” marketplace.From the early days of Get Satisfaction, we’ve been consistent and deliberate with our “outside in/ everywhere” strategy. We knew customers wanted (and are now demanding) an open and transparent place to connect with other like-minded people. They want to have a conversation that results in a productive outcome that ultimately creates a trusted relationship with the products, services, and brands they care about. We… -
Nyan Cat Office Prank
26 Apr 2012 | 4:55 pmOne of Get Satisfaction’s company values is Have Fun. In this spirit, and in light of our company-wide love for Nyan Cat, our nerds recently pulled an office prank of epic proportions. I’ll let Stephen Lee take it from here… Recently our beloved developer Josh took a relaxing beach vacation to Mexico while the rest of us stayed behind to release a huge project. Naturally, we wanted to prank him in a way that would cause both joy and pain, and came up with the idea of tricking out his iMac with post-it notes (just the sticky parts) to create a large Nyan Cat mosaic!The… -
UCLA Social Business Course
24 Apr 2012 | 3:26 pmDr. Natalie Petouhoff, a close friend of Get Satisfaction and me personally, is teaching a 2 day course at UCLA this Friday and Saturday. I highly recommend you attend.This is going to be much more than a how-to on Twitter and Facebook…. what Natalie will present is a comprehensive review of how companies are re-inventing themselves as a result of how social media is transforming the customer relationship. Not surprisingly we have a view on this… however as social media becomes more ingrained in the customer experience our view is not that radical or surprising.Customer service,… -
Zynga Draw Something Releases New Features Based on Customer Feedback
18 Apr 2012 | 4:12 pmZynga’s hyper-popular Draw Something added 3 new features today, all of them much requested by their customers. How do we know that they are highly requested, you ask?All 3 features were identified and voted on by customers in the Get Satisfaction Draw Something community, which is now serving more than 100,000 dedicated community members and over 25 million pageviews this year thanks to the power of search referral and social network sharing:Raising the 99 cap limitCommunicating between playersPull down to refreshUsing Get Satisfaction for curating product ideas in your community works…
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Steve Curtin
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Exceptional customer service is not complicated
15 May 2012 | 5:37 pmI recently read through the American Express 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer research report prepared by Echo Research and found many of its conclusions to be rather predictable: Consumers think businesses are paying less attention to providing good customer service Consumers will spend more with companies that provide excellent service Consumers value excellent service Consumers are telling more people about their customer service experiences Poor service can lead to lost sales Consumers lose their temper with customer service representatives There is room for improvement in customer… -
You can’t have engagement without inclusion
9 May 2012 | 1:36 pmLast Friday after soccer practice, my 7-year-old daughter’s team went to a frozen yogurt shop for some treats. The first girl to receive her yogurt, Anna, sat by herself at one of the tables while the other girls waited on their yogurt orders. Anna is new to the team while the rest of the girls have played soccer together for two full seasons. As the other girls began receiving their yogurts, one-by-one they sat together at a table across from Anna’s. One of the girls, after receiving her order, chose to sit with Anna. However, before she could sit down, one of her teammates pulled her… -
Service words
7 May 2012 | 10:59 amIn my reading, I’ve come across three unique words that have expanded my customer service vocabulary and, for me, reinforce various aspects of exceptional customer service: cosset, lagniappe, and bespoke. A word of caution: William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White in their perennial book, Elements of Style, said, “Do not be tempted by a twenty-dollar word when there is a ten-center handy, ready and able.” While I mostly agree with this advice, in a recent blog post I unapologetically described a supermarket employee’s behavior as “boorish.” I realize that I could have used… -
Your Klout score is irrelevant
4 May 2012 | 11:44 amIt amazes me how many social media and customer service pundits gush about the need to master web-based social customer service along the periphery, even as basic frontline customer service quality languishes. Best Buy, XFINITY (formerly Comcast), and AT&T are great examples of companies who aspire to garner reputations as leading social customer service providers. To their credit, whenever I have tweeted about a service issue, they have been responsive in the social media space. Even so, the quality of their frontline customer service (that touches the customer directly, in person or… -
No fear
30 Apr 2012 | 11:59 amI recently discovered that at least one employee at my local supermarket has no fear of consequences for his behavior at work. The King Soopers employee who bagged my two gallons of milk and bottle of Mr. Bubble (don’t judge me…) said, “Damn! I’d need this whole bottle for my bath!” After bagging the last item, he immediately began texting on his smart-phone (I’m being generous…). Bewildered by his behavior, I removed the gallons of milk from their respective plastic bags (I didn’t want them bagged—he didn’t know because he didn’t ask), grabbed the bag containing the…
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Ragsdale’s Eye on Service
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What’s Hot at TSW: Top Attended Sessions
9 May 2012 | 5:34 pmToday is the closing day of Technology Services World in Santa Clara, and I always find it enlightening to look at the top attended sessions of the event to see what topics are most interesting to members. No surprise, services technology, metrics, social media, and knowledge management proved to be popular topics. This is a [...] -
The coolest of the cool compete: TSIA Vision Award at Service Revolutions
9 May 2012 | 5:33 pmEvery year at the Technology Services World Best Practices conference, the most innovative companies compete in live stage demonstrations at Service Revolutions to win the coveted TSIA Vision Award. Winners are selected by audience members who vote after each presentation. Introduced in 2010, the TSIA Vision Award recognizes game-changing ideas in technology services that advance [...] -
My First Book, Lessons Unlearned, Is Officially Launched!
9 May 2012 | 11:25 amThis week I get to put a big check mark next to an item on my bucket list: become a published author. This has been a dream of mine since childhood, and even though I’ve been publishing 300-400 pages of research reports every year since 2001, a book is different. And this week that dream [...] -
Workout Session: Proactive Channel Management
8 May 2012 | 5:29 pmToday at Technology Services World in Santa Clara, CA I co-hosted a “workout session” on proactive channel management, with my friend and longtime TSIA member, Tarik Mahmoud from Cisco. Over the last two decades, customer support interactions have evolved from phone to a variety of channels, including email, web chat, self-service, and now social media. Support [...] -
TSW Best Practices Opens with my Innovation Tour!
7 May 2012 | 5:10 pmTSIA’s Technology Services World Best Practice Conference kicked off today at the Santa Clara Conference Center. The conference opened at 12:45 with my Innovation Tour. The tour is a presentation of all the finalists in the Spring 2012 Recognized Innovator Awards, which are presented to partners of TSIA at our Spring and Fall conferences. Partners [...]
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Return Customer
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Customer Retention Programs – Secrets to a Success
16 May 2012 | 10:01 amYour best prospective customers are the ones you already have. Customer retention programs can greatly assist your efforts to turn these existing customers into repeat and return customers. One of the Best Customer Retention Programs One of my favorite customer retention programs is Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards program. I already love Southwest because of their great customer service and they are a family-friendly way to travel. However, their customer loyalty program stands out of the crowd. Most airlines have a fairly standard (and boring) frequent flyer program. Southwest, in… -
Show customers you C.A.R.E – Customers Are Right Every time
14 May 2012 | 10:01 amCustomer service seems, in some places, to be going the way of the dinosaur. Sometimes you can walk into a store, look around for about 15 minutes, and leave without ever once being greeted or approached. It is important for your business to make sure that everyone who walks through the door understands how important they are to you, and how much you will go out of your way to help them. The old adage “the customer is always right” is still valid and important to consider in this new world where people could just as easily buy online as they could in your store. If you offer them the best… -
Customer Decision Making: What’s Going On Inside Their Head?
9 May 2012 | 10:01 amYou offer your customers countless choices when you present your products and services. Unfortunately, your customer isn’t completely focused on the choices you’ve placed before them. They have some mental baggage that impacts their ability to make a purchase decision. Quick and Easy Customers assume that choices should be quick and easy. Why? Perhaps all the choices that they made today were quick and easy. Maybe the choices and decisions they made with your competition were quick and easy. However, then when they come to your website or store, the choices before them are neither… -
7 Small Business Internet Marketing Blunders
7 May 2012 | 10:01 amOn the surface, Internet marketing for a small business can seem fairly simple. You assemble an email list, you put up a website, you create a Facebook page, and people will come flooding into your business. At least, that’s the picture many small business owners have in their minds. So, they jump in, expecting great returns for relatively little effort. The reality, of course, is very different. The Internet is a tremendously competitive marketplace. To be successful, you need to be able to connect with prospects faster and more efficiently than your competition. It’s easy to make… -
A Mental Trick to Help Customers Think Before Acting
2 May 2012 | 10:01 amI ate at a restaurant this week that had a very interesting sticker in the restroom. The paper towel dispenser had a sticker that said: Remember… These Come From Trees The message was simple: Don’t waste paper towels. The principle behind the simple message is much more powerful: When you help your customers see the consequences of their actions, it will change their behavior. Instead of telling your customers what not to do, tell them what happens if they do something. Instead of restricting customers to a certain limit, educate them what occurs when they exceed that limit.
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Service Untitled
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Building a business culture to deliver the best customer service
14 May 2012 | 3:02 pmA strong business culture that is aligned with superior business goals outperforms their competitors by light years. These are the organizations who have figured out how to delight their customers and even make them smile. After all isn’t the Zappos’ motto “powered by service” incredibly motivational which delivers a message of trust and reliability? Zappos has worked hard to develop their culture resulting in a high percentage of return customers; a much more lucrative business model than having to find new clients. Deciding on what a business wants to accomplish is… -
How to keep your customers from leaving you
7 May 2012 | 1:02 pmA surprisingly high statistic from the Research Institute of America (RIA) states an average business will never hear a word from 96 percent of their unhappy customers whose complaints range from poor service, rudeness, to discourteous treatment. These are the customers that silently move away from you and are welcomed with open-arms by the competition. These are the customers who tell their friends, co-workers, and family members about their bad experiences. Multiply the unhappy customers who these people have told about their unsatisfactory experiences, and soon we realize that… -
What Mickey Mouse can teach us about customer service
1 May 2012 | 11:30 amIt’s the Disney Institute’s 16th birthday, and as with all Sweet Sixteen parties, it’s a chance to celebrate successes and see how the pixie dust of enchantment mixes so effectively with the success of one man’s dream. Walt Disney stated, “You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” The Disney Institute originally began in 1986 in Orlando offering “leisure learning” which entailed courses on fun topics like cooking and landscaping classes. By 1996 the… -
Book Review: The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business
23 Apr 2012 | 2:37 pmI recently finished reading The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business by Richard R. Shapiro who is the founder and President of The Center For Client Retention (TCFCR). Mr. Shapiro’s organization provides research, training, and consulting services to Fortune 500 corporations on how to improve customer service. The book begins with a lighthearted description of four distinct categories of customer service personnel any organization is likely to have on their payroll: We begin with the Welcomer or “Doctor of First Impressions.” These are the customer service… -
Making sure you receive great customer service
15 Apr 2012 | 7:11 pmLast evening a group of us went out to dinner at a popular Italian restaurant. One has to realize that South Florida – namely Palm Beach County is rich with tourists, snowbirds, and an occasional rude diner which gives us the opportunity to learn by someone’s mistakes. Our party was only seated for a few minutes when a rather rude uproar began at the next table. Apparently the dinner order wasn’t to the satisfaction of one very nasty gentleman, and as he raised his voice and insulted the young server, everyone in the restaurant and bar area turned around almost snarling with…
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The Chief Happiness Officer
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Working time through the ages
30 Apr 2012 | 8:39 amWikipedia delivers again, this time with a great overview of working time – from the stone age to today. A few nuggets from the article: …early hunter-gatherer societies enjoyed more leisure time than is permitted by capitalist and agrarian societies;[5][6] For instance, one camp of !Kung Bushmen was estimated to work two-and-a-half days per week, at around 6 hours a day.[7] Aggregated comparisons show that on average the working day was less than five hours.[5] … The automobile manufacturer, Henry Ford, was an ardent proponent of shorter work hours, which he introduced… -
Ed Diener’s FAQ on happiness is all kinds of awesome
24 Apr 2012 | 7:07 amOften you Google one thing and end up with something else and that’s how i discovered that Ed Diener (one of the world’s leading researchers in positive psychology) has an FAQ on Subjective Well-Being and that it is awesome! It’s quite comprehensive (which is great) but it’s also nuanced and doesn’t try to give easy answers when there aren’t any. Here’s an example: Q: What is your advice to those who want to be happy? A: As I have said repeatedly, I have no simple, easy answer that will make everyone happy. Some people with serious problems need to… -
The brain likes surprises
23 Apr 2012 | 1:49 amAccording to research, we become a happier when good things happen to us (duh!) but the effect is even bigger when good things happen to us unexpectedly: Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scans to measure changes in human brain activity in response to a sequence of pleasurable stimuli. They used a computer-controlled device to squirt fruit juice or water into the mouths of 25 research participants. The patterns of the squirting were either predictable or unpredictable. The researchers found that the MRI scans showed a brain area… -
Weekend Woohoo
20 Apr 2012 | 3:00 amI just found this video of a Disney World cast member (which is what they call employees) rocking out during a parade: That’s happiness at work right there :o) Also check out the comments on the video: This lady always dances her heart out every single time that parade passes through. Way to go Barbara! Lots of fun to work with her on Main Street. She out performed the parade performers! Get it girl!!! Do you ever do your job in a way that is worthy of filming and putting on YouTube? -
Vroooooom
18 Apr 2012 | 12:42 pmOne problem with electric scooters is that they’re just too silent – other people have no idea you’re coming. Fortunately, you can fix that problem, advertise your business AND make people laugh at the same time. Here’s how: What would your company’s motor-sound be like?
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The Engaging Brand
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Marketing, Time Travel and Dr Who
16 May 2012 | 12:34 pmPinterest is the latest growth bubble in social media. It strikes me that it is an example of the power of time travel in marketing! Photo's are the ultimate time travel accessory. When you see a photo it triggers a memory, it takes you to an experience in your life. The photo only acts as a trigger and they give the power to you....the photo allows you to pick the experience and allows you to guide yourself through the experience. Photo's therefore are like the ultimate Dr Who time travel box. It is not whether you are in the photo, it is whether the photo triggers the time travel. -
Stepping Stones to Social Business Model
15 May 2012 | 10:05 am"Wherever life is, it never retreats" Words of Kevin Kelly during his 2005 Ted Talk on How Technology Evolves. As much as we sometimes would like the world to stop so that we can catch our breath....it won't. I have written about social business a lot recently and that is because I feel that technology evolves then business models adapt to cope with the technology. Social media was a use of the technology. The greater effect though was raising the expectation of the consumer. Now the consumer has found their voice, they want more.....like Oliver Twist! A voice is wonderful but what about the… -
What is creativity? Really....
14 May 2012 | 10:24 am"We don't use machines because although they seem to help at first, they produce limitations in the long run" The words of Rosa Lladro in a recent interview in Monocle magazine. It struck me as such an important part of business and indeed of using social media. As humans we like structure and boundaries. Yet what makes brands stand out from the crowd is true creativity. True creativity is Not looking at what you are capable of....but what you want to make and making it possible Not having a huge budget and using business consultants..instead of spending big money, spend big time… -
Show 384 - Inside Mobile Marketing
13 May 2012 | 8:52 amThis week's The Engaging Brand podcast covering social media, business ideas and brand marketing tips, is ready to download. Alex Meisl, Chairman of Sponge which he has developed into Europe's market leader on Mobile Marketing with operations in 20 countries, joins Anna Farmery to discuss What is mobile marketing? What actually is mobile advertising? What is the difference between marketing to the different devices? The concept of mobile shopping How 80% of advertisers do not have a mobile site - staggering google mobile website data? Check out GoMo from Google How to make a mobile… -
Why Technology Does Not Give Life Value
12 May 2012 | 11:14 amIn 1955 Sarnoff was speaking about mass media and said "We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats...The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value" Strikes me in over 50 fifty years, as much as technology advances.....our ability to develop our minds as humans, remains harder! Value in life comes not in using things, not in owning things....but in connecting 'things'. Connecting ideas Connecting technology to how to make life better - for you and others Connecting people through the art of…
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The Social Customer Manifesto
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Turning fans into advocates
9 May 2012 | 3:41 pmThere are some great conversations happening over at the Advanced Social Media Strategies for PR, Marketing and Corporate Communications event at Cisco today. In particular, wanted to give a shout out to our CEO Sean O’Driscoll, who is presenting today on the topic of Turning Fans into Advocates. Check out Sean’s deck, embedded below. Turn fans into advocates through influencer engagement View more presentations from Ant’s Eye View -
It’s no game…
19 Apr 2012 | 1:43 pmThis one should be a lot of fun. Sean O’Driscoll will be presenting with the folks over at Badgeville on the topic of engagement and gameification in a webinar on April 25th at 10:30 PT. (Register here.) The quick agenda: How to use the Journey to the Engaged Enterprise as a benchmark for your external and internal social engagement plans Critical milestones at each stage of the Journey, and common obstacles that can prevent you from reaching them Why the principles of Badgeville’s Behavior Platform are critical to driving the kind of successful, sustainable customer and… -
The Social Engagement Journey event, April 23
19 Apr 2012 | 12:29 pmREGISTER NOW Sean O’Driscoll, our fearless leader at Ant’s Eye View, is keynoting an event next Monday here in the Bay Area. Here’s the description: “Becoming a fully engaged enterprise in today’s social world isn’t about creating a “social media strategy.” It is a journey defined by stages of operational maturity, milestones, and ultimately, a destination. The successful journey requires practitioner experience, pragmatism – and perseverance. But the payoff is immense. The fully engaged enterprise discovers on this journey that customers again trust… -
The Hunger Peeps
8 Apr 2012 | 9:30 pmKatniss Everpeep volunteers as tribute. Katniss Everpeep startles the judges. Katniss Everpeep cuts down a Tracker Jacker nest. Katniss Everpeep destroys the supply pile. Katniss Everpeep avenges Rue. Katniss Everpeep buries Rue in flowers. Katniss Everpeep and Peepa are crowned victorious. -
No, you can’t control your own data, says the travel industry
7 Apr 2012 | 12:16 pmA big thanks to Jennifer Cobb for the link to this New York Times article entitled “Swatting Down Startups That Help Consumers.” The gist is that there are a raft of startups that act on the behalf of customers in interacting with big brands (These kinds of services can be thought of as “fourth party” services.) Some examples: Customer-benefitting booking engines for car rentals Airline milage program points aggregators (think Mint.com, but for points) Airline seat watchers that automatically rebook you to a better seat when one opens up A number of brands…
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Think customers: The 1to1 Blog
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The Social Education: Studying Social to Learn About Customers
16 May 2012 | 12:00 pmDuring childhood, we learn in a group atmosphere. Just as we learned to socialize while also developing necessary life skills, businesses must now cultivate their social skills in order to learn how to best serve their customers. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog -
Building a Better Customer Experience Through the Cloud
16 May 2012 | 11:58 amCloud computing in the past has been a controversial subject, with companies leery of putting proprietary data in the cloud. But with its promise to reduce costs, scale up, and provide real-time access to data, cloud computing is shedding its reputation and companies are increasingly migrating to this service. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog -
Bridging the Digital Marketing Gap
15 May 2012 | 9:40 amA new study from PulsePoint on the digital marketing capabilities and shortcomings of companies finds that "overwhelming complexity" and a "lack of unified measurement" are the key stumbling blocks in aligning these efforts with consumers' multichannel behaviors. There's a growing body of research on this topic, most of which support this thesis that marketing leaders are, in fact, overcome by the difficulty of managing and coordinating marketing efforts across the flood of channels that customers use. They also struggle to measure the results, often because marketing efforts are siloed by… -
How Do I Know If I've Been Spiffed?
14 May 2012 | 6:18 pmWith all this talk about customer trust and companies acting in customers' best interest, it got me thinking about spiffs--incentives that manufacturers provide dealers and retail salespeople to sell their wares over the competitor's. Spiffs are great for salespeople, not so great for customers. Salespeople motivated by a boost in their commission check or some other incentive may be more likely to sell what's good for them instead of what's best for the customer. Actually, I'd have to say highly likely. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit… -
Do Your Partners Squander Your Customer Experience Gains?
11 May 2012 | 9:15 amYou've worked hard to create a brand image and deliver on your brand promise. Then your organization partners with another company that turns about to be not so customer-centric or detail-oriented or what have you as your firm is. What to do? One option: Find a new partner. Another: Work with that partner to bring the company up to your standards. Neither option is an easy fix, but doing something, anything, is essential--before customers walk out the door and don't come back. There’s more… To read the rest of this blog posting click here or visit www.1to1Media.com/weblog
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the Intervals Blog by Pelago
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Tracking Team Velocity for Agile Web Development
9 May 2012 | 11:11 amVelocity is one of the key components necessary for managing successful Agile Web development sprints. The ability to precisely calculate and track a team’s velocity will make the process of planning and managing a sprint a more pleasant and efficient experience for both the project manager and the Web design and development team. What exactly is velocity? Simply [...] -
A Design Primer for Web-based Startups
23 Apr 2012 | 12:52 pm© Wells Riley If you’ve ever tried to start your own online business, you probably know that one of the most difficult challenges is making it look good. The Web app we are developing needs a clean look and an intuitive interface. Design is what really ties the Web app together. Wells Riley, a UI/UX designer based [...] -
Recent Intervals ImprovementsImport Basecamp™ Data, Invoice by Task Status and More
20 Apr 2012 | 3:47 pmThe Intervals team has another round of fresh updates and improvements we’re excited to share. The Basecamp™ import utility is officially in Beta, invoices can now be generated by task status, and the Weekly Trends report has been reworked. All these recent updates can be taken for a spin on your Intervals account. Just login to try [...] -
How Our Customers are Helping to Protect the Planet
5 Apr 2012 | 1:19 pmWhat does protecting the planet have to do with online project management software? Nothing. The two aren’t even remotely related. At least, that’s what we thought when we launched Intervals in 2006. Us three founders share a mutual passion for technology and the environment. Our love of technology is what brought us together to form [...] -
Tracking Web Design and Development Retainer Agreements Using Intervals
28 Mar 2012 | 4:40 pmIt is a common practice for Web designers and developers to accept payment up front for work yet to be specified by the client. Known as a Retainer Agreement, this type of contract is useful for doing repeat work with good-standing clients. The agreement usually specifies that the work to be performed will be deducted [...]
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Yahoo Small Business Advisor: Ideas and Advice for Growing Businesses
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Creativity for Entrepreneurs: 4 Tips
16 May 2012 | 10:53 amWe spoke to Jonah Lehrer, author of the bestselling Imagine: How Creativity Works, to learn how entrepreneurs can be more innovative. -
Facebook IPO Got You Eyeing Entrepreneurship?
16 May 2012 | 9:30 amSome guidelines to help you decide if this is the time to jumpstart your new venture. -
Can this start-up shake up the art world?
16 May 2012 | 9:06 amConsumers can already rent dresses, cars, and DVDs by the day. Why not fine art? -
Getting to the 'Ahhh' Moment With Customers
16 May 2012 | 8:20 amWhat's better than data to a marketer? Getting a true emotional response from your audience. Here are the questions you need to ask first. -
Make Better Decisions: 3 Easy Steps
16 May 2012 | 8:14 amWant to feel more confident that your making the right decisions? Check out how a few simple steps can dramatically improve your decision process.
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Leadership Consultant - Bill Hogg » Blog
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How To Assess Your Organizational Leaders And Their Capacity To Lead
15 May 2012 | 9:15 amThis is the third in our series that looks at leadership capacity and its impact on organizational growth. The full series will be available for download as a white paper once it is completed. In our last article, we discussed the characteristics of transformational leadership that impact organizational growth Now we want to investigate how to effectively assess a leader’s capacity to lead their company. Rarely is a great leader born. Developing leadership capacity and the “must have” leadership characteristics does not happen by accident. Organizations cannot sit back and hope leaders… -
How to Deal with Your Worst Employee
1 May 2012 | 9:19 amIf you are like many businesses, you may have a couple poor employees — consistently under-performing. Some would suggest that they need to be pruned in order for the business to remain healthy and grow. Philosophically I agree — however, before pruning ask yourself why they are under-performing. Here are a couple thoughts for consideration. Is it because they are a round peg in a square hole. Do they have all the character elements but yet still aren’t successful in their role. Maybe you need to consider a change in role to one where some of their strengths may have the… -
Decoding a Service Recovery
23 Apr 2012 | 9:41 amSurveyGizmo had a service outage this weekend. It inconvenienced their customers. As a result they built customer loyalty. On the surface that doesn’t make sense — but the manner in which they dealt with the situation demonstrated the character of their company and their commitment to service. You can see their communication here. My Perspective: SurveyGizmo did number of things right. Here are a few that jumped out in no particular order. Let me know if you see more. They communicated quickly and honestly. I didn’t even know there was a problem, but yet they communicated… -
Are Weekly Status Meetings a Waste?
17 Apr 2012 | 9:22 amMost of us have regularly scheduled meetings that were created to provide updates on something to someone. Initially they were intended to communicate, inform and move the business forward — but lately you have been wondering whether they are a valuable use of time. Some have degenerated into boring and unproductive time wasters — but they continue because they were once deemed important. One of the main reasons standing meetings degenerate is that they become common place and people tend not to prepare for a standing meeting as much as for a specific meeting that has been called… -
10 Tips to Improve Your Customer Experience
12 Apr 2012 | 9:11 amToday, customers are no longer looking for great customer service — they want more. Today customers demand a great customer experience and will not settle for anything less. It is no longer good enough for companies to provide good customers service — rather, companies need to create memorable interactions with customers that help establish a loyal relationship and promote brand advocacy. Creating a memorable customer experience is based on the creation of an ideal experience that your customers would want to have throughout their relationship with your company. These interactions…
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Can I have that with!
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Power transference is illusory
8 May 2012 | 5:34 pmRestaurant's use the visit of a famous or powerful individual to sell the idea that this place is a must visit. Everyone wants to associate with powerful beautiful people and wants to frequent locations where these individuals congregate. Everyone wants the feeling of the illusory power transference. The problem is of course that it not real. When a local sports team wins a championship there is little tangible improvement in the lives of the individuals in the locality however everyone feels a sense of belonging and a surge of power from the success of the surrogate team.Robin Hansen… -
Leadership sins
8 May 2012 | 10:55 amMike Figliuolo reviews the seven deadly sins and how it impacts the people that make your life a heaven or a hellGreedIf you’re in leadership role for the money, you’ve got it all wrong. You’re responsible for the care and feeding of the people around you. Doing it for cold, hard cash is the antithesis of being a servant leader. Don’t get caught focusing on the raise, the bonus, or the corner office. It will come back to haunt you when everyone on your team quits in search of a leader who cares more about them than they do about stock options. Keep your… -
first movers get steamrolled by execution
5 Mar 2012 | 10:22 amPaul Barron has a thoughtful perspective on the many variables necessary to make an enterprise work So let’s look at what Chipotle has done right and how it’s changed the restaurant business.Chipotle may not have fired the first shot in the fast casual revolution, but the fresh Mexican chain is certainly the most famous of the founding fathers. Launched by Steve Ells in a space near the University of Denver in 1993, the restaurant grew quickly, opening its second location in 1995 and continuing its expansion — first with a loan from Ells’s father and later with a $1.8 million Small… -
create the context for work to get done
16 Feb 2012 | 4:10 pmBrad Feld explains the need to create an environment that is motivating;If you generalize this, it plays out over and over again every day. The great entrepreneurs I know work incredibly hard at creating environments that are motivating. They don’t pound away at the specific task of “motivating people”, rather they pay attention to creating context, removing barriers, being supportive, putting the right people in the room, and leading by doing. All of these things create a context in which people are motivated. -
The quiet of a snowfall
13 Feb 2012 | 9:02 pmThe heart of the city is a boisterous resonating enclave. People and vehicles are continually juxtaposing nosily for position on the very limited concrete that the streets and sidewalks afford. Add the hum of buildings, the swoosh of revolving doors, horns from aggrieved drivers, the vibrations, the static dim and the decibel levels are deafening. On a winter afternoon, imperceptibly at first, snow starts to fall and fall and fall. The sounds of the city that were so pervasive earlier begin to muffle. The clap of shoes against the sidewalk is not discernible in the…
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Entrepreneurs Unpluggd
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Tickets Are On Sale For June’s Event About Turning Passion Into Real Business
16 May 2012 | 9:00 am(photo credit) We’re excited to announce that early bird tickets are now on sale for our June Chicago event entitled “Make Your Passion Your Next Startup“. Join us the evening of June 19 at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago to hear 3 amazing entrepreneurs share stories about how they turned their passions into real businesses. Click here to buy your early bird tickets now and save 33% off the door price! Join us for an intimate evening of networking, quality Q+A, and real stories from real experiences. You’ll learn actionable lessons and get great advice from: Jake… -
Starting Up? Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes
15 May 2012 | 9:00 am(photo credit) This is a guest post from Abbie Steinbacher, who is CEO and founder of the kids wellness company, My First Yoga. My First Yoga provides kids yoga outreach to schools and has a growing line of kids yoga products. Abbie and MyFirstYoga have been recognized in outlets such as The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Parenting Magazine, Parents Magazine, Yoga Journal and The Boston Globe. Abbie has a degree in Psychology from Harvard, and is a certified adult and children’s yoga instructor. The opposing forces of the economy tanking and technological advances soaring have created a… -
Code Academy Week 5: Embracing Vulnerability to Grow
14 May 2012 | 3:07 pm(photo credit) A few weeks ago, I watched a TED talk that won’t escape my mind. It was about embracing vulnerability, something seemingly simple, but actually extraordinarily difficult. See people have a hard time dealing with emotion and expectations. They are much more likely to put something they can’t deal with in an emotional jar rather than confronting it. For example, people thrive on connection. Yet they are afraid to make connections (like go out and join a club) because they are afraid of rejection. If they can overcome the fear of rejection, they can embrace… -
3 Cool New Working Spots in Chicago
11 May 2012 | 9:00 amEnerspace I’m always on the prowl for a new spot to plug in, get my caffeine, and work. Luckily, three new Chicago spots have recently opened that offer an alternative to Starbucks. 1) Topics- Nestled on Halsted Street between name brand shops, Topics is the work of a real estate broker turned entrepreneur when he became frustrated that traditional coffeeshops lacked necessary business tools like copy machines. “I wanted to create a place that had the casual feel of a coffeeshop with the practical tools an office would have,” said Lou Vidaillet, owner of Topics. While art… -
3 Pieces Of Startup Advice That Stuck With Me
10 May 2012 | 9:00 am(photo credit) This is a guest post from Shama Kabani, the award winning CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a full service online marketing firm in Dallas. She is also the author of the bestseller, The Zen of Social Media Marketing (2nd edition, 2012) and an international speaker. Being an entrepreneur is similar to being a newlywed: everyone has a piece of advice to “gift” you with. Some are helpful—hire people who have a proven track record; some aren’t—don’t be an entrepreneur, you’ll never have a life! Some advice will be just plain weird—spray your…
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spark new thinking!
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What To Do When You Run Into A Wall
15 May 2012 | 10:56 pmA special note: Today's article is a little bit longer, and a bit of a different format than normal. I hope you take the extra minute to read it (really, that's all it takes), and more importantly, I hope it inspires you the next time you encounter a wall in your life. It was extra fun to write. A boy from a small, poverty-stricken village realized one day that there had to be more to life than just barely getting by trying to make a living by farming the dusty, dry land with only a small plow and his stubborn donkey. When he consulted the elders of his tribe, much to his surprise they… -
Live NOW!
14 May 2012 | 4:03 pmJim Sullivan wrote a powerful post today on the Built To Lead blog. The title of the post was A Proper Perspective. It contained a paragraph that I think I've read almost 50 times now. I just keep reading it over and over. "Live NOW. Don’t waste a minute. Life is fragile and all-too brief, and so embrace and celebrate it. How fortunate to be conscious! What a rare thing consciousness is, and here I am, a winner in the DNA lottery. Not only that, but I was born into THIS great country at THIS particular time to THESE terrific parents with all these TALENTS and GIFTS. Who the hell… -
Did You Do What You Got Paid To Do This Week?
11 May 2012 | 8:26 amHere's a simple question: Did you do what you got paid to do this week? Before you answer that, you need to recognize just what you get paid for. You get paid to be the best (insert your title/role here) that you can be. And you're paid to get better at it. That means you actually (insert your main responsibility here) to the best of your ability and/or you learned something that will make you a notch or two higher on the kick-butt-o-meter tomorrow. If you're a leader, did you lead this week? Did get better at it? If you're a manager, did you manage well this week? Did you get… -
If You Can't Say Something Nice...
9 May 2012 | 5:16 amYour grandmother said it. So did your momma. If you have kids, you've probably said it, too. "If you can't say something nice -- say it with me -- don't say anything at all." Contrary to popular belief, Mamaw wasn't trying to teach you a valuable life lesson. She was just tired of hearing you and your sister bicker with each other. But the programming stuck and we all adopted the phrase as a way of staying out of trouble. And it worked. Keep your mouth shut and it's hard to make anybody mad. Fast forward a couple of decades. You're a grown-up (or at least an adult) and you have to get up and… -
Don't Put Off The Stuff That Feeds Your Soul (Video Post)
8 May 2012 | 10:18 amHow often do you tell yourself, "I'm going to do that thing I really want to do." And then you don't do it. And then you kick yourself. And then you say it again. And then you still don't do it. Don't do that anymore. Need more encouragement? Watch this.
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Blog | FLITTER
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Share your home screen with onmyhomescreen.com
13 May 2012 | 8:40 pmYour smartphone or tablet home screen says a lot about you.Imagine if you found another person with the same home screen set up as you?Well FLITTER thinks this is very interesting so we set up a Tumblr where people all over the world can submit and share their home screen screenshot.Just visit onmyhomescreen.com and submit using the form or simple take the screenshot and email it to naoclok385@tumblr.comLink to this post! -
New image, New website and a New proposition
11 May 2012 | 6:53 pmFLITTER has a new website! BUT you can’t check it out till you’ve read the story.In January Jen and I got Married. Then we had several contracts to finish off before we could go to Rarotonga on our Honeymoon. So we took that time to re-think our purpose and the direction our company was going to take. As with any project like this we’ve gone through countless iterations while we’re researching, reading and debating what we were about.Jen and I bring an immense amount of IP, experience and insight to any social/digital project. But there is one thing we decided very… -
Social TV: Engagement opportunities and the challenge of integration
10 May 2012 | 2:15 pmWe’ve all heard about the power of the second screen. Jordan Bitterman from Digitas thinks that’s the 2012 growth area. So what does the future hold for Social TV, single screen integration, media buy-in and social interactions?Beet.TV spoke with him recently at the Advertising Age Social TV conference in New York where Bitterman was session moderator. For one I’m quite a fan of the second screen. I’m unsure that I would want social interactions taking up vital TV real estate. Certainly prompts to share, connect and engage can motivate action but seeing… -
Facebook and Twitter – triggers the same sensation in the brain as food or money
9 May 2012 | 5:06 pmGet someone talking about themselves and you’ll have a friend forever. I’ve heard this so many times but now Harvard University Professors have released a study explaining way.Talking about ourselves triggers pleasure points in your brain, much like food.Talking about ourselves—whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter—triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money, researchers reported Monday.About 40% of everyday speech is devoted to telling others about what we feel or think. Now, through five brain… -
Win a ticket to the Customer Analytics and Marketing Optimisation Conference in Auckland
9 May 2012 | 3:00 pm3rd Annual Customer Analytics and Marketing Optimisation ConferencePromising two full days of presentations that will enable you to take data use to another level, this is an event not to be missed. Hear a mix of practical data application methods from a number of case studies and strategic ways to improve your marketing while networking with peers.We have one ticket to give awayEnter through FacebookEnter through TwitterLink to this post!
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Parature
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Call for Guest Bloggers: Share Your Customer Service Best Practices
16 May 2012 | 10:24 amParature is looking for customer service professionals who are passionate about the customer experience to share their customer service best practices on Parature.com. Share a single guest post or contribute on a regular basis. Blog posts should be 300 to 700 words and should be relevant to a mid-market or enterprise business audience. Posts should not contain excessive promotional content that directly markets the author’s or their respective company’s (or another company’s) products, services or programs. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: Best practices to improve the… -
The Worst (and Best!) Phrases in Customer Service, Part 2
15 May 2012 | 10:25 amParature recently published one of its most popular blog posts to date, The 6 Worst (and Best!) Phrases in Customer Service. We shared this post with LinkedIn’s Customer Service Professionals Group, and the feedback was so fantastic that we now have a Worst (and Best!) Phrases in Customer Service List, Part 2. Here are six additional customer service phrases, both good and bad, suggested by fellow professionals who are passionate about the customer experience: 3 Phrases to Cut from the Customer Service Vocabulary 1. No worries. This phrase closely mirrors “no problem” which made the… -
Customer Service Content is King: Are You Staging a Must-See KB?
11 May 2012 | 10:02 amWeb-based self-service has matured from being the cutting-edge support channel to take its place among traditional modes of service delivery as the service industry buzzes about social media, mobile service apps and the other latest and greatest CRM darlings. Yet, numerous service organizations still struggle to realize knowledge management’s huge potential as a driver of agent workforce optimization and customer engagement. Just a few of the customer service and larger business benefits of a public-facing knowledgebase include: Faster customer service resolution times Increased customer… -
How Social Media is Making Demands on all Customer Service Delivery
10 May 2012 | 8:51 amResponse time expectations on social media aren’t just affecting companies who deliver support on Facebook and Twitter. Social media is creating response time expectations that affect all customer service channels, be it phone, email or help desk. Social customers are the 24/7 equivalent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Veruca Salt, boldly demanding of brand support, “Don’t care how, I want it NOW.” The Growing Hype around Hyper-responsiveness “When someone posts a question on a Facebook or Twitter feed, they expect an instant response,” says Parature’s Duke Chung. “A… -
You Can’t Be Number One in Everything (Nor Should You Be) – What’s Your Customer Experience Differentiator?
9 May 2012 | 12:58 pmYou’ve heard the phrase time and time again: “You Can’t Be Good at Everything.” In customer-centric organizations, however, we really want to be. We want to have the best prices, the best service, the most qualified people, the highest quality, the largest selection, the greatest convenience – we want it all. But when it comes down to it, what do our customers really want and appreciate? That should be the key question organizations are asking. Instead of devoting time, effort and investments to being pretty good in everything, what key customer experience can make us…
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Scott McKain Viewpoint
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What the “Avengers” can teach us about business…
14 May 2012 | 5:16 pmFrankly, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a movie about superheros or a new tech device you just have to own…ANY product or service that can attract over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in sales over its first couple of weeks in the marketplace can probably teach us something or two we could learn about improving our own organizations. So it is with the hit film, “The Avengers,” which over the weekend became only the eleventh movie in history to join the Billion Dollar Club of features earning that level of ticket sales. Here’s an astounding aspect — the movie is only… -
Too “good” to be true?
10 May 2012 | 8:00 amMy wife and I laughed about it — even though, I guess, when you really think about it, the story wasn’t funny. Perhaps, it was because it is just so darned strange. Did you see it? A guy, Marek Olszewski, breaks up in Poland with his girlfriend, Anna Maćkowiak…he just unexpectedly dumps her for another woman. However, as the story — published in print or online by FOX News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, Yahoo! News, MSN, New York Post, and New York Daily News (among others) — goes, poor Marek was having dental problems…and… -
A customer’s perception determines their evaluation of you…
2 May 2012 | 11:22 amIn a recent interview, New York Times columnist David Brooks remarked he was disappointed with President Obama — and with his own decision to vote for Obama in the election four years ago. Conversely, he also mentioned his good friend, the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, was excited by Obama, and happy in how he had cast his ballot. Interestingly — and this is NOT a political discussion, it is about how a customer/voter evaluates your performance — Brooks then explains his reason for dissatisfaction, and his friend’s justification for the opposite conclusion. -
Opening the Valve to a distinctive organization
30 Apr 2012 | 6:10 amSeth Godin recently posted a link to the employee handbook of Valve — the company famous for video games such as “Left 4 Dead,” “Half Life,” “Day of Defeat,” and many others. Founded by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington in 1996, the handbook is so incredibly powerful it could be the source of hundreds of posts. Let’s start with this quote: “We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers. They watch us, sometimes very publicly, make mistakes. Sometimes they get angry with us. But… -
What are you doing to provide what people remember?
27 Apr 2012 | 10:29 amImmediately after I finish a presentation — as I did yesterday in New York for Stop & Shop, for example — I receive comments on implementing the Ultimate Customer Experience ® and on creating organizational distinction. Give it a month, however, and people remember Taxi Terry, our small-town grocery store, and my wreck in a Hertz rental car. Why is that the case? The latest issue of Fast Company provides a great insight into this phenomenon. It’s from an interview with Steve Jobs relating an epiphany he had shortly after he and his kids watched the DVD of “Snow…
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thinkJar
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The New Way to Segment For a 6x Greater Return
4 May 2012 | 7:59 amI have been thinking about this for some time (BTW, this is a short post – hope to ignite some discussion with this), would love to get your thoughts. Traditionally (as in most everybody I know in this world) we use financial metrics for customer segmentation, right? Either lifetime-spend, latest-spend, last-year-spend, or profitability, or what-not. We may use other aspects of segmentation for marketing (like demographics, products purchased, support requested, etc.) depending on what someone in someplace decided it would help us find the “right” people to buy our product… -
Good For You, Lithium
3 May 2012 | 12:29 pmIt has been said that behind every successful man there is a powerful woman to support them. I’d like to revise that to say that behind every successful enterprise software company there is (at least) one nagging analyst egging them to do things right. I’d like to think that I am that analyst for Lithium. Lithium kicked off their fifth annual (if badges are to be believed, this is my third time here) LiNC customer event in San Francisco today. I am just getting started here, so will have more on what they are doing right (and wrong) and how well they communicated the message… -
Social for Customer Service: it’s About the Customers
1 May 2012 | 12:00 amHow can organization embrace social channels and technologies to improve customer service? I must’ve heard this question every day in the past 6-9 months. The intent was not how to do twitter, how to leverage Facebook, or should we use Klout scores for customer service – it was very specifically about how customer service departments can embrace it. It was getting so ridiculous that together with my friends at Ciboodle we conducted a research report to answer those questions. We got nearly 400 responses (some of them very interesting) and you can get the report here if you want to read… -
CRM Idol 2012 – And So It Begins…
30 Apr 2012 | 6:00 amStarting today at 7 AM US-EDT CRM Idol 2012 (the second season) begins. The experience last year for all participants, in their words, was incredible. They learned amazing new things about their companies and products. The discovered new ways to present their products to the market than they had ever before. They found new ways to talk about their companies, the people in them, and their passions. They encountered mentors and advisers that pointed them in directions they never expected to go before – and they found countless success along the way. Five of the companies that… -
KANA Acquires Trinicom; Enters SMB CRM Market
24 Apr 2012 | 9:15 amToday KANA announced it had acquired Trinicom a Nederlands cloud-based customer service provider. According to the company, this move was to complete their offer for all company sizes and delivery models – from small to large enterprise, and from on-premise to cloud-based. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. On the surface, this may seem like a move by KANA to match Salesforce’s acquisition of Assistly (now Desk.com). However, there is more to it that what seems. I had had discussions with KANA prior to this acquisition and my answer when they asked whether it…
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thinkJar
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The New Way to Segment For a 6x Greater Return
4 May 2012 | 7:59 amI have been thinking about this for some time (BTW, this is a short post – hope to ignite some discussion with this), would love to get your thoughts. Traditionally (as in most everybody I know in this world) we use financial metrics for customer segmentation, right? Either lifetime-spend, latest-spend, last-year-spend, or profitability, or what-not. We may use other aspects of segmentation for marketing (like demographics, products purchased, support requested, etc.) depending on what someone in someplace decided it would help us find the “right” people to buy our product… -
Good For You, Lithium
3 May 2012 | 12:29 pmIt has been said that behind every successful man there is a powerful woman to support them. I’d like to revise that to say that behind every successful enterprise software company there is (at least) one nagging analyst egging them to do things right. I’d like to think that I am that analyst for Lithium. Lithium kicked off their fifth annual (if badges are to be believed, this is my third time here) LiNC customer event in San Francisco today. I am just getting started here, so will have more on what they are doing right (and wrong) and how well they communicated the message… -
Social for Customer Service: it’s About the Customers
1 May 2012 | 12:00 amHow can organization embrace social channels and technologies to improve customer service? I must’ve heard this question every day in the past 6-9 months. The intent was not how to do twitter, how to leverage Facebook, or should we use Klout scores for customer service – it was very specifically about how customer service departments can embrace it. It was getting so ridiculous that together with my friends at Ciboodle we conducted a research report to answer those questions. We got nearly 400 responses (some of them very interesting) and you can get the report here if you want to read… -
CRM Idol 2012 – And So It Begins…
30 Apr 2012 | 6:00 amStarting today at 7 AM US-EDT CRM Idol 2012 (the second season) begins. The experience last year for all participants, in their words, was incredible. They learned amazing new things about their companies and products. The discovered new ways to present their products to the market than they had ever before. They found new ways to talk about their companies, the people in them, and their passions. They encountered mentors and advisers that pointed them in directions they never expected to go before – and they found countless success along the way. Five of the companies that… -
KANA Acquires Trinicom; Enters SMB CRM Market
24 Apr 2012 | 9:15 amToday KANA announced it had acquired Trinicom a Nederlands cloud-based customer service provider. According to the company, this move was to complete their offer for all company sizes and delivery models – from small to large enterprise, and from on-premise to cloud-based. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. On the surface, this may seem like a move by KANA to match Salesforce’s acquisition of Assistly (now Desk.com). However, there is more to it that what seems. I had had discussions with KANA prior to this acquisition and my answer when they asked whether it…
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Write The Company
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A Cascade of Cascade
15 May 2012 | 7:30 amWhen dirty dishes pile up, Cascade Dishwasher Detergent is one way to get them clean. But it’s not really one way. It’s many ways because now the choices of Cascade are also starting to pile up. I contacted Procter & Gamble when just two Cascade options became one too many… Dear Cascaders: My wife tricked [...] -
Going Crackers Over Animals Crackers
8 May 2012 | 7:30 amWas the manufacturer of Barnum’s Animals Crackers just clowning around when they named this product? One day my animal instincts got the better of me, so I contacted Nabisco to find out… Dear Animals Crackers Bakers: What’s the story about Barnum’s Animals Crackers? You call them crackers, but they look a lot more like cookies. [...] -
Flatout Better?
1 May 2012 | 7:30 amCompanies are always looking for ways to make products better. Sometimes, manufacturers advertise that they’ve made a product better, but consumers can’t even tell. When Flatout claimed to make their Flatbread better, I thought I’d better find out how… Dear Flatout Flatbread Bakers: I’ve got to tell you flat out how surprised I was to [...] -
Best and Worst of Comcast
24 Apr 2012 | 7:30 amHaving a terrific customer service experience is incredibly memorable. However, having a bad one is even more unforgettable. I had both recently with Comcast… Dear Comcast Customer Care: What are you trying to do — give customer service a good name? In a world where customer service is rapidly deteriorating, you guys actually have someone working [...] -
Hiland Dairy Milk & Cow Quiz
17 Apr 2012 | 7:30 amBefore you can understand how milk is produced, it helps to know cows. Not necessarily to know cows personally, but how to treat them to get the best milk from them. That’s where dairies come in. So I put Hiland Dairy to the test to gain a better understanding of the milk-cow-dairy relationship… Dear Head [...]
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Deliver Bliss - The Business of Customer Experience
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The Secret to Being Remarkable…
11 May 2012 | 7:00 amIs to be willing to do what others will not. Apple was willing to put design in front of features. Zappos was willing to ship free both ways and put culture before profits. Amazon was willing to build a platform instead of a product. The greatest customer service story ever told was about a company willing to do what others were not. Remarkable doesn’t mean successful — one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other, but they sure seem to get along well together. -
12 Reasons Bad Customer Service Isn’t Your Fault
8 Dec 2011 | 6:30 amEven the best of us are capable of providing bad service at times. These excuses have rattled around in my head more one than once. What about you? It isn’t part of your job description. You’re overworked and underpaid. The customer is not always right. You had a terrible day and just need to be alone. You don’t have the right tools to deliver great service. Your customers just want a good deal, they don’t care about the experience. The customer is unreasonable and rude. Another department is responsible for what the customer wanted. Your company hasn’t made… -
What Drives Customer Loyalty
3 Oct 2011 | 6:30 amAllow me to describe two different restaurants to you. Restaurant 1 was recently remodeled. Restaurant 2 was remodeled in 1989. Restaurant 1 has a fancy looking menu and prices to match. Restaurant 2 has a coffee-stained piece of paper. Restaurant 1 has flat screen TVs and granite counter tops. Restaurant 2 has a crackly sound system and paper placemats. Restaurant 1 serves something resembling prison food. Restaurant 2 has great food, especially for the price. Which venue would get more of your business? Every touchpoint matters, but the first step to customer loyalty is to consistently… -
The Passion Derivative
22 Aug 2011 | 7:00 amI’m willing to bet you aren’t designing the next big thing. Your company probably isn’t being raved about in the news. You might not even care about the product your company sells. How does that affect your passion in what you do? Most people’s passion is derived from working on something (or for someone) they’re passionate about. The only problem with that is you’ll always be let down. The product will eventually lose its flair. The company will hit hard times. The boss you’ve always looked up to will take another job. You’re guaranteed to end… -
Sharing is Good Business
8 Aug 2011 | 6:00 amMark Hurst wrote a great post the other day about persuasion. Read it here and then come back. We’ve had a lot of success at ABIS by sharing the product development effort with our customers. We’re good at building software and our customers know their business and industry really well. By inviting them to share in the process it makes the resulting product better. Here’s the cool thing about sharing that I think Mark already knows: Invitations eventually lead to trump cards. There are a couple of industries that we tend to do very well in. It’s not because we sat…
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The UP! Your Service Blog | Uplifting Service Cultures for Sustainable Competitive Advantage
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Use Internal Service Agreements to Boost Service Consistency
23 Apr 2012 | 11:39 pmIn many organizations where service is identified as an area for improvement, the problem is not poor service from every department or person, it is inconsistent service in pockets of the organization. Poor service in one area brings down the perception of service levels in all areas. A classic example of poor service in the US has long been the Department of Motor Vehicles. This is the government agency that grants and renews licenses for drivers and vehicles. If you drive or own a vehicle, you head to the “DMV” for a license every few years. For years customers have complained about the… -
The Experience Economy
10 Apr 2012 | 2:34 amI have just dialed into a large (very large) retail organization to check on a pending order. I am greeted by an interactive voice response (IVR) system. I only need an answer to two short questions from the salesperson from whom I recently purchased an item. But I am routed away from my familiar store location, into a large call center, in an unknown location. I listen to the seemingly endless voice prompt instructions, none of which offer me a single source to speak with a human being. I pick the most suitable choice and find myself thrown further into the IVR maze, with more choices,… -
A Challenge to Recognize Great Service
27 Mar 2012 | 4:23 amIt was a busy intersection. My taxi was stopped at the light. Pedestrians walked in front us. Look to the left. I saw a young man walking toward the crosswalk, his cell-phone perched by his ear. He was obviously in a heated conversation. Look to the right. An elderly woman was stalled in the middle of the crosswalk on her mobility scooter. In about 20 seconds I would either witness a massive traffic jam, or a horrific accident. I instantly reached for the door handle so I could jump out and help. But, that’s when I witnessed something phenomenal. While all the other pedestrians kept… -
Are your Company Communications Memorable?
13 Mar 2012 | 1:47 amOne of the keys to Achieving Superior Service and building a service culture is leveraging the building block of “Service Communication”. Uplifting service providers seek to make each perception point a positive experience for customers, clients and colleagues. Many of these points involve communications: what prospects, customers, colleagues, and partners experience as a result of what has been heard, read, or said. How your words and images shape the perception someone has of you, or your business, is tremendously important. In fact, as claimed by Peter Drucker, “60% of all business… -
Leveraging the Online Service Experience of Customers
28 Feb 2012 | 10:28 pmMany of us can recall a story about poor customer service that went viral on the Internet. (Think United Airlines and guitars, or Federal Express and computer monitors.) These negative stories have become legends. Unfortunately, we don’t find as many stories going viral about outstanding quality service. In addition to these legendary stories are more day-to-day examples of how online information has changed the face of service. Nearly every company, product or service has information and opinion about it circulating on the Internet. This includes a wide range of commentary on the level of…
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Zengage - a Zendesk Blog
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Six Surefire Tips to Retain and Grow Customers
14 May 2012 | 6:43 pmRecently I had the privilege of participating in a great webinar with our friends from Totango. Totango makes a customer engagement platform for cloud-based businesses. What does that mean? Among other things, it means they help cloud businesses like Zendesk understand and measure how customers are using a product. We have been using Totango for over a year now and have a much better understanding of how our active customers and trial users are interacting with their Zendesks. The insights learned from Totango combined with the power of Zendesk and our focus on exceptional customer service… -
5,000 Fabulous Customers in Europe and a New Office in London!
10 May 2012 | 12:53 pmToday, we have reached an incredible milestone: 5,000 customers in Europe. This is huge, especially when you take into consideration we only opened our European headquarters less than a year ago. Our 5,000th customer is a social gaming company, We R Interactive. The company is using Zendesk to support the global user base for its first game, I AM PLAYR and upcoming new music and sports games. They join the likes of Demonware and Rovio (those brilliant creators behind Angry Birds), also customers of ours in Europe, who are taking the gaming industry to the next level up as well. We opened our… -
Denver, Austin, Chicago…We’re Coming! (be on the lookout for green capes)
10 May 2012 | 10:30 amWe love our customers (and potential customers)! We love meeting and getting to know them. We love sharing knowledge and best practices with them. We love eating and drinking with them. At Zendesk we are constantly trying to find new ways to get out of the office and do the things that we love. Back in March, we came up with a great way to do these things by launching our first ever Customer Service Hero Tour! Along with some great friends of ours from Zappos and Groupon, we rocked the west coast and hit Los Angeles, Seattle, and our hometown of San Francisco. Hundreds of wonderful companies… -
Tip of the Week: Managing Tickets with the Mail API
9 May 2012 | 10:30 amWe recently announced a new version of the Mail API that offers more flexibility in managing tickets via email! The Mail API can improve your workflow by using it to assign tickets to yourself or a group when replying to customers, marking tickets as solved, or adding private comments to tickets. If you’re already an avid user of the Mail API, the single biggest change is a switch from putting commands in the email subject to putting them in the beginning of the email body, and we’ve also added shortcuts for some of the longer commands. You can learn new commands in our Mail API… -
Paris Meetup, May 14th
9 May 2012 | 3:00 amBonjour Paris! You’re invited to join our French team next Monday, May 14th between 6pm and 9pm at Prescription Cocktail Club! Zendesk lovers, aficionados, customers and partners have the opportunity to share customer service tips and best practices and enjoy delicious cocktails where, as always, the tab will be on Zendesk! Space is limited so register for your spot now!
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Good for customers, great for business
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When is Net Promoter the wrong customer loyalty question to ask?
15 May 2012 | 12:25 pmIn a casual Tweet I counselled against indiscriminate use of the Net Promoter ® question. It prompted an anxious reply from one of our most valued customers who wondered whether he was using the question inappropriately. He should rest easy. I often find it’s the people who are most concerned to do the right thing who have the least cause to worry. For those not familiar, the Net Promoter model is a popular customer loyalty measure based on one simple question “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” It’s a good… -
The 3 Golden Rules of requesting Customer Feedback
29 Feb 2012 | 5:47 amThe business benefits of customer satisfaction are immense. Happy customers are more loyal, spend more, and will recommend you to others, which means faster growth and higher profits. Not to mention the boost to staff morale of a great reputation for service. It’s a virtuous circle. But it’s much easier said than done, as we can all testify from our own experiences as customers. In my years as a head of department one initiative was dramatically successful at improving customer satisfaction. Like all the best ideas it’s very simple. Rule Zero – Don’t… -
Top Tips for Handling Customer Complaints
29 Nov 2011 | 7:50 amWe’re delighted to feature this guest post from SimplyBusiness for two reasons - A member of our team experienced consistently exceptional service from SimplyBusiness, so we know that they practise what they preach - In addition to their Insurance products and services, SimplyBusiness provide comprehensive and useful business information and resources Handling customer complaints is something that many businesses struggle with; however, it costs much more in time, money, and effort to gain new customers then it does to retain an existing one. While effectively communicating with an… -
Should you ask customers for their opinions?
23 Oct 2011 | 10:33 amSomeone on the Internet is wrong! Yes, that was a shock to me too. Someone was arguing that innovation doesn’t come from asking customers what they want. Well sometimes yes, sometimes no. But would you say that we have too many companies taking account of what their customers say or too few? Last time you gave your feedback, or an opinion to a company, did they act on it? How did you feel about that? As a customer, I’m happy to be asked because if I’m not satisfied it means the company is (a) showing they are concerned and (b) making it easy for me to get the… -
Maximising revenue in difficult times
19 Oct 2011 | 5:47 pmDon’t leave money on the table. In tough economic times it’s more important than ever to make sure that you’re getting all the business you possibly can. But sales and marketing activities are costly and don’t always deliver the return you’d like. Especially if the message falls on deaf ears. Are you getting the maximum possible repeat business from your customers? Are all your customers happy enough to recommend you to new customers? Check the temperature of your customers. It costs typically six times as much to acquire a new customer as to retain an existing customer, yet…
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ILS Customer Service Blog
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Employee Retention: Y You Need a Strategy
15 May 2012 | 11:00 amEmployee retention has become a common topic in call centers as the economy starts to improve. According to a 2011 survey included in an article written by Calabrio, 70 percent of Generation Y contact center agents are contemplating leaving their current role when the economy improves. In addition to agents leaving for higher paying jobs, Gen Y is motivated by better perks and benefits and more opportunities for advancement. If you’re not already convinced your efforts need to lie in employee retention, consider this: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employees aged 25–34… -
Call Center Best Practices
11 May 2012 | 10:30 amCall centers that handle service and support calls are, unfortunately, often viewed as cost centers. Although these centers usually don’t bring in revenue directly, they do contribute to the company’s goals in many valuable ways, most notably in reinforcing the company’s brand and in increasing customer loyalty. To raise the visibility of your call center as a valuable contributor to your company’s growth and bottom line profits, follow these six best practices. Know Where You’re Going What are you trying to achieve? What are the goals of your company? How can your center support… -
E-learning's Missing Ingredient
8 May 2012 | 10:30 amTo quickly scale training globally, e-learning surely is the answer. Today’s global landscape is driving this need. And … as organizations transition from instructor-led training to self-paced e-learning, it’s easy to forget two principles – structure and social rewards. Somehow, these two important components for learning were literally left in the classroom. Allow me to explain. Which is more important? I recall a conversation with a training colleague in India. I asked her which is more important, library or school. She replied: school. Her rationale: a library only contains… -
The Role of First-Call-Resolution in Customer Satisfaction
4 May 2012 | 10:30 amThere is an obvious and undeniable correlation between First-Call-Resolution (FCR) and customer satisfaction. When one goes up – the other follows. Unfortunately the opposite is also true. When one percentage goes down so does the other. Successful call center managers closely monitor FCR and are quick to make adjustments when the metric starts to decline. 12% of customers leave if it takes 2 or more calls to resolve their issue. icmi.com Listed below are 5 compelling reasons why FCR is important to your center’s success. Increased Customer Satisfaction. When customer issues are resolved… -
Insurance Customer Service: Five Tips for Serving Older Callers
1 May 2012 | 10:30 amAs a large portion of the baby boomer population prepares to retire, call centers in the insurance industry will field more calls from older customers. To help agents successfully serve this base of customers, they need to learn skills and specific tactics to help them succeed. Use the following five tips to coach your employees in how to successfully serve older members when they call about their insurance: Tip #1: Speak Clearly and Enunciate When helping older callers, agents may notice that a member has difficulty hearing and understanding what the agent says. Employees need to keep in…
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Riverstar.com
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Make Agents More Effective with a Single Consolidated Agent Desktop
8 May 2012 | 10:21 amHow many application interfaces must your agents navigate in a typical customer interaction? If you said more than one, we’re not off to a good start. One recent call center survey claimed that the average number of applications for an agent to work with is 6 or 7, while 15% of agents work with over 12! For customer-facing processes, applications are the main tool that agents use to handle the call, resolve issues, and provide answers. Photo courtesy of iMaffo -
Why ‘Out-of-the-Box’ Can Kill the Customer Experience
29 Mar 2012 | 12:56 pmComplex customer experiences require a well-thought out process that identifies and optimizes value throughout the customer interaction process. The pace of advancing technology, rising customer expectations, and competitive pressures are all hammering away at companies looking to improve the customer experience. Customer experience excellence is always a work in process; making it difficult for “out-of-the-box” software (e.g., CRM) to meet the unique needs of customers and businesses. Photo courtesy of Joe Shalbotnik -
Are Inbound and Outbound Calls Really That Different?
15 Feb 2012 | 9:18 pmThe way customer workflows are designed and interactions are handled should be independent of the call’s origin – inbound or outbound. When developing a process, focus on how you want the interaction with the customer to flow, not on how the connection is made. Photo courtesy of Tricia Wang. -
Importance of Integrating Systems to Make Interactions More Efficient
24 Jan 2012 | 2:44 pmWhether they know it or not, customers generally have four key attributes that they associate with outstanding service: 1. Recognition: Recognize me and know my services and preferences 2. Resolution: Address my issue during our first interaction 3. Efficiency: Make the interaction as efficient and effective as possible, i.e., don’t waste my time and don’t make me provide information you should already have available Photo courtesy of adactio. -
How the Three Elements of Process Save You Time and Money
29 Nov 2011 | 2:25 pmAs discussed in this previous entry, at RiverStar, we believe that every customer interaction is fundamentally a process, having a beginning, middle and end that all aim to meet a specific objective. Incorporating three key elements into your processes will save your customers and agents time and, ultimately, your company money. Photo courtesy of slgckgc.
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THE PROPERIST
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A new social compact needed - The Creative Compact-
10 May 2012 | 11:23 amEvery human being is creative. That the Creative Class enjoys vast privileges is true, but to acknowledge that fact is not to endorse it. The essential task before us is to unleash the creative energies, talent, and potential of everyone—to build a society that acknowledges and nurtures the innate creativity of each and every human being. <> Still, that new order will not simply or automatically assert itself into existence. It will require new institutions, a new social compact, and a new way of life to bring it into being. We must turn our attention from… -
Feedback is important, but …..
10 May 2012 | 3:53 amIn our education system we are taught to focus on the weaknesses and the defects. That is the way we are being rated. The focus is on what is wrong, not on what is right. For example, you have 3 faults out of 10. We don’t say you have 7 good out of 10. The same negative focus is part of the performance review process. In one of my first formal reviews, my manager talked for 50 minutes about things, which could be improved. So, I thought that I would receive an insufficient rating and I did become scared. However, to my big surprise I did receive a ‘Usually Exceeds… -
'Hackathon' Leads To Viable Tech Solutions For Homeless
7 May 2012 | 1:33 pm'Hackathon' Leads To Viable Tech Solutions For Homeless SAN FRANCISCO -- On the foggy streets of San Francisco, tech superstars and the homeless can be hard to tell apart in their identical hoodies.... Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Seeing The Good In Others
3 May 2012 | 11:45 amRICK HANSON, PH.D.: Seeing The Good In Others Seeing the good in others is a simple but very powerful way to feel happier and more confident, and become more loving and more productive in the world. Permalink | Leave a comment » -
Innovators and entrepreneurs are the new rockstars!
2 May 2012 | 5:05 amQuote seen in DDC, the Danish Design Center in Copenhagen. Nice overview, but nothing mentioned about service design! Permalink | Leave a comment »
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Mojo Helpdesk
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5 Tips for Providing Great Customer Service Via Email
9 May 2012 | 12:37 pmEmail has become the most ubiquitous and basic of business tools. Likely to be the first thing someone checks when starting the workday, email is now the primary method for business communication. As such, it’s imperative that a business think through the role email plays in customer service. There are many benefits to employing email as a customer service tool, but certain risks and weaknesses as well. Most people have experienced the embarrassment of a thoughtless typo or an email whose tone was misconstrued by the recipient. Create a set of rules for email conduct that all customer… -
Emphasize Customer Satisfaction Over Average Handle Time
3 May 2012 | 9:29 amEfficiency is a common buzz word in business, regarded by many as the most important metric for improving business practices. Unfortunately, what efficiency means and how to best measure the efficiency of your staff aren’t always easy to calculate. In customer service, it’s tempting to measure efficiency through factors that are easiest to quantify, such average handle time, but this approach misses the primary goal of customer service. Achieving customer satisfaction should be the number one focus of every customer service interaction. A faster handle time might look good on paper, but… -
Brand Your Helpdesk, Improve Customer Experience
25 Apr 2012 | 12:15 pmBranding might seem a concept that falls more into the realm of marketing than customer service, but smart business people know that the two are highly interrelated. The main goals of a helpdesk are to bring greater efficiency to the customer support process and improve the quality of each customer service experience, but Mojo Helpdeskoffers the added benefit of customization options to help ensure that the exceptional customer service offered is consistently tied into the company’s brand in the minds of customers.Any business that has invested in the proper resources and training to… -
The #1 Customer Service Tool: Your Support Team
18 Apr 2012 | 2:51 pmRegardless of the many tools on the market that are advertised as essential to the customer service process, anyone in customer service knows the #1 customer service tool any business can employ is a competent, happy, customer support team. It’s certainly valuable to provide the best possible resources to enable customer support staff to do their best, but additional resources are largely wasted if the people using them are not knowledgeable, capable and happy with their jobs. We previously covered how to put together a first-rate customer service team, and once that crucial first step is… -
Clarifying Customer Concerns
10 Apr 2012 | 11:45 amA customer service representative must hone a great number of skills to become outstanding at customer support; the ability to communicate well with customers is easily one of the most crucial. Effective communication is especially challenging when working with a customer who has a hard time expressing the problem and what is needed to resolve it. When this occurs, it becomes the representative’s job to help clarify the customer’s concerns.Customers who know they need help, but just can’t articulate their needs begin their customer support experience frustrated. To overcome this…
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Service Improvement: The Squawk Point
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How to Change Behaviour or Why Fish Don’t Ride Bicycles
15 May 2012 | 4:13 pmIt is a big challenge, maybe the big challenge. How do you sustain change? How do you get people to do something different, to change their behaviour? Here is a model to frame the problem… There are 5 stages people have to pass through before they will change their behaviour for good: Awareness Want Know How Capability Reinforcement If you want to create change, you need to address all 5 stages. Let me give you an example, imagine you want the world to take to their bicycles, what would you need to do? Stage One: Awareness Do people know what want them to do? Are they… -
The Right Way to Present Information
12 May 2012 | 4:58 amI have a pet hate, in fact it is more than that, it is guaranteed to wind me up, start me stuttering, twitching and dribbling from the corner of my mouth. My pet hate is people dressing up piles of numbers as “analytics” and leaving me blinking at a slide, blankly wondering “what exactly is your point?” There is a saying that runs something like this: Data is not information. Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not understanding. Understanding is not wisdom. ~ Anon What does it mean? Let me give you an example. Whilst surfing last week I found this… -
Hold a Morning Briefing Like a TV Star
8 May 2012 | 1:41 pmIf you are of a certain age you will have Hill Street Blues burned into your memory. One of the biggest TV shows of the 80’s. It was horribly schmaltzy. Admit it, you watched it Now you might be wondering, what that has this got to do with running a service operation? At the start of each episode there was an early morning briefing for all the officers; remember? How would it be if every morning you ran a staff briefing? Set yourself a fixed agenda, and ran through the things that matter, maybe: Backlogs Staffing levels New marketing initiatives Performance against plan Any other… -
The Easy Way to Manage Complexity
5 May 2012 | 6:04 amThere are two lines of thought in most businesses; one says: “give the customers what they want, innovate, create new products, give them choice” The other says: “rationalise, focus, strip it back, cut the tail, decomplexify” (not strictly the Queen’s English that one) The irresistible force and the immovable object. On one hand flexibility drives value, on the other, complexity drives cost. It has caused more than one bust up The accountants are the problem They can’t decide how to allocate overheads to different products (sales men’s time, training… -
The Queue
1 May 2012 | 12:46 amHow bad can a day in a service centre get? Let’s be honest, nobody is going to die, not unless they are spectacularly unlucky and trip over a trailing cable What does a bad day look like? Like this: Your colleagues in Marketing or IT or Pricing do something stupid to a lot of customers. Maybe they send them all the wrong bill, or they switch off the internet, or they publish an offer that is to good to be true and then… Your customers all phone you at once (the queue grows) You don’t answer all their calls, you didn’t staff for them, so they phone you back the following day,…
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Customer Service Buzz
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What Customer Advocacy Really Means
15 May 2012 | 1:43 pmRead service and support industry trade press, talk to most companies, or pick up the average quality form, and the typical definition of customer advocacy is articulated something along the lines of: Customer Advocacy: Demonstrating empathy and competence during a customer interaction. While not entirely incorrect, the definition certainly leaves a lot to be desired. What about frontline staff serving as the eyes and ears of the customer? What about frontline staff serving as an advisor? What about helping the customer anticipate downstream issues? The problem with the typical… -
Outsourced? You’re Not Alone
15 May 2012 | 11:42 amWith the current state of the global economy, job creation and stimulating growth has been a major—and contentious—topic of political discussion in recent months. In the United States in particular, several politicians have championed domestic job creation and vilified organizations that choose to locate their operations outside of the US. Not surprisingly, many service organizations find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of this political push and are now grappling with the implications of proposed legislation, as well as the public perception of businesses that outsource. For… -
Customer Service in the News | Week of May 14th
14 May 2012 | 2:00 pmCustomer Service News Looking for new ways to build customer loyalty? Try mobile payments [US News] Low labor costs in Philippines allow companies that outsource to invest in cutting-edge technology [BBC] Media teaching customers to ‘complain on Twitter for an instant response’ [The Guardian] And finally, US presidential campaign ads target Indian call centers [New York Times] -
How to Manage your Workforce Management
9 May 2012 | 11:56 amManaging a team is never easy. Between the careful scheduling and constant monitoring, overseeing an entire workforce can be a daunting task to say the least. Add to that the complexity of today’s customer service world – with dozens of customer touchpoints and unpredictable volume – and you’ve got a real headache on your hands. It’s no surprise then that more than 70% of companies report using workforce management (WFM) technology as an aid. But, what we’re hearing from executives in our forums makes us think this tool may be creating more problems than it helps solve. Many… -
Managing PERCEIVED Customer Effort
8 May 2012 | 9:16 amCCC has published quite a few pieces of research that explore the ideas of customer loyalty and customer effort. To put things into an extremely simple nutshell, here are a few things to know as you continue to read: First, the single best thing a service organization can do is to provide a low-effort customer experience. Second, there are two ways you can reduce customer effort: What a customer does (repeat contacts, repeating information, getting transferred, filling out forms). This is an area influenced by service leadership, and we’ve blogged about ideas on how to reduce effort…
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Wim Rampen's Blog
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Sorry NPS, I’m not buying (it)..
11 May 2012 | 2:21 pmI know a lot has been said about Net Promoter Score (NPS), and I'm not in this world to judge anyone who's working with it, or developing it into a Net Promoter System. I do like to share my experiences with it though, hoping to attract other people who'd like to share theirs, so we can all get a better understanding of what drives Customer loyalty and how to manage for it. Unfortunately the Net Promoter Score is not working for me right now. And here's why: -
3 Lenses For Innovation
4 May 2012 | 4:09 pmThis week I presented my ideas around Customer Driven Innovation in Commoditized Industries for an internal innovation summit of the Dutch/German energy company RWE/Essent Energy. Apart from the fact it was a very interesting event where Smart Customers, Grids and Cities were the talk of the town, it was good for me to think through [...] -
What Really Replaces Marketing (Madness)..
6 Apr 2012 | 5:36 pmIf there ever was a reason for me to write about the future of marketing, it was in 2009. The theme though is as alive today as it was then. Some argue little has changed, others state the new era has already arrived. And there is Nilofer Merchant (@Nilofer) who suggests Marketing is Dead and [...] -
How To (Not) Get Smart About Big Data
2 Jan 2012 | 3:01 pmIf you are to believe the talk of twitter-town and its suburbs, due to the connectivity of numerous devices worldwide, we (will) also have available so much data, it is just waiting to be mined and will change how we do, well.., just about everything. All this is being referred to as Big Data. The [...] -
A new year a new..
31 Dec 2011 | 2:54 amAs of January 1st 2012 I am who I was in 2011, but with a new job: Manager Customer Intelligence and Brand Management (OHRA). And, what makes the story even better: I get to continue to work together with Coníche. I will also be sitting on the Coníche Board of Inspiration!
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Adrian Swinscoe
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Connecting the dots of word of mouth, customer loyalty and customer service
14 May 2012 | 3:51 amA recent piece of research from Clickfox got me to thinking about word of mouth, customer loyalty and customer service and if we should be thinking about ‘connecting the dots’ between them. In many cases and in many companies these three things can exist in isolation of each other. However, the Clickfox research found that [...] -
Focusing on customer loyalty has allowed us to fundamentally change our business model
8 May 2012 | 4:47 amThis is the fifth of a series of interviews with CEOs that were included in a book I wrote in late 2010 called RARE Business. It was a collection of thoughts, ideas and strategies to help businesses ‘build better relationships with their customers and their people’. You can pick up an electronic copy of the [...] -
The Twelve Absolutes of Leadership: Interview with Gary Burnison, CEO of Korn/Ferry International
4 May 2012 | 2:59 amFollowing on from my recent interview, The emotional component of customer experience: the next competitive battleground – Interview with Qaalfa Dibeehi of Beyond Philosophy, today I am privileged to share with you an interview I recently conducted with Gary Burnison, Chief Executive Officer of Korn/Ferry International, the worldwide leader in executive recruitment and a premier [...] -
Customer Experience: Is it time that you gave your law firm a caffeine shot in the arm?
30 Apr 2012 | 11:21 amIn a recent post (Change is happening in the legal sector, law firms need to pay heed and deliver a better client experience if they are to prosper) I referenced a report from CXINLAW. This a follow up guest post from Carl White one of their partners.. Wednesday is my girlfriend’s favourite day of the [...] -
The Big Talk and Little Talk of Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy
26 Apr 2012 | 12:30 pmWord of mouth marketing is a powerful weapon in any growth strategy. However, many people struggle to generate good word of mouth as hard as they may try. Andy Sernovitz, the author of Word of Mouth Marketing, is an expert on the subject and suggests that when thinking about this and working up a plan [...]
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Help Scout Customer Service Blog
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3 Days, $100k and Why We Gave it Away
9 May 2012 | 12:00 amBack in December, we spent a couple of Saturdays working on a side project. It was a 10x26 letterpress poster commemorating a famous Steve Jobs quote. We decided to sell the poster and donate the proceeds to a non-profit called the Acumen Fund. As promised when we blogged about it the first time, today we'd like to share how it turned out. When we launched the website (www.crazyonesquote.com), we emailed a few friends and hoped to sell enough to cover our printing costs. The next thing we knew, the poster was showing up in some really interesting places around the web! The good news is… -
Speed Kills: Research Reveals Good Service Beats Fast Service Every Time
19 Apr 2012 | 12:00 amWhen it comes to customer service, from the perspective of the customer, there is nothing better then getting "out" of a situation in a quick and pleasant manner. Speed is an important part of the customer service process, that much you likely know, but research has revealed that there are times when speed can kill.There seems to be a threshold for many businesses where cutting down on time can start to effect the quality of their customer care. The problem then becomes: how can businesses (and specifically for this article, online businesses) keep customer service speed up while not creating… -
Email Integration 2.0: Launching in One Week
5 Apr 2012 | 11:00 pmHelp Scout has a robust way to update conversations via email, which we call email integration. One week from today, we're launching an unprecedented feature called Traffic Cop.Meet Traffic CopOne problem with email integration today is that two people could respond to the same customer by accident. That's no fun. Enter Traffic Cop.If a conversation gets 2 responses, Help Scout will send the first one to the customer. The second one will be sent back to you, quoting the first reply and asking if you still want to send your message. Say goodbye to duplicate replies for good!Inherited Default… -
The Psychology of Personalization: How Waiters Increased Tips by 23 Percent (Without Changing Service)
3 Apr 2012 | 12:00 amWhen it comes to effective customer service, small changes can have a big impact.One of the most critical periods of the process is the follow-up after purchase: making your customer feel like they've made the right choice as soon as they've bought from you goes a long way to developing your relationship with them.In this regard, we have a lot to learn from a service position that you might not expect: waiters and waitresses.Not only do they interact directly with the customer, research has found that their "follow up" (post purchase) actions can greatly effect the customer's perception of… -
Email Notifications Update
30 Mar 2012 | 11:00 pmThis week we launched a big update to email notifications. Several new notifications are available and you can also customize them for each mailbox. In addition, we made some improvements to email integration (updating conversations via email). Check out the video below to see everything in action.
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TheMana.gr, LLC.
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3 Ways to Guarantee Customer Service Failure
13 May 2012 | 4:00 amChances are, your customer service just doesn’t generate the positive customer experience you want. No one wants to fail, so why does customer service fail so often in creating that customer loyalty? I want to suggest 3 ways we guarantee customer service failure. Unless we have a monopoly on a good or service, customer service will play a part in proving value to customers. Creating value to customers through service, requires us to go beyond just having warm bodies answering the phone calls and returning email responses in 24-48 hours. There’s no value in mediocre customer… -
The Dark Side of Customer Service
7 May 2012 | 4:00 amI love customer service and spend hours each day, working, training, inspiring, promoting, and dreaming up ways to make customer service awesome. For all of the customer service talk and training that goes on, there’s a dark side to customer service that we’ve all seen too many times. I recently came across a disturbing blog post with confessions of a customer service representative. It’s not pretty and it’s the reason why so many people hate customer service. Where Customer Service Went Wrong The mega corporations don’t send their customer service outside… -
The Customer Experience Super Powers
1 May 2012 | 4:00 amOne of my amazing talents is my customer experience super powers. Yes, I’ve got them and you can have them too. You don’t need to be from a distant planet, be bitten by a radioactive spider, be bombarded by cosmic rays, or even have to be part of a secret government experiment. These customer experience super powers can be had by anyone with a desire to fight against bad customer service and it’s evil minions of customer apathy, mediocre service, and generic customer experience. Do you want customer experience super powers? I’ll share the secret behind my super powers… -
Customer Experience is Key to Fixing Employee Turnover
23 Apr 2012 | 4:00 amOne of the greatest challenges to developing the customer experience and consistently delivering great customer service is dealing with employee turnover. I’m asked about how to manage employee turnover more than any other question, and probably more than all of the other questions combined. Ask any customer service manager or if you attend any customer service type conference, and you’re bound to hear about the topic of employee turnover. Typical Call Center Employee Turnover Rates Call centers are generally associated with high employee turnover rates. It’s not a myth,… -
Imagination is Nothing. Customer Experience is Everything in Business
20 Apr 2012 | 10:08 amToo often we underestimate the power of customer experience. The customer experience innovators seem to always stay a step ahead of the competition. Every time the competition makes a move, the innovators make a different unexpected move keeping them on top and often increasing their lead of the competition. Customer experience innovation seems to consistently keep your business ahead in the game. Perspective and focus are key to the customer experience. Organizations that are successful at maintaining a customer focus have shown to achieve more success than the competition. They understand…
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Pretium Solutions » Latest Thinking – Blog
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Why Call Center Training, By Itself, Doesn’t Work
13 May 2012 | 10:53 pmI know this may sound strange coming from a principal of a company that provides call center training around the globe. However, my colleagues and I truly believe 100% in the following statement: Call center training, by itself, doesn’t work. I have spent more than a few years of my career on both sides of the training playing field, as both a purchaser of training for customer service and leadership development and as a provider of training in those same arenas. That experience has taught me a lot of things, including an important lesson that a one-size-fits-all approach to improving… -
Motivating Your Customer Service Team
8 May 2012 | 11:07 pmEffective leadership requires setting high standards and expectations for your customer service team and then doing what it takes to help them get there. In this video blog, Jack explores how setting the right performance standards for your customer service team can mean the difference between mediocrity and excellence. -
6 Ways to Advance Your Call Center Performance (Part I)
26 Apr 2012 | 12:49 amOptimizing call center performance can be a tricky proposition for call center leaders and managers. There is so much to think about – systems, processes, technology, customer service agents, supervisors, KPIs, loyalty metrics, service channels – the list goes on and on. The pressure to succeed can be intense, sometimes overwhelming, and the challenges just seem to keep coming. If you had an opportunity to hit the pause button for enough time to thoughtfully consider and come up with a list of ways to truly advance your call center performance over the long term, what would your list… -
Do Customer Loyalty Programs Create Genuine Customer Loyalty?
24 Apr 2012 | 5:57 pmCustomer loyalty programs, such as loyalty cards and point systems, can be useful tools for marketing and for rewarding customers. However, real customer loyalty is created during one-on-one customer interactions between a customer and the people acting on the company’s behalf, either a sales representative or customer service agent, retail associate or other customer-facing employee. If I’m your customer, whether or not I become loyal does not depend so much on whether you reward me for doing business with you, but rather on how you treat me during our customer interaction – your… -
Engrain Your Brand Vision in Your People & Excellent Customer Service Will Follow!
13 Apr 2012 | 12:13 amAny customer experience may be so typical that sometimes you don’t even notice it anymore. You walk into a retail outlet, a fast food restaurant or a convenience store and the person serving you looks at you through bleary eyes, almost completely disinterested in your needs or wants, says a scripted “Can I help you?” and then embarks on the mostly disengaged process of filling your order. Is it just my age (okay, over 50), or do most young customer-facing employees seem to have absolutely no purpose as they wander aimlessly through each customer encounter? Each customer interaction…
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Significant Feelings
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Automobile Industry is Speeding up in Customer Experience?
11 May 2012 | 4:18 amVolkswagen USA announced Robert Martell, 54, to the post of Vice President, Customer Experience for the company. This is definitely a trend where non of the big players want to under perform, I expect that in the next few month we will hear about more & more CEM VP announcement in the automobile industry. I´m very curious to see the results and the plans / roadmaps how CX improvement will take place (will come back to this topic with some interviews & insights) . A far not complete list, just a couple of announcements from the last period: Cadillac Customer Experience… -
Customer Experience and TV design
10 May 2012 | 9:00 amA SUPER presentation deck from Jason Grigsby about designing websites for TV. This is getting a hot topic and will have a HUGE effect on customer experience. It is really important to put the customer in the center and start to think about this new ecosystem. Check out also our earlier post about IKEA TV. The Immobile Web View more presentations from Jason Grigsby Tweet -
Information Graphics can help Customer Experience
9 May 2012 | 3:13 amOne of the role of CX is to make it easier for the customer to understand our products, processes, services,…etc. New book from Taschen about Information Graphics is a good guide, an excellent food for thought if you ever have to deal with user-guides, product descriptions, …etc. “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” — Albert Einstein — Our everyday lives are filled with a massive flow of information that we must interpret in order to understand the world we live in. Considering this complex variety of data floating around… -
Pleasure and Pain as a driver for Customer Experience?
4 May 2012 | 7:58 amArticle from the Phys.org magazine state (based on International Journal of Research in Marketing) that customer satisfaction lies somewhere between pleasure and pain. Murray and co-authors Remi Trudel of Boston University and June Cotte from the University of Western Ontario found that when it comes to our basic consumer motivations, how we experience a good or bad service experience or how we react to a superior or inferior product depends on whether we’re prone to seeking pleasure or avoiding pain. This translates into two groups who show very different levels of satisfaction for… -
3 Methods to Make Customers Happy
3 May 2012 | 3:33 amIn his new book – Happy Customers Everywhere - Bernd Schmitt professor at the Columbia Business School, presents three methods to make customers happy: pleasure meaning engagement He comes to this solution based on the literature and researches made on positive psychology, watch the video get more insight about the book and his theory or visit his website MeetSchmitt. Tweet
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The Pace of Service
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Social’s First Real Customer Service Centric Platform? Product Review: Social Dynamx
14 May 2012 | 9:11 amBy michaelpace on May 13, 2012 “No social enterprise transformation strategy can succeed unless Customer Service plays a central role.” said Michael Maoz, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst for Customer Strategies research at Gartner. “Current structures are inadequate. The challenge for senior management is to engineer the necessary processes and technology changes that will allow customer service to evolve to embrace social trends. New concepts of recruitment, measurement and outcomes are necessary to allow for the increased agent participation in social media. When this… -
Customer Service Needs a Romper Room Magic Mirror or Transparency is Innovation
1 May 2012 | 7:02 pmBy michaelpace on April 23, 2012 Magic Mirror, tell me today Did companies do as they say, I see Costco, Ritz Carlton, and Starbucks … Ah nostalgia. If you grew up in the late 70’s and the 80’s, you probably remember Miss Molly and the show that was Romper Room. At the end of every episode, you waited with baited breath as Miss Molly would grab the magic mirror and peer through your television. Would today be the day she see you? Recently, I was researching a company called Zmags, which creates beautiful rich media catalogs for retailers and others. On their support page, there… -
CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES or Leadership’s Most Underrated Skill
23 Apr 2012 | 7:33 amBy michaelpace on April 23, 2012 It’s great to see a portion of the focus on social media technologies shift from shiny objects and how to market better to increasing the adoption of the tools and uses within the organization. The era of the Social Business or, as I prefer to call it, the Social Organization is just beginning to take hold in progressive companies, and should start to “Cross the Chasm” within the next few years. Yes, it is going to take at least a few years; some laggard companies still do not let some of their associates access the internet via their workstation. … -
I discovered my Social Media ROI? Or How much is your personal development worth?
30 Mar 2012 | 1:27 pmBy michaelpace on March 30, 2012 I am not that big of a fan of the term “Social Business”. I love the broader concept of using social tools and networks to more effectively and efficiently achieve business goals. For a more complete understanding of social business, I recommend two sources: SideraWorks from Amber Naslund and Matt Ridings and The Community Roundtable’s State of Community Management Report from Rachel Happe and Jim Storer. However, I worry that the term “Social Business”… -
5 Signs That Your Customer Service Sucks
26 Mar 2012 | 9:04 amBy michaelpace on March 26, 2012 Talk to most any CEO, and they will tell you that they have great customer service. They will tell you how proud they are of their service, and how important it is to their business objectives. And it goes beyond C-Level executives. Lots of people think their company provides great service. So answer this for me then: If so many people think their customer service is good – great, why does most customer service suck or is adequate at best? Yes, there are plenty of ways to score or quantify your service execution (NPS, CSAT, CES, CSI, etc…), but…
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Specialty Answering Service Company Blog
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Do Agents Prefer to Work for a Small Call Center?
16 May 2012 | 11:31 amGreat question! I’m glad we are asking it. Although the popular perception about call centers is a large organization with hundreds of agents, a typical call center actually is much smaller in size. In fact, statistics show that nearly 90% of call centers employ less than 75 agents of which 75% of them have less [...] -
Getting the Most Out of Your Call Recording
10 May 2012 | 7:51 amIn the early days of call recording, it was used only in large call centers or in answering services which dealt with niche industries such as financial services or legal services. Today however, even small answering services which employ 10-15 agents consider call recording an integral part of their architecture. If you are a small [...] -
Specialty’s “My Phone & Me” Photo Contest
8 May 2012 | 9:28 am -
Best Practices in Hiring for Call Centers
7 May 2012 | 1:46 pmWhen it comes to hiring and staffing for call centers what immediately comes to mind to most people is the high attrition rates in the industry. It’s sad but true! This is a blog about the call center industry s we aren’t going to pad it with inaccurate representations of the industry. Very often, factors [...] -
Key Metrics to Measure Effectiveness of Your Third Party Call Center Relationship
30 Apr 2012 | 10:31 amMetrics for measuring call center performance have received a lot of attention over the years, with most metrics focusing on how an answering service can generate maximum ROI for its investment. However, the ways in which an organization can measure the effectiveness of its third party call center relationship is an equally important and often [...]
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Customers That Stick
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The Secret Service Summit: John DiJulius Interview, Part 4
15 May 2012 | 7:00 amLast November, I had the pleasure of attending The DiJulius Group’s Secret Service Summit. After the event, I did a recap of this exciting customer service conference where I listed the speakers and broke down some of the better takeaways from each person. As you will be able to tell from the post, last year’s [...] -
Improve Your Customer Experience: John DiJulius Interview, Part 3
14 May 2012 | 7:00 amIn this video interview, customer service authority John DiJulius gives great insight into how companies can improve the customer experience through managing the customer experience cycle. Some of the key points John expands on are… The four stages of the customer experience cycle The realistic way to improve experiential standards within your current business model [...] -
Must-See Video Interviews with Customer Service Authority John DiJulius: Parts 1 & 2
10 May 2012 | 7:00 amI had the incredible pleasure of interviewing customer service speaker, author and consultant, John DiJulius. John is truly The Authority on World Class Customer Service and his Secret Service systems can help organizations transform their customer experience into something that is a true source of competitive advantage. John’s books include Secret Service: Systems That Deliver Unforgettable [...] -
UPrinting Customer Service: When Real People Actually Answer
7 May 2012 | 7:00 amA couple of weeks ago, I realized that the most excellent Social Slam conference was almost upon me, and that I would be meeting real, live flesh and blood people from social media and not just their digital shadows. That meant I needed business cards — and fast. I had used UPrinting.com for a [...] -
We Have Winners! The CTS Launch Sweepstakes
5 May 2012 | 10:52 amWhen we launched Customers That Stick in March, we ran a month long sweepstakes to celebrate and promote the launch of the site. You can read the original post here: The Final Post and Win a Kindle Fire. Below are the three excellent prizes along with the winners! 1st Prize: Amazon Kindle Fire (7″ Screen [...]
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andyhanselman.com
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Andy’s 3D Thoughts 14th May
14 May 2012 | 3:29 amHere are this week’s 3D Thoughts. As ever, just click on the icon below and get listening! And don’t forget, you can subscribe via iTunes so you never miss a 3D iDea again! listen to ‘Andy’s 3D Thoughts 14/05/12’ on Audioboo Links: 9 Year Old Customer Provides Real Food For Thought! Clock Watchers Are Most Likely To Suffer Burnout! Customers Who Smile Get Better Service! Bookmarks: -
9 Year Old Customer Provides Great Food For Thought!
13 May 2012 | 5:13 pmWouldn’t it be brilliant if one of your customers gave you feedback about your products and services everytime they bought it? Well, not necessarily if it was posted on a website that has gone viral! 9 year old Martha Payne’s blog about her school meals has become an internet ‘hit’! Her daily blog NeverSeconds which reviews her school dinner each day went viral last week – she got over 105, 000 visitors and a tweet from Jamie Oliver! With permission from teachers, she photographed her £2 school lunches and wrote about them, posting pictures online every… -
Customers Who Smile Get Better Service!
10 May 2012 | 6:41 amCustomers who smile get better service! Well, that’s definitely the case if you go to a brand new vending machine that gives you a free ice cream when you smile at it! This innovative use of facial recognition technology from customer experience company SapientNitro and ice cream makers Unilever is our latest example of 3D Thinking (Number #10 in our search for 100 Examples Of 3D Thinking) They are currently testing it at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival and after it prompts you to smile, the machine measures the wideness of your grin using facial recognition… -
Andy’s 3D Thoughts 8th May
8 May 2012 | 3:20 amHere they are – this week’s 3D Thoughts! Just click on the icon below and get listening! And don’t forget, you can subscribe via iTunes so you never miss a 3D iDea again! listen to ‘Andy’s 3D Thoughts 08/05/12’ on Audioboo Links: Customer Service Via Social Media? It’s The Future! Radio 2DAY Think You’re A Good Manager? Get Real! Bookmarks: -
Customer Service Via Social Media – It’s The Future!!!! (Actually, It’s The ‘Now’!)
8 May 2012 | 3:00 amMore and more businesses are using social media as a channel for their customer service processes, and it’s growing! According to a new report from Sword Ciboodle, a customer service provider, and thinkJar, a customer service consulting firm, 75% of the businesses that took part in a recent study said that they were using social media outlets in one way or another. Of those, 59% of them have adopted Twitter and 60% have adopted Facebook, and close to 85% of those businesses that use one of those sites actually use both of them. Interestingly, it’s the larger organisations that…
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Blog
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Campfire service hook: bring customer feedback and team chat together
16 May 2012 | 12:29 pm37 Signals is one of the heroes of team collaboration on the web, and their team chat client Campfire is no exception. It allows teammates (even remote ones) to stay connected. But what about your customers? They’re just as important as your coworkers, and we think their voices belong in Campfire too. That’s why today we’re excited to announce the release of the Campfire web hook, which pushes UserVoice ideas, comments, support tickets, kudos, and status updates directly into Campfire. The Campfire service hook is available on all plans, even the free ones. You can… -
Translation Mania! French (Canada), German (Austria, Switzerland), Portuguese, & Serbian (Latin)
14 May 2012 | 7:10 pmWow, our volunteer translators have been hard at work! Today we're very pleased to announce these languages are now available: French (Canada) for our Admin Console interface German (Austria) for our Admin Console and End-User interfaces German (Switzerland) for our Admin Console and End-User interfaces Portuguese for our End-User interface Serbian (Latin) for our Admin Console interface Instructions for changing these are available on our knowledge base: How to change site-wide End-User language How to change languagues on specific forums How to change language in the Admin Console… -
Hipchat service hook: customer feedback and support right where your team lives
10 May 2012 | 10:30 amWhen your company was 2 guys/gals and a dog it was obvious what the customers issues were. But as you grow up as a company there's a tendency to firewall off the rest of the company from the actual customer interactions your customer-facing team is having. You mean to protect them, but instead this can mean that they lose sight of who they're trying to help. How do you fix this? Get your customers back into the spotlight with our new HipChat integration. HipChat is a fantastic chat platform for inter-company communications (which we use every day at UserVoice). And now, through a… -
Free Nokia Lumia 900’s for everyone: PR or great customer service?
9 May 2012 | 10:29 amLast month Nokia launched a new Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 900. While received well from a general standpoint, a serious bug was quickly discovered: many phones "were often unable to send or receive data over AT&T’s cellular network". Before anything else, I'll give Nokia credit for acknowledging the issue very quickly. Too many companies (coughapplecough) try to hide issues or simply don't respond to them (coughrimcough). But what came next was even more surprising: Nokia also announced that any customer affected by the bug will receive a $100 credit on his or her… -
Inspector for UserVoice Feedback: learn more about who is giving you feedback
8 May 2012 | 9:48 amTwo weeks ago we launched Inspector - a powerful tool to give you context about who you’re really talking to in UserVoice Helpdesk. We wrote all about how it saves you valuable time and can show you what someone’s said about your company on Twitter. Good news: this week we’ve launched Inspector for UserVoice Feedback as well! When viewing an idea you’ll automatically see information about the creator of the idea within Inspector. Need info about someone else on the page? Simply click their name to load them in Inspector. Inspector is available on all plans, even the…
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THE CUSTOMER BLOG
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Halfords Auto Centres: is a Welcomer enough to deliver a good customer experience?
15 May 2012 | 5:33 amWelcomers are important – they can make a big difference In a recent post I stressed the importance of Welcomers and I shared the following statement from Richard Shapiro, the author of The Welcomer Edge: “There is a particular type of staff person who draws new customers to a business and keeps them. I call this type the “welcomer”. Welcomers create a relationship with new customer that can last a lifetime. People are so delighted to do business with welcomers that they will have little reason to change allegiance to the company’s competitors.” My recent experience got me… -
Is eliminating the bargaining power of customers more important than working on the Customer Experience?
14 May 2012 | 2:35 pmListening to the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson I am left with the impression that nothing was more important to Steve Jobs then using technology to produce great products that delivered a great user experience. Good enough was good enough, even great, for many in the computer industry. Only insanely great was good enough for Steve Jobs. Anything less was simply not good enough, it was not ‘art’ and not ‘worthy of artists”; great artists don’t want to put their names on good enough art. Given that Apple, Amazon, Zappos, USAA, SouthWest Airlines,… -
VoC: what’s wrong with VoC and how do you get it right? (Part III)
11 May 2012 | 3:10 amIn the first post I shared the first part of my discussion around VoC with Erich Dietz, VP of Business Solutions at Mindshare Technologies (specialists in customer surveys and enterprise feedback). The key point of that post was captured in Erich’s words: “No-one is really doing VoC surveys with the customer in mind!” The second post (of this series) surfaced the gap between what companies say and what they do which is best captured by this statement: ““Too many companies say that they are committed to improving the customer experience and yet don’t deliver on this… -
VoC: what’s wrong with VoC and how do you get it right? (Part II)
8 May 2012 | 4:08 pmIn the previous post I shared the first part of my discussion around VoC with Erich Dietz, VP of Business Solutions at Mindshare Technologies (specialists in customer surveys and enterprise feedback). The key point of that post was captured in Erich’s words: “No-one is really doing VoC surveys with the customer in mind!” In this post I wish to share/discuss with you the other big issue that came up in my conversation with Eric. Before that lets just briefly summarise best practice in soliciting customer feedback. Lets assume your organisation is following best practice in… -
VoC: what’s wrong with VoC and how do you get it right? (Part I)
7 May 2012 | 3:41 pmI like the folks at Mindshare Technologies – specialists in customer surveys and enterprise feedback. We share a philosophy, YOLOMAD: you only live once, make a difference. From what I can tell they are passionate about helping companies to get access to the Voice of the Customer and use that to improve the customer experience and cultivate customer loyalty that delivers revenues and profits. With that context in mind reached out to Erich Dietz, VP of Business Solutions to get his view on VoC stands – the reality and not hype or commentary. Before I do that let me tell…
