|
Jul31
|
I was just reading an article at a website...Although the information I was reading was interesting, the website design was not! Flashing banner ads and pop-up ads were all over the place and needless to say it was very distracting. It made me wonder if the website owner's priority was to simply make money through advertising with no thought to the "reader experience".
My tip: When designing your website, think about how you would feel if you visited a website that had a ton of flashing banners. Wouldn't that give you a headache? It's ok to have one or two, but more than that and you're scaring your customers away. Do you want customers to come back to your website?
And speaking of banner ads, you may be interested in this article at Pro Blog Tips that talks about the effectiveness of using this type of advertising - a little off-topic, but still a good read ;)
|
|
Jul31
|
Meikah talks about this concept of "Impossible Service" and what comes to mind is a time when a manager at Nordstrom received a call from a frantic customer complaining that she had not received a pair of shoes that someone...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I came across this book today, Exceptional Customer Service: Going Beyond Your Good Service to Exceen the Customer's Expectation, and in Chapter two there's a heading titled "Things You Can Do to Make a Difference!" with some thoughts and tips...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Marcelle Fischler of The New York Times writes about how the atmosphere of supermarkets are changing. As competition gets fierce in this industry, companies are finding ways to create an "experience" for customers. Supermarkets are no longer a place to...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Barry Farber, Entrepreneur Magazine's "Sales Success" columnist, has the feature story in the August issue which offers a 30-day, 10-step action plan for sales success. #1 is "Keep a positive attitude" which is certainly very important in sales and in...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I'm browsing through a business magazine and come upon this ad by Ford that depicts men at work using their Ford trucks. A caption reads, "Somebody please pass a law prohibiting guys with desk jobs from using the phrase, 'Tough...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul30
|
Yes, it's getting close to that time of the month...bills...bills... Today I pulled out my phone bill. I had signed up for a $21 plan, but somehow it always ends up being much, much more than $21! Upon closer examination...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Awhile ago I announced that I would like to start a Carnivale of Customer Service. Unfortunately I did not get much of a response, actually no response ;( However, lo and behold! Glenn Ross has submitted a post for our...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Nick Rice sent me a link to this article about a Netflix experience by David Pogue of the New York Times. A good story, but what I found more interesting were the comments made by some readers...many complaints about Netflix...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I wanted to take some time out today and thank all of you who have been reading my blog for some time now. I would also like to welcome those of you who have stumbled upon my little corner of...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
WaiterBell points out this article, "In good businesses, it's all about service", in which the author mentions a study done by BIGresearch that found that in the health care industry, pharmacists provided the best customer service followed by dentists and...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul29
|
Ellen Weber of Brain Based Business tells us of an experience at Sears in which a customer service rep asked if she wanted to open up a credit account. Ellen tells the rep that doing so can lower someone's credit...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
How far do you go to listen to your customers and provide what they want? With so many studies done showing that Americans are at an all time high in regards to unhealthy eating, the fast-food industry is still promoting...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Steve Marr of Business Proverbs gives us his definition of a loyal customer: "A loyal customer is one who is willing to invest in the relationship by sticking with your business even if your price is not always the best,...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
ABC News in Australia reports that phone companies in Australia will be fined up to $50 a day for not connecting or fixing phone lines in a timely manner. Exemptions to this include extreme bad weather conditions which may cause...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Mary Schmidt makes a good observation..."Humans are Only Human" and it brought to mind something that my boyfriend reminds me of time and time again - "Not everybody thinks like you do, Maria." So when I wonder why people can't...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul28
|
I was in the grocery store tonight and as I was picking out some cheddar cheese a man walked by with his little son sitting on his shoulders. The man handed the little boy something and little boy said, "Sank...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I just read Tig's post on the "Nordstrom Way" and I'm reminded of my days working for the company. I recently visited the Nordstrom store here in San Diego where I worked in the children's shoes department... Someone asked me...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
John Tschohl, founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, gives us his six steps to help you build a service culture: 1) Develop and drive a customer service strategy - This is a powerful strategy that...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
A friend of mine who works for United Airlines has seen many parts of the world and says that customer service in England is "so-so" - not good, not bad, just mediocre. Then Andy Smith says that Starbucks' good customer...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
According to an article at PC Welt, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer received about 300 complaints regarding AOL's customer service procedures (i.e. ignoring requests to cancel service). This past Wednesday America Online Inc. agreed to pay $1.25 million in...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul27
|
I discovered this customer service forum with an interesting thread... Someone asks "The Future of Customer Service - what will it look like in the Year 2020?" I only have positive thoughts for the future! Although many of us complain...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
In the big scheme of things, customer service encompasses many aspects of a business. It's not just about greeting a customer and helping them find what they need. If you've been a reader of this blog for some time now,...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Candace Lombardi of CNet News.com reports on the new J.D. Powers semiannual study on the wireless phone industry. Here are some interesting stats: 59 percent of wireless phone customers called their service provider within a 12-month period--the highest percentage since...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
A recent survey by TrueJobs.com found that the number 1 source of stress in the workplace is the annoying habits of coworkers. I personally believe that these annoying coworkers have an indirect effect on the way you interact with customers. ...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
There's an article at the Chicago Tribune which says that the City Council approved a ordinance that will require big box retailers to pay their employees a minimum of $9.25. This ordinance will apply to stores at 90,000 square feet...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul25
|
As of August I will be a resident of Mexico...so pretty soon I will be reporting on my customer service experiences in this corner of the world! I'll only be fifteen minutes from the border, so I won't be too...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
An article at destinationCRM.com says that employees in England with good customer service skills "are a rare breed". Recently, there was a report put out by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in partnership with the Department for Education and...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Mark Bloomfield of The Yellow Llama shares his thoughts in a post titled, "How far do you take customer service?" where he points out that yes, no matter what industry you work in you have to deal with customers. I...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I've adviced here before to send Thank you notes to your customers, but Chris Brogan goes a little further and tells us to send REAL Thank you notes (via Tom). Here are a few of Chris's tips: Get clever about...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Awhile ago I talked about being enthusiastic when dealing with customers, but when was the last time that you created an enthusiastic experience for your customer? When was the last time you inspired someone so much that they told their...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul24
|
CRM Today reports that The Institute of Customer Service urges small businesses to not neglect customer service because it is "damaging their business prospects". A survey was done at the University of Nottingham that revealed that 40% of respondents reported...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
What contributions are you making in this world? Have you ever thought about it? When you think of customer service, do you think about the role you play in helping out your fellow human being? Hard Rock Cafe has a...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Tim Whelan of Customer Development Center recently had a client who just couldn't understand the concept of customer service - saying that, "Product is what brings in the money..." Yes, your physical product or service is the thing that is...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Jeneanne Rae of Business Week writes a story on the "Ruthless Focus on the Customer" where she validates what I've been saying all along..."that in this new age, customer experience will decide the winners and losers in almost every industry...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I think I'm turning into a Starbucks evangelist. Some of my friends used to tell me not to support the "corporate capitalists", but hey, I'll continue to give my support to the company because they always give me a great...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul22
|
When a business does you wrong, do you give them a second chance? Well, I thought I'd give U-Haul a second chance. After all, I have had pretty decent experiences with them in the past. Well, I reserved a truck...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I revisted Dell's blog today to see if they've made any posts concerning customer issues or just a post on customer service in general. In the latest post, Laura Bosworth, the Director of WW Customer Experience has some news about...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Business Week published an interview with Andy Birol, a consultant and business coach, about setting prices for your products or services. Here's an excerpt: What's the biggest problem small businesses have with pricing?More than anything, small businesses look to similar...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul21
|
Well, JD Powers is at it again with their Customer Service Index Ranking for Customer Service. This time Lexus tops the list with a score of 912 out of 1000. This ranking was for the US Market based on 79,500...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Service Untitled has come through once again with a great series on customer service and freelancing. My favorite piece of advice is this: "Go the extra mile. Go the extra mile whenever you have the opportunity. If you aren’t too...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Meikah of Customer Relations talks about "Service Wows" which had me thinking about the last time I was wowed as a customer. Hmmm.... I thought....and thought....and thought.... Well, that's pretty sad that I can't think of the last time I...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Don Forrer writes a story for Naplesnews.com where he offers us an analysis of the difference between customer service in Arkansas and Southwest Florida and gives some tips to managers: First, managers must measure customer service and use feedback to...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
A friend just told me a story of a time she purchased a bedroll from Urban Outfitters (URBN). She was given a special plastic bag to put it in - a little longer than a regular-sized trash bag. Well, she accidentally...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul20
|
I've been making an effort to eat healthier, so I've been frequenting Henry's Market lately because of their organic foods. I wanted to make spaghetti for dinner tonight, so I bought a bottle of their Parmesan Pasta Sauce. I eagerly...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
John Gratton of Core Character has a great post about expressing yourself to someone. In the world of customer service letting your customer know how you feel about them is the first step to building a relationship with them. This...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Just when I thought all the hoopla surrounding the AOL incident with Vincent Ferrari had died down, I come across this post at The Consumerist which shares with the world AOL's manual for customer retention. I'm assuming it's an authentic...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I just came across the perfect book, Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity. Being a person who believes that you manifest all that you desire, this book came at a perfect time. I have been wanting to put...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul19
|
Maria Bartiromo of Business Week interviewed with Home Depot's CEO, Bob Nardelli and asks him this question: The customer-friendly culture that was once a hallmark of Home Dept seems to have deteriorated on your watch. Has cutting costs at the...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
As a customer service rep it's important to know that there are certain ways to say things to customers. You may not intend something to sound rude, but to a customer it may sometimes come across as so. In the...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul18
|
I was reading this article about a company who embraces the "Customer First" policy and I got to rethinking my own philosophy about customer service. I know I've stressed many, many, many times how customers should always be at the...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Service Untitled has a great post titled "Thank you for calling. Please hold." which offers some tips to avoid the "Please Hold" answer. Here's a condensed version of his post. Read his entire post here... Have more receptionists- The easiest...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul17
|
Stan DeVaughn of Branding Post has a message to share: Memo to anyone whose title, or whose boss's title contains the word "marketing": think of yourself primarily as a "customer" person, not a "marketing" person. It will make you a...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Another great reason why your greeting is important when you first come into contact with a customer/client/guest! Yes, it does make a difference in your "bottom line".
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Another Starbucks episode to share... I'm at another Starbucks here in "Sin City" (aka Las Vegas)...was engrossed in an article about the Chinese economy when along comes a flying cockroach that lands on my shirt. I scream and suddenly all...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
The CRM Blog offers some things to think about before you implement a CRM Solution: • Enabling the right business indicators to be defined in a way that can be tracked and managed• Developing reports and other tools that facilitate...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Awhile ago at TheRunwayScoop I strongly recommended not purchasing clothing on a credit card due to some of the high interest rates. What you may think is a great deal at $19.99 in the long run may actually end up...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul16
|
A survey done by Moneyfacts.com revealed that over a third of consumers in the UK had moved a financial account to another company because of bad customer service. That said, Nationwide Building Society, the UK's biggest bank, is going on...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I had a new visitor to my blog, Harsha Raghavan, so of course I had to check out his side of the world. From reading his blog I immediately knew that he would be a good person to link to...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul15
|
Some time ago I talked about how we may often get poor service when an establishment is slow. The associates are slow moving and are not on their toes as much as when it's busy. However, that's not the case...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
If you want to make a complaint about a company, you may want to check out these tips offered in an article at The Washington Post: Be polite, persistent and stick to the facts Before you start taping a customer-service call,...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Tom Vander Well of QAQnA has a great post about internal customers, or our coworkers. We should always treat our internal customers just like our external customers - with respect and kindness - because wouldn't you wanted to be treated...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I was in Radio Shack yesterday making a purchase and the lady next to me was in a huff about an item she purchased. Apparently the associate suggested the wrong item for her electronic device - I can imagine a...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I like Macy's for the stylish clothes they carry, but their customer service needs help. Alot of help. Federated (the parent company of Macy's) continues with all their acquisitions with the recent takeover of Robinson's May and Marshall Field's. It...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul13
|
The author of the SmartMoney blog points to a poll by CEOExpress asking what industry offers the worst phone customer service. Here are the results so far (as of the writing of this post): Customer serviceWhat type of company offers...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
I'm making efforts to get to know others in the blogosphere. Tom Vander Well has a respected blogroll, so I clicked on Mark True's blog link and read the story about his interview with former La-Z-Boy Chairman, Patrick Norton. Norton...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Glenn Ross of Customer Service Experience has a great post in which he responds to one of his reader's comments. This line of the comment caught my attention: "Don't people have better things to do than to complain about one...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Dell must be patrolling the blogosphere ... This just in.... The company is making a $100 million dollar move to improve their customer service by cutting down on the number of rebates for its products. "We know customers want an...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Pleas-urenoun1. The state or feeling of being pleased or gratified.2. A source of enjoyment or delight: The graceful skaters were a pleasure to watch.3. Amusement, diversion, or worldly enjoyment: “Pleasure . . . is a safer guide than either right...
Continue Reading
|
|
Jul11
|
The other day I talked about Julie Frederickson's incident with United Nude. Well, her blog post caught the attention of the owners of the company, who left an apology via a comment on Julie's blog. A heartfelt, sincere apology at...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
Thank God I never signed up with Comcast. Mary Schmidt shares with us a couple incidents with the company that has me thinking that this is another company that will be saying Bye Bye soon. I did a blogsearch for...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
David Lorenzo has a great post today about "SuperAchievers" which I felt is fitting to share with you here because I think these characteristics can definitely be applied to Superachievers in customer service. If you have these characteristics, you'll definitely...
Continue Reading
|
|
|
|
