CustomersAreAlways: February 2007 Archives

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Feb28	Thought For the Day From Peggy McColl Maria Palma February 28, 2007 Know More: Thought For the Day 2.0, Thought For the Day Today is the day for me to expand my horizons and discover a new blog. I figured I’d start with the Know More Media network and get to know some of my fellow bloggers here. Well, I was drawn to CareerSuperstar and came upon this post titled “How Will You Serve”. I know I’ve mentioned CareerSuperstar here before, but it’s been awhile since I’ve visited. Bud mentions some of Peggy McColl’s wisdom and this one is my favorite: “Success comes as a result of bringing something of value to another – serving them in a way that is enlightening, empowering and expanding…If you want to be successful, that cause another to be successful.” By the way, Peggy has come out with a new book called Destiny Switch: Master Your Key Emotions, and Attract the Life of Your Dreams. Posted at 7:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb28	Customer Service: We've Been Brainwashed Maria Palma February 28, 2007 I think we’ve been brainwashed to think that in order to have better service we have to pay more for a service or product. We shop at Walmart because they have great prices but we don’t expect much in terms... Continue Reading Posted at 5:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb27	A Million Dollar Marketing Budget: What To Do? Maria Palma February 27, 2007 I’m probably a little late in the conversation with this one, but I’m just getting caught up with all my feed reads and just finished mulling over the question posed over at Duct Tape Marketing. What Would You Do With... Continue Reading Posted at 10:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Higher Authorities Maria Palma February 27, 2007 As I’m reading Christopher Elliott’s post about Delta’s customer service, I’m wondering why customers must go to a “higher authority” to get anything done. When they’re unhappy with the service we receive, we have to go to a manager to... Continue Reading Posted at 7:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Stay Passionate, Starbucks Maria Palma February 27, 2007 It’s been some time now since I’ve shared a Starbucks experience with you, but after reading this post over at Experience Planner, I feel the need to put in my two cents.I’ll start off with a conversation I overheard when... Continue Reading Posted at 5:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	When A Customer Service Blogger Blogs Too Much Maria Palma February 27, 2007 The supervisor took me on a tour of the call center and I got to listen in on a few calls. The CSR’s were typing away at the computer. Mostly numbers. I pick up the customer service handbook and flip... Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb26	Abuse From Irate Customers and What/What Not To Say Maria Palma February 26, 2007 In response to a previous post about angry customers, a reader asks:“To what extent should a call center agent take abuse from an irate customer?”When a customer gets to the point of yelling obscenities and making threats, here's something you... Continue Reading Posted at 11:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Why Do I Blog? Maria Palma February 26, 2007 There’s a new meme going around called “Five Reasons Why I Blog” and Christine of Flooring the Consumer has tagged me...Well, when I first started blogging, I did it for the sole purpose of sharing random thoughts and ideas that... Continue Reading Posted at 9:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	John Mackey Gets It Maria Palma February 26, 2007 Back in November John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, sent a letter out to his team members. I found out about it from reading Fast Company Magazine. Below is a snippet, but you can read the whole thing at... Continue Reading Posted at 7:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Hold on Tight - It's the Carnivale of Customer Service! Maria Palma February 26, 2007 Get ready for an exciting Carnivale of Customer Service today! We have lots of goodies for you, so sit back and relax as you go on all the rides and enjoy the customer service munchies ;)The Fish Creek House has... Continue Reading Posted at 1:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb25	MyBlogLog: Another Way to Connect Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Here’s another tool business owners can use to connect with their customer: MyBlogLog. Well, first you actually have to be a business owner who blogs. What? You don’t have a blog yet? Please don’t tell me that...I joined MyBlogLog a... Continue Reading Posted at 11:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ebay: Customer Service Nuggets Maria Palma February 25, 2007 I haven’t been around Ebay much, but I often read horror stories of sellers who never ship items or don’t offer refunds for broken products. With so many sellers on Ebay nowadays, the only way you can succeed is to... Continue Reading Posted at 10:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Positivity Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Part of my weekend is spent in quiet contemplation about life, work, and how I can make an impact on the world. As many of you who read this blog know, I like to take a holistic approach to customer... Continue Reading Posted at 8:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service: Before and After Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Just like Kathy Sierra, I find it interesting that companies treat their existing customers like bad stepchildren while they woo “potential” customers with fancy discounts, bling bling, and what-not. Its seems like many big name companies still haven’t figured it... Continue Reading Posted at 6:17 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Week's Top 25 Customer Service "Champs" Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Business Week has done their own customer service ranking report for the first time. Here are a couple interesting things that I noted from the article:Companies that outsource calls to home-based agents report turnover rates in the 10% to 30%... Continue Reading Posted at 12:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb24	Customer Service Starts in the Mind Maria Palma February 24, 2007 Customer service is a mindset says Valeria Maltoni. Anything that happens in life starts in the mind. The mind is where big ideas are born. It’s where we make decisions about our life. It’s where we decide whether or not... Continue Reading Posted at 11:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Would You Like Some Help?" Maria Palma February 24, 2007 For those of you who use Microsoft Word for word processing, you’ll understand this little video clip. It’s that sometimes annoying little paper clip that pops up and asks you, “It looks like you’re trying to [enter action here]. Would... Continue Reading Posted at 11:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Automotive Industry Focuses on Customer Service Maria Palma February 24, 2007 I despise going to the car dealership to buy a car or get it serviced. The process is long and grueling and all they have to entertain us is a few old magazines and TV. However, that may change in... Continue Reading Posted at 7:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Successful Businesses and Happiness Affirmations Maria Palma February 24, 2007 The secrets of a successful business are being revealed slowly but surely. Starbucker of Ramblings From a Glass Half Full lets us in on a couple important ones:1. Simple common courtesy and gratefulness in dealings with customers2. Creating excitement and... Continue Reading Posted at 1:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Patience and Why Customer Service Is Broken Maria Palma February 24, 2007 Is there a way that we can slow things down? Have a rally for patience? Have a National Be Patient Week? Yes, I’m serious. Continue Reading Posted at 1:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb23	Kindness Maria Palma February 23, 2007 Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author UnknownWherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~SenecaReal generosity is doing something... Continue Reading Posted at 10:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Friday Night Laughs Maria Palma February 23, 2007 How can you guarantee that your customers will remember you? Make them laugh! As I was making the rounds at YouTube tonight, I came across this interesting video by InsureMe. I do like the little Unremarkable vs. Remarkable Customer Service... Continue Reading Posted at 9:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	No Matter What You Do, You're Still in Customer Service Maria Palma February 23, 2007 I came across this article called Why You Lose Customers where the author writes:“Poor customer service has no place in a small business, but luckily, it can be remedied with one simple solution. If you don’t like to work for... Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Manhattan Marketing Maven: JetBlue Food For Thought Maria Palma February 23, 2007 In response to all the hoopla surrounding the JetBlue boo-boo, Danny Flamberg of Manhattan Marketing Maven makes a few noteworthy statements:“You would think that JetBlue should have a healthy balance with its core audience and with the public in general.... Continue Reading Posted at 7:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb22	Eight Reasons Why Nordstrom Is a Customer Service Legend Maria Palma February 22, 2007 Many of us know Nordstrom (JWN) for the great customer service, but for those of you who don’t know, I wanted to share with you why people rave about this company. Those of you regular readers know that I used to... Continue Reading Posted at 6:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Saving the World With Great Customer Service Maria Palma February 22, 2007 I was just visiting Eileen Cook’s blog where she shares with us her Tales of Customer Service. I left a comment and said, “I’m on a quest to help teach others that great service can help save the world.” Now,... Continue Reading Posted at 3:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Joel Spolsky on Remarkable Service Maria Palma February 22, 2007 Joel Spolsky, a software developer, has written a phenomenal article on Seven Steps To Remarkable Service. Because he didn’t have the budget to hire customer service people during the beginning of his company, Joel and his partner had to deal... Continue Reading Posted at 1:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb21	Need To Let the World Know About Your Great Customer Service? Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Want more publicity for your company? Let people know what great customer service you have! Know More Media has just launched a new website called BizzSpotlight where you can have your company featured for free! This is from the intro post:“BIZZspotlight... Continue Reading Posted at 11:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What About a Customer Service Rating System? Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Wouldn’t it be neat if we could vote on retail stores like we do news items at Digg? Retail stores would have to display how many people have voted for them based on the company’s customer service and people entering... Continue Reading Posted at 11:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Robert Stephens Interview and How to Monitor Feedback Via the Web Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Service Untitled has a great interview with Robert Stephens, the founder of the Geek Squad at Best Buy. One thing that Stephens is doing right is monitoring the internet and the blogosphere for customer feedback:“I look at blogs and think... Continue Reading Posted at 9:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	JetBlue Customer Service Issues Maria Palma February 21, 2007 American Airlines isn’t the only company without common sense with a lack of customer service. Because of bad weather, JetBlue airlines had seven planes stuck on the ground. People were stuck on the plane for more than 10 hours and... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Satisfaction At Its Highest Maria Palma February 21, 2007 The University of Michigan released their American Customer Satisfaction Index report and what they found after surveying 15,000 consumers is that customer satisfaction with the retail sector is at its highest level since 2003. Researchers also found that price, not... Continue Reading Posted at 2:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb17	Website Review: ReviewBasics Maria Palma February 17, 2007 Feedback. Feedback. For business owners, feedback is key to improvement. After all, don’t we all want to improve and have a successful business? We gather feedback from our customers and our fellow coworkers, however, managing all that feedback can be... Continue Reading Posted at 2:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb16	3 Customer Service Tips From TJ Schier Maria Palma February 16, 2007 Gabriel Salcido of Servimetrica sent over this article written by TJ Schier. Schier offers some customer service tips that we can learn from Nordstrom and the new Nintendo Wii gaming system:1. Do the little things. Nordstrom's salespeople walk out from... Continue Reading Posted at 10:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Dealing With Abusive Customers Via Email Maria Palma February 16, 2007 I agree with many of the commenters in that I would have simply refunded the $5 - no questions asked. This would have prevented wasted energy over a measly $5. Now that person who obviously has issues with controlling his/her anger is going to tell ten other people how difficult it is to do business with you. Continue Reading Posted at 7:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb15	What Is Marketing? Maria Palma February 15, 2007 Francisco Moriones shares with us a definition of marketing that he discovered at the American Marketing Association:“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in... Continue Reading Posted at 11:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Pizza Tale Part 2 Maria Palma February 15, 2007 Last night I shared a pizza story by Phil Gerbyshak and I promised to share my little story, so here it is...Hubby and I weren’t together this Valentine’s because I’m house/dog-sitting at my parents’ place here in a little town... Continue Reading Posted at 10:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Reps: Psychologists in Training Maria Palma February 15, 2007 During customer service training they teach you listening skills (at least I hope they do!), not just so you can assess the customers’ needs, but in order to play therapist as well... I was in a restaurant today when a... Continue Reading Posted at 8:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Verizon PoliBlog: Not For Customer Issues Maria Palma February 15, 2007 I know, I’m a little late with the news (more like a few months late!), but I just found out that Verizon has started a blog called the PoliBlog. From the website:“Verizon, through its blog,seeks to encourage intelligent discussion of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb14	A Tale of Cold Pizza Maria Palma February 14, 2007 Just when I was about to do my last post of the night about my pizza experience here in a little town called Lemoore (Seems like everyone in Lemoore eats pizza on Valentine‘s Day!), I read Phil Gerbyshak’s post about... Continue Reading Posted at 11:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Chief Experience Officer: Yay or Nay? Maria Palma February 14, 2007 Fellow Know More Media blog author over at MarektingBlurb says that Chief Experience Officers are Wrong:“Experiences are core to a multitude of management roles already in existence. The last thing you want to do is seperate responsibility for great experiences... Continue Reading Posted at 2:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How Much Do You Love Your Customer? Let’s Count the Ways… Maria Palma February 14, 2007 All around the world people are singing the song of love. You tell your significant other that you love them, your kids tell you that they love you with a handmade card, but have you told your customers that you... Continue Reading Posted at 12:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb13	12 Topics I’d Blog About If I Owned An Art Gallery Maria Palma February 13, 2007 Glenn Ross over at Customer Service Experience has started a meme about “12 Topics I’d Blog About If Owned...”. Glenn tells us 12 topics he’d blog about if he owned a jewelry store, so I thought I’d share my thoughts... Continue Reading Posted at 9:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Music and Its Effect on Customers and Employees Maria Palma February 13, 2007 Browsing through this month’s issue of Fast Company Magazine, I came across this little statistic:“According to studies by branding guru Martin Lindstrom and market research firm Millward Brown, sound has a 41% chance of influencing how people perceive brands.”As I... Continue Reading Posted at 5:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb12	Carnivale of Customer Service: The Great Tips Edition! Maria Palma February 12, 2007 Thanks for your patience as the Carnivale of Customer Service is a little bit late today. I meant to create the post last night and have it scheduled to be published this morning, but that was before I found out... Continue Reading Posted at 8:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 9	How Much Happier and More Helpful Would the World Be? Maria Palma February 9, 2007 What if everyone said "Please"? What if everyone said "Thank you"? How much happier and more helpful would the world be if people were just nicer? Just stop and ponder that for a moment. Pretty darn amazing, eh? Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Selina Lo's Sales Presentation Tip Maria Palma February 9, 2007 This month’s Inc. Magazine is full of great articles including an interview with Selina Lo, the CEO of Ruckus Wireless. Lo talks about what she does to connect with a potential client, including doing a Google search on them to... Continue Reading Posted at 10:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 8	Customer Loyalty Nonexistent With Wireless Carriers Maria Palma February 8, 2007 That's what Barry Ritholtz thinks in his post titled, "Customer Acquisition versus Retention: A case study in costs. I must agree that yes, there is no such thing as customer loyalty in the wireless industry. Talk to just about anyone... Continue Reading Posted at 8:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Job Postings and Carnivale of Customer Service Maria Palma February 8, 2007 Looking to hire a customer service rep? I've teamed up with Service Untitled and a few other customer service bloggers to launch a website called Customer-Centric Jobs where employers can post ads seeking candidates for customer service related positions. If... Continue Reading Posted at 7:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Are You Grateful? Maria Palma February 8, 2007 Seth Godin said something that stirred up quite a bit of emotion in me:“...they try to reason with the customer and pretend that they realize we have a lot of choices and that they're grateful for our business. Of course,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 7	The Million Dollar Question Maria Palma February 7, 2007 Phil over of Make It Great! asks the question over at LinkedIn: “What's the best question you've ever asked or been asked that helped you get to know someone better?" It’s an interesting question because I love to probe into... Continue Reading Posted at 3:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Thank You to Customers Rock! Maria Palma February 7, 2007 I want to thank Becky Carroll over at Customers Rock! for hosting the Carnivale of Customer Service this week. If you haven’t read all the great submissions for the carnivale, visit Customers Rock! The Marketing Edition now... It’s interesting to... Continue Reading Posted at 1:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Amtrak Lesson Maria Palma February 7, 2007 Yesterday I took the train to see my family. I’ve taken Amtrak to see my family dozens and dozens of times. Unfortunately, Amtrak has the monopoly and I have no other company to ride with. Because Amtrak is the only... Continue Reading Posted at 9:55 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 3	Customer Service As Defined By a Nine-Year-Old Maria Palma February 3, 2007 I was curious to see what young people think of customer service, so I interviewed my best friend’s nine-year-old daughter. Below is the little mini-interview I had with her:How do you feel when someone gives you great customer service?I feel... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service IS An Investment, Not A Cost Maria Palma February 3, 2007 Last year I touched on this subject about the “extra mile” being an investment. You know, going the extra mile for the customer, of course. Many people view customer service as a “cost”. Now that I think about it, is... Continue Reading Posted at 6:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 2	Blog Hopping and Blog Tipping Maria Palma February 2, 2007 I love blog hopping and finding out about other customer service bloggers out there in the blogosphere. In the spirit of blogtipping (better late than never!) I thought I’d share a new blog I came across today and offer my... Continue Reading Posted at 4:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Is Virgin Mobile's Customer Service This Good? Maria Palma February 2, 2007 I’m not a TV watcher, but I sure do love YouTube. You get to watch videos without all the commercials and hey, if you want to watch a commercial - especially if it’s a funny commercial - you’re free to... Continue Reading Posted at 2:46 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

« January 2007 | Main | March 2007 »

Feb28	Thought For the Day From Peggy McColl Maria Palma February 28, 2007 Know More: Thought For the Day 2.0, Thought For the Day Today is the day for me to expand my horizons and discover a new blog. I figured I’d start with the Know More Media network and get to know some of my fellow bloggers here. Well, I was drawn to CareerSuperstar and came upon this post titled “How Will You Serve”. I know I’ve mentioned CareerSuperstar here before, but it’s been awhile since I’ve visited. Bud mentions some of Peggy McColl’s wisdom and this one is my favorite: “Success comes as a result of bringing something of value to another – serving them in a way that is enlightening, empowering and expanding…If you want to be successful, that cause another to be successful.” By the way, Peggy has come out with a new book called Destiny Switch: Master Your Key Emotions, and Attract the Life of Your Dreams. Posted at 7:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb28	Customer Service: We've Been Brainwashed Maria Palma February 28, 2007 I think we’ve been brainwashed to think that in order to have better service we have to pay more for a service or product. We shop at Walmart because they have great prices but we don’t expect much in terms... Continue Reading Posted at 5:03 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb27	A Million Dollar Marketing Budget: What To Do? Maria Palma February 27, 2007 I’m probably a little late in the conversation with this one, but I’m just getting caught up with all my feed reads and just finished mulling over the question posed over at Duct Tape Marketing. What Would You Do With... Continue Reading Posted at 10:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Higher Authorities Maria Palma February 27, 2007 As I’m reading Christopher Elliott’s post about Delta’s customer service, I’m wondering why customers must go to a “higher authority” to get anything done. When they’re unhappy with the service we receive, we have to go to a manager to... Continue Reading Posted at 7:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Stay Passionate, Starbucks Maria Palma February 27, 2007 It’s been some time now since I’ve shared a Starbucks experience with you, but after reading this post over at Experience Planner, I feel the need to put in my two cents.I’ll start off with a conversation I overheard when... Continue Reading Posted at 5:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	When A Customer Service Blogger Blogs Too Much Maria Palma February 27, 2007 The supervisor took me on a tour of the call center and I got to listen in on a few calls. The CSR’s were typing away at the computer. Mostly numbers. I pick up the customer service handbook and flip... Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb26	Abuse From Irate Customers and What/What Not To Say Maria Palma February 26, 2007 In response to a previous post about angry customers, a reader asks:“To what extent should a call center agent take abuse from an irate customer?”When a customer gets to the point of yelling obscenities and making threats, here's something you... Continue Reading Posted at 11:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Why Do I Blog? Maria Palma February 26, 2007 There’s a new meme going around called “Five Reasons Why I Blog” and Christine of Flooring the Consumer has tagged me...Well, when I first started blogging, I did it for the sole purpose of sharing random thoughts and ideas that... Continue Reading Posted at 9:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	John Mackey Gets It Maria Palma February 26, 2007 Back in November John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, sent a letter out to his team members. I found out about it from reading Fast Company Magazine. Below is a snippet, but you can read the whole thing at... Continue Reading Posted at 7:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Hold on Tight - It's the Carnivale of Customer Service! Maria Palma February 26, 2007 Get ready for an exciting Carnivale of Customer Service today! We have lots of goodies for you, so sit back and relax as you go on all the rides and enjoy the customer service munchies ;)The Fish Creek House has... Continue Reading Posted at 1:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb25	MyBlogLog: Another Way to Connect Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Here’s another tool business owners can use to connect with their customer: MyBlogLog. Well, first you actually have to be a business owner who blogs. What? You don’t have a blog yet? Please don’t tell me that...I joined MyBlogLog a... Continue Reading Posted at 11:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Ebay: Customer Service Nuggets Maria Palma February 25, 2007 I haven’t been around Ebay much, but I often read horror stories of sellers who never ship items or don’t offer refunds for broken products. With so many sellers on Ebay nowadays, the only way you can succeed is to... Continue Reading Posted at 10:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Positivity Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Part of my weekend is spent in quiet contemplation about life, work, and how I can make an impact on the world. As many of you who read this blog know, I like to take a holistic approach to customer... Continue Reading Posted at 8:28 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service: Before and After Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Just like Kathy Sierra, I find it interesting that companies treat their existing customers like bad stepchildren while they woo “potential” customers with fancy discounts, bling bling, and what-not. Its seems like many big name companies still haven’t figured it... Continue Reading Posted at 6:17 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Week's Top 25 Customer Service "Champs" Maria Palma February 25, 2007 Business Week has done their own customer service ranking report for the first time. Here are a couple interesting things that I noted from the article:Companies that outsource calls to home-based agents report turnover rates in the 10% to 30%... Continue Reading Posted at 12:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb24	Customer Service Starts in the Mind Maria Palma February 24, 2007 Customer service is a mindset says Valeria Maltoni. Anything that happens in life starts in the mind. The mind is where big ideas are born. It’s where we make decisions about our life. It’s where we decide whether or not... Continue Reading Posted at 11:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	"Would You Like Some Help?" Maria Palma February 24, 2007 For those of you who use Microsoft Word for word processing, you’ll understand this little video clip. It’s that sometimes annoying little paper clip that pops up and asks you, “It looks like you’re trying to [enter action here]. Would... Continue Reading Posted at 11:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Automotive Industry Focuses on Customer Service Maria Palma February 24, 2007 I despise going to the car dealership to buy a car or get it serviced. The process is long and grueling and all they have to entertain us is a few old magazines and TV. However, that may change in... Continue Reading Posted at 7:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Successful Businesses and Happiness Affirmations Maria Palma February 24, 2007 The secrets of a successful business are being revealed slowly but surely. Starbucker of Ramblings From a Glass Half Full lets us in on a couple important ones:1. Simple common courtesy and gratefulness in dealings with customers2. Creating excitement and... Continue Reading Posted at 1:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Patience and Why Customer Service Is Broken Maria Palma February 24, 2007 Is there a way that we can slow things down? Have a rally for patience? Have a National Be Patient Week? Yes, I’m serious. Continue Reading Posted at 1:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb23	Kindness Maria Palma February 23, 2007 Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice, but because you are. ~Author UnknownWherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~SenecaReal generosity is doing something... Continue Reading Posted at 10:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Friday Night Laughs Maria Palma February 23, 2007 How can you guarantee that your customers will remember you? Make them laugh! As I was making the rounds at YouTube tonight, I came across this interesting video by InsureMe. I do like the little Unremarkable vs. Remarkable Customer Service... Continue Reading Posted at 9:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	No Matter What You Do, You're Still in Customer Service Maria Palma February 23, 2007 I came across this article called Why You Lose Customers where the author writes:“Poor customer service has no place in a small business, but luckily, it can be remedied with one simple solution. If you don’t like to work for... Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Manhattan Marketing Maven: JetBlue Food For Thought Maria Palma February 23, 2007 In response to all the hoopla surrounding the JetBlue boo-boo, Danny Flamberg of Manhattan Marketing Maven makes a few noteworthy statements:“You would think that JetBlue should have a healthy balance with its core audience and with the public in general.... Continue Reading Posted at 7:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb22	Eight Reasons Why Nordstrom Is a Customer Service Legend Maria Palma February 22, 2007 Many of us know Nordstrom (JWN) for the great customer service, but for those of you who don’t know, I wanted to share with you why people rave about this company. Those of you regular readers know that I used to... Continue Reading Posted at 6:08 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Saving the World With Great Customer Service Maria Palma February 22, 2007 I was just visiting Eileen Cook’s blog where she shares with us her Tales of Customer Service. I left a comment and said, “I’m on a quest to help teach others that great service can help save the world.” Now,... Continue Reading Posted at 3:53 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Joel Spolsky on Remarkable Service Maria Palma February 22, 2007 Joel Spolsky, a software developer, has written a phenomenal article on Seven Steps To Remarkable Service. Because he didn’t have the budget to hire customer service people during the beginning of his company, Joel and his partner had to deal... Continue Reading Posted at 1:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb21	Need To Let the World Know About Your Great Customer Service? Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Want more publicity for your company? Let people know what great customer service you have! Know More Media has just launched a new website called BizzSpotlight where you can have your company featured for free! This is from the intro post:“BIZZspotlight... Continue Reading Posted at 11:50 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	What About a Customer Service Rating System? Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Wouldn’t it be neat if we could vote on retail stores like we do news items at Digg? Retail stores would have to display how many people have voted for them based on the company’s customer service and people entering... Continue Reading Posted at 11:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Robert Stephens Interview and How to Monitor Feedback Via the Web Maria Palma February 21, 2007 Service Untitled has a great interview with Robert Stephens, the founder of the Geek Squad at Best Buy. One thing that Stephens is doing right is monitoring the internet and the blogosphere for customer feedback:“I look at blogs and think... Continue Reading Posted at 9:20 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	JetBlue Customer Service Issues Maria Palma February 21, 2007 American Airlines isn’t the only company without common sense with a lack of customer service. Because of bad weather, JetBlue airlines had seven planes stuck on the ground. People were stuck on the plane for more than 10 hours and... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Satisfaction At Its Highest Maria Palma February 21, 2007 The University of Michigan released their American Customer Satisfaction Index report and what they found after surveying 15,000 consumers is that customer satisfaction with the retail sector is at its highest level since 2003. Researchers also found that price, not... Continue Reading Posted at 2:16 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb17	Website Review: ReviewBasics Maria Palma February 17, 2007 Feedback. Feedback. For business owners, feedback is key to improvement. After all, don’t we all want to improve and have a successful business? We gather feedback from our customers and our fellow coworkers, however, managing all that feedback can be... Continue Reading Posted at 2:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb16	3 Customer Service Tips From TJ Schier Maria Palma February 16, 2007 Gabriel Salcido of Servimetrica sent over this article written by TJ Schier. Schier offers some customer service tips that we can learn from Nordstrom and the new Nintendo Wii gaming system:1. Do the little things. Nordstrom's salespeople walk out from... Continue Reading Posted at 10:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Dealing With Abusive Customers Via Email Maria Palma February 16, 2007 I agree with many of the commenters in that I would have simply refunded the $5 - no questions asked. This would have prevented wasted energy over a measly $5. Now that person who obviously has issues with controlling his/her anger is going to tell ten other people how difficult it is to do business with you. Continue Reading Posted at 7:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb15	What Is Marketing? Maria Palma February 15, 2007 Francisco Moriones shares with us a definition of marketing that he discovered at the American Marketing Association:“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in... Continue Reading Posted at 11:05 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Pizza Tale Part 2 Maria Palma February 15, 2007 Last night I shared a pizza story by Phil Gerbyshak and I promised to share my little story, so here it is...Hubby and I weren’t together this Valentine’s because I’m house/dog-sitting at my parents’ place here in a little town... Continue Reading Posted at 10:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Reps: Psychologists in Training Maria Palma February 15, 2007 During customer service training they teach you listening skills (at least I hope they do!), not just so you can assess the customers’ needs, but in order to play therapist as well... I was in a restaurant today when a... Continue Reading Posted at 8:48 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Verizon PoliBlog: Not For Customer Issues Maria Palma February 15, 2007 I know, I’m a little late with the news (more like a few months late!), but I just found out that Verizon has started a blog called the PoliBlog. From the website:“Verizon, through its blog,seeks to encourage intelligent discussion of... Continue Reading Posted at 5:12 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb14	A Tale of Cold Pizza Maria Palma February 14, 2007 Just when I was about to do my last post of the night about my pizza experience here in a little town called Lemoore (Seems like everyone in Lemoore eats pizza on Valentine‘s Day!), I read Phil Gerbyshak’s post about... Continue Reading Posted at 11:52 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Chief Experience Officer: Yay or Nay? Maria Palma February 14, 2007 Fellow Know More Media blog author over at MarektingBlurb says that Chief Experience Officers are Wrong:“Experiences are core to a multitude of management roles already in existence. The last thing you want to do is seperate responsibility for great experiences... Continue Reading Posted at 2:42 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	How Much Do You Love Your Customer? Let’s Count the Ways… Maria Palma February 14, 2007 All around the world people are singing the song of love. You tell your significant other that you love them, your kids tell you that they love you with a handmade card, but have you told your customers that you... Continue Reading Posted at 12:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb13	12 Topics I’d Blog About If I Owned An Art Gallery Maria Palma February 13, 2007 Glenn Ross over at Customer Service Experience has started a meme about “12 Topics I’d Blog About If Owned...”. Glenn tells us 12 topics he’d blog about if he owned a jewelry store, so I thought I’d share my thoughts... Continue Reading Posted at 9:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Music and Its Effect on Customers and Employees Maria Palma February 13, 2007 Browsing through this month’s issue of Fast Company Magazine, I came across this little statistic:“According to studies by branding guru Martin Lindstrom and market research firm Millward Brown, sound has a 41% chance of influencing how people perceive brands.”As I... Continue Reading Posted at 5:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb12	Carnivale of Customer Service: The Great Tips Edition! Maria Palma February 12, 2007 Thanks for your patience as the Carnivale of Customer Service is a little bit late today. I meant to create the post last night and have it scheduled to be published this morning, but that was before I found out... Continue Reading Posted at 8:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 9	How Much Happier and More Helpful Would the World Be? Maria Palma February 9, 2007 What if everyone said "Please"? What if everyone said "Thank you"? How much happier and more helpful would the world be if people were just nicer? Just stop and ponder that for a moment. Pretty darn amazing, eh? Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Selina Lo's Sales Presentation Tip Maria Palma February 9, 2007 This month’s Inc. Magazine is full of great articles including an interview with Selina Lo, the CEO of Ruckus Wireless. Lo talks about what she does to connect with a potential client, including doing a Google search on them to... Continue Reading Posted at 10:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 8	Customer Loyalty Nonexistent With Wireless Carriers Maria Palma February 8, 2007 That's what Barry Ritholtz thinks in his post titled, "Customer Acquisition versus Retention: A case study in costs. I must agree that yes, there is no such thing as customer loyalty in the wireless industry. Talk to just about anyone... Continue Reading Posted at 8:24 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Job Postings and Carnivale of Customer Service Maria Palma February 8, 2007 Looking to hire a customer service rep? I've teamed up with Service Untitled and a few other customer service bloggers to launch a website called Customer-Centric Jobs where employers can post ads seeking candidates for customer service related positions. If... Continue Reading Posted at 7:27 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Are You Grateful? Maria Palma February 8, 2007 Seth Godin said something that stirred up quite a bit of emotion in me:“...they try to reason with the customer and pretend that they realize we have a lot of choices and that they're grateful for our business. Of course,... Continue Reading Posted at 5:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 7	The Million Dollar Question Maria Palma February 7, 2007 Phil over of Make It Great! asks the question over at LinkedIn: “What's the best question you've ever asked or been asked that helped you get to know someone better?" It’s an interesting question because I love to probe into... Continue Reading Posted at 3:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Thank You to Customers Rock! Maria Palma February 7, 2007 I want to thank Becky Carroll over at Customers Rock! for hosting the Carnivale of Customer Service this week. If you haven’t read all the great submissions for the carnivale, visit Customers Rock! The Marketing Edition now... It’s interesting to... Continue Reading Posted at 1:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Amtrak Lesson Maria Palma February 7, 2007 Yesterday I took the train to see my family. I’ve taken Amtrak to see my family dozens and dozens of times. Unfortunately, Amtrak has the monopoly and I have no other company to ride with. Because Amtrak is the only... Continue Reading Posted at 9:55 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 3	Customer Service As Defined By a Nine-Year-Old Maria Palma February 3, 2007 I was curious to see what young people think of customer service, so I interviewed my best friend’s nine-year-old daughter. Below is the little mini-interview I had with her:How do you feel when someone gives you great customer service?I feel... Continue Reading Posted at 7:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service IS An Investment, Not A Cost Maria Palma February 3, 2007 Last year I touched on this subject about the “extra mile” being an investment. You know, going the extra mile for the customer, of course. Many people view customer service as a “cost”. Now that I think about it, is... Continue Reading Posted at 6:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Feb 2	Blog Hopping and Blog Tipping Maria Palma February 2, 2007 I love blog hopping and finding out about other customer service bloggers out there in the blogosphere. In the spirit of blogtipping (better late than never!) I thought I’d share a new blog I came across today and offer my... Continue Reading Posted at 4:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Is Virgin Mobile's Customer Service This Good? Maria Palma February 2, 2007 I’m not a TV watcher, but I sure do love YouTube. You get to watch videos without all the commercials and hey, if you want to watch a commercial - especially if it’s a funny commercial - you’re free to... Continue Reading Posted at 2:46 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

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