CustomersAreAlways: July 2007 Archives

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Jul31	Echo By UCN Wins Award Maria Palma July 31, 2007 Know More: CRM Technology, In the News 2.0, In the News Congratulations to Echo by UCN for winning the 2007 the Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Service Innovation. This award is presented is each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in customer service innovation within the industry. UCN is a provider of all-in-one, off-premises contact center technology services. Big companies do need sophisticated technology to handle the amount of customer inquiries and feedback they receive on a daily basis. Having a system that is easy to work with is very critical to the success of a company. It's good to know that there are companies like UCN out there that are continuously finding ways to make it easy for customer service professionals to do their job. Read more about Echo by UCN and the Frost & Sullivan Award... Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul31	Generosity Quotes to Inspire Maria Palma July 31, 2007 Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege. -- John D. Rockefeller Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give it lovingly and well. Unless... Continue Reading Posted at 1:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Balancing the Needs of Customers and Employees Maria Palma July 31, 2007 In response to my post about what it takes to have a customer-driven vision, Jason Moore of the bigWebApps blog says: "And remember, your "customers" may actually be co-workers. But your job as an internal support team is to ensure... Continue Reading Posted at 11:29 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul30	Spread Good Vibes: Write About Customer Service! Maria Palma July 30, 2007 For those of you bloggers out there who are experiencing blogger's block, Jacqueline Zenn of Your Blogging Coach has some advice: "...think about the last few things you spent money on, or the last remarkable customer service you had. Recommending... Continue Reading Posted at 7:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Service Heart Maria Palma July 30, 2007 In the world of business we hardly ever get to see the hearts of others. We're constantly bombarded with the phrases "bottom-line" and "push sales". Managers are trained to hire people who can raise the bottom line and increase sales. ... Continue Reading Posted at 4:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	More Airline Troubles Maria Palma July 30, 2007 Well, I say give them another chance. At least he got a free round-trip ticket for another trip - which is more than most airlines would have done. Of course, Midwest could have nicer ticketing agents working for them Continue Reading Posted at 3:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Policy Robots Maria Palma July 30, 2007 In the course of our business careers somehow we morph into a robot. Some become half-human and half-robot and some just become full-on robots. You know who I'm talking about. These robots are the ones who always, always follow "policy"... Continue Reading Posted at 11:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Carnivale - Our Biggest Edition Yet! Maria Palma July 30, 2007 Welcome to the July 30, 2007 edition of customer service carnivale! As you will soon discover, this is probably the biggest edition we've had thus far and I'm very excited to see that customer service love is spreading around... Continue Reading Posted at 6:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul29	Business Mantras and Building Wealth Maria Palma July 29, 2007 During my weekend readings I came across an article written by Jason Parsons titled 16 Mantras for Building Financial Wealth. One of those mantras is worth noting here: #10 - I always put customers success before my own; generosity=... Continue Reading Posted at 5:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Boosting Morale With Michael Jackson Maria Palma July 29, 2007 Ok, so it's a slow day at work and you just feel oh, so sluggish. Morale is low at work because of all the buzz going around regarding layoffs. If you're a manager reading this, you of all people need... Continue Reading Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul27	Have Backup During Busy Times! Maria Palma July 27, 2007 Comic-Con is in full force in San Diego and I don't even dare try to go downtown for fear of being trampled on by comic lovers roaming the Gaslamp Quarter. Unlike the bloggers over at the Street blog, I am... Continue Reading Posted at 8:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	News and Updates Maria Palma July 27, 2007 While I was away galavanting around San Diego (I never did get to share any customer service stories, did I?) Know More Media signed on a new author Continue Reading Posted at 2:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The One Characteristic Every Good Customer Service Rep Should Have Maria Palma July 27, 2007 Service Untitled lists three characteristics that great customer service representatives have: 1. Attitude 2. Aptitude 3. Drive If I could choose one of these characteristics out of the three that a customer service rep absolutely must have, it would be... Continue Reading Posted at 12:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul26	Blockbuster vs Netflix: The Battle Continues Maria Palma July 26, 2007 I recently signed up for Blockbuster's online rental program and I've loved the service so far. I get movies by mail and the best part - being able to turn the movie into a local store in exchange for a... Continue Reading Posted at 10:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service and the Minimum Wage Increase Maria Palma July 26, 2007 “Customer service is suffering not because people are giving poor service, it’s just that they can’t get to as many customers as they need to." Those are the words of Paul McElhone, associate director of the school of retailing at... Continue Reading Posted at 9:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Angel Who Changed Channels Maria Palma July 26, 2007 I went into Wells Fargo Bank the other day to conduct some business and as I was waiting in line I glanced up to look at the TV screen which had one of the news channels on. Why must all... Continue Reading Posted at 1:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Sacrifice To Make Customers Happy Maria Palma July 26, 2007 Heather Ledeboer wrote a great article titled Exceeding Your Customer’s Needs and Expectations Every Time in which she asks us to focus on this acronym of Y.O.U. when taking care of customers. Y.O.U. stands for: “Y”=Your customer is your life-blood. “O”=Others... Continue Reading Posted at 11:23 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul24	Best Buy May Not Really Have the "Best Buy" Maria Palma July 24, 2007 Fellow Know More Media author over at MarketingBlurb says that Bad Customer Service Negates the Best Marketing Plans and points out a recent story about Antonio Cangiano and his experience with Best Buy. When I saw "Best Buy", I thought,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Is Your Website Accessible to the Visually Impaired? Maria Palma July 24, 2007 There are many website owners who are alienating more than 10 million people by not making their websites accessible - for the visually impaired, that is. Over at TheRunwayScoop I recently wrote about two students at the Rochester Institute of Technology who are... Continue Reading Posted at 4:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Thumbs Up For AT&T/Cingular Maria Palma July 24, 2007 I almost ditched my cell phone company today. I was so, so close to saying, "It's over." However, it took only one very helpful person to change that all around... Yesterday I called Cingular about my service and usually I... Continue Reading Posted at 12:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul23	The Apple Experience Maria Palma July 23, 2007 There's something noticeably different about an Apple (AAPL) store that is quite different from your typical electronics store - it's small. There's an Apple store at the Fashion Valley Mall here in San Diego and you'd expect to see iPods... Continue Reading Posted at 10:06 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tesco Focuses on Customer Service Maria Palma July 23, 2007 For me, grocery shopping isn't much of an interactive customer experience. You go in the store, find what you need (most of the time), pay for your items and then leave. Sometimes you have to hunt somebody down if they're... Continue Reading Posted at 6:27 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul21	What It Takes to Have a Customer-Driven Vision Maria Palma July 21, 2007 Thanks to Phil Gerbyshak, I've learned about Jef Menguin's customer service Fridays. Yesterday Jef references a book called Customer Driven Company by Richard C. Whiteley in which he outlines the Seven Fundamental Imperatives of a Customer Driven Company. What I'd... Continue Reading Posted at 8:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Meta-Thinkers: A New Breed of Business People Maria Palma July 21, 2007 In the business world today, most people are thinking about their own self-interests. Salespeople are motivated to sell products to make a commission and managers push sales because their salary and/or jobs depend on it. However, there's a new breed... Continue Reading Posted at 2:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul20	Creating a Blissful Experience For Customers Maria Palma July 20, 2007 It's been awhile since I've come across a good customer service story. Over at Learn Good Customer Service, Jason Rakowski shares an experience with a company called Russell Reid. Here's a little snippet: "I had my septic tank cleaned yesterday... Continue Reading Posted at 11:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Louis Vuitton: Less Than Satisfactory Service Maria Palma July 20, 2007 I'm sure many of you are familiar with the brand Louis Vuitton and the "eliteness" that comes with owning an LV item. Women the world over covet the opportunity for their hands to grace the leather of an LV bag... Continue Reading Posted at 9:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Beating the Customer Service Blues Maria Palma July 20, 2007 Have you had one of those days when you just didn't want to deal with people? (Uh, who hasn't, right?) And if you work in customer service, well, this can be a very challenging situation. You have to deal with... Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul19	"Telephone Outsourcing" Maria Palma July 19, 2007 For those of you who need a little music to start off your day, here's an interesting YouTube video with a lady singing, "Telephone Outsourcing". Warning: This song is a little catchy and it may end up being played over... Continue Reading Posted at 5:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul18	Advice For the Retail Customer Service Rep: Don't Take It Personal Maria Palma July 18, 2007 When I first started working in retail, I had a difficult time greeting people. It wasn't so much the actual greeting of the people, it was my perceived rejection from the people whom I greeted. It was a big pet... Continue Reading Posted at 9:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul17	Positive Thinking For the Customer Service Professional Maria Palma July 17, 2007 These past couple weeks I've noticed a theme in many of the blog posts I've read... Positive thinking! It's a trait that any person in customer service should have. Actually, wouldn't it be nice if everyone was a positive thinker? ... Continue Reading Posted at 5:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul13	The Carnivale Is Coming Again! Maria Palma July 13, 2007 Once again, I’m excited to announce that the next edition of the Customer Service Carnivale is coming up! This Monday the Carnivale will take place over at Rosa Say’s Talking Story blog and it promises to be chock-full of goodies! ... Continue Reading Posted at 3:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul12	The Sprint Drama Continues Maria Palma July 12, 2007 If Sprint was really committed to customers from the get-go, they wouldn’t have to go through this. Continue Reading Posted at 4:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul11	The Balance Between Being Task-Focused and People-Focused Maria Palma July 11, 2007 Glenn Ross of Customer Service Experience has a great article titled How to Improve Customer At Little Cost to You. With so many managers and retail executives always thinking about the “bottom line” and the different ways to cut costs... Continue Reading Posted at 2:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Retail Customer Service Study Maria Palma July 11, 2007 Inside Retailing shares the results of a study done by Carlson Marketing Worldwide. Carlson surveyed 1200 consumers to find out their shopping habits within the retail industry. Many of the findings are nothing new. Here’s a snippet of some of... Continue Reading Posted at 12:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul10	An Airline Industry Rant Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Warning: Rant up ahead...I wanted to avoid writing this, but it’s been festering inside for a couple weeks now and I need to just get it off my chest! I’m upset that the airlines have cut down so much and... Continue Reading Posted at 7:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	There Is Always Opportunity Waiting Maria Palma July 10, 2007 The UberEye Marketing Blog has some interesting questions for us to ponder…Should Some Marketers Not Worry About Creating Customer Relationships?Is there ever a time when creating relationships with customers does not make sense? Is there a way for these vendors... Continue Reading Posted at 6:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Could Sprint Be The Modern Day Dinosaur? Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Sprint has really caused a stir these past few days! I checked the news this morning and there were hundreds of news sources talking about the firing of their customers. I then did a blogsearch for Sprint and came up... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Microsoft Dynamic Live CRM Maria Palma July 10, 2007 I think we can all agree that CRM is a must-have for any business - that is, if you have more than two customers ;) I believe I’ve mentioned here before that the system I use to keep track of... Continue Reading Posted at 2:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Humor Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Service Untitled has a post that got me thinking today. When is humor ok in a customer service setting? What about this situation…A teenager came into the store with his mom and said he wanted to buy a 30 GB... Continue Reading Posted at 1:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 9	Spreading the Customer Service Love Maria Palma July 9, 2007 Here’s a great thought for the day:The bottom line of Exceptional Customer Service is: To meet and exceed the wants and/or needs of a customer so that the customer: 1) Is Delighted; 2) Comes back; and 3) Recommends your company... Continue Reading Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	5 Tips To Make Sure Every Customer Is Acknowledged Maria Palma July 9, 2007 What is the most common complaint of retail customers? When I worked at Nordstrom, one of the most common complaints from customers was that they weren’t acknowledged during busy times. At that time I was thinking, “Well, yes, we’re busy... Continue Reading Posted at 1:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 8	A Definition of Customer Service Maria Palma July 8, 2007 Elliott of Begging to Differ offers his perspective on the state of customer service these days. It was a little depressing to read, but then I certainly can’t be in denial of what’s going out there in the world! I... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Sprint Dumps 1000 Customers Maria Palma July 8, 2007 I’m not sure how to take this news about Sprint dropping about 1,000 of their customers because the company feels that these customers call customer service excessively. The company claims that there are customers who call up to 300 times... Continue Reading Posted at 3:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 6	A Month of Hospitality Maria Palma July 6, 2007 For those of you who are visiting here from Rosa Say’s Talking Story blog…Welcome! Rosa invited me to contribute to this month’s hospitality theme and I am very honored to be able to share my thoughts over there. I... Continue Reading Posted at 4:51 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Wireless Customer Service: Hot Topic of Conversation Maria Palma July 6, 2007 Within my circles of friends, the hot topic of conversation these days seems to be the Apple iPhone and wireless cell phone providers. One day my four friends and I spent at least fifteen minutes comparing cell phone plans and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Measuring Help Desk Performance - Strategy2Act.com Maria Palma July 6, 2007 This is a sponsored review... I’ve never worked at a “help desk”, but I do know that a help desk is an important department within an organization. Customers call in constantly needing help, so the people working the help desk should... Continue Reading Posted at 11:12 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 2	Customer Service Please and Thank You Maria Palma July 2, 2007 This is a guest post by Phil Gerbyshak...I found an excellent article containing 5 Tips to Please Angry Customers and it got me thinking...What could I add to this list to make it even better? First, the tips: 1) Don't... Continue Reading Posted at 6:07 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 1	Customer Service Ramblings in Chicago Maria Palma July 1, 2007 Well, I'm on my sixth day of vacationing in Chicago and I must say that I'm having a grand ole time! I do miss blogging here which is why I'm posting here today :) I'm pretty pooped out from all... Continue Reading Posted at 4:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »

Jul31	Echo By UCN Wins Award Maria Palma July 31, 2007 Know More: CRM Technology, In the News 2.0, In the News Congratulations to Echo by UCN for winning the 2007 the Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Service Innovation. This award is presented is each year to the company that has demonstrated excellence in customer service innovation within the industry. UCN is a provider of all-in-one, off-premises contact center technology services. Big companies do need sophisticated technology to handle the amount of customer inquiries and feedback they receive on a daily basis. Having a system that is easy to work with is very critical to the success of a company. It's good to know that there are companies like UCN out there that are continuously finding ways to make it easy for customer service professionals to do their job. Read more about Echo by UCN and the Frost & Sullivan Award... Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul31	Generosity Quotes to Inspire Maria Palma July 31, 2007 Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege. -- John D. Rockefeller Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give it lovingly and well. Unless... Continue Reading Posted at 1:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Balancing the Needs of Customers and Employees Maria Palma July 31, 2007 In response to my post about what it takes to have a customer-driven vision, Jason Moore of the bigWebApps blog says: "And remember, your "customers" may actually be co-workers. But your job as an internal support team is to ensure... Continue Reading Posted at 11:29 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul30	Spread Good Vibes: Write About Customer Service! Maria Palma July 30, 2007 For those of you bloggers out there who are experiencing blogger's block, Jacqueline Zenn of Your Blogging Coach has some advice: "...think about the last few things you spent money on, or the last remarkable customer service you had. Recommending... Continue Reading Posted at 7:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Service Heart Maria Palma July 30, 2007 In the world of business we hardly ever get to see the hearts of others. We're constantly bombarded with the phrases "bottom-line" and "push sales". Managers are trained to hire people who can raise the bottom line and increase sales. ... Continue Reading Posted at 4:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	More Airline Troubles Maria Palma July 30, 2007 Well, I say give them another chance. At least he got a free round-trip ticket for another trip - which is more than most airlines would have done. Of course, Midwest could have nicer ticketing agents working for them Continue Reading Posted at 3:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Policy Robots Maria Palma July 30, 2007 In the course of our business careers somehow we morph into a robot. Some become half-human and half-robot and some just become full-on robots. You know who I'm talking about. These robots are the ones who always, always follow "policy"... Continue Reading Posted at 11:59 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Carnivale - Our Biggest Edition Yet! Maria Palma July 30, 2007 Welcome to the July 30, 2007 edition of customer service carnivale! As you will soon discover, this is probably the biggest edition we've had thus far and I'm very excited to see that customer service love is spreading around... Continue Reading Posted at 6:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul29	Business Mantras and Building Wealth Maria Palma July 29, 2007 During my weekend readings I came across an article written by Jason Parsons titled 16 Mantras for Building Financial Wealth. One of those mantras is worth noting here: #10 - I always put customers success before my own; generosity=... Continue Reading Posted at 5:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Boosting Morale With Michael Jackson Maria Palma July 29, 2007 Ok, so it's a slow day at work and you just feel oh, so sluggish. Morale is low at work because of all the buzz going around regarding layoffs. If you're a manager reading this, you of all people need... Continue Reading Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul27	Have Backup During Busy Times! Maria Palma July 27, 2007 Comic-Con is in full force in San Diego and I don't even dare try to go downtown for fear of being trampled on by comic lovers roaming the Gaslamp Quarter. Unlike the bloggers over at the Street blog, I am... Continue Reading Posted at 8:19 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	News and Updates Maria Palma July 27, 2007 While I was away galavanting around San Diego (I never did get to share any customer service stories, did I?) Know More Media signed on a new author Continue Reading Posted at 2:26 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The One Characteristic Every Good Customer Service Rep Should Have Maria Palma July 27, 2007 Service Untitled lists three characteristics that great customer service representatives have: 1. Attitude 2. Aptitude 3. Drive If I could choose one of these characteristics out of the three that a customer service rep absolutely must have, it would be... Continue Reading Posted at 12:11 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul26	Blockbuster vs Netflix: The Battle Continues Maria Palma July 26, 2007 I recently signed up for Blockbuster's online rental program and I've loved the service so far. I get movies by mail and the best part - being able to turn the movie into a local store in exchange for a... Continue Reading Posted at 10:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service and the Minimum Wage Increase Maria Palma July 26, 2007 “Customer service is suffering not because people are giving poor service, it’s just that they can’t get to as many customers as they need to." Those are the words of Paul McElhone, associate director of the school of retailing at... Continue Reading Posted at 9:45 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Angel Who Changed Channels Maria Palma July 26, 2007 I went into Wells Fargo Bank the other day to conduct some business and as I was waiting in line I glanced up to look at the TV screen which had one of the news channels on. Why must all... Continue Reading Posted at 1:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Sacrifice To Make Customers Happy Maria Palma July 26, 2007 Heather Ledeboer wrote a great article titled Exceeding Your Customer’s Needs and Expectations Every Time in which she asks us to focus on this acronym of Y.O.U. when taking care of customers. Y.O.U. stands for: “Y”=Your customer is your life-blood. “O”=Others... Continue Reading Posted at 11:23 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul24	Best Buy May Not Really Have the "Best Buy" Maria Palma July 24, 2007 Fellow Know More Media author over at MarketingBlurb says that Bad Customer Service Negates the Best Marketing Plans and points out a recent story about Antonio Cangiano and his experience with Best Buy. When I saw "Best Buy", I thought,... Continue Reading Posted at 6:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Is Your Website Accessible to the Visually Impaired? Maria Palma July 24, 2007 There are many website owners who are alienating more than 10 million people by not making their websites accessible - for the visually impaired, that is. Over at TheRunwayScoop I recently wrote about two students at the Rochester Institute of Technology who are... Continue Reading Posted at 4:36 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	A Thumbs Up For AT&T/Cingular Maria Palma July 24, 2007 I almost ditched my cell phone company today. I was so, so close to saying, "It's over." However, it took only one very helpful person to change that all around... Yesterday I called Cingular about my service and usually I... Continue Reading Posted at 12:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul23	The Apple Experience Maria Palma July 23, 2007 There's something noticeably different about an Apple (AAPL) store that is quite different from your typical electronics store - it's small. There's an Apple store at the Fashion Valley Mall here in San Diego and you'd expect to see iPods... Continue Reading Posted at 10:06 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Tesco Focuses on Customer Service Maria Palma July 23, 2007 For me, grocery shopping isn't much of an interactive customer experience. You go in the store, find what you need (most of the time), pay for your items and then leave. Sometimes you have to hunt somebody down if they're... Continue Reading Posted at 6:27 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul21	What It Takes to Have a Customer-Driven Vision Maria Palma July 21, 2007 Thanks to Phil Gerbyshak, I've learned about Jef Menguin's customer service Fridays. Yesterday Jef references a book called Customer Driven Company by Richard C. Whiteley in which he outlines the Seven Fundamental Imperatives of a Customer Driven Company. What I'd... Continue Reading Posted at 8:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	The Meta-Thinkers: A New Breed of Business People Maria Palma July 21, 2007 In the business world today, most people are thinking about their own self-interests. Salespeople are motivated to sell products to make a commission and managers push sales because their salary and/or jobs depend on it. However, there's a new breed... Continue Reading Posted at 2:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul20	Creating a Blissful Experience For Customers Maria Palma July 20, 2007 It's been awhile since I've come across a good customer service story. Over at Learn Good Customer Service, Jason Rakowski shares an experience with a company called Russell Reid. Here's a little snippet: "I had my septic tank cleaned yesterday... Continue Reading Posted at 11:43 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Louis Vuitton: Less Than Satisfactory Service Maria Palma July 20, 2007 I'm sure many of you are familiar with the brand Louis Vuitton and the "eliteness" that comes with owning an LV item. Women the world over covet the opportunity for their hands to grace the leather of an LV bag... Continue Reading Posted at 9:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Beating the Customer Service Blues Maria Palma July 20, 2007 Have you had one of those days when you just didn't want to deal with people? (Uh, who hasn't, right?) And if you work in customer service, well, this can be a very challenging situation. You have to deal with... Continue Reading Posted at 8:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul19	"Telephone Outsourcing" Maria Palma July 19, 2007 For those of you who need a little music to start off your day, here's an interesting YouTube video with a lady singing, "Telephone Outsourcing". Warning: This song is a little catchy and it may end up being played over... Continue Reading Posted at 5:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul18	Advice For the Retail Customer Service Rep: Don't Take It Personal Maria Palma July 18, 2007 When I first started working in retail, I had a difficult time greeting people. It wasn't so much the actual greeting of the people, it was my perceived rejection from the people whom I greeted. It was a big pet... Continue Reading Posted at 9:25 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul17	Positive Thinking For the Customer Service Professional Maria Palma July 17, 2007 These past couple weeks I've noticed a theme in many of the blog posts I've read... Positive thinking! It's a trait that any person in customer service should have. Actually, wouldn't it be nice if everyone was a positive thinker? ... Continue Reading Posted at 5:37 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul13	The Carnivale Is Coming Again! Maria Palma July 13, 2007 Once again, I’m excited to announce that the next edition of the Customer Service Carnivale is coming up! This Monday the Carnivale will take place over at Rosa Say’s Talking Story blog and it promises to be chock-full of goodies! ... Continue Reading Posted at 3:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul12	The Sprint Drama Continues Maria Palma July 12, 2007 If Sprint was really committed to customers from the get-go, they wouldn’t have to go through this. Continue Reading Posted at 4:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul11	The Balance Between Being Task-Focused and People-Focused Maria Palma July 11, 2007 Glenn Ross of Customer Service Experience has a great article titled How to Improve Customer At Little Cost to You. With so many managers and retail executives always thinking about the “bottom line” and the different ways to cut costs... Continue Reading Posted at 2:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Retail Customer Service Study Maria Palma July 11, 2007 Inside Retailing shares the results of a study done by Carlson Marketing Worldwide. Carlson surveyed 1200 consumers to find out their shopping habits within the retail industry. Many of the findings are nothing new. Here’s a snippet of some of... Continue Reading Posted at 12:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul10	An Airline Industry Rant Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Warning: Rant up ahead...I wanted to avoid writing this, but it’s been festering inside for a couple weeks now and I need to just get it off my chest! I’m upset that the airlines have cut down so much and... Continue Reading Posted at 7:00 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	There Is Always Opportunity Waiting Maria Palma July 10, 2007 The UberEye Marketing Blog has some interesting questions for us to ponder…Should Some Marketers Not Worry About Creating Customer Relationships?Is there ever a time when creating relationships with customers does not make sense? Is there a way for these vendors... Continue Reading Posted at 6:04 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Could Sprint Be The Modern Day Dinosaur? Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Sprint has really caused a stir these past few days! I checked the news this morning and there were hundreds of news sources talking about the firing of their customers. I then did a blogsearch for Sprint and came up... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Microsoft Dynamic Live CRM Maria Palma July 10, 2007 I think we can all agree that CRM is a must-have for any business - that is, if you have more than two customers ;) I believe I’ve mentioned here before that the system I use to keep track of... Continue Reading Posted at 2:32 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Customer Service Humor Maria Palma July 10, 2007 Service Untitled has a post that got me thinking today. When is humor ok in a customer service setting? What about this situation…A teenager came into the store with his mom and said he wanted to buy a 30 GB... Continue Reading Posted at 1:09 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 9	Spreading the Customer Service Love Maria Palma July 9, 2007 Here’s a great thought for the day:The bottom line of Exceptional Customer Service is: To meet and exceed the wants and/or needs of a customer so that the customer: 1) Is Delighted; 2) Comes back; and 3) Recommends your company... Continue Reading Posted at 2:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	5 Tips To Make Sure Every Customer Is Acknowledged Maria Palma July 9, 2007 What is the most common complaint of retail customers? When I worked at Nordstrom, one of the most common complaints from customers was that they weren’t acknowledged during busy times. At that time I was thinking, “Well, yes, we’re busy... Continue Reading Posted at 1:29 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 8	A Definition of Customer Service Maria Palma July 8, 2007 Elliott of Begging to Differ offers his perspective on the state of customer service these days. It was a little depressing to read, but then I certainly can’t be in denial of what’s going out there in the world! I... Continue Reading Posted at 4:34 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Sprint Dumps 1000 Customers Maria Palma July 8, 2007 I’m not sure how to take this news about Sprint dropping about 1,000 of their customers because the company feels that these customers call customer service excessively. The company claims that there are customers who call up to 300 times... Continue Reading Posted at 3:07 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 6	A Month of Hospitality Maria Palma July 6, 2007 For those of you who are visiting here from Rosa Say’s Talking Story blog…Welcome! Rosa invited me to contribute to this month’s hospitality theme and I am very honored to be able to share my thoughts over there. I... Continue Reading Posted at 4:51 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Wireless Customer Service: Hot Topic of Conversation Maria Palma July 6, 2007 Within my circles of friends, the hot topic of conversation these days seems to be the Apple iPhone and wireless cell phone providers. One day my four friends and I spent at least fifteen minutes comparing cell phone plans and... Continue Reading Posted at 2:41 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Measuring Help Desk Performance - Strategy2Act.com Maria Palma July 6, 2007 This is a sponsored review... I’ve never worked at a “help desk”, but I do know that a help desk is an important department within an organization. Customers call in constantly needing help, so the people working the help desk should... Continue Reading Posted at 11:12 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 2	Customer Service Please and Thank You Maria Palma July 2, 2007 This is a guest post by Phil Gerbyshak...I found an excellent article containing 5 Tips to Please Angry Customers and it got me thinking...What could I add to this list to make it even better? First, the tips: 1) Don't... Continue Reading Posted at 6:07 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 1	Customer Service Ramblings in Chicago Maria Palma July 1, 2007 Well, I'm on my sixth day of vacationing in Chicago and I must say that I'm having a grand ole time! I do miss blogging here which is why I'm posting here today :) I'm pretty pooped out from all... Continue Reading Posted at 4:47 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

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