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customer service

InboxQ's Excellent Twitter Q&A User Survey

June 17, 2011 by Steve King with 124 views

Twitter users like to ask questions, and when they ask companies questions they like to get answers. This pretty clearly illustrates the power of Twitter as a customer support channel. [read more]

Good business unit strategy; poor customer experience. What would you do?

March 30, 2011 by MarcSokol with 192 views

 Recently I’ve been talking with executives about customer experience and the alignment of marketing, sales and operations functions. Some report success they have seen driving improvement in this area, while others are clearly frustrated. Consider the comments from this executive, who leads a large customer services function,... [read more]

Delta: Why your customer service training won’t work

February 9, 2011 by MarcSokol with 810 views

  Image by Getty Images via @daylife If you fly in the USA it won’t be news to read that Delta’s airlines has low ratings on customer service.  How are they going to fix the problem? Read Scott McCartney’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Delta sends its 11,000 agents to charm school.  Scott summarizes the depth... [read more]

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Don’t Get Left in the Dark: The Importance of Customer Support When Selecting a SAAS Provider

November 30, 2010 by Eric Richard with 345 views

Proven customer support is an important consideration when selecting a SaaS provider, especially for services essential to your operations, such as online appointment-scheduling or accounting. [read more]

Is Your Marketing the PITS?

May 17, 2010 by Danny Brown with 189 views

When I took my marketing degree back in 2001, part of the course was learning about the Four P’s of Marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion. These terms have been the mainstay of marketing since the 1950’s, when Neil H. Borden published an article called The Concept of the Marketing Mix , although the actual phrase The Four P’s... [read more]

Exceptional Service - Exceptional Profit

April 23, 2010 by Jim Estill with 245 views

Exceptional Service Exceptional Profit - The Secrets of Building a Five-star Customer Service Organization is a book by Leonardo Inghiller and Micah Solomon. When I first picked up the book I was some what skeptical. I am a big believer in customer service I also believe customer service can be over done. What I have found is... [read more]

Most effective way to generate and sustain word-of-mouth?

April 14, 2010 by Zane Safrit with 188 views

What’s the most effective way to generate and sustain word-of-mouth advertising for your business? Provide immediate, consistent, relief for your customer’s pain. Think about the last time you were in serious pain. That experience was ...very painful. It left an impression on you. Pain does that. And then you felt relief. What did... [read more]

Being Delightful Is No Substitute for Strategy

March 26, 2010 by Greg Gentschev with 311 views

In a recent post on Tom Peters’ site, Seth Godin wonders how we should define excellence these days.  He writes that while people used to consider quality excellent, it’s become boring.  Just meeting the customer requirement isn’t enough – no one gets excited that their water company keeps the faucet running or that the local... [read more]

Achtung: Baby Businesses

March 19, 2010 by Editor Bloggertone with 187 views

U2 should read this even if you are an established business I may be slightly biased here as I am a big fan of Germany and I have always enjoyed visiting and spending time with my German friends.  I have recently returned from a trip to Berlin, my first visit to Germany in years and importantly my first as a business owner. I was... [read more]

Customer Service or Customer Care?

March 10, 2010 by LindaSmith with 293 views

With prices of just about everything high and going higher, part of what's offered as value in the marketplace now is customer service.  It's not enough just to exchange goods for legal tender.  Business owners who want to see their businesses grow and see customers who give repeat business AND refer their family and friends... [read more]

What if we voted for a Business instead of a Politician?

February 25, 2010 by LindaSmith with 152 views

What if we voted in our elections for a business rather than a politician?  Some might say we do that already because in the U.S. people running for president or senator or governor are usually wealthy and practically business entities all by themselves.  However, that's not what I mean.  I kind of like this photo of... [read more]

Mistakes: Failing a customer

February 14, 2010 by Becky McCray with 131 views

Two years ago, I had the best experience with a small local shoe store when they special ordered a pair of shoes. They carry the brand of shoes I need for my arthritic feet. I told everyone about this wonderful caring store, including on a blog. I went back and ordered another pair in middle of December; I was told it would take 2... [read more]

Is There Brand Loyalty In A Recession?

January 28, 2010 by Rajeev Malik with 239 views

There are no atheists in a foxhole, but is there brand loyalty in a recession?  In our household, the answer is…nope.  I’ve been noticing this past year the slow emergence of generic groceries cropping up in our cabinets.  Generics?  Dear Lord, the last time I was subjected to generic groceries was growing up with... [read more]

You Probably Mistreat Your Best Clients

January 7, 2010 by Tim Berry with 160 views

PR people, social media experts, marketing experts, not to mention lawyers, accountants, and consultants: do your long-term loyal clients get the worst treatment? Do they pay the highest rates? Do you take them for granted? It’s not an idle question. I’m not trying to make trouble. It’s just that I think this happens a lot. I think it’s... [read more]

10 things your brand can learn from Trader Joe’s

December 17, 2009 by DavidWiggs with 157 views

A quick trip to Trader Joe’s to return an item got me wondering, how could more brands be like Trader Joe’s?  (And what would shopping be like if they were?)  Let’s look at what makes the Trader Joe’s experience so different from your everyday grocery store: 1. TRUST: They exchanged my item with no questions asked. A... [read more]

Small Business’ Competitive Advantage

November 12, 2009 by Dennis Faust with 57 views

Author Marc Compeau recently wrote an article on Forbes entitled, Cost-Cutting Won’t Get You There.  In it he touches on many points that seem to be recurring lately. First, the idea that cutting costs are the ticket to solving financial woes. Yes, of course, fiscal discipline is important and if your business is bleeding money... [read more]

Finally with a BAM! Customer Service Makes A Comeback

October 14, 2009 by Barry Moltz with 175 views

When I started my new book, BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self Service World about 18 months ago, I asked myself the very same question. With over 81,728 customer service books on Amazon, why does this world need another customer service book? Yada-Yada-Yada First, I was driven to write on this topic because I... [read more]

Is a chilly reception part of your brand?

October 13, 2009 by Drew McLellan with 187 views

This weekend, my daughter and I embarked on the first of what no doubt will be many college visits. We headed up to MN to visit my mom and check out one of the schools on her short list, St. Olaf.We got there early, which was fortuitous because of three colliding factors. It had unexpectedly snowed the night before We had only packed... [read more]

Customers Are Talking: In Praise of “Customer-Oriented Defiance”

October 2, 2009 by jmcaddell with 117 views

Behind many great customer-service stories is a front-line person who went outside standard operating procedure to solve a customer problem. Now this practice has its own name: Customer-Oriented Defiance. In “Customer-Oriented Defiance [COD]: Exploring Righteous, Sacrficing and Sneaky Behaviours,” co-authors Cheryl Leo and Rebekah... [read more]

Making You Suprisingly Unforgettable To Your Customers

September 30, 2009 by Barry Moltz with 151 views

Without stealing the thunder from my new book, BAM!, here are three no-cost or low-cost things you can do to make yourself unforgettable to your customers that work every time (and these are not in the book): Keep your business open 5 minutes later than the posted time. When a customer rushing to call or visit arrives a few minutes... [read more]

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