by Kevin Stirtz on June 12, 2011
by Kevin Stirtz Recently my friends Chip Bell and John Patterson shared with me this story of amazing service. It’s from their friend and client, Katy Wild. Chip and John call it “Boston Style Customer Service.” “Recently I lost my purse while traveling and then found it, thankfully, but not before missing my plane. So, I had 4 hours to kill in the Tulsa airport waiting for the next flight. While in the airport, the man at the shoe shine stand started a conversation and wanted to know if I needed my shoes shined. What else was I going to [...]
Our friends at Dictionary.com define the word communicate this way: To impart knowledge of; make known: to communicate information This is something companies are very good at. They should be. Big companies have entire departments dedicated to communicating. They “impart information” and make their messages known on a grand scale. For decades, big business (and small business too) has spentvast amounts of money perfecting the fine art of communicating. Trouble is, being a skilled communicator isn’t worth much anymore. Because, as the definition above implies, communicating is a one-way deal. To be successful, all you have to do is make your story known. If you are [...]
by Kevin Stirtz Yo, dude, don’t leave me hanging Every day the Internet makes it easier for people to connect. Employees, customers, friends, family, neighbors…you name it. We have more technology than ever before that can help us reach out to people. If we choose to. And that’s a big problem for many businesses. They choose to NOT reach out to customers. Actually it’s worse than that. Too many businesses ignore when customers reach out to them. Every day businesses are served up piping hot customer engagement opportunities and they walk right by. They ignore their customers’ attempts to connect and converse [...]
by Kevin Stirtz Chris Garrett wrote a post a while ago about being real vs. phony. Here’s what he says about real people: Too many companies hire and train robots to handle the vast majority of their customer contact. They treat employees like equipment. They seem to believe people’s behaviors can be designed and managed like machines. A key tool in this strategy is the much-maligned script. Most employees despise them. So do many customers. To a customer, a scripted employee sounds like a phony, uncaring employee. When management forces unnatural scripting on employees, they can be become the robots Chris talks [...]
Local businesses can do themselves a big favor by using the free yet effective internet marketing tool called Google Places. For a business owner, manager or marketer, the most important thing to know about Google Places is how to make it work best for your business. There are two ways to get started. One is to hire an expert. If you’re busy running your business and/or you have little inclination to involve yourself in the details of these things, this is a good option. GetListed.org has a list of local SEO expertswho can help. Your second option is to DIY (Do it [...]
by Kevin Stirtz on March 1, 2011
Go to one of the most well known local search related websites, GetListed.org, and the first thing you see is a free tool to help you get listed on some of the top local directories (they call them local search engines). In fact, as you might have surmised based on the name of the site, GetListed.org is all about helping organizations get accurate, consistent listings on the most important local directories. Read blogs like Andrew Shotland’s LocalSEOGuide, Chris Silver Smith’s Nodal Bits, David Mihm’s Mihmorandum (to name a few) and you’ll see plenty of posts about the importance of local [...]
by Kevin Stirtz on February 21, 2011
Companies like Google, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, CitySearch and many others have made it easy and convenient for customers to share their thoughts with the world. And they’re not just talking about what they had for breakfast. They’re telling the world what they think of YOUR BUSINESS. Smart companies are using these online reviews to attract and keep more customers. Here are ten ways you can use Web 2.0 tactics to turn online reviews into more customers who keep coming back. 1. Respond to every review Like emails and voice mails, online reviews are easy to ignore. Especially the icky ones. But [...]
by Kevin Stirtz on February 7, 2011
There’s a lot of talk these days of new Web tools that help us communicate with customer better. Websites like Yelp, CitySearch, Google Places and HotPot, Angie’s List and Judy’s Book all provide easy platforms for customers to tell us what they think. And we should be glad they do. One of the best ways to attract and keep customers is to give them what they expect and more. When you do this, some of your customers will be thrilled enough to tell others. And most will consider returning, because they know what to expect. Online review sites and tools [...]
by Kevin Stirtz on January 13, 2011
One of the best ways for a local businesses to increase customer loyalty is to get steady, positive reviews for customers. And doing this has never been easier. With services like Yelp, Google’s HotPot, CitySearch and others, millions of local businesses are getting feedback from customers without even asking. Because it’s so easy, customers are sharing their thoughts more than ever. Reviews are nothing new. And they’ve always been a powerful way to draw people to your business. But until recently, reviews have been limited to professional ramblings (newspapers, magazines, radio, TV) or social rantings. Remember when we used to [...]
For years I have been preaching the gospel of customer service: Good customer feedback can increase loyalty and revenue. But it’s easy to ignore this because customer feedback is often fleeting. Many businesses never get enough to make an obvious impact. When a business lacks a steady flow of useful customer feedback , there are usually two culprits: 1. Customers have no reason to give feedback. 2. Giving feedback is too hard. The first problem happens because customers have a forgettable experience. They get what they expected. Or less. They are not thrilled. They are not overwhelmed. They get nothing [...]
