March 2010

AT&T customer service employee saves customer’s life

March 11, 2010

Here’s a perfect example of why companies should hire smart people who care. Recently an AT&T customer was talking with their customer service service department. He started having symptoms of a heart attack and eventually passed out during the call. Rather than hang up (because the customer became non-responsive) the AT&T employee (Kelly Hart) knew [...]

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Deliver better customer service by being prepared

March 11, 2010

One of the best ways to keep customers coming back more often is by living the old Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared Be prepared to take care of them better than anyone else can or will take care of them. If every customer you work with is impressed at how knowledgeable you are, they’ll tell [...]

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Tiny shop uses Twitter to connect to one customer at a time

March 10, 2010

Often my conversations with people make me think we’re facing a growing technology divide. One group of my friends and colleagues are actively online and, for the most part, use social media like Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn. But others stare at me like I’m speaking in tongues when I talk about using these social media [...]

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Tata Indicom rolls out customer service standards

March 9, 2010

Recently we reported on the president of Brazil’s decree that companies operating in his country will meet certain standards in how they deal with customers. While I’m not a fan of increasing government regulation I like the idea of making customer service standards a big deal. That’s what Tata Indicom has done. Even better, they’re [...]

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Who’s Talking About YOUR Company?

March 8, 2010

About two-thirds of the times we write about a specific company, we get a comment or some sort of feedback from the company. Sometimes it’s an employee defending them. Sometimes it’s a PR person offering to help. Once in awhile it’s the CEO. No matter who responds, I’m always impressed. Because it means they’re listening [...]

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Customer Feedback is Easy and Free

March 8, 2010

If you want to deliver good great Amazing customer service, the first thing you need to know is what your customers want. Customer service is all about giving your customers the experience they want, in a way that’s sustainable for your organization. This sounds simple enough but it’s not as common as it should be. [...]

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Should you pay employees for better customer service?

March 5, 2010

When talking with business owners and managers, the topic of cash incentives arises every now and then.  Some managers feel they’re the best way to get employees to deliver better customer service. Others disagree. But the question remains. A recent article in Entrepreneur.com suggests money is not always the best way to motivate employees to [...]

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Customer service and calorie counts

March 5, 2010

Three Florida legislators have proposed a bill that would require restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus. While I know there are heated arguments on both sides of this issue, I like the idea. One reason I like it is because I’ve recently started counting calories and I am disappointed at being unable to [...]

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Google’s strength is offering value, engaging customers

March 4, 2010

In the last 24 hours, the ‘net has been abuzz with Google’s admission that their SEO is not as good as it could be.  Some see this as a sign that Google “ain’t all that”. Others see it as a reason to question the value of SEO. Regardless of what you make of Google’s SEO [...]

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Amazing Customer Service Resource: WBSOnline.com

March 3, 2010

Here’s a web resource that has useful customer service information, and a whole lot more. Actually it has over 6,000 articles and other resources for small businesses. It’s called WBSOnline.com and it’s a free service of Winmark Business Solutions. Winmark is a Minnesota company that offers franchise, leasing and other services to their small business [...]

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7 things customers hate

March 3, 2010

As we left the Cracker Barrel that night, I asked my wife how she would rate our customer experience as we paid for our meal. “Two thumbs down” she replied in microseconds. We were on the same page. It was a horrible experience. While the food and overall experience in Cracker Barrels are frighteningly consistent, [...]

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Be the customer you’d want to work with

March 3, 2010

I was standing in line at my favorite sub shop. I cringed every time the guy next to me spoke. “I want tomatoes, onions and hot mustard.” Seconds later: “Gimme more pickles.” And then “Make sure you don’t get that other stuff on my sandwich.” (Exactly what “other stuff” did he mean??) In a five [...]

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Here’s what a London cabbie taught me about customer service

March 2, 2010

Recently I learned something about customer service from a London cabbie. Actually I met the cabbie two years ago. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago I fully understood the lesson he taught me. It was spring 2008 and I was spending a week in London doing training for a client. Because I was [...]

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Social media drives customer service job growth

March 2, 2010

After looking at the trend data yesterday from Indeed.com, I ran across a post that also referenced customer service jobs. This is from Heidi Miller at Spoken Communications who talks about customer service trends. She referred to a Forbes article in which Andrea Ayers explains why “… customer service jobs will grow and grow”. In [...]

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Customer service jobs on the rise

March 1, 2010

Signs of economic recovery are all around us. But we still hear employment is weak and lagging.  So, in the midst of mixed messages, what do we believe? I’m no economist so I try to keep things simple. One thing I see is the growth in customer service related jobs seems to be increasing. Our [...]

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