The myth: social media makes it easier to establish meaningful, long-lasting relationships with customers. The reality: it could, but it usually doesn’t. When companies connect with customers online, it becomes possible to fundamentally shift how they deliver customer service. That’s good, but it’s not enough. A business needs to encourage customers to share more than [...]
Loyalty Isn’t a Program
August 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I went into the bookstore of a major chain the other day. As I was checking out, the clerk asked, “Are you a member of our loyalty rewards program?” “No…” I smiled, wondering if she would persist. “Would you like to become one?” “Not really.” Then, of course, I got curious. “How many people say [...]
Improve Your Follow-Up
February 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Most businesses look at follow-up as something that’s easy. Wait until someone shows interest in your product, then call or email in an effort to push the sales cycle along. But that’s a call about you, not them. There is another kind of follow-up that seems hard, but really isn’t. And since it takes place [...]
How to Lose Customers (and Employees)
November 13, 2009 By 3 Comments
How many people work for your company? If more than a handful, chances are that you have a few policies. And the odds are just as good that one or more of these policies have irked a customer or two. I run into these policies all of the time. So do you. But yesterday, one [...]
Life or Death, Part II
August 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Customers have expectations. And the reality is this: meeting expectations isn’t good enough. At best, this keeps customers satisfied, and satisfied customers will leave you (fast) for a better experience or lower price. Falling short of expectations is another problem altogether. DHL screwed up the first time I used them for overnight delivery. For some [...]
Life or Death
August 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I recently called the police to report suspicious activity. Just to clarify: when on the highway, should you ever notice another driver sitting on plastic-covered seats while wearing surgical gloves, that’s suspicious. If the driver notices you looking at him and then drops his hands out of site, that’s very suspicious. On the phone, I [...]
Competing On Service
August 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
A lot of companies claim that they’re in the service business. But are they? Not really – if they were, we wouldn’t hear things like: “Due to heavy call volume…” “I’m sorry, but that’s our policy.” “I’m just doing my job.” Of course, what they actually mean is: “Due to budget constraints, we have less people [...]
