Wake Up Customer Service: HERE’S YOUR SIGN!!!

If you’re having a customer issue that’s “happening all the time” shouldn’t you be trying to address, instead of ignore, it?

This happens all the time is not a customer service strategy.

By Linda Pophal, MA, SPHR · Strategic Communications, LLC

Chronic customer service failure occurs when an organization identifies a recurring problem that negatively impacts customers but chooses to absorb the complaint volume rather than address the root cause—often because the problem has become so normalized that staff no longer recognize it as fixable. In an era of increasing automation and AI-driven customer interactions, chronic failures are becoming more, not less, common as technology handles transactions efficiently but removes the human touchpoints that once caught and corrected errors before they impacted the customer.

This isn’t a hypothetical. This is something that happened to me recently.

Continue reading “Wake Up Customer Service: HERE’S YOUR SIGN!!!”

Your Customers are Talking About You. Do You Know What They’re Saying?

If you’re not on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media sites —and believe it or not, many people are not!—you may be missing out on some very important conversations. Some of these conversations may be about you!

When we worked with a client recently, we did some quick online research, and they were shocked to find how many discussions about their product, relative to their competitors’ products, were taking place.

Some were good, some were not. Continue reading “Your Customers are Talking About You. Do You Know What They’re Saying?”

When You Think Your Customers “Just Don’t Get It” Here’s What You Need to Do

“XYZ customer thinks our product should do ABC!” or “XYZ customer doesn’t understand…”
These conversations are often accompanied by chuckles, eye rolling and agreement among many, if not all, members of the group that the “customers just don’t get it.”
That may be true. But if they don’t, whose fault is it? Yours!

Continue reading “When You Think Your Customers “Just Don’t Get It” Here’s What You Need to Do”

You’ve got it. I want it. But you won’t let me buy it?

Customer reviews, client reviews, best PR firm, public relations, content marketingA while ago my husband went to the movie theatre to buy some tickets that we were going to give to some people who had helped us out with a project. He wanted 8 tickets. The theatre said “No, sorry – we only Continue reading “You’ve got it. I want it. But you won’t let me buy it?”

Top Strategies for Increasing Customer Engagement

Too often when marketers think about increasing customer engagement, they tend to err on the side of selecting promotional options. That, though, is often premature and can result in a lot of money spent unnecessarily. Worse, in some cases, their efforts can also work against them. Continue reading “Top Strategies for Increasing Customer Engagement”

Are You Making Your Customers Work Too Hard? They May Just Give Up.

Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as businesspeople and marketers is “put ourselves in the shoes” of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however slight, that may interfere with—or obliterate—the purchasing process?

Continue reading “Are You Making Your Customers Work Too Hard? They May Just Give Up.”

The Early Bird Gets Better Sales Results

Sometimes it can be the smallest of things that leads to a lost opportunity from a marketing or sales perspective. Small things that can, I think, be easily corrected.

I had a personal example of this recently while working on a proposal for a branding project. I needed to gather some price information for some elements of the project. In two cases, I contacted two different individuals, asking for some estimates. In each of these cases, one of the people got back to me right away—the other, not at all. Continue reading “The Early Bird Gets Better Sales Results”

Payment Milestones: A Positive Cash-Flow Approach for Long-Term B2B Projects

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

In many B2B relationships, the amounts of money changing hands can be significant. For small businesses engaged primarily in the B2B realm, a single B2B client could make up a huge percentage of the small business’s total revenue. Moreover, the products and services offered to B2B customers can be fairly complex and take time to deliver in full. All of this makes the invoicing process a valuable tool for small-business owners serving B2B customers. A well-designed invoicing system can help smooth cash flows and provide revenue even before the ultimate completion of a final deliverable. Continue reading “Payment Milestones: A Positive Cash-Flow Approach for Long-Term B2B Projects”

Daimler Learns About Viral Customer Service Stories the Hard Way

There’s an old saying in customer service that a customer who has a good experience with your business might tell a single friend while a customer who has a bad experience will tell ten. Unfortunately, those numbers might be drastically out of date in the age of social media. In an era where any individual has the chance to communicate with millions of people around the world, even a single incidence of poor customer service can have significant impacts for businesses of any kind. Continue reading “Daimler Learns About Viral Customer Service Stories the Hard Way”

Amazon Zigs When Others Zag: Meeting Consumer Needs Before They Know They Have Them

by Justin Grensing, Esq., MBA

 

Amazon has proven time and again to be particularly adept at figuring out what its customers want and giving it to them. Whether it’s shopping suggestions based on previous orders, on-demand media content or same-day delivery, the retail giant answers the demands of the people whose purchases are lining its pockets.

The latest example of this as-you-wish mentality was recently announced and reported in an article for CNN by Taylor Nicole Rogers titled “Amazon’s new waste-reduction strategy: Delivery only once a week.” Continue reading “Amazon Zigs When Others Zag: Meeting Consumer Needs Before They Know They Have Them”