In the not-too-distant future, virtually everyone will be technologically literate. As always, we’ll teach our kids the Three Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic), but we’ll also add The C (coding). However, we’re not there yet. My mom, for one, is (amusingly) illiterate when it comes to technology—she likes to go ‘into’ the internet, for example. She… Read More
The buddy who organized the dinner kept saying we had to get to the restaurant at exactly the same time—because they wouldn’t seat us at the bar without our whole party. Wait. They wouldn’t seat us at the bar without our whole party. Isn’t the bar where we wait for the rest of our party?… Read More
Setting and meeting customer expectations is a complicated, multi-step process that begins before first contact, continues throughout the customer relationship and requires the commitment of everyone in the organization along the way. Aligning Strategy 1—Let Go, Listen, and Hear Trying to control another human being is an exercise in futility. So, when working with undoubtedly… Read More
Interactions between people and between people and business entities are becoming increasingly technology-based. As people turn to text messages, social media, and automated voice applications it’s critical to remember that those are just tools that enable conversation. No matter what communication medium you use, when customers feel like you’re focused on them as individuals they’re… Read More
In Moneyball, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill use statistical analysis to cobble together a team of misfits and turn the cash-strapped Oakland A’s into World Series contenders. (FYI—No spoilers anywhere.) That’s where the sports metrics craze started, a decade ago in Major League Baseball. Now it’s everywhere in American sports—the MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA. According… Read More
Social media has put everything into a new light, as empowered customers are taking up their mobile phones and tweeting their distress for all the world to see—Becky Carroll Researchers Todd Arnold, Gary Frankwick and Jaewon Yoo wanted to know how the customer-to-customer relationship is affecting service today. In a joint study by Oklahoma University, the… Read More
A lot of us are giving lip service to customer feedback—we seek it out and accept it, and then we do nothing with it. And yet constructive criticism is how we evolve, in life as well as business. We need to use the information, not throw it into the Raiders of the Lost Ark vault… Read More
Ask any executive at a rising company (or teenager in the middle of a growing spurt) and they’ll tell you the same thing—growth hurts. It’s positive overall, but it hurts. Automation can help, obviously. With the right technologies, companies can boost and maintain brand value by automating redundant processes, getting better economies of scale and… Read More
Self-service through automation is speeding up customer service. And the faster customer service gets, the faster customers expect it to be. It’s kind of a Catch-22 or self-fulfilling prophecy of our own creation. Self-service is everywhere now, and we all benefit from it. We don’t have to physically go to the bank or chit-chat on… Read More
Cost efficiencies are fine, but not at the expense of the customers. —Customer relationship management (CRM) guru Paul Greenberg. We all want a more efficient business. But if there’s a tab to pay for that efficiency, we can’t have our customers picking it up. So Company XYZ decides it’s time to automate communications with an… Read More
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