BizCoachDeb's BizBuzz -

Posts Tagged ‘customer service’

The coffee lover in me has a hard time resisting news about, well, coffee shops in the news. It appears Starbucks has bitten the java bean and will finally offer free Wi-Fi in their some 6,700 stores around the U.S. For any of you that have gone before, you know the big pain getting online can be at their shops.  The question though: how many years have the corner coffee shops already been doing this? When will the copy-catting end? Does this mean their coffee will get better, too? Okay, one mountain at a time.

Now, the true test in serving customers will be when they cease with the coffee lingo snobbery and stop correcting the way I order my coffee, or at least keep said correction to themselves.

“I’ll have a medium sugar-free vanilla latte with skim milk.”

“So that’s grande skinny vanilla latte.”

“Never mind.”

Is it any wonder I drink at local coffee shops whenever possible? 
Photo Credit: Bionic teaching

Even though Twitter has recently enabled updates that can include your location, it’s pretty clear that applications like Gowalla, Brightkite and Foursquare are burning paths to your customers cell and smartphones. No longer are your customers tethered to their laptops, they are taking their purchasing power on the road – and letting their friends know more quickly than ever before.

And why should you care?

With mobile applications comes mobile decisions, remarks, feedback and more importantly, instant pack mentality.

Consider this: I’m going into Boulder on this sunshiney day to enjoy a margarita on the deck of one of my favorite watering holes. When I arrive,  my Blackberry updates me to tell me of a couple of my buddies who are already here.  My other friends that aren’t even there yet see an update saying that me, Mark and Chris are all at said watering hole, and guess what? We’ve just encouraged a couple friends who were at another place to come join us. Influence is one thing, but what used to take a few phone calls to orchestrate now just takes one “checkin”. The checkin can come to my phone and be sent to multiple social media touchpoints instantly. A social empire is emerging whether you’re using it or not.   The rest of the story...

Spurred by the annoyance of several notable brands (and some virtual unknowns) and their poor use of Twitter, this post has finally bubbled to the top of my consciousness. It’s my shortlist of things I view as pitfalls of Twitter usage. I know, I know, “It’s too young, there are no standards.” But let’s just assume for the sake of conversation that you are a brand (big or small) and you decide to dip your toe into the Twitter pool; whether you know it or not, much like every day conversation, there are some preconceived expectations of the audience you hope to enthrall. After all, you are using it to get customers to beat a path to your door, right? At least that’s what your wunderkind social media marketing guru must have told you: “Customers are on Twitter, we have to set up an account Pronto!” “James, that’s brilliant. I’ve heard about that Twitter thing on CNN.”

So, if have one iota of marketing or customer service sense, please listen up:   The rest of the story...

In the mail this past week, I received a “Collection” letter. Now, before you start worrying about my finances, don’t. This letter was from a satellite radio service (XM, to be exact) of which I’ve enjoyed 4 years of entertainment. In this case, I was not exactly entertained. In fact, I was quite mad. The letter went on to say my yearly payment was due and in their attempt to put it through, my credit card company kicked it back, hence the letter. What? No call? No nice letter saying “could you kindly update your info?” No, none of these warm fuzzies. Just a nasty gram, well, not only that, but an utterly frustrating phone exchange.

Service Means Listening First

I pity people that have to handle me in a customer service capacity because I have so little patience for bad service. To summarize a rather ridiculous phone call that I had, I can only say that I hope other companies are listening…and learning:   The rest of the story...

In case you’re ever worried about the negative feedback customers provide, consider this: It’s really an opportunity to do better. By your customers telling you where you’ve failed or come up short, they are giving you what could normally cost thousands (or even millions) in research and development, surveys, focus groups and other efforts.

When a customer reaches out and gives you feedback, be truly grateful. What they’re really saying is, “I want to do business with you, here’s what you can do to keep me.” This is priceless and you’re ahead of the game, they’re telling you they want to stay, rather than taking off.

For more on this, read this awesome report on the subject, Aberdeen – The ROI Of Customer Feedback.

Have your say: I’d love to hear how you took a customer’s negative feedback and turned them into a loyal customer or how you, as a customer gave feedback and saw immediate results or none at all.
(Photo Credit: thanks, Demi Brooke)

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