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Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Opinion Tips

 Time to call out Musk, Zuckerberg as robber barons

Based on the premise that all stakeholders are essentially “customers,” both Twitter and Meta are doing a poor job of customer service. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are displaying some of the egregious behaviors of 19th-century robber barons, who ruled ruthlessly—often squashing customers and employees beneath their feet. A Britannica.com citation addresses the offenses: “robber […]

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Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Opinion Tips

 When all digital files failed, hard copy saved the day

This is a follow-up to my People who need people post. As the previous post addressed the need for real, live people in the customer service mix versus all-digital, this one discusses the digital versus hard-copy issue. For those firmly committed to all-digital, all the time, good luck. You’re gonna need it. My recent technology […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

 ‘People who need people’ once were ‘the luckiest people in the world’

In the 1964 Broadway musical Funny Girl, star Barbra Streisand introduced the song “People.” In part, the lyrics went, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.” From live phone customer service support to grocery checkout, increasingly the default is to push everything to technology: email, chatbots, text, grocery scanners. When it […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

 Bob Burger Recreation Center scores customer service victory

Lafayette, Colorado’s Bob L. Burger Recreation Center is the best community fitness facility I’ve visited in 45 years. And I’ve had some type of fitness membership—from private clubs to community rec centers and everything in between—during that entire time. The delightful customer service experience was even more impactful given the current trend toward stupid, inattentive, […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Good Content Kudos Opinion

Customer service, employee empowerment, and pro-planet movements coalesce around B Corp 

As Mark Lusky Communications celebrates 40 years in business and the fourth anniversary of the happycurmudgeon.com Customer Service blog, we pause to honor the evolution of the international B Corp movement, and one of B Lab’s Global Stewards, thought leader Jared Meyers. He founded Legacy Vacation Resorts (B Corp); is a Co-Founder of Florida for […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Opinion Social Media

Conjoining vs. Conflating marketing and customer service

Near-term, commerce will see marketing and customer service conjoin—defined as “to join together (things, such as separate entities) for a common purpose.” Ultimately, I believe the two will conflate—viewed as combining two or more ideas into one. It’s kind of like the difference between a strategic partnership, where two companies work together toward a common […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Opinion Social Media

When will companies learn that ‘fake news’ backfires?

Companies continue to think they can BS and bluster their way through our human instincts and convince us of their customer service excellence—no matter what’s really happening. A recent article by ZDnet contributor Chris Matyszczyk illustrates the point poignantly when addressing one of the most important stakeholders deserving solid customer service—employees themselves. This interesting story […]

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Business Development Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Opinion Tips

Great Resignation magnifies customer service challenges

Everything that goes into good customer service is being tested by the Great Resignation. Adequate staffing, training, and employee engagement and longevity are among the most stressed areas. It’s hard—if not impossible—to provide top-notch customer service when there aren’t enough well-trained, seasoned, and motivated company employees in place to do the job. Adequate staffing is […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Opinion

Headlines warn that Great Resignation burning out those who stay

How will the “Great Resignation” impact customer service? With so many people quitting present jobs and searching for new opportunities (including changing industries and entrepreneurism), existing company resources are being stressed and strained. Moving forward, this will adversely impact the ability of companies to maintain and/or improve customer service levels and commitments. Customer service is […]

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Customer Service Empowerment Techniques Opinion Tips

Will supply chain crisis hurt or help overall product quality?

It’s “survival of the fittest” vs. “fill shelves with anything available.” On one hand, the most fit product manufacturers, in some cases at least, will be the ones best able to keep supplies on hand during the supply chain crisis. They think ahead. They figure out solutions. They overcome obstacles. On the other hand, empty […]