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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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Building Bridges Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Opinion

‘Survival of the Nicest: Customer Service as a Business Growth (and Survival) Engine’

Micah Solomon’s headline above and column on Forbes.com really hits the nail on the head about customer service being everything to a company’s wellbeing. In the article, he notes, “Customer service is the essential growth engine for any company finding its footing in the entrepreneurial world. You don’t have the luxury today of building a […]

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Customer Service Opinion Social Media

Spotify: When customer service crashes

Customer service, especially a perceived lack of it, can impact a company’s reputation—and profitability—in no time flat. In part, this is why customer service really is a company’s “everything” at this point in time. Marketing campaigns unsupported by stable or stellar customer service are proving a waste of time and money—as consumers see through marketing […]

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Building Bridges Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service General Marketing

Trust, like, respect: reverberating in my brain

The more I think about it, the more these three simple but enduring concepts are capturing my thoughts about customer service, marketing, and just about everything else. These three words endure as key criteria of why we choose to do business with someone: regardless of their status as a solopreneur or Fortune 500 company. And […]

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Business Development Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Opinion Tips

Time-tested customer service practices will help counter complaint regulations

Customer service complaint regulation may be coming to a business near you. According to an article in Forbes.com, “Stricter regulations will force businesses to focus on complaints management…With the new Australian regulation RG 271 having gone into effect on October 5, 2021, we predict that similar regulations will continue to expand around the globe — […]

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Business Development Customer Service Opinion Tips

Relating ‘new’ tactics to old values, expectations

A December 2021 Godaddy.com article that addresses “10 ways to create better predictability in customer service” notes, “Creating predictability in customer service is one of the most challenging things to do for small business owners. It’s one thing to do customer service yourself when you’re just starting your business. But as you scale and hire […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Opinion Tips

Let’s start with Happy New Year wishes and a wish list

OK folks, it’s a clean slate. New Year. New ideas. New opportunities. Or perhaps it’s actually a return to old values, insights and practices that will do the most good. In customer service, bedrock practices based on historical wisdom always seem to work best. So, with the New Year, let’s look at some of those—and […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Opinion

Ending the year with a random ‘ballooning’

Decided to take my own customer service advice to end the year. I purchased a bunch of smiley balloons from Dollar Tree for $1 apiece and performed a random “ballooning.” Figuring that everyone could use a smile right before Christmas (as well as the rest of the year), I handed out balloons in my building […]

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Cultivating Positive Relationships Customer Service Opinion

Santa spreads spirit of customer service

Santa Claus is all about customer satisfaction. So, I was right in my element last week, playing the jolly fellow for a group of young enthusiasts. True to Santa form, everyone wound up smiling and satisfied. When handled appropriately, the Santa experience encompasses fundamentals of great customer service—kindness (empathy), giving of one’s time freely to […]