To the agents I talked to yesterday from my favourite phone service provider. I’m sorry. I truly am.
I’m sure your employer really does have a sense of customer service. I just can’t see it. It’s probably unfair of me to say that they care as little (maybe even less) about you than they do about me. And then you get stuck with me. I’m such a lousy customer.
Filed under Customers Relationship, Marketing, Sales
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In the midst of the buzz on Google’s Buzz, this little thing appeared on my horizon. It’s called Amplify and it seem a bit like a highbrow version twitter (so far). It’s a site where you can post slightly longer posts (500 characters) and it seems the right length for thoughtful but brief comments.
It has the follower/followed paradigm and I’m still trying to figure out what else is there.
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My gut tells me it’s worth a look — and I’ve read a couple of posts on it that are, for the first time in a long time – worth reading in the entirety. I haven’t seen anything with this much promise since Aardvark and Nutshell Mail (both of which went from neat toys to mainstays of my social media management strategy).
Filed under Uncategorized
I had coffee with a friend this morning. The topic turned to customer experience — as if often does. Not only do I do a lot of work in CRM, but I’m planning a new series of podcasts on the topic and I take the opportunity to discuss this every chance I get.
As inevitably happens – he brought out a recent experience where the customer service was appalling. I’ve heard many of these over the years. It doesn’t take much prodding and we can all come up with one. And I want to stress that I’m not talking about simply bad service. That happens all too frequently to count. This was appalling service — you’d almost have to try to make it that bad. In his case, what was promised to be a 24 hour turnaround from a major bank, conveniently done on-line turned into many weeks of trips far out of his way to the only physical location where this business could be done, many phone calls and even with all of this – never a really satisfying conclusion, let alone an apology.
Yet he told it to me, matter of factly, as only one in a history of disappointments. It was appalling, but nothing special.
Conversations like this have been going on for years in coffee shops all around the world. But I think something has changed. I can see it. We all can see it Continue reading
Filed under Commentary, Customers Relationship, Marketing, Sales, Social Networking
“It don’t make no sense that common sense don’t make no sense no more.” John Prine, one of my favourite song-writers used this as a line in one of his songs. It’s a classic for Prine.
I love Prine’s work. Why? Because, especially as I get older, at least part of me becomes more an more like his characters. I look back nostalgically at a past where things were simpler, more understandable. I think to some extent, most of us do.
That idea of a time when things made “common sense” is one those archetypal memories. You find it throughout history – a yearning for that simpler time.
So it has a seductive appeal.
So why isn’t it more prevalent? Why isn’t common sense more …. well, common? Continue reading
Filed under Change, Commentary, Organization
For those who follow the blog, you’ll notice that my last post featured some of the questions that consultants had asked at a recent discussion group. Leading the list was — what practical examples of success are there? For those who asked that question, I thought I’d note that on my weekly live podcast we have one of those “real life examples”. Mark Graham, President of Rightsleeve.com and winner of the prestigious Dell Business Award in 2009 joins our panel to discuss how technology and social media pushed his company to success even in a recessionary time that has devastated some of his competitors.
Check it out — and get real life stories every Monday night at 8pm ET on http://BlogTalkRadio.com/GameChanging It’s better in person. You get to ask the questions if on our forum, on Twitter or even live by phone. But if you miss it, you can hear the podcast by download from the show page or via iTunes (just search podcasts for GameChanging).
Seeya there
Filed under Change, Customers Relationship, Social Media
On January 13th, 2010 Andrew Jenkins and I hosted a two person panel n Social Media for Consultants. It was done for the Strategy Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CMC Canada).
I thought the best way to respond to everyone was to blog about the meeting, the questions and the links.
Above the fold (for those who appreciate the metaphor) – I’ll mention our invite to all of you. We had such a good response to this that Andrew and I have agreed to host two online versions of the follow up sessions. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Session 1 will be for “beginners” and be true primer on how to get started.
Session 2 will be for intermediate to senior practitioners and focus on how to get above the crowd.
LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS – or anything else here, by leaving a comment! And please, would you go to this site and fill in a very quick survey? I promise I’ll send you the results if you do. Click here to take survey
We also recommend to all of you that you may want to keep up with us on our online internet radio show (www.BlogTalkRadio.com/GameChanging) either live or in the podcast version. That show is every Monday night at 8:00 pm ET. Now for those who would like the notes from the session, here they are
Filed under Uncategorized
Digital Deniers
Do it if you want to — just don’t be proud of it.
I phoned my cousin Mike yesterday to make arrangements for dinner. We were about to compare calendars and I was stalling while Outlook came up on my machine. Mike laughed. He was ready. All he needed was a date book and a pen. He laughed and said — “I’m 51 and I still use a date book.”
Of course, as always happens whenever there’s a challenge like this — Outlook took it’s sweet time loading. Actually, it hung for a minute, as if to prove the triumph of high over low tech. Mike took the moment to gloat. So he should. And it’s okay. In this circumstance, keeping track of a few social engagements — an electronic calendar is overkill.
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Filed under Change, Commentary, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology