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
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
The Cluetrain Manifesto made the best statement about customers that I’d ever heard. “We aren’t eyeballs, or clicks — We are people. Live with it.” Yet as I hear the debate resurface about how we commercialize social networks, I wonder if we really learned from our earlier experiences? It’s not hype, or numbers — it’s authentic conversations with our customers that build the loyalty and purchasing that we need for profitable growth. That’s the idea I’m exploring this week. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment at the bottom of this column. Love to hear from you. – Jim”
I’ve lived through at least four major recessions in my adult life. Amazing. But true. That experience has taught me that the economy is indeed cyclical and that corrections are followed by climbs. Booms follow busts. I know this recession will end. Experience is a wonderful thing. Continue reading
Filed under Customers Relationship, Sales
Change the game... 
AntiSocial – Undercurrents of Anger
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 →
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Filed under Commentary, Customers Relationship, Marketing, Sales, Social Networking