Simply Simple Customer Service | Retail Strategies

Carol Carter had my attention immeidately with the headline and her first sentence. I think we do over-complicate customer service and Customer Relationship Management all too often. In the end, CRM is *still* in large part about direct human interaction, mostly on a one-to-one basis, even when we're addressing a group and much less about the database management software CRM.

This story, Simply Simple Customer Service | Retail Strategies, is a wonderful reminder that it really can be very simple and that is way more than just "good enough." (More about "good enough" at a later time.)

Web Workers of the World Unite!

Lately, I've had a number of people ask how to build their business, how to get the word out about an event they're doing, how to find a new job, how to...get ahead. My standard answer has been, "Are you on LinkedIn yet?

Yes. Okay. For starters -How many connections do you have? When was the last time you updated your profile.

Or, no. What are you waiting for!? This is what you should be working on in the evening while you watch your favorite summer reality program, instead of trolling eBay, CraigsList, or Match.com. It is the single biggest thing you can do for yourself, your personal brand, your career or business and it's can be free, although I recommend upgrading your account.
It is an incredible way to build an incredible network that ordinarily could take a lifetime. However, there's a caveat and you might as well know it up front. It's one of the most interesting aspects I've discovered lately and a very telling precursor to what will prbably become SOP (if you don't know what that is, email me!). I was trying to find the title for someone in management at a major clothing manaufacturer. No luck on that guy, but there were pages and pages of other people in the company. There were also pages and pages of listings for just titles, no names of people, just titles, and contact information.

Why? Because LinkedIn is a major resource for recruiters and search firms and companies are protecting their talent.

So, once you've got some momentum on LinkedIn, then do the same on other sites, e.g. XING.

Here's a great article to get you started in the right direction that I came across on Fast Company. Web Worker Daily � Blog Archive 20 Ways to Use LinkedIn Productively �

Hint: When Your Service Is Your Sales Pitch...,

Get Your Act Together!

A good friend who also happens to be a very smart guy, Martin Focazio, recently completed a research project for a major client and shared his findings with us over at the WWWAC List.

The WWWACies, as we like to call ourselves, are survivors of the Y2K DotBomb. It was founded 12 years ago by people like Kyle Shannon and Courtney Pulitzer as the organization for the plaid flannel shirt guys, curmudgeonly programmers, developers, designers-the guys who wrote the books. NYNMA was for the suits in the suites. NYNMA doesn't exist anymore. As a sales and marketing flack, I tag along to learn what everybody will be talking about next year.

Anyway, companies pay Martin lots of money to get the straight dope on various topics. He's also a top-rated speaker for the American Management Association. And, he's actually started a blog by popular demand. It is NC-17. Well, just some strong opinions, really!

Here's his post -
"I recently had a research project to investigate best practices an
innovations in "Click to Chat" platforms;

I reviewed the offerings of the following 40 companies over a period of 4 days:

Aestiva LiveHelp
Akiva Chatspace
BluLark LiveSpider
Boldchat
Chat4Help
Click Chat Sold
Click&Care
ClickSeva.
eGain eService Enterprise
eLiveService
eStara
FaceTime IM Director
Get1on1
Groopz
InQ
InstantService
KANA
Kayako
Ligne Directe
Live Advisor
Live Office LiveSiteManager
Live2Support
LiveHuman
LivePerson
MayWeHelp
Netlert
Novomind
Omnistar Live
OrbitSupport
ProvideSupport
RightNow
RightNow Live
Sales N Stats
SightMax
Sitechatter
StarDevelop
SubjexCSR
Talisma
WhosOn
Xigla

Of the 40 companies, 31 of them didn't have anyone online via their
own live chat system between the hours of 9AM-5PM on a weekday. That
makes 78% of the firms offering Click To Chat too busy or something to
turn on their own click to chat system to service inbound enquiries.

I can excuse some of the companies that were just providing a link to
a PHP platform or some such, but for companies actually offering a
click to chat service, especially those offering a hosted service,
here's some news: if you can't be bothered to use your own product to
service your own leads, then I, as an evaluator, won't feel all warm
and fuzzy and you won't even make it through the first evaluation
round .

Second. LINK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. Don't claim "a leading biotech firm"
uses your product unless you can cite an example. If your
implementation isn't open to the public, then grab and sanitize some
screen shots, write a 2 page case study and give a freakin' reference
name so we evaluators can check your claims.

There's a reason why LivePerson.com can charge 5 figures a month for
what is a true commodity service, it's because they make it easy to
feel good about the purchase decision.

Take heed all entrepreneurs. Demo or die."

Uh, can you say "customer service"?

What You'll Find on Caledonia St. in Sausalito-An Early Weekend Treat

Last night was a regular "warm weather" event in the part of Sausalito that most tourists, unfortunately, never see. This is the bi-weekly SAUSALITO ART WALK - Every Second Wednesday - Beginning in March through October. Painters, musicians, jewelers, and more all along Caledonia St. which is the main street for locals. It's also the site of some great restaurants, like Rustico's with authentic Roman cuisine and Sushi Ran, the only sushi restaurant in the Bay Area with a Michelin star.

So, I walked past some pretty questionable art and finally came across a very cute French artist working in black ink and chalk to create some very interesting work. Across the street was a girl singing a series of very mopey songs that did nothing to enhance a party atmosphere and then, a little further down the street I hear this incredible music John H. Clarke's guitar. Classical guitar music with very hip contemporary flavor. I bought the two CDs he was selling. So, do yourself a favor and check him out right away on YouTube. Here's a link to his site, Acoustik Guitar where you can buy the CDs or go to iTunes.

"The Most Evolved" Acoustic Spanish Guitar | TABS | CD

Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should

Maybe it's just me, but conscious and unconscious speech affectations on a Web seminar or podcast are as distracting and off-putting as misspelled words on a Website or in a business email.

I used to register for Web seminars just to be eligible to get access to the archived version at some later date. And, as we all know, that doesn't always happen. But, when I did go back to listen to the recording, I realized why I never scheduled the time. Way too many presentations are delivered in a monotone as if it's the Monday morning meeting that no one wants to attend.

Recently, I've been registering and actually blocking the time to attend the live event.

But, most times I've clicked off almost as quickly as I've joined. One instance was where the presenter not only had a very strong accent that made it difficult to understand him, but also had several habits, e.g. tooth sucking noises, that made for a quick exit even though I really needed the information. Another was one where the presenter did that thing with her tongue against the roof of her mouth as if she's "tsk"-ing the audience, but really just telegraphing a new thought. And, of course, there are still those monotone presentations that lull me to sleep.

It's great that so many companies are being so generous with their expertise and anecdotal experience. But, competition is fierce for people's attention and the presentation needs to be as professional as it would be at the annual customer conference or major tradeshow. What are little speech anomalies in person are magnified when you're staring at a PowerPoint or shared desktop presentation and just hearing a disembodied voice. Even though it is a global business environment with people from all over the world working in companies all over the world, for the most part we still look for presenters to speak with little or no accent and in English not only for US presentations, but ones with global audiences. People bail out very quickly and it's that much more difficult to get them to come back for the next online presentation.

So, make sure your presenters are completely prepared and confident in the material they're presenting. Practice. Test a recording on colleagues. You've spent time and money on everything else leading up to this online presentation.
Invest a little more time and money on professional instruction to really set your company apart from all your competitors. It will definitely translate to the bottom line when you put on a great presentation in a confident, knowledgeable, and entertaining manner.
Prospects will demonstrate their appreciation by becoming clients.