I was just reading John DiJulius’ recent newsletter in which he shares the latest statistics on customer service.  In the past (survey from 1997-2007)38% of companies ranked a “3″ on a 1-5 scale in terms of customer service.  One representing the worst possible experience and “5″ as World Class.  That’s a “C” on my report [...]

Are you on e-Harmony?  Do you know someone who is?  Well, if so you know that during the initial communication stage each party has the opportunity to share their relationship must-haves and can’t-stands.  You can pick from a set list of options or make up your own.  For example, must-haves might be: Must love animals [...]

I had an aha moment a few months back.  In all this talk about customer service and building relationships and earning customer’s loyalty I suddenly asked myself: “Who decides what great customer service looks like?” In every company I’ve been with, a team of executives and operational leaders will sit around a room and decide [...]

Reading some more in the book What the Customer Wants You to Know and came to the chapter about communicating with your customer.  Author Ram Charan says: The final step to ensure long lasting and profitable customer relationships is to incorporate post-sale servicing into the overall process. The sale does not end when the contract is signed. It [...]

Yesterday I was sharing Jeff Nischwitz’s thoughts on networking to build relationships in which he said it is more important to be INTERESTED than interesting. I was reminded of that fact when thumbing through an old, worn copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, copyright 1936. In the section Six Ways to [...]

Do you still view networking/after hours events as a race to see how many business cards you can gather?  I just recently went to such an event where the host gave a gift to the person who’d obtained the most cards.  How can you build relationships when all you really want is the card.  And [...]

Have you heard of the new pop band opening for the Jonas Bros?  Honor Society. While in Phoenix I heard them interviewed on the wildly popular morning talk show John Jay and Rich and they were fun, quick and talented.  But the thing I took away the most from their interview was that they “got” [...]

My mom recently had knee replacement surgery and when she left the hospital, she selected a live-in skilled nursing facility for her rehab therapy.  One of the added bonuses has been the friends she’s made of the other patients during her two week stay. What do they talk about? Their surgery and their recovery. They [...]

Terri Maurer of Maurer Consulting Group recently sent me an email after reading my October newsletter article entitled “Take Your Money to the Competition.”   Terri shared this story: I recently bought a WiFi card for my PC at Radio Shack, only to get home to find our son had one that he purchased and couldn’t use on his [...]

Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute is at it again!  For the third time he’s bringing together marketing and business professionals from around the world to share their thoughts, tips and techniques and profits benefit a charity. I had the pleasure of joining in the Conversation last time. This time Drew has invited 300 authors [...]