Do you delight your customers? I found an article written by Alain Thys that was published in 2007 that says it best: It’s funny that when discussing Customer Delight, most people start talking about customer service.  While this nicely fits our managerial illusion of control, it also completely misses the point.  Customer service is what [...]

I am working on writing a series of articles for a customer on the importance of developing and documenting business systems.  You know what they are, right? How you do your business Who your customers are How you find them The 1,2,3s of producing your product/service Your billing and receivables process Employee relations and hiring/firing [...]

In the March 1, 2010 edition of BusinessWeek there is an article entitled“Customer Service Champs: USAA’s Battle Plan.”  USAA provides financial services for military families and they understand their customers inside and out.  They use technology to allow service men and women to deposit checks no matter where they are stationed. They have programs specially [...]

Do you ever read Consumer Reports?  I know that when I plan to make a large purchase, I’ll research before heading to the store (or car lot) by looking for a recent issue of Consumer Reports for the scoop.  But they don’t just research the large ticket items. I was doing a little work at [...]

We talk about customer service and earning customer’s loyalty but when push comes to shove – which came first: The quest for sales and profits? Or Customers? My experience has shown that it is a rare company indeed that puts customers first at every level of the company – from the owner/founder to the board [...]

You’ve read articles on how to improve your business, lose weight, be a better lover and all have a long list of things to do to be successful. This list has one item: Fail to communicate. That’s all it takes to really tick off a customer and potentially LOSE them for life. I’m waiting on [...]

A friend of mine works for a large, highly recognizable insurance firm.  We got to talking about customer service and she shared the fact that in her company the historical culture was the opposite of customer focus. “We were the only place certain people could obtain insurance and so they were lucky we even took [...]