Years ago I attended a seminar where a consultant introduced the audience to the concept of the Platinum Rule. Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule and many people strive to live by it: ... Read More
Have you heard the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff?” I don’t know who the original author was, but I’d be willing to bet you two things: They didn’t die of a Type A heart attack. They didn’t succeed in the ser... Read More
Mindshare Technologies, the leading provider of real-time, automated customer feedback solutions weighed in today with the following point of view on how service companies can weather a recession.... Read More
Is customer service becoming extinct? Have we hunted it to extinction? Will an economic downturn be the last straw? Can it recover from the endangered species list? Who or what will make that decision?... Read More
Loyalty. What creates it? How can you sustain it? Is there a “secret sauce” that helps you transform a run-of-the-mill customer into a wildly enthusiastic devotee? What motivates a consumer... Read More
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and web blogs are just a few Internet services that make up the new growing digital world called social media (SM). SM provides participants with a community to create and maintain relationships and a forum to share their... Read More
People have an innate need to connect with each other. It’s what drives us to be close to our families and friends. For some, this desire includes the businesses with whom they commonly... Read More
Do you want your service company to win? Here’s my take on how: Listen (to your customers). Fix (the situation). Now (respond urgently)! I believe that real-time feedback and urgent response are among the most powerful differentiators with winnin... Read More
When was the last time you had to do a negative performance review with one of your employees? I mean the kind where you are the bearer of bad news and have to lay down the law in a forceful ... Read More
We all like positive feedback. It’s natural to feel good when someone gives you a pat on the back. In business, that feeling is extrapolated ten times. There’s nothing quite like the thrill of a satisfied customer telling you how perfect their e... Read More
Customer service means being aware of needs, problems, fears and aspirations. Numerous studies have shown that the cost to acquire a new customer is five to ten times the amount of... Read More
Our approach at Mindshare Technologies is built on two very simple axioms of business. Hundreds of books, white papers and research projects have explored the correlation between “Satisfaction,” “Loyalty,” and “Profits.”... Read More
We’ve all heard someone totally upset over a bad experience they had on a phone call with a call center. At some point, we’ve each probably felt that way ourselves. It may be wait times that are too long, poorly recorded messages, or an agent w... Read More
Mindshare uses the industry term enterprise feedback management (EFM) to describe the process of systematically collecting, analyzing, consolidating, and then using all sources of feedback to improve your business and your overall... Read More
Henry Ford was on to something when he said “A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.” ... Read More
Wanna win? Wanna be the best? Wanna become number one at what you do? There is a way. It isn’t easy, but it is simple. Here are several things to consider: ... Read More
Financial metrics have been the main scorecard of success for hundreds of years. But by themselves they don’t measure the complete health of a business. Financials measure... Read More
A number of our clients have approached us recently to ask about using Net Promoter Score (NPS) as the scoring methodology for their customer satisfaction surveys. Much of the hype around the NPS scoring method is attributable to Fred Reichheld’s... Read More
Those who love football will remember the following famous quote by Coach Woody Hayes. When asked why his team didn’t pass the football more often, he replied, “Three things can happen when you throw a pass,and two of them are bad.” ... Read More
Do you make your own electricity? Water and sewer? Furniture? POS systems? Printer drivers? Of course not! Similarly, should you try to build your own EFM system (including customer and employ... Read More
Facing stiff competition from a rival chain? Here’s a quick tip: Don’t alienate the customers you’ve already earned. Remember the introduction of New Coke? The 1985 fiasco is still cited as a prime... Read More
Sorry folks. Some of you are going to be disappointed. This isn’t a primer on skulking around with a new secret formula to get inside people’s heads at dinner time. Nope. Nothing here about skirting the rules on the FCC’s dictum... Read More