• The Facebook You – Are you presenting the world an authentic version of who you are, or are you using the social platforms to present a glorified version of how you want to be perceived? I call this The Facebook You. This applies to businesses as much as it applies to individuals.
    • Employee Service – Forget customer service, let’s make sure the employees can leave on time. My brother called a customer service line last night. His call is automatically cut off while she’s supposedly taking down important information. He calls back to find the office closed at 8PM. So either she hung up, or the calls are automatically killed at closing time. Not a good plan. Today he calls and they have no record of the call ever happening.
    • Subscription Services – Making me jump through hoops to cancel + hiding the cancellation button + charging me even though I’ve canceled = one very poor customer retention strategy. FYI… I work with a number of subscription sites, speak at Industry events etc… If this is you, you need to call me.
    • Server Shadowing – What good does it do to have a new server simply follow around another server? I watched as a local restaurant was training two new servers. The girls stood there dumbfounded and listened as the other server just did her thing. How is that considered training? Just following them around, to the bar, back to the table, getting drinks, standing silently etc. Taking an order is a job you learn in the trenches. If I was the trainee, I’d start telling the server everything she’s doing wrong. Now, if there’s a process of how things are done to improve the customer experience, then I’m all for it. But I can attest, there was nothing special about the way she put the bucket of chicken wings in front of me.
    • Real Estate Professionals – I’ve been barking about this for years. Why haven’t they got the memo on excessive use of CAPS?
    • $100 Startups, 24 Hour Businesses, Make Your First Buck on The Web  – Don’t say you only have $100 to start a business. You have credit cards, friends, family, and other ways to raise money. Have faith in your abilities! You didn’t wait to buy your house, or your car. You have to trust in yourself. In regards to the latter, stop dialing for dollars. If you’re going to build a business, do it right.
    • Customer Connection – If  your customers are complaining about the small stuff, they’re lacking an emotional connection with your brand. Loyal customers will often brush off a bad experience as an anomaly.
    • Customer Loyalty – Customer Loyalty is never “owed” to your business, and customer retention is never “automatic.”  They’re both built one block at a time.
    • Life Balance – If someone has tweeted over 80,000 times they are officially disqualified from being an authority on life balance.
    • This Guy – This guy decides his family will live like it’s 1986 because his kids spend too much time on iPads. He does this instead of simply getting rid of the iPads. Or, he’s making a 1986 income and this is his ingenious way of keeping his wife happy.

 

Noah
Noah