I was never one of the cool kids. I grew up a nerd, with big ears and coke bottle glasses and a better grasp on science and math than sports or fashion. In grade school, I attended a private Catholic school where we wore uniforms every day. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have Abercrombie…
Tag Archive: Customer
5 Steps to Great Customer Service
I am a terrible sales person. There’s really no disputing this fact. When I was in college, I worked in a retail store where I got paid commission. A customer who was eager to purchase a $300 leather jacket stared into the mirror while she hemmed and hawed over the decision. She finally sighed and…
How to Spam Potential Clients
Traditionally, direct mail has a low rate of return and marketers are constantly looking for a way to spice it up. They hope to gain attention and as a result, additional sales. I recently received a letter in the mail that proves how very wrong these efforts can go. When I opened the letter, it appeared…
Monkey Business
My son is in a Curious George phase right now. Fortunately, a few years ago we found a George collection for his older sister at a used bookstore, so we’re well equipped for bedtime stories. The book includes several original stories with plot developments today’s publishers would balk at. In the very first story, George……
“I Need to Start My ________. How Do I Choose a Name?”
Choosing website domains and social media usernames can cause heartburn for even the most web-savvy person. While this name selection isn’t quite as crucial as selecting a name for, say, your child, in the online world, it’s as close as you can get to that. There is no definitive One Size Fits All rule book…
Lessons from Knoxville: A City’s Brand Ambassador
Knoxville is a beautiful city. Pretty landscapes, nice people, good vibe. And fun taxi drivers. On a recent trip, I arrived about 11 pm and found one taxi waiting outside the airport. So I hopped in and was greeted by a cheerful man with a heavy foreign accent who was delighted to take me downtown….
The Every Day
I need to work out more. This is a frequent lament of mine but one to which I never really bother to find a solution. It’s recently become apparent to me why this is the case: exercise is not high on my priority list. This should be evident by the fact that I never bother…
Rewarding Customer Loyalty
You want loyal customers. If you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t be reading this. And you know that loyalty is a two-way street. You do right by your customers, they’ll stick by you… at least, in theory. But just to make sure, you’ve probably thought about a loyalty program, or maybe even implemented one. For many…
Business Communication IS Personal
Recently, we celebrated the start of a new year. Many of the resolutions I saw were pretty standard: people wanted to lose weight, quit smoking, get more sleep. However, one resolution stood out to me as something unique. A tweet stated the person intended to write and send at least two handwritten messages every month….
Blind Spots & your Business
My new car has a blind spot monitor. Anytime a car pulls up beside me, a little orange light flashes in the side view mirror. Yesterday a car crept too close and that light started blinking, and it reminded me of a Twitter chat I had last week. I was swapping tweets with a couple folks when…
