From the category archives:

Customer Service

Is LinkedIn Getting Old?

by Daria Steigman on November 11, 2009

LinkedIn tweet

There’s been a lot of discussion about the new “chocolate and peanut butter” pact that enables cross-posting between Twitter and LinkedIn. My reading of LinkedIn’s description of the new functionality is that people will have the option to selectively cross-post tweets to their status update.

I offered my thoughts here, here, and here, so I won’t stay more on this now. But there is a bigger question: What’s LinkedIn doing?

The new Twitter-LinkedIn arrangement has Twitter’s fingerprints all over it (extending to LinkedIn a service that’s already available to Facebook and MySpace users). LinkedIn hasn’t even tried to explain how this might be of use to its users–just how to use it.

LinkedIn is six years old, and the site looks it. You can’t even customize a font right now. Rather than focusing on add-on features, the company would do well to look at its core usability and the customer experience. Sure, they don’t have a lot of competition right now–but would you want to bet your business on the market environment maintaining the status quo?

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Community, Baltimore Style

by Daria Steigman on October 16, 2009

Our relay team, Guinness at the Finish, after the finish.

Our relay team poses for a quick, post-race picture.

The Baltimore Running Festival turned 9 this year, and I’ve run either the half-marathon or the relay five times and signed up and been unable to run a couple more. In other words, I love this race–and it isn’t for the unrelenting hills.

Here are a few of the highlights:

  • Corrigan Sports, which is a race organization nonpareil. They do a great job, ask for and incorporate feedback from runners every year, and are quick to apologize when something goes wrong. Plus they send me a “happy birthday” email every year; how cool is that?
  • The Gummy Bear Man, who I know has a real name (but I don’t remember it). He’s moved away, but he comes back to Baltimore every race day to hand out hundreds of pounds of gummy bears to thrilled runners around mile 23.
  • The wacky crowds, who come out in every neighborhood and cheer for the elites and stay until the last, slowest runner has gone by. My fav this year: “Eye of the Tiger” man–tiger suit, standing on the hood of a car pointing at runners as we went by, with the Survivor single playing on an endless loop.
  • The volunteers, including police, water station attendants, and the guy who handed me that silver crinkle blanket to keep me warm at the finish line.

And, of course, the runners — who somehow in Baltimore get that we’re all in this together. One year heat and ferocious head winds took their toll: I was hurting, everyone around me was hurting, and just about everyone was walking. A stranger looked at me and said, “We’re going to finish this race together.” And we did.

We spend a lot of time talking about online communities, and how to create and nurture them. I wonder if we sometimes forget the examples offline that are happening all around us. In Baltimore, there’s a race day community that I’m proud to be a part of each year.

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3 Tips to Turn Prospects into Customers (or Clients)

by Daria Steigman on September 30, 2009

It’s not often that I spend a full day listening to other people talk–and sit through it all (or at least most of it). But the GrowSmartBiz conference yesterday held my attention.

There was a lot of terrific content, and I’ll post more fully over time. But I thought I’d pass along 3 tips from SmallBizTechnology’s Ramon Ray on how to turn prospects into customers | clients:

  1. Be flexible about what you are offering (and don’t nickel & dime people).
  2. Follow up. You should “date your leads and marry your customers,” said Ray.
  3. Be a true resource (including educating customers & providing value).

What would you add?

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Second Look: Coyotes, Road Runners, and Burritos

by Daria Steigman on September 2, 2009

Each week I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.

Here’s your second look for this week:

  • Coyotes vs. Road Runners: An instructive post that talks about what toons can tell us about management styles and cultural differences.
  • Burritos via iPhone: Chipotle launches an iPhone app that lets customers pre-order and pre-pay for lunch. Smart business use of technology.
  • How Did It Make You Feel? Todd Schnick reminds us that customer experience is less about what you do and more about how you make us feel.

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New Survey Highlights What Customers Want

by Daria Steigman on August 6, 2009

bank-vaultInteresting takeaway from the Interbrand survey of consumer attitudes toward 32 major banks and financial services companies.* Turns out that the survey of 2000 households found that 53 percent don’t trust their own bank; and even more–64 percent–don’t trust financial service providers.

What consumers want:

“integrity, transparency, responsibility, and empathy”

What the heck were we (consumers) putting up with before?

This should also be another warning sign to companies, especially big brands, about the need to rethink their business operations and how they tell their story. What do you think?

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*From Interbrand New York CEO Alan Bateman in remarks yesterday during a Webinar hosted by Thomson Reuters.

Photo by takomabibelot. Flickr Creative Commons License.

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