Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by Jace Modavi
As the holiday season approaches, businesses everywhere are pulling out all the stops to attract customers to their stores. Whether it’s deep discounts, better hours, or improved service, this is the season to make it count. One of the biggest strategies that goes beyond a single store is the idea of a buzzworthy product. Each year, there is the one toy that parents everywhere scramble to find. For some reason, it becomes the season’s hottest item. This idea also goes beyond the holiday season. Think about when the iPhone first came out. At my local AT&T store, people were lined up for days. A red carpet was placed in front of the store, complete with a bodyguard/bouncer. What creates the want – the need – for these products? The buzz companies generate before they even arrive.
Continue Reading: ‘The Birds and the Bees – Creating Buzz around Your Product’
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by Jace Modavi
The 2009 holiday season will mark the 30th anniversary of The Salvation Army’s Angel Giving Tree program – and they’re doing it with a bang. This year, the Angel Tree program is going digital, which is good news for everyone involved. The Salvation Army has partnered with JC Penny to bring new life to the program, and make it more accessible for people wishing to participate. It’s a unique opportunity, and shows how even non-profit organizations can take control in the digital world. Today, we’ll explore how this move is improving the organization, its mission, and how it all relates back to the customer.
Continue Reading: ‘Out With the Old, in With the New: The Salvation Army Goes Digital’
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Jace Modavi
If you’ve visited the CNN Web site in the past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed a lot of changes to the look and feel of the site. While the main focus is still the news, of course, the site has been redesigned with ads, graphics, and headlines in different places. The main reason behind this change was to optimize the Web site for a mobile audience, and to make it mobile and smartphone friendly. In addition, CNN has recently released its own iPhone app, which delivers headline and breaking news right to the customer, without the hassle of typing in a Web address and finding it for themselves.
Continue Reading: ‘Capitalizing With CRM: The CNN Story’
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Jace Modavi
Around election time, you have probably heard people exclaim, “Why should I vote? My vote doesn’t count!” If you’re a political guru, you probably get frustrated with these responses. Just like you, businesses also get frustrated when customers don’t give feedback. On the customer’s end, they often feel like their feedback isn’t given much thought, and is just added to a pile somewhere in an office. Often, the lack of feedback is due to a wrong strategy, or if there is feedback, it’s mostly negative. Why would a customer willingly give feedback for a mediocre experience? Although it may seem strange at first, asking for feedback is the way to go. With the help of some digital tools, it can also be easier than ever.
Continue Reading: ‘Asking For Feedback: Why Your Customers Won’t Just Volunteer It’
Monday, November 23, 2009 by Jace Modavi
As customers, we often hear promises thrown at us from various business telling us that their product or service is the best value, or that they’re better than the other guy, etc. Of course, this is advertising; they’re supposed to look like the best, so you’ll bring your business to them instead of the competitor. When that new customer finally comes in, are you going to live up to your promise, or are you poised to disappoint? Too many businesses focus their efforts on attracting customers initially, but fail to follow through on their promises. The result is a very expensive customer experience – on the business’ end. In order to better serve your customer, your goals should be aligned with their goals.
Continue Reading: ‘Aligning Your Goals With The Goals Of Your Customers’
Friday, November 20, 2009 by Jace Modavi
If you’re one of the 10 million people watching The Office each week, chances are you aren’t tuning in to learn how to run a business, build company unity, or be a better boss. In fact, The Office shows us exactly what not to do for each of these situations. But what fun would it be if they did it right? Obviously, the show wouldn’t be as popular. What makes the show successful is the fact that it is relatable. Everyone has worked with a Dwight at some point, or had a boss just like Michael Scott. And although the characters of The Office aren’t always the best representation of customer service providers, there are some things we can learn from them. Make the jump to find out more.
Continue Reading: ‘What The Office Can Teach Us About Customer Service’
Friday, November 20, 2009 by Jace Modavi
It’s that time of year again, when everyone sits down with their family, eats way too much, falls asleep, and wakes up at 4am to go shopping. That’s right, it’s Thanksgiving. What does Thanksgiving have to do with CRM? Well, quite a bit, actually. Around this time, many stores and businesses start giving discounts – deep discounts – to their customers, as a thank you gift for their continued patronage. Special weekend discounts, store-wide sales and more entice customers in, and also aim to get them to spread the word to their friends to stimulate business even further. While discounts and sales have always been around, companies are getting creative and finding even more ways to make these events more special, remembering to always keep the customer in mind throughout the entire process.
Continue Reading: ‘Giving Thanks for Your Customers’
Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Jace Modavi
With a very few exceptions, businesses today cannot afford to ignore the customers who want to reach them online. More and more, “service” today means “Internet presence,” as increasing numbers of people go online to get information – whether it’s hours of operation, product and price information, or troubleshooting common problems. If you don’t have that information available and easy to access, you might lose a potential customer.
So your online presence is the first glimpse of your service that many people will see. How do you maximize this first impression? Let’s take a look at how one small florist has embraced the multimedia opportunities presented by the Internet in order to show their customers the level of service they provide.
Continue Reading: ‘Provide Superior Service, Get More Customers’
Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Jace Modavi
Transparency – we’ve heard the word thrown around by everyone from marketing to the president. Over the years, transparency has become commonplace in many industries, but there are still many companies who resist it for one reason or another. The truth is that customers want, need and deserve as much transparency as possible. No, this doesn’t mean releasing a secret family recipe or other trade secrets, but it does include being honest with customers, the media, and the public—no matter what. After the jump, we’ll take a look at some examples some businesses and brands incorporating transparency into their everyday functions.
Continue Reading: ‘Meet Them Half Way…Sharing Information With Your Customers’
