Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of April 8, 2013

Top Customer Service and Business Articles

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

4 Keys to Customer Loyalty by Geoffrey James

(Inc.) Customer satisfaction is a joke. It’s customer loyalty that’s the real challenge.

Internal Customers: Do You Know Who They Are? By Patricia Lotich

(Yahoo.com) The term customer is most commonly associated with someone who purchases goods or services, but Joseph Juran, the famous management consultant, taught that organizations have both internal and external customers, and internal customers have a direct link to a positive external customer experience.

My Comment: An excellent article about the internal customer.  Before you can be the best place to buy, you must be the best place to work.  That means treating the fellow employees (internal customers) as good, if not even better than the outside customer.

In 42% of Companies, The Best Workers Are The Least Engaged by Susan Adams

(Forbes) More than a third of companies are so dysfunctional, the best people don’t really care about what they’re doing and the worst people don’t know that they are doing a lousy job. Those are the findings of a new study by Leadership IQ, a twelve-year-old Washington, D.C. company that does employee engagement surveys and leadership training.

My Comment: It doesn’t surprise me that a dysfunctional company can’t get even their best employees to fully engage.  Employees must be fulfilled, if nothing else appreciated, to have any chance of being fully engaged (long term).  There is no doubt that to be the place to buy, you first have to have a company that is the best place to work.

Back to Basics: Putting Customer Service Out Front by John Lusk

(Huffington Post) Whether it’s investing in online marketing channels such SEO, SEM and social media, exploring new segments, or even looking offline with a billboard on highway 101, every business owner is manically focused on how to grow their company.

My Comment: The basics never go out of style.  If you want more customers, then be so good that your current customers tell others.  This article has four simple tactics that will work for just about any size business in any industry.

7 Tips for a Starting a Successful Customer Loyalty Program by Caron Beesley

(SBA.gov) Small business loyalty programs are a great way of showing customers that they are valued. They encourage return business and help you gather information about your customer demographic. Loyalty programs can also boost your marketing efforts. Here are seven tips for starting a small business loyalty program.

My Comment: If you don’t already have one, and are thinking of having one, this article has some great tips for starting a loyalty program.  Loyalty programs can bolster a company’s marketing efforts.  A company has a choice.  Is the program about an incentive or discount program?  Or, is it about rewarding true loyalty?  The best loyalty programs combine both, but most importantly, is more about the customer being loyal to the company versus the loyalty program.

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