posts, articles, and infographics

Take Our Customer Service Survey So We All Can Learn

May 23, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 53 views

Image: Stuart Miles /Shutterstock

To quote Robin Carey, our fearless leader at Social Media Today LLC and this site’s creator, social media and customer service are getting better acquainted these days. To what extent are they intimate? [read more]

3 Most User Friendly CRM's

May 22, 2012 by Stephanie Wagner
with 85 views

Image: Sean MacEntee/Flickr(creative commons)

There is a huge market for CRM management tools. There are several companies that promote products for small to medium size businesses to improve their CRM skills. None are perfect, but many have the capability for customization or offer add-ons to integrate all departments into the system. [read more]

Three Reasons Why Happy Brands Win in Social Media

May 15, 2012 by Chris Dessi
with 166 views

Image: Rafal Olechowski/Shutterstock

In social media, there is a distinct advantage for brands that are happy vs. those that are not. Social media, it has been said can be the ultimate BS meter. You can "fake" happiness for a short period of time, but it is highly difficult to fake it in the long term. [read more]

How Self-Service Kiosks Can help Companies Meet Corporate Goals

May 14, 2012 by Adam Snape
with 44 views

If you've ever been to an airport or bus terminal you've probably used a self-service kiosks before. Try to fathom how many human-to-human transactions have been eliminated through the use of just one ticket terminal at an airport. [read more]

Frank Eliason at BDI, My Favorite Quotes Hot Off the Press

April 19, 2012 by Robin Fray Carey
with 39 views

Frank Eliason, Senior Vice President of Social Media, Citi Group.

"People get social not through metrics, but through stories." -- Frank Eliason of Citi. [read more]

“Channeling” the social customer

April 19, 2012 by Catherine Constantinides
with 171 views

Image: Bizroug /Shutterstock

We must acknowledge that in this day and age, the customer owns the conversation and ultimately decides when and how to they want to connect with you. The new expectation that your company is available to the customer at any time and on multiple channels requires organizations to have an effective process of ongoing dialogue. [read more]

Why Customer Service Is Your Best Marketing Tool

April 17, 2012 by Mitchell Wright
with 313 views

Keeping customers happy means more than throwing money at them.You also need to give your customers adequate time to show them you value their business. It doesn't matter if you run an email compliance and archiving service or provide a premium widget for blogs, for example, be willing to help the customer set up the widget. [read more]

New Customers Shouldn't be the Only Ones to Get Special Pricing

April 11, 2012 by Shep Hyken
with 206 views

Image: Radu Razvan /Shutterstock

Why do companies create great promotional pricing for their new customers, but not take care of their loyal customers? I know, this is marketing and sales, but it's not a good deal. And, here's another question: If I'm loyal, shouldn't I be treated at least the same, if not even better, than someone who has never done business with the company before? [read more]

How to Tweet Your Way into the Customer Experience Social Media Summit

April 9, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 129 views

Customer experience. In seven words. Now there’s a challenge! [read more]

Are Customers Driving Contact Centers Towards Social Care?

March 29, 2012 by Walter Van Norden
with 147 views

Image: Igor Petrov/Shutterstock

The emerging field of social care is being handled differently by different organizations. Some firms are using social media channels to ‘listen’ to customers to improve marketing, products and support. Others are ‘engaging’ with customers to address individual issues and reduce the volume of traffic to other support channels. [read more]

Why Today's Selling Rules Are Crazy-Busy (Video)

March 29, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 38 views

Spend just a few minutes talking with Jill Konrath, the keynote speaker at the upcoming Inside Sales Leadership Summit, her and you come away energized, overwhelmed just a little, and possessing not just a few innovative suggestions. [read more]

The End of the World As We Know It, and Sprinklr Feels Fine

March 28, 2012 by Robin Fray Carey
with 45 views

Ragy Thomas, Founder and CEO of Sprinklr

The newly named and emerged “space” of SMMS is being transformed from simple monitoring, the kind of thing innovated by Radian6 and others, to a more strategic and enterprise-wide functionality that is butting up from below against the functionality and acceptance of traditional CRM – and vendors like SAP and Salesforce. [read more]

Managing Social Media Overwhelm

March 23, 2012 by Ana Lucia Novak
with 212 views

The most common reaction I get with people who are not technically inclined or are strapped for time is a sense of overwhelm and resistance to change or implement social media into their marketing and networking plan. There is a solution and it's organizing and setting up a solid social media infrastructure with platforms, tools, and editorial calendar, starting a new habit that becomes ingrained into their day to day living. [read more]

Twitter As a Help Line? Have We Ever Come a Long Way

February 15, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 145 views

The extent to which some companies have embraced a progressive strategy in what I consider a relatively short time is impressive. Wasn’t it just yesterday that getting a response when you emailed a company was iffy, much less receiving a Tweeted response within hours, even minutes? [read more]

Why Social Media Is Like a Raucous Bar (video interview)

February 9, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 43 views

Social media is a lot like the activity at a bar. You know, the kind with drinks and sometimes loud music. That’s Dave Carroll’s take. Long before we started Linking In and Facebooking and Tweeting, he was playing his music in university-area pubs. [read more]

‘United Breaks Guitars’ Launched Dave Carroll's Career in Social Media (video interview)

February 8, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 103 views

Within four days of the video’s posting on YouTube it had a million hits. Two and a half years later, it’s been viewed 11.5 million times and Dave Carroll’s name is synonymous with customer service. [read more]

'United Breaks Guitars' Sparks New Customer Complaint Resolution Model (video interview)

February 7, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 71 views

Musician Dave Carroll always has had a passion for customer service. So it’s not surprising that in the wake of his highly popular “United Breaks Guitars” video on YouTube, he’s become a one-man band in support of companies treating their customers fairly. [read more]

'United Breaks Guitars' Made Dave Carroll a Customer Service Celebrity (video interview)

February 6, 2012 by Paul Simon
with 346 views

"United Breaks Guitars" went viral quickly after musician Dave Carroll posted it to YouTube. He talks about the experience in this video interview, the first of four segments. [read more]

10 Top Sales Trends for 2012: Staying Humble and Hungry

February 3, 2012 by Josiane Feigon
with 198 views

In 2012, you will find that companies continue to sit on their cash reserves, and stressed-out consumers continue to postpone purchases — just because they can. [read more]

Komen and Planned Parenthood: The Pace of Social Media Outrage

February 3, 2012 by Alyson Stone
with 82 views

Image: Mark HIllary/Flickr(creative commons)

When The Susan G. Komen Foundation took the unexpected action of cutting off funding to Planned Parenthood, they triggered an event that represents the power and reach of our increasingly social communication [read more]