What´s Your Brand?
Matt Plapp is a contributing author to ABR’s blog and is dedicated to the growth and branding of sales professionals and small businesses. As a marketing consultant, I call on 100+ businesses per week....
View ArticlePutting the Customer Back in Customer Service
It boggles my mind how little most businesses care about their customers. How about when your HP printer breaks and you’re routed to a call center where a polite man tells you in broken English that...
View ArticleNo More Mediocrity: Over-Deliver for your Customers
Zappos.com is a notoriously customer-centric company. Recently they received some great press when one of their affiliate sites had a glitch in their computer code that changed all of their pricing to...
View ArticleWith the Good Comes the Bad, But Help Is in Sight
Last month I was in the market for new golf clubs. I was willing to buy, but I was not in a MUST HAVE mode. I also had just taken my kids to a driving range where they used my clubs and had a blast. I...
View ArticleHow to Sell High-Tech Solutions (Revisited)
I wrote the article “How to Sell High-Tech Solutions” several years ago to help sales professionals understand how to more effectively sell their technology solutions to mainstream customers. Lots of...
View ArticleMonitor Your Reputation (and Your Customers!)
Would you ever let your phone ring in your customer call center and not pick it up? This is what happens on a daily basis inside social media tools. I see where people are praising companies or...
View ArticleYour Business: A Game of Numbers
How ‘bout them Giants? This is the most exciting week all year for baseball. For those of you less familiar with baseball, we’re talking about the riveting end to the months-long baseball season: the...
View ArticleCelebrating Customer Relationships: What’s Your Formula for Success?
February is a fantastic month, with so many things to celebrate… Groundhog Day – If there’s no shadow! Keep your fingers crossed that spring is coming sooner rather than later; I think we’ve all had...
View ArticleDid She Really Just Say That? Customer Service Tips for Challenging...
Last summer, Chris Mann of the Woodhouse Day Spa in Montgomery, Ohio, wrote a guest blog for ABR about “Putting the Customer Back in Customer Service.” I think this is a common theme that many of us...
View ArticleThe Double Platinum Rule: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level (or Two!)
Let me start by confessing that I borrowed the idea for this blog from a guy named Bryan K. Williams who did a stint at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and now does customer service consulting and...
View ArticleCustomer (Over) Service
Recently I’ve begun to experience something I like to call customer over service. It’s a rare monster to encounter, but when you come face to face with it, you’ll immediately know. First, let me break...
View ArticleAspirational Marketing: Challenge Yourself to Find Tomorrow’s Brand Purpose
Businesses are afraid to ask their customers the question, “Who do you want to be?” Too often, the question corporate marketers ask is, “What does my customer need today?” The problem with this...
View ArticleWhat I Learned from Black Friday Customer Service
Last week I did something I thought I would never do: I went shopping on Black Friday. I have been firmly against participating in the madness for as long as I can remember. I have never wanted to deal...
View ArticleHow to Deal with Challenging Customers
One of the first things my life coach (yup, I have a life coach, and I’m a big fan of everyone having one) taught me was that there are no problems…only challenges. When the word problem is replaced...
View ArticleWhere’s Your Urgency? Some Companies Just Don’t Get Customer Service
As I’m writing this, my hands are still wrinkly from scrubbing pots and pans. We’re on week three without a dishwasher. You would think that after three floods and eight service calls, my one-year-old...
View ArticleNo Compromises: Promoting, Supporting, and Living Your Mission Statement
I always have an eye on the competition. I don’t obsess over them, but I try to make myself aware of what they’re doing, how they price, and what they’re promoting. One thing that never fails to...
View ArticleMaking Meaningful Customer Contact
It seems that most of us in the business world don’t have a problem contacting our customers when they let us know that there is a problem, or when we need something from them, or when we are...
View ArticleExceptional Customer Service: Do You Deliver It?
After many years of providing what I believe to be exceptional customer service to clients, it never ceases to amaze me that there are still business owners and sales professionals who don’t understand...
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Give Them Free Cake (Ways to Win Over Your Customers)
One of the advantages to working from home is that I don’t actually have to work from home. I can be pretty mobile. You can find free Wi-Fi just about anywhere these days, so I’ve sent emails and IMs...
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