A little motivation for a Monday morning. Max Effgen, April 13, 2009 Came across this on Andy Sernovitz’s Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That!. Originally from Chicago, I have witnessed more than my share of incredible Michael Jordan performances. Funny how you never remember the failures… Continue Reading
More on Coffee Max Effgen, April 11, 2009 Check out this good read by Starbucks co-founder Jerry Baldwin, Press Pots: Coffee Worth the Effort on Press Pots (a.k.a. French Press or “Freedom” Press). My coffee habits are similar — only espresso or press will do. A few years ago, I received a KitchenAid Pro Line Burr Grinder KPCG100… Continue Reading
Customer Loyalty Max Effgen, April 10, 2009 Time after time in discussing potential CRM technologies with clients, the issue of customer loyalty is brought forth. Clients want to make sure that their customers keep coming back. Depending on the type of relationship, one bad transaction can lose a customer. When the process of sales and service is… Continue Reading
More service myths… Max Effgen, April 9, 2009 Price and cost cutting are the keys to success. These “myths” are seemingly ridiculous and this will be the final post on the subject. (Huzzah!) It is not about price and cost cutting, it is about efficiency. In a past life with a software provider in the CRM space, our… Continue Reading
Employees are the cause of the most dissatisfaction… Max Effgen, April 8, 2009 More on the Ten Service Myths Having spent a lot of time in various call centers around the world, I have notice a constant. Employees (CSRs) will work to maximize the process or plan to their benefit. This is no different than a Sales Rep figuring out how to maximize… Continue Reading
If complaints are down, customer service is better. Max Effgen, April 8, 2009 How do you measure the effectiveness of customer service? In a traditional enterprise software model, customer maintenance revenue was a great measure of the effectiveness of customer service. In the Cloud subscription-based world, maintenance revenue does not exist. So how do you measure? It is certainly not by measuring complaints. Continue Reading
The customer is always right. Max Effgen, April 7, 2009 It is not whether the customer is right or wrong. It is that every contact with a customer is an opportunity to improve business results and the relationship. To borrow from Steve Yastrow: Is it a slap or a kiss? Are the contacts with the client and customer relationship-building or… Continue Reading
People always prefer talking to people… Max Effgen, April 7, 2009 This is another “myth” that I find puzzling and is just not sound business. Phone calls are more costly than other methods of incident resolution. Plain and simple fact. Most serivce centers have to find ways to scale without increasing headout (i.e. Productivity gains). There are many companies that are… Continue Reading
If you answer the phone the quickest… Max Effgen, April 6, 2009 …that alone is the key to success. I am not sure how this is a service myth for success. Everyone likes a prompt phone answer, but in this day and age that is not always practical. It can even be turned on its head. A client had an issue with… Continue Reading
Wine Max Effgen, April 4, 2009 I am not an oenophile, but I do enjoy a nice wine. Here is a recent discovery that is more than affordable and very good for the sub-$6 price. 2006 Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon Cheers! Continue Reading