Intro

• 30 Days of Social Media
• Are you ready to engage in social media?
• Social Media Tool Box
  
• Putting a Face on Social Media – Gravatars

Facebook

• Face It: Why You Need To Know About Facebook
• Facebook-Business
• Facebook Advertising is for Everyone

Social Bookmarking

• What the Heck is Social Bookmarking
  

YouTube

• Good Marketing is About Telling Stories – YouTube Can Help
• How To Setup Your YouTube Account AND My Famous 5 Minute Video Creation Secrets Revealed

Google

• Google Wants to Alert Your Business to New Possibilities for Free

RSS

• What is RSS and Why Do I Care

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn 101 Getting the Most From This Often Mis-Understood Social Network
• What Everybody Ought to Know About Connections On LinkedIn
• Do You Make These Mistakes

Inspiration

• A Little Shift Goes a Long Way
• If the White House Can Embrace Social Media Can Your Business
• Social Marketing Results in Less than 60 Minutes: One Great Example
• Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Customers

Local Search

• If You Are Not In Local Search Engines Now, You Will Regret It Later
• Getting Started With Your Google Local/Google Maps Listing
• Are You Ready to Take Control of Your Online Reputation

Blogs

• Don’t Be Too Quick To Decide a Blog Isn’t Right For Your Business
• Give Me 15 Minutes and I Will Give You The Formula To Blogging Success

Auto Responder/E-commerce

• Do You Get Better Service From An Auto-Responder At An E-commerce Store Than You Do In Person

Photo Sharing

• Create a Vivid Image – Finding the Right Photo Just Got Easier

Twitter

• Is Twitter For You
• Twitter for Your Business

Authenticity

• Do You Have an Identity Crisis

Email

• Do you know what the single most important ingredient is in your business

Protecting Your Information

• The Lazy Mans Way to Hack Into Your Personal Information and Passwords
• There Is A Quick Way to Secure Your Identity On Social Websites

Summary

• How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Each Week

Today, I took a 1/2 hour to get a few errands done around town.  My first stop was to a retail store* where I had a box of blinds to pick up that were ordered online.  I stopped in and said, “Hi, my name is Steve Gasser.  I have a box of blinds to pick up.”  Her comment, “Excuse me sir, I only know you by your phone number.”  In shock, I gave her my phone number and she proceeded to disappear to the back room.  When she returned, I was handed my blinds with a receipt and told, “Thank you.”  Nothing else.  I was just a number.

Why do I shop online?  I ‘feel’ like I am more than just a number.  I am greeted by my name when I browse through the online store.  My preferences are remembered.  I even see recommendations from other people like me.  This really helps when I don’t quite know what I am looking for….

After picking up up the blinds, I drove through a fast food joint to get something quick to eat.  At the drive through, I was greeted with a friendly, “It’s a GREAT day at xxxxxx*!”  Wow, nice to hear.  I responded, “It is a great day isn’t it.”  Silence – for a full 30 seconds.  “Sir, may I take your order.”  Yes, even personal greeting are an auto-response.  When did we forget how to be social and care about other people.  Is it easier to do that online?

So whose fault is this?  The employee, the business owner, the last customer that just ruined the sales person day?  You can blame a lot of factors – but in the end there are excuses or their are results.  Blaming others just makes you a victim – take ownership of the situation and change it!  If you are a customer, demand to be treated as a person.  If you are a business owner, train your employees to care.

A friend of mine ordered a CD online.  This is the auto response he received:

Tom -

Thanks for your order with CD Baby!  Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.  A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.  Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterward and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved ‘Bon Voyage!’ to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Thursday, April 15th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did.  Your picture is on our wall as “Customer of the Year”. We’re all exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music

There is a tremendous opportunity for you TODAY!

Offer a new level of service to your clients.  I have always believed that we need to give the client a choice on how they want to work with you.  Some like to come into your store, or talk with you on the phone.  Others are looking for ways to work with you online – and even offer your advice on how to improve your level of service.  Give you customers a choice on how to work with you. It is too easy to forget that good old fashioned service is still expected.

What is your customer service story – good or bad – please share!

* I left the business names out of this article because the names do not mater.  We can all relate to the stories.  Pointing fingers was not the point of this article.