Leadercast Ticket Discount Ends Friday

Discount ticket offer ends on December 31st!

Purchase your tickets before the end of the year (that's this week, FYI) for only $75pp. Starting January 1, the early bird special ends and ticket prices will be $99 and up.

We hate to sound like a used car dealer, but time is running out rapidly to take advantage of this incredible price on tickets to Leadercast 2011 at sparkspace.

Leadercast presents a lineup of world-class speakers beaming to us live from Atlanta. You will be joined at sparkspace by an elite group of 100 participants sharing the experience in the relaxed and stimulating environment of the most exciting retreat center on the planet.


Speakers at this year's event include best-selling authors Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, and John Maxwell, among many other world-class experts and speakers. see the full list

The details:


Event: Leadercast 2011
Date: Friday, May 6th
Time: 8am-5pm
Location: sparkspace, Columbus
Discounted Price: $75pp, includes program, breakfast, and lunch



PURCHASE TICKETS NOW


Full program information



FYI: Leadercast 2011 will be simulcast to over 500 locations around the world. If you're not in Columbus, you can find a location near you on the Leadercast website.

The (Almost) Grinch who (Almost) Stole Christmas

Last week's post, "88 Ways For Your Company To Make The Naughty List" was a big hit. This week, we thought we'd run an article about the flip side. As luck would have it, a loyal reader shared a phenomenal story of customer service with us this week. Enjoy this guest post from Stephanie Kessler. We hope it inspires you to better service, not just during the holidays, but throughout 2011 and beyond.

Who steals Christmas? 

That's what my mother thought yesterday when she arrived home, checked her email and found that three UPS packages that said "delivered" were missing. Nowhere to be found, even amidst the inches of snow piling up outside. We called UPS -- yup, delivered. They said to call the three stores and the stores would need to file a claim. 

J. Crew and Zappos customer service were amazing.
"No problem," they said, "we'll ship the same merchandise, free of charge overnight". They did so because they knew there were holiday gifts inside those not-so-hidden huge brown boxes. 

Well we had many more packages on the way this week than just these three of course, so what to do now? 

The next morning came, and we called our local UPS center, as instructed, to see what time the driver would arrive to make sure someone would be home to receive the packages. Bear in mind UPS puts a 2-year hold on your address if a store files a claim, meaning no signature = no delivery. It's for our own protection, but we weren't looking forward to having to drive to the other side of town or shipping it all to work from now on. 

Lo and behold, a neighbor way down the street called and said our three missing packages had been delivered to her in error, as she and my mother have the same first name and very similar last names. 

Well, now we had some duplicate gifts on the way to take care of, and an ominous "hold" on our address looming if we didn't do something quickly. 

We emailed both J.Crew and Zappos customer service, asking them to remove the UPS claim and telling them we'd ship back the duplicate packages. They responded immediately, 4 days before Christmas and all, and couldn't have been nicer. They squared it away with UPS, and J.Crew even waived the return shipping (though we may in fact keep the duplicates--my brother really needs khaki pants)! 

Best of all, the second order was cheaper because something had been marked down since the original order. Zappos was perfect, too -- they even made us both VIP customers for the trouble, giving us access to their VIP website (a very smart loyalty strategy if you ask this advertising copywriter).

All in all there was no Grinch, just a holiday mixup, and it just goes to show that a little help at the holidays goes a long way! When customer service is stressed to the max, and everyone's trees are counting on you, I hope you're as special as Zappos and J. Crew! 

Stephanie Kessler

Copywriter

Triad Advertising

Canton, MA

Thanks for the great story, Stephanie!

Got a happy holiday custo mer service story or thoughts to share? Leave a comment!

88 Ways To Make The Naughty List

Last year at this time, we asked our readers to help us create the ultimate "naughty list" for business -- a compilation of the attitudes, actions, and behaviors that you've experienced that have been, let's say, less than ideal. We have thousands of new subscribers since that article ran so we thought it would be great to share it with our newest friends. When we read the article again, it dawned on us that we should probably all read it at least once per year to keep us on our toes.

We summarized your stories, comments and pleas for help into 88 ways companies can make the naughty list. As you read these, you'll chuckle knowingly at some, wince at some, and nod your head in agreement at nearly all of them. But as you read, I'd like you to use this list as a checklist for your own business. Think about each of these 88 behaviors and ask yourself, "Do we do this at any level?"

I'll be honest with you, we pride ourselves at sparkspace on the level of customer service we provide, and we found SEVERAL items on this list that hit a little too close to home.

I probably don't have to encourage you to do this, but you might want to forward this week's newsletter to, well, EVERYBODY you know. I have a feeling this is going to be one of our most read, most forwarded newsletters ever.

88 Ways To Make The Naughty List (in no particular order):

1. Poor communication between different parts of your business.
2. Talking to co-workers about personal matters instead of paying attention to me.
3. Talking on the phone about personal matters instead of paying attention to me.
4. When 10 employees walk by the same piece of trash.
5. Communications that contain grammatical and/or spelling mistakes (but, please excuse any in this newsletter).
6. Saying or implying "it's not my job" and pushing me off to another department or person.
7. Having to call (or be transferred to) three different people because nobody has access to all of the information I need regarding services or my account.
8. Lack of accountability for mistakes.
9. Not knowing the answer to a question AND THEN not trying to find the answer.
10. Long lines.
11. Employees who don't seem to care.
12. Having to ask you to repeat a service because of poor quality the first time.
13. Employees who PICK THEIR NOSE just before helping me.
14. Not responding to a personal complaint phone call, voicemail, letter, email, facebook page post (on your company's page), or tweet (to your company).
15. Placing me on hold for 20 minutes.
16. Placing me on hold for more than a minute, period.
17. Providing a "help" phone number staffed by people who can't (or won't) really help you.
18. Failing on your promises to me.
19. Bad-mouthing the competition.
20. Not having an advertised sale item in stock (or not providing a rain check).
21. Asking me to wait so you can make a bigger sale to a customer who just arrived.
22. Automatically replacing an ordered item with a "similar" item because the original item wasn't available, then not informing me of the change.
23. VOICEMAIL JAIL! A. Dumping me into automated voicemail systems with way too many options to listen to. B. Asking me to input my account number multiple times. C. Placing me on hold, then disconnecting me. D. Any of the above, in any combination.
24. Acting like you don't have time to help me.
25. Charging more just because you can.
26. Requiring ME to follow up continually in order to resolve YOUR mistake.
27. Treating me like you're doing a favor for me instead of being grateful for my business, no matter how big or small.
28. Employees arguing with each other.
29. Using foul language.
30. Not sounding educated (about your company or product).
31. Not sounding educated (by an elementary school).
32. Being placed on hold after talking to someone, then being asked "Can I help you?" when someone picks up the phone again.
33. Making me repeat an issue, name, account number, etc. every time you transfer me.
34. Sending me marketing emails without my permission.
35. Selling or sharing my email address without my permission.
36. Not unsubscribing me when I request to unsubscribe.
37. Completely ignoring or "blowing off" my complaint by not offering any solution, resolution, or compensation.
38. Not being somewhat flexible on deadlines, due dates, and expiration dates of special offers.
39. Not providing complete information about a product, sale, or promotion and expecting me to live up to all of the rules & regulations that you DIDN'T publish.
40. Slow shipping on something that's "in-stock".
41. Selling your product through "representatives" or "franchises" that don't deliver on YOUR brand promises.
42. Complaining to me about another customer!
43. Cashiers who are on "auto-pilot".
44. Employees who talk about how they can't wait until their shift is over.
45. Making me fight my way through a poorly designed form.
46. Requiring me to fill out multiple forms with the same information.
47. Making a special offer or sale, then basically negating most of it through a complex disclaimer.
48. Being rude.
49. Being aggressive.
50. Not taking no for an answer.
51. Being inconsiderate of my time.
52. Giving me a time-frame of when you'll show up, and showing up at the very end of the time.
53. Giving me a time-frame of when you'll show up, not showing up, and not calling me to tell me.
54. Telling me about you instead of asking me what my needs are first.
55. Making me go through your entire automatic phone system only to find out I've called outside of your business hours.
56. Barraging me with mail solicitation.
57. Not smiling.
58. Telling me you don't "ever" do something when you could easily do it for me this time.
59. Sending me communications that try to win me as a new customer when I'm already a customer.
60. Not saying thank you.
61. Not honoring your 100% satisfaction guarantee.
62. Price gouging.
63. Lying.
64. "Lazy lying", i.e., saying you're out of something without checking.
65. Bad-mouthing your own company.
66. Not being nice.
67. Not making it easy to do business with you or, worse, actually making it difficult to do business with you.
68. Speaking the phrase, "Our policy says..."
69. Being condescending.
70. Being patronizing.
71. Being arrogant.
72. Poor follow up. If you say you'll do something, DO IT.
73. Failing to apologize for your mistakes.
74. Failing to acknowledge that my situation sucks, even if it's not your fault.
75. Hiding from me by not providing me a way to contact a real person.
76. Calling ME, then putting me on hold!
77. Offering discounts to new customers, but doing nothing for existing loyal customers.
78. Not being properly staffed when you know you're going to be busy.
79. Employees standing around chatting, or doing nothing, while I clearly need help.
80. Not listening to me, not engaging me in conversation, and giving me a "pat" answer instead of finding a real solution to my need.
81. Not trusting me and requiring too much verification (especially when "security" is not an issue).
82. Assuming you know what my problem or desire is before truly finding out.
83. Not providing a simple, "I'll be right with you" acknowledgment.
84. Operating solely off of a script instead of listening and being human.
85. Making me feel like a number instead of a valued customer.
86. "Nickel & dime-ing" me by adding on fees, hidden charges, etc.
87. Constant reorganization and restructuring and making me re-learn your company.
88. Disciplining your employees in front of me.

Whew! That's quite a list. And as exhausting as it may be to get through it, it's not an exhaustive list. You might even wish to spend some time developing your own "naughty list" of behaviors that your company should specifically avoid.

So, anything else you'd add to the list? Any of the above really jump out at you? We'd love to hear your comments!

Keep Your Friggin' Appointments

I intentionally keep my articles on the upbeat, positive side. That's really the kind of mark I'd like to leave on the world. So I don't often write about stuff that ticks me off. However, this week I'm making an exception because this needs to be said:

KEEP YOUR FRIGGIN' APPOINTMENTS, PEOPLE!

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you. I also apologize to my mom for my use of a (substitute) swear word. I'm just a little bit -- ok, extremely -- frustrated by this issue.

You see, this past week I had three people miss appointments with me or cancel at the last minute. This happened in the span of just two days. But that's not what really upset me. What upset me is that this is not the first week this has happened. Heck, it's not even the twentieth week it's happened. 

THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! It never has been, and never will be, acceptable.

Almost weekly I have one or two people who break appointments with me with virtually no notice, or they will completely miss or blow off a meeting. I recently had someone email me one minute -- ONE MINUTE -- before I was supposed to meet with him in person to tell me he was going to miss our meeting. Really???? You just found out one minute before you were supposed to be here? C'mon, dude, that's lazy, rude, and completely inconsiderate.

Sadly, almost depressingly, I know I'm not alone. Whenever I share my frustration with friends & colleagues, you know what I hear? "Yeah, that happens to me all the time." And they are equally frustrated.

Several years ago I canceled an appointment with a potential client, not just once, but twice. Then when I did show up, I was fifteen minutes late because of an incident back at work. He brought me in his office, let me sit down, and started the conversation with "I'm not going to work with you and here's why..." He then proceeded to lecture me about professionalism, respecting other's time, etc. I thought he was the biggest jerk I had ever met. Until people started treating my time the way I had treated his. I still cringe when I think about what an idiot I was (and the fact that I was mad at him for giving me the spanking I totally deserved).

I feel like we've forgotten as a society how important time is. My time is important to me, just like yours is to you. Do you know what I do when I have an appointment on my schedule? I stop working and prepare for the appointment. When you don't show up, or you're not at your desk when I call at our appointed time, I feel 100% unimportant. It doesn't matter what our relationship is. You could be a client, customer, job candidate, or colleague and I'd still feel the same way. 

I don't want to do business with people who make me feel unimportant, do you?

I don't want to work for those kind of people as clients. I don't want to buy from those kind of people as a customer. And I certainly don't want to HIRE those kind of people to work for me.

Here's a simple formula to help you keep your appointments:

1. Use a calendar.
2. Leave plenty of time between appointments. Meetings always run long. Don't even pretend to be surprised by this. 
3. Schedule only the truly important stuff. You don't have to take every meeting just because somebody asks for it. 
4. CALL as soon as you know -- don't email one minute before the meeting -- if you're running late or have to cancel. Believe it or not, not everybody checks their email every minute of every day.

I could have probably called this article "Business Integrity and Etiquette 101", but that wouldn't have been near as catchy, nor would it have conveyed the urgency and prominence I believe this issue deserves.

Would you join me right here, right now, in re-committing to respect other people's time? Let's start today by keeping our friggin' appointments. 

And I promise I'll write a more upbeat, positive article next week.