Thank Goodness for the internet. If I wasn't able to search for help with an issue I had with Moveable Type yesterday, I think I would have pulled my hair out. The help I received from Yahoo! technicians was minimal at best (Yahoo! hosts my personal blog), so I turned to the internet and came across a forum that provided me with the exact solution I needed.

Online communities are growing day by day and you can find a forum on just about any topic. For example, there are dozens of forums about Wordpress and probably just as many forums about Blogger. Customers helping each other with their problems certainly relieves some of the workload of the service reps who represent the company. Having an online forum creates an opportunity for a company to save money.

Companies that provide cell phone service or some type of tech service may want to look to Verizon as a template for online communities. Since Verizon's Community Forums were launched, they have brought in over 10 million page views. Verizon uses these forums as a way of gathering feedback to improve the company's product and service offerings. Another very popular forum is the Apple Discussions (of course!)

I still believe that it's essential for a company to have a blog...and I think that having an online forum is just as important. Think about all the time and money you'll save when you have a vibrant and active company forum where customers are helping other customers! It also helps when your company has a solid customer base with raving fans ;)

I came across this video of Patrick O'Keefe, author of Managing Online Forums: Everything You Need to Know to Create and Run Successful Community Discussion Boards, speaking at SXSWi 2008 where he shares some great tips on managing online communities...

Do you have any tips to share?

Source: Fox Business

Last night I attended a meeting for the Orange County chapter of ASTD (American Society of Training and Development) where Maureen Orey presented Even a Duck Can Drown: The Four Keys to Building Resilience. Maureen uses the metaphor of how ducks have to build resilience to water before they can learn how to swim.

Applying this concept to our business, we learn that resilience is important in order to thrive in a chaotic environment - as is the case with the current economic climate.

Maureen pointed out the four keys to building resilience:

1. The First Key - Use Your Resources!

• Get Connected
• Be Socially Competent
  

2. The Second Key - Adapt to Change!

• Be Flexible
• Be Able to Solve Problems

3. The Third Key - Think Ahead

• Be Proactive
• Get Organized

4. The Fourth Key - Know Where You Are Going

• Feel Self Assured
• Create a Personal Vision
  

Without resilience, a business cannot move forward. It just gets stuck in a rut...and when a business is in a rut, this affects how people interact with others - mainly customers.

For the next four weeks I encourage you focus on each of these four keys. I like the idea of getting connected first. If you're already an established business, you probably already have a database of current customers that you can re-connect with. Send out an email or write Thank You cards to remind customers about your business. You can also get connected by volunteering or attending networking events.

After the event I asked my Twitter followers what resilience means to them. Robyn McMaster shared her thoughts:


How about you? What does resilience mean to you? What are your thoughts on how resilience plays a role in creating a great customer service culture?

Here is an event that you may be interested in...

This Wednesday, March 25th at 11 am PST/2 pm EST there is a CRM Magazine sponsored roundtable. Representatives from Astute Solutions, Cincom Systems, Lithium Technologies, and Tealeaf will be offering their thoughts and resources.

In this Webinar you will learn ways to:

• Deliver effective mulitchannel customer service
• Integrate customer self-service and agent-assisted service
• Leverage Web 2.0 technology to improve customer relationships
• Build a support community with your most knowledgeable customers
• Provide agents with immediate access to all relevant customer information
• Improve customer reporting and analytics
• Minimize escalations with more informed customer service
• Reduce customer disputes with indisputable online interaction records
• Cut costs and complexity of customer interactions
• Gain insight on the voice of your customers
• Increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy

Click here to register for this webinar...

Welcome to the Great Tips Edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! There's definitely something learn from every submission to this carnivale, so make sure to visit every link...

Customer Service Tips

Service Untitled offers a 2-part series outlining an excellent system for making sure customers get consistent and accurate information. Check out Conflicting Customer Service: Part 1 of 2 and Conflicting Customer Service: Part 2 of 2.

Anya Portnik shares an overview of Sales training & business tips from Better Business Focus magazine posted at Gavin Ingham.

Get800today says that you should Designate a Toll Free Number For Different Departments.

Managed Services offers an overview of staffing requirements for four service delivery models in Secrets to Improving an I.T. Services Practice Part 6 posted at MSP University Managed Services Blog.

GP offers some food for thought on innkeeping and a recipe in So You Want to be an Innkeeper posted at Manely Montana.

Alex Homes presents How to Get Clients to Know and Trust You posted at Online Marketing Tips and Secrets.

Customer Service Stories

It's rare to come across a company that will try to help you save money with them. Well, Praveen presents Joy of the Down Sell posted at My Simple Trading System.

Meg shares a customer service disaster in Greyhound Form Letter posted at Simpson's Paradox.

Customer Service Training & Development

Banquet Manager shares some thoughts in My Newest Waiter posted at So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager....

Bill Marks offers some excellent ideas to those who manage telemarketers in Who may I say is calling? posted at Empiricism in Aisle 7.

Thanks to all contributors and thank you for reading! Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Would you like to host a future carnival? Contact me: maria[at]salondemaria[dot]info

"You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied." -- Jerry Fritz

Need advice on how to create a customer service culture? Check out this excellent article by Peggy Morrow over at Inc.com, Eight Keys to Creating a Customer Service Culture.

The economy. For many people, hearing the word "economy" makes them shiver with fear. Oh, but not you. After you read this post and the article I share with you, you are going to be on your way to business success!

I don't know what the unemployment statistics are, but I'm sure they're pretty high. The first thing many big businesses do when times get tough is let go of people - and usually the first people to go are customer service reps. However, this is scarcity thinking.

As Susan L. Reid points out, "To Lay Off, or Not Lay Off. That Isn't the Question". In this article Susan offers 10 ways to stabilize your business during a recession. Another good article to read is "The Allure of Scarcity" published over at Management-Issues.

I agree that people need to get control of their thinking. This is not the time to play the blame game and make excuses for why their business isn't doing well. It's all a matter of thinking and believing that everything is going to be ok. There are many people who are making even more money now than they did before all this perceived economic chaos came into play, myself included.

Here's an idea that came to me...Instead of laying off customer service people, why not put them in a marketing role and challenge them to come up with ways to attract more customers? Give customer service reps something different to do to get their creative juices flowing. Your customer service reps can become your biggest allies with a little inspiration and diversity in work tasks. Answering phones all day is really boring - especially when it's slow. Believe me, I know!

One of the biggest complaints that customers have about companies is inconsistent customer service or implementation of customer service policies.

A customer is told "No problem" by one person, but another person will say, "It's our policy that we don't...."

Having been on both sides of the fence as a customer service rep and a customer, I know how frustrating this can be. Working in customer service, I was the one who didn't quite follow the "rules" all the time. I was the one who was asked, "Why can you do this and the other person at the other location couldn't?"

It's interesting because I was never reprimanded for bending the rules.

Training Issues

I think one big reason why people receive inconsistent customer service from companies is lack of training - not so much in terms of policies and procedures because those can actually be learned easily. What I'm referring to is a lack of training in communication and flexibility.

Organizations put these rules and policies in place, but they don't tell their team that these "policies" are just guidelines. Customer service reps are quick to relay "policies" without giving much thought to a customer's situation or need. If customer service really and truly is the core of a business, upper management is (or should be) ok with a customer service rep going against a policy.

It's important to stress that company policies for customers are simply guidelines. Every customer interaction is unique and should be treated as such.

Build a Customer Service Council

Colin Shaw wrote a great article, How to Get Everyone Working to the Same Customer Experience Goal, where he suggests that organizations create a Customer Service Council. Key people within a company come together with the objective to improve the customer experience and make sure everyone is on the same page. The Customer Service Council can make note of any inconsistencies in service.

What are your thoughts on creating consistent customer service? Have any tips to add?

Welcome to Customer Service Carnival, a blog carnival dedicated to sharing customer service tips, news, resources, and reviews. In case you don't know, every two weeks I highlight the best submissions from bloggers for the carnival.

Wow, this is a big edition! Thanks to everyone for their contributions...

Customer Service Tips

It's tough to cold-call customers. I know, I've been there, done that! So I thought I should share Another 8 tips for confident cold calling… posted at Gavin Ingham. I also LOVE this article: Is this the simplest sales training tip ever?

And speaking of communicating with people, there are some great tips in The Big Persuasion posted at Coffee 4 Closers.

We always have to keep in mind that everyone in our organization has a role in customer service. That's why you should read Get Engineers Involved posted at Service Untitled.

MSP University shares some good tips in Help Your Client's Business Function After Interruption With Business Continuity Managed Services posted at MSP University Managed Services Blog.

Want to know what has made McDonald's such a successful brand? Check out Everything I Learned About Business I Learned at McDonalds posted at American Small Business News. Oh, and while you're there, you should also read Expert Q&A: Networking for Small Business.

GeekMBA360 presents Mediocrity at Barnes & Nobles and why Amazon.com is winning posted at GeekMBA360. I've had similar experiences at Barnes & Nobles as well...

Jimson Lee shares some great thoughts about the role CRM plays in customer retention: CRM in the Eye of Adversary Economic Climate posted at CRM Help Desk Software.com.

We can learn some good lessons from Steve C in What I Learned From My Customer Service Blunders posted at MyWifeQuitHerJob.com.

Customer Service Tools

Get800today presents Your Own 800 Number Tells Customers to Call Now posted at Get800today.com. You may also want to check out Customers are Evolving and So Should Your Phones.

Jimson Lee presents Request Tracker - Open Source Enterprise Grade Ticket System posted at CRM Help Desk Software.com, saying, "Here is an alternative choice to an open source ticket system such as the popular OpenSource Ticket Request System (OTRS)."

Kathleen Gaga offers one way to attract new customers in Teleseminars for Virtually Any Need and Any Market posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions

Customer Service Stories

I love to read about great customer service experiences! Boomer presents Canon Customer Service Rocks! posted at Bankruptcy to Boom.

Banquet Manager shares a little rant: Vacuum Under The Table Dammit !!! posted at So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager.... Also, if you're thinking about applying for a service position, you should read You Went On a Job Interview Dressed Like That? I think Banquet Manager needs a vacation ;)

Customer Service News

I can't believe what credit card companies are doing now! If you have credit cards, you should read Top 5 Signs That It Is Time To Cancel Your Credit Card posted at Ask Mr Credit Card.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: customer service carnivale, blog carnival.