ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
The Drawback of Hacking Off a Blogger Through Weak Process Gaps and Pathetic Customer Service
With all of the recent data theft in the financial sector, it is important to make sure that we don't go crazy trying to protect ourselves from risk. Risk management does have a value but this value lies mostly on the front end. Reactionary risk management almost always produces a point at where the value of protecting oneself or one's customers overshadows the product or service that you are offering. The majority of companies always go beyond this point, some thinking they can even sell it to the customer as a security measure and build their brand with it. This is a lazy and terribly detrimental course of action for any corporation to undertake. I recently called Citistreet, the company that manages the 401K plans for the corporation I will be leaving in a month. I was sent a PIN number about six months ago via snail mail but misplaced the paper and one of the security questions they ask is, "What was your start date with the company." Well, I worked for a subsidiary of the company that was eventually taken back into the motherfold--so I really have two hire dates and I couldn't get it straight with the woman from Citistreet. So, the first gap in their process was a pathetic back-up security system of identifying appropriate customers. Next, I was told that I would be sent a new PIN number through the mail in 5-7 business days and could then access my account via the web or the phone. I said, "So, let me get this straight...I have to wait 5-7 business days to get into my account? You do realize that we're talking my money here, right? I want access to my money right now and if you can't do that, then I am not going to take my money elsewhere (in 5-7 business days) but I'm going to tell everyone I know about the pathetic operations process you guys have (that's what I'm doing now)." In today's Instant Information environment, it is unacceptable to ask your customers to wait even 5-7 minutes to deliver information. Imagine my shock when I was asked to wait 5-7 business days--it was like someone told Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin after their Apollo 11 space capsule crashed into the ocean that they would be returning to land via clipper ship and the journey would take four weeks. So, I'm cashing out my funds and moving to another vendor and I think any of you who use this company are insane not to do the same. The woman on the phone apologized and kept saying, "I'm sorry, Sir--but that's just our process." I finally said, "Your process just isn't good enough. Fix it or the market will." What she didn't realize is that I am the market and so are each of you. Vote with your social contracts, my friends, and you will correct the market and remove incompetence as a barrier to raising the living standard all over the world. Joshua Minton is President of an Internet publishing and business consulting corporation, Family Bliss Enterprises, Inc. He is also author of two novels, several short stories, poems and articles on art, philosophy, politics, sociology, science, popular culture, business, health insurance administration, internet marketing, blogging and personal success. You can keep up with Josh through his Podcasts (http://joshuaminton.blogspot.com) and his Blog (http://boyswearpants.com). His book, Flipping the Temple: Win the Information War Using the Internet to Create Fantastic Success as an Author, will be coming out this Fall and will available exclusively through http://joshuaminton.com where you can sign up for free for Josh's exclusive weekly newsletters, where he posts his private thoughts and article embryos to his appreciated audience. In gratitude for allowing Josh to keep you updated on his thinking, you will be immediately sent two of his novels and a book of poems that he has published and are available only to members of his newsletter subscription list.
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Customer Service - Winning Customer Experiences Winning Customer Experiences What Exactly is Customer Relationship Management? The defintion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that I favor is "CRM is the business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate, manage and personalize the needs of an organization's current and potential customers" What Every Employee Should Know About How to See Customers Problems from Their Creative Side Customer Service is a blessing and a curse; a blessing to the customer and a curse to you, the employee. At least so it seems. Although as the Customer Service representative for your employer, you are faced with a never-ending barrage of complaints, problems, and questions on a daily basis, the pressure of the job could easily become a source of anger, frustration, and other forms of counter-productive behaviors. You seem to live in a pressure-cooker of stress. Sorry, No Customer Service After 4:00 P.M. A few months ago, I wrote about ingenious styles of customer service that every business should know about, mostly because their employees were inflicting them on their customers. Customers Who Rave About You and Your Service According to customer service studies by marketing gurus of the world, here are the following qualities, which must be present in your life and your business in order to develop raving fan customers who are not just satisfied but completely loyal to you over the long haul. Customer Service - A Sweet Essence First let us specifically define customer service. It is the performance of a duty or responsibility due to a customer as a result of selling them a product or service. Aint We Wonderful! It may come as a surprise to you to discover that customers don't buy your products or services because they feel that you have a right to make a profit. In other words, their motive for doing business with you is not to help you buy the latest Jaguar or put your children through college. You think this is a joke? Recent research shows that something like 60% of businesspeople place more importance on what they will get from a transaction than on what their customers will benefit. How to Keep Customers Who was it that said - "The customer is always right"? Well for those of you who can't get through the day without knowing, it was H Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridges's department store in London. Five Tips to Calm Cranky Customers 1. Tis the Season Client Appreciation - It Means Everything! Want to know the secret for keeping your clients forever? And what if you could keep your revenue growing by 25 percent every year, because your clients loved the way you appreciated them? In this article, you will learn how easy it is to develop a powerful client appreciation program. Once in place, an appreciation program will forever change the way you operate and manage your business. Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. Your goal is to get positive-word-of-mouth advertisers. Why Cant Microsoft Make Soft Packaging? Why is it that Microsoft wants you to buy its product but does not want you to open the plastic case that is welded around the cardboard box? I believe that such packaging along with cockroaches will survive atomic disasters! Who Says the Customer is Always Right? We all know the old adage, "The Customer is Always Right." If you are an online business owner or offline for that matter, you are on both sides of the subject almost everyday. Customer Service and The Human Experience Historically, customer service was delivered over the phone or in person. Customers didn't have many choices, and switching to competitors was cumbersome. Today, these methods are but two of the many possible touch points of entry for any given interaction. With all the options the Internet brings, competition is literally a click away. If, as has been reported, 65% of your business comes from current customers, then in order to stay in business, you best focus on winning the satisfaction and loyalty of those customers. Whatever Happened To Customer Service? Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of enthusiasm and said, "Welcome to our store, what can I help you with today?" And then listened attentively to what you had to say? Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder However, in the world of business, this cliché may not necessarily be true. Sometimes it can be more like 'Out of Site, Out of Mind'. E-Business?s Best Friend: eCRM From Ebay to the smallest home-operated start-up, e-businesses of all sizes struggle to accurately answer a common question: who are my customers? If you can't answer that question, chances are you're also in the dark about the following questions. What customer demand trends can I expect in the future? How can I improve customer retention? What can I do to build long-term relationships of trust with customers? Knowing the answer to these questions can mean the difference between long-term growth and profitability and crashing and burning. Ten Ways to Help You Improve Your Customer Service 1. Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Justas it is bad news to send out too many emails to customers,it is just as bad to not stay in contact with them.Customers don't want to feel abandoned. So don't. Customer First Customer Service The world of customer service is rapidly changing. Thirty years ago, telephones and mail services were the norm for most companies. Now, faxes, email and web sites offer more options to customers than they've ever had before. It takes a dedicated team to keep loyal customers coming back and new clients coming in. Customer Service Has Moved Toward Customer Care As I waited for an answer to my VCR inquiry from a stereo company, the recording stated a "customer care" representative would be available shortly. At that moment, I realized it's finally catching on everywhere. With aging baby boomers, world events and additional pressures in today's society; it is "customer care" that has evolved in our economy. We have moved from a manufacturing economy to a service economy and are currently leaning towards a "servicecare" economy. As we live in a high tech-high button touch environment, many personal contacts have been decreased making each customer interaction more important than ever to corporate imagery. For example, if you call for computer tech support, the representative often makes it a point to address you by first name. If it's the bank credit card company, they may ask "How are you doing today?" This makes the customer feel less like a number and more like a human being.
|
|
|
|
|
