Woe to the company with poor customer service in the digital age

Here is a great account of what can happen when you treat the "wired" generation badly. Mistreat folks like Ryan Shell at your own peril...

Bad Customer Service has Legs

by Ryan Shell

"There’s a fun little restaurant I’ve visited on multiple occasions near my office in Union Square, and the experience has always been good. That is, until yesterday."

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Sum and Substance: Ryan was kinder than most bloggers or Tweeters, in not naming names. Many bloggers won't give you such courtesy. What about you? Do you know when people are complaining about your company via social media? Do you accept why you need to care about your reputation for customer service, particularly in the digital age?

What is a competitive advantage and how do you build one?

by Michael W. Van Belle, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The High Companies

A competitive advantage is the result of distinct competencies that allows an organization to be successful. These competencies allow the company to better serve the end customer and thus make the company the preferred choice of the market. In order for these competencies to be sustainable, they must be unique (not possessed my many), not obvious, and difficult to reproduce. Competitive advantages are based on a combination of resources (such as patents, proprietary knowledge, reputation, etc.) and capabilities (the internal processes and informal ways-of-working)-- provided these resources and capabilities allow a company to better serve the customer.

To build a competitive advantage, you must first fully understand your marketplace and customer requirements. No matter how well your internal processes perform or how many patents you hold, if the end result is not something desired by the customer you will not have a competitive advantage. The following article is a great example of understand what is important to the customer and using it to make a competitive advantage: "Great Service: The Ultimate Competitive Advantage."

Second, a company must fully understand its own abilities and opportunities to combine their efforts and effects in a way that is not a common practice. Lastly, there must be a way to protect the competencies developed. Often this is done through building relationships, patents, and trade secrets. A review of competitive advantage as defined by Michael Porter is available at this site.

Keeping Your Customers Close: Relationship Mining as Marketing

by Mary Beth Matteo, Founding Director, S. Dale High Center for Family Business

We all know that during tough economic times we’re advised to stay close to our customers but what does that mean, exactly? What’s the difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty?

Sam Geist, business expert, cites ten facts of life to improve customer loyalty:

Mass marketing is OUT
Marketing to a Customer of One is IN

Price, Quality and Service are OUT
Value-Added is IN

Monologuing is OUT
Dialoguing is IN

“If it doesn’t seem broke-leave it alone,” is OUT
“If it doesn’t seem broke-check it out anyway”, is IN

Knowing all the answers is OUT
Asking the right questions is IN

Sum & Substance: Business relationships depend on many of the same success factors as personal relationships. In this business climate, it makes sense to invest in your business relationships.

Quote of the week

“Unhappy customers don’t always complain-to you. Complaining customers are a godsend; they offer the opportunity to rectify the situation. Customer feedback-complaints and compliments are invaluable."

--Sam Geist, "What is your best item? Is it your 'best selling item' or your 'best-return-on-investment' item."

From the board room to the dinner table: Relating to your adult children peer-to-peer

by Mike McGrann, Executive Director
S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Great business leaders who empower individuals and create honest dialogue in the workplace can create outcomes as successful in the home as they are on the shop floor. So, here are three tips from the business world to better interaction with your teenage child:

1. Great business leaders create an environment of open and honest dialogue in order to build a great team. Give your teens space to have a real voice around the house. I am not speaking of the kind of voice for which we as parents often feel we need earplugs. Rather, do the hard work as a parent to ask three, four or five questions of your kids to ensure that you really understand their perspective on an issue. In doing so, you demonstrate to your child that i) their opinion matters, ii) that you care deeply about them, and iii) they don’t need to shout because they will have a turn to express their needs. Once you demonstrate this to your son or daughter, you have a much better chance of them actually listening to you. Great business leaders understand that they must create an environment of open and honest dialogue if they are going to build a great team. The more your family functions like a team, the more fun it is. While somewhat counter intuitive, the reality is that if you want your child to really listen to you, you must first demonstrate that you are listening to him/her.

2. Great leaders realize that words are cheap, but action is deep. Do as I do, not as I say. Kids, like employees, are always watching the boss. The leader who demands great customer service, but belittles an employee in public has little chance of success. Similarly, the way in you treat your spouse is the model for how your child will treat his or hers someday. The way you treat your child is the way he or she will treat you, and the care you demonstrate for yourself is how your child learns to care for him/herself.

3. Great business leaders understand that they can treat their subordinates as peers, without fear of losing their place in the hierarchy. Great business leaders often speak of creating “peership” within their hierarchy. By this, they mean that they will seek feedback, ideas, and challenges from anyone in the organization. They want subordinates to tell them why an idea is a good one or bad one. It is in this kind of dialogue that employees feel empowered, engaged and confident. Confident leaders know they can have this kind of dialogue without abdicating their position as the company’s final decision maker. Similarly, the goal with our children should be for them to feel confident that they can share their ideas and challenge their parents in a respectful way… and that their ideas will be respected. This does not mean that their ideas are feasible, but their ideas, their wishes are always welcome. It is said that one of the marks of a great parent is how quickly you can establish a peer-based relationship with your child. You can do so with the confidence that giving children a voice as a peer does not mean abdicating your role as parent.

4. Make time for meetings. Great business leaders make time for their team. Most often this implies regular face to face discussions of tactical issues to ensure alignment and to help the team stay focused on important issues. Similarly, families should make time for regular meetings with parents and children to discuss the issues that are impacting the well-being of the family.

5. Great leaders open themselves to feedback. They understand that only by demonstrating a willingness to grow and change personally, can they expect their company grow and change. This implies an openness to feedback and willingness to reflect on how their actions are impacting the team. Similarly, parents who demonstrate that they are willing to grow and change as parents are more likely to see the changes they wish to see in their children.

Mike’s Bottom Line: Embrace openness. Be authentic. Be a leader. Connect. Encourage feedback.