What is Customer Service?

Please note that this particular post is work in progress, because honestly every day I learn something new about the wonderful world of customer service.

For example, did you know that the Philadelphia Zoo uses the following core values to build a reputation for customer service:

Listen
Empathize
Action
Problem Solve

I also recall reading an interview that summarized customer loyalty as effective customer relationship management coupled with excellent customer service. So how would you define customer service?

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding or Marketing are:

1. Leadership

2. The Category

3 The Ladder

4 Duality

5 The Mind and Perception

6 Focus

7 Extension

8 Exclusivity and Superiority

9 Division

10 The Heart (Emotion)

11 Attributes

12 Candor

13 Sacrifice

14 Success

15 Failure

16 Unpredictability

17 Hype

18 Acceleration

19 Perspective

20 The Opposite

21 Origin

22 Resources

Italy, India and Democracy

Sonia Gandhi may have started the next wave of Indian development. For all the coverage India gets about outsourcing, I’m actually surprised that many news journals have failed to pick up on the Indian elections.

Things you may or may not know about Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia is the wife of the late Rajiv Gandhi who was assassinated while campaigning in Tamil Nadu.

Sonia is Italian by birth and has two children, Priyanka and Rahul.

Battle of the Handhelds

Brighthand is talking about a possible two horse race in the handheld market. Apparently HP and Dell may soon be the only prominent players in the marketplace. The printer scene also seems likely to head this way with HP and Dell turning out to be prominent players as well. Although, Lexmark, Cannon, Xerox and Minolta seem to be putting up a good fight.

The last time I went shopping for an inkjet, I decided to settle for the cheapest printer solely because of the high costs of the cartridges. Infact, I could buy a Cannon printer for the cost of an HP inkjet cartridge.

Talk about customer lock-ins.

Managing Group Schedules

Does anyone manage a schedule for a team? All of a sudden I find myself in a position trying to manage a schedule for a team of about 15 consultants. Thankfully there is some leverage and additional help, but there must be an easier way to plan the month ahead instead of co-ordinating 15 people over 31 days fluctuating between 1-2 shifts per day and possibly working on 4 different scenarios.

Suggestions?