I recently had an email exchange with the “support” department of a company that has a Twitter client, which is currently in a closed beta.  I put support in quotes because I didn’t receive any support at all, only a bad attitude.

Here’s an excerpt of one of the emails I received from them:

its a closed beta in development we have zero time to answer any emails yet we do.  each user costs us money today…so to be very clear here providing this service to you costs me money.  you are not our customer we were kind enough to provide you with a useful service.

There are two immediate problems here:

1. Offering a popular product and then complaining to one of your customers that they’re costing you money and leave you no time to answer emails is shooting yourself in the foot.
2. Users of your free products are, in fact, your customers.  In this case, the customers are also de facto employees since they’re testing the product and providing feedback, and thus should be treated as the valuable asset they are.

And also notice how poorly the email was formatted.  The punctuation is poor, and each sentence begins with a lower case letter.  Perfection is not required, but competence is.

What sense does it make to launch a startup and offer a product if you’re going to resent the users of that product?  This experience reminded me of the Demotivator titled Apathy: If we don’t take care of the customer, maybe they’ll stop bugging us.

This customer certainly did.

I’ve been doing a lot of shopping at Lowe’s and Home Depot recently, and I’ve noticed an interesting behavioral shift in the employees at these stores.  I’m very seldom asked if I need help finding something.  (Face it, after the fourth offer it starts to get annoying.) Instead they greet me with a simple, “How are you today?”  Now this, this doesn’t get annoying.  Quite the opposite, it makes me feel welcome in the store.  It also opens the door for me to ask for help should I need it, leaving me in control rather than putting me on the spot.

This is a perfect zero-cost improvement in customer service.

AT&T is annoyed with some of its smart phone customers. They’re saying that three percent of smart phone users are consuming 40 percent of total available bandwidth on their cellular network.  AT&T is saying that they’re looking at incentives to get these high-bandwidth users to "reduce or modify their usage."

Of course, “incentive” is almost certainly going to mean “higher fees.”

Every company and service has its power users, and this is especially true in the tech sector.  This is not something that should have caught AT&T by surprise.  They partnered with Apple on the iPhone, which can (technically) only be used on AT&Ts network, offer so-called “unlimited” data plans (which are finally revealed to have a 5Gb cap, nevermind that “unlimited” in fact means “uncapped” ), and then get upset that people actually use their data plan.

Should Time Warner Cable charge people who leave their TVs on 24/7 more money?  Should your gym charge you more because you use the gym twice per day when most of their customers go three times per week?

This is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but bear with me a moment.  Time Warner and your gym (and countless other companies) decided on a fair market price for their products and they charge that price.  AT&T should have done the exact same thing, but they didn’t, and that’s where the problem lies.  AT&T, rather than stepping up and improving their service, is choosing instead to change the rules and punish their most devoted customers.

At the other end of the spectrum, let’s talk about propane.  I recently moved into a rural home that has a propane tank, which is used to run the furnace and tankless water heater.  The company that fills our tank charges a sliding “tank usage fee” for customers who use less than a certain amount of propane in a calendar year. This fee is substantial, equal to roughly a fifth to a quarter of a full tank.  We strive to be very energy-efficient, so we’ll almost certainly be hit by this fee.

We’ll get charged more because we don’t use enough of their service, which makes no sense whatsoever. Following the logic behind this fee, doesn’t it follow that non-customers, who don’t use any of their product, should be charged even more?  I have to wonder what they’d charge us if we stopped using their service altogether.

Imagine if Citgo or BP did the same when it came to fuel for your car.

If you’re going to offer a product, offer a product and charge a fair price for it.  Punishing your customers for using too much, or too little, of your product just tarnishes your reputation, breeds resentment, and encourages them to take their business elsewhere.

I see this happen nearly everywhere I go.  Voice mails go unanswered.  Email messages too.  Tweets, if your company uses Twitter. Every communication from every customer should be responded to in a timely manner. Prioritize, sure, but you have to respond.

The worst is when this happens face to face.  A restaurant patron waits and waits to get a table.  You’re in a checkout line at some retail store and the cashier never acknowledges your presence, preferring instead to chat with a coworker about their weekend.

Problems don’t go away when ignored, but your customers just might.

I’ve never liked the saying, “The customer is always right.”  If you work in customer service for more than a few days, you’ll discover that this is untrue.  Some customers will run over their cell phone with their car and expect a free replacement.  Others will greatly overdraw their bank accounts and be adamant they shouldn’t be charged a fee. You get the idea.

When the customer is wrong, it does no good to remember the old saying I quoted above.  In fact, it can be frustrating to do so, and that frustration could get in the way of providing good service.

I propose we scrap that old chestnut completely and replace it with, “The customer is always welcome.”  The chances of this new maxim being wrong are exceedingly small, and brings with it a positive attitude that says, “We value your business. Let’s get this problem resolved.”

Let me know what you think.

1 – Make sure your customer can find your contact information very easily.  Place it prominently on your website and in your email signature.

2 – Exchange contact information, especially telephone numbers, with a customer when making an appointment with them.

3 – Where possible, give them a direct phone number or telephone extension instead of a main number where they might have to wait on hold, even if the direct number is not toll-free.

4 – If you’re going to be late to an appointment, let them know BEFORE the scheduled time.  Call if it’s an in-person appointment, email if you can’t make the conference call, etc.

5 – If you have a customer on hold update them every five minutes, even it’s just to say you’re still waiting for an answer.  Through email, update them at least once every business day.

6 – For telephone queues, the automated attendant should inform your customers how long the projected hold time will be.  This should be updated at least every three minutes.

Proactive communication is the single most important aspect of any relationship you will ever have, and nearly all of these techniques can be implemented at essentially zero cost.  Always be on the lookout for situations where a customer is left on hold, figuratively speaking, and use some proactive communication to get them off hold.

If you’re running late for an appointment with a customer, the onus is on you to get that information to your customer.  If you show up late with no notice – or, even worse, they call and ask where you are – you’ve set a negative tone for future relations, even if the appointment goes well.  For every future appointment, assuming you didn’t lose the customer, they’ll be thinking to themselves, “I wonder if they’ll show up on time this time.”

You can easily avoid this negative bias by calling your customer.  And next time, don’t be late.

I recently had to change an airline ticket.  The original ticket, from Greensboro to Seattle with a layover in Houston, was about $230.  A pretty good price, really.

The ticket was booked through Orbitz.  The airline used to get to Seattle was Continental, and USAir was to be used on the way back to Greensboro.  I called Orbitz to change the ticket and I was told they couldn’t help me because Continental “owned” the ticket or somesuch – I forget the exact term they used.  I called Continental and was able to get the ticket changed without much hassle.

Now, the fees.

There was a $25 fee for Orbitz, a $150 change fee, and a “difference in price” charge of $177, for a total of $352.  Recall that the original ticket was only $230.

The “difference in price” charge? Can’t really dispute that.  But the Orbitz fee?  They’d already made their money on the original purchase, and they couldn’t help me with changing the ticket.  What makes them entitled to any kind of extra fee?

And the $150 change fee?  Highway robbery, plain and simple.

If we, as passengers, have to change our ticket, doesn’t that by definition imply circumstances beyond our control?  When was the last time you were compensated by an airline for a delayed flight? No, airlines can’t control weather.  Weather is a circumstance beyond their control, just like with passengers needing to change their ticket.  If passengers have to pay for altered circumstances, isn’t it only fair that airlines do the same?

Why is the relationship between airlines and customers so lopsided?  Is there any better collective example of companies that get customer service so completely wrong than airlines?

The best customer service interactions I’ve ever had, both as a customer and as a customer service provider, have been those in which a somewhat personal connection was made.  Professionalism is a requirement for both customers and providers, definitely, but only to get things started.

People are people.  What I mean is, never forget that it’s an individual, a human being, on the other end of the phone.  Professionalism is a layer we wear on top of our ‘personalness.’  Peel back that layer from time to time, make a connection with the human being underneath.  A little goes a long way.

I often see this phrase on websites for retail companies that have brick and mortar locations.  This is not a helpful practice because it raises more questions than it answers, and it sets up your customers for disappointment.

If your company uses this practice, here are some questions you should be asking:

• If a customer calls their closest store and they don’t have the product, are they going to bother calling the next closest store or are they going to give up and shop elsewhere?
• Why aren’t we putting the extra effort forward to proactively tell our customers which stores carry which products?
• Can every product at least be ordered at every store? If not, why not?
• Do we at least tell our customers on our website whether or not products can be ordered at any store?

Always remember that the basic function of any website is to answer questions.

1 – Enforce accountability at all levels of your organization.

Nothing kills customer satisfaction faster than unaccountable or unwilling employees.  This goes double for members of your management and executive teams – they set policy and expectations even if they don’t have direct contact with customers.

2 – Never, ever overcommit.

Failing in the eyes of a customer is bad, but failing after overcommitting – which your customer will realize is what you’ve done – is worse and even harder to recover from.  Your customer would be right to be upset with you because overcommitment is a lie, plain and simple. Rather than overcommitting, use your customers for beta testing a new product or service.

3 – Give your employees the responsibility and authority to solve problems.  Responsibility without authority delays resolving problems.

Example:  In the checkout line at the grocery store, an item rings up at the wrong price.  Your customer points this out to the checker.  The checker has to call for a supervisor to come to the checkout stand to correct the price.

Question: Is making your customer wait the best way to handle this?  They’re not causing the problem, after all.  The problem lies elsewhere in the store.  In fact, they’re doing you a favor by pointing out the problem.  Your customer’s time is not yours to use.  Instead, allow your employees to resolve these issues on the spot (reason codes, anyone?) then monitor the register logs to identify and fix the causes.

An aside: You could argue that requiring supervisor approval keeps your employees honest.  One: If you’re concerned with the honesty of the people you employ, you shouldn’t be employing them at all, and Two: Your customers are not on your payroll.  It is not their responsibility to help you enforce accountability and honesty at your company.

4 – Always look for new ideas.

Your customers and your employees are chock full of ideas.  Ask them to share their ideas often.  This will help make your company stronger.

5 – On the telephone, focus on one-call resolution more than hold times.

Hold times really aren’t that important.  Customers want their problems fixed with a single phone call.  Also, once you get them on phone, don’t transfer them unless it’s absolutely necessary.  (The next step is to determine why is was necessary and, if possible, make it unnecessary in the future. See #3.)

Here’s the second part of 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do from the Small Business section of the New York Times.  As before, many of them are adaptable to any customer service situation.

Here are some of my favorites:

• 51. If there is a service charge, alert your guests when you present the bill. It’s not a secret or a trick.
• 63. Never blame the chef or the busboy or the hostess or the weather for anything that goes wrong. Just make it right.
• 73. Do not bring soup without a spoon. Few things are more frustrating than a bowl of hot soup with no spoon.
• 77. Do not disappear.

What are some of your favorites?

There’s a great blog post from October 29th in the Small Business section of the New York Times.  Many of the tips are adaptable to any customer service situation.  Even more are about kicking service up a notch in a way that’s completely invisible to customers. This kind of invisibility is one of the secrets to bar setting customer service.  Definitely worth your time to read.

Here’s a few of the easily adaptable ones:

• 1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.
• 5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.
• 14. When you ask, “How’s everything?” or “How was the meal?” listen to the answer and fix whatever is not right.

Some friends and I went out for Halloween. We saw a play, and afterwards decided to go out for dinner and a drink. We walked to a local pub nearby and was told by an employee that the bar was open but the kitchen had already closed. He then suggested that we go to another pub nearby because their kitchen stayed open until one in the morning.

He could simply have said, "I’m sorry, the kitchen is closed. Would you like a seat at the bar?" This is, I believe, what most employees would have done. Instead he unapologetically admitted that he could not accommodate our needs and gave us an option that would. My friends and I spent the next couple of minutes remarking on how unusual and refreshing it was for an employee to own a situation like that. We’ll definitely be going back there soon.

Zappos, the online shoe seller, does this on a regular basis. If they don’t carry a particular shoe they will refer a potential customer to a competitor. This frequently works out in their favor because that customer will often end up buying other shoes from them at some point. Properly serving customers must sometimes include admitting that you don’t have what they need.

It is far too common for people to talk about your company because you’ve done something wrong. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to give your customers something good to talk about.

You’re working with a customer.  Perhaps there’s a problem that needs to be resolved.  Maybe you work at a bank, handling the mortgage paperwork for someone.  The specific situation isn’t that important.  There will likely come a time when you have to have to say to the customer, “Let me get back to you.”

Make a commitment to your customer right then and there on a date and time you’ll follow up.  And this is the critical thing – actually do it. Even if you have nothing more to report, call them. Lack of communication, especially when a specific time has been agreed to, says to your customer, “I don’t really care, and I’m not sorry, either.”

I follow Gary Vaynerchuk on Twitter.  This morning he sent this tweet:

ComingTONIGHT in Brooklyn 4 book launch party? Deets & please leave notes & pics on Springpad:http://sprng.me/2art #crushit

The link in his tweet goes to a page on SpringPadIt.com, where Gary is a board advisor.  I’d seen a number of other tweets going to SpringPad, but I hadn’t yet investigated the service.  One reason I hadn’t is the blurb at the top of their page (if you click on a link like in Gary’s tweet”) merely says this:

springpad is a free service that lets you collect, organize and share information to help simplify your life

Ok, that doesn’t really tell me anything.  They do have a video on their website, but it’s been broken every time I’ve tried to view it. (Two computers and a total of seven browsers – it was definitely broken.)

I replied to Gary’s tweet with this:

@garyvee @SpringPad needs a “What the heck is this for?” page. The little blurb at the top doesn’t really tell me anything.

Five minutes later I received two separate tweet replies, one from @springpad and another from @jeffjaner

@jeffharbert – Here’s a video that might help: http://bit.ly/EteyS

@jeffharbert: Springpad is a free online personal organizer. Check out this video overview: http://bit.ly/l5ucN

Jeff Janer is the cofounder and CEO of SpringPad.  This is a great example of how a business can use social media services like Twitter. Here I am, not even a user of their service yet, and I received two replies about a minor criticism of their website. This just doesn’t happen with telephone or email.

The video was very helpful. It convinced me to sign up with their service. Their video states that you can use Springpad from a mobile web browser by going to http://my.springpadit.com/m. It doesn’t work in the default BlackBerry browser, but it does work in Mobile Opera.

I sent a tweet about that, too:

@springpad http://my.springpadit.com/m doesn’t work in the default Blackberry browser. Does work in Mobile Opera.

And again, just minutes later, I received a reply from another person(s) at Spring Pad, @DevinEmily:

@jeffharbert Hi! if you post this issue to http://www.getsatisfaction.com/springpartners I can email you directly with support

This Twitter account seems to be shared between two SpringPad employees, Devin Brahmall and Emily Shumsky. (BTW, check out their About Us page. I love their employee descriptions.)

I’m definitely impressed with their responses.  I’ll follow up with them as they’ve requested to address the Blackberry browser problem. (Not ‘issue’, remember. It’s only an issue until a customer notices it. After that, it’s a problem.)

 

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PowerPoint has been around forever it seems. Is the de facto tool used for presentations of every variety. However, that is not to say that PowerPoint is always used effectively. I doubt there’s a single person reading this post that hasn’t sat through a handful of truly horrible PowerPoint presentations.  Bad presentations seem to have one thing in common – a presenter that does little but read the text on the slides.

If this is your style of presentation, allow me to let you in on a secret: No one likes those particular presentations. We all know how to read, and we can all read faster than you can speak. If all you’re doing is reading the text on slide after slide, you are wasting peoples time.

PowerPoint is best used to present talking points for a discussion, to provide a guide for the presenter and the audience on the subject being discussed. People want to hear what you know about the subject. If you don’t know anything more about the subject than what appears in the text on the slides, your presence is not necessary.

In any company, the HR and Payroll departments are, by their very nature, extremely customer service-centric.  Customers, in this case, being the employees of the company.  These departments really have no choice because of various legal requirements.  These departments set the bar for solving problems.

When it comes to developing and refining your products and services, you could do far worse than emulating human resources and payroll.

Picture courtesy thejonoakley

I saw an article on MSNBC.com yesterday that really raised my eyebrows.  A traveler had reserved a car from Alamo for three days and paid the $390 reservation in advance.  His flight was canceled and he had to delay picking up the car by a day.  He contacted Alamo and they said they’d hold the car for him.  The traveler ended up only using the car for two days, meaning the time he was supposed to return the car had not changed.  Alamo, since he’d essentially changed his reservation, charged him an additional $1116.

The traveler apparently contacted Christopher Elliott, a Travel columnist for Tribune Media Services, who wrote the article on MSNBC.com.

Mr. Elliott writes:

I suggested you write a brief, polite e-mail to Alamo, asking it to reverse the charges. The response? A snippy note that said, “Any changes to the basis of the reservation makes the rate subject to change,” and adding, “We are disappointed that this policy is a source of dissatisfaction for you.” Alamo denied your request.

Let’s take those quotes one at a time.

“Any changes to the basis of the reservation makes the rate subject to change”

This policy is far too black and white to be considered fair.  After all, in this case, the car simply sat on the lot for a day – which was still paid for – and returned at the time originally agreed upon.  This situation cost Alamo absolutely nothing.

Allow me to state the obvious: Policies like these are used to justify fleecing customers, most of whom won’t put up a fight. Also, black and white policies like this strongly indicate how lazy a company will be when it comes to customer service.

“We are disappointed that this policy is a source of dissatisfaction for you.”

Who on Earth would actually be satisfied by this policy?  How is it reasonable to charge someone over $1000 for picking up a car a day late, especially when the return time hadn’t changed?

The travel industry in particular is absolutely rife with these ridiculous policies.  (Example: Airline change fees.  You have to pay the airline a fee if you want to change your ticket.  Do airlines ever reimburse you for delays or cancellations that change your schedule?  No.)

After Mr. Elliot contacted Alamo on the traveler’s behalf, they refunded the extra charge.

It shouldn’t take a consumer advocate contacting you with a complaint to get you to simply be reasonable.  What Alamo should have done in the first place is obvious – merely let the original charges stand.  If they’d done that, there would have been no problem at all.

Image courtesy Pixel Packing Mama

It has become the norm for companies to include some variant of this line in outgoing emails: “Do not reply to this message.  This email address is not monitored.”

I know why companies do this.  One, it’s one less email address for them to monitor for spam.  Two, someone sold them on the idea that one-way communication with customers serves some positive purpose.

Here’s the problem: The very phrase ‘Do Not Reply’ is a barrier to communication.  Your customers should be encouraged to contact you, not prevented from doing so.

What sort of emails do companies send to their customers?  Confirmations of various kinds – orders being placed, use of a contact form, etc.  Opt-in newsletters.  Mostly good things, certainly.

But what about feedback?  What if a customer notices a problem with their order? What if they have a suggestion for your newsletter?  Even if you include in those emails some other way for your customers to contact you – a different email address, a phone number, etc – you’ve already told them you don’t want to hear from them.

Feedback is valuable because it’s a direct way of customers letting you know how you can serve them better.  That’s a gold mine of information.  If you throw up a barrier to feedback, how can you ever expect to serve your customers better?

A better approach: Set the ‘Reply To’ address on those particular emails to something that you do monitor, then get rid of the ‘Do Not Reply’ line entirely.

Image courtesy dacotahsgirl

I was in my local Borders this weekend, buying a couple of books. Being a Borders Rewards member, I’d received a coupon via email.  I printed it out and took it with me.

The coupon was good for 20% off one item.  I bought a hardcover book, priced at $24.95, and a paperback priced at $7.99.  During checkout, the register applied the discount to the paperback and not the hardcover. Being the more expensive item, the discount should have applied to the hardcover.

The man who helped me, I neglected to note his name, noticed the error.  In truth, the error might have been his and not the register’s.  Still, acknowledging an error goes a long way in my book, and it should in yours, too.

It took him maybe a minute and a half to void the transaction.  He then took a couple of seconds to explain that he was going to ring the hardcover up first, apply the coupon to make sure it took, then ring up the paperback.

As he applied the coupon to the hardcover, he turned the register display toward me so I could see that the coupon had indeed been applied.  Then came the paperback.  He scanned the barcode, then told me that, since I’d had to wait for him to correct the problem, he was going to see if he could get the coupon to apply a second time.  I told him he didn’t have to bother, but he went ahead anyway.

And it worked.  I ended up receiving 20% off both items.

He took an extra ten seconds to make my experience a positive and memorable one. How often does that happen?

Looking back on my customer service experience and the people I’ve worked with, I’ve identified three key employee-related causes of unhappy customers and what management should do about them.

1 – Unqualified employees.  The people who work for you have to be experienced enough to do their jobs well.  For entry level positions, they must be trained adequately and supervised closely until they’re capable enough to work more or less on their own.  Don’t leave unqualified people in customer support positions.  Give them additional training and supervision, and certainly give them a chance to prove themselves.  You did hire them, after all.  Still, in the end, replace them if you have to.

2 – Unable employees.  By ‘unable’ I mean that they are prevented from giving good customer service because of some internal influence, be it a policy that stands in the way, a manager that holds back key information, or unreasonable expectations being placed on them.  Your employees can only be as good as their working environment lets them be.  It’s imperative that every member of management take the time to identify what might be standing in the way of your employees and – within reason, obviously – remove those obstacles.  Yes, this will occasionally lead to conflict within management.  Ask yourself if your customers are worth that conflict, because they’re the ones who will ultimately suffer.

3 – Uncaring employees.  It’s surprising how many people I’ve worked with that just didn’t care about doing a good job.  These people are very much in the minority, but uncaring attitudes should never be tolerated.  Do what you can to turn them around – positively!  But do it quickly, because that attitude will seldom leave a customer happy.

Keep in mind #2 can often lead to #3. That’s why it’s so imperative that management pay close attention to internal issues before they become problems. If your employees see that their management team doesn’t care, you’re inviting unhappy customers.

There’s a post over at BillShrink titled 8 Ways to Majorly Fail at Customer Support.  It’s worth a read.  I’d like to share with you my reactions.

A Paving Stone and a MacBook Pro

This is a tough call. I can see why the store is objecting to a refund. Let’s ignore the common attitude that large companies like Best Buy can afford to cover things like this.  If they have insurance for things like this, however, they should cover it. Beyond that, Best Buy and the customer share responsibility for this equally.  I’d split the wholesale cost of a replacement laptop with the customer. Best Buy would be giving up a little profit, yes, but it would be worth it keep the customer happy.

Or, here’s an idea: Cover the cost of a new laptop in exchange for the customer agreeing to have his likeness appear in some ads. Those ads would tout a new Best Buy policy, one of checking the contents of each box containing items of, say $200 or more.  Open the box after the purchase is complete and before the customer leaves the store.

We’re going to be seeing more and more of this kind of thing.  Best Buy could end up with a great new policy and a cheerleader.

Zer01 Offers Unlimited Mobile Service, Sort of

This is an embarrassment to the company, sure, but I really don’t see the harm done to customers.  Myself, I’d wonder if I wanted to remain a customer of a company that could make this kind of mistake.

Debt Collectors Steal Money, Then Forced to Return it

The collection agency should have been forced out of business, after giving the employees NOT responsible for this debacle a healthy severance package.  The owners of the company should barred from working in any similar field in the future.

The Quadrillion Dollar Credit Card Bill

Glitches happen.  This is worthy of a good laugh.  Make sure no ones credit rating was negatively impacted and call it done.

I’ll have the French Onion, Hold the Rubber

This one smells bad. I can easily see this being a fake claim. I’d do exactly what Claim Jumpers is doing – wait for the DNA analysis so the facts will be known.

A Box of Rocks and a Nintendo DS

Considering that this particular Nintendo DS was a return, Wal-Mart was right to replace the box of rocks.  My Best Buy remarks above could also apply here.

The $85,000 Cell Phone Bill

This is becoming an old story.  I think every cellular provider should be required to suspend service pending customer notification if a bill goes, say, 25% over the normal monthly charge.  These stories, and all the bad press the bring, would disappear overnight.

This guy’s data usage essentially cost Bell Mobility nothing, unlike the Best Buy and Wal-Mart situations above. We’re talking about electrons here. I would have charged a $600 fee for not paying attention to the details of his plan and dropped him as a customer.

LA Fitness “Borrows” $5000 From its Members

This should not have taken three years to resolve.  The customer should receive some interest at the very least for her troubles.  A free lifetime membership wouldn’t hurt, either.

What do you think? Let’s talk about it in comments.

There was a great post last Friday over at Intrepid LLC: Loving What You Do Is Good Marketing. The post has a strong customer service bent.  The third paragraph particularly stood out for me. Go check it out.

My reaction: I think good marketing has to include a commitment to good customer service. It doesn’t matter how good your marketing is if your customers leave because of bad service.

Outstanding post over at Small Business Trends:

Don’t Forget About Real Customer Service