Thanks to everyone who came along to the Business Link South Yorkshire ’Speed Pitching’ event in Rotherhasm last night. You can see that I’ve uploaded the slides -feel free to download them….. and keep practising!
Here’s a link to the Service excellence Conference in Leeds that Emma talked about. Don’t forget there’s a £50 discount if you tell [...]

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Is it me, but why do hotel receptionists seem to make such a big deal of stapling your credit card receipt with your bill? It’s often ’sold’ to you as if it’s a real ‘added value’ service!
I’m all for politeness and making my day easier, but don’t go over the top - it’s not that [...]

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It’s refreshing at a time when UK politicians don’t have a clue about where their funding is coming from (incidentally, don’t know about you but I have a very good idea where my revenue comes from - who’s paid me, and who owes me -it’s not difficult - Sage is a wonderful thing!), that US presidential [...]

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Plebble is a new website that allows you to rate your level of satisfaction for a business you’ve just used (or haven’t!). It compiles data from customers - good and bad - and produces league tables too. It’s more evidence of the powerful equation of:
 ‘customer opinion + internet + word of mouth = increased customer power [...]

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Andy has been asked to work on the Fastest 50 Business Improvement programme in the North East. The programme which starts in February is aimed at accelerating the growth of aspiring businesses in the Wear Valley and Teesdale area. For more information and to sign up, visit the Fastest 50 website.
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Increasing indifference and perpetual irritation of brands that don’t perform is the lastest forecast from Trendwatching.com
In their latest report, ‘The Expectation Economy’, they suggest:

- Your competition could be anyone
- Customer expectations are increasingly being set outside your industry
- Just copying competitors is a race to the bottom

It’s well worth a read.
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Send an email to a lot of businesses and you get the standard ‘out of office’ reply. OK, that’s pretty good - much better than not knowing that your email hasn’t been received or isn’t being dealt with.
Designers Purple Circle are much more proactive and personal. Here’s an ‘out of office’ reply from Director John Lyle:
Hello
Its [...]

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Chat rooms, forums and social networks have shifted power to customers. The dialogue and ’chatter’ about businesses and their performance is totally out of the control of the businesses themselves. The result? Recommendations, warnings, and tales of the good, bad and ugly spread incredibly quickly. The real danger of course is when a rant or complaint gets added to, built [...]

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[ 6 March, 2008; ] A thought provoking day on Customer Service Excellence at The Royal Armouries, Leeds. As well as Andy, speakers include James Timpson , MD of Timpsons Shoes, Julian Stainton, Chief Executive of the Western Provident Association and Jane Hanson, Head Of HR at First Direct. Cost is £150 for the whole day conference. Click for more [...]

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Andy has been asked to speak at the 2008 Service Excellence Conference at the Royal Armouries, Leeds in March.
The all day event has an impressive line up of speakers on Customer Service, including James Timpson, Managing Director of Timpsons Shoes, Julian Stainton, Chief Executive of the Western Provident Association, and Jane Hanson, head of HR at First [...]

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