Posted on March 22, 2010 by Nick
Have you ever watched that extraordinary business TV show, “Mary, Queen of Shops”? In it, retail guru Mary Portas dispenses her wisdom to struggling shops around the country. I’m always impressed when TV pundits put their reputations on the line with real, sound advice; and Mary is a triumph. But I remember one episode of [...]
Filed under: retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, business advice, business process, business skills, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, mary portas, mary queen of shops, production line, restaurant, retail, run a business, running a business, service, small business, start a business, start your own business, time management | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 22, 2010 by Nick
Corporate reputation matters (just ask Toyota!). It takes very little effort to keep customers happy; yet many companies seem to have such disdain for their clients that they just can’t be bothered to solve little problems effectively. But the customer is fighting back. Thanks to social networking sites like Facebook, blogs (like this one) and [...]
Filed under: PR, current affairs, finance, marketing, people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: blog, brand values, branding, business, crisis management, crisis PR, crowdsourcing, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, Facebook, KwikFit, PR, public relations, reputatin management, reputation, run a business, social media, start a business | 3 Comments »
Posted on December 15, 2009 by Nick
What, I wonder, is the corporate party season going to be like this year? A friend of mine, who works for one of the big merchant banks, tells me that he’s not allowed to have a Christmas party. In fact, his company is so paranoid about bankers being seen as profligate that he’s been told [...]
Filed under: PR, people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, catering, christmas party, competition, competitiveness, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, hospitality, marco pierre white, PR, reputation, restaurant, run a business, service, start a business | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 14, 2009 by Nick
Do you run a business selling online? I don’t, but I know lots of people who do. Some are large companies who have added online sales to their standard face-to-face or retail sales effort. Others are one-man-bands; people who have a day job, but have then turned an interest or hobby into a business in [...]
Filed under: current affairs, marketing, sales, service | Tagged: business, business online, consumer protection, consumr rights, CRM, customer relations, customer relationship management, customer service, eBay business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, online business, online retail, online sales, retail, run a business, sales, start a business | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 24, 2009 by Nick
Regular readers (yes, you, Mum) will know that I spend a fair amount of time here banging on about customer service. Today, I doff my cap in honour, because I’ve got a guest writer in to tell his story. Eamonn O’Rourke is a great friend of mine – and mighty funny too. So pop the [...]
Filed under: people skills, sales, service | Tagged: business, CRM, customer satisfaction, customer service, ebay, eBay business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, gardening, industrial revolution, inventions, inventor, run a business, service, shed, start a business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 5, 2009 by Nick
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, I hope I’ve been broad enough in my declared opinions for you not to be able to guess which way I vote in political elections. After all, that’s nobody’s business but my own. I’m not going to tell you here how I voted on Thursday [...]
Filed under: current affairs, finance, marketing, sales, service | Tagged: british politics, business, business and politics, business survival, customer service, depression, downturn, economic recovery, economy, election, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, european election, general election, marketing, recession, recovery, run a business, sales, start a business, turnaround | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 23, 2009 by Nick
In these troubled economic times, much has been rightly written about customer service. If you want customers to stick with you, it seems a pretty good idea to put a bit of effort into looking after them. A good magnifying glass for this sort of thing is the banking industry. You can’t have failed to [...]
Filed under: PR, marketing, people skills, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, call centre, CRM, customer management, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, run a business, service, start a business | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 9, 2009 by Nick
Hi there! I’m trying to make this blog as much about my personal business experiences as about the advice I both give and receive as I navigate the world of business. And sometimes that means being critical. I’m not going to name any names, but the following is absolutely true, and if the person responsible [...]
Filed under: marketing, people skills, sales, service | Tagged: business, customer service, employees, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, freelance, freelancing, outsourcing, run a business, sales, service, staff, start a business | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 27, 2009 by Nick
We’re doing a lot of video production work at the moment, and that’s meant buying lots of new toys. Like most people, I shop for high-tech stuff online; which is great for getting a good price, but not so good for truly judging the quality of the vendor. Anyone can knock up a good website; [...]
Filed under: marketing, service | Tagged: business, competition, customer contact, customer satisfaction, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, run a business, start a business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 19, 2008 by Nick
I’ve spent the past few weeks blogging about the recession, but I want to go back today to one of my old hobby-horses: customer service. Yesterday, I was back in the studio doing some video work. One of our guests was Judy Naake, a lady I have met once before, and who is a supremely [...]
Filed under: business heroes, marketing, retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, businesswoman, businesswomen, customer service, Judy Naake, self tan, service, start a business, women in business | Leave a Comment »
