The Platinum Rule of Service
by Richard D. Hanks

Years ago I attended a seminar where a consultant introduced the audience to the concept of The Platinum Rule. Most of us are familiar with the Golden Rule. and many people strive to live by it:

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Dr. Alessandra introduced us to the concept of The Platinum Rule:
"Do unto others as they would have you do unto them."

Fight the Fear: the 10 Golden Rules of Customer Feedback
by Ben McConnel and Jackie Huba

The biggest obstacle to knowing what customers really think about us? Fear. We fear they'll tell us our product or service stinks, that we're horrible people and we should never have set foot on earth.

Putting the Service Profit-Chain to Work
by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Leonard A. Schlesinger et al.

When service companies put employees and customers first, a radical shift occurs in the way they manage and measure success.

Zero Defections
by Quality Comes to Services: Frederick F. Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser, Jr.

The real quality revolution is just now coming to services. In recent years, despite their good intentions, few service company executives have been able to follow through on their commitment to satisfy customers.

How Valuable is Word of Mouth?
by V. Kumar, J. Andrew Peterson, and Robert P. Leone

Your most valuable customers are those who buy the most, right? Not necessarily. According to Kumar, Petersen, and Leone, your most valuable customers are those whose word of mouth brings in the most profitable new customers, regardless of how much they themselves buy.

How Employee Satisfaction Can Improve Customer Service
by Richard D. Hanks

All businesses depend on employees to deliver quality service. For most businesses, improving customer service levels is more important than providing a good product. It is wise to remember Sam Walton's famous adage, "There is only one boss, the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the Chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."

Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work
by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Leonard A. Schlesinger et al.

When service companies put employees and customers first, a radical shift occurs in the way they manage and measure success.

Manage Your Human Sigma
by John H. Fleming, Curt Coffman, and James K. Harter

When the Gallup Organization applied Six Sigma principles to sales and service groups at several companies, it learned how much performance variation exists between seemingly similar work groups. Managing that variability can raise overall performance by orders of magnitude and can create organic growth.

Automating Your Call Center Feedback
by Richard D. Hanks

We've all heard someone gnashing their teeth over a bad call center experience. At some point, we've each probably felt that way ourselves. It may be queues that are too long, ineffective IVR systems, or an agent who just doesn't communicate well – everyone has a horror story. From the moment of the bad experience we then tell the story over and over to friends, warning them about doing business with "that company" for fear of poor service.

Beating the "Do Not Call Registry"
by Richard D. Hanks

Sorry folks. Some of you are going to be disappointed. This isn't a primer on skulking around with a new secret formula to get inside peoples' heads at dinner time. Nope. Nothing here about skirting the rules on the FCC's dictum to leave Bob and Judy Q. Customer alone and let them finish their meatloaf and green beans in peace without a phone call from you to break the silence.

Service Lapse Recovery Requires Local Accountability
by Richard D. Hanks

What To Do When You Fall Short In Delivering Service
People have an innate need to connect to each other. It's what drives us to be close to our families and friends. For some, this desire includes the businesses with whom they commonly associate. It's likely that your regular customers see your business as a friend and as part of the community, even though you may be one of hundreds of franchises.

But, Will Customer Measurement Improve Our Profits?
by Richard D. Hanks

Our approach at Mindshare Technologies is built on two very simple axioms of business. Literally thousands of books and research projects have explored the direct correlation between "Satisfaction," "Loyalty," and "Profits." But, they all boil down to these two simple ideas:

Listen and Learn - Improving Operations by Utilizing Customer Feedback
by Richard D. Hanks

Customer service means being aware of needs, problems, fears and aspirations. Numerous studies have shown that the cost to acquire a customer is seven to ten times the amount of retaining an existing customer. And according to The Harvard School of Business, even a 5 percent improvement in customer retention can result in up to a 75 percent increase in profitability.

What Do You Really Want to Know About Your Customers
by Richard D. Hanks
It's true that the more you know about your customer the better off you are. And customer relationship management (CRM) software and other technologies certainly help us get closer to the customer, collect more detailed information, and segment customers into more useful and practical groupings. With today's technologies, organizations can collect, store, and retrieve a variety of types of information - where the customer lives, the size of his or her family, income range, ethnicity, even hair color.