Busting 20 Customer Service Myths: Review of BAM | Small Business Trends
“BAM: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World” is the new book by Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead.
“BAM” stands for “bust a myth.” The book debunks 20 myths about customer service:
BAM! debunks the twenty common myths of of customer service — from “The customer is always right” to “Customer service means the same thing to everyone” to “Companies achieve customer service by under-promising and over-delivering.” Customer service myths run the customer policies of many companies without anyone even questioning them. Unfortunately, this ensures that customer service will only be a “bolt-on” and not a part of the DNA of that company. Inside the DNA of most companies is where customer service needs to be in order to retain profitability.
This introduction grabbed me instantly! If you’re like me, you’ve heard those customer service truisms… forever. Few of us bother to question them anymore.
But this book does question them.
via Busting 20 Customer Service Myths: Review of BAM | Small Business Trends.
Recession could cause employees to steal data to help themselves or others
A third of workers would steal data to help a friend get a job while 13 per cent would take access and password codes if they were fired.
According to the ‘the global recession and its effect on work ethics' survey by Cyber-Ark, 48 per cent of respondents admitted that they would take company information with them if they were fired tomorrow.
Of the respondents, 39 per cent would download company/competitive information if they found that their job was at risk and a quarter said that the recession has meant that they feel less loyal towards their employer. Also, 13 per cent would take access and password codes to allow access to the network once they've left the company and continue downloading information and accessing whatever they want or need.
Cyber-Ark claimed that the recession is creating camaraderie amongst workforces, at the expense of their employers as 41 per cent confessed to have already taken sensitive data with them to their new position, whilst a third would pass on company information if it proved useful in getting friends or family a job.
The most desired information was customer and contact details for 29 per cent of respondents, then 18 per cent said that they would steal plans and proposals. Eleven per cent would take product information.
Mark Fullbrook, UK director of Cyber-Ark, said: “While we are seeing glimmers of hope in the UK and US economy, clearly employee confidence has been rocked. While there is no excuse for employees who are willing to compromise their ethics to save their job, much of the responsibility for protecting sensitive proprietary data is the responsibility of the employer.
“Organisations must be willing to make improvements to how they monitor and control access to databases, networks and systems, even by those privileged users who have legitimate rights.”
via Recession could cause employees to steal data to help themselves or others – SC Magazine UK.
Restaurants file lawsuit against payment terminal vendor after customers have identities stolen
A group of US restaurants have filed a class action lawsuit against a point of sale vendor after customers had their identities stolen after using uncompliant terminals.According to a report on Finextra, seven restaurants in Louisiana and Mississippi are seeking millions of dollars in damages from vendor Radiant and its distributor Computer World after hundreds of their customers had their identities stolen as a result of payments terminals that were not PCI DSS compliant.One of the attorneys acting as a legal advisor to the restaurants in the lawsuit, Charles Hoff, said in a statement that a special investigation by the United States Secret Service found that Computer World, the exclusive area distributor of Radiant Systems' ‘Aloha' POS software violated PCI DSS provisions.Hoff said: “When major players in the hospitality industry such as Radiant Systems and its distributors say their software and business practices are PCI-DSS compliant, our clients trust them.“When those claims of compliance and proper security practices turn out to be false, the restaurants are left to suffer huge financial losses due to financial penalties imposed by the credit card companies. Their reputations are tarnished. We're determined not to let Radiant and Computer World simply walk away from their responsibilities.”
The CEO with the public cellphone number
A.L. “Tom” Giannopoulos is the CEO of MICROS Systems Inc., based in Columbia. The company has worldwide operations, with 4,700+ employees, and is a leader in the point-of-sale terminal hardware and software business.There’s a good chance that if you’ve stayed in a hotel or eaten at a restaurant, your reservation or food order was completed with the help of a MICROS system working in the background.It’s a company that’s had steady growth in revenues and profits since the early 1990s, and now sits on $525 million in cash reserves.So, in short: Giannopoulos and his people are working hard. Which is why I was recently surprised to see Giannopoulos’s work phone number, cell phone number and email address at the bottom of the homepage of MICROS’s Website.
Small Business Trends
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has released its November Small Business Economic Trends report. When polled, small businesses believe conditions are getting a little better — but just a little.
The problem, the report suggests, is that small businesses need customers and sales more than anything. When they get more customers and/or those customers buy more, small businesses in turn will be able to make capital purchases and do more hiring. But until customers loosen the purse strings, conditions for small businesses will remain challenging.
via Small Business Economic Trends Report | Small Business Trends.
At Checkout, More Ways to Avoid Handling Cash or Plastic
For almost as long as Americans have been hearing about jetpacks and picturephones, they have been hearing that money — bills, coins and plastic cards — might cease to exist, or at least become a novelty.Instead of leather wallets, consumers could, sooner than they think, carry virtual wallets, with their credit card and bank information stored on remote computers that are accessible everywhere and anytime. They could use them whenever they want to buy something, whether on the Web, on cellphones or at cash registers.With a new cellphone application called ShopSavvy, for instance, a shopper can use the phone’s camera to scan an item’s bar code in a store to see if it is available for less online. If so, the shopper can buy it with one click if they have already entered their credit card and shipping information on PayPal’s Web site.
via At Checkout, More Ways to Avoid Handling Cash or Plastic – NYTimes.com.
Your Customers Don’t Want to be Your Friend
If you’re Apple, Nike, or anything made with bacon, stop reading now.If not, read on and recognize that your customers are probably not desperately trying to connect with your brand in social media.As marketers, we’re trained to “see” brands and how they compete for our attention. Like a gold digger with a nose for AMEX, we’re disproportionately aware of opportunities and circumstances that could be used to create a communications advantage.Your customers are not. They aren’t marketers, and typically they don’t spend time thinking about how they can advocate on behalf of your company.
Small-Business Guide – Marketing Your Business With Facebook – NYTimes.com
A growing number of businesses are making Facebook an indispensible part of hanging out their shingles. Small businesses are using it to find new customers, build online communities of fans and dig into gold mines of demographic information.
“You need to be where your customers are and your prospective customers are,” said Clara Shih, author of “The Facebook Era” (Pearson Education, 2009). “And with 300 million people on Facebook, and still growing, that’s increasingly where your audience is for a lot of products and services.”
via Small-Business Guide – Marketing Your Business With Facebook – NYTimes.com.
It’s Not Just For Card Data Any More
With all of the recent fuss about PCI requirements and how to protect payment cards, many companies have opted to take a far too narrow view of data protection. The PCI rules are absolutely designed to only apply to payment cards, but the same common-sense security guidelines will also dramatically help the security of CRM databases, personnel files, E-mail servers, payroll details, and even the full contents of your Web site.
Overworked IT executives suffering from staff cuts find checklist security quite comforting. The checklist mentality says that nothing should be done that isn’t mandated. And there are no external rules protecting data, beyond payment card, health-related information and some investment data. Is this wise?
via McAfee Security Insights Blog » Blog Archive » It’s Not Just For Card Data Any More.
