Jose Palomino

From the category archives:

Customer Service

The Starting Block

February 8, 2010

Your understanding of your target customer will influence your marketing and the direct sales communication you have with them and the way you interact and serve them.

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Know When to Switch Gears

January 28, 2010

Whether you developed your product with a specific customer need in mind, or happened upon a product and want to sell it to someone, you have to start by knowing your customer. Before the Internet boom, I assembled a group of friends and raised angel capital to start a company to develop a commodity chemical trading system, based on the notion that a hundred pounds of a specific chemical powder was the same as any other hundred pounds of the same chemical powder. It would be a trading system for chemicals – a brilliant idea – or so it seemed.

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Sometimes, the development of a new product doesn’t start with a specific problem.

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Don’t forget that at the heart of every business – every organization – you will find… people and relationships. My favorite client also became one of my best friends. Tony was a Brooklyn-raised child of the Depression. He was an early IT professional – the kind that could talk about having programmed in IBM 1401 Autocoder[i] language in the early sixties.

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AT&T’s response to Verizon’s brilliant “Map for That” campaign is this: Make stuff up! The core problem with AT&T’s response is that anyone who uses AT&T – myself included – knows that it’s just not true. See the ad below and hear the galling “spin”. AT&T has a shoddy, overburdened and unreliable network. Verizon’s is the class of the field. Consumer Reports’ annual survey of 20 metro centers lists Verizon as number one in ALL markets surveyed. It’s not even close.

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You are who you serve

October 22, 2009

Here’s the thing: I was commenting to the two guys from Lowe’s that assisted us on how great their service was. Specifically, I noted how different Lowe’s was from Home Depot in terms of customer service and how helpful they are. One of them, Tom, said something to me that was very telling. He said, “Although I work for Lowe’s, I’m also a contractor, and for that, I use Home Depot.” Here’s a guy who clearly enjoyed his job and enjoyed helping customers – who did not seem to have “an ax to grind” with his employer – but who was simply telling me something in a matter-of-fact way.

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For the thrid year in a row, the Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces have teamed up to identify the top small-to-midsize business.

Among the small-to-midsize companies that were highlighted in this article, a common thread emerges:

Commitment to “strong people practices” in the workplace creates a better work environment, and in turn reduces turnover, increases retention, and facilitates satisfied and happy employees.

Inside these successful companies – there’s a lot of discussion, and a lot of time spent with people – breakfast meetings, annual meetings, idea sharing, etc. All this internal activity pulls together to make a better work environment, which manifests itself in the quality of service the company provides, and in the positive image the company is able to sustain – whcih translates to growth and revenue, even in a tough business environment. These companies have figured out how to maintain “service with a smile.”

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Customer Disservice

September 25, 2008

I used to love Vonage. Now? Let’s just say I’m “not happy” with Vonage right now.
The price/performance is what led me to this company about 5 years ago. At that time, Verizon was offering unlimited calling plans for about $100 – all in, with taxes, mystery fees, etc. Vonage rocked at well under $50, and [...]

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