Service Untitled

A commenter (Sebastian from my friends at Webmail.us) reminded me that I completely forgot to write my promised follow up to my post about identifying bad job candidates.

The post was a good idea and I’m happy that Sebastian reminded me. In the first post, I already talked about some things you can look for when screening candidates. Assume the candidate has passed that test – their resume looks good and you’re now ready for some sort of in person or phone interview. What should you look for in that initial interview?

Did they do their homework?
I like to start off interviews with a few questions that essentially ask if the candidate has done his or her homework. Questions can include “How would you describe the services we offer?”, “What would you say our competitive advantages are?”, etc. These not only see if the candidate has bothered to look at the company’s web site, but also can give the interviewer an idea about whether or not the candidate “gets” the company.

Are they paying attention?
It seems minor and is very subjective, but it helps to notice how much attention the candidate is paying to you and the interview in general. Are they “with it” (you can tell)?

Do they blame others?
I can’t stand it when job candidates blame other people (bosses, colleagues, policies, etc.) during interviews. If they’re making excuses, it causes me to think a lot less of them. It just isn’t a personality trait I like and it isn’t a personality trait that is good for customer service.

Are they specific?
A big thing I look for in answers is how specific they are. Specific answers are infinitely better than vague ones. I want to hear how, what, and why the candidate did something at their last job – not just that they “improved customer service.”

Attitude.
Attitude makes a huge difference – especially for entry level customer service positions. Does the candidate smile? Does he or she use positive words? How is the candidate’s tone of voice? Does he or she laugh? Things like that can all be good indicators about a candidate’s attitude.

Little things.
I also want to see a candidate that is dressed neatly and professionally, is early (5 – 10 minutes) or at least on time, and is nice to employees (receptionists, security, etc.).

What do you look for when you’re interviewing job candidates?

On Tuesday, I told you about my process for writing and sending out holiday cards. It is a somewhat involved, but still doable process.

A big question that a lot of people ask, search, and email about is what to write on the inside of holiday cards. Most of the searches and questions to date have been about thank you cards, but also what to write on holiday cards.

Last year, I provided some (good) suggestions about what you can write on your holiday cards to professional associates, clients, etc. Here are the ones from last year (with the dates updated):

This is part two (part one is here) of the guest post written by Jennifer Harris from Ruby Receptionists.

Some may think it is a good idea to agree with everything the angry caller has to say, “Yes, that is awful, I totally agree 100%.”  The problem is this can be patronizing and the caller will pick up on that.  We have found it is better the only empathize when we really do agree with the caller.  It is often easier just to get the caller on your side.  “Here is what we are going to do… Why don’t we try all of his lines, and if we are unable to reach him, we will leave him a voice mail and a written message that I will mark urgent.  That way we attack from two fronts.”  By doing this you bring them on your side, so the two of you are working together.  Then you give them a plan of action, so they know everything about the process, making them feel more in control.  Finally, by saying something like this, you are letting them know that you are doing everything in your power to get them what they want and hopefully they will stop being angry … at least with you.

One more trick I like to employ is just to smile.  The caller cannot see my smile, but it tends to show up in my voice.  No matter how horrible I find the caller, I just keep grinning and even if I do not succeed in cheering them up, at least I feel fine when the call is done.

Sometimes there is just no pleasing a caller.  They want to yell, and you are the lucky person who will receive the yelling.  Just remember to stay calm, use the tricks above, and if they don’t work, end the call politely, when you have done everything you can, and forget about them.  If you are able, walk around the block, eat something crunchy (I like carrots), and remember, they are not mad at you, they are mad at their situation and you got caught in the crossfire.

Jennifer Harris works as the sales coordinator for Ruby Receptionists, before which she worked as a receptionist for 5 years, learning all the ins and outs of phone etiquette.

It’s that time of year again. Many of you have likely already put your holiday cards in the mail. I just put about half of mine in the mail yesterday and am working on the next batch now. 

Here is how I managed my holiday card process:

Purchased cards. 
I went to the Hallmark store and got four boxes (yes, I send a lot of cards) of a nice card type. It wasn’t holiday-specific and was pretty modern and upbeat.

Customized envelopes.
Each card obviously came with an envelope. I set my printer to print on the envelopes – that way I could type them out. This required some trial and error, but I got it working. To add to the general effect, I matched the font and capitalization style that was on the inside of the card.

Create list.
I sent an email out to most people on my mailing list asking them to send me their update address. I imported this list into Microsoft Word and it started printing envelopes. I soon had all the envelopes I need already addressed and ready to go.

Write out cards.
This is the most time consuming part of the process, but also the best part. I wrote out a nice little note to each person. Since I don’t send out that many (read: I don’t send out hundreds), I’m able to customize them. Many of them had a general theme, but I don’t think any two cards had the exact same message. What they each did do was:

• mention the date (December 2007)
• say Happy Holidays on them
• address the person by his or her first name

Once I was finished writing out the card, I would put it in the appropriate envelope and put that card in my “ready to be mailed pile.”

Seal and stamp.
I can’t stand licking envelopes, so I tape them. I taped all the envelopes and put a stamp on them. Before sealing the envelope, I double checked that the name matched the address on the card. The stamps weren’t holiday themed, but that’s fine. Once the cards were checked, stamped, and sealed, I put them in the mailbox and off they went.

For some more on this subject, check out this post from last year. What is your holiday card sending procedure like? Later this week (Thursday), I will post some sample holiday card sayings.

There has been an “Oustanding Blog” meme going around, which Service Untitled is proudly a part of. It was started by Troy from OrbitNow. There are a lot of great blogs here and there is a lot you can learn from them. Feel free to post the list on your blog.

1. 100 Bloggers
2. 37 Days
3. 3i
4. 43 Folders
5. A Clear Eye
6. A Daily Dose of Architecture
7. The Agonist
8. All Things Workplace
9. All This Chittah Chattah
10. Angela Maiers
11. Antonella Pavese
12. Arizona High Tech
13. A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye
14. Badger Blogger
15. Bailey WorkPlay
16. Being Peter Kim
17. Brett Trout
18. Best of Mother Earth
19. Beyond Madison Avenue
20. Biz and Buzz
21. Bizhack
22. BizSolutions Plus
23. Blog Business World
24. Bloggers Showroom
25. Blogging for Business
26. Blogher
27. Blog Till You Drop!
28. Bob Sutton
29. Brain Based Business
30. Brains on Fire
31. Brand Autopsy
32. The Brand Builder Blog
33. Branding and Marketing
34. Branding Strategy
35. Brand is Language
36. BrandSizzle
37. Brandsoul
38. Bren Blog
39. Business Evolutionist
40. Business Management Life
41. Business Pundit
42. Business Services, Etc.
43. Busy Mom
44. Buzz Canuck
45. Buzz Customer
46. Buzzoodle
47. Career Intensity
48. Carpe Factum
49. Casual Fridays
50. Change Your Thoughts
51. Chaos Scenario
52. Cheezhead
53. Chief Happiness Officer
54. Chris Brogan
55. Christine Kane
56. Church of the Customer
57. Circaspecting
58. CK’s Blog
59. Come Gather Round
60. Community Guy
61. Confident Writing
62. Conversation Agent
63. Converstations
64. Cooking for Engineers
65. Cool Hunting
66. Core77
67. Corporate Presenter
68. Crayon Writer
69. Creating a Better Life
70. Creating Passionate Users
71. Creative Think
72. CRM Mastery
73. Crossroads Dispatches
74. Cube Rules
75. Culture Kitchen
76. Customers Are Always
77. Customer Service Experience
78. Customer Service Reader
79. Customers Rock!
80. Custserv
81. Craig Harper
82. Daily Fix
83. Dawud Miracle
84. Dave Olson
85. David Airey
86. David Maister
87. David S Finch
88. Design Your Writing Life
89. Digital Common Sense
90. Director Tom
91. Diva Marketing
92. Do You Q
93. Duct Tape Marketing
94. Empowerment 4 Life
95. The Engaging Brand
96. Essential Keystrokes
97. Every Dot Connects
98. Experience Architect
99. Experience Curve
100. Experience Matters
101. Extreme Leadership
102. Eyes on Living
103. Feld Thoughts
104. Flooring the Customer
105. Fouroboros
106. Franchise Pick
107. FutureLab
108. Genuine Curiosity
109. Glass Half Full
110. The Good Life
111. Great Circle
112. Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog
113. Hee-Haw Marketing
114. Hello, My Name is BLOG
115. Holly’s Corner
116. Homeless Family
117. The Idea Dude
118. I’d Rather be Blogging
119. Influential Marketing
120. Innovating to Win
121. Inspiring & Empowering Lives
122. Instigator Blog
123. Interview Chatter
124. Jaffe Juice
125. Jibber Jobber
126. Joyful Jubilant Learning
127. Joy of Six
128. Kent Blumberg
129. Kevin Eikenberry
130. Learned on Women
131. Life Beyond Code
132. Lip-sticking
133. Listics
134. The Lives and Times
135. Live Your Best Life
136. Live Your Inspiration
137. Living Light Bulbs
138. Logical Emotions
139. Logic + Emotion
140. Make It Great!
141. Making Life Work for You
142. Management Craft
143. Managing with Aloha
144. The M.A.P. Maker
145. The Marketing Excellence Blog
146. Marketing Headhunter
147. Marketing Hipster
148. The Marketing Minute
149. Marketing Nirvana
150. Marketing Roadmaps
151. Marketing Through the Clutter
152. Mary Schmidt
153. Masey
154. The Media Age
155. Micropersuasion
156. Middle Zone Musings
157. Miss604
158. Moment on Money
159. Monk at Work
160. Monkey Bites
161. Movie Marketing Madness
162. Motivation on the Run
163. My 2 Cents
164. My Beautiful Chaos
165. Naked Conversations
166. Neat & Simple Living
167. New Age 2020
168. New Charm School
169. Next Up
170. No Man’s Blog
171. The [Non] Billable Hour
172. Note to CMO
173. Office Politics
174. Optimist Lab
175. The Origin of Brands
176. Own Your Brand
177. Pardon My French
178. Passion Meets Purpose
179. Pause
180. Peerless Professionals
181. Perfectly Petersen
182. Personal Branding
183. The Podcast Network
184. The Power of Choice
185. Practical Leadership
186. Presentation Zen
187. Priscilla Palmer
188. Productivity Goal
189. Pro Hip-Hop
190. Prosperity for You
191. Purple Wren
192. QAQnA
193. Qlog
194. Reveries
195. Rex Blog
196. Ririan Project
197. Rohdesign
198. Rothacker Reviews
199. Scott H Young
200. Search Engine Guide
201. Servant of Chaos
202. Service Untitled
203. Seth’s Blog
204. Shards of Consciousness
205. Shotgun Marketing
206. Simplenomics
207. Simplicity
208. Slacker Manager
209. Slow Leadership
210. Socially Adept
211. Social Media Marketing Blog
212. Spare Change
213. Spirit in Gear
214. Spooky Action
215. Steve’s 2 Cents
216. Strategic Design
217. Strength-based Leadership
218. StickyFigure
219. Studentlinc
220. Success Begins Today
221. Success Creeations
222. Success From the Nest
223. Successful Blog
224. Success Jolt
225. Talk to Strangers
226. Tammy Lenski
227. Tell Ten Friends
228. That Girl from Marketing
229. Think Positive!
230. This Girl’s Weblog
231. Thoughts & Philosophies
232. Tom Peters
233. Trust Matters
234. Verve Coaching
235. Viral Garden
236. Waiter Bell
237. Wealth Building Guy
238. What’s Next
239. Writers Notes
240. You Already Know this Stuff
241. Zen Chill

This is part 1 of a 2 part guest writer post on keeping your cool on the phone. It’s written by Jennifer Harris from Ruby Receptionists.

What do you do when you work primarily on phones and have an irate caller on the line? The easy thing would be to match their annoyance level. Get angry right back, and throw some well places obscenities in for good measure… right? Well, sure, if you want to lose your job. I work for a virtual reception company and all day long we talk to people over the phone. We get happy callers, angry callers, callers with crazy stories, and callers who did not dial correctly. The happy callers are easy; they call in ready to be pleased. The angry callers, not so much.

A receptionist is able to tell right away who the difficult caller will be. They are the ones who, rather than saying, “Hello, may I please speak to Joe Bloggs,” say, “JOE STILL HASN’T RETURNED MY CALL! ARE YOU EVEN DOING YOUR JOB?” The inexperienced receptionist will get flustered in this situation. He or she will make excuses and often end up sounding worse than if they had just yelled back. The bad receptionist will actually yell back. In a situation like this, it is best not to match the tone of the caller. Instead, as one seasoned receptionist told me, “I put on my preschool manners basically. By lowering my voice they have to really listen to hear me and they usually end up matching my tone.” When someone is about to blow their top, she demonstrates the behavior she would like to see from the caller. She speaks calmly and brings them down to her level of calm.

(more about handling angry callers on Wednesday)

Jennifer Harris works as the sales coordinator for Ruby Receptionists, before which she worked as a receptionist for 5 years, learning all the ins and outs of phone etiquette.

I find it really interesting when ordinary products are redesigned. Ordinary products that no one thinks twice about because they’re so common and so uninteresting. A product called HomeHero is changing what people think of the fire extinguisher.

Everyone knows of the big red fire extinguishers. They’re heavy. They’re ugly. They aren’t super simple. Because they’re big and red and ugly, a lot of people don’t put them in plain sight. An equally large number of people can’t remember where they ended up putting their fire extinguisher when they actually need it.

Fire extinguishers can save life and save property. People don’t want people to get hurt or for their homes to burn down. They also don’t want to have a huge ugly fire extinguisher in every corner of the house, either. HomeHero understood these problems and saw a big opportunity there.

They worked to design a fire extinguisher that looks a lot better than the big red thing that people are accustomed to seeing. It’s slick and white (almost like a certain MP3 player that could have inspired it). It’s easier to operate and supposedly more user friendly.

HomeHero took a super ordinary product and made it better. They addressed one of the consumer’s main concerns about the product and made it better. I’m really curious to see how successful HomeHero will be when it hits the market in full force. Personally, I think it will be successful.

The trick is thinking about ordinary things that can be improved a lot and have been neglected for a while. Televisions are ordinary and can be improved, but there are a lot of people thinking about those. You need to find things that have been left untouched for a long time (like fire extinguishers).

Some of my initial thoughts about ordinary things that can be improved:

• Smoke alarms
• Garage door openers (the handheld part and the actual machine)
• Chargers for various devices
• Shopping carts (I know IDEO tackled this once)
• Gas stations
• Self checkout

I also thought of shower heads and remote controls, but there are a lot of people working on those already. What are some things you’ve thought of? Where can great design make a huge difference?

I just got finished writing about how classy American Express was with their advertising. It’s sad, but another company did the complete opposite to me a few days ago. Their method of marketing was tacky at best and unethical at worst.

The story is pretty simple. A company I thought was Toyota (though I’m still not sure who actually sent it) sent me a postcard saying that there was important information about my warranty and I had to call immediately. I figured it was something to do with a recall or with registering my warranty to ensure they knew when it’d be over.

I call the number and am connected to this guy with a really strong southern accent. The accent in general doesn’t bother me, but he was difficult to understand since it wasn’t that refined of an accent. He was actually fairly nice, but I recognized it pretty early on: the call was just a sales pitch.

The guy started talking about how there were a lot of recalls on my make and model (which isn’t true) and how I should get an extended warranty. I started to ask a question and he transferred me to a sales representative.

One good thing was that the sales representative (who was much easier to understand than the first guy who answered the phone) had all of my information already. He didn’t really make that clear until I asked a question or two, but he had all the information I had given the previous guy.

I asked the sales representative a few questions and tried to get a price. After being somewhat forceful, he gave me a price. The price was too high, so I said thank you and told him I wasn’t interested. He wasn’t able to say a response for some weird reason and just made noises (I’m serious!) until I hung up.

My main contention was the way the warranty company presented the offer. If they sent me a nice brochure or mailing about what their warranties covered, how they could help me, and the general prices, I would have been much happier. I hate “bait and switch” offers as a customer and as a professional. They’re tacky and do nothing for the brand.

If you have an offer, say it up front. It’s your job as a marketer to get the potential customers’ interest – not to lead them on.