Service Untitled

I started Service Untitled way back in April 2006 to document my experiences running customer service teams at a variety of quickly growing companies. I wanted to learn from others and share what I had learned myself.

As it turns out, running customer service at quickly growing companies took up a lot of time and as I continued to get busier in my “day jobs,” I had less time to blog. My mom (who readers know as Cheryl) took over most of the regular blogging in January 2010, with me continuing to contribute every now and then. Since then, she has gotten busier with her “day job” as a freelance journalist.

Sine starting Service Untitled, I’ve had the privilege to lead some amazing teams, including the customer service teams at HostGator and the entire team/company at A Small Orange. Each of these companies was and continues to be very customer-centric and were great experiences for me.

Since I am focused on other activities now, the best place to keep up with what I’m doing, and what I’m thinking in regards to customer service, is on Twitter. I’m @douglashanna on Twitter and regularly tweet about customer service and the customer service experience.

This is the 1,243rd and final post on Service Untitled. It’s been a great experience and I’m grateful to the readers, contributors, and friends of Service Untitled that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the past eight years. I’m looking forward to continuing to discuss customer service on Twitter, in person, and elsewhere.

Just a quick post today to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. Please enjoy some time with your family and friends.

As always, thank you for reading, sending in post ideas, linking to Service Untitled, commenting, and more. We’ve had a great 2010 and we’re looking forward to an even better 2011. And of course, we wish the same to you, your family, and your business.

Thanks again and happy holidays,
The Team at Service Untitled

photo credit: Paigey Pics

Cheryl’s post yesterday marked an important milestone for Service Untitled – our 1,000th post. I started Service Untitled all the way back in April 2006 (you can see the full archives here) and since then, the blog has grown into a leading blog on customer service and the customer service experience. We’ve published a lot of posts that I am very proud of, including a number of terrific interviews, book reviews, and more.

As I’ve gotten busier, Service Untitled has still grown in other ways. We’ve added other writers, including staff writer Cheryl Hanna (who happens to be my mom as well as a great writer), regular contributors Chip Bell and John Patterson, and a variety of other guest authors. These people have contributed advice and expertise that I may not have from my own experiences through the companies I’ve been involved with as an employee or consultant. One of the main reasons I started Service Untitled was to learn and it’s been a great experience so far. I’ve learned a lot about customer service and have talked to a lot of very interesting people.

We’re looking forward to the next 1,000 posts. Thanks for reading.

Service Untitled has been named one of the “20 Blogs Business Management Students Will Love” by the folks at Rasmussen College. Being number six on a list of 20 blogs that also includes the likes of Church of the Customer, the excellent Harvard Business Review blogs, and a number of other awesome blogs is a huge honor.

Thanks to Rasmussen College for the recognition!

This is my second year participating in the Age of Conversation project/book. Here’s how the website describes the project:

With over 300 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators contributing chapters, this collaborative work investigates the roles that community, conversation, experimentation, engagement, and collaboration play in shaping the 21st century’s economy of ideas. As businesses, public and private organizations, and individuals realize that there’s much more to social media and its impacts than first meets the eye, Age of Conversation III shows which platforms, tools, and approaches truly work.

The result is a cool book with a lot of different opinions and ideas from the great people listed below. What’s also nice is that all profits from the sale of the book are donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Check out the website to learn more and to order a copy.

Age of Conversation Authors:

When I started Service Untitled back in April 2006, I was the only writer. I’d have occasional guest writers contribute to the blog, but for the most part, Service Untitled was me and me only. Nearly four years later (!), I’m happy to formally announce and introduce Service Untitled’s team of regular writers. The writers page features a listing of the regular contributors to Service Untitled, along with the photos and biographies of the people who bring you customer service advice and insight five days a week.

These people have been writing for Service Untitled for some time, but before today, there was not much information available about who they are or what they specialize in. The writers section is designed to provide that information. The writers section is released along with an entirely re-written and re-designed about section and revised contact and consulting pages.

In the new about section, you’ll also notice a new Service Untitled logo as well. This will be implemented into the main site’s design in the near future, but in the mean time, I want to show it off on the about page. A big thank you is owed to Bruce and his team at Logo Design Consultant for their hard work (and great customer service) in getting the logo designed.

Happy Holidays from Service Untitled!

Take some time off and enjoy the company of your friends and loved ones.

As always, thanks for reading, commenting, emailing in post ideas, and more. At Service Untitled, we will be starting off 2010 with a great interview and some new content. We’re looking forward to a great 2010 and wish you the same.

photo credit: CJeppson

I got an email earlier this week telling me that Service Untitled had been recognized as one of the top 10 call center websites of 2009. Service Untitled was listed as number one on the list and I’m honored to see that Service Untitled was included and referred to as one of the author’s “real finds of the year”.

I’m also glad to see that my friend Tom Vander Well from QAQNA made the list, along with eight other interesting sites and blogs.

In other news, I upgraded Service Untitled to the latest version of WordPress (2.8) earlier today. Everything appears to be working fine, but if you notice any problems or oddities, please send me a quick email and let me know.

If you’re running WordPress and haven’t upgraded yet, please take the 10 seconds required to do so and get your blog upgraded. There are some nice improvements in 2.8 (new widget interface, speed improvements, one click themes, etc.) that certainly make it a worthy upgrade.