Welcome to Post Number 1, in what we hope will be a long-running, entertaining and informative series on a subject that touches all of us in one way or another: Customer Service.

We all experience customer service -- whether prompt and courteous, slow and rude or somewhere in between.

We experience customer service face to face, on telephones, online via mail whenever and where every buyer meets seller.

During my career I've been directly involved with customer service in publishing, at advertising agencies, in retail banking both at the consumer and commercial levels, in small business and major corporations.

My last assignment was a Chief Customer Officer at Harte-Hanks, Inc. where I also was a Corporate Officer and Senior Vice President.
It was there that I began signing all emails with a phrase that I believe is the key to excellent service: DELIGHT CUSTOMERS!

Thump the Pot
In my high school biology class, we were told that if you put a live frog in a pot of water and gradually turn up the heat, the frog will … simple do nothing. In short, the frog will stew in own juices. Not a pretty picture.

But that is what some customer service organizations are doing as the "heat' or the pressures of the economic times increase.

We also learned in that biology class that if we "thumped the pot" the frog would quickly jump from the hot water.

That is part of what we hope to do here: "thump the pot".

We also want to talk with some people who contribute to customer service excellence and learn more from their success.

Feedback is welcomed. Questions are welcomed. Comments are welcome. For better or worse we all arw in the customer service "pot" together.