About
I am Becky Carroll, long-time customer advocate and someone who is passionate about social media, marketing, and the customer experience. I am the Director of Social Media for Brickfish, a social media advertising network. Brickfish helps create branded User Generated Content for some of the world’s largest brands. Previously, in 2005, I founded Petra Consulting Group, a strategic consultancy helping companies grow through stronger customer relationships. Through my work with companies such as HP, Electronic Arts, and Ford, I have spent a lot of time improving customer experiences, driving increases in marketing results, and helping companies re-think their customer service and support.
I am also an accomplished international speaker and a frequent contributor to industry newsletters. Prior to founding Petra Consulting Group, I was a senior consultant with industry-leading Peppers and Rogers Group. Previously, I worked at Hewlett Packard, both in the UK and in the US, in the areas of customer loyalty, customer service, and marketing.
Why this blog?
There are undercurrents of a fundamental attitude change in some companies. Customers are being seen as valuable company assets, not as resource drains. This is an attitude I call “customers rock!”. Everyday, both as a businesswoman and as a consumer, I have thoughts and ideas as I walk through the customer experiences of services and products. I want to share those thoughts and ideas so more companies can learn how to take on this “customers rock!” attitude for themselves.
You can contact me at becky at petraconsultinggroup dot com if you would like to talk to me about how to have your organization become a Customers Rock! company, hire me for speaking, or just if you want to say hello!
Personal Stuff
Our family loves to travel, and we lived in England for 3 years when I was working for HP. One of our favorite spots is in Maui! I also love to sing in my church choir. We have a pet dog named Snickers, and we used to have a bunny named Bugs (check out my blog posts for a photo of Bugs!). Mostly, our family just likes to laugh, live life to the fullest, and enjoy each other’s company.
Photo Credits
Photos from Stockxpert.com unless otherwise noted. This page, professional photo by Eleanor Bell Photography. Personal photos by T. Carroll.
Disclaimer and Copyright Info
The contents of this blog are my personal opinions and not those of my current or former employers. All work on this blog is copyright the author and Petra Consulting Group. No part of the text may be copied without proper attribution to the author.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Just found your blog via Gavin’s.
Petra - good Greek term. Makes sense that someone who loves to sing in her church choir might name her company for The Rock.
Before entering the business world I was a pastor.
Good to have discovered your site; thanks for enlarging the conversation about service and customer experience. Customers do rock/petra! You can build a business on them too. Obvious, but often missed for some strange reason.
Keep creating,
Mike
February 13th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Thanks for visiting, Mike (and thanks to Gavin for getting you here)! Yes, someone who sings in the church choir just might name her company after The Rock.
The idea of Petra Consulting Group is indeed to encourage companies to build their business on a solid foundation: customers. Without that foundation, you don’t have a business!
Great to hear from you.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I am so pleased to know of your rockin’ blog and I love its focus (can I say rockin’ mantra?). Job well done this is the first of many visits…blog on
August 20th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Becky,
Came across your Blog while doing some research on Experience Economy. Great Stuff. “Rock Your Customers” by staging memorable, meaningful and authentic experiences. Glad to see other pioneers trying to change the business world. Bill
October 1st, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Becky,
Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments on my blog! I always appreciate feedback, but it’s even sweeter coming from a “seasoned veteran” like yourself. I really enjoy reading your blog, and always find a bit of inspiration for my own writing there. Customers do rock, especially since we are all customers somewhere or another! I hope someday my career path will follow one like yours, and I hope you won’t mind if I try to contact you for advice in the future! Thanks so much for your inspiration and leadership.
-jv
January 17th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Hi Becky -
I posted on your site, but was using my wife’s computer. So, it showed up as her (Granola Babies).
Hope that’s OK. I logged her out, so hopefully this shows up as me.
As always, all the best - like Customers, your site rocks!
- Brandon
February 18th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
[...] Nearly a year after John Moore issued his “What Must Starbucks Do?” manifesto, Becky Carroll and Jay Ehret have started working on their own Starbucks project. Over the next year, they are [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Hi Becky,
exceptional blog! Loved reading your customer service stories and the feedback by other customer centrics. Working in an IT service environment it is very easy to lose track of who your customers actually are. Especially, when working on internal projects! But being involved in CRM systems at the moment and articles such as yours have certainly helped me refocus.
It’s astounding that one of the most common themes is the focus on honesty and politeness, things that really should not need any special mention! I commend you for that!
Keep it up, I have you bookmarked now!
Marc
April 7th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Hi Becky,
I found your blog by searching for a “Thank You” picture in google. Your have a wonderful site and I need to spend a lot of time here about customer relationship.
Can I get a permission to use one of your picture in my blog? It is the one below:
http://customersrock.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/thank-you.jpg
If not, that’s ok. I appreciate your time:)
Kelvin Leung
blog.lkcphotography.com
April 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Kelvin,
I purchase most of my photos from http://www.stockxpert.com; usually, I have a photo credit at the bottom of my posts. Thanks for asking permission - you need to purchase the photo yourself and include the appropriate credit for the artist. Of course, it is nice to also say you found it on Customers Rock!
Thanks!
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hello Becky,
Don’t you find it interesting when highly paid and so called marketing experts get newly religious about the customer part of business marketing like it is a new epiphany?
You would think that the customer/people part of business should be fundamental to all marketers. Why isn’t it?
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 am
I am just glad to see the cusotmer getting more intention again in business today!
June 8th, 2008 at 2:26 am
[...] The Thank You Sign picture is found in Customer Rock blog by Becky, her blog has a lot of information about customer service. The picture is taken by Jim [...]
June 14th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Hi Becky,
I was interested in taking a new marketing class at UCSD Extension and saw that you would be teaching, “Marketing via New Media.” I was excited when I saw Groundswell as the required reading material (am currently reading that now) and had to see how you participated in the groundswell. I’ll be signing up the new class next month.
Cheers,
Stephanie
http://HeyStephanie.com
October 11th, 2008 at 7:02 am
hi Becky,
I came to your blog via a post at Diva Marketing. Am I glad, you ROCK on!
Cheers!
David Tinney
Rock Bottom Airfares