The first entry comes from The Fish Creek House, a Bed and Breakfast inn located in Montana.   It is a 13-step checklist on customer service for innkeepers.  However, I found a number of the steps equally applicable to other businesses as well!  A lot of them have to do with understanding the customer experience.  Our blog host explains you should frequent your inn (or place of business) as one of your customers would.  I especially like this item:

11. Run your inn to suit your guests-not the other way around. Your policies should reflect the needs of guests before those of innkeepers (i.e. breakfast menus and serving times, check-in times, cancellation policies, and so on).

The next Carnivale entry comes from Service Untitled with an overview of some great posts from Seth Godin on customer service.  He highlights Seth’s post on apologies (which I also linked to awhile back here), as well as a post on re-thinking customer service (also from Seth).    Seth recommends avoiding real-time calls so one can better plan for asynchronous service.  I think that is an option for some types of service, but in other instances, a quick response is necessary (ie. business is losing money for every minute they are without a technical solution).  What might work would be a combo of this: provide asynchronous service gratis, then charge for immediate service.  What do you think?

The third entry is from Meikah at CustServ.  In her post, she shares insights gained from the recent Business Weekarticle on top customer service companies.  Meikah points out that a lot of their success comes from going “back to basics” for customer service.  She says,

All it takes is to listen, be attentive to the customers’ needs, and to always let that human nature in you reach out, which is innately helpful, compassionate, and empathetic.

Her insights are great as well.  Side note: Business Week originally had JetBlue on their list, then pulled them off after the recent bump in the road.  The poll on Business Week’s site asks whether readers feel they should have done that.  Over 80% of readers voted that Business Week should have left JetBlue on the list.  I agree!  Yes, they had a very poor experience for their customers, but I don’t feel this has completely negated years of excellent operations, customer service, and comfy planes.  I will fly them again, as will many others I have spoken with.

The fourth entry comes from Phil Gerbyshak at MakeItGreat!, where he posts on the use of response in customer service.  Phil, I think you are becoming a customer service blogger!  Check out his post for more details.

Finally, the last entry was mine, already mentioned above.

Be sure to go over to Maria’s Carnivale, check out the posts, and definitely stop by her other booths.  She has just done some great posts on Starbucks, irate customers, and customer service dreams!

(Photo credit: dbviragoat stockxpert.com)

Meikah Delid of CustServ gives us Building Customer Loyalty is also Basic Marketing, which discusses the importance of building relationships with existing customers.

Doug Hanna of ServiceUntitled shares Be Insistent, his story of the fine line between being persistent and being rude.

Glenn Ross of Customer Service Experience reminds us of his post, Word of Mouth Advertising Increases Your Customer Service Experiences, and the intersection of positive Word of Mouth and customer service.

Tom Vander Well of QAQnA tells us about one of his pet peeves, the use of a customer’s name, in his post When Marketing and Customer Service Collide.  Get it right, and we are more likely to trust you with more!

The intersection of marketing and customer service is all around us.  It involves every customer service touch point: loyalty marketing, face-to-face customer service, phone, email, and even word of mouth.  Just like the carousel horses in the picture above, it works out best when marketing and customer service work together.

Thanks to everyone for participating; it was fun!  If you are interested in hosting a future Carnivale of Customer Service, please email Maria Palma at CustomersAreAlways.

Customer service is one of the main points of interaction between company and customer.  So let’s explore it together!  On behalf of Maria Palma at CustomersAreAlways, CustomersRock! will be hosting the Carnivale of Customer Service on Monday, February 5.  The theme will be Marketing through Customer Service. 

Here’s how it works.  To take part in the Carnivale, simply write a post on the topic of Marketing through Customer Service.  When you are finished, email me at bcarroll7 at gmail dot com by Monday, February 5 at 12:00 PM Pacific Time.  I will include a link to your post at the Carnivale here at CustomersRock (link love)!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• How customer service reinforces the brand (or not!)
• How customer service impacts customer relationships
• How the words used in customer service affect customers
• How can customer service market to customers?

If you have a great customer service story, we’d love to hear about that as well; it is great marketing!

Thanks, and I look forward to reading your posts soon.

P.S. Check out this week’s Carnivale at CustomersAreAlways, featuring an article on customer service words from me, a company shoes/customer shoes story from Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great!, and thoughts on voicemail from Meikah of CustServ.

(Photo: stockxpert.com uploaded by disorderly)