VIP

What Do You Do When You Think No One Is Watching?

Seth Godin is my marketing hero.  He says what we wish we had said.  When I read a blog post of his from last month (OK, so I don't read all my RSS feeds every day) I was blown over by what he said. It's definitely worth a read.

Now that you've gone to read it, I'll tell you that for some reason it had never occurred to me that if I knew who they were, they knew who I was.  Ninety nine percent of the time that was good but my confession, and I suspect yours as well, is that there were times when those who knew who I was may not have been inspired.

I'm just glad that's behind me.  Now that I have my own business it's all very different.  This isn't somewhere I can afford to be anything but totally transparent.  I must have integrity at all times. It's fortunate for me that I want to have that when it's my business.  Why was it a bit more difficult when it was someone else's?

What do you think?

Business Expansion!!!

Great news!  I have a business partner.  Actually, Staci and I have been working together for months but we've been so busy there hasn't been time to even tell you about it. 

To celebrate a new partner, we have decided to change the name of the business (after all, Virtual Cynthia really doesn't work for two people) so we had that discussion this morning and we've decided to become Virtual Internet Professionals.  We'll be the VIPs working with our VIP clients. 

As time goes by you'll learn more about Staci and the fabulous knowledge she has to share (I'm actually going to encourage her to have her own blog) but for now, just know that she can run rings around me in the tech world and she's pretty amazing in the administrative world as well.

Look for more posts to follow--I attended a conference a couple of weeks ago and as I assimilate the info, I'll be sharing it with you!  I learned some fabulous things and I know you'll want to take advantage of how they can help your business soar to the top.

Until next time....

It's Not Rocket Science

I was reading Sharp Corner tonight and Lisa was talking about pizza and customer service.  First of all, I applaud her immediate action when treated badly.  What it made me think about, though, was how simple good customer service really is.  Think about it.  How much effort does it take to treat people well?

Sure, it's not quite as easy to be kind and considerate when we're being yelled at.  In fact, I don't allow people to yell at me but even when someone's yelling at me I don't yell back.  It's a matter of simple courtesy, self-respect, and civility.  It's more than that, though--it's customer service.  Why would we want to risk having hundreds of people know we were rude to one person?  This isn't rocket science.  Do you continue to shop at stores where you're treated rudely?  Shoot, I don't even shop at a national discount chain store because their staff has never managed to treat me well.  I'm the queen of saving money but I'll spend more to shop somewhere I'm treated well.  Why wouldn't our clients do the same?

Not only do I not shop or do business with people who don't treat me well, I tell my friends.  I would imagine I've told literally hundreds of people that I don't shop at that national discount store because of their customer service.  By the same token, I tell as many people when I find a store or service company that treats me well. 

There's not much more to say about this, is there?  When I have to deal with someone who is obviously having a very bad day and taking it out on me I tell them I would prefer to talk to them when they are feeling more like having a civil conversation.  I then very politely either hang up or walk away.  It's extremely effective. 

Until next time...