Now here’s the question. When you place the call and are connected to voice mail, how often do you tune out the message while waiting for the tone? There’s the point. For many of us, the voice mail’s greeting message is so routine we ignore it completely. And there we show our disrespect for our customers. And in doing so, harm our own businesses.

As an example, not too long ago we received a message on our home voice mail. It was from a lawyer, we’ll call him Mr. A. Turney. Mr. A. Turney was leaving a message for Mr. Cheung about a current legal issue, and needed Mr. Cheung to return his call right away. To me this was an obvious miskeying of the phone number. I figured Mr. A. Turney would call Mr. Cheung the next day when he hadn’t heard from him.

The next day we had another message from Mr. A. Turney, telling Mr. Cheung, in a slightly irritated voice, to return his call right away. Now, this was kind of funny, since at that time, I was in the habit of telling jokes on our outgoing message, and my voice has a rather slight Pacific Northwest accent, with minor hints of my Upper Midwest Scandinavian background. And to tell the truth, I doubt very much that Mr. Cheung would be telling jokes on his business phone voice mail.

The third day came, and to my surprise Mr. A. Turney left us another message. He was getting quite exasperated. I can just see him, sitting at his desk, pressing redial on his phone, and busily multi-tasking, writing his torts and retorts, while cluelessly ignoring my joke for the third time. Now, I was getting a little irritated myself. So that evening I called Mr. A. Turney’s office and told HIS voice mail that he’d been leaving messages for Mr. Cheung at the wrong phone number all week. Then I changed our outgoing message to tell a somewhat unflattering lawyer joke. Unfortunately, I didn’t have Mr. Cheung’s number, or I would have called him to let him know that his lawyer was severely lacking in attention to detail.

Thursday night we returned home, and sure enough Mr. A. Turney had left yet another message for Mr. Cheung. Obviously he didn’t listen to our message with the ribald lawyer joke, or at least he didn’t deign to mention it, nor had he listened to his OWN voice mail messages, telling him he was barking up the wrong telephone pole. But wouldn’t you have thought he’d have figured out that something was wrong after almost a week of unreturned calls about a pending legal issue?

Here are a few things to consider in your Customer Service contacts with VoiceMail:

• If you are a business, use a business-like outgoing greeting on your voice mail, including your business name.
• When you, a Customer Care Team member, call someone and you get sent to voice mail, listen to the message. Don’t dismiss the message content out of hand. There is good information there. You might find that the person you want is out of the office for a week. Or that they have moved or left the company. You might find a different number to call. Or you might discover you are calling the wrong number.
• If you promised you would return a call to a customer, follow through on that promise. Your customer is waiting for your call. Leave the pertinent information on their voice mail, and if possible, call them back, later, to confirm that they got your message.
• If the voice mail greeting you encounter is a non sequitur, it should be a clear hint that perhaps you have miskeyed the number, or perhaps been given an incorrect number by your customer. In that case you should put in a little extra effort to contact them by email, or look them up in the phone book.
• If you persist in leaving messages on an incorrect voice mail you disserve your current customer, and you’re almost certain to alienate a potential new customer. I know that I won’t be going to Mr. A. Turney for my legal work. He didn’t listen to me before when he thought I was his client…why would I believe he’d listen to me if I truly was?

Show your customers that you respect them, and value your communications with them. Listen to what they have to say.

p.s. I’ve not received a voice mail from Mr. A. Turney recently. Probably Mr. Cheung hired a new lawyer since Mr. A. Turney was obviously ignoring his legal needs because Mr. A. Turney never called him back.

Succession planning is a big part of the long-term planning for millions of small businesses. Tim Berry has studied this and actually done it successfully, and he talks with Jim Blasingame about his advice based on his experience.

You can listen to the full show by clicking on the image below.

And be sure to check out the Small Business Advocate website! Jim and his amazing staff have a wealth of information contained on the website.

I felt we had a great environment with energetic, committed “team” members. We were one individual part of a national company that I was a partner with, but in our local branch we were responsible for our own profit center.

The partners in the company visited each office/showroom from across the nation each month to review financials and to be hands on. We were always told, when partners visited, that we had a very good working environment. A great team of people that seem to be all focused on the “better good, big picture.” I called it building a “Culture for Success.”

As a owner/manager I always thought it was essential to empower your employees to think on their own, be creative and take accountability for our financial statement. Another key aspect, was to be involved and have information fed to you, the “man in the middle.”

Without good information, you can’t make good decisions, so hold meetings that are pre-scheduled and have an itinerary that you stick to. Have the meetings on time, be organized and interactive with employees. Request input and acknowledge good input by using and implementing. Another key component, is be organized. Organization creates flow, flow creates a purpose and a purpose creates productivity.

1. empower your employees
2. be the “man in the middle”
3. team meetings that are interactive
4. be organized

and last but not least

5. hold everyone accountable.

Follow these steps and you’ll create an environment for a “culture of success” that not only you, but your employees will be responsible for. They will thank you for it.

Tim Nagle
www.TheMarketingCoachVa.com

Tim Nagle is the owner of The Marketing Coach. Tim works with select small companies who want to grow their business to the next level. He is a highly regarded professional marketer with over 15 years experience and is known for his immensely practical approach and ideas. Tim has been involved in a broad range of marketing & business activities which gives him a wealth of knowledge to bring to The Marketing Coach clients.

Of course that’s not to say that messages aren’t going to continue materializing in your inbox. In fact, you might even get a few good ones — potential leads, perhaps.

Given that fact, it’s impractical to consider stepping away from the mess entirely — as recommended in this Lifehacker.com blog post. This might work for the few of us who can afford to pass by viable opportunities or for those among us who don’t place a premium on customer service.

But for the rest of us, it would be nice to find a solution built to distribute the workload of customer and business email so that when one person steps away from her inbox, others can pick up the slack — and see that no opportunity is missed.

For instance, Email Center Pro was designed to manage exactly this scenario. By centralizing all of your email in a single, transparent location, there’s no longer a need for one person to manage all of it.

And that means that you can step away from your business email with a peace of mind — because you know that messages are no longer piling up in eager anticipation of your return. Instead what’s piling up is leads.

Jason Gallic
Product Marketing Manager
jason@paloalto.com

Don’t want to talk to us directly? That’s ok. You can chat with us. You can go on our website and click on the Live Chat button and get a live person answering your questions. If the chat isn’t open, because we go home to our families at night, then an email with your question is sent and the next morning it has first priority to be answered.

These people work right here, in the Palo Alto Software office, within shouting reach of the developers, marketing department and upper management. There’s never a single moment that the team isn’t overheard by the entire company. Yeah, we’re that involved in the happiness of our customers.

So, still not interested in chat or phoning? That’s ok, you can email us. We use our own dogfood here, Email Center Pro. It’s the best way to make sure every email coming into our company is handled quickly and competently. Every email is answered within a 24 business hour turn around, but more than likely you’ll get an answer by the end of that work day. You might even get an answer from one of the team after hours or on the weekend. Not because it’s required, but because the team has a commitment to making sure people looking for help are answered.

Let me say that again. They have a commitment to making sure any customer reaching out to us is heard and responded to.

I’m telling you this because when I run into a company that literally makes me go around in circles to find technical support answers and tells me that sure I can call them for help if I give them $30 dollars to get the phone number first… I get frustrated.

And I have to tell you, a frustrated customer is a customer that won’t evangelize your product. They won’t return to get the newest version either. At least this customer won’t.

I know this isn’t a new subject here on the BIG blog, but I feel I have the responsibility to point it out when I see it. Good customer service isn’t hard to give. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think. And it’s vital. It’s so important. It’s the difference between success and the “going out of business” sign.

Good customer service is customer retention. It’s repeat business.

It’s your reputation.

Make sure it’s a priority in your business.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Pssst. Have you signed up for the Back to the Fundamentals webinar? Time’s running out, don’t miss your chance.
November 17th, 2008 at 9 a.m. PST

If you look carefully, you’ll find a small but very vocal group of business advisers and business owners who are being smart and not reacting blindly to what is happening in the world.

They’re sitting down with their budgets, their management teams and consultants and really looking at what needs to happen to ensure their businesses survive.

If business is slowing down, what are you doing to ensure your customers keep coming back? If your competitor slashed their advertising budget, isn’t this the time for you to add a couple more budgeting dollars to pick up where they’ve left off? That expensive marketing tool or reporting system that costs you thousands of dollars a month – have you checked to see if there’s a low cost alternative that does pretty much the same thing?

Don’t doom your business by reacting too strongly to what’s going on. Sit down and make good decisions about where your money is being spent and where it will do even more good in the future.

Please join us November 17th, 2008 for a special webinar by Tim Berry on the importance of going Back to the Fundamentals of business.

Sign up for Tim Berry’s Webinar!

1. I recently bought some plane tickets for my family to go to London over Thanksgiving. The tickets were not cheap, as traveling from Oregon to London these days is simply not affordable. I spent over $1,000 per ticket. Children under 12 years old are supposed to receive a 20% off discount on international tickets. My boys are ages 2 and 4. I purchased the tickets, and there was no discount. I called United Airlines. After the ridiculous amount I had just spent on tickets I was told that I bought tickets that were too “cheap” and for a class that does not allow the 20% discount. I could though, buy a different class and spend $450 more per ticket, and get the 20% discount on 2 tickets. I am no math genius, but seriously, how dumb do they really think I am? An almost 50% increase in price to get 2 tickets at a 20% decrease of the new higher priced ticket???? Shut up, you stupid customer!
2. Our company uses a service provider to handle some of our marketing to customers. I won’t be specific here on purpose. Through an error that happened due to a bug in THEIR system, they discontinued our account. We are paying customers, paying them roughly $500 per month. They chose to drop our account rather than fix the bug. Shut up, you stupid customer.
3. Our TiVo, which was less than one year old broke. It was still under warranty. First it stopped recording programs, then it refused to re-boot. We simply could not get it to turn on. My husband called as was told that they could replace it under warranty, for an up-front fee of $350. They would ship us a new unit, and then credit us $300. The remaining $50 would be a “repair” charge. Last I checked a one-year warranty should simply replace the unit. What’s this BS about a repair charge — when nothing was repaired. The unit simply stopped re-booting. We were sent a NEW unit as per the warranty. Shut up, you stupid customer

So I could go on. But you get the picture. More and more companies seem to be taking this approach. Charge the customer everywhere and anywhere. Promise them one thing, deliver another, and then be annoyed that they point it out. As you think about your customer interactions, I challenge you to create policies and customer experiences that put the customer first. That goes back to the old adage that “the customer is always right.” I can guarantee that you will see a positive change in your business if you re-think the customer experience. Don’t join the new line of thought that treats customers like they are idiots to be taken advantage of. Think about how you can make sure that your customer is truly always right. Listen to your customers. Give them what they want. Your business is sure to be better off because of it.

Sabrina Parsons aka MommyCEO

www.emailcenterpro.com

I would hazard a guess that most people fall into my category — that is, if they think at all about email as anything more thhan simply a communication medium.

But not Kaitlin “Ducky” Sherwood. You can click on her name to read her full bio, but I’ll give you enough information to establish context. She’s written two books on overcoming email overload, was the first Webmaster at the University of Illinois (during the Mosaic creation days) and just recently earned an MS in Computer Science.

I got to spend an hour on the phone with her, aggressively asking for her opinion on email and cautiously tip-toeing into her thoughts on Email Center Pro.

Sherwood speaks with confident conviction about all manner of topics, but, for my purposes, focused most of her energy on email. Much of what was said centered around the idea that, as yet, the perfect email system doesn’t exist. And the reason for that is that no provider is meeting all of Sherwood’s standards — many of which have to do with efficiently and effectiveely moving through email in a reasonably organized way.

She chuckles at the notion of “Inbox Zero,” the popular concept that basically mystifies people into thinking they’ve properly dealt with all of their messages just by clearning their inbox. But, have they? Have they adequately addressed that communication channel, or have they simply shifted it from one place to another so as to better manage the guilt associated with 100 unread messages?

Sherwood argues for the latter, asserting that the psychology of seeing “0″ as an Inbox tally is ggiven disproportionate weight in relationship to proper management of email as a communication vehicle — creating a false sense of security, if you will.

Much of that, Sherwood continues, is driven by the passionate pursuit of perfect filtering. Users constantly seeking to compartmentalize the various buckets of information flowing into their Inboxes chew up time that can’t possibly be recovered through the convenience associated with “more easily” scanning through those folders.

In essence, filters/folders/etc. are not effective means of organizing data — given the existence of an uber-powerful search function. Wiith the reality of virtually limitless data storage, it no longer makes efficient sense to try to organize things the way we needed to when filing cabinets held all of our pertinent paper work. Without proper paper management, I might lose a week looking for a single document. Now, I type “2006 tax returns” into the search bar and PRESTO!

In light of that, it’s comforting to know that an advanced search functionality provides the infrastructure for version 2 of Email Center Pro, which is scheduled for release in the next couple of weeks.

So, do the psychological aspects of email resonate with you? Do you struggle against the rising tide of email overload? What is your method for managing your inbox?

Jason Gallic
Product Marketing Manager
jason@paloalto.com

So I know that 13 years is nothing compared to Microsoft or IBM or General Motors, but what’s cool about these anniversaries is that there were only 10 or so employees back in 1995, and most of them are still with us.

That, in small business, is an achievement. Their achievement, putting up with the ups and downs of a small software company; and ours, in keeping the good people.

There are 45 of us now. When Vie and Cale and Connie started, Business Plan Pro was in its first version, and was just barely making it in retail. Today it’s in its eleventh version.

The picture here was taken just two months shy of 12 years ago, in November of 1996, at a roller skating rink. The people shown here were more than half of Palo Alto Software’s employees at that time. The key people missing who are still with us are my wife Vange, who (I think) took the picture; and Jake Weatherly, who had just joined.

From the left, you have me, Luke Walsh (now with Right Media, a Yahoo subsidiary), Cale Bruckner, Connie Muller, Cristin Berry, Vie Radek, and Teri Epperly.

If you add Vange and Jake back into the picture, who were very much a part of it but not pictured, then the only people from back then that we’ve lost were Luke, now at Right Media; and three others, also not pictured, one who retired in his late 50s, one who moved to the East Coast when she married, and one who, well, didn’t fit. And he’s doing well on his own, in sales. Cristin, also pictured, was 13 when that picture was taken, but she’s also been a full-time employee since she graduated from Whitman College four years ago.

And I might add that it’s been more than 18 months now since the new management team took over, and Vie, Cale, Connie, Teri, and Jake are still with us. That speaks a lot for continuity, and what’s good about them, and us. That makes me proud.

Tim Berry
Founder and President
Palo Alto Software

Start-Up Junkies is very reminiscent of the 2001 movie Startup.com, also a fun technology start-up documentary about the first Internet boom of the late 90s.

Both Start-Up Junkies and Startup.com  are interesting to watch, especially if you are a budding entrepreneur looking to raise a bunch of money and enter the sleep-deprived, fast-paced world of getting a technology company up and running quickly. They give you a good view into the stress involved, the personalties you will come across, and what it is like to be responsible for starting a company with someone else’s money. There are good lessons to be learned and plenty of “what not to do” moments.

Enjoy!

–Noah Parsons
COO
Palo Alto Software