Category: Customer Service

Managing community engagement is a big job!

A few weeks ago, my husband and I vacationed in Montego Bay, Jamaica. This was the second year we visited the island. Last year, we were supposed to go to Puerto Rico, but the hurricane derailed our plans. It was our goal to stay at a Sandals resort, simply because we were told they are […]

Renown social media strategist, Mark Schaefer, recently wrote a post which analyzed the decision of a large pub company that quit social media. The company claimed it was an addicting time-waster with no direct impact on sales. Mark diligently reviewed the facts to conclude that the company did not have a true sense of the […]

Why do some businesses succeed on social media and others do not? Our results indicate that social media success comes down to one word.  Alignment. To generate successful outcomes for our clients, the business must align social media with two critical factors. Business Values When we work with customers for the first time, we ask […]

This is the first in a series of a new category on the blog – The Rice Report – written by #Strella team member, Stephanie Rice.

I have what some would call an infectious personality. In my father’s words, I would talk to a stop sign. Growing up with a teacher as a mother, school was a priority in my house. This meant no extracurricular activities, friends, or even a job that could contribute to a potential drop in grades. As a rebellious middle child, I got my first part-time job at the age of 15. I was a cashier at a local restaurant – and I absolutely loved it! I got to know regulars and perfect my customer service skills.  I’ve always believed in four golden rules of customer service. I’ve followed them from my days at the restaurant to the days on the internet.

Service is one of our company core values, as is commitment to excellence. It’s been our experience that the two go hand-in-hand to optimally serve our customers. Contrarily, the two values clash when customers are unreasonable or unwilling to do their part. For example, a customer that expects immediate answers to inquiries, but fails to […]

In any business, there are times when we struggle between giving the client what they want vs. what will generate the best outcome for them. I encounter this dilemma often, primarily because people see something working for another business and they want to replicate that formula for themselves. This is a slippery slope simply because […]

September 1999.  I was a junior at King’s College in Northeast PA. I was doing what typical college students do – studying, playing football and working part-time for retail company, Wal-Mart. I had to leave the following year to recover from a serious knee injury, but after graduation and a brief stint in PR, I […]

I make it a habit to take the time to respond to everything I receive via email – even inquiries for free advice. I may be one of the few, but I have to admit that it really bugs me when people do not offer the same courtesy. There are few types of emails I […]