Customer Service ...

... is a hot and widely discussed topic. It can make the difference for a business to fail or succeed, especially SMEs. I am not the person who likes to give phone calls neither having a face-to-face conversation with a sales person. It is just not my thing. I am getting more "inspired" in emails and filling out webforms.

I recently contacted a magazine I really like and asked them about a previous issue. No reply, not via webform neither by direct email. I was disappointed and most customers would obviously give up at this point. But lucky for the, I really wanted this magazine. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and gave a phone call including another 20min being on hold. That's how badly I wanted it. Obviously my patience was worth it. I got everything I wanted.

Was that bad service or just bad luck that my information didn't go through? I always try to see things from different perspectives. You don't know the person nor the system set up on the other side (if they have a system). Unfortunately, the business would have lost the sale/opportunity anyway.

Photo courtesy by Markus Brosch

There are companies out there, that are well known and highly awarded for the best customer service ever. Did I mention I have a Mac ;o) So, good customer service is most likely a win-win situation, isn't it? Unfortunately, in some regions we don't get the choice between different suppliers. This issue occurs especially in telecommunication. Then we have to live with the service they provide, like >60 min on hold? This doesn't look like a win-win situation, not to me.

I am convinced that this will change and such companies will need to improve their customer service. Technology improves rapidly and when you are ready for it, the world is open for you. And that brings in so many opportunities to chose from. Companies need to be more flexible, if they are clever enough and listen to the market.

Project review

When I go through my twitter messages and facebook statuses ... it really looks like I am quite busy. And yes, I am doing a lot of stuff. Maybe because I get too easily bored in something. Ok, let's get some structure in it.

1. PhD ... actual the main reason why I am ended up here in Australia. I am in the final year of my studies in Computational Biology. It is an amazing area to work in. However, maybe I am in the wrong research group or just the wrong University. I did publish two publications in my first 2 years ... then my motivation dropped. Where was the fun? I don't get a long easily with people around me and I started to question scientists and science in general. Did you know that 99% of all written PhD theses are never read again? Doing a PhD is the complete opposite of team work ... and what did we learn about team work ... different minds coming together and working on one goal together.
Anyway, I will finish hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I might need a break of this for a while. Maybe then I will find a way back, as I still love the subject of Biology.

2. Health/Nutrition/Fitness ... according to the BMI I am close to be overweight. However, I think I look alright. The scale tells me something else, so I decided to drop 8 kilos. The plan is to avoid any drugs to have a quite "organic" body. I am good at this. Beside that the problem with my thyroid will be always there. Maybe I can get my mind to repair it again by itself. It is all about what you believe. The majority of food/fuel I put in my should be organic. I can't handle meat and fruits from supermarkets. I have some kind of allergy against preservatives, which might be actually good ... I can do some testing , hehe. Fitness-like, I think I still haven't found what I really enjoy. The gym can be good sometimes, but I build up too easily. Maybe I give it another try. I did Kung-Fu some years ago and I loved it. But then they did more team games, and that is not my thing. With the personal trainer of my partner, we did some boxing lessons. And that was some fun, and it gets all the frustration out of you ;o) To start it at Uni, might not be worth it ... will see. Currently I just do some running. At least every second day with the plan to increase the time and distance.

3. Business ... I am registered soletrader here in Australia for 2 years now. I am doing contract work for other companies right now, but plans are bigger than that. I want to provide service B2C and B2B. The website is in progress and the list of ideas is full and keeps growing. I know very interesting people and I am sure I can make it.

All this keeps me busy. Recording it here, will make me more committed to it. Today's plan is update two websites and getting a new one up and running. I also will learn more about our CMS and about Internet Marketing. About all this I will write here in this blog.

Have a lovely weekend!