It’s for you: Better telephone customer service

Cynthia CloskeyGeneral

Not sure why it’s important to have actual humans giving customer service over the telephone? Check out Get Human, “a consumer movement created to change the face of customer service.”

Feed me! Easy steps to checking favorite web sites

Cynthia CloskeyGeneral

Feeds are excellent tools for managing the waves of information that the internet washes over us daily, but many people haven’t even heard of them. Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune provides a gentle introduction and detailed, step-by-step guide to setting up a feedreader account: The rest of you, who may have heard of “feeds” but been put off by … Read More

Who’s your mommy? Reviewing the excellent Mommy Blog

Cynthia CloskeyGeneral

I’ve found the gold standard of writer’s blogs: The Mommy Blog. It’s been around a while, but in the past few months they’ve undertaken a redesign. The result is a terrific site that builds the writer’s and the book’s brand, creates and enhances community, and is just plain fun to explore. The site has so much content it could overwhelm … Read More

Straight from the Customer’s Mouth: How Customer Testimonials Can Win Sales

Cynthia CloskeyQuick links

From Startup Journal: “Winning Sales Through Customer Testimonials” by Sarah Needleman. Mr. Welsh recruited one of Expensewatch’s first customers, a director of finance at a Texas manufacturer, who had sent a complimentary email about its products. The executive presented a 20-minute speech, accompanied by an online demo Expensewatch created. About 75 participants called in. The conference calls are now done … Read More

Eyes on the EnterPrize: Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Business Plan Competition

Cynthia CloskeyGeneral

Got a killer business idea? Need to put together your business plan? Enter the EnterPrize Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Pittsburgh Technology Council and get all the tools you need, plus a chance at investment cash. From the website: Who will be the next EnterPrize winner?Someone with the next great technology business idea. Someone with a strong business plan. … Read More

Google vs. PayPal

Cynthia CloskeyQuick links

From today’s Wall Street Journal, “PayPal Prepares for a Challenge from Google” (free feature): Long the Internet’s leading online-payments service, PayPal has a 24% market share of U.S. online payments, according to financial-institution consulting firm Celent LLC. PayPal, founded in 1998, boasts 96 million accounts with consumers who want to send payments online without revealing their credit-card or banking information … Read More