What My Neighbor’s Teen Can Teach You About Customer Service

by Deb Ng

My husband and I have a splurge we feel is justified. We pay local landscapers to mow own lawn. We’re both busy with our careers and our son and don’t want to lose precious down time spending an hour on the lawn tractor each weekend (not that we have one of those.). We recently employed a new landscaper because we felt he offered a good price and he came recommended. I have to admit, his lawn crew does an awesome job, but the customer service sucks.

Every time I call, the landscaper’s wife (who runs the business end) tells me she’ll call back. Sometimes it happens within hours, mostly it happens within days. I called her on Monday asked her to quote on our annual leaf cleanup. We have many very mature trees and our acreage is covered. We generally take care of this ourselves but this year we just don’t want to spare our time with our son. So I called 9:00 Monday morning. As of this morning I’ve yet to receive that return call. It doesn’t matter anyway.

Yesterday I was talking to the school bus driver who is also a neighbor. I told her about my dissatisfaction with the lawn service and she said I was welcome to call her teen who landscapes on the weekend. So I did. He was at my door 45 minutes later with a written quote complete with guarantee. He took a walk around my whole property and came back and asked questions about the border, the dog, and other things. None of the high priced landscapers in this area ever took the time to ask me these questions. Read more

Who Are You Writing For?

by Deb Ng

When you accept an assignment, what’s the first thing you do? Depending on the task, one might assume you either begin writing or researching the subject matter. Perhaps you Google the topic or go to the library. You might even call a few experts to interview. Do you research the readership as well? If not, you might consider moving this to the top of your list.

It’s not enough to  simply write an article or blog post. Knowing who you’re writing for will help to set the tone and ensure you have the correct focus.

Trust Me, It Matters

Clients should give us all the information we need, but we can’t always count on them to do so. They might overlook certain details or not know exactly what we need. For instance, your client might ask for an article on proper nutrition for large dogs. The request is simple enough and you could probably write in general terms. Knowing your client runs a website for St. Bernard breeders will help you to narrow your focus.

When writing an article or blog post you might wish to: Read more