Naomi Karten's Blog

View
By term

Blog

Naomi Karten's Blog

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. In this blog, she focuses on observations, thoughts, ideas, and the wisdom of others as it concerns people and how they function (or don’t), particularly in organizations.

Customer Service Speed Traps

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (4)

Mar 16 2010 - 10:38pm

At the end of a conference I attended, buses lined up to take conference-goers to the airport. Anticipating long lines at the airport, I raced to the first bus, leaping over luggage and zigzagging around people. I handed over my luggage to be stowed in the baggage compartment, hopped on the bus, and began to mentally pace.Time passed, but the bus didn't depart. I realized that I should have taken...

Avoiding an FFFP Frame of Mind

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (2)

Mar 3 2010 - 4:34pm

When things go awry, it's easy to slip into a Fault-Finding, Finger-Pointing (FFFP) frame of mind. After all, if everyone else did what they were supposed to, the situation you're now facing wouldn't have happened. But before concluding that someone else is to blame, it might pay to ask: Could there be a reasonable explanation for this situation -one that would cause me to see this situation in a...

Lose the Lag

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (4)

Feb 24 2010 - 8:29pm

When an organization with disgruntled customers takes major steps to improve service delivery, customers ought to be happy. Often, however, they continue to grumble and grouse because of what I've dubbed the perceptual lag. That is, the perception of an improvement often lags far behind the implementation of that improvement.Once you become aware of the potential for a perceptual lag, you can...

The Black Hole

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (2)

Jan 27 2010 - 6:01pm

When I experienced a technical problem and sent an email message to the online support address, I received an immediate automated acknowledgement giving me a ticket number and advising me that I'd be contacted within 48 hours with a response to my problem.I appreciated receiving this acknowledgement because it reassured me that my query had been received. But 48 hours later, nothing. And 72 hours...

How Not to Offend Customers

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (10)

Jan 20 2010 - 12:30am

During a break at a conference, a woman named Marge told me about an experience she recently had at another conference. It seems that she'd been talking to the keynote speaker when he abruptly turned away and started talking to someone else. I asked if he had cut her off in midsentence. No, she admitted. She had finished what she was saying, but was about to say something else when he rudely...

How Talking Tames Tensions

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

Jan 5 2010 - 10:30pm

When your department runs into snag in working with other departments, how do you resolve the situation? Getting together to talk can help not only to rectify the current problem, but also to minimize future problems.

The Waiting and Waiting and Waiting Room

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (2)

Dec 28 2009 - 11:04pm

One component of providing superior service is managing the customer's perception of the service. I heard about a medical office study that supports this view. The study found that if, upon entering the examining room, the doctor smiled, exhibited a friendly manner, and made immediate eye contact, patients' estimates of the time they spent waiting dropped by half.

If You Claim to Care, Care!

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (8)

Dec 21 2009 - 3:57pm

Service businesses that really care about their customers don't boast about how much they care. They don't need to. They simply deliver. Caring about customers is part of their service philosophy and it shows in the way they treat their customers. Conversely, service businesses that persistently proclaim how much they care often seem to fall short.

Psychic-ology and the Art of Managing Expectations

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

| Comments: (6)

Dec 14 2009 - 2:50pm

Do you expect the people you interact with most often to know what you're thinking? If so, watch out, because you could be setting yourself up for disappointment. It's best not to expect others to know or do things they don't know they're supposed to know or do.

I'm Waiting as Fast as I Can

Blog Post

by Naomi Karten

Dec 4 2009 - 6:09pm

We spend 34% of our time waiting. Waiting in traffic. Waiting in lines. Waiting on hold. Waiting for tech support. Waiting for information.