How to NOT do Customer Service | Blogging with Coastal ? Transfer ...

I continue to read about companies large and small who are struggling in this rough economy. Even some of the titans of the American economy like Sears are struggling (See this recent article by Tiffany Hsu in the LA Times about Sears being dropped from the S&P 500). I know our economy is down, but many companies are actually thriving so what sets them apart. At Coastal Business Supplies, Inc.we have refocused our efforts to make sure that we never lose sight of our company motto ?To the extent we serve? We succeed!? We have focused on customer service and truly caring for our customers. So when I recently had an issue with a purchase from Sears.com, I was shocked at the level of service (or lack thereof) that I received. I thought to myself, ?no wonder Sears is struggling?. I used to view Sear as my go to place for all sorts of items, but now I have decided to never shop there again. I wonder how many other people have decided that and then I wonder if that is truly the reason that they are struggling. So let me chronicle a couple of key points of what not to do and then also give you some of my thoughts on what to do:

1) I made a purchase through their website. It was via another merchant but the payment was made to Sears.com. I made the purchase because I trusted Sears to stand up for the purchase since they appeared to be endorsing the merchant. When I first contacted them about my issue (never receiving a product) I got some canned response that the order was with another merchant and that I should contact them.

MISTAKE: If you endorse it, it affects your brand. Choose wisely who you want to partner with and I expect Sears to make it right. I sent them my money so why would I not expect that outcome.

RIGHT RESPONSE: This is a common mistake in customer service all the way around. Instead of stepping up and being the hero and solving the problem, we all too often want to point blame at someone else. Stop making excuses and start making solutions! For example with our business, we ship FedEx and once the package leaves our building it is out of our control to some extent. But we choose to partner with FedEx so really any issues that happen with the shipment are a reflection on us. We try to grab the situation by the horns, contact FedEx ourselves and follow through on the issue. Yes we do ask for customer patience sometimes, but we always follow the situation through to final resolution.

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2) After they passed the buck I tried contacting the other merchant directly with no response. I went back to Sears, and again got the same canned response. After a couple of more emails I thought Sears would finally contact the merchant directly and get back to me in five days.? Six days later, still nothing so I sent another email. Again, the same canned response which was almost laughable. Now they are responding to my email about the fact that it had been over five days with an email that said we will get back with you in another five days!

MISTAKE: They didn?t actually read my email; rather, they just sent a canned response. The representative clearly didn?t give a damn about me or my business. They are just there to collect a check and send emails they think they are supposed to send.

RIGHT RESPONSE: At Coastal Business Supply we are so lucky to have a wonderful staff of caring individuals in our customer service department.? They read each email to assist our customers, without any canned responses.? More often than not, they call the customer to follow up and maybe even an email after that conversation. Let your customer know that you do care about their business. They are the reason your company exists and the reason the Customer Service person has a job. You will not always get everything right and mistakes will happen, but address the mistakes head on with solutions.? This action will make you? and the customer happy.

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3) Still at this point, no response has been made other than the same email from at least three different people.? Not one of them has offered to actually do anything or pass it to someone who can resolve the issue. I finally went to Twitter with my concern and got some response, but after looking through their Twitter timeline it seems all they do is say sorry, and apologize for the wrong doings of their customer service department. Better yet, they asked me to DM my information to them and said someone would be in contact with me shortly and two days later still nothing.

MISTAKE: Twitter and Facebook and other social media outlets are a great place to help your customer service department. It lets you know what is happening and allows you to truly interact in a busy world. But to make it just a clean-up site, does you no good and really defeats the purpose. If all you do on Twitter is say sorry then you might as well not even be there, because you really want to have more positive interaction and brags.

RIGHT RESPONSE: If your Twitter feed is all apologies then you really need to get back to the first level and fix things. More than a few in a row and you truly have customer service problems. Your Facebook and Twitter should be a place for fans to interact and talk about how great you are while you occasionally go above and beyond to help a paying customer. We empower our employees to make decisions to do whatever is possible to assist the customer while at the same time looking out for the company. If you don?t have that, then your days in business are probably numbered.

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All in all it has been a very frustrating experience and I am just flabbergasted that a company as big and well known as Sears has such a horrible customer service department. There is no follow through and plenty of broken promises. How do you help your customers? Do you truly care about their business, or just want to take their money and move on like Sears has tried to do with me?

I have been in the garment decorating industry for over 12 years, and have worked with many small businesses to help them make money and improve their marketing and sales. I love helping small businesses as I have been involved with or had my own small business since I was a teenager. In my free time, I enjoy volleyball, bowling and spending time with my sons. I have lived in St. Louis for 2 years now by way of Boston, Colorado Springs and most major cities in Arizona.

Source: http://blog.coastalbusiness.com/how-to-not-do-customer-service/

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Money shortage impedes investigation for funds

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1 in 10 debate watchers were 'dual-screeners'

2 hrs.

Suzanne Choney , NBC News

While most people who watched the first live?presidential debate saw it on TV, 11 percent also had a second debate-related?screen going,?either on their computer, smartphone or tablet, watching or reading related coverage at the same time.

The finding is from?the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which said Thursday that younger Americans, those 40 and under, were most likely to be "dual-screeners."

Pew also reports that?3 percent said they watched the debate online only,?either on their computer or a mobile device.

The first debate was Oct. 3; the next presidential debate is Oct. 16. Pew's survey was done?Oct. 4-7 among 1,006 adults.

While some debate watchers took to Facebook and Twitter to comment during the event, those folks were in the minority.?

Only about a third of those who were following the debate online in real?time say they shared their personal reactions to online during the debate, Pew said, "representing 5 percent of the overall debate audience."

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/1-10-debate-watchers-were-dual-screeners-pew-says-1C6415682

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Another Isolated Incident (Theagitator)

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Cambrian fossil pushes back evolution of complex brains

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The remarkably well-preserved fossil of an extinct arthropod shows that anatomically complex brains evolved earlier than previously thought and have changed little over the course of evolution. According to University of Arizona neurobiologist Nicholas Strausfeld, who co-authored the study describing the specimen, the fossil is the earliest known to show a brain.

The discovery will be published in the Oct. 11 issue of the journal Nature.

Embedded in mudstones deposited during the Cambrian period 520 million years ago in what today is the Yunnan Province in China, the approximately 3-inch-long fossil, which belongs to the species Fuxianhuia protensa, represents an extinct lineage of arthropods combining an advanced brain anatomy with a primitive body plan.

The fossil provides a "missing link" that sheds light on the evolutionary history of arthropods, the taxonomic group that comprises crustaceans, arachnids and insects.

The researchers call their find "a transformative discovery" that could resolve a long-standing debate about how and when complex brains evolved.

"No one expected such an advanced brain would have evolved so early in the history of multicellular animals," said Strausfeld, a Regents Professor in the UA department of neuroscience.

According to Strausfeld, paleontologists and evolutionary biologists have yet to agree on exactly how arthropods evolved, especially on what the common ancestor looked like that gave rise to insects.

"There has been a very long debate about the origin of insects," Strausfeld said, adding that until now, scientists have favored one of two scenarios.

Some believe that insects evolved from the an ancestor that gave rise to the malacostracans, a group of crustaceans that include crabs and shrimp, while others point to a lineage of less commonly known crustaceans called branchiopods, which include, for example, brine shrimp.

Because the brain anatomy of branchiopods is much simpler than that of malacostracans, they have been regarded as the more likely ancestors of the arthropod lineage that would give rise to insects.

However, the discovery of a complex brain anatomy in an otherwise primitive organism such as Fuxianhuia makes this scenario unlikely. "The shape [of the fossilized brain] matches that of a comparable sized modern malacostracan," the authors write in Nature. They argue the fossil supports the hypothesis that branchiopod brains evolved from a previously complex to a more simple architecture instead of the other way around.

This hypothesis arose from neurocladistics, a field pioneered by Strausfeld that attempts to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among organisms based on the anatomy of their nervous system. Conventional cladistics, on the other hand, usually look to an organism's overall morphology or molecular data such as DNA sequences.

Strausfeld, who holds appointments in other UA departments including evolutionary biology and entomology, has catalogued about 140 character traits detailing the neural anatomies of almost 40 arthropod groups.

"There have been all sorts of implications why branchiopods shouldn't be the ancestors of insects," he said. "Many of us thought the proof in the pudding would be a fossil that would show a malacostracan-like brain in a creature that lived long before the origin of the branchiopods; and bingo! ? this is what this is."

Strausfeld traveled to the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology at Yunnan University in Kunming, China, to join his collaborator, Xiaoya Ma, a postdoctoral fellow at London's Natural History Museum, in studying the brain anatomies of various fossil specimens. In the institute's collection, they came across the fossil of Fuxianhuia protensa described in the paper.

"I spent a frenetic five hours at the dissecting microscope, the last hours of my visit there, photographing, photographing, photographing," he said. "And I realized that this brain actually comprises three successive neuropils in the optic regions, which is a trait of malacostracans, not branchiopods."

Neuropils are portions of the arthropod brain that serve particular functions, such as collecting and processing input from sensory organs. For example, scent receptors in the antennae are wired to the olfactory neuropils, while the eyes connect to neuropils in the optic lobes.

When Strausfeld traced the fossilized outlines of Fuxianhuia's brain, he realized it had three optic neuropils on each side that once were probably connected by nerve fibers in crosswise pattern as occurs in insects and malacostracans. The brain was also composed of three fused segments, whereas in branchiopods only two segments are fused.

"In branchiopods, there are always only two visual neuropils and they are not linked by crossing fibers," Strausfeld said. "In principle, Fuxianhuia's is a very modern brain in an ancient animal."

The fossil supports the idea that once a basic brain design had evolved, it changed little over time, he explained. Instead, peripheral components such as the eyes, the antennae and other appendages, sensory organs, etc., underwent great diversification and specialized in different tasks but all plugged into the same basic circuitry.

"It is remarkable how constant the ground pattern of the nervous system has remained for probably more than 550 million years," Strausfeld added. "The basic organization of the computational circuitry that deals, say, with smelling, appears to be the same as the one that deals with vision, or mechanical sensation."

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University of Arizona: http://uanews.org

Thanks to University of Arizona for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124381/Cambrian_fossil_pushes_back_evolution_of_complex_brains

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The Young Americans Come to Norfolk : The ViewPoint

Photo Credit: Daira Gentrup

The Young Americans performing at Midland University in 2010.

Dale Hayes Jr., Nikita Rector, Business Manager, Editor in Chief
October 9, 2012
Filed under Arts and Entertainment

The Young Americans performing group will be returning to the Norfolk area this year.

They will be holding a workshop at Norfolk Catholic High School October 25^th through the 27^th, with a concert being held on the final night.? This is third time that Norfolk Catholic has hosted the Young Americans.

Norfolk Senior High School will also be hosting the Young Americans, November 5^th through the 7^th.

The Young Americans are a travelling troupe of singers, dancers, and musicians. Their focus is on providing music education and performance opportunities to young people around the world. They promote the importance of music by working with students in grades 4 through 12.

The group was founded in 1962 by Milton C. Anderson, in Los Angeles, California.? Since then, the group has been performing with and ?discovering? well known stars throughout the performing arts, including individuals such as: Nia Peeples, Tim Bagley, and Mark Walberg.

The Young Americans group has also founded a college in Southern California, to help foster the arts. They offer college credit courses in music, dance, performing, and education for all Young Americans participants.

They currently host 7 International Outreach Tours a year, performing all across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

Of the Young Americans coming to Norfolk, 23 are Nebraska natives, and six are from Norfolk. These include: Scott Benson, Hilary Smith, Zach Smolnik, Marcus Wilcox of Norfolk Catholic High School; Jacob Figueroa ?Fig?, Skyler Parkinson of Norfolk Senior High School.

If you haven?t seen them before or are simply a fan of the arts, go out and support the Young Americans. It is sure to be a fun and memorable show.

Contact the schools for ticket information.

Tags: California, Hilary Smith, Jacob Figueroa ?Fig?, Los Angeles, Marcus Wilcox, Milton C. Anderson, Nebraska, Norfolk, Norfolk Catholic High School, Norfolk Senior High School, Scott Benson, Skyler Parkinson, Young Americans, Zach Smolnik

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Source: http://www.neviewpoint.com/arts-and-entertainment/2012/10/09/the-young-americans-come-to-norfolk/

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goFLUENT offers New York Times Videos and Harvard Business ...

goFLUENT, a leading provider of distance Business English training, has signed an agreement with the New York Times News Syndicate (NYTNS) to have the rights to use NYTNS videos and Harvard Business Review articles as resources on its e-learning platform.

Commenting on the agreement with New York Times News Syndicate, which was signed last March and is now well in operation, Christophe Ferrandou, goFLUENT?s CEO, said: ?We?re delighted to be able to add Harvard Business Review articles and New York Times News Syndicate videos to those of Agence France Presse, as resources for our learners around the world. This new and on-going enhancement to our products and services is testament to our commitment to continue to improve the source materials available to those learning Business English via our blended learning approach.

?goFLUENT provides those using its products and services to learn and improve their English language skills with access to an e-learning platform ? with content, in the form of topical videos, articles and quizzes, all graded according to the learner?s ability to understand and speak English. As the learner?s English language skills develop, so that learner can access more linguistically complex and informative versions of these videos, articles and quizzes.

?The goFLUENT e-learning platform presents new ideas to those learning English as a foreign language and reinforces their existing knowledge.

?Naturally, we want to give our learners a wide range of news and features ? especially business-related material ? which adheres to high production values and the highest standards of reporting,? Ferrandou continued. ?We are confident that the materials from New York Times News Syndicate and Harvard Business Review ably fulfil these criteria ? and will inform and edify our learners as they explore the English language as well as develop their proficiency in that language.?

In addition, goFLUENT learners receive live, individual coaching, via telephone, with a native English speaking tutor. This not only helps the learner to discuss ? and receive feedback on ? any aspects of the English language that are difficult for her/him to grasp but also helps to train the learner?s ear to make English conversation more natural.

End

About goFLUENT
goFLUENT offers distance business English training solutions combining eLearning and live trainers. Each year goFLUENT helps over 60.000 business executives in more than 5.000 international corporations to make their company more efficient and profitable when doing business globally and managing intercultural situations. goFLUENT is established in 10 countries, with 560 employees ? including 400 teachers ? and with the world?s third largest telecom company, NTT Communications (NTT Group) owning 30% of its shares. For more information about goFLUENT, please visit http://www.gofluent.com.

Further information from:
Robert de Ocampo, goFLUENT, +33 (1) 72 71 83 31; rdeocampo@gofluent.com
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, +44 (0)1727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

About the Author

Bob Little is a writer, commentator, broadcaster and publicist. He is Senior Partner at Bob Little Press & PR, a business-to-business PR specialist that tells the truth as you want it told.

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