Purpose of this Customer Service Blog This blog helps you improve your customer service by providing articles, opinions, commentary and many related resources. The blog is for a general audience, including beginners and those advanced in customer service. The benefits of strong customer service are many, including that it ensures: Clear understanding of your customer’s …

I’m Barb Lyon and I’m the host of this blog. You can read more about me next to my picture in the sidebar. This blog will be about various aspects of customer service, will focus especially on practical tips and tools, and will include posts from guest writers. You can learn more about this blog …

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Current competency models in the field of Human Resources (HR) share common themes. Among them is the necessity of the HR professional to serve as a credible activist.

(Much of this blog post was published in April of 2010. This post is republished now with additional information from guest blogger, Alan Hough, whose valuable comments are added later on below.) A common question about Boards is “How many members should we have?” Usually that question spawns a range of answers. For for-profits, some …

[Guest Submission by Chesa Keane, continuation of theme from previous blog post] Focus on Google for search results; the other search engines will follow suit over time. Review your website for keyword placement and density (keyword/total word ratio); you won’t be found if the keywords are not present in the proper configuration (i.e. there are …

Do you have a new business, or a business that’s mature but needs some greater visibility? Are you launching a new product? If you’re a non-profit, are policy issues or board blow ups finding their way into the community you serve? Are you looking for new employees who understand what you do? These are just …

I’m a Leadership Coach and something of a community activist. I coach people who want to live a good life while making a difference. That’s what I want for myself. That’s what I want for you. Work Hard. Do Good. Have Fun Doing It. You found this blog. So, I’m willing to bet that you …

Not all social enterprises look alike. While many people immediately think of nonprofits (or nongovernmental organizations, NGOs), in practice any type of business can be a social enterprise. As long as you “harness the power of the marketplace to solve critical social or environmental problem,” which to me means you sell stuff to customers as …

Successful entrepreneurs tend to be frugal. They have to be. They know that money and time is scarce. Too many things to do, too little time. So they focus, prioritize, cut to the bone, do what only needs to be done to get from point A to point E (skipping point B, C and D …