Residents of San Francisco know that if you don’t have a reservation at Flour + Water, one of the city’s hottest new restaurants, you’re probably not going to get a seat, especially on a Saturday night. And even a reservation isn’t easy to come by—you’ll have to make one now for a table in October. [...]
Author Archives: Audrey Watters
Mango Money’s Biggest Task Is Earning the Trust of the Mistrusted
One quarter of US households do not have a banking account. And not surprisingly, the far majority (if not all) of these households are comprised of the working poor. These are the folks who live paycheck to paycheck and are often unable to maintain the minimum balance required by banks, credit unions, and other lending [...]
Everyone’s an Author (Or at Least Can Be With Custom Publishing)
Those who fancy themselves true connoisseurs of the written word have at least once in their lives flipped through a book, perhaps even a bestseller, and thought, “Heck, I could write better than this.” Well, now opportunities abound to prove it. Derisively labeled “vanity publishing,” self- or custom publishing used to be the last resort [...]
For Better Customer Service, Please Hang up the Phone
Phone calls used to be seen as private conversations, best held at home, behind closed doors. Even public phone booths had glass doors or metal walls so that a caller had some privacy. But as cellphones and smartphones have become ubiquitous, and we are reachable at anytime and anywhere, our conversations have become more public. [...]
Customer Service Through a Vending Machine
I don’t like going shopping, I’ll admit. Malls are overwhelming, the grocery store is exhausting, and while I can spend hours wandering the aisles in a bookstore, I often leave without buying anything because I don’t have a list of friends’ recommendations and reviews handy. For books, electronics, clothes, I’m far more prone to purchase [...]
When Your Consumers Become Producers
It wasn’t all that long ago when the idea of “Do-It-Yourself” was associated primarily with craft hobbies and home repair. But recent technologies have facilitated our ability to undertake a variety of new DIY projects, from video and music production to publishing, and it’s becoming far easier for us to become producers, not just consumers, [...]
How To Identify (and Harness) Your Brand Evangelists
Traditionally, information about your company was spread via public relations firms or marketing departments that would craft, disseminate, and even monitor your promotional messages. The rise of social media has changed this dramatically as companies and PR agencies no longer entirely control the content or the form of the public conversations about your products and [...]
The Art of Troubleshooting
By definition, troubleshooting is the process of diagnosing the source of a problem. We might troubleshoot some problems ourselves, but when we need help, we turn to those who have more skills or knowledge than us — customer service representatives, for example, or tech support — in order to assist us troubleshoot that problem. But [...]
