13 October 2005

T.I.P.S. For Service

Service is at the heart of every good business and every good professional practice. More than anything else, service determines success because it focuses efforts on those who build success: clients and suppliers. So why is service so downright shabby?

From the checkout clerk who acts like your presence is assaulting her nostrils with a stench to the mechanic who screws you with more vigor than he expends on your car to the doctor who barely listens to you before moving on to the next passerby patient, service is awful. Now it might be impossible to change an entire social habit overnight, but improving service—providing service—will be the key competitive advantage in the global economy.

So where do you start? If you have no idea, The Jenius suggests you click on T.I.P.S., a blog and newsletter that brings to light the simple idea that service can and must be improved. Created and developed by Diana Figueroa, T.I.P.S. is a launch pad for bottom-line benefits.

Disclosure: The Jenius is an occasional columnist in T.I.P.S. Are you surprised?

Diana is waging a campaign against indifference, poor manners and just plain bad business practices. She aims to make businesses more effective by improving their interactions with customers in practical ways. Many of her ideas are simply common sense, but as the man said: “Common sense ain’t.”

But to those of Us in the tech community, Diana’s T.I.P.S. does more. It helps Us bridge the gap between technology and user, in essence, moving from the scientific to the social. If that transition seems useless to you, let The Jenius suggest you take a look at this column, penned by Yours Truly.

And since you’ll want to know, the idea for that column was provided by Diana. That’s her job: to turn the obstacle into an advantage.

And one more suggestion: You might want to get in touch with Diana before your competitor does.

The Jenius Has Spoken.

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