Get What You Want...& More - 3 Great Customer Service Tips

You are not the only shopper in the world of customer service so don’t feel hesitant if you want to confront the customer service department a little and get what you feel you deserve. Just be genteel in the process and don’t skip too fast Little Red.

-Make your first approach welcoming: Always make a good introduction with a ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ and introduce yourself as a customer who favors the company-try to sound genuine and don’t just say, “I am a customer who favors your company.” Avoid spending too much time favoring, and get to the point about your faulted or missing item from them. This is not the time to ask (or demand) for a refund but simply state your concern for their assistance with helping you and close by expressing how you will greatly appreciate every effort.

-Follow up: Keep an eye out for emails with addresses that have ‘Order@’ or ‘Care@’ - this is usually the Customer Care department.

As soon as you receive an email or voice message, reply ASAP. Nothing proves better concern than a customer who immediately responds with a [hint] ‘thanks to the quick response’ reply message. Also, if the message ends with a representative’s signature, title, or first name then use it whenever you respond-acknowledge anyone you come in contact with.

-Ask and you shall receive: Now is the time to really kill ‘em with kindness! Whether the problem or confusion is due to your error or theirs, ‘you will remain a loyal customer who enjoys their innovative style and variety of products’. Great retailers online with excellent customer service like urbanoutfitters and asos are superior at satisfying their customers. These companies want to refund your money or help you find something else because they know you’ll leave with confidence in their service and return again, and again.

These are some basic tips but I was compelled to share since a recent incident where a package of mine was wrongly shipped to an old address of mine. I’d been waiting for the tracking info to show up for days and when it finally did, my package was delivered…in California while I was in New Jersey. These basic tips earned me a new package sent with a refund. I did not expect to get both but looking back at the emails, I played nicely, and batted my eyes like Kim Kardashian (not really) to get what I wanted. I’m sure they assumed I’d just spend the refund on their website. And I did!

Invest...In YOU

This post has been on hold and is now fortified, gladly with more insight and meaning to anyone who is easily influenced and has ever shopped before. That’s you right? Throughout this blog, I haven’t made it obvious that I’m a fan of Pop Culture and men’s fashion, which add$ up just thinking about them. Most purchases like boots, watches, or blazers that I’ve made, I can honestly admit fulfilled an innate want to becoming a better Me. A Me that looked better and felt better. Typically the honeymoon with a few new things is fleeting and then it’s on to the next!

“Move away from the external identifiers…and start investing in you”, I read in the section 'Power-of You' by Marilyn Logan. I’m learning the look-good-to-feel-good attitude can consume your identity and a feeling of emptiness eventually follows. Make an effort to invest in a class or conference, but first figure out your interests and discover your niche. I am registering in a local adult school for creative writing and investing starting next month. It’s okay to look nice while you expand your knowledge, let’s just put more of the dollars where the return of investment rewards us in the long run.


I credit Monarch magazine’s winter 2011 issue for my inspiration-my first time reading the [about] 10x13 size magazine.

Remain Consistent

"Continue collecting unemployment or call that temp agency? Start my own small Internet business? Oh, or maybe I could become a personal shopper?"

These are a sort of thoughts and ideas I feel many of us Generation Y-ers juggle somewhere above in our own atmosphere. After reading a recent yahoo article based on the young CEO of nevergetarealjob.com (and more business owners under 25), I realized we have so much potential but a majority of us lack consistency-note my sporadic posts. Successful Internet businessmen and women, bright online marketing consultants, and trendy music bloggers and other successful entrepreneurs do just that: remain consistent...within their niche of course. I'm confident that our generation will be responsible for creating jobs for generations to come. We should focus on our individual niches and build from there.

Bartend Much?

So, I came across a video which led to a blog post that inspired me to go in a different direction with tackling a goal hard to the ground...Bartending. Have you ever noticed when you've been enjoying the warm weather, the mosquito that stole a part of you and left behind the most relentless itch? Well, in this case the desire is the mosquito and actually getting hired has been the itch for some time. I have bartended but not at the [perfectionist's] ideal capacity. There are many tricks to the trade but entering it happens to be more difficult than being successful at it. Doesn't this sound like many trades? Regarding this video, it's "ah-mazing" how a few words of insight can rearrange so many [perfectionist] thoughts!

Relax, Mr. & Mrs. Perfect!

"I've been using the term perfectionist as though it's something you can be. Actually, I think it's something people have, like brain damage."

"Oprah, Please STOP emailing me so many random articles from past magazine issues! The magazine subscription provides enough unmanly qualms", I said to myself one day. That day I opened the email to an article which turned out to be an amazing eye-opening read. I realized how much the perfectionist in me has held me hostage in a number of different scenarios. I have torn a page from this article to better handle goals and deadlines while remembering to just "show up". Show up to the occasion and do not fear failure or imperfection, so embrace it. This is so much easier to say than do but it must be part of growing...just like everything else in life.

Manage the Routine

"Often daily pressures mean we keep running without any reflection time..."



I came across these words while reading my management book for class and they immediately grabbed my attention. Again, one of my attributes clearly written for me to understand and consider the facts. Wouldn't you agree that in the day-to-day continuum, stress becomes habitual and one big pile? What about the many small steps (or larger) that were made in the process or the achievements we don't necessarily validate as worthy of much reflection or recognition?

Be inspired and motivated more-incorporate and manage more reflection time.

logic vs. Emotion

Life.
Yesterday I started to write a new post…after about the fourth sentence I did away with [what sounded like] a “trying-too-hard”, ambiguous post about my endless list of goals. So, I’m here again to say plainly: we (myself & I) have come to a realization & agreement with my macbook’s dictionary example for the definition of prevail in that: “it is hard for logic to prevail over emotion.”
Logic is the person with the suit & tie in my head that says, “Law school is the way to go!” and emotion is the ripped-jeans wearing hipster singing, “If I ruled the world” trying to focus on 63 dreams at once on a lonely, pot-holed winding road.