I’m always interested in learning more about successful customer service implementations. This is probably one of the most important areas for any business to focus on, but it always seems that’s there is room for improvement in any company. Keeping customers happy has to be your top priority. On that note, I read an interesting article from Local Tech Wire entitled Customer Service: Never Underestimate the Power of a Quick Fix by Ed Gagnon.

Have you heard the statistic that 82 percent of all complaining customers will repurchase from you if their complaints are answered and resolved quickly?

Compare that to statistics which state that only 54 percent of customers whose problems are solved will repurchase if the solutions don’t come quickly, and a mere 29 percent come back if their complaints are made but not resolved.

The lesson here is that everyone loves a Mr. Fix-It, and if you can be that handyman for your customers, they will remain your customers.

Some startling stats that really hit home how important your customers are for repeat business. No company is perfect and not every customer wail be satisfied from day one, but being proactive and quickly assisting customers will encourage repeat business. Give this article a read. Gagnon provides several tips on how to help customers quickly.

While trying to learn as much as possible about Getting Things Done (prior post), I saw a post from Slacker Manager referencing GTD with Gmail.

To this point, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Gmail, but it was very interesting to see how someone is incorporating Getting Things Done (GTD) with their own preferences to personal organizing systems.

Every so often I work from my home office. There are both tremendous advantages to this arrangement as well as some drawbacks. What I’ve found after much trial and error is that there are some specific things I need to do in order to be the most productive when working from my home office. I thought I would share this advice.

1. Take a shower

I know this sounds funny, but my meaning is that you should get up and follow your normal routine for actually going into the regular office. The home office needs to be treated as an office, so I’ve found that working in boxers is not as productive. This doesn’t mean you can’t be comfortable, just get yourself in a working mood.

2. Have a dedicated room for your home office

If you don’t have a separate room dedicated to an office, get one. If you can’t do this, I would seriously recommend not considering working from home at all. Again, you need to actually go to the office even if it’s in your home. This separates work from home and you’ll be able to get much more done.

3. Take breaks

I find I work much longer hours from home. The good is that I usually get more quality work done. The bad is that I work much longer hours. Incorporating numerous, short breaks into your daily routine at the home office is much more important than when in the traditional office environment. A myriad of distractions exist in that environment that naturally break up your day. Sometimes, this is not the case in the home office. Ok, for those of you with small children at home, stopping swearing at me.

4. Stay focused

With so many distractions in and around the home, its easy to procrastinate and focus on other tasks. Set out a clear agenda or to-do list the night before or morning of and work towards staying on course. Without a plan of attack, you’ll end up doing laundry and cleaning the house, before actually finishing any important work related tasks.

5. Have a clean work environment

This tip doesn’t necessarily apply only to the home office, but is an important one nonetheless. Clean your desk or work area regularly. Not only does a cluttered work area provide little work to work, but it also provides much distraction.

6. Leave the house

If working at the home office for several days on end, try leaving once and a while to work in a new environment. Some suitable choices are the local coffee shop (try one with free wi-fi like Panera), the library, the park, or a local restaurant.

7. Talk to people

You will still need human interaction. If you don’t get it during the day from phone calls or meetings, be sure to have some social activities outside of work on a regular basis. Any activity works as long as there are people there to interact with.

Well, this really wasn’t a “top ten” list so I don’t have to actually have ten items listed. These are a good start though for anyone considering working from a home office. Hopefully, these tips will provide some useful insight. If you have a tip of your own, please leave a comment.

I recently started reading a new book entitled Getting Things Done by David Allen. I’m sure many have heard of this title, as did I, but I finally picked it up to see if I could add some more efficiency to the “to-do” overload I have. Being better organized, no matter how small an increase, is supremely beneficial in my opinion.

I’ve just started into the book, but it looks promising. I’ll post an update if I glean any significant insight or start to use any of the methods described in the book. For anyone else looking to get starting on the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, there are a number of useful resources on the web. Here’s a sampling:

Getting started with “Getting Things Done” from 43 Folders

David Allen’s blog

Notes from Getting Things Done by Matt Vance

GTD – The PigPog Method

Cutting Through has an article (via CorporateBlogging.info) on using blogs for project management. By improving communication and putting a human face on projects, the project owners are better able to keep all stakeholders in the loop thus minimizing issues as the project progresses. Using blogs for specific, more targeted business uses will likely fuel the growth of blogs in the enterprise.

I may have been a bit overzealous in my last post regarding the Management by Baseball site.  Jeff Angus actually has a post comparing his site and its thesis to the Moneyball book by Micheal Lewis.  Here he describes why Management by Baseball (MBB) is the opposite of Moneyball.  Angus then lays out the model he uses for MBB in terms of a baseball diamond.

Skimming through Tom Peters‘ blog roll, I saw a link for a blog entitled "Management by Baseball" and I couldn’t resist visiting.  Quoting the site’s description of itself:

What do Hall of Fame baseball managers like Connie Mack & John McGraw have in common with today’s business leaders? Why are baseball managers like Joe Torre & Dusty Baker better role models for management than corporate heroes like Jack Welch, Ken Lay & Bill Gates? And just what does Peter Drucker have to do with Oriole ex-manager Earl Weaver? Management consultant & ex-baseball reporter Jeff Angus shows you almost everything you need to know about management you can learn from baseball.

That pretty much says it all. An interesting approach to discussing management topics and issues, my first thought was the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis.

America’s pastime being used to teach management. I guess it had to happen at some point.