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Mary Ann Markowicz

Mary Ann Markowicz

The Service Leader
Customer Service/Experience leader, author, consultant, and coach. | Blog -- http://theserviceleader.wordpress.com/ | Twitter -- @MaryMarkowicz | Facebook -- The Service Leader |
  • Democracy: The Ultimate Customer Experience Strategy
    0 comments 708 reads
    Posted on 2012-09-05

    “The US Gov needs a #CX touchpoint assessment.  Seems the GOPs and the DEMs are no different than siloes in companies where bonuses and infrastructure aren’t aligned and where each person in their silo is desperately clinging to their own jobs.  It’s driving me NUTS!!!” – @MaryMarkowicz

    I was so frustrated by the lack of focus our political leaders have on our country’s major issues that I did exactly what every other frustrated customer does; I tweeted.  Annoyingly, even though I am a Chicago-based customer experience (CX) professional who has a decent Klout score, I did not get a response from President Obama, CEO of the United States of America, to handle my customer service concerns, to resolve his “company”’s branding problem, or even to take me out to one of his famous burger lunches; interaction a more forward-thinking company might have offered.

    President Obama and before him, President Clinton, signed and ordered several actions over the past few decades...

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  • Can CX Help USA Co.?
    0 comments 889 reads
    Posted on 2012-08-15

    Being a CX professional and watching this year’s election process, I am dumbfounded at how out of touch our whole election process is and how badly the Federal Government services we constituents/customers.  I seems to me that the participants in our current election reflect private sector company department heads who are siloed and fighting with very sharp elbows to keep their jobs; knocking others down while creating urgent problems that “only they” can fix in order to remain employed.  Quite unproductive.

    I will be publishing an article in an upcoming Customer Management IQ special edition on ways federal agencies can use CX to improve the service they offer us and that we pay for.

    Outside of that article, I would like to explore with you how a best practice CX methodology could actually change our entire political system.  Let’s open dialog on this….  who...

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  • Asurion Publishes Customer Survey Scores on Their Website
    0 comments 1,488 reads
    Posted on 2012-04-21

    Asurion, a mobile device protection company, is publishing their customer survey feedback scores and their customers’ comments on their website.  Bold and market differentiating move on Asurion’s part.  As I’ve not seen this transparent approach on other websites, I wonder if other companies are doing this and/or if this is now the new Best Practice.

    .


    On closer inspection, there is a small icon that indicates a company by the name of Mindshare Technologies...

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  • ‘Nobody Really Puts Customers First’ – Arthur Levitt
    0 comments 1,157 reads
    Posted on 2012-04-17
    ”Nobody really puts customers first,” Arthur Levitt, the former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and now a policy advisor for Goldman Sachs, told Bloomberg TV Thursday.” – Huffington Post

    When I heard Arthur Levitt say this sentence during a Bloomberg interview recently, my head whipped around so quickly to watch his interview that I think I literally experienced string theory at that fractal moment.

    I was shocked, floored, and then curious about why such an accomplished man who has a strong reputation for fighting corporate greed would say something...

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  • GoDaddy Offers Improved Seamless Effortless On-Line Service
    0 comments 777 reads
    Posted on 2012-01-25

    One of the topics CS/CX leaders think about often is how to make service seamless and effortless, which of course ultimately creates a great customer experience and can reduce service-related expenses.

    GoDaddy.com recently added an interesting feature to their account management screens, which helps customers determine whether or not they wish to leave on-line self-help and call GoDaddy’s support teams.

    In the right column, there are a few pieces of information that answers questions we all think to ourselves when we’re searching for information even on other sites.

    1. Is GoDaddy’s system having problems?
    2. If I call GoDaddy’s customer support team, how long will I wait in the ACD queue?
    3. What in the heck IS the customer support number to call GoDaddy’s support team and when are they...
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  • Netflix Continues Decline; Stock Sell Off
    0 comments 1,262 reads
    Posted on 2011-10-24

    Netflix continues to hemorrhage customers and its stock price is reflecting these defections.

    Per today’s Huffington Post,

    “Netflix has lost 800,000 subscribers in the last three months, according to numbers released as part of the company’s third quarter financial report on Thursday. The streaming-and-DVD site is down to 23.8 million users as of September 30, 2011, compared to 24.6 million users on June 30, 2011.

    The reason for the loss, per a letter to investors written by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells:

    ‘Our primary issue is many of our long-term members felt shocked by the pricing changes, and more of them have...

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  • Stock Prices Tied to Customer Experience; Netflix
    0 comments 1,097 reads
    Posted on 2011-10-11

    As a Customer Experience leader, I am regularly asked for proof that customer experiences are tied to a company’s finances.  Netflix could not be a better example of this very issue.

    Netflix has recently learned a painful public lesson about the power of customers, and ensuring that all customer experiences are brand-aligned and relevant.  Netflix and its Officers also learned a lesson in the reality of risk management, reputation management, economic conditions, being out of touch, not using lag indicators as a future predictor, and how important their Annual Report really is.

    Take from section 1A of their February 18, 2011 10K/Annual Report, I quote…

    “If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed. In that case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part...

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  • Choosing the Best Social Media Monitoring Tool
    2 comments 4,035 reads
    Posted on 2011-10-09

    So much social media and so few tools – or maybe not.  Tools to monitor, measure, and manage social media usage and conversations seem to be proliferating  just as fast as Facebook, Twitter, and Google make changes to their applications.

    Most service leaders don’t even know what criteria to use when researching social media tools, let alone try to compare various tools to each other for use in their companies.  We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto, so let’s dig in and look at a few tools and criteria.

    If you are a small company, run your own blog, or are a non-profit and wish to utilize free tools, please take a look at SocialBrite’s list of their Top 20 tools.

    For those of you who are looking for enterprise-grade fee-based tools, your search for the appropriate tool for your company is just...

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