If you can serve a bakery-bought birthday cake at the party you’re hosting for your mother, you can use email templates for customer service without destroying your relationship with your customers....
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This 1973-Vintage Feminist Isn’t Giving Up
This is me in 1973 when the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision. I was 13 years old. I'd been menstruating for less than a year. To me, Roe was just another reason to believe grownups...
Trying, Failing, and Trying Again to Balance Parenthood and Your Career
If everything had gone as I’ve always planned, I’d be writing this article on a quiet workday in my pleasant home office. I’d have gone on a long walk in the woods before starting work sharply at 7...
How to Write a Five-Star Response to a One-Star Rating or Poor Review
A gracious response may help to win over an unhappy customer and demonstrate that you’re listening and you care. Sometimes social media feels like the mean kids’ table in the lunchroom at middle...
Why You Should Be (Business) Friends With Your Competitors
When I started my business 24 years ago, I believed I should have a “versus” attitude toward my competitors. It was their offering versus mine, right? One company had to win, didn’t it? Like many...
You Can Take Two of My LinkedIn Learning Writing Courses for Free!
Free online courses for job-seekers Microsoft and LinkedIn have announced a joint effort to accelerate economic recovery and make sure it's inclusive. To help people get the skills they need to land...
With Only Seven Words, You Can Help Someone Who’s Struggling
This is a guest post by my friend and colleague, Jeff Janes. Here's how Jeff describes himself: "I travel the world to find things to photograph and write about." Jeff is currently based in the...
In Unusual Times, Replace the Usual Customer Service Phrases
On a typical day, most customers will understand what you mean even if you use less-than-graceful words when you speak or write. For example, lots of customers dislike the phrase “No problem!” but...
20 Ways to Empathize With Stressed Out Customers
These are difficult times, and our anxious customers need us more than ever. Some of them need help with a simple task, like “How do I add a new driver to my auto insurance policy?” Others need help...
Death to the Term “Soft Skills”: Writing is a Hard Skill All Support Professionals Need
I admit it. I hate the term “soft skills” and want everyone to stop using it. Right now. It’s vague, it’s dismissive, and it pits “soft” skills against “hard” ones when we know support professionals...
Webinar recording: How to Develop an Agency Brand Voice That Connects With Customers Online
Is your company or government agency using a tone of voice that connects with customers online, or is it using a stale, bureaucratic voice that repels them and breeds distrust or confusion? In this...
Getting Our Stories Straight: How to Deliver Consistent Communication in an Omnichannel World
You know that scene in the heist movie? The one that comes right after the criminals rob the bank but right before the cops bust in? When the ringleader says, “We’ve got to get our stories straight...