Customer Service

Image from sxc.hu user miamiamia

As the deadline for the RSVP approached, I grew disappointed each day after checking the mailbox. By the time the RSVP due date came and went, 50% of the replies from one list and 60% from the other came in. So I did the uncomfortable thing of emailing folks who hadn’t replied.

Good thing I did. Some said they never received the invitation, or maybe it got lost with the holiday season mail. By the time I emailed everyone whose email I had and weren’t obvious nos (out of towers, recently widowed, etc.), the replies went up to 65% and 85%. Not bad considering I didn’t have addresses for some of my son’s friends. (He had to hand deliver these, some of which never made it to the recipient.)

When I selected the invitations, I debated whether to do RSVPs by email or by mail. I asked the stationery vendor if one method had more success. She said it varied. Besides, it’s easy to make a mistake in typing an email address. A recent invitation using email RSVP used an email address that wasn’t short — something like jennifersweddingrsvp@hotmail.com. I opted for the traditional route: a reply card with a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE).

Working with clients is similar. Sometimes if you haven’t heard from a client, you need to follow up. This makes it easier on them like a reply card and a SASE because they hit “reply” and don’t have to look up your contact information. I have one new client, a very small business. He paid half up front and hadn’t had me do much by the time the first of the year rolled around. I followed up with him every couple of weeks.

Some clients need nagging. Not in a bad way … They actually appreciate it. Every client has a different style of getting things done, and for some, it helps when the contractor or freelancer is proactive.

Even checking in with former clients leads to new business. I worked with one client during the early days of his start up. The business did so well that it bought two companies and closed multiple venture rounds, including one from a top venture capital firm. The company moved its headquarters and hired full-time employees. I helped until they found full-time employees.

I contacted the CEO of the company, who originally brought me on board, to see how things were going. It turned out he left the company and went to work for another start up. He’s been assigning a variety of projects to me.

Another client hadn’t responded to my submission for a small project. I followed up with her to find out the status. She said that we were almost there and to follow up with her the next week.

If you find you didn’t respond to an invite by the time the deadline passed, still follow up. A late reply is better than no reply. I believe many people think they don’t have to reply if they’re not coming. We still need to know. RSVP stands for répondez s’il vous plaît, which translates to “Please respond” not “Please respond only if you’re coming.”

What’s your experience with RSVPs? Following up? How do you decide when to follow up and how often?

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Long ago, far away (OK, about an hour from where I write this) … in a softball game, I  failed to catch a ball thrown to me at first base. This disappointed my coach because he depended on me to catch a reasonable throw every time. He forgave those occasional wild throws out of my reach. But not this one.

Photo from flickr user Keith Allison

As soon as the team got all three outs and came off the field into the dugout, I went to the coach. The look on his face confirmed my suspicions that he’d be disappointed in me. I apologized and told him I’d hit a home run to make up for it.

That was some promise for 12-year-old me. I excelled in softball, but I didn’t hit homers in every game or every other game. I felt bad about my mistake and wanted to make up for it.

And I did.

The Proof’s in the Pizza

People can recover from business mistakes. They happen and most of us rational folks accept that. It’s how we handle the mistakes that impress or depress customers. Amy Ravit Korin ordered pizza from Dominos online without talking to anyone. You’d think placing an order online would cut errors since you don’t have anyone speaking or listening in the equation. It’s all in writing (typing).

Not only did the pizza arrive over an hour late, but also it wasn’t the pizza she ordered. Korin tweeted a pizza her mind about the experienced in Twitter. Ramon DeLeon, the owner, caught her tweet and responded that he would make it up to her. First, he sent the correct pizza.

The next morning, he apologized in a video that also included the store manager. Despite its mistake, Domino’s gained respect and lots of video embeds for owing up to its mistake.  DeLeon also provide Domino’s pizza for over 350 people at a social media gathering in which Korin was involved in unbeknownst to him. (Talk about fate!)

Customer Service All A-Twitter

When I’ve complained in Twitter and received a response from the company, I’d follow up with a positive tweet about the company. Do a search for #customerservice and you’ll see complaints, compliments and job listings. Here are a few minus the job listings.

PatrickCSanders: Just had the absolute worst #customerservice experience @vapiano_usa on 18th&M NW #DC. Absent-minded chefs/mgmt, & food that never showed!

HeyyyGuyyy: Horrible #customerservice by @BestBuy_Deals during Hurricane Irene – Picture #BestBuy #Irene

I checked on the company accounts of the two negative tweets. No acknowledgment. Another user started a conversation with @PatrickCSanders about experiences with Vapaino.

People will talk about you and your company without you. While we can’t control anything online, we can listen and acknowledge. It can mean the difference between negative publicity and earning customer advocates.

What mistake did you experience that you complained about online? Did the company respond? Have you turned a problem into a positive experience? What happened?

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My youngest enters third grade, a grade that feels like a pinnacle school year. When my oldest was in third grade, I was pregnant with the youngest and had him at the end of the school year. He visited the school many times as a baby and toddler. Now, he’s over halfway through his elementary school career. Third grade is the first year they take those fun state tests with Texas introducing a new one this year making everyone crazier than usual.

Third grade is when things get serious in a child’s education and life. Less play, more work.

First day of third grade

Lessons from Third Grade

Third grade happens to be one of the grades I remember well. It’s the one year I recall laying out my clothes the night before — brand new dress and ugly blocky ’70s shoes. When the students waited in the cafeteria to find out our teachers, we third graders talked about who was mean and who was nice. Out of all that, I remember someone saying, “Mrs. Miller is the mean one.”

Guess who I landed. I also had almost every third grade teacher. First, I had Mrs. Johnson for reading and Mrs. Lambert for math. My mom went straight to the principal and told them to try again. She believed the school placed me in lower level classes than where I needed to be. They moved me to Mrs. Johnson for math and Mrs. Massey for reading. Happily ever third grade.

Oh, and Mrs. Miller? She was a wonderful teacher.

The lessons: expectations and speaking up.

Expectations

We can’t help but have expectations in our lives and careers. You interview for a job and form an idea of what to expect in talking with the people interviewing you. You meet with a potential client discussing the project collecting tidbits from the conversation hinting what it might be like to work with the client.

Sometimes our expectations are on target. Sometimes they’re not. The more accurate information you have, the more likely reality matches expectations. My third grade friends had no basis for saying Mrs. Miller’s mean. It was probably a long line of hearsay.

Speaking up

When something isn’t right or you believe it can be better. Speak up. Fight for it. As a freelancer, my clients hire me for my expertise in content. If I see a missed opportunity or a better way of doing something, I speak up. A freelancer isn’t a person who only does what the client asks. It also means acting like a consultant who shares knowledge and experience to help the client.

For example, I’ve worked with a client on his company website for a long time. Search engine optimization (SEO) rules have changed since we first met. I told him I’d like to revise pages per current SEO recommendations explaining what needed changing and why. He told me to run with it.

When one of my kids received an assignment way out of his league that would hurt more than help, I spoke up. It had happened before to another student and the powers that be didn’t do anything to correct it. I couldn’t stand by and watch my son suffer the consequences of a poor decision on the leaders’ part. It took a few messages, but we found a compromise.

When did you encounter expectations that didn’t match up to reality? How about when they did match up? Why didn’t they match up? Why did they? How about a situation when you spoke up to a manager or a client?

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I’ve used two web hosts since buying the meryl.net domain around 1995. The first charged a bit, had a lot of problems (email delivery and keeping the site up also known as server uptime) and provided subpar customer service. At the time, the rate was probably standard with fewer web hosting services and it being the earlier days of the Internet. (Yes, that is the old meryl.net logo here.)

Another web host came along that charged much less for more features than the original. Some people may not consider it the most powerful web host — it’s a smaller service than the biggies most small to medium businesses use. Because of excellent customer service, I signed up my nonprofit organization with the same web host. Eventually, someone else became the webmaster of that website and complained about the host. (I don’t remember the exact comment.)

Since using the phone through the relay service takes more time than a typical phone call, I prefer to submit questions and trouble tickets through an online system. This web host has that. And most of the time, I get a reply within an hour — regardless if I assign the item as low or high priority. Furthermore, the provider helped me with problems outside the scope.

Because of their superb customer service, I’ve stuck with them since 2003. Sure, it has occasional down time and sent a couple of messages elsewhere instead of my inbox. They’re ready to tackle and solve my problems quickly and efficiently. Like humans, companies are going to experience problems despite using the best quality products and services with a tight process in place.

Here are six easy ways to show the love to your clients and hold on to them:

1. Promote. If a client writes an article, I’ll link to it from Twitter. If I hear a writer needs to talk to someone that my client fits? I forward that opportunity to the client. When a client in the email marketing business publishes a new issue, I link to the newsletter wherever appropriate. Another client offers free webinar, and I help spread the word.
2. Remember. I wrote an article about a product the client sells. Weeks later, I come across a Lego-lized version of the same product. I shared that with the client who got a kick out of it. Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s educational.  It shows I care about them and want them to be successful.
3. Listen. Sounds obvious, but freelancers might not understand the client’s request and start working on the project without understanding what the client said. It’s OK to ask for clarification. Better to ask and get it right the first time than produce something off target and have to do it again.
4. Ask. After working with a client for little while, I ask for feedback. When requesting feedback, I let clients know they can be short or long as they want without taking up too much time. I ask one open-ended and one yes/no question: “What can I do to better serve you?” and ”Are you happy with the work?” Asking also means probing to figure out what clients want. One way to do this is to ask for examples of what they like.
5. Fix. You and I aren’t machines. We make mistakes. It’s how we handle those mistakes that makes a difference. Don’t charge or add a discount to the invoice to fix something. A simple and sincere apology may be all you can do.
6. Thank. I wrote notes to clients using a cool invention known as a pen. This is one thing computers can’t replace and the reason why kids still need to learn cursive.

How do you keep your clients happy? Share a memorable customer service story where you were the customer. How about a story of how you helped a client?

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When The Ten Commandments (Affiliate) appears all over the TV listings plus my sister’s and son’s birthdays arrive — it means it’s time for Passover. Indeed, Passover begins at sundown on Monday. It often falls on my sister’s birthday. Sometimes it lasts through my son’s birthday, but not this year.

I need to make this tweet from Rochelle Veturis my mantra: “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” ~Turner. My oldest went to college night last night, and of course, looked at out of state schools. The only school in Texas was a small private school. I’m telling myself it will work out. It’s her job and I just need to stay out of it unless she comes to me.

What do you know? I woke up to this message from Seth Godin about college debt. Agreed. Do you care where I went to college? I think the only people (outside of family) who cared were the ones who received my resume for my first after college job. Beyond that, no one cared. I know some companies post in their job listings that candidates should have degrees from top schools. They also know they need to look at the whole person, not just what’s on the diploma.

Despite this, I take pride in having attended TCU (one year — yes, the school that won the Rose Bowl this year!) and American U (graduate). Actually, having spent about 10 years in the school’s speech and hearing clinic when I was a kid, I went to TCU longer than most. AND my mom took classes there while pregnant with me

Brain food…

• It May Be Your Fault If Your Client Doesn’t Appreciate All That You Do: You do such a great job delivering what clients need. And because of this, they don’t realize what happens behind the scenes. Isn’t that the reason they hired you?
• 10 Home Office Time Savers: Wow. I do most of these, so these tips work!
• Top Five Mistakes Writers Make at Conferences: Here’s a past post on what to do after the conference and why I shy from conferences.
• Authors Sign eBooks Electronically: I had wondered what could replace autographed books. Here’s your answer, but it takes more time than the pen.
• A Scroll to the Editor: We Love to Read: Birch Lane Elementary School took issue with NY Times’ article on the downturn of picture books. I’m a grown up and I bought picture books before I became a mom. When my almost 8-year-old cleaned his bookshelf, I gave away most of the books — but kept some. Just had our school bookfair. Managed to walk away spending less than $100. Whew.
• 20 Must have Android apps for every user: Have some of these on my Android tablet, but disappointed it doesn’t have a vibrate feature. Turns out, this isn’t a common tablet feature. iPad 1 and 2 don’t have it. Samsung Galaxy has it.
• 25 Must Have Firefox 4 Compatible Add-ons: I still prefer Firefox to Google Chrome and the others. But I try to limit add-ons to must haves because Firefox has one big weakness: memory hog.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 10 Amazing Transparent Sculptures: Last set of links had a yarn car. This one has an cool car — literally.
• Bitter Borders Compilation: Sad and funny. At least, the staff has a sense of humor to get through this. [Link: Victoria Strauss]
• Google Exodus: Hilarious video. In honor of the upcoming Passover and another viewing of The Ten Commandments (Affiliate). Yes, I posted this last week. Worth posting again!

P.S. Of course, I want you to have fun. Since I had so much brain food this week, I figured I’ll limit the fun links to avoid overwhelming you.

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In a previous post, we started with features to look for in selecting a merchant account provider. This covers payment processing and credit card security options for growing businesses.

Photo from sxc.hu user stelogic

After selecting your merchant account provider, it’s time to review which credit card processing options and products fit your business, and how these services will prevent credit card fraud. When comparing products, consider the following:

• What are your specific business goals and needs?
• Does your industry demand specialized services or products?
• How can you improve convenience for customers and employees?
• Is your payment process compliant with PCI security standards?

Processing Service Options

To figure out the right processing products for your business, look at your business needs and customer demands. Are you interested in expanding into the e-commerce space? Does your on-the-go schedule require a mobile processing capability? Do you deal mainly with mail order and telephone order transactions? A merchant processing solution can be customized for every business for the greatest return on investment.

Electronic invoicing: Capabilities used in addition to or instead of traditional paper billing, helping cut down on waste and mailing costs through online invoices and bill payment. Merchants can reduce late payments and offer more convenient, flexible account management and payment options for customers.

Mobile processing: The growing use of iPhones, Blackberries, Droids and other mobile devices brings a greater need for mobile processing. With mobile processing capabilities, you can process credit cards and debit cards from your cell phone – often with little or no additional hardware required.

Wireless processing: This service supports business on the go, so that you can accept credit cards without a brick-and-mortar facility or direct hookup. Hotels use wireless terminals to accept credit cards for room service, and drivers can accept credit cards for transportation services right from their vehicles.

Mail order/telephone order (MOTO) merchant account: Streamlines the transaction process for businesses that deal primarily with catalog, telemarketing and other card-not-present sales. Products include a virtual terminal, which allows merchants to manually enter credit card information securely from any computer, and process them in batches for faster service.

E-commerce merchant account: Allows merchants to accept credit cards for products sold online, integrating with major online shopping carts for efficient, convenient checkouts.

Retail merchant account: Ideal for merchants with point-of-sale processing needs, such as more efficient card-present transactions. Retail customers expect speedy checkouts that are as quick and easy as swiping a credit card. Retail merchant accounts provide access to updated credit card terminals and software.

Restaurant merchant account: Allows merchants to accept credit cards at fast food, short order, casual or fine dining establishments. Features may include tab transfers and easy gratuity, among many other options that help wait staff focus more on foodservice and less on bills.

These examples should give you an idea of the basic types of processing services available. A provider can work with you to customize an account to meet your needs.

How to Ensure Secure Credit Card Transactions

Credit card fraud becomes more complex as technology advances. Compromised data leads to devastating consequences, including a loss of credibility and money.

To cut the risk of security breaches and protect businesses and consumers, credit card merchants are required to run processing systems that comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). PCI compliance ensures your business takes the proper precautions and undergoes regular system maintenance for the highest levels of security.

Common PCI requirements include changing default settings and passwords after system installation, installing and maintaining point-of-sale equipment correctly and preventing the storage of unnecessary data. These issues involve simple fixes, and yet violating them can result in millions of dollars lost.

Make security a priority as you search for a merchant account provider and select credit card processing services. Learn about PCI compliance and verify your credit card processor’s payment gateway, data storage facilities and processing systems comply with PCI standards.

End-to-end encryption is a PCI compliant security feature that encrypts credit card data from the point of credit card swipe to authorization, so that sensitive information remains protected throughout the entire transaction process.

Tokenization is another powerful security measure that protects stored data. This replaces credit card information with tokens that are rendered useless should a security breach occur. Ask your merchant account provider how its services meet PCI requirements and help you minimize your liability.

Offer More Payment Options

If you’re new to credit card processing, read this post on selecting a merchant account provider, and start by doing homework on effective payment processing technology for your industry. Once you’ve signed up for a merchant account, prepare to work closely with your credit card processor as your business and customer demands continue to grow.

About the Author: Jacqui MacKenzie is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Internet marketing agency that works with BluePay, a company offering credit card processing products. To learn more about payment processing industry, follow BluePay on Twitter.

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Credit: Shawn P. Calhoun

Overwhelmed this week and next in hopes to wrap up many things before the kids’ winter break. At least, I know my limit and adjust rather than pressure myself to write up something because I do it most Fridays. Despite the hectic schedule, I took the time to drive through my neighborhood to admire my neighbors’ hard work in decorating their yards. So beautiful.

So on with the show…

Brain food…

• Q&A: MFAs and Metaphors: I’ve been keeping the idea of getting an MFA in the back of my mind and watching for programs. The big question: Is it worth getting an MFA? Getcher answer.
• Shut up and get to work: Need motivation. Go here and click links until you’re motivated.
• The 9 Biggest Myths about Finding and Following Your Passion: Even dream jobs have bad days. Like the article says… enjoy the ride.
• What You Should Say to Your Client When Their Payment Is Delinquent: Tough situation. Good advice.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 16 Drinks Named for Authors and Their Books: If you create your own, what would you call it? [Link: Jane Friedman]
• In Color: Architecture Photography: Wish I knew another word for “Wow!”
• Fiverr: What people will do for $5. Some of it is unethical like “posting four positive reviews of your business or product.”
• Life Back in the Day: 18 ads from the ’70s: 30 to 40 years later… whole new meaning. [Link: Laura Spencer]
• Hot Wheels Extreme: In honor of my son who has a giant collection of these miniature cars.
• Christmas by the Book and a Recyclable Christmas Tree: A writer’s dream Christmas tree? Could make it an annual thing… different book types, colors, etc.
• Star Wars Alphabet: Too bad this didn’t come out when my kids were toddlers. Too cute.

How are you doing this holiday season?

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I thought about naming this the Aquarium edition in honor of the field trip I went on with my son’s second grade class this week where I loved seeing my son’s face as he was in awe of some of the discoveries. (Like in this photo.) However, Thanksgiving is a delightful holiday, perhaps my favorite because it contains no pressure and no stress. The only stress for some folks may be the cooking. There’s no shopping for gifts, sending holiday wishes and preparation outside of cooking like decorating the home.

My mom does all the cooking. And guess what? She says Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday. Her and Dad’s anniversary always falls around Thanksgiving. They married on Thanksgiving in 1955. Though Dad passed away in 2007, I sent her a note on her anniversary date. Mom appreciated the senitment. So if you know someone whose spouse has passed away, go ahead and drop ‘em a line on their anniversary date. Just because a mate is gone doesn’t mean you have to forget the date.

Just be with your fave people (OK, maybe Uncle youknow gets on your nerves — remember people don’t live forever and you don’t have to see them daily)  loved ones and relish the time together. For my family, add “watch the Dallas Cowboys.” Yeah, yeah… they lost in an exciting come from behind game. You gotta give ‘em credit for trying when their playoff hopes are long gone.

Brain food…

• How to Enchant Your Customer: I rarely link to popular sites and experts, but this one from Guy Kawasaki is a worthy read.
• How to Be an Original in a Blogosophere Polluted with Regurgitations: I’ve covered topics that many others have. One thing I try to do that no one else can… be me without focusing on me as my life is not that interesting.
• Six Dilemmas That Freelancers Face Over the Holidays: I take some time off. I hope you do, too. Gotta give that brain of yours a break and experience joy.
• achieving, without goals: Yes, it’s possible.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Pac-Man Cookie Cutters: Is it me or do these shapes make those cookies look more delish?
• 12 Funniest Misspelled Billboards: Oddee says it best, “Misspelling is not good, but to have it in a super size panel makes it much worse.”
• Butterbeer?! Oh Yes, Friends! Butterbeer!:  Sugarbear’s recipe looks simpler than some of the others posted. I must just try this. I wonder how using sugar free cream soda compares.

Tell us about your Thanksgiving.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Meryl Evans

Image credit: Karl-Erik Bennion

I had a whole box of party favors leftover because I overestimated the number of kids attending. I contacted the company to ask if I could return the unopened party favors for a refund. The company said to keep it, and they’ll issue a refund. Sure, it may cost more for me to send it back and for the company to deal with the return. But to me, the company surprised and delighted me. I have made more purchases after that.

My daughter is a hostess and waitress at a nearby eatery. She had a great day until our family dined there. We were her last customers and she messed up our order. We did not complain. Instead, we told her it was OK and we know mistakes happen. Nonetheless, our drinks were free.

I’ve posted other customer service experiences. In looking at how I land new clients, I find the majority come from word of mouth recommendations. That tells me customer service must play an important role in my career as a writer. I represent me and what you get is me. Customer service is more than just doing great work with a smile. Customer service is also a marketing tool.

I believe the following actions make up the customer service element of a writer’s business:

1. Provide excellent results: You can be the nicest and easiest person in the world, but it won’t save you if you repeatedly submit poor quality work. The client will give up. This isn’t the same thing as perfection. I could keep perfecting this post, but I had to stop and let it go.
2. Meet deadlines: Are you on schedule? Late? Or constantly asking for deadline extensions? Good writers plan ahead so they don’t fall into the last minute trap, which could lead to sacrificing quality.
3. Listen: Let go of what’s on your mind and listen to what the client says so you can understand. Don’t be in a hurry to share your thoughts and experience. It’s easy to miss what the client really wants. Respond by reflecting on what the client said instead of turning it around to make it about you. I received an article request from a client, but the client didn’t like the direction the article took. Several colleagues reviewed the article request and the article. They all agreed I met the request. It doesn’t matter if it was the client’s fault or mine. I collected more information from the client and rewrote it. (See #7.)
4. Make it easy to work with you: Are you easy to work with? Do you fight every edited word? Are you listening to the client’s preferences and styles? Do you follow the client’s process? Are you accessible? Some of the busiest authors are also the most accessible. More accessible than plenty of unknowns.
5. Stay cool: No matter how the client behaves or acts, your attitude and response to the client should never burn bridges. Even if you go separate ways, the client can still talk about you. Sometimes your personalities and styles don’t mesh. It happens. One client wanted web content that didn’t reflect content standards. It was better to separate than to give the client what he wanted. What he wanted wasn’t what I could deliver. Furthermore,  I would not have enjoyed the work, which brings us to…
6. Enjoy the work: Do you hate the work? That will affect your attitude and everything else about the project. Maybe you need to let go. It’s OK to work toward assignments you love and enjoy. Your passion will shine through and make a difference in your outlook, which in turn affects service. I find I procrastinate more on work that I dread. I’m lucky that’s not an issue anymore.
7. Fix mistakes: Problems happen. We all make mistakes. Really. It’s HOW you handle those mistakes that can make the difference between great and lousy customer service.
8. Respond quickly: How quickly do you return calls and emails? Even if you’re swamped, at least acknowledge you received the message and will get back to the person.
9. Solve problems: Do you work to help clients with their problems? Find another or better solution? Some people try to push their solutions on the clients to make it work rather than adapt to clients’ needs.
10. Be honest: A client overpaid me. I emailed the client to let him know and subtracted the overpaid amount in the next invoice. Yes, it’s hard to be truthful in some situations. Telling the truth can do less damage than telling lies and getting found out. Besides, you feel better about yourself. It also creates goodwill.

Regarding perfectionism, Christina Katz said it better than I could. “I’ve given up the tireless quest for perfection for a looser, friendlier style of working with myself and others. I also no longer worry, inordinately, about what other people think of me. I don’t fret about whether they think my service is or isn’t up to snuff. Instead, if my service isn’t momentarily the greatest–because I’m human, so of course this happens from time to time–I apologize and move on,” she says.

How do you provide great customer service?

I hit 2000 “following” on twitter. Yet, I discovered more brilliant people I wanted to follow and couldn’t because I hadn’t reached 2000 “followers”. This compelled me to do way early spring cleaning of my twitter account.

Twitter puts this in place to minimize spammy accounts. It would be nice if it would use math instead of a flat 2000 number. A person with 2000 following and 1500 followers is obviously an active twitterer. I’m not about to go begging for 500 more followers, so cleaning it is.

The chiseling process amazed me as I found that I followed people that I wouldn’t follow today. They had one or more of the following seven bad traits:

1. Contain lopsided numbers of following, followers, and updates. There’s no magic formula. The numbers and updates quickly tell the story.

2. Discussed company and product constantly and in a promotional way. Some company twitter accounts do serve customers and they’re there to help. But helping isn’t akin to marketing and promotion. There’s a difference!

3. Did nothing but link link link … mostly to their own stuff.

4. WYAIM: Was yet another internet marketer. How do they earn a bundle of money when there are this many? These folks tend to violate #2 having over 1000 “following,” 100 or so “followers” and one comment linking to the next get rich scheme. Block these people to send a message to twitter that it may be a potential spam account to delete.

5. Sent a DM or @reply with “Thanks for the follow, check out my site…” Please don’t add to the noise with wasteful messages. Some will debate this, but this is my take (oh, and Mashable’s too as I discovered after drafting this post — honest). I try to avoid “Good morning, twitterville,” “How are you today?” and “Time to hit the pillow” as twitter has too much noise with this. But I know lots of people who think it’s nice and we need to bring such greetings back in conversation. Agreed! But not in twitter.

6. Talked about every mundane detail of their life: I’m going to the store for milk, I ordered a veggie pizza, going to sleep… this is what many folks think twitter is about. Yes, a lot of people do the this — but the ones benefiting most from twitter are business professionals who do a little of everything: link to good content, say insightful things, add another thought to someone’s original thought, retweet someone else’s good thoughts or links (retweeting is valuable as that’s how things spread).

7. Had the default avatar: I do make sure the person has “settled in” twitter by looking at the followers and updates because not everyone immediately adds a picture as it takes a little time to figure out all of twitter’s features. Smart of twitter to make it ugly to encourage folks to change it ASAP. Those disproportional eyes look eerie. Avatars are no longer a tech-savvy thing. If you don’t know how, ask for help! Twitterville loves to help.

Bonus Tip

Showed last update over six months ago: These users obviously tried twitter and didn’t like it. Such people don’t stick with twitter long enough or interact the right way to see the magic happen and why so many of us keep coming back.

This is more for people who weed their twitter “following” list because you probably won’t follow them if you look at their updates page.

Agree? Disagree? Missed something? Love to hear your thoughts. Next post: How to get going fast with twitter.