Real World Customer Service Stories to Inform Your Practices By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD For over twenty years I’ve written a “From the Publisher” column in each issue of Connections Magazine. For many years that meant six columns a year, although it initially was four and at one time it ballooned up to ten, but […]
Verify Key Information and Don’t Assume You Know the Answer By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My first full-time job was repairing copy machines. One day, toward the end of my short tenure there, the new service manager shared his vision for the future of his department. The company had two product lines, each with its […]
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Celebrate Being a Writer
Even though it took me a while to call myself a writer, I’ve been writing most of my life. In high school, I learned I had a knack for it, and it’s been part of almost every job I’ve had. Although I’ve had some great jobs, my work as a full-time writer is the most […]
Here are the pros and cons of indie publishing versus going with a traditional publisher: Traditional Publishing Pros and Cons: In most cases, traditional publishing requires less of the author, should result in more book sales over a wider distribution, and carries the prestige of a publisher selecting your book for publication. The negatives include […]
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Customer Rip-Offs
Make Sure Your Objectives Align with Your Practices By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD To avoid the huge depreciation loss that all new cars undergo, I buy used. However, there was a season when I bought new. This story is about one of those times. Although it wasn’t my practice to go to the dealer for […]
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Sticky Customer Service
Do you lose customers about as fast as you gain them? It doesn’t have to be that way. The Sticky Customer Service book will show you how. Customer service isn’t a once-and-done effort. It takes ongoing work to truly meet your customers’ expectations. In Sticky Customer Service, unearth practical, action-oriented insights to help you turn […]
I’ve paid to enter some contests. I don’t mind it when I win, but it’s a double hit when I don’t. I’ve paid from $1 to $20, and each time they gave a compelling reason why I needed to compensate them to consider my work. And each time I’ve felt duped afterward. Going forward, the […]
Rejection comes at two times: prior to publication and after publication. Pre-publication rejection comes from agents and publishers saying “no” to our work. It isn’t good enough or “doesn’t meet our needs at this time.” A form of what can feel like rejection also comes from feedback on our work from critique groups, beta readers, […]
Sales and Marketing Tactics Change, but the Need to Close Sales Doesn’t By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In the early days of the telephone answering service industry, most all clients were local. This was because a physical off premise extension of the customers’ phone line needed to be installed in the answering service. If the […]
I’ve ghostwritten some books and enjoyed doing so. The payment is almost always a fixed rate, paid in installments. Require the first payment before starting the project, and the final payment is due when the writer submits the finished product to the author. (The person who hires you is the author, and you are the […]