Give Excellent Customer Service

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

As I go through my day, I encounter a lot of negativity and disappointment on social media and other places. People are always complaining about something. Where is the praise for the companies who are making the effort and giving excellent customer service? 

In this article I want to highlight a couple of places which I have noticed great customer service and appreciate their efforts. At the end of this article, I want to bring the point of this piece home to every writer with some ideas how we can give excellent customer service. 

As an author I am active on Goodreads where I’ve been since 2011 and written over 900 reviews and have over 5,000 friends. Some of my followers read these blog articles on Goodreads because I’ve connected it and the new articles show up on my profile. Sometimes I discover a missing cover or a progress bar which doesn't work or any number of other book-related issues on the site. Each time, I will go to their help menu and use their contact form (follow this link if you have never seen it). Within 48 hours (often sooner), I will receive an email where someone has handled the issue which I raised. With more than 150 million members, I find that type of customer service incredible and to be applauded. If you need help with Goodreads, my recommendation is to fill out their help form.

Another company is Adazing which is located in Australia. Follow this link and scroll down to see their free author resources.  I have purchased several of their products and even been on their podcast as a guest. Recently I was trying to use their program and found a glitch in it. I filled out a support ticket and right away I received an email from them. It took several exchanges until it was resolved but again, remarkable customer service and it was a matter of filling out a support ticket and asking for their assistance. 

Often in these entries, I mention using Hootsuite as a tool to schedule my social media posts. I’ve been using it for years and have a lot of my own time and energy invested in this site. I started with their free version but have been using the paid version for a few years (and that price has been gradually increasing--unfortunately). It's rare that I’ve needed to approach support but each time when I fill out a ticket, they get back to me and even if with several exchanges, eventually the issue is resolved.

In each of these companies, the key to get help is to ask for it using a support ticket, then the company has to have a solid system for aa response. Recently Morgan James Publishing has started such a ticket system for our author support team. The ticket link is built into an autoresponse to an email to author support. Because I’m often the first person that an author interacts with at Morgan James, if authors have some issue they will reach out to me--but often I can’t answer their concern. Now with this support ticket system, I have a simple place to send them where their concern will be heard and resolved. 

There are many other companies who are constantly working at delivering good customer service. It is hard because if you approach them you have had some interruption to the use of their service. Each response is critical because that will play into their reputation and how you will perceive of them and recommend them in the future to others. 

What is your customer service? Each of us as writers have relationships with editors, literary agents and other writers. Your reputation is involved in each interaction to show people that you will do what you say you will do, when you said you would do it and you deliver excellence. Here’s some practical steps each of us can practice:

Deliver with kindness. Take deep breaths before you write that email or return that phone call and have the right attitude with your response.

Respond in a timely manner. Publishing is a communication business where many people do not communicate. Your timely response is a simple way to stand out to others.

Meet the deadlines. Many authors are late and if you meet the deadline, you have another simple way to be memorable and stand out.

To deliver good customer service is a decision that is made every day and your consistency in this area will pay off in the writing community. As writers, we face a great deal of rejection in the process of finding the right place to publish. Novelist Randy Ingermanson published an article, Every Yes is a Thousand Noes. I hope it encourages you to take action for your writing life.

For this article, I used the image of two hands with a ball of respect in between them. At the end of the day, respect is a strong element and motivator for delivering excellent customer service.

How are you providing excellent customer service or what other companies have you noticed in this area? Let me know in the comments below.

Tweetable:

To give excellent customer service is a simple way to stand out in the writing community. This prolific author and editor provides some examples and detailed actions. (ClickToTweet)

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I spoke with journalist Khudania Ajay (@kajmasterclass) about publishing myths on The Author’s Voice with KAJ Podcast watch it at: https://bit.ly/401TKM3 

As I’ve worked in the publishing world for years, I’ve spoken with many authors about their expectations and dreams for their books. I’ve found many of these authors have  unrealistic expectations about what will happen with their published book. Many aspects of the publishing process are outside of anything an author can control. I wrote 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS to give authors practical help and take actions no matter what the publisher does for your book. You can get decades of insights in 10 PUBLISHING MYTHS for only $10, free shipping and over $200 of bonuses.

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Get Inspiration from Quotations

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Early on in my journalism training, I was taught to look for key quotations. Often these statements would be in the lead of my story or they would drive home the point of my story.  

As writers interviewing other people for the content of a chapter of a book or a magazine article, I encourage you to be looking for these key quotations. They will help you as you craft your stories.

When I read inspirational quotes, I get insights and encouragement. I look for them from many different sources like my own reading of books or blogs or articles online. When I find them, I will often cut and paste them into my social media plans for the future. It's been my pattern for years with my social media feeds for the day: I begin every day with an inspirational quotation and an image.

In the social media world, you can attract more attention, retweets and responses if you include an image. Through the years of my using social media, I have collected images of different people into a file labeled “Twitter Images.” These images are stored alphabetically so when I need one again, it is easy to locate and use again.

Here's an example I saw today:

“Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more.”
-- H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 

I add the image and then save it into my HootSuite. It will begin my day of social media postings on Sunday, May 3, 2020 at 6:05 am. Yes on inspirational quotations, I am way ahead on my postings. I use Hootsuite (the paid version with unlimited posts to schedule—and I take full advantage of this feature and schedule my posts way ahead of time—at least some of them).

I have another reason I'm way ahead on my inspirational quotes. Several weeks ago, I was behind on gathering these inspirational quotations. I learned to use another feature of HootSuite which I had not before. This program stores all my old tweets which number in the thousands. I went back and took the inspirational quotes for a month (at least one year ago so no one would remember) and worked them into my future schedule. I created a pattern of beginning every day with this inspirational quotation. Do you have a pattern or grid for your tweets? I do and it makes it simple to schedule with this grid for certain types of tweets in mind.

Do you get inspiration from quotes? Do you use them and see them on a regular basis in your writing life? Let me know the details in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Inspirational quotes are often seen in articles and online. What do you do with them? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

Increase Producivity. Get Organized.

As I get older, I'm more aware each of us have the same amount of time in every day. We have a lot of information and opportunity coming our direction. How do we harness these opportunities and increase our effectiveness? One important aspect is to get organized and keep organized.

If I take an honest look at myself, I tend to be a bit of a pack rat. I save magazines, articles I might write some day, books people have sent to read and review, manuscripts and proposals I've been handed at conferences, and the list goes on. This material can easily flood my office and pile up. During the last few weeks, I have been vigilant about sorting, filing and throwing most of this accumulation. At the moment, I'm much more organized than I have been during other periods.

Take Time to Eliminate & Organize Clutter

For me, it is a matter of taking a hard look at what has accumulated and asking if I will ever need this again. Most of the time that answer is “no” and I can throw it. Or can I quickly store some needed information such as an email address or phone on my computer where I can search and easily access it in the future? You can increase your effectiveness and productivity if you have less right in front of you to handle.

Use Your Smartphone Effectively

Often I meet writers who have a smartphone but only use it as a phone—and little else. Whether you are aware of it or not, you have a powerful communication device that you carry. Take the time to use various features. For example, I use the calendar to remind me of meetings and phone calls. I use the reminders section to call to my attention critical deadlines.

I also use my smartphone to post on social media. For example, I use Hootsuite to time out my posts for several social platforms. For Facebook at the moment, I post them myself using my phone. It is not the most efficient way to do it (as I know) but it does get done. 

Also I use my smartphone to quickly answer some important emails when I'm away from my office. Just a brief answer shows the other person you got it and responded. Use your phone as an effective communication tool.

If you don't know how to use these aspects of your smartphone, then take the time to learn. You can even take free classes at the Apple Store (which I have done).

Be Aware of the Time Zappers

I regularly hear from writers who spend hours scrolling through Facebook then wonder where they lost part of their day. Or they binge watch a television program or spend time at a bookstore browsing. None of these things are wrong or bad in themselves but increase your awareness of how you are using your time can help you be more effective.

Create a System to Achieve Over and Over

If there is something you need to accomplish over and over, I recommend you create a habit to accomplish it. Just writing 20 to 30 minutes a day on a project can continue to move it forward toward completion. Or set a word count for your writing then do it repeatedly. People wonder how I keep up with my social media. It's pretty simple. I've created a system where I do the functions over and over (with many different purposes and reasons).

 I still have things slip through the cracks and doesn't get done. For example, several days ago I got an email reminder the judging sheets for a contest are due right away. Yes I knew I was judging this contest and had the material for it but wasn't aware of the exact due date. I handled it and met the deadline. Each of us have these types of things which slip into our day and need to get done.

What steps are you taking to get organized and increase your productivity? Let me know in the comments below.

 Tweetable:


Discover four insights to get organized and increase your productivity from this prolific reader and writer. (ClickToTweet)

The Importance of Sending Good Content

Are you learning from others online? Excellent. Are you passing along this content to others? For me, this process of sending good content to others is an important part of the writing life. In this article, I want to give you some ideas how you can pass along what you are learning or reading to others.

I have been on twitter since 2009 and tweeted thousands of times. If you look at my twitter feed, you will notice the majority of my posts are pointing to articles from others. I follow a series of blogs from experienced writers and receive these blogs in my email box. If you have a blog, it is important to add this feature to your blog so others can read your content on their email. Over and over email has been proven as one the most effective ways to reach others.

If you want to send out good content to others, you need to develop a method or system for taking consistent action. The regular action is important to establish your reputation in the market as someone who helps others—not just once but over and over.

For example, I use Hootsuite to schedule my social media posts then I tweet about 12 to 15 times a day but these posts are spaced throughout the day and each one is different (with different words and a different image). Each day I have developed a pattern with my posts. This pattern is something I've created with different spots on my posts for different types of content and from different people. For example, I post content from a writer about once a day and not multiple times. I begin each day of social media posts with an inspirational quotation and image. The fact that I have a pattern makes my repeat actions easier. I don't have to create something and instead I am simply filling in the designated positions.

Your social media posts will be different than mine and in a different pattern. My key point is encouraging you to develop a system that works for you and your writing life. After you have such a system, your actions will be routine. Each week I take about 30 minutes to finalize my social media posts. I say “finalize” because the grid or slots for my different posts is not finished until I finalize—but I have much of that grid filled in because I take a few minutes each day looking for great content and adding it to my posting plans in Hootsuite.

Reading about my actions are a good first step but here's some action steps for you to take:

1. Decide to send good content to your audience on a regular basis

2. Create a system (possibly using Hootsuite) to make your actions regular and consistent.

How are you sending out good content to your audience? Let me know in the comments below. I look forward to learning from you.

Tweetable:

Are you sending out good content to your audience? Get the insights from a prolific author and editor. (ClickToTweet)

How to Move When Feeling Overwhelmed

Whether we acknowledge it or not, it is easy to feel overwhelmed as an author. The realities of the publishing world can be daunting. 

Every day thousands of new books enter the market. In addition, authors and publishers are promoting existing books to consumers. Every consumer has to hear about your book seven or eight or more times before they reach into their wallet and purchase your book. The average self-published book sells less than 100 copies and the average traditional book sells about 1,000 copies.

Yet as an author you have a much bigger vision than selling 100 or 1000 books. When it comes to book marketing, there are dozens of books—and each is filled with great ideas. Maybe you have read a few of these books and are stuck in the “shiny object” syndrome where you are buying the latest and greatest tool for marketing your book. While it may be good to purchase that tool, are you using it and then measuring to see if it is working for you?

If you are feeling overwhelmed (and everyone has these feelings from time to time), here's several ideas for you:

1. Change gears to a different type of writing project. If you have been writing a novel, switch to a nonfiction magazine article or writing a blog post or an Ebook or some other type of writing. The experience can get you moving again.

2. Plan a series of social media posts using Hootsuite or some other schedule tool. When you put these posts into your tool, you are doing something active—building your platform and presence in the marketplace.

3. Follow some new people on Twitter or Facebook. Why? With the idea that some of those people will follow you back and you will grow your social media following—a good thing to do if overwhelmed.

4. Get more friends on Goodreads. There are 55 million registered readers on Goodreads. As an author, you need to be spending a little time there on a regular basis. Use the friends section (see this link) to get more friends. Many authors only have a few hundred friends. I used these tools and built up to the maximum (which I learned when I hit it) of 5,000 friends. Now everytime I write a review on Goodreads (for a book that I've read or heard), it shows up on all these pages. You can have many friends if you faithfully use the tools from Goodreads.

5. Look for someone to review your latest book. Maybe it is someone you are corresponding with on email.Ask them if they are interested or willing to write an honest review and get their commitment. Then mail them your book. It's part of the publishing world to continually look for new reviews and feedback about your book.

6. Write a query letter to a magazine editor and pitch an article idea.

7. Read a marketing book like Online Marketing for Busy Authors and take one idea from the book and put it into practice.

My key point with this article is to take a small yet measured step in the direction of action. The worst thing you can do when feeling overwhelmed is nothing.

Tweetable:

Why writers need to do what they don't want to do.  (ClickToTweet)
 

The Right Tools Are Critical for Every Writer

As I begin a new year (2018), I take some time to reflect on the accomplishments of last year and also look ahead to what I want to happen in the year ahead. I'm grateful for the different opportunities I've had to write and also help others. As I get into this reflective mode, I look at some of my habits. For example, over the last few years, I've focused on growing a large following on Twitter which has grown to over 220,000 last year and continues to grow. Twitter has added a graphic of twitter impressions (see this image from my twitter page)

Since 2008 when I joined Twitter, I have tweeted almost 40,000 times. In recent years, I tweet about publishing and writing almost a dozen times a day. I use a tool called Hootsuite which has a free version and also a paid version. Recently I have switched to the paid version because Hootsuite added a limit of the number of future tweets you could have on the free version. I exceeded this number.

For me, Hootsuite has been the right tool for my social media because:

--I can schedule the tweets
--I can add an image to my tweets (important for visibility)

Because of my commitment to Twitter and Hootsuite, I have developed my own system with my tweets. For example, I begin my day with an inspirational quote. As I locate these quotes in various places, I cut and paste them into my Hootsuite with a photo. I've saved many of my photos in a little folder on my desktop called Twitter photos. Rather than search each time for a photo, I often have an image saved in my folder because I've saved them and developed an easy system to keep and retrieve them.

Your writing goals will be different from mine. Maybe you want to be published in more print magazines. You will need to learn how to write a query letter and develop a pattern or habit of pitching editors on a regular basis. If they are Christian publications, I encourage you to use the Christian Writers Market Guide 2018. If they are general market publications, then use the 2018 Writers Market Guide and make sure you are contacting the right editors with your pitches. You can also find the Writers Market Guide in the reference section of most public libraries.

If you want to sell more of your books, then you will need to be reaching your audience through the radio or print or social media or your own newsletter list. Each of these venues are effective and ones where you will need to learn the right tools and develop a regular pattern or system. As I use my various regular patterns or systems, I don't have to reinvent anything but simply use what I've created earlier over and over.

What tools are you using with your writing? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

Tweetable:

Every writer must use the right tools for your writing. Get some ideas here. (ClickToTweet)
 

How to Get a Wealth of Social Media Content

Where do you get your content for your social media? Is it all your own material or does it come from others?

People in publishing are looking for writers with excellent content. I’ve been on twitter since 2008 and tweeted over 35,000 times. My following has grown from zero (no followers) to over 200,000. How in the world do I determine what to have on my social media feeds and why do I never run out of new content?

Haphazard and rare use of social media never works. To develop a following, you need to be putting out good and consistent content. I use a free tool Hootsuite to schedule my tweets throughout the day. Each communication is focused on my audience and readers (who are writers or people interested in publishing). Your target audience will be different but you must have a specific target.

Collect content and images. I subscribe to a number of blogs and newsletters who are in my target market I read these blogs and learn from them. Also I use these articles as content for my social media. As I find each one, I take a few minutes each day and add them to my Hootsuite releases for the days ahead. I keep the title of the article and attach the image from the article (since images get more social media attention).

When it comes to my tweets, I’ve developed my own structure for my daily game plan for my posts. Yours will be different but take the time to develop a structure. With this structure in place, your search for content is focused and deliberate. For example, I begin each day with a quotation and an image (often of the person quoted). Many people love these quotes so they are shared and retweeted. 

At the beginning and the end of the day,  I will point to my own resources such as blog posts (almost 1400 posts in my blog) or free teleseminars or other personal resources. I keep a small plain text file with these posts and recycle them on a regular basis. In the middle of the day, I have new content from the articles and blogs and newsletters that I regularly read. I do not automatically take every post from these newsletters. With each one, I’m focused on my audience and asking,” Is this material a good fit for my reader?” If the answer is no, then I do not include it.

From my experience, there is an abundance of resources to add to your social media feeds. It’s part of the reason I tweet at least 12 times a day. It continues to draw new readers and older readers.

The consistency and quality will draw people to your work. Yes this is platform building 101 but necessary for every author. If you need more information about platform building, then get my free Ebook on the topic.

As you have a wealth of social media content, the consistent effort is important and will pay off for you. You don't have to be on every social media channel. Pick one or two and major on that particular channel.

Tweetable:

Follow these tips to have a wealth of social media content. (ClickToTweet)
 

Five Every Day Actions Grow Your Twitter Followers

I've been on twitter since 2009 and right now my twitter followers are growing at a rate of about 100 new followers a day. While I have many followers, I continue to take several simple and quick actions every day to add to my followers.

1. Refollow

Every day I use a simple tool called Refollow (which I've described in detail before. Follow this link for the details). I use it faithfully because it allows me to follow 800 new people in less than five minutes—but not just anyone—people who are in my target market. I'm targeting individuals who are interested in publishing (books or magazine). It is a critical aspect of using this tool.

About once a week, I'll get an error message that Twitter says I've maxed out my new followers and I can come back tomorrow. I looked and I had only followed about 190 people instead of 800. I've learned to wait about 30 minutes and return to Refollow. Then I repeat the process and follow more followers and the tool begins again to reach new people. Don't believe the error message and persistence pays off with reaching 600 more people than Twitter was going to allow me to reach.

2. Manage Flitter

A second tool I use every day is Manage Flitter. I've also described the use of this tool in detail. Follow the link. I use this tool to eliminate people who have not set up their profile, don't speak English, and are fake or spam followers.  Also it allows me to quickly unfollow people who are not following me back.

3. Scan Your Twitter Home Feed

About once a day, I will scan through home feed on Twitter. I do it on my desktop computer so it is easy to see. I'm looking to block porn, non-English tweets (non-Roman scripts) and anything offensive. This process is quick and I page through my feed. I know I don't catch everything but it is something simple that I do to maintain my followers.

4. Respond to Direct Messages

I use Hootsuite to monitor my direct messages from followers and respond to them. This tool is free and easy to use. The engagement is one of the key reasons to use Twitter. Also notice my Twitter profile includes my personal email address. Often my new followers will email me for help—and I always respond point them to my blog, my free teleseminars, my other free writing resources.  My personal goal is to answer these emails within 24 hours and often I do it quicker. These writers are surprised that I answer since most publishing communication goes into a black hole (no answer) and I provide solid writing resources.

5. Tweet Valuable Content (mostly not mine)

I use Hootsuite to schedule my tweets almost every hour throughout the working hours of a day. Throughout my day I read content of other people and I pass along this valuable content about publishing to my followers. My active tweeting builds followers (and it will for you as well). Also notice for almost every tweet, I include an image (which is part of Hootsuite). It's been proven using images gets more attention for your tweets. 

These simple actions do not consume a lot of time but the fact I do it every day (repeatedly) builds traction and a following on Twitter. I've recently gone over 158,000 followers and have no plans to stop growing my following. You can follow the same steps with consistent action. It will give you more credibility with other writers, catch the attention of literary agents and editors—and help you in ways you can't even imagine. 

I spend most of my days working as an acquisitions editor at a New York publisher, Morgan James. If I can do these steps, then you can find a few minutes to do them. Be encouraged and let me know how it is working for you.

Tweetable:
Learn 5 Every Day actions to Grow Your Twitter Followers (Click to Tweet)