Posts Tagged ‘ice cream’

celebrate friends and fans – 2012

Fridays are for celebrating Stance Friends and Fans. I encourage you to visit their website and tell Stance about your experience with them.

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Today we celebrate Parfait Studio who serves up multi-layered
design solutions using words and images as main ingredients. Founded by Robin H. Ridley, her studio takes a detailed approach to visual and verbal expression.
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Parfait Studio creates everything from print collateral (Ads, Brochures, Invitations, Annual Reports, etc.) to marketing signage. One of their favorite challenges is equipping new companies with visual, tangible tools for success: Business Name; Brand Identity (Logo+ Tagline); Stationery; Website…the works! They are constantly striving for the perfect way to tell their clients’ stories by blending creative ideas, well-crafted copy, and impactful imagery into one smooth concoction.
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“Life is all about layers. What may seem simple on the surface is often filled with delicious complexity. Good communication stems from the same basic concept.” – Robin Ridley, Parfait Studio

If you are looking for professionalism coupled with creativity, character, consistency and capability, then you have come to the right place. I have worked with Parfait Studio on numerous occasions and am amazed at how they outdo themselves each time.

From their wordsmith talents and cutting edge design that is relevant instead of trendy to their dedication to stay on time and within budget, Parfait always delivers a stress-free experience. The attention to detail is reassuring and the level of organization frees me up to focus on my business not theirs.

The journey from concept to completion is truly a joy. I wholeheartedly endorse Parfait Studio.

View Parfait Studio’s portfolio today and see for yourself how multi-layered design can take your brand to the next level.

Parfait Studio
303.324.4434
info@parfaitstudio.com

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If you have had an experience with Parfait Studio, please share it here. If not, visit them today. I look forward to hearing about it and sharing your experience with other Stance Friends and Fans.

why do you social media?

I have almost 800 friends on my persoanl Facebook page, over 300 fans on my business fanpage and close to 1500 followers on Twitter…not huge numbers, but respectable. Of those 2600 friends, fans and followers, 75 percent consists of retail, blogs, restaurants, services, entertainment, career connections and news sources.

Every day I read about what is for sale, what the economy is doing, how to run my business, what time happy hour is, what the special is tonight, why bedbugs are making a comeback, how to train my dog and the latest top 10 list about something.
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I comment. I engage. I ask questions. I like. I share. I tweet. I retweet. I post. I suggest. I repost…and over and over.
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Oh, and I also schedule updates to post later. I do this to make good use of my time and share information on a wide variety of topics that interest me and my friends and followers. I am proud to say that 99.4 percent of the time, I am available to ENGAGE with friends, fans and followers when the post goes live because that is the point of social media.

So why do I Social Media?

From a professional level (for my business and for my clients): to build relationships and to understand the root causes of customer sentiment and behavior in order to prioritize improvements that enhance each customer’s experience.

  1. Listen
  2. Know your customers
  3. Care about your customers
  4. Evolve with your customers

From a personal level: to create relationships, to support those I believe in, to stay connected with my past, to build my future and to find out what the special is tonight….because after all, food is high on my list of priorities.

Why do you Social Media?

celebrate stance friends and fans

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Fridays are for celebrating Stance Friends and Fans. I encourage you to visit their facebook page, website or place of business and tell Stance about your experience with their product, service or in this case, team.

 

Today we celebrate The Denver Browns, an organization founded in 2006 by Gino Grasso and managed by Matthew Repplinger with the goal of developing amateur baseball players starting with Little Leaguers to Big Leaguers. The Browns have produced a 60-25 record in four years, and in September the Browns won the 2010 NABA 18AAA Championship and finished with a record of 20-3.
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The Denver Browns players are expected to be standouts both in the community and on the field. They believe hard work and efforts on and off the field will form the players into future leaders of the community. The Browns have the resources and experience to provide the community an exceptional opportunity to relish in “America’s Favorite Pastime.”

The success of The Browns organization starts with the players, coaches, sponsors and parents. The Browns believe in the word “TEAM” to the fullest, and are not made up of individuals but of players that support each other and never give up on or off the field.

The Browns are expanding with additional teams in Denver and into the Grand Junction area with the start of a new 13U team, the GJ Browns. The Browns future goal is to establish teams at every level from little league to collegiate to semi-pro. 

Have you been to see a Denver Browns game or practice? If so, share your experience here and pass the word. I look forward to hearing about it and sharing your experience with other Stance Friends and Fans.

Visit The Denver Browns on Facebook.

Visit The Denver Browns website.

celebrate stance friends and fans

Fridays are for celebrating Stance Friends and Fans. I encourage you to visit their facebook page, website or place of business and get back to Stance about your experience with their product or service. If you have already done business with the featured Friday Stance Friend or Fan and have a story to share, please do.
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Today we celebrate kuulture, a family owned frozen yogurt store in lower downtown Denver. Luscious, creamy and satisfying is one way to describe kuulture frozen yogurt, but is also fat free, low in calories (about 25 calories per ounce) and contains no added sugar. It’s packed with calcium, protein and vitamins, yet its gluten free and Kosher.

Besides the exceptional taste, kuulture frozen yogurt is incredibly healthful and nutritious and contains live and active cultures for good health. Studies suggest that the live and active cultures in yogurt aid in digestion and strengthen the immune system. Based on studies in countries where yogurt consumption is high, researchers have found that yogurt may even help to lower cholesterol and the risk of certain types of cancer. Even individuals who are lactose intolerant typically can digest frozen yogurt without any of the side effects common among other milk products.
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Kuulture embraces the local art community and encourages artist to submit art for their monthly gallery. They know what it takes to not only open a business, but also focus on the work that goes behind the scenes to continue to succeed and grow. Their philosophy is that they grow if communities thrive, and they believe in honoring this special relationship by giving back. Kuulture also sponsors children’s programs that cultivate the community. 

With every city and each expansion, kuulture will connect and continue to work closely and be involved with each community. Help kuulture make a difference in the community by collaborating with them on our blog.

If you have been to kuulture, please share your experience. If not, visit them today. I look forward to hearing about it and sharing your experience with other Stance Friends and Fans.

Located in LODO on the corner of Larimer and 15th St
1512 Larimer Street Denver, CO 80202
303-573-7200

Winter Hours: November thru March
Every day: 12 pm – 10 pm 

kuulture on facebook

www.kuulture.com

CEM Gone Wrong

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I recently had an interesting customer experience with my mortgage lender. Ok, I know the experience was with the individual in the call center, but that experience was designed by someone in the CEM department, or whatever they call it, and it was also a huge failure.

While making my June mortgage payment on line through my bank for my rental unit, I inexplicitly switched two numbers and sent the payment $90 short. A week later I received a notice that I was two months behind in payments. Knowing I sent the payment, I checked the status on my banking site…yep, there it was. Sent, cleared and $90 short.

Last week, before leaving town, I called my lender to double check the amount owed before hitting the send button. The amount totaled two months plus a late fee. I was confused as I was only $90 short plus the full amount for July. The representative said that no amount is applied when an amount less than the full amount is sent….something I did not know and an expectation they never set.

What was clearly a typo on my part (two numbers transposed) was considered non-payment by them. Interesting…and infuriating. I indicated I would send July’s mortgage plus the coverage and asked if she would waive the late fee. She said she did not have the power to do that and would need to transfer me.

Then she asked if I lived in the home.

ME: “NO, it is a rental.”  (I could visualize her reading her script….if no, go to question 89. If also a rental, go to question 122.)

HER: “Do you plan to keep it and continue making payments?”

I thought to myself, what? Of course. But I said “why do you ask”?

Stumped. There was no script directive for that answer. She had no idea why she was asking. All she knew was that the when dealing with late payments on rental units she should ask if the intention is to keep the mortgage or not. Ok, I get it. The company is trying to foresee any foreclosures or bankruptcies for obvious reasons: they too have been hit hard over the last two years.

This is CEM gone wrong. I was insulted they insinuated I may be attempting to “walk away” from my responsibilities. The goal was to get a feel for if a customer is going to “walk away” but the result was making a perfectly happy customer angry. That is not a customer-centric (sorry Shevlin) company. It is a company-centric organization interested in covering their assets at all costs.

They set the protocol to ask a question, but did not empower the employee to stray from the script and engage me in informational dialogue that would have streamlined the process. I should also mention, the next day, I received a phone call from the collections department trying to make good on two months of payments. I told the guy to read the notes in their fancy CRM system and hung up.

Aside from re-creating the entire process and empowering and trainging their employees, how could this have been handled better? For starters, they could have been truly customer focused, and instead of a letter and an insulting phone call, they could simply have called and said the following:

Ms. Gore, it appears you have transposed two numbers in your payment amount. Would you like to pay the shortage now, or simply apply it to your next payment?

Problem averted and customer, employee and company aligned.

PS some BPM work would not hurt either. 😉