ZenDesk Alternatives – Web 2.0 Help Desk Software List

Posted in: Blog, Business Advice by chadConnects on May 18, 2010 | 6 Comments

Hey man! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I’ve been using ZenDesk for a quite a while now and really enjoyed it. They kinda decided to beat up on their customers by changing pricing and there has been a lot of flack in the community for it. Since I just recently finished a bunch of research on what types of help desk software is out that that’s worth anything at all, I thought I’d pass my list along to anyone who is currently figuring out what type of helpdesk software they’re going to use:

ZenDesk- reinventing how companies support & engage customers. Has an iPhone app -pretty cool.

Vision Help Desk- kinda hard to take them seriously with a site design like that but seems like a pretty good product nonetheless. I really like the GoogleApps integration & the migration tool coming from other help desk software and discount for doing it!

Tender Support- These guys look they really understand simplicity. Probably the closest in look-n-feel compared to Zendesk. Kinda looking forward to the trial myself.

HelpSpot- Beyond efficiency is their slogan. Not sure what to make of that but this thing seriously looks like a tricked out help desk support suite. Looks like you can integrate this thing with just about anything out there.

TeamSupport- Support software that lets your team work together. I like pretty interfaces and this one seems like it has that. I kinda want support to “feel” good, so customer don’t hate you when they’re going through it. Most support systems “feel” like death.

Kayako- Speaking of support desk that have a bad “feel” and look like they’re left over designs from the 90s, this one is it. However, it must be pretty cool to someone in some way because I see this thing darn near everywhere! Why? Don’t know….

Cerberus- These guys just seems like really cool developers. Just reading through the text and how they put everything up on GitHub is downright cool. Looks like a cool product but the user interface will probably keep me away.

Yes, I know there are a few other help desk systems but I’m just being opinionated and showing you the ones I thought were cool or HAD to be on the list. If you really want to chime in with your favorite help desk software for the rest of the world to see, use the comment form below.

You Should Encourage Your Jerk Customers To Complain More?

Posted in: Blog, Business Advice by chadConnects on December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

Robert East, Professor of Consumer Behaviour at Kingston Business School, said it made financial sense for firms to encourage complaints because it helped them to improve their goods and services and could even lead to increased sales.

His review of the latest trends, called ‘Analysing Customer Complaining’, commissioned by the Institute of Customer Service, found that companies who are adept at monitoring customer satisfaction and are able to put things right can repair the damage, especially as vocal critics are often keen to make positive comments too.

See original story here

Well, this guy has a point. Often, people don’t speak up when they’re happy or just slightly unhappy. It’s always the people with hot tempers who start running their mouths and it’s sometimes hard to take them seriously with all that yelling.

The part about them using negative word of mouth and coverting them to positive word of mouth customers is an awesome idea. Yeah, hearing customer complaints and taking them to the bank is obvious. But getting them to turn the corner and be your evangelists of sorts is a GREAT idea.

Check out his 3 point checklist on how to do this right.

Phoenix SEO is what I do in case you’re interested. Seo is about so much more than search engine optimization when applied to a business. Just as this is a strategy, so it SEO. Choose wisely and win.

It Might Be “Tough Times” But Here’s What You Should NOT Cut

Posted in: Blog, Business Advice by admin on August 29, 2008 | No Comments

If you turn on the news and you hear all this gloom & doom about the economy every single day, it’s a hard not to believe it. There are plenty of people who prospering during this time and you need to get it straight in your head so you don’t get sucked down the hole.

In spite of that, but not in opposition to, you might have to cut something from your business because everyone else is running around in scarcity mode. 

Here are 2 things you absolutely, positively DON’T want to cut:

• Don’t cut marketing
• Don’t cut key employees