Customer Street Improvements

One way Customer Street likes to bring a fresh perspective into the business is by getting in people who know nothing about what we do and immerse them in our culture and processes. This week is work experience week. We have two people in our Lancaster office doing work experience.

The first of our visitors is still at school and is getting some exposure to web design and the general office environment. In his time with us he will sit with Designers and Script Writers to get a sense of what is involved in building our Premium Design and Rapid Site products. he will also get the opportunity to spend some time with our Service Reception team to see how customer queries are quickly and effectively dealt with.

Our other visitor is more mature and is on track for a career change. Working with our Development Team he will spend time looking at how our applications support the business process.

At Customer Street I often talk about how much I love passion for what you do and people that are passionate about what they are doing. Benny is passionate about helping people learn Mandarin his website AskBenny.cn is full of mini language lessons, insights into Chinese culture and some very fun videos. In the micro class below he gets to meet Miss Shanghai 2006 and tell her he thinks she is very beautiful!

Benny’s passion is infectious. I think his site is very clean and he has spent time investing in a product that is informative, educational and fun. What’s hidden behind this is a person establishing a language learning brand that may become as popular as “Where’s Wally?”.

At Customer Street our passion is for getting our customers exposure on the internet because more exposure equals more business.

We have been working on a tool at CustomerStreet.com to track where how the web sites we build for our customers, our directories; UFindUs, SmileLocal, MoreUK and trade specific directories get found on the major search engines.

Sharon Odom-Fling is a Local Internet Marketing Expert and has written an interesting article on Internet Based Moms about how the web works for local business.

For any business to be found on the web it needs a a presence. A Customer Street Package offers excellent value by giving the business a basic website that is designed to be found by the search engines, listings on UFindUs, SmileLocal, MoreUK and a trade specific directory which also get found by the search engines and a tool so that they can edit their website and add to it. Stuart Forrest my boss wrote about how much traffic we get our customers in his posting “Traffic Aggregation is what Customer Street is about”.

We have all been reading about the credit crunch and impending recession in the media. The stories of doom and gloom talk of an impending financial meltdown. So, what does it really mean to small businesses and how can Customer Street help?

Those of us that have been around to see the previous financial crisis of recent years know that whilst there is a general belt tightening, job losses for some and real personal tragedy for others the reality is that life goes on and people still need services and products. If your toilet gets blocked and it’s a recession you still need a plumber. If your car breaks down despite the credit crunch you will still need to get it fixed.

At CustomerStreet.com the vast majority of our customers are all micro, small and medium sized businesses. We are used to working with new starts and more more established business to get them exposure on the internet at affordable rates. The exposure we get them ensures that when someone is searching for the service or product they offer in their area we get them found. We get them found on the directories UFindUs, SmileLocal, MoreUK and Customer Street Trades.

Last week I arrived home from CustomerStreet.com to my apartment block to find that we had had a delivery of about 10 kilos of printed and bound paper in plastic wrappers. This huge block of yellow wrapped ink and paper will sit in our hallway for the next six months until the the slightly smaller block of blue wrapped paper and plastic arrives and the the yellow pile is thrown out. In my town you can see this doorstop directories littering the streets.

It struck me that the printed directories whilst trying to minimise their environmental impact still must have a massive impact. The energy involved in producing the paper, printing, glueing, wrapping and distributing their product must be immense. Crunchy Domestic Goddess in her blog recognises the environmental impact printed directories and the fact that on-line directories are readily available on-line.

Stop Yellow - I couldn’t find any information on the Yellow Pages web site about stopping getting copies of their printed directory. In desperation I rang their order line on 0800 671 444 and they took my details to stop delivery. Interestingly this number can also be used to find our where you can take your old directory for recycling.

Lee Johnson the CustomerStreet.com Search Engineering Manager has uncovered an interesting article that describes Google’s secondary indexing process. Essential Google is always looking for new sites and new content Everflux and the Freshbot describe a process and a tool that enables that to happen.

Read Lee’s article here.

I took the week off after Easter to spend some time relaxing and walking in the Cotswolds. Six nights were spent at the the very hospitable Wheatsheaf Hotel in the delightful market town of Northleach. The final night was spent in the very pretty village of Lower Slaughter at the luxurious Washbourne Court. Each night my companion and I dined at a different restaurant the best being the Angel at Burford. There were two restaurants that were not great and there aspects about the accommodation that could have better in both places but overall they both lovely if very different places to stay.

My dilemma is where to post this valuable first hand experience of staying and eating at these venues? We haven’t put the ability to review any of the services offered by people who advertise in the CustomerStreet.com trade directories or in UFindUs.com, SmileLocal.com or MoreUK.com. There are sites where customers can review the service they have received the big question is whether any value would be added by having a review section in the Customer Street directories?

To be honest I always knew it would happen. I knew that the Huddersfield office would open. What I really couldn’t be sure of was whether the Customer Street Huddersfield office would open on time!

The main cause for concern was the extremely tight deadline. We needed to get a leased line installed for our data. NTL won the business on the promise that they would deliver on time. Despite delays in site surveys, the need to dig up 75 meters of path and problems getting into the building they delivered on time. Congratulations to the team at NTL Virgin Media from everyone here at Customer Street, we wouldn’t be open without you!

On the whole all of our contractors and suppliers have been extremely professional and helpful. If you are looking for suppliers for your business you should try using one of our excellent directories; UFindUs, Smile Local or More UK failing that just use a search engine and you will find us all over the search results.

It’s been a very busy year here at Customer Street. New product launches, major system changes and continuous improvement mean it is never a good time to go away. Last week I managed to get the week off to see family before Christmas.

Our directories have all been busy in the run up to the festivities with people searching for lots of different services and products in their local area. As we list every UK business on our directories we know that businesses get found through our products. The businesses that have the edge are the one with enhanced listings. I recently heard from our sales people a customer who had signed with us was already getting business in a competitive area just from their directory listing. We also build our customers a basic web site if they want one.

The year for me is finishing on a high note as I am project managing the opening of our new sales office in Huddersfield. We are just getting everything fitted out ready to open in mid January, creating up to 50 new jobs for Huddersfield. This new office will provide excellent facilities for our sales people.

Last weekend I had the joy of beginning my Christmas shopping. As a single man I usually put this chore off for as long as possible. Unfortunately this year I cannot escape the need to shop early and often for gifts.

Finding myself at the Trafford Centre on a Sunday in Advent was a shocking experience, the crowds had gathered an hour before it was possible to buy anything. There was a distinctive air of a consumer feeding frenzy about to erupt at mid-day. Looking for an oasis of calm and peace I ventured to John Lewis, an ocean of good taste in the puddle of Mall Hell.

Instantly I was transformed from stressed shopper to happy customer as assistants went way beyond what was needed to help me find gifts for friends and colleagues. As a result I spent well and often and soon had several bagfuls of gifts. As a single man I rarely wrap and friends get presents in an assortment of gift bags and lame excuses. This year is different! John Lewis gift wrap for only £3.00 regardless of size.