I too wish a Happy New Year as also have to achieve a great 2012 with the right approach as a journalist.

As I said in my previous post, I wonder if some forget that social media activity involves real people. As long as we remember that, we can do what works for us, and you have found your preferred way.

I tweet my blog link out once on the day I post it, do retweet blog links randomly from time to time and always attach a relevant blog post link to the tips I post so people can read more if they wish.

I don’t accept friends on Facebook unless they are friends – I send them to the business page and ask them to join the community there.

I can understand your frustrations – some people really don’t get social media!

Not sure about the last on – but he’s right about the other two!

I’ve had up-and-down experiences with our local NHS hospital over the last few months. Medically it’s one of the best in the country yet time and again its systems and processes let its customer service down.

Each time though. when I’ve been about ‘lose it’ and throw a wobbly, somebody – from Consultant, to registrar, to Manager to Physio – has come up trumps and it reminds me that good customer service is all about individuals treating other individuals the way they’d like to be trested in thast situation themselves

Perhaps in a railway station they think they can rely on a high turnover of first-time customers and don’t care whether they ever come back. I would have thought that repeat customers could be a significant part of their business, but they don’t encourage them.

Of course counter staff on the minimum wage have less incentive to help the management with quality control if their main task is just to be there. It is certainly a management failure which could prove costly when word gets around. Then, as you say, their reputation and bank balance will suffer. Even in fast food retail personal attention to detail counts. Thank you.

Part of the problem was obviously with the owner/manager of the outlet who, no doubt, feels that wastage must be avoided and has a very short term view of their profitability. If the staff were trained to check produce for freshness and actively remove or warn purchasers if things are likely to be past their best, then think how much the reputation of that outlet would improve. Ethical behaviour always gets people coming back.

The blueberry muffin was a silly mistake that compounded the poor quality of your sandwich – but, again, with the right process in place, that could have been avoided.

Too many businesses don’t have a system for checking and delivering good service. It’s often left to the person at the point of delivery and, if it’s not their business, some of them simply don’t care enough to bother.

As small business owners, most of us make more effort – or our reputation (and bank balance) suffers!