24/7 Wall Street

Hi All,

Just came across a well organized, popular and reputable finance/money/investing website called 24/7 Wall Street.  Click here to visit the site. http://247wallst.com/

So, what is 24/7 Wall Street you ask?  As usual, good question.  Basically the site is a financial news and opinion website that delivers content on the web. Many of the articles are republished on other major websites including: MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance, MarketWatch, Time.com, USAToday, and The Huffington Post.

The company publishes over 30 articles per day and has readers throughout North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

At the heart of the site are links to Business, Technology, Investing, the Economy and Special Reports.  Click any of the links above to go to that particular section. 

Under the Business heading readers can find other links to article dealing with Aerospace/Defense, Autos, Banking/Finance, Commodities/Metals, Consumer Products, Energy, Healthcare, Industrials, Infrastucture, Media, Retail and Services.

Once you click on a topic, you'll find current articles related to it.  Articles include the date/time when it was posted, the title,  the author of the article, and of course, the article itself.  Readers can print or email the article.  Articles can also be Tweeted on Twitter and posted to Tumblr.

Of course there is a site search at the top right side of each page.  Results appear on the left side of the page after a search is completed.  Two or three sentences of the relevant article appear on the results side of the page - along with the date of the post and a link to the read the full story.

Articles on the site are relatively fresh and are generally easy to read.  You're not going to find the latest news on a particular company, but you will find helpful, additional information on specific industries and/or companies when you look for the information. 

Finally, on the 'About Us' page users can have a free daily newsletter emailed to them.  Click here for that link.  All in all a pretty helpful site.  And there is virtually no advertising that can be so annoying on other finance/money/investing websites. 

Enjoy the site!

Regards,
Stu

Customer Service - Getting What You Want...

Hi All,

Now that the holiday season is fast approaching, customer service is something that consumers might want to think about - a bit at least.  This blog entry will discuss ways to get better customer service - and it might help you save time and money during the upcoming holiday season....

We've all been there...you purchase something at a retailer and for whatever reason, you need to return it. However, for any number of reasons (perhaps you lost the receipt, you are returning the item after the specified period of time you had to return the item, a surly cashier doesn't know how to process the return or the line is too long and the retailer won't let you return the item or....you get the idea) the retailer won't let you return said item.

What recourse do you have?

Indeed, great question.  Click on this link and you'll connect to an article from Yahoo! Finance's section on 'Financially Fit'.  Entitled '3 Ways to Get Your Customer Service Complaint Resolved' the article emphasizes that customers 'Shouldn't go all social media on your prey just yet'.  Which essentially means don't post on your Facebook page or Twitter stream your tale of retail woe. 

Next up is some good advice in most any situation, 'Always keep your anger in check'.  Good advice, especially since there is always a time and place to 'emphatically voice your opinion' at a future date....

Finally, the third piece of advice the article posits is 'Flattery will get you everywhere'.  In this section, terms like polite, nice, empathy are liberally sprinkled throughout the article.  Great advice...and intelligent, and easy to try.

For an article that supports the Yahoo! Finance article discussed above, click on this link.  Entitled 'How To Get Better Customer Service' the article from WikiHow - To Do Anything (which, in itself is a very helpful website) discusses ways to, well, get better customers service. 

Some of the advice is common sense - treating retail and customer service employees is common sense, as is not saying 'the customer is always right'.  Other things like calling employees stupid or incompetent are not helpful either - and of course, refrain from striking employees. 

Some of the less obvious pieces of advice include 'not telling the employee how to do their job', and trying to have the money ready before you reach the checkout counter. 

Lest you think that all customer service is going to the dogs, click on this article that is entitled, 'Could It Be? Customer Service is Supposedly Getting Better'.  The article comes from the December 11th, 2012 issue of time Magazine and is an interesting read. Hopefully you won't have to use any of the tactics discussed in the other two article in order to get stellar customer service during this upcoming holiday season.

Regards, and here's to a customer friendly, return-free, holiday season.
Stu

Anti-Black Friday Shopping

Hi All,

As you probably know, the day after Thanksgiving is known as 'Black Friday'. It is a huge, absolutely huge shopping day for US retailers. It is also the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

Because of all the hype and advertising and publicity that Black Friday is receiving, there is now a sort of grass-roots organization that is 'anti black friday' shopping. Click here for the link to a newspaper article from a newspaper in Minnesota that talks about this.

From a site called the Geeko System comes this link discussing buying nothing today.

Click on this link for an article from the New York Times discussing whether or not shoppers are actually spending money when they are in the malls and stores this year.

From Hubspot comes these fascinating Black Friday tidbits. These are marketing/advertising type nuggets that are great to mention at cocktail parties!

Click on this link for the homepage of the National Retail Federation - the world's largest retail trade association and the voice of retailing worldwide. It represents retailers of all types and sizes from the US and from 45 countries abroad!

Click here for some news regarding Black Friday 2011. Makes you think a bit!
1. Big Biz, some black eyes on Black Friday.
2. Black Friday shopper pepper sprays rivals.

Enjoy the shopping and I hope the lines aren't too long for you today.

Regards,
Stu