Have you been KNOX’D?

I saw that two guys here in Knoxville I’ve connected with via email and twitter in the past couple weeks, Patrick and Casey have launched a new project. It’s called Knox’d.

I’ll let Patrick’s description stand on it own.

Information seekers in Knoxville, TN have a new way to get the latest headlines and information from the best of the city’s Web sites. It’s called Knox’d, and it is my latest side-project I developed in partnership with soon-to-be fellow Scripps project manager Casey Peters.

Knox’d has one goal: to aggregate the latest news and information (including jobs, real estate and classified listings), in one location. It seeks to fill the technology gap between the folks that use RSS (me), and the folks that don’t.

The site uses a format very similar to one like Popurls, or Alltop.

Eitherway, it’s very cool to have our own local feed aggregator and I’m fortunate they’ve chosen to include my blog in the listing (thanks guys).

Check it out!

I’ve got a new business card

As I was writing my last post about Kip Knight and eBay, I noticed it was just about a month to the day between my posts.  I consider this a bad revelation as I’ve really been trying to post at least once a week, if not more.

I’ve had a lot less time to blog recently because of a new development in my life – new business cards.  These new cards have a pretty significant change that indicate the new development; I’ve accepted a new position at Abunga.com as CEO. It’s quite the jump as far as work, and I’m really in a trasistion period working to re-allocate current responsibilities  to make room for the new ones I’m taking on.

For those interested, our previous CEO Adam Slack, made the decision to return to his other companies.

Anyway, exciting times ahead, but sorry if my posting gap starts to grow.

Have a great day.

npr

Down here in Knoxville, WUOT our National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate just finished it’s fund raising drive which has raised my awareness of NPR’s website.

Their website is great, no more then great, it is awesome!  It’s also got a contemporary feel that many news sites are looking for, but just haven’t gotten quite right yet.

What I mean is it’s easy to get around, easy to listen, easy to find out more information then they mentioned on the show.  Which is perfect for my knowledge hungry self and others like me.   I like to listen to the show again at work, or delve deeper into the stories.

What strikes me as crazy is that NPR isn’t the newest kid on the block by any means.  Which also means there is hope for everyone else that’s been around for a while.

NPR is using their radio platform in conjunction with the web, way better then any radio station I’ve come across.  The great thing is that they aren’t annoying or turning away listeners.  If 80% of the people that listen on the radio never go online, that’s not a problem, because the radio content isn’t shortened or minimized.  And those that ONLY go online get the national content, and those that do both get a great amount of local and national information.

The way I see it NPR is playing the game right.  I say well done.

But that’s just me, what do you think?

Have a great day.

What an experience

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep. Now, prepared to be shocked.

IT WAS THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE I’VE EVER HAD.

Yes, it was that good. I’ve been searching around for a new bank account and a friend mentioned ING Direct. It turns out they offer 4.5% APY on savings accounts, which is a lot better then what I was getting at US Bank. What’s important here was the service. I was trying to set my new account up with my direct deposit and I just couldn’t find the information I needed online. (I know it’s there too because I’ve seen it before, so frustrating)

So as a latch ditch effort I called the 1800INGDIRECT (1-800-464-94198[2]) and was anticipating being on the phone for 15 minutes or so before I was helped, or at the minimum legions of menus for me to go through so could “route my call to the correct representative”. The phone rang once, and then a very cherry voice greeted me and thanked me for calling and asked what she could help me with. ONE RING (that alone blew my mind) I asked my question and she took verified that I was a customer which is normally pretty boring and long but she was very quick and friendly about walking me through the correct steps. What impressed me the most, was not her friendliness (although important), nor her efficiency (though she was) it was the fact she was human. Yep, human. She didn’t sound like she was part of a scripted process, she even mentioned that a lot of people call in to get the information I was requesting. In making the process real, in responding like a person, I felt like one when I was done. She was pleasant to work with, and it was a great experience. I won’t hesitate to call back. You shouldn’t either.

So this begs the question, what are the crucial elements to great customer service?

Have a great day everyone.