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Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

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Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#141

Post by paleite »

mercer wrote: post #64
RickS wrote: post #21

Here's an internal facing one: We send an automated greeting from the CEO as part of onboarding, but he actually sees and replies to every customer response, in both english and spanish, and forwards the more heartwarming ones on to the entire office. It's pretty cool to get a handful of emails every day from actual customers who are very grateful for the work we do. It also changed my opinion on the "canned CEO gree…

I generally respond rather negatively to automated emails or chat messages that seem human but are not, and I've been thinking of how I would approach this if I had a company big enough that automatic greetings are 'necessary' (or desirable, at least). Perhaps one solution is to use a clearly non-human company 'avatar' character specifically for some of these interactions? A robot or pet character?

How about a clip?

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#142

Post by itsthecourier »

JensRantil wrote: post #120
JoachimS wrote: post #32

One thing we did a few years ago when we found that a customer didn't use revision control was to bring in a server. A small PC with Linux, Subversion and Trac. We not only could explain the benefits of RCS, but the customer could see changes, att issues, get them resolved etc. When the job was done, the customer kept the machine. I occasionally bump into old customers and many still run the same server. All of them…

Do they have a backup of it? :-)

The client accepted a faustinian deal there! :p

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#143

Post by Chris2048 »

p0nce wrote: post #73
sirclueless wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, to follow the diplomatic approach here: Client: "Encrypt our data using the md5 cipher." Consultant: "I will investigate the feasibility of this." ... two days pass ... Consultant: "I have considered your proposal. I believe we should encrypt your data with SHA-256. md5 is insecure, here's several references. SHA-256 is much more secure and more popular. It is a NIST standard, and just as cheap." Client: (probabl…

Except you can't encrypt with a hash function.

This might be "fix my plumbing with a wrench", you can't, you also need a replacement pipe, but that wan't what was meant, more like "utilise a wrench in the fixing of my plumbing"...

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#145

Post by ARCarr »

elorant wrote: post #108
omarchowdhury wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Portfolio, please.

Most of my projects are subscription based SaaS web apps specifically aimed for a local (non-US) market. Showing them wouldn’t do you any good because you’d need an account to view the service and it would attract unwanted attention. Contrary to the prevailing HN mentality, I prefer to fly under the radar.

I think he just wants to see screenshots...

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#146

Post by cpfohl »

fapi1974 wrote: post #13

I'll add one here from my own business, which is customer care outsourcing. The outbound call. Basically it comes with the territory when things go wrong. But when you call the customer before they realize things have gone wrong they are always, always grateful and impressed. Same thing goes for a "just checking in to see you are enjoying the service" call. Since we have agents sitting around all the time anyway this…

I used to work for Rollbar and their "person tracking" feature really super powered this. I was a customer of Rollbar before I worked there, and would regularly catch and fix bugs for our clients before someone had the chance to notify us about it.

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#147

Post by JosephHatfield »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #129
raverbashing wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you export it to xls? ActiveX Excel controller ("in my time this was called COM", etc)? Open source library?

HTML table in a file with a .xls extension.

Newer versions of Excel will warn the user of possible file corruption if they try to open an .html file that has been renamed to .xls. The file can still be opened but the warning is bothersome.

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#149

Post by fecak »

Show them how to do it themselves, and teach them "why" I do things the way I do them. I write resumes for clients and do them in Google Docs, and I invite the client into the doc from the very start. They can actually watch (in real-time, if so inclined) the work being done at all stages in the process.

Lots of them will ask why a certain decision was made that seemed unusual, and sometimes the dialogue gets into some rather detailed nuances of how readers interpret bits of information and how it's delivered. I came to resume writing after ~20 years in recruiting, so I am able to provide insight into what the audience for their resume is thinking.

Clients say they like the collaborative approach and appreciate that they learn things that they can apply next time (and not have to pay for the service again).

Re: Ask HN: What is something you do for clients that consistently blows them away?

#150

Post by johngalt »

Generic company sysadmin.

I have a rotating list of power user tips. I'll pick one to show someone during a trouble call (provided no one is in a huge hurry). It has to be something cool that I can demonstrate/teach in seconds. Examples:

Snipping tool. Rather than writing down error codes.

Windows key + start typing the program name. Rather than navigating the start menu.

Piles of excel tricks. (everyone loves excel)

The big thing is knowing your audience. People enjoy participating in something, not just being shown things they can never accomplish. If you make it something they can't understand it will just make them feel stupid or frustrated.

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