The hottest Customer Relations Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

2 Questions for You

The American Peasant • 2555 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
🚌 Education Teaching Learning Skills Workshops Customer Relations
  1. Asking clear questions helps start conversations better. It allows you to understand what someone really needs right away.
  2. Understanding students' goals in classes helps tailor the teaching approach. This way, you can mix in production techniques or focus on traditional methods based on their interests.
  3. Using direct questions in any interaction makes communication smoother. It helps you get to the point without unnecessary details.

CEOs on Their Least Popular But Most Impactful Decisions

The Generalist • 900 implied HN points • 23 Jan 24
💼 Business Leadership Decision-making Company Building Customer Relations Team Management
  1. Great leadership requires making tough decisions that go against popular opinion.
  2. CEOs must prioritize what's best for the long-term success of their company, even if it means making unpopular choices.
  3. Building a successful company often means making difficult decisions that may challenge the norms and expectations of others.

Customer Courtship: Sampling

The Polymerist • 66 implied HN points • 11 Feb 25
💼 Business Product Development Customer Relations Marketing Strategies Supply Chain Chemical Industry
  1. Sending product samples to customers can be a complex and crucial part of building a business relationship. It's like dating, and both parties need to understand what they want out of the relationship.
  2. Understanding how customers intend to use your product is vital. Knowing their goals will help you tailor your product to meet their needs effectively.
  3. Getting feedback from customers after they test your samples is important. This feedback may lead to modifications and adjustments, which can take time and resources to implement.

Narratives of business models

Product Identity • 59 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
💼 Business Business Models Marketing Entrepreneurship Finance Customer Relations
  1. Business models are crucial for companies and can greatly affect their success. There are many debates about which model is the best, like subscription versus ads.
  2. Telegram's business model is unique because it relies on user subscriptions rather than ads. This approach has helped them gain a large number of paying customers and a positive image.
  3. Different business models create different emotional connections with customers. The way a company charges can reflect its values and how much it cares about its users.

LLM Links, 2/24

In My Tribe • 167 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Customer Relations
  1. Efficient search tools like Arc Search could change how we browse the web, potentially impacting content providers. It's important to consider the implications of relying heavily on large language models for search.
  2. Sierra.ai aims to revolutionize customer relations with an AI agent that can handle complex interactions and customer inquiries effectively. This could improve customer satisfaction and the quality of customer service.
  3. FutureSearch's forecasting bot impresses with its ability to identify important factors, calculate base rates, and show its work, demonstrating transparency and reliability.
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How I learnt to do sales, despite being a coder

Recontact • 39 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Entrepreneurship Networking Customer Relations Communication
  1. Always be passionate and excited about talking about your work and shamelessly sell to potential clients.
  2. In sales, key strategies include outbound, inbound, personal network sales, and handling calls for closing deals.
  3. Engage with clients genuinely, be a good listener during calls, follow up with gratitude, and strategically approach asking for payments.

How To Lose Customers & Alienate People

Build To Scale • 59 implied HN points • 26 Sep 23
💼 Business Management Leadership Customer Relations Investment Corporate culture
  1. Talk to customers and employees, but don't bother listening. Just talk about your vision and plans without engaging in meaningful conversations.
  2. Don't shy away from bad news and blame it on employees. Overreact publicly, especially to junior staff, to discourage them from sharing any negative news.
  3. Focus on competitors, raise money, surround yourself with yes-men, disregard customer needs, and prioritize optics over actual performance if you want to lose touch with your business and alienate people.

Becoming a sales-engineer

Leading Developers • 49 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Management Career development Customer Relations Product Development
  1. Acquiring new skills through new challenges can be exciting and lead to unexpected career paths.
  2. Transitioning from a technical role to sales doesn't mean losing technical skills - understanding the product deeply remains crucial.
  3. Sales engineering roles offer variety, immediate value, and potential for lucrative rewards, but require strong communication and collaboration skills.

Why a Restorative Approach to Marketing and Communication is So Important

⭐️Bob’s Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 10 May 23
💼 Business Marketing Communication Customer Relations Sustainability
  1. Restorative approach in marketing means building relationships with audience and considering long-term impacts.
  2. Empathy, honesty, and active listening are core elements of a restorative approach.
  3. Benefits include increased customer loyalty, enhanced brand reputation, and higher engagement rates.

Why We Stopped Charging Airbnb Cleaning Fee

Wetware Snippets • 11 implied HN points • 18 Apr 24
💼 Business Economics Behavioral Science Service Industry Market Trends Customer Relations
  1. Removing the cleaning fee led guests to leave the apartment cleaner because they felt a sense of respect for the host and the property.
  2. Guests shift their mindset from social norms, which promote kindness, to market norms when a cleaning fee is charged, thinking that cleaning is no longer their responsibility.
  3. Understanding the difference between social and market norms is important, as mixing them can change people’s behavior in unexpected ways.

About that ISDA Pt 4(b): The qualities of a good ISDA

The Jolly Contrarian • 0 implied HN points • 01 Mar 24
💼 Business Negotiation Risk management Customer Relations Simplicity
  1. Consistency in contract terms is crucial for clarity and efficiency, especially in crises when quick decisions are needed.
  2. Template simplification is valuable; strive for plain, modern language in legal documents to aid understanding and reduce negotiation time.
  3. Challenging outdated organizational forms is possible and beneficial; offering to improve them can lead to positive changes and improve relationships with customers.

Quick Reminder: Send Love Letters to Your Customers

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 29 Jul 16
💼 Business Customer Relations Startup Entrepreneurship Marketing
  1. Startups thrive when they prioritize their customers' satisfaction from day one.
  2. Customers are your company's most valuable asset, always ensure to show appreciation and value them.
  3. Sending personal messages or love letters to your customers, especially when starting out, can significantly impact their loyalty and satisfaction.

Don't Confuse Need and Timeline in Sales

Kartick’s Blog • 0 implied HN points • 19 Jan 25
💼 Business Sales Marketing Customer Relations Business strategy Consumer behavior
  1. In sales, it's important to recognize the difference between a customer's need for a product and their timeline for buying it. Some people might need something now but are not ready to buy right away.
  2. Salespeople often mistakenly try to convince customers who have already expressed a need that the product is good, instead of focusing on when the customer plans to make the purchase.
  3. Understanding the BANT criteria in sales, which stands for Budget, Authority, Need, and Timeline, can help clarify these distinctions and improve sales strategies.

How to get more user interviews and use them well

Recontact • 0 implied HN points • 11 Mar 24
💼 Business Product Management User Experience Customer Relations Marketing Entrepreneurship
  1. Have a sincere mindset when connecting with people for user interviews; understand their time is valuable.
  2. Personalize your outreach messages for better responses; even a simple name customization can make a difference.
  3. Building a personal connection with interviewees can lead to more valuable insights and willingness to help in the future.