Today's customers are a hard bunch to crack. Time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged, their expectations are tougher than ever for a business to keep up with. They are empowered like never before and expect businesses to respect that sense of empowermentùlashing out at those that don't. Take heart: Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today's blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind loyal customer base that allows you to surviveùand thrive. And High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service spells out surefire strategies for success in a clear, entertaining, and practical way. Discover: ò Six major customer trends and what they mean for your business ò Eight unbreakable rules for social media customer service ò How to effectively address online complainers and saboteurs on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums for user generated content ò The rising power of self-serviceùand how to design it properly ò How to build a company culture that breeds stellar customer service High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service reveals inside secrets of wildly successful customer service initiatives, from Internet startups to venerable brands, and shows how companies of every stripe can turn casual customers into fervent supporters who will spread the word far and wideùonline and off.

CATEGORY SILVER WINNER: Axiom Awards 2021 - Human Resources/Employee Training Category Despite global economic conditions, companies are always looking to attract and retain the best talent. Unfortunately, almost 30% of US job seekers leave a new job within the first 30 days. Why? Many new recruiters rely too heavily on high-tech tools to attract candidates and may not have learned the fundamental relationship-building skills that help recruiters ensure that clients and candidates are a good match. High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting provides recruiters with an end-to-end process for recruiting the highest caliber talent who, after they are hired, will become engaged employees. While emphasizing the overall importance of building "high-touch" relationship-building skills, the book outlines how these can be blended successfully with "high-tech" tools such as AI-powered software applications to identify a large pool of qualified job candidates. Once you've identified candidates, the author cautions against the sole use of text and email communication and suggests that recruiters conduct a general interview in order to better ascertain whether a candidate is the best fit for the role. High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting comes with online resources including sample offer letters, recruiting scripts, job requisitions, interview scorecard, a listing of characteristics of best hires and guidelines for a 9-step telephone interview process.

In High Tech and High Touch, James E. Coverdill and William Finlay invite readers into the dynamic world of headhunters, personnel professionals who acquire talent for businesses and other organizations on a contingent-fee basis. In a high-tech world where social media platforms have simplified direct contact between employers and job seekers, Coverdill and Finlay acknowledge, it is relatively easy to find large numbers of apparently qualified candidates. However, the authors demonstrate that headhunters serve a valuable purpose in bringing high-touch search into the labor market: they help parties on both sides of the transaction to define their needs and articulate what they have to offer. As well as providing valuable information for sociologists and economists, High Tech and High Touch demonstrates how headhunters approach practical issues such as identifying and attracting candidates; how they solicit, secure, and evaluate search assignments from client companies; and how they strive to broker interactions between candidates and clients to maximize the likelihood that the right people land in the right jobs.

Technology advances are making tech more . . . human. This changes everything you thought you knew about innovation and strategy. In their groundbreaking book, Human + Machine, Accenture technology leaders Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson showed how leading organizations use the power of human-machine collaboration to transform their processes and their bottom lines. Now, as new AI powered technologies like the metaverse, natural language processing, and digital twins begin to rapidly impact both life and work, those companies and other pioneers across industries are tipping the balance even more strikingly toward the human side with technology-led strategy that is reshaping the very nature of innovation. In Radically Human, Daugherty and Wilson show this profound shift, fast-forwarded by the pandemic, toward more human—and more humane—technology. Artificial intelligence is becoming less artificial and more intelligent. Instead of data-hungry approaches to AI, innovators are pursuing data-efficient approaches that enable machines to learn as humans do. Instead of replacing workers with machines, they're unleashing human expertise to create human-centered AI. In place of lumbering legacy IT systems, they're building cloud-first IT architectures able to continuously adapt to a world of billions of connected devices. And they're pursuing strategies that will take their place alongside classic, winning business formulas like disruptive innovation. These against-the-grain approaches to the basic building blocks of business—Intelligence, Data, Expertise, Architecture, and Strategy (IDEAS)—are transforming competition. Industrial giants and startups alike are drawing on this radically human IDEAS framework to create new business models, optimize post-pandemic approaches to work and talent, rebuild trust with their stakeholders, and show the way toward a sustainable future. With compelling insights and fresh examples from a variety of industries, Radically Human will forever change the way you think about, practice, and win with innovation.

"There's branding and there's high-tech branding and the differences are enormous. The authors do a great job in isolating the many important principles of branding in an increasingly high-technology world." Al Ries Chairman, Ries & Ries Co-author, The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding "The internet and e-commerce have inspired phenomenal changes in the business world, but at least one thing has remained constant: the importance of building a strong brand." Ed Zander President, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Building a strong consumer brand has always been a monumental task. But, never more so than today, with the explosion of technology, innovation and communication. Paul Temporal has taken a pragmatic and credible approach to suggesting how this effort can be tackled, through his reiteration of basic branding principles, to his reliving case studies of companies which point the way forward. Along the way, he reminds us that branding is all about building a long-lasting and meaningful relationship with consumers." Aaron Boey Vice-President, Marketing Philips Consumer Electronics, Asia-Pacific & Middle-East "Paul Temporal and KC Lee offer us a book full of thought-provoking views and case studies relevant to Internet-Age companies. Insightful and informative, this book challenges you to think through every element of your online branding and customer experience. It is a useful read for any executive who is in charge of brand strategy development and management." Jay Sibel Vice-President, Communications and High Technology Practice A.T. Kearney "In the hi-tech age, building and sustaining great brands are even more critical than ever. The strength of the brand is the only differentiator in a world of connected and knowledgeable customers." Steve Ballmer President, Microsoft

A “brilliant and practical” study of why our brains aren’t built for media multitasking—and how we can learn to live with technology in a more balanced way (Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart) Most of us will freely admit that we are obsessed with our devices. We pride ourselves on our ability to multitask—read work email, reply to a text, check Facebook, watch a video clip. Talk on the phone, send a text, drive a car. Enjoy family dinner with a glowing smartphone next to our plates. We can do it all, 24/7! Never mind the errors in the email, the near-miss on the road, and the unheard conversation at the table. In The Distracted Mind, Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen—a neuroscientist and a psychologist—explain why our brains aren't built for multitasking, and suggest better ways to live in a high-tech world without giving up our modern technology. The authors explain that our brains are limited in their ability to pay attention. We don't really multitask but rather switch rapidly between tasks. Distractions and interruptions, often technology-related—referred to by the authors as “interference”—collide with our goal-setting abilities. We want to finish this paper/spreadsheet/sentence, but our phone signals an incoming message and we drop everything. Even without an alert, we decide that we “must” check in on social media immediately. Gazzaley and Rosen offer practical strategies, backed by science, to fight distraction. We can change our brains with meditation, video games, and physical exercise; we can change our behavior by planning our accessibility and recognizing our anxiety about being out of touch even briefly. They don't suggest that we give up our devices, but that we use them in a more balanced way.

Unleash the power of blogging in your real estate business Are you blogging for your real estate business? Realty Blogging shows you how to fully utilize this powerful, direct-communication marketing tool, giving you all the know-how you need to capture the interest and business of local homeowners, buyers, and sellers. Drawing upon their extensive experience in blogging, real estate, and online marketing, authors Richard Nacht and Paul Chaney reveal how to: Develop an effective Internet marketing strategy Generate leads consistently at almost no cost Define yourself as an expert in a particular area Serve your market niche Establish long-term relationships with your customers Create content that attracts major search engines Create buzz about your blog in the media Plus, you receive a FREE blogging platform and instructional sessions to get you blogging right away!