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5 Things to Know When a Hiring Water Delivery Service

Posted: 28 Feb 2019 11:55 AM PST

If you are looking to sign up for a service to bring drinkable water to your office on a regular basis, you'll need to make some decisions first. We've identified the first five questions you'll want to ask yourself to make sure you end up with a service that actually meets your needs.

1. What kind of water to deliver

Decide on the kind(s) of water that your employees prefer to drink and that you're willing to provide. Then find a delivery service that offers it. Not all services will offer all types. The most common options that these services provide include distilled, mineral, purified and spring water. There's also sparkling, flavored and seltzer, for those looking for that.

 

Editor's note: Is your business looking for a water delivery service? Fill out the questionnaire below to have our sister site BuyerZone connect you with vendors that can help.

 

If you're not already familiar with these types of water, a quick online search can help you better understand their differences and how they may affect taste. 

Generally speaking, spring water comes from an underground source and still contains all its natural minerals. Distilled water is heated, converted to steam, and turned back into water to free it of minerals and particles. Purified water can come from just about anywhere, but it's been distilled, deionized or carbon filtered to remove any chemicals or contaminants.

Bubbles present a lot more potential for confusion. Mineral water, which is often effervescent, is water that contains various minerals such as salts or sulfur. Seltzer is made by carbonating regular drinking water with carbon dioxide (CO2). Club soda similarly uses CO2, but it adds various minerals such as biodium bicarbonate or disodium phosphate. Tonic water contains quinine and sugars.

If you want flavored water, you'll have to decide between sweetened and unsweetened options. You can often add flavors to any of these types of water.

2. How much water you need

How many people will be drinking the water, and how much will each person drink? This will vary from one company to another. But Costco, for example, offers a plan in which its water service can deliver up to 50 5-gallon water bottles every month to your office. It estimates that this is the average monthly consumption for an office of 30-50 employees. You may need more deliveries if your office has more people.

3. How often you want delivery

Decide on a delivery schedule that works best for your office's consumption and budget. Are one-time deliveries on an as-needed basis sufficient, or should you sign up for a subscription? [Interested in water delivery services? Check out our reviews.]

Be aware that some of subscription plans are rigid. For example, Costco's water delivery requires an annual subscription, paid upfront, and you must take delivery of at least three 5-gallon water bottles every four weeks.

Crystal Springs offers a flexible plan that allows you to skip deliveries if needed and change the amount of water delivered each month. Other services may not let you skip months, so you'll want to read the fine print.

4. Bottles and coolers/dispensers

For dispensing through a water cooler, 3- and 5-gallon bottles are the standard sizes for water delivery. But some services may require that you buy or lease a cooler from them. The spouts and shape of their bottles may even have be designed to be incompatible with generic water coolers. DrinkMore's bottles are specially designed to work with their water coolers; together, they supposedly keep out dust and other contaminants. DrinkMore offers an extensive line of coolers, including bottom-load and countertop models made of ceramic or stainless steel.

When you sign up with Culligan, the subscription fee covers the cost or rental of a water cooler. Either way, you need a Culligan cooler to enjoy its service.

Other companies don't deliver large-gallon bottles meant to be dispensed through a cooler, but smaller, individual-use bottles for personal consumption. Fiji sells water in bottles of four sizes: 330 milliliters (in a pack of 36), 500 milliliters (pack of 24), 1 liter and 1.5 liters. But ordering delivery of water in packs of small plastic bottles may go against the cost-saving purpose of signing up for bulk water delivery.

Some companies cut out the delivery aspect of providing water by tapping into a building's water source and running it through their proprietary machines to purify or clean the water, so it'll never need to deliver or pick up bottles.

5. Regional considerations

Many water delivery services are small or midsize businesses that serve specific regions of the country. This is often the case if they deliver water from a nearby spring. ReadyRefresh offers regional spring water in New York and other New England states but doesn't deliver nationwide.

A larger company may assign the delivery to a smaller contractor in a particular region. Costco Water offers delivery by several companies, depending on where your office is located. These companies include Crystal Springs, Mount Olympus and Sparkletts.

If Culligan is available in your area, it has a representative who lives in your community. This person is knowledgeable about your local water quality and options.

3 Underrated Customer Service Skills to Learn in 2019

Posted: 28 Feb 2019 08:00 AM PST

There was a time in business when customer service was only one of the many cogs in the machine. But now, in the digital age, customer care is the name of the game. More than ever before, consumers have the ability to share customer experiences and truly shape the success or failure of a business.

The list of important customer service skills is seemingly endless. There are a few that don't get the limelight they deserve though, despite being crucial to your customers.

Take a look at these seriously underrated customer service skills that you must learn (and use!) in 2019.

Authenticity

Call it what you want – validity, being trustworthy, staying truthful – authenticity is an absolute key to providing your customers with a great experience. Being authentic, giving your customers authentic support, can manifest itself in many ways. And really, it all starts from within. Customer care means you actually have to care about your customers. If you don't, well, there are probably other articles you should read before this one.

Foster the authentic customer experience with honesty and transparency. If you made a mistake, own it, apologize, and fix it. Your customer will appreciate your candor and you might even make a personal connection with them along the way. (Hint – Personal connections mean happier customers and repeat business.)

While you're at it, get rid of corporate-speak and canned phrases. Here's an example.

A customer has requested a change on their account. It generally takes 3 days to get it done. Here's how you might respond:

"Your request will be processed in 3-5 business days. You'll receive an update at that time."

Whether written or spoken, this type of response seems robotic. No one talks like that in real life.

Instead, try this:

"This change usually takes us about three days to complete. I'll send you an email on Wednesday with an update."

See the difference? The second response actually sounds like a human being. It's authentic. You're telling the customer it usually takes three days, but you've left a little wiggle room in case it takes longer. And you've promised an update on a specific day, so the customer isn't left waiting around wondering what's happening.

People like using formal corporate-speak because it detaches them from the situation. If they interact with the customer like a robot, they're not really invested. But that's the worst possible approach! Customer service is about the customer and your customer is a real person. Connect with them in an authentic way, as a fellow human being.

Spontaneous Thinking

Thinking on your feet is essential for a smooth customer journey. Not every question has a cookie cutter answer, and you can't always find answers in your customer service training guide.

When it comes to quick thinking, some people are better at it than others. But it's a skill anyone can master. Begin by looking at the big picture. When dealing with a customer interaction, don't focus on the single question or complaint being voiced by the customer. Instead, get an idea of the customer's overall story. Take a look at their purchase history, the notes on their account, and any other contact they've made with your company. Use this information to form a comprehensive picture of the customer. You can then use that picture to anticipate the customer's next question or complaint.

Customers want information fast. They want their problems solved immediately and with little effort. The ability to quickly respond to the customer's needs comes not only from good training, but also the ability to think spontaneously, logically, and creatively.

Empowering customer service personnel is a crucial part of learning this process. A rep that needs to ask permission for every little decision becomes stifled and eventually becomes unable to look ahead, think strategically, and offer solutions in a spontaneous way.

Project Management

Customer interactions, especially problems or complaints, are really just little projects. And there's a good chance you have several customer "projects" happening simultaneously. Learning how to manage those projects can mean the difference between a happy customer and an unhappy one.

Managing a project is typically divided into five phases. Let's take a simplified version of those five steps and apply them to a customer service scenario.

  1. Initiation - in customer service, the project initiation happens when the customer contacts your company. This starts the ball rolling. During this phase you learn what the customer needs or what sort of problem they're having.               
  2. Planning - the planning phase involves decision making. You've learned what the customer needs, now it's time to plan out how you'll resolve the issue.                                                                                                                                   
  3. Execution - now it's time to take action! In this phase, you take the actual steps needed to fix the customer's issue or solve their problem. This phase may involve other people, as you might need outside help to get the job done.            
  4. Monitoring - the monitoring phase may be extended or very brief. This depends on the situation and complexity of the customer's issue. The ultimate goal is to be sure the problem gets fixed.                                                                     
  5. Closure -  In customer service, closing out the "project" means the issue is resolved and you can now update the customer.

In project management, projects may last weeks, months or even years. But when using this methodology in a customer service setting, it might only take a few minutes. Here's an example of using this technique.

Your customer calls to complain about a broken device (initiation). Upon review of the customer's account you see they've purchased the replacement plan. You know you can solve the customer's issue by sending them a new device (planning). You explain the solution to the customer and send a replacement request to your warehouse (execution). The next day, you check the customer's file to be sure the replacement device was shipped (monitoring). You then contact the customer to confirm the new device was shipped out to them (closure).

These steps make it easy to keep track of your customer service interactions, ensuring each situation is resolved, even when you're helping many different customers at once.

 

5 WordPress Podcasts You Should Be Listening To

Posted: 28 Feb 2019 07:00 AM PST

The introduction to podcasts has made it easier than ever before to find educated people discussing a topic that you find interesting. However, one of the downfalls is that virtually anyone can start their own podcast. A report on podcast insights shows that there are more than 525,000 active shows with around 18.5 million episodes. That's a ton of data and noise to sift through. 

It's for this reason that we decided to break down some of the most successful and entertaining podcasts for those who are interested in the world of WordPress. There are tens of thousands of people who claim to be web experts, then there are the ones who prove it. These folks' success speaks for itself. There is a reason they have become prominent members of the WP community.

1. The WP Crowd

The first podcast we will discuss is The WP Crowd. This show is run by a team of professionals and contributors who have years of WordPress experience. Every episode looks at one big problem on the development side and explains how to fix the issue. These are people who have created some of the most popular plugins on WordPress and work regularly with some of the biggest websites. The time of each episode varies based on the problem and the discussion between guests as the show progresses, but it's typically 30 minutes to an hour. If you're a developer, this should be your first stop for all things WordPress.

2. WordPress Weekly

WordPress Weekly is a podcast from the folks at WP Tavern. The show, hosted by Jeff Chandler and Marcus Couch, focuses on creating a great brand using customer loyalty and technical knowledge. Chandler is the owner of WP Tavern, and Couch is a WordPress and marketing expert. The duo comes together every Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST to share WordPress news and announcements, discuss how you can leverage your marketing campaigns with WordPress, and conduct some interviews with impressive people from the community. WordPress Weekly's latest interview took place with Pippin Williamson, founder of Sandhills Development. They also dug into the topic of leadership and how it affects business from a productivity standpoint.

3. WPwatercooler

If you're looking for a light, inspirational podcast on how WordPress is changing lives, look no further than WPwatercooler. The host, Jason Tucker, is known as one of the most knowledgeable experts in this niche. He dives into WordPress news and updates and ties the stories to real-world application and success. His special guests include WordPress veterans who have hot takes on all the latest WordPress design changes, features and news. Tucker recently hosted a show where he made WordPress predictions for 2019, and one where he covers the WordPress Governance Project.

4. BobWP WordPress eCommerce Podcast

The BobWP WordPress eCommerce Podcast is designed for people who operate online stores and want some valuable inside information on how to improve their business. Host Bob Dunn, aka BobWP, takes weekly listeners through the trials and tribulations of operating a successful online store. His recent episodes include "What You Need to Know About Dropshipping" and "Building a Business and an eCommerce Site for Adventure Geeks." Dunn often interviews other successful e-commerce site owners about how they achieved success and what problems they ran into along the way.

5. Kitchen Sink WP

Last but certainly not least is Kitchen Sink WP. The host, Adam Silver, has a decade of experience learning and teaching WordPress. He started as a photographer who was looking at images for themes and not impressed. Now he is one of the go-to educators on WordPress development. On the show, Silver covers everything from developing your first website to the latest WordPress updates. He also interviews some of the more prominent members of the WordPress community. The lighter approach and combined knowledge of the experts make this one podcast you won't want to miss.

Content Recycling: 5 Ways to Effectively Repurpose Old Content

Posted: 28 Feb 2019 12:00 AM PST

Content recycling is a tried-and-true marketing method used by business owners and content marketers on thousands of websites. The idea of recycling old content seems simple enough: You take something old, make it new, and put it out for your audience. But it's not that simple.

It takes time, creativity and serious effort to repurpose content in a way that appeals to your audience. The obvious hope of properly reworking your content is that readers will care about what you're trying to say. The following tips all have something in common: They are a way to provide value to your readers with content you've already created.

1. Update popular blog posts.

If you check your Google Analytics data on your website and notice that the same handful of articles keep trending, it's because the readers are getting value from that piece. New people find the information helpful, and more people keep stumbling across your page.

A great way to repurpose these popular posts is by updating them as new changes emerge. For example, if you have a blog post on the newest WordPress plugins, and the company implements a hotfix, you can go back and update your post to reflect the hotfix. This move will make your website appear more valuable in the eyes of consumers and Google, which equals success for your business.

2. Expand on existing content.

The next way you can repurpose old content is by expanding on content that you've published. A great way to repurpose is a listicle, but instead of the "Top 10 Best Things," you could cover each "thing" individually and link it back to the original listicle. This technique is excellent if you want to bring more content to the readers on a subject you've already covered. You'll have the opportunity to do a deep dive on the topic and educate your audience, providing further value.

3. Create an infographic.

Infographics are already known to increase web traffic by as much as 12 percent, according to one study. It only makes sense that you would repurpose your old content to build beautiful, creative infographics. Remember, you don't need to use infographics only if the content deals with statistics. You can use an infographic to basically cover information presented in the content.

It's important that when you republish this, you change the image and include the infographic in its own post so Google doesn't flag your post as duplicate content.

4. Repost evergreen content on social media.

Evergreen content is a blog post that is essentially timeless. The information could be a tutorial, a how-to guide, a review or just an analysis of data. This content should always be valuable to your audience.

As we mentioned in the first step, you'll make changes as needed, but this is a little different. Instead of changing the source material, you're simply repurposing it based on social media trends. It's always a good idea to share your pillar evergreen articles at least once a month. There's a good chance that there is always someone looking for the information in your timeless content.

5. Build a newsletter (with content!).

Your email marketing campaign should already be in full force. If not, this is a great chance for you to use old content to help keep your subscriber base entertained and engaged with a newsletter.

One of the best techniques here is to build a formula of newsletter scheduled to go out at a certain time. For example, with Customer A, they get an email with content when they sign up, two the following weekend, and three throughout the next two weeks. This staggers some of your most popular content going out to your subscribers.

You can set your email campaign to run on a per-person basis so everyone will get their content emails in the order they subscribed. After your emails drip out to customers, this is a great time to implement a content upgrade to keep customers invested.

Conclusion

There are plenty of ways for you to take your existing web content, shine it up and turn it into something special again. The key to maintaining the success of your content is to keep providing value to your audience. Repurposing your old content is also a great way for you to expose a new audience to your blog and hopefully turn them into subscribers.
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