(Update)  Advice from Common Sense PR readers:

Larry Yatkowsky of the Yatter Matters blog:

Got cell phone.  Great. Why forward it to your office so that they (the office) can call you back to tell you have a message?  Just answer and make the customer feel like you care enough to take their call personally.

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Megan, of the Reflections in the Snow-covered Hills blog :

Tell the truth.
AKA:  Admit when you’re wrong.AKA:  Don’t over-promise.AKA:  If you don’t have the answer, say so.AKA:  Say you’re sorry when you’re sorry.

See: business advice from my Twitter Army, and more tips from readers.
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No, this isn’t a gimmick. I’m …read more

Talk to anyone who runs a PR firm, whether it’s a one person shop or international, and they’ll tell you stories of a deadbeat client.
Kohnke Communications, a California agency specializing in promoting video games and other entertainment work, is suing video game developer Perpetual Entertainment and its principals, saying the client hid their financial troubles and offloaded assets while ordering new work.
Nice to see the agency fight back, instead of eating the lost time and expenses.
Gaming news site TopTenHammer.com describes the alleged chicanery in detail, and Wired picks up on the story.
Says TopTenHammer:

"Kohnke saved its strongest words to inveigh against …read more

This is a bit of advice that people in sales always drive home.
Don’t forget to ask for the business of the person you’re dealing with.

It’s not enough to explain why you could do a good job. You have to openly express the desire to take on the project, and ask to get the work.
But I’m not in sales, you’re saying. Really? If you’re serving internal or external clients, you’re in sales. Whether actual money is exchanged is less important than if there’s a consultant-client relationship.
Don’t leave any doubt that you are willing and able to do the assignment. Otherwise, you’re …read more

My Scrooge-like impulse kept the cursor hovering over the Delete button for a while, as I read the e-mail from the advertising end of the blog networks I’m affiliated with.
(First rule of journalism – treat the advertisers like a necessary parasite, but don’t feed them with praise or attention.)
Yet, I was intrigued by the concept – an online web-based chain letter that connects random acts of kindness around the world under the Starbucks brand.
The first few stories that I read in Cheer Chains were heavily product-focused, referring repeatedly to Cheer Cards that Starbucks apparently hands out in random acts of …read more

Unless you don’t work, no matter what you do, you serve customers in some way.
Just because our public relations jobs don’t involve direct sales, doesn’t mean we can’t help our organizations meet or exceed the expectations of customers/clients. In fact, that’s one of the most important things we can do.
Kami Huyse has some great comments on the topic, and points to Brian Solis and others. Susan Getgood also pipes up, as does Todd Defren.
Says Kami:

"Public Relations must stop looking at itself as a telemarketer of pitches and press releases to media and instead become a champion for the customer and …read more