We're closing the gap on our timezone differences! We know it can be tricky when you're wanting to get under way with your work but you're battling with different time zones. We want to make getting in touch with us as easy as possible, so the good news is, we've extended our customer service support hours! From today onwards our open times are 6am to 5pm and 8pm to 12am Monday - Friday UTC/ GMT +12 hours. If you need help figuring it out, there's a handy time zone converter here. During these times you can also access our live help (available via our website). Please note we will not have To View More >>

I think it's fair to say we are living in more challenging times than we were five years ago. The biggest world recession in our life time. Decreased global demand and the relentless media working 24/7 to scare the hell out of everyone everywhere. But as my cliched one-liner says, that’s the time us tough guys get going. If there’s reduced demand it's got to be about us thinking, working, and living smarter than our competition. If there’s less money going round I/you/we need to make certain we still get our fair share. And in a crazy sort of way this makes me feel that, despite the doom To View More >>

I just made a couple of new friends, Jeff and Erin Youngren from San Diego… And it took all of a couple of minutes. Stephen and Danny first met these guys at WPPI in Vegas, and we’ve been in touch ever since. You may remember our post about their new website and promo video so I asked them to share some of their experiences around online marketing, business and their album strategy.  But it was their philosophy, not only to business, but to life, that dominated the conversation. Let’s be friends Jeff and Erin had just returned from a holiday to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with To View More >>

Queensberry and Photojunction's phone systems will be offline for several hours tomorrow, Friday (November 26) from 4pm New Zealand time as we upgrade and relocate our main phone server. Click here to check what time that makes it in your part of the world. During this time all phone functions, including incoming and outgoing calls, and voice mail, will be unavailable. If you do need to contact us during this time, please email us at info@queensberry.com and our customer service team will be in touch. We apologise in advance for any disruption this may cause, we'll be back on line as quickly as To View More >>

Huge thanks to all for sending your orders in ahead of the deadline. In contrast to earlier years we had the surge processed and into our systems within a day or two, and despite another significant increase in volume, we're better placed than last year to handle it. Talking to people since it's apparent that at least some of you have held back orders because you know you've "missed the deadline." Well - early Christmas present - we can cope with more! Don't forget we're back a week earlier this year as well. If you get in quickly by confirming orders that are still in the system, or sending in To View More >>

I've packed my bags and shed a tear (as I leave my family) and right now I'm eating airline food and watching all of the movies I can as I jet over to the UK for a speaking series for Queensberry. It all started with a stranger walking into my studio and being curious. Liz from the MPA was on her last days of travel in  New Zealand and happened to find our studio. We had a conversation and what do you know ... I'm off to the UK with MPA. I'm going to talk about me and all of the things I did wrong to get to where we are now ... because I know so much on that subject. I'm going to talk about albums To View More >>

A couple of weeks ago I posted about aggravating business policies and touch points, and asked readers to tell us about the things we do that's frustrating! We received three comments. One I've mentioned already, and the other two also raise important issues. Katherine (not her real name) emailed her account manager to say she doesn't like Photojunction. More important, she doesn't like feeling pressured by Queensberry into using it. She feels that if QBY were truly customer focused she wouldn't feel this pressure and could continue in the way that's suited her perfectly for the last seven years. To View More >>

Alan (not his real name) and his wife were long-standing clients of one of our competitors. They came to us because they didn't like the way they'd been treated. Unlike Katherine, who likes us (even if she's frustrated), we haven't earned anything from Alan and his wife except a chance to win their business. Alan's customers really like our Duos, which of course they couldn't get before, but he finds designing and ordering them difficult. Alan designs them on paper and his wife recreates them in Remix. Alan's designs are reasonably complex, his wife is a fan of her old software (which can't handle To View More >>

Customer service edicts state that the customer is always right. Sometimes we disagree ... out of self defense. We don't like the implication that because the customer is right then we must be wrong. We defend our innocence and integrity!  Step back for a moment. There is a principle in Tai Chi that states that you can use your adversary's energy on themselves. Imagine saying the customer is always right. If you stop defending yourself and ask the client for a realistic solution to their own problem (a solution that, if they were you, they would see as fair)  you move away from being wrong To View More >>

I posted the other day about this being a great time to consider whether any of your business policies and touch points aggravate your customers, and if so fix them. I included a PS saying we know we’re not perfect, and "if you reckon this is the pot calling the kettle black, please leave a comment or email us". I was glad I did because Mark went to some trouble to leave a lengthy comment detailing his frustration with us. My point here is not so much to talk about his particular issues (we've been in touch, of course, and we  pretty much have to take what he says on the chin, and fix the To View More >>