In Jim's Twitter conversation last week, he said the following: "The math is this: Service done well retains people and strengthens loyalty like nothing else on a dollar for dollar basis." Anyone who's experience great (or awful) customer service would certainly agree. Recently, Seth Godin also shared thoughts on this topic, specifically how important it is to get feedback from your loyal customers: "If you know what's broken, you can fix it for all the customers that follow. It seems obvious, but...

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• Join our conversation on Twitter about Customer Service for Audience Building with Goldstar CEO Jim McCarthy @goldstarjim and Shoshana Fanizza of Audience Development Specialists @AudienceDevSpec on September 25, 2014, at noon ET. Use #auddev to participate with questions and comments. The chat will run one hour.

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This is a fascinating story from the Globe and Mail about public theater funding in Canada right now. To summarize, the total amount to be given to theater organizations has been the same for several years, so the question is how to distribute it. One theory is give it to the big guys, who've proven they can use it. Another theory is give it to the new guys, who need it to get going and who can bring new vitality into...

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Here’s a joke for you: What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don’t know, and I don’t care. No, really, that’s the answer. Seth Godin once said that booksellers shouldn’t be worried about piracy robbing them of riches, but instead wishing people cared enough about their products to try to pirate them. That reminded me of something I say to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs all the time: If you work from the assumption that no one knows or cares about your product or...

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