Jul
11

Paying it Forward: An Old Fisherman Exemplifies What Marketers Should Know

fishermanDo you ever counter certain types of people in life that give you a new perspective on something – whether it be a lifestyle, attitude, opinion, etc.? Yesterday, I had a very unique encounter with an older man who appeared homeless and fishing on one of the Charles River docks in Boston.

It was about 5pm and I had only sat down by the dock to enjoy the evening sunlight on the river for about ten minutes when this man walked up to me. Naturally, when a stranger walks up to me I tend to tense up, not knowing their intentions. However, this man was looking for something very unique.

I found out afterwards that he spoke only Russian so he could not communicate with me. This man walked up to me, handing me two plastic cups and making a water-scooping motion to me with his hands. After a second, I understood he wanted me to fill these cups with river water for him because he could not bend down to do so himself. He nodded to me and went back to his fishing area. I watched and saw him take out some bread rolls, break them up into smaller pieces, and soak them in the cup of water. I then realized he was using this wet bread as bait for his fishing pole.

Not even five minutes after he first approached me, he came back over. In his hand were three candies. He was giving me candy in return for assisting him with getting water. All he could communicate to me was “Russian candy”. Sure enough, when I looked at them, the wrapper had Russian wording on it. I thanked him, he nodded, and went back to his area.

At that point I thought to myself, “Wow, just by me doing something so seemingly minuscule for this man, he was courteous enough to pay it forward by giving me a treat.”

This made me think.

You never know what others need in life, and how much a small act like filling up water means to them. I started to think about how this relates to marketing and customer service. During our busy everyday lives, we do and receive small acts of kindness, not really thinking twice about it. Other times, we are treated rudely and/or ignored – many times by bad customer representatives. On multiple occasions, I’ve experienced this with both a bank and cable company (not naming names – it’s beyond the point).

However, what if more encounters with businesses, clients, partners, etc. were as genuine as my prior encounter? What if everyone paid it forward? Small acts of appreciation can mean the world to someone.

Some business example of paying it forward are:

  • Sending a personal thank-you email or even a gift card to a valued customer that has either been a good reference, blogged favorably about you, or has stayed loyal through ups and downs in the company’s lifetime. While they may just be great customers because they truly enjoy your product or service, it never hurts to show them it matters to you.
  • Creating a special product feature that a specific customer requests. While it may gain you little to no revenue, if it is a fairly simple and quick feature to roll out, it will mean a lot to that customer. It (1.) Shows you truly care about the needs of your customers and (2.) Demonstrates that you take in customer feedback. If a business went out of their way to do this for me and the feature simplified my daily life, I would probably be a forever-loyal customer.
  • Giving a valued customer some press exposure. I first was impressed by the idea of doing this when talking with a friend who spoke to a reporter regarding an awesome customer’s business. My friend was speaking to them not for the intent to get his business exposure, but to highlight a customer. Since the customer was running a small business, this press exposure was huge for them. I’ve since spoken to many other people who do the same thing and I have done it myself as well.
You get the point. There are so many ways you can be a truly genuine marketer, sales person, customer service representative, etc. Just by taking a step back, recognizing what is simple and meaningful in life, and acting on it can go miles towards making others happy, rewarding them, and being a genuine business person and business.
Now it’s your turn. What are some ways you can pay it forward in your everyday life? Are there any instances where you’ve already done so or others have done this for you? Please share!

Sep
03

AT&T Represents The Worst Of Customer Experience

I have never had enough fuel to write a post that criticizes a company, but my experience with AT&T has been so terrible I feel that it needs to be discussed.

Quick Background:

I have been a customer of AT&T for over eight years on my family’s plan. Last year my contract was up so I renewed it with an iPhone. The service was decent for awhile, but as of the past three months it went downhill fast.

The Issue:

Every single call I had, whether a three minute conversation with a friend, an hour long call to home, or a half hour long conference call, would drop for no reason. It is not the location that was the issue; I made calls in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and San Francisco and had the same problem.

I brought my iPhone to Apple first because I love their customer service and assistance. They graciously replaced the phone for free TWICE for the same problem, but highly recommended that I go to AT&T to get help with my service issues.

Soon after getting my second replacement phone, I found out I could be put on my company’s Verizon plan so they would cover the monthly costs since we all use our cell phones for work calls. Between not wanting to deal with AT&T to fix my service problem (I know their customer service is not helpful from past experiences) and wanting to be on my company’s plan, I decided that I was going to leave AT&T.

When I signed up for AT&T I signed the contract and agreed to the $125 cancellation fee if I left before the two years were up; I was not expecting to leave this early. However, since my service was so terrible, I felt I had a strong case to fight the cost.

I called AT&T and explained that all calls, work and personal, dropped every time no matter where I was. This was unacceptable for a service we pay good money for. I then told them I was planning on leaving. The woman on the phone immediately copped an attitude to me and refused to understand my problem and would not waive the fee.

I said I understood that I signed a contract which included the cancellation fee, but then I asked, “Doesn’t the contract say that AT&T will give you service that works?” Their commercials even boast that they have the highest coverage nationwide of all services. The woman replied with, “Well we don’t guarantee complete service. Sorry you didn’t receive good service.” (in a very cold tone nonetheless).

Frustrated, I said I disagreed with their reasoning of not letting me get out without paying the fee, and ended the conversation. Since I was under my mother’s account, she proceeded to call them the next day. The man she spoke with was VERY rude to her, and eventually told her, “What, do you want us to put up a cell tower right next to her house?!” (Not to mention this guy was the manager as she escalated the issue to upper management). I live in Boston, there should be great service in a big city.

They refused to waive the fee for her as well. She firmly told him that she would be taking our whole family off of the account as soon as her and my brother’s contract were up since they were so unhelpuful and rude. They did not care.

What this demonstrates:

AT&T doesn’t get customer service. I am sitting here questioning why Apple was even partnering with them since Apple is the epiphany of great customer service. If you want repeat business, loyal customers and great word of mouth marketing, then treat the customers well, take time to understand their problems, don’t get rude or snappy, and act (even though you may not believe) that the customer is always right.

Isn’t that the long standing practice of customer service, that the customer is always right? If you disagree with the customer, you don’t get paid. AT&T was so adament on charging me $125 for leaving the service, but now they are losing three accounts (which pays them over $200 a MONTH!).

Think about the opportunity cost here: lose one account, leave the customer happy even though they are leaving, and continue getting paid by the remaining family members. Or, take your $125 and lose three accounts. Doesn’t it just make sense to waive the fee?! If anything, it is the disappointment of their customer service that really fires me above the actual fee.

In the end, I ended up getting rid of AT&T and having to pay the cancellation fee. AT&T, you win in that aspect, but lose huge with my family and I. Little did they know that I’m a blogger and am writing this right now. I figured it was worth it to get rid of that worthless company and pay a fee to do so and be able to move on with Verizon instead. (Although I’m still not happy that they still made me pay when they didn’t hold up on their end of the service).

Conclusion:

The customer is always right. Take time to understand the customer’s problem. They were not focused on my problem, they were focused on their immediate benefit. If you can’t foresee the wrath a decision like this can have in the future, you are not an ethical company.

A final note to AT&T:  you failed me and those that are reading this. If you chose to understand my problem and realize it is a legitimate one, I would still have left your service but would have left knowing you treated me well and understood me. Instead, you are left with an unsatisfied customer, a degrading post that I hope many read, and are losing more accounts just because you wanted your fee.

If you have AT&T, how have they treated you? Have you switched because of their poor service and support? Let me know your story below. (I hope AT&T sees this post and comment threat).

Mar
30

Using the Internet of 2020 to Innovate Your Business Today

76%: The number of experts that believe that by 2020, “people’s use of the Internet has enhanced human intelligence; as people are allowed unprecedented access to more information, they become smarter and make better choices. Nicholas Carr was wrong: Google does not make us stupid.”

I don’t think Google will make us stupid either. With the immense amount of data at our finger tips, I think we will become more motivated to find information now instead of having to thumb through a book or wait to hear back from a co-worker or professor about a piece of information.

So how can a business benefit?

Start putting your product/service information on the web today. This will allow your customers to surf the web and find your product. This is referred to as pull, not push, marketing. Consumers are searching for information, you provide it, so you both win.

Many businesses are just getting onto the web and creating websites, social media sites, video channels, ning communities, etc. Get on there now and get your presence known by your consumers, so that years from now people will know how and where to reach you for information. Be seen as a thought leader and expert in your field or industry so that people will come back for more and share the word. If Google only will make us smarter, then it will help people find more and more info, meaning more competition. Therefore, get on there now while people are still just realizing this, so you get a head start.

I do not see writing and grammar skills enhancing too much due to the Internet, but 65% say that “By 2020, it will be clear that the Internet has enhanced and improved reading, writing, and the rendering of knowledge.”

I do think that shorter forms of writing, such as SMS, tweets, and other social updates will increase since we will be so used to sending out real-time, quick messages to employers, colleagues, friends, family, etc. However, I think longer writing and reading may suffer. Writing will suffer because we are used to writing small blurbs of info quickly, so when it comes to writing a long article or e-mail, we may get bored, sloppy, or careless. Reading longer length articles will lose the attention of the reader faster since we have become so accustomed to reading small, instant messages to get our information. We do not want to read your 1,000 word blog post or four page article anymore, we’d rather the intro and conclusion, or an executive summary.

So what is a business to do?

Keep your info quick, to the point, and very interesting. This will keep the writer engaged in the content for a shorter but more important time period, and the reader will get the information that they need and in the short time that they have to receive it. This is not to say that readers and writers will become dumbed down, but with the amount of information shared on the web daily, we need short, to the point messages. By starting to write these types of blogs, emails, articles, etc. you will be better received by the public as a whole as they become accustomed to this habit.

Will security be breached with the explosion of information sharing?

55% say that “By 2020, Internet users can do a lot of normal online activities anonymously even though the identification systems used on the Internet have been applied to a wider range of activities. It is still relatively easy for Internet users to create content, communicate, and browse without publicly disclosing who they are.”

Many do worry that with the emergence of social media, location-based applications, extreme content sharing, and viral videos, people are now more unsafe on the Internet. However, it is how you send out and protect your information and identity that will determine how safe you are. Systems are not becoming less safe, people are. To be a smart business, protect your identity when it needs to be protected, but don’t shy away from sharing and communicating via the Internet, as that will lose you significant business and relationships.

So what is a business to do?

You should verify your identity and those of your clients/customers online (this will add value in the transaction process online). Continue to converse with people, make sales, and share incredible content, but make sure it is protected, you are not giving out too much personal, location-based, or financial information, and engage intelligently with people.

Takeaway…

It’s not what you use, but how you use it. Realize the major changes going on in the Internet environment today and capitalize on them so you are best prepared when the time comes. Don’t be a follower, get the first mover advantage by planning today. You can never go wrong by looking to the future for opportunities and innovative capabilities.

One of the most inspirational business quotes I have read to close this post is, “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination… they think ahead and create their mental picture in all it details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” (Robert Collier).

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