in Innovation, Strategy
Going against the grain can be a prerequisite for innovation. And in a time when internet companies show no commitment to customer service, there are a few who are making an attempt to do so.
Yesterday, I discovered Pulse. The app that lets us read our news in a very “eye candy” way. I started using it for a few minutes and decided that it was enough for me to switch:…
I’ve been hitting on this topic for the last two weeks here and here. And, I think a trend is beginning to emerge from both sides of the ball. On the service provider side, employees attacking customers because they are unmotivated and frustrated with their own jobs.
On the customer side, we are seeing customers take physical action because they are frustrated.
Bottom line, we all complain.
Check out what I noticed recently from people I follow on Twitter and Facebook:…
A year and a half ago I had a huge customer service issue with Dell. This issue was ultimately fixed for me, but the experience left a stingy feeling. Not to mention a burning desire to change it.
Fast forward to an article on the New York Time’s about a guy who is living through a three month customer service odyssey with HP. It is a very similar situation to mine, and it brought back those terrible memories of not being able to do anything and feeling like you are being ignored.
The article got me, and a few other people, thinking about the gap between what matters to customers and what matters to organizations:…
in Innovation
We recently met with representatives from one of the largest energy utility providers in Mexico to talk about their current issues and how we might help them transform themselves.
Before we met, I created a list of 20 questions to ask them. These questions, which went into detail about their their current strategy, could give us a inside look of this company’s thinking and what we might be up against.
Here are a few questions that went unanswered and thus got these executives to shake their heads:…
I’m currently in Mexico meeting with executives from a few large companies, including the nations largest telecommunications company, to talk about social media technologies and what this means for them. Let me say this, it’s incredible how separated from the current reality these companies are.
While some companies in the U.S. are already taking advantage of social media for both external and internal activities (think social business), in the Mexico it isn’t so. For example. I asked a female executive from this telecommunications company if she knew if her company had a Twitter account. She said no.
They do.
But what I really wanted to know is if she knew that her Twitter account gets dissed the most by customers. In other words: there is a lot of hate towards your company on Twitter.
I told her she should check it out because it would be eye-opening. She did and immediately directed me to another female executive who had more ‘decision power’. I asked her the same thing. Same response. I told her to open up her browser, go to www.trendsmap.com, put in her company name in the search box and click search to see the magic.
Bang!…
One of the main benefits of social media is to provide instant customer service. While this might be true, I think we’re seeing it from the wrong angle. Companies are looking at it as a way to put out fires, to delay an customers eventual frustration.
Simplr’s blog post exploring how social technologies might change customer service. But first, we should look at how we actually conduct customer service away from social media.
A few weeks ago, as soon as Google+ was unleashed, Michael Dell asked people if they would like to connect with Dell Service teams via Google Hangout. Lots of people thought it was a great idea, but one comment in particular caught my attention:
Danny Sullivan – Jul 18, 2011 – Public
No +Michael DellI don’t want to use Hangouts to connect with Dell customer service. What I want, from you or any company, is to ensure I actually get the best customer service experience possible when I actually use your “normal” customer service channels.Eventually, I’ll finish my long-planned blog post on how every customer service “success” on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ is really a customer service failure. In short, consider this.If I walked into a store and started yelling about how bad the store was, to get my problem resolved, who would consider that a successful customer service model? But that’s basically what we are encouraged to do through social media, yell there as an attempt to get problems solved as a last resort.OK, it’s more nuanced than that. I have have great respect for the people who do perform huge customer service through social media channels. But these shouldn’t be end runs your customers need to use because your regular customer service channels are so convoluted and so often backed by people who aren’t enabled to just solve problems.That’s where I’d like to see you or any company put your energies, before we get more social media candy.
And that (in bold), is the point.
People are using social media as a last resort to vent their frustrations. And businesses are reacting to it by asking customers to post positive reviews online to counter the hate. Sure, businesses will react positively after an unhappy customer (who is well connected) posts his frustrations on Twitter and Facebook. It’s common sense. But this doesn’t help things, it just creates a never ending loop of reaction.
They’re not delighting customers, they’re merely delaying frustration.
What we really need to do is look at social media as another way to win the hearts of customers. To delight them. Not as a way to put out fires.
While you may see Zappos using social media for customer service, they don’t really see it that way. For them it’s another way to connect with their customers and as an opportunity to win their hearts. One more way to ‘Deliver Happiness’.
Problems will arise no doubt because no company worth mentioning never makes a mistake. Just don’t keep on making the same ones over and over again because that is what frustrates customers.
Bottom line is delivering customers service through social channels should not be seen as a silver bullet solution, simply adding more touch points to your mix but not solving the customers problem isn’t going to to save you. The customer doesn’t care if you experiment on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin or Google+, what they care about is being treated with respect and getting their issues resolved.
And lastly, don’t ignore them. I repeat, don’t ignore them. If you’re on these channels, they expect you to be there for them.
P.S. I’ll leave with a few more comments to reinforce the point:
This past week I read two amazing customer service stories. First, there’s Sarah Green’s story on how she left her friends house keys with an Amtrak employee because she forgot to deliver them herself before she left for Boston. The Amtrak employee delivered the keys of course.
Then there’s Rick Broida who’s two HP desktop PC’s died within two weeks of each other, and ended up getting both PC’s repaired for free without a warranty.
Go ahead and read them, they’re well worth it.
While both stories are shocking, it’s a shame they have to be shocking. Why can’t these types of stories be the norm?…
