Service is a big pet peeve of mine… probably because I’ve done it all - telemarketing, sales assistant, administrative assistant, software support… at one time in my career. What do these type of positions have in common? Constant contact in front or on the phone with customers.
The biggest annoyances in dealing with customer service:
1. They don’t offer a solution.
2. They don’t think of alternatives to make your life easier.
3. They don’t know how to help you.
4. They don’t follow-through with what they promised to do.
5. They don’t plan ahead.
6. They make you do all the work and running around.
The best thing a company can do is train from the bottom up. The secretaries, customer service agents and administrative assistants should know your marketing message, promote the company’s culture and, most of all, know how to deliver knock-your-socks-off customer service. The best case scenario is that you will have more satisfied customers telling others about their great experience. The worst case scenario is that people will absolutely complain and not recommend your services to their friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances (just look at the popularity of such sites as epinions.com or planetfeedback.com)
Exercise:
1. Write down all the bad (business/personal) shopping experiences you’ve had
2. Next to each bad experience write down all the ways your business can promote a good experience. Jot down each step in creating the perfect experience for your customer.
Just love, love, love visiting Adgoodness who found this Honest Mechanic Screamfest poster. Eventhough I’m not a horror flick fan, I love the sense of fun fans may experience at this film festival. Kudos!
Nintendo knows how to create buzz around their products don’t they! What do we use the Internet for? When we’re not researching information, reading email or shopping… we want to be entertained. Visiting http://us.wii.com you’ll find just that! Entertaining videos of real people enjoying their Wii Experience… giving us a glimpse and setting our expectations.
How will you make your product and services buzzworthy?
Have you seen the Sony Bravia TV ad spot who slogan is “Colour like.no.other” The advertisement is beautiful. I can only respect the process to produce the commercial. According to Bravia-Advert.com who writes about The Clean Up, “…took 10 days and 250 people to film… The cleaning took 5 days and 60 people.”
What publicity they’ve generated from sharing a Behind the Scenes look. I think that is why I also love watching DVDs that include “The Making of…” as part of the Special Features of the DVD.
