Last week, Jay Baer wrote a post about how brands are responding on social media. Jay’s premise was that companies that can respond within minutes on the social sphere are sending out a far more positive message than those that dilly-dally.

It’s a really interesting read, and the comments after the post sparked a great debate about Jay’s premise, and if we weren’t setting companies up to fail by jumping to action as soon as their name is mentioned.

One of the conversations sparked the agreement that speed of response may not be the real discussion; instead, it’s speed of resolution that will really define how successful a company is in social media (or any other business medium).

And never a truer word has been spoken. Here’s why.

The Problem With Speed of Response

In an ideal world, we (as consumers) would have answers to our questions almost as soon as we’ve asked them. If we have a problem with a product, it’ll be resolved immediately. Or we have a complaint – it’ll be heard and acted upon quicker than you can say, “Sorry, sir/miss/madam, we’ll get onto that right away.”

But the desire for that kind of brand interaction falls short of the realistic one, for several reasons.

• Legal red tape. You’d think that a simple, “We’re sorry you feel that way, and we’ll look into this for you” would suffice as an acceptable way to cover a customer issue. And it should be. The problem is, if it’s an issue that involves legal counsel, everything has to be approved. Everything. Even a simple “We hear you”. Because if a multi-million dollar lawsuit is the potential outcome (especially involving a pharmaceutical company, for example), then the company better make damn sure everything is documented and carried out to the letter of the law.
• Locale and culture differences. Say you’re a consumer in Canada, but the main team you need to speak to is in China. So there’s a time difference to start with. There are also different cultural holidays; so response times are immediately affected.
• The issue of scale. Sure, we’d all like to think our companies (either own, employed or those we buy from) are the biggest on the market, so we should expect a 24/7 every-minute-of-the-day personalization level. But that’s never going to happen. There are only so many people a business can employ and still make a profit, while allocating the right resources to customer care and crisis communications. Timescales will always be governed by numbers (both manpower and financial).

There are more reasons why the speed of response isn’t necessarily a core ingredient to a business’s success; but these three are the most common starting points. And ones that dovetail nicely into…

The Preferred Option of Speed of Resolution

Generally, consumers are smart people. We understand businesses have other customers, and that sometimes we’re maybe making a bigger deal of something than it deserves.

Yes, we’re also antsy assholes at times – but, generally, we offer leeway when we feel we’re being listened to. And “listened to” isn’t the same as “hearing”.

A company might hear me, and offer a speedy pat response, just to show that they’re listening and responding to social media standards. The problem is, a pat response shows why being heard is completely different from being listened to – nothing is usally fixed. The same issues that were there before are still there now.

However – switch that around and listen to my problem and resolve it within an acceptable timeframe? That’s far more benefecial to me than giving me faux customer love.

But that still leaves the response time issue, no? Not necessarily.

If you’re a brand, make it clear on every single customer touchpoint what your practice is for issues and queries:

• Standard customer service issues will have a response within 24 hours.
• Identified escalated issues will have a response within 12 hours.
• Emergency issues or concerns that have health implications will have a response within the hour.

Make it clear too, that a respone is not the same as a resolution. Offer timescales for internal procedures to let customers know that, to get the answer they need to really resolve the issue, the process is X departments and Y amount of days, to get to Z resolution options.

Also, make it very clear that you’re monitoring countless hundreds (if not thousands) of conversations around your customer base, and that sometimes a query or question may be missed. In that case, have an easy contact option on your business website where customers can follow the same process as social media questions, but accept that the time to reply will be dictated by submission time.

We Don’t Need You To Be Fast – Just Right

Ask the majority of customers what they prefer from the two – a speedy response, or a speedy resolution, and more times than not you’ll get the latter as the preferred choice.

It’s why customers will wait in line at the Apple Genius Bar, as opposed to going to the local computer store – they know the longer waiting time means a quality service where they’ll get their problem sorted first time, as opposed to a quick buck band-aid that leads to even more issues down the line.

While not every company can be an Apple, most consumers will prefer service like an Apple customer. And speed of response has never been Apple’s modus operandi.

Maybe that’s something we can all learn from, businesses and consumers…

 image: Amber Karnes

Why Speed of Resolution Over Speed of Response is Key to Social Media Success originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

When was the last time someone asked you what you want? What you’d prefer to have, over what their perception thinks you’d like to have?

Are you looked after by the services you use on a regular basis? If not, why not – isn’t it about time you were?

I’m a business owner, but I’m also a consumer and a customer. So why am I told what I need instead of being asked what I need, as a customer?

When I go to a store to buy goods or services, I’m offered AirMiles as an incentive. But if I don’t fly often, what good is that to me?

When I receive an email to fill out a business survey I’m offered Barnes & Noble gift vouchers, but I’ve never shopped there in my life. Are they really incentives?

There are countless communication methods to speak with your customers and ask what they want. You have mailing lists to stay in touch with your most loyal – use them. Customer service questionnaires, website forms, Twitter, telephone calls – make it your task to ask.

Speak to your customers and instead of offering non-essential incentives, and offer something they would use. How many of your customers drive? Wouldn’t a gas loyalty card offer with a certain level of purchase be a better incentive to spend money with you?

Frequent flyers part of your customer base? Instead of offering a discount at just a specific store within the airport, how about a discount in any shop within the airport? Leave the choice to your customer as opposed to making the choice for them.

Good business sense is all about listening. Where are your listening posts?

image: Dan Morelle

Are You Telling or Asking? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Customer service is an especially hot topic for me, as I’ve worked in improving how service is measured and improved at a few companies, where previously it was maybe in third or fourth place when it came to that company’s priorities.

Your employees are your best customers, and your customers are your best employees. They’ll defend you; market for you; endorse you; and be your voice where you might not currently have a presence.

If you look after them. Something blogging platform Posterous could improve on.

A Week is a Long Time in Business

Almost two weeks ago, I decided to stop posting short-form blog posts over at Posterous, and move all my blogging back to my blog right here. While I had enjoyed experimenting with Posterous, this is my homebase. And I wasn’t keen on a third-party “owning” my content.

So, I wrote a post about why I was leaving Posterous and made the decision that I’d delete my account there within a few days, to allow anyone to come and subscribe here if they wished.

And that’s where the fun begins.

I tried deleting my account, and kept getting an error message. No worries, the message mentioned Posterous had been emailed about it, and it’d be resolved soon. Except it wasn’t.

For a week, I tried to delete my account – I even made it my secondary one since I was informed that primary accounts at Posterous need you to contact support to delete the account for you.

Still no joy. Frustrated, I reached out to Posterous via their Twitter account. No reply there, so over to contacting their helpdesk.

In all fairness, their representative Vince got back to me seven hours later. Yet it wasn’t to delete the site right away – that would only happen if I confirmed that this was what I wanted to do (click to enlarge).

So, I mention that yes, I do want to delete my account and I pointed Vince to my post on their platform as to the reasons why.

This was on Thursday, August 12, and as of writing, my Posterous account is still live.

Customers Hate Obstacles

So now I’m pretty frustrated with Posterous. I no longer want to use their service, but I’m still “using it” if you visit my account there. And the company isn’t making it easy for me to stop using their service.

It’s like me signing you up to my newsletter, and then making you jump through a bunch of hoops to unsubscribe, in the hope you might give up and stay with me for convenience’s sake.

And it’s a shame. I’ve written before how Posterous offers an easy way in for folks to experiment with blogging, and I’ve pointed clients their way in the past that wanted to see if blogging is for them. But not now – my experience with Posterous has been soured by something that should be pretty straightforward.

As customers, we can be a complaining bunch, but at times the complaining could be easily avoided just by taking away the obstacles companies put us through. Some get that spot on.

The Gravity Forms Experience

I started using Gravity Forms recently for my contact forms. I’d heard good things about them and I wanted to check them out, so I bought the single user license. I loved how they worked, so I wanted to upgrade to the multi-site license instead.

I used their contact form to ask how easy this was, and what the steps would be. Within 10 minutes, Carl Hancock had an emailed answer and easy-to-follow steps on how to upgrade. Within 30 minutes, I had a coupon code to use that would deduct my original purchase from the multi-site one.

But what really stood out for me is that this all happened late at night. I contacted Gravity Forms at 11.28pm, and by 11.58pm I had my coupon code and purchase instructions.

Thirty minutes.

That level of service turns me from a simple customer to a brand advocate. If anyone asks me about forms for blogging, I point them in the direction of Gravity Forms. Every time.

Simple Sells

It may be that Posterous has a larger userbase than Gravity Forms. It may be that their platform needs more technical nous than Gravity Forms. It may be that there’s a certain timescale before something can get done.

But to customers, that doesn’t always matter. All we want is a simple product, and one that we can stop using at any time if we choose to do so. Making us go through hoops just ensures we won’t return to your product in future, and will probably use your competitors instead.

You could say that Posterous is a free product, and so the support doesn’t need to be as good as that of a premium product. But let’s say at some stage they’re looking to make it a paid service – how they look after you now defines how you’ll perceive paying for their service.

Marketing might sell a product, but service is the gold that repeat sales come from.

Compare the Posterous and the Gravity Forms approach – which one would you be a loyal customer of?

Update – my account has been deleted after Rich Pearson of Posterous kindly stepped in and explained the delay.

What Posterous Could Learn from Gravity Forms About Service originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Or, to look at it another way, how do your clients treat you?

Is it with respect and shared passion for doing the same work, or is it just having a need for each other and no more?

When dealing with a client, do you meet your deadlines or do you constantly offer excuses why their project isn’t ready? Do you work closely together, listen to/make suggestions for improving and strive for excellence on the fly, or do you simply turn in the work, take the money and walk?

I ask this simply because it seems many big businesses have forgotten the art of either being a client or providing for one. From having a maze of contact information to wade through to losing the personal touch that won them the following of the customers in the first place, larger businesses are forgetting how to communicate.

So here’s an idea.

Go back to basics. Remember when you first started your business and you had time for everyone (because everyone was important)? Find that business owner again.

Ask yourself how you’re communicating and how you can improve. Are you using the online space effectively? Look at your Internet strategy and see how your brand is viewed. There’s a billion voices waiting to answer you and offer you invaluable advice and insight into making your brand the authority in your niche.

The question is, will you be listening?

photo credit: fofurasfelinas

Big Business Needs to Think Smaller originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Being in Canada and on a BlackBerry, I guess this is something for me to be grateful for.

Yet it looks like AT&T has been listening to its customers, reading the blogs and social media feeds and actually wants to do something about their reputation. This comes in the shape of a new iPhone app that’s free to download.

Called “Mark the Spot”, the app allows users to report any problems they’re having at that time, from dropped calls to voice and coverage quality. Geo-tagging allows AT&T to pinpoint the exact area at that specific time, and should help them improve both service and coverage.

While it may not result in instantaneous improvements, the very fact that AT&T is actively seeking feedback is encouraging. With social media giving small-to-medium businesses a more level playing field with the big boys, larger companies are finally realizing they can’t ignore their customer bases in the way they used to.

This is evident in the way that Comcast have implemented a customer care team, led to Dell posting sales figures of $6.5 million thanks to Twitter promotions, and Best Buy has its dedicated Twelpforce team on hand to help with any issues.

It’s early days, and it may seem ironic that AT&T is using a mobile app to report issues on a mobile service – I’m guessing the reports will still get through in areas of crappy coverage? Yet it does show that they’re beginning to listen more.

And that’s got to be a good thing, yes?

photo credit: C.M.

Why AT&T Isn’t Always the Big Bad Wolf originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

One of the things we’re often advised to be wary of is that social media puts us in the spotlight 24/7. As businesses, we need to always be on and aware that our customers have an “in” to airing their views in a public place.

Wise words. It works both ways, though.

Customers – or potential customers – are also always on when it comes to thinking ahead and making decisions. We check companies out; we see how they position themselves in public; how they react and deal with queries and situations that we, as future customers, might encounter.

Which made this exchange today (highlighted at the end of the post) really stand out.

Reading through the exchange, two things came across. First, whether information is incorrect or not, lambasting a customer (and therefore a stakeholder in your business) never comes across well. Second, would I want to be a customer of a business that responds this way to a point of view (misled or not)?

Since potential customers don’t wear signs over their heads that say they may be interested in our products or services, we can’t tell who is and who isn’t just a passing visitor. Especially online, where there’s no physical store to walk into and grab a salesperson to talk to.

So, if everyone is a (potential) customer, how are you presenting yourself?

Everyone is a Customer originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Are people now using this new voice they have to bypass proper channels and cause as much havoc as they can, purely because they have the ability to?

Take a look at Doug Meacham’s recent experience with Best Buy. Doug’s post covers everything in full, but the gist is that he was upset at the price difference between store and online and decided to take it up on Twitter with Best Buy’s Chief Marketing Officer, Barry Judge. The resulting exchange and Doug’s unhappiness with that is the basis of his blog post.

In the comments, there are two clear camps – one for Doug and his approach and one against. I’m swaying toward the latter.

It’s not that I don’t think customers shouldn’t have a voice and be able to air concerns. One of my old jobs was working with the Director of British Telecom in the U.K. and resolving high level complaints, and I’m a huge advocate of businesses listening to and conversing with their customers.

But there are ways to do that, and I don’t think Doug’s approach was the right one for a couple of reasons.

Problem Resolved

Looking at the story, Doug is unhappy that a Best Buy product is priced differently in-store from online. Yet Best Buy’s website has a disclaimer that reads:

“Online prices and selection generally match our retail stores, but may vary.”

So although there was quite a difference in the price (probably due to a simple error), they didn’t have to be the same. However, as Doug mentions, he brought this to the store salesperson’s attention and the price difference was overridden. So in that respect, his issue was dealt with.

Channel Surfing

However, Doug decides that he wants to bring this to Best Buy’s attention – fair enough, and it may just help other customers not have to pay the higher price of the product. Doug’s method was to tweet the CMO of Best Buy and that led to even more issues.

This is where I feel we need to question just how much people are “abusing” (for lack of a better word) social media and the conversations it allows.

Without knowing Best Buy’s procedure, the normal channels for a customer complaint/issue would be – Customer Service, Supervisor, escalated call, Manager and then some form of high level complaints team if none of the previous roads worked.

Why take it to the CMO? Because he or she is responsible for the marketing strategy of Best Buy’s products and offers? Does this warrant the question about a price difference? I don’t think it does.

I’m kind of surprised Doug took his issue to the CMO. Doug has an immense amount of experience in retailing customer service and I would have assumed he’d take his points to either @BestBuy or one of the many other Best Buy Twitter account(s) if he wanted to ask more questions.

It’s the questioning of the CMO (and the accusatory tone of Doug’s points) that has me wondering about social media’s role in customer service. Sure, Barry’s response could have been more helpful but should he have had to respond in the first place?

Chris Brogan writes a complementary piece to Doug’s post about how we’re “always on”. While this is true, there has to be some sense kept from the customer’s point of view. Just because social media allows you to tap into a higher level of employee doesn’t automatically mean you should.

Or does it? Does social media mean there’s no such thing as customer service procedure and everyone is open to any and every question? Or are people using that new power inappropriately? Where’s the common ground?

photo credit: Jennifer Pickens

Are You Abusing Your Social Media Voice? originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

I found that out last week when two people who I already respected immensely joined the ranks of superheroes.

Michael Schechter, someone I’ve connected with through Twitter yet never met personally, is a superhero. As some of you might know, I recently won a tagline competition where the prize was a Nintendo Wii. I thought it’d be a nice idea to donate it to the local sick kids hospital when it arrives later this week.

Michael knew what I was doing, so he sent me some of his own Wii games that were gathering dust at his home. As an additional gesture, he also included three pearl bracelets and a pearl necklace for my wife as a thank you for me helping him out on his blog earlier this year. (Michael is Director of Retail Marketing at Honora Pearls).

He didn’t have to; I was happy to help. But his gesture made him an instant superhero.

John Haydon is another guy I’ve connected with on Twitter, through the 12for12k charity challenge. John has come onboard and used his non-profit experience and networks to gather bloggers that have written amazing posts for our charities. His help has been a Godsend at helping to spread the word.

Last week, I received a little Thank You card from John in the mail, thanking me for getting him involved with 12for12k. Even though it’s me that should be thanking him for all he’s doing. And he also mentioned to say Hi to my wife and hoped she was well. John is a superhero.

Even though I know both Michael and John already, that kind of thinking would immediately make me keen to recommend them to anyone. Michael didn’t need to offer games and he certainly didn’t need to send my wife pearls, and John didn’t need to offer that personal touch.

But the fact they did makes me confident anyone using either of them will always receive amazing service.

How’s your superhero status? Do you wear your cape with pride or does it need some new threads?

photo credit: Zeetz Jones

Personal Superheroes originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

Yesterday I mentioned that I see myself as a chartered bus driver, and this blog as the bus with you as the passengers. I wanted to let you know that without passengers, buses don’t really have a need for existence, so your travels with me are important.

I want to expand on that a little and look at you and the buses you drive, and how you can help your own passengers.

Everyone Is On a Journey.

Some will always be passengers, happy to be along for the ride and meeting new passengers along the way.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, and the interaction you gain from fellow passengers makes the journey even more interesting. Yet for every passenger, there’s also a bus driver – so how can you make your bus the one people want to travel on?

Be a Sales Person.

It might seem that a bus driver only has the one job – getting you to your destination – but there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes. He (or she, although I’ll use “he” just for easier use, if that’s okay) has to be the public face of the company he works for. He has to offer a positive view of the company at all times, and ensure that passengers stay with his service and not try someone else.

Be the sales person for your company. It doesn’t matter what your role in the business is – CEO, director, customer service or mail-room guy, every single thing you do reflects on your employers. If you give off a positive vibe, that will come across to the people you deal with every day, either in public or cross-company.

Times are hard enough as it is, without businesses crumbling from within – help make it the place you’d buy from and the positive knock-on effects can be long-term.

Safety First.

A bus driver has to make sure his passengers arrive safely. While they are on his bus, their well-being is paramount. He may have had a crappy day so far, or he may be going through personal issues, but they have to take a back seat while his passengers are traveling with him.

If you’re a business owner, look after your employees. Not just their physical well-being (although this is important) but their mental well-being as well. Be the approachable boss that really cares about how his workers are feeling, and have an open-door policy at all times. If you’re too busy at a given time, make the time later to speak with someone – and stick to it.

Time you have plenty of – happy employees are harder to come by. Make yourself available and keep an eye in your mirror at all times.

Be a Mind Reader.

To ensure his passengers are safely delivered to their destination, a bus driver has to be aware of his surroundings, both inside the bus and on the roads it’s traveling on. Other vehicles pulling out suddenly; red lights being jumped; pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk; how his passengers are interacting with each other – a bus driver needs to be aware of all this and more as he goes about his job. Mind reading becomes second nature.

Learn to read minds as well. If you’re running a business, monitor the tactics of your competitors and learn to gauge what their next move will be. Converse with your customers to plan ahead for the next three months, six months, a year even – keep abreast of what they want to help you get to where you want to be.

If you’re an employee, learn how your company works and what makes your leaders tick. Be pro-active at making their job easier, which in turn makes your job easier, which in itself makes the company more attractive and encourages success. Even in your personal life, be aware of those around you and where they want to be – knowing that will let you help then get there sooner, and you with it.

There are many kinds of bus drivers, just as there are many kinds of passengers. Which one you want to be is up to you, and there truly is no right or wrong.The one thing that does connect everyone is the journey itself.

How will you travel this year?

Choosing Bus Stops originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.

It’s one of the current axioms doing the rounds online – “I love Twitter but how do I sell it to my client or boss?”.

You can see the benefits because you use it every day, but just how do you transfer that message to those who wonder where the benefit of 140-character conversations are found?

Perhaps that’s not the question to ask – instead, how about asking why you even have to justify it at all.

Think about it for just a moment – your client or your boss’s success has probably had a lot to do with business relationships built up over the years.

Additionally, being aware of the business market around their industry will also have played a large part in their success. And you can be pretty sure that both these reasons are continuously worked on and monitored to sustain that success.

Now think of why Twitter is so beneficial to you.

Are you building relationships with great contacts? Are you keeping abreast of the latest news in the industry because people are talking about it in their Twitter stream? Are you finding content and advice that helps you grow both personally and professionally because of the information you’re a part of through your Twitter contacts and the information from their contacts?

I’d hazard a guess that the answer to all of these questions is a fairly comprehensive “Yes.” So why should it be any different for your client, boss or anyone else you’re trying to extol the virtues of Twitter to?

The next time you want to get your client involved in Twitter, or your boss dismisses it as nothing more than a fad for people having banal conversations, ask them a couple of simple questions:

• How do the majority of your customers find you?
  
• How do they then communicate with you?

You’ll probably find that the majority of the answers to the first question are “Via Google” and the majority of the answers to the second question will be, “They’ll call us or email us an inquiry.”

In short, they’re looking for specific goods or services and want to open up a dialogue with the hope of fulfilling that need.

The next step is usually a customer service representative calling back, or perhaps even a member of the sales team calling to discuss the (potential) client’s needs. Then, with a bit of luck (and sometimes depending on the skills and motivation of the person calling them back), that potential client may turn into a physical one.

But that’s the NORMAL practice.

What if it wasn’t down to luck? What if it was down to the interaction and genuine interest you showed in conversing with that client? Instead of just seeing them as another dollar bill through the business doors, they actually felt important to your business? That’s what Twitter offers.

Finding a company on Google (or any other search engine) is no different from finding that same company using the search feature on Twitter. And the inward communication regarding their needs? Imagine if the (potential) client could open up a two-way dialogue that was instantaneous and could cover everything in one conversation?

Instead of the customer service representative putting the caller on hold to ask sales a question, or check marketing’s latest offer, that department could be instantly engaged in the conversation with a Twitter “@ message”. And with the functionality of Twitter, even getting hold of someone out of the office is easy enough with Twitter alerts by cellphone.

Of course, there might be an argument that this is too simple a suggestion – there would still be the problem of the caller in question not being on Twitter. If so, put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

If you were a potential customer of a company and you were faced with a customer service line that may be engaged or a Twitter stream that costs nothing and is always open, which would you prefer? I know which I’d go for.

Of course, this is for the future – the immediate need is to convince your client or boss of Twitter’s value. So just ask them what offers more value than knowing what your customer base is thinking. What offers more value than answering concerns or questions that their customer base may have?

And perhaps most importantly of all, what offers more value than being able to answer these questions before your competitors answer for you?

The answer(s) should be simple.

How to Sell Twitter to a Client (Or Even Your Own Boss) originally appeared on Danny Brown - under a Creative Commons license.