I just received a text message from O2, my mobile / cell phone provider. It turns out that they wanted to let me know that they were about to withdraw one of the benefits of using their service.
However, rather than just admit that, for whatever reason, they were about to withdraw this benefit – they decided to try and “sell” this drop in service as something for me to get excited about.
Here’s what they did!
I get a great service from O2. So, I called them and was treated to a recorded announcement, from an over-enthusiastic voice actor. He wanted to tell me about some great new changes. The ‘great change’ is that O2 are removing a free service that I value and replacing it with, well, nothing!
It gets worse – because what followed was a sales pitch, to try and get me to buy things from an uninspiring list of companies, which O2 has deals with. In my opinion, these were simply the kind of regular ‘offers’ you get for free in the press.
So, O2 have stopped me receiving a service I wanted and used the removal of this service, as an opportunity to ask me to go and spend money with their “offer partners!”
So, I thought I would share my experience with my readers….
…and that’s what this post is all about!
Old style customer service
Until recently, big companies could get away with this kind of behaviour. Their customers had no voice and were largely powerless to do anything. Yes, they could move to another provider, but for a fairly small inconvenience like this, very few customers, if any, would go through he considerable expense of buying their way out of a phone contract.
Social media empowers customers like never before
But, in 2009, customers have a voice. If companies treat customers like fools, under-deliver or fail to back-up their promises, they can pay a hefty cost. Today, people have blogs, social networks and in many cases (like my own), they have access to the attention of hundreds of thousands of people.
In an interconnected world, it pays more than ever, to ensure your customers expectations are met or exceeded.
Samsung NC10 – It’s brilliant!
Companies can also benefit massively from their customer’s use of social media. For example, I wrote recently about the amazing Samsung NC10 netbook computer and it’s ability to work all day long, on a single charge! My glowing endorsement of this wonderful machine was all the more powerful, because I have no association with Samsung and gain nothing from endorsing their machine.
That makes this kind of endorsement super-powerful – far more powerful than a paid-for commercial or sponsored post. I know for a fact that people have now bought that computer, because of what I wrote.
If you want to drive up sales and boost the reputation of your brand, make sure you treat people better than they expect and better than your competitors do.
If you want to lose customers and hurt your reputation, just do the opposite!
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I got the same text as you Jim and it really annoyed me.
What is it with companies trying to spin everything rather than just be straight with people?!?
Thanks.
Interesting!
Within 15 minutes of posting this to the blog, I have seen people, with a combined total of around 50,000 followers already ReTweet the post.
That is why I love Social Media – it is about a two way conversation with a brand.
One company who do seem to be on the way to ‘getting it’ is DELL. They offer it as a means of customer support and feedback, not just a sales vehicle.
Thanks
Katie,
You are right about Dell’s use of social media. They really seem to ‘get it.’
I find it amazing that so many big companies are unaware of the impact of poor customer service.
It’s also odd that no one from O2 has found this post yet. Seems they are not tracking websites for reputation management.
Well said, No one can simply denied the power of social media and it’s multiplying every new day.
Jim,
I can’t believe how timely this is for me. I had two incidences today with “big” companies that acted in the same way. I answered one of the questions with the question: How stupid do you think I am? I am not usually that rude but there is a time and a place to make a point. That time and place is now and here! Thanks Jim.
Claudia
Hi Jim!
Your post very succinctly sums up the state of the UK Corporate Sector perception of a changed marketplace that has evolved since just last year!
The old “masculine” marketing format of Create a Product, then tell everybody how wonderful it is (and how much they really need it), expecting them to queue up and buy, has gone – probably forever! To be replaced by a much more “feminine” approach where answering NEEDS, providing good SERVICE and SUPPORT, and taking a much more CARING approach are the factors that will attract Buyers in the future. This is “Customer Engagement” instead of “Business Development”.
Most of us now prefer to “Buy” rather than be “Sold To”, because we can do this in a more considered fashion, having researched first through Google, Blog comments, Facebook groups, or indeed maybe even Tweet content!
After the downfall of Banks, the Motor Industry, and now MPs, we find that all the major foundations of society can’t be relied on anymore, so (bye bye “advertising”) we now have to come to our own conclusions, developed through chatting with our friends/networking with our connections. That is a much more comfortable position to be in – after all these are people whose opinions we value – unlike the “voice” that was just blurting at you done the phone!
Why have the larger enterprises not taken this on board yet?
Methinks they have still to learn and turn their whole marketing operations on their heads first, THEN perhaps we will get a “Caring Supply Chain” which is just what we really want, and deserve!
As always, thanks Jim, keep ‘em coming – you always hit the spot!
Howard
The world is so very interconnected now. You bring up a good point about keeping your customers expectations met. If they are not, that positive Tweet recommending your business can easily be turned into a complaint.