Bob Poole's Water Cooler Hangout

What Would You Do - A Customer Service Story

This is a follow-up post to my story about the fresh fish supplier in Toms River, NJ that I posted about on July 6th. If you haven't read it you might want to read it here first.

I was hoping I would have a good customer service story to tell you about the company. But, I don't. When I hadn't heard from them by the 8th, I resent my email. That usually works in case someone isn't paying attention or it just slipped their minds. But, nada, nothing, not a word.

Not very good service but let's assume the boss is on vacation this week and nobody knows how to respond. I'm hoping to hear from them sometime early next week which is when I'll check back in with them. They have lots of good testimonials on their website so I'm thinking it must be some kind of oversight not to at least drop me a note.

We've always communicated by email before so it can't be they prefer another method.

Why do you think I haven't heard from them?

What would you do if you were them?

There are Two Types of People in the World

There are two types of people in the world:

The type that walks their dog and never picks up after it.
And, the type that cleans up after their dog plus someone else’s.

The type that never sees the pedestrian waiting to cross the street.
And, the type that stops and smiles and waves while they cross.

The type that always parks their car blocking the front of the store in the no parking zone.
And, the type that knows they’re not so important as to endanger others.

The type leaves their garbage where they drop it.
And, the type that picks it up.

The type that never makes eye contact and lives in fear.
And, the type that smiles and says “Good Morning” to strangers on the street.

The type that blares their music, lets their dogs bark for hours, and won’t stop if you ask.
And, the type who invites their neighbors over and watches out for them and their family.

The type that forms an opinion and then belittles anyone who disagrees.
And, the type that waits until they hear all the facts before they form an opinion.

The type that always has to interrupt the discussion
And the type that listens, learns, and then speaks.

Which type are you?

How Valuable is Free?

I've been noticing how the New York Times is spending a lot of newsprint and advertising space on offers for iconic photographs. You may have seen them for sale. I have always loved the construction workers sitting on the beam having lunch with NYC looking like it is a mile below them.

If you notice that photo, you'll see a copyright for both the photographer and the Bettman/Corbis archive. In this case, the photographer's estate is most likely getting paid when the image sells.

However, many of the iconic images you see for sale are the property of the newspaper. That's because the photographer was an employee and the photos were created as a "work for hire." The photographer got paid a salary and the paper owns the photos.

Recently many papers started using freelancers instead of employees which means the photographer owns the image and licenses it to the newspaper. But, that's not what the papers want. They want to own the photos and not have to pay a salary, benefits or other expenses that someone who owns their own business has to pay. That's what a freelancer is - a business person. So, the copyright wars continue and not just on photos but any kind of intellectual capital that someone creates.

You may one day need to hire a professional photographer. Many professionals will license you the images you need for a particular use. You'll pay just for usage which works out best for both the photographer and the business owner.

But, the web is now the land of the free which causes many people to flinch at paying for something they know is digital. As a result, some photographers are moving to a different model where the digital image is free. You pay for their creativity, experience and ability to deliver but not for the bits and bytes.

Speaking of free, I copyrighted my book and it is sold at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. For less than $14 you can have a copy to hold in your hand, write in the margins and keep on your bookshelf. For less than $10 you can have one delivered to your Kindle. I also make it available for free as a PDF download. By the way, the secret password is LFSL2009. Don't tell anyone else.

The incremental cost of maintaining the PDF on a website and giving it away is infinitesimal. "Yeah," my web guy said, "but you're losing sales." I may lose a sale to someone who prefers to download and read it online or even print it out. But, for every person who does that there are more that talk about the book and, in the end, generate more sales and business for me. Word of mouth and my tribe building and spreading the story are worth free downloads over and over again.

And, that, makes FREE very valuable!

Only Build a Customer Relationship If You Mean It

A study conducted over the last seven years has concluded that we change about fifty-percent of our friends every seven years.

As the line between friends and customers blurs as the result of using social networks for marketing, will our customer "friends" be as likely to change? Is change of this magnitude inevitable? Or, can we keep our "friends" and grow our customer network without having a fifty-percent fallout rate?

Will a Facebook or LinkedIn friend who is also a customer be more likely or less likely to put up with poor customer service? I suspect that if a customer has the sense that we are "friends" and values the relationship they will be more likely to feel like a bond of trust has been broken should we render poor customer service.

That's the thing about relationships.

If you build it they will come.

But, they will also leave more quickly if you don't value it.

How Many Customers Don't Tell You?

I don’t know about you but I really enjoy fresh yellow-fin tuna. I especially like it grilled outdoors over a very hot fire. While cooking out this past weekend, it came to me that I had done a disservice to my fish supplier.

For a couple of years now, I would put in an order for twenty or forty pounds of fresh tuna from a wholesale supplier on the northern Jersey coast. Most of his customers are restaurants or markets so he has a minimum size order. I get it in one or two large pieces so I can cut it up the way I like and so I can freeze some.

Last year for the 4th, I ordered the tuna and we had a party for some friends. The fish, like always, was fantastic quality.

This past Christmas, I once again placed an order for the same quality tuna in one large piece. When it came, I was dismayed to find it cut up in about ½ to ¾ slices as if it had come out of a retail showcase. And, I could see the tuna didn’t seem to be the same quality. It turned out it wasn’t.

It didn’t taste nearly as good as past orders and it was obvious to my family who by now knew what high-quality, fresh yellow-fin tastes like. I ended up throwing out the fish we froze because it just wasn’t any good.

For some reason, I never contacted the fish vendor to let him know that he had not only shipped me inferior fish but it wasn’t sent in one piece as ordered. I just never ordered from him again.

This weekend, when friends asked me if we were planning on having that “wonderful tuna” again, I realized I hadn’t really been fair to the owner. I never told him and I assumed he knew what he had shipped. However, I’m sure he was swamped during the holidays and he probably assumed that whoever packed my order shipped the correct quality in the manner I ordered.

So, I decided to let him know. I have his email address and I’m going to drop him a note. I’ll keep you posted as to his response.

Meanwhile, how many people don’t let you know when your service or product doesn’t meet expectations?

How many just never come back?

Judging By the Cover

Seth Godin has a great post today about judging a book by its cover and how he does it all the time. Book covers are meant to get your attention - immediately and make you want to look more closely.

There are all kinds of book covers and they aren't just on books. You might want to consider the following covers for your own business.

• The look of your website. Is it well designed, clean, easy to navigate or does it look like your 8 year old made it?
• All of you company materials from business cards to stationary to brochures. Sure it's easy to go for the free cards you can get on-line or make your own stationary using your word processor. But what does that kind of "cover" say to people who make a decision to look further in only seconds?
• How you dress when you're with clients. You don't have to wear a suit but I still believe in dressing just a little better than my clients. You can also dress to get attention and create some fun like wearing socks from LittleMissMatched with your suit.
• Are your presentations still old school PowerPoint or have you learned to make them interesting either without the slides or with photos - images worth a thousand words. Pick up a copy of "Slide:ology" and learn something new.

I'm sure you can think of more things that deserve to have your best possible cover.

My favorite cover happens to be the cover of my book. It's humorous, clever, and gets your attention and makes you want to turn it over and check out the back and thumb through the pages. It was  designed by a super talented buy by the name of Paul Durban. Paul did something extraordinary yesterday. He quit his job to follow and passion and build a new company.

He'll be designing things like book covers but also eBooks, audio and video presentations, podcasts and more for people like us. By the way, if you're thinking of putting together your own eBook, I'd talk to Paul before getting too far down the road.

His new company is called Blazonfire. I can't wait to see what's burning.

You can click on the book to learn more about it too.

Watch What He Does and Not What He Says

"Watch what he does and not what he says." With those words another negative political ad is launched in New Jersey this week. I saw it yesterday on TV and I started laughing because I thought "Wow - doesn't that statement apply to all politicians?"

As I thought about it more I realized it really applies to all of us but especially those of us who work in sales and marketing. We can make lots of claims about our company and its products and services. But, why should anyone believe our words any more than how much we believe what politicians tell us?

It comes down to trust and credibility. And, their are only a few ways to earn and build it.

1. Work on building a relationship by giving not taking.
2. Listen and don't try to guess what people want and need.
3. Put your clients needs first.
4. Do what you say you will do.
5. Do good.

You can also build credibility by letting other people talk about you. Your prospective customers are more likely to believe what other people say about you than what you say. That's why many companies still don't have a blog nor do they engage in social media. They don't want people to talk about them because they are afraid of what they (and others) might hear.

Well, it's too late to try and manage that. They are already talking about you. And, if you live the lie of doing one thing while saying another that talk is sure to increase in both frequency and volume.

You really only have one choice.

Start with the 5 items above.

Remarkable People Need Only Apply

What's the first thing you notice when you walk into a business? It doesn't matter if it is a retail shop or a Fortune 500 company. You'll notice and remember how you were greeted. Those first few seconds of interaction with the person in front of you set the tone for your relationship with the company from that moment forward.

It seems to me that whoever you designate as the first point-of-contact they need to be a remarkable person, full of warmth, compassion and extraordinary people skills.

Why then do so many companies put people in this position and pay them minimally. In many industries the receptionist (or whatever term you want to use) is often considered the lowest entry-level position. So even if someone is remarkable they want to move "up" as soon as possible because they recognize their position isn't valued by management.

Many companies do recognize the value of the person who is the first point-of-contact and they pay them well and let them know they are a vital member of the organization. I bet you can think of a store or business where you are always warmly greeted and made to feel welcome. I know the ones that come to my mind are the ones that get my business over and over again.

Hire the best people you can find for these types of positions and pay them well. It is an investment that will pay wonderful dividends for years.

And, by the way, the same rules hold true for whoever is answering your phone. Only they need to be even more remarkable because they don't have the benefit of body language to communicate.

"A Little Rebellion Now and Then Is A Good Thing."

I saw Governor Rendell of Pennsylvania on television stating that if there isn't an increase in the state personal income tax, the state may have to cut subsidized health care to the 194,000 children in the state who are covered by CHIP. CHIP insures the children and Rendell is lobbying the legislature to raise the personal income tax to ensure the program doesn't face cuts.

There's nothing like using the vision of children suffering from lack of heath care to get your agenda passed.

But, hold on a minute. I also saw a report by Common cause that stated that the gaming industry has given $4.4 million in campaign contributions to state government candidates in Pennsylvania, including over $1 million to Gov. Ed Rendell. An additional $12.3 million in contributions has come from lawyers and lobbyists licensed to represent the state's 14 gaming facilities.

Let's see - that adds up to $16.7 million in donations made to our state politicians to influence their support of gambling in PA.

What if the $16.7 million had been donated to the state to support CHIP? Maybe the governor wouldn't have to hold the specter of damaging the lives of kids over our heads in order to push his "temporary" income tax increase. Maybe if our elected officials spent less time with the folks from the gambling industry and more time with the people who elected them, they might actually understand the will of the people and work and vote accordingly.

By the way, I'm not anti-gambling. People want to gamble and they are going to do it.

But what makes me sick to my stomach is hearing about any industry that can legally contribute $16.7 million to people that we elect. And, that's just through 2008. The donations are continuing as strong as ever.

What makes me sick to my stomach is our lack of backbone and our inability to stand up and tell the politicians "NO." It's time this state passes a law to do away with (never happen) or limit campaign contributions. We're one of only a few states in the country that doesn't limit contributions. And, by law, we won't know how much more these representatives of the people have taken to line their pockets until January 2010.

It's time to tell our representatives to actually represent us.

• Don't tell us that gambling is going to be a solution to tax revenue and at the same time threaten us with cutting health benefits to our children.
• Stop taking millions of dollars from lobbyists and "industry representatives."
• Start doing your job and represent the will of the people - all the people.

We're running out of patience. And, we remember the words of Thomas Jefferson that pretty much sums up the character of most of our politicians these days.

"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world's believing him."

Jefferson also wrote in a letter to James Madison, "A Little Rebellion Now and Then Is A Good Thing."

Let your representatives (wherever you live) know where you stand - whatever your beliefs. They really do believe they can do anything they want to us these days and we'll accept it.

Maybe they're right. What do you think?

I Dare You!

I met a colleague last night for sushi and I realized how much I miss actually having someone to talk with rather than communicating digitally over the computer (and sometimes phone) all day. It was fantastic being able to have discussions about a bunch of wide-ranging subjects with a real person whose face and body language I could see.

For those of us who operate out of our homes it is very easy to settle into a routine that doesn’t give us that kind of human contact. I even “meet” with most of my clients on-line since they are geographically spread all over.

Some people like networking events and clubs. I abhor them. I’d much rather meet one-on-one or with a small group of people with whom I have or am developing a relationship.

Why? One word - Trust! We learn to trust each other and thus we learn to share with and care about each other.

My plan is to have these kinds of meetings with interesting, intelligent, humorous, and compassionate people on a regular face-to-face basis. It enriches my life and I’m guessing if you read this blog regularly you are the type of person who will feel the same way.

By the way, we talk very little “business” during these get-togethers. Instead we talk about life. Because, ultimately, we don’t have a separate business, personal and family life.

We have a life. And, it’s fuller and more worthwhile when you share it with others.

So, get going and set up a face-to-face meeting for next week to talk about life instead of business.

I dare you!