Year: 2010
Explaining social media with a sippy cup
I’m on vacation with The Mrs and The Boy on Ocracoke Island, NC, one of my favorite places on Earth. We had lunch today at Howard’s Pub, an Ocracoke institution known for staying open 365 days a year no matter what the weather.
Somehow we only brought two sippy cups with us to the beach, so when we got back in the car after lunch and realized we’d left one on the table, it was a big deal. I walked back in to try to find it. Keep in mind it had only been a few minutes since we had left.
I told someone who I thought was a manager that we’d left a sippy cup on the table. He seemed kind of annoyed and said, “They probably threw it away. Do you want another one?” I realized he thought I meant the kids cup they had provided and told him it was a cup we had brought ourselves.
“Oh, then it would be at the hostess station,” he replied, and walked away. When I asked the hostess, she gave me a blank look, looked under the counter for a moment and went back to selling t-shirts.
The frustrating thing was I knew the sippy cup was somewhere on the other side of the kitchen door, either in a bus tray or at the top of a trash can or maybe on a shelf if someone had noticed it. I suppose I could have walked into the dish room myself and looked around, but of course, we just don’t do that. All I needed was someone willing to listen to what I was actually saying I needed, and take a moment to look for it.
I spotted our very helpful waiter and asked him. He walked through the door, asked the dish room guys if they’d seen it, and handed it back to me. I thanked him, and was happy we’d tipped him well for his earlier friendly and helpful service.
The old model of customer service requires the customer to conform to the procedures and structures of the company. In the social media model of customer service, it’s incumbent on the company to be where its customers are asking questions and answer them in the way the customer needs, regardless of how things have always been done or whether or not it conforms to their organizational silos and responsibilities.
Even more, it requires people who are willing and able to listen, think for a moment, and do what it takes to resolve a situation to the customer’s satisfaction. That’s always been the customer service model at exemplary organizations. Social media is making it the norm, and highlighting the exceptions.
Start with a dolphin
Me: “What do you want to do at the beach?”
The Boy: “I want to ride bicycles and sharks.”
2006 Corte Majoli Valpolicella Ripasso
Very nice. The guy at Whole Foods told me a whole story about what it means to be Ripasso. Clearly it worked.
Give me a reason to give you my information
There’s a Southern States store not too far from our house, a slightly anomalous reminder that Carrboro isn’t exclusively a haven of tattooed hipsters and Prius-driving professors. We go there to buy cat food and litter, and plants and planters in the Spring. I just got back and the woman parked next to me was wearing riding boots, so I guess she was there for oats or Pony Chow or whatever horses eat.
They generally have very helpful customer service and friendly staff. But there’s one thing that always bothers me about going there. When you go to check out, the first thing they ask you for is your phone number. The nice young woman who checked me out today asked, “Is your phone number in our system?” The woman at the next register applies a different approach. She barked “Phone number?” at her customer. “I’ve gone through her line before.”
Generally when they ask I say, “No, thank you,” and they leave it at that. I find it a bit intrusive and time-wasting, but here’s the main thing: I’ve been shopping at that store for maybe 20 years, and not once has anyone even tried to explain to me why they want my phone number. I just assume it’s so they can more effectively spam me in some fashion. Maybe it’s for market research. Maybe it’s so they can send me a coupon for a free truckload of cat litter. But I have no idea.
I give the same information freely at Harris Teeter because I get discounted prices for being part of their VIC program. “I looked on the page for about 30 seconds and couldn’t find a definition for “VIC” so I’m going with “Very Important Customer.”” They make the value proposition clear to me, and in exchange, they get lots of data about my shopping habits and the overall habits of Carrboro shoppers.
In what ways do you ask your customers for their information? Are you asking them to register on your website? Are you making it clear to them why they would want to give you their information?
Are you asking your customers to follow you on Twitter or Facebook? What will they get out of it? Are you making the value proposition clear?
And just as important, are you living up to it? I follow lots of businesses and companies large and small in social media. Some of them do a great job of sharing useful information. I also follow a couple of small businesses on Facebook, a few run by friends of mine, and mostly what I get from them is, essentially, spam. “Come here and buy stuff! Hey, we’re open tonight and selling things!” If we weren’t friends I would have stopped following them by now.
Information is a valuable commodity and people are bombarded by requests for theirs. Think about why you’re asking, make sure your customers understand what they get, and be sure to honor the promise.
photo by Arenamontanus
