A Retrospective Review of the week

by Lee Smallwood on December 4, 2009

Well, what an interesting week it’s been. Productive client meetings, networking at Bernie’s Late Late Breakfast Show and the conversation that’s been taking place on a post I wrote early this week (Social Media Lessons Learned: A retrospective guide) It’s seen an unbelievable amount of participation, views, comments, re-tweets, people emailing and text messages – so thank you to all :)

I don’t think the conversations finished as the implications are huge and the discussion pretty much effects every business whether you use outsourced agencies for PR, Marketing, Advertising or have them as internal resources. So if you want to monitor the comments there you can subscribe to its web feed (RSS) by adding Social Media Lessons Learned: A retrospective guide comments

One question that has not yet been asked is:

If you had a question/complaint for an organisation regarding their products or services (a question that would probably mean the difference between you (a) buying the product/service (b) recommending the product/service or not – who would you prefer to get a reply from?

Personally – and this is my own view – I believe that there would probably be a better Return on Involvement if the reply came from someone within the organisation rather than an outsourced resource… but what do you think?

So, what’s next? Well, I’m leaving for a weekend to spend it with family and recharge my batteries so that I’m ready for a full week of training courses that I’m running on Content Management Systems…

So, be safe, wrap up warm and remember to get your hot water bottles ready before you go to bed :) – it’s sooooo cold Brrrrrrrr

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  • Lee another great post. Roberta raises some excellent points also. I too agree it is better to have great customer service from the organisation itself and it is so frustrating to be passed from pillar to post, listening to cheesy piped music while you are not being dealt with. Firms tend to forget the cost of acquiring new customers far outways what it takes to retain warm clients by ensuring they have good customer service and the old maxim of if you have a bad experience you tell 10 people, yet it takes several good experiences to recommend someone!
  • Thanks Rob. I know exactly what you mean. An example I had last week was with a 'well-known' DIY shop near where I live. I telephoned them to check to see if they had a bucket of pre-mixed cement (without the water of course) I was left waiting on the phone for 9 minutes when someone else picked it up and asked me what I was enquiring about as the person I spoke with didn't have a clue what I wanted...! Grrrr. Very frustrating...

    Also, you raised an interesting point that many organisations (big and small) tend to forget - that "the cost of acquiring new customers far outways what it takes to retain warm clients". So many businesses are look for 'New Business' that they tend to forget about the ones they already have... Then they wonder why their organic business development is dropping...
  • You're right Roberta. If you have an issue you want it dealt with as quickly as possible by the people who caused it.
    We won a significant new job today from a new client, who asked to speak to two of our clients, one of whom we have only worked with for a few months. The referring client said - "When I ring up I always know I'm going to be able to speak to someone who will help me. If they don't think you can get planning permission they'll say so. You always know where you are."
  • That's such great news Su. And a fantastic testimonial ;)
  • I for one totally agree with you there Lee. There is NOTHING worse than being passed from pillar to post when you have a complaint. In my dim and thankfully distant past I used to have to deal face to face with customer complaints in customers own homes for a very large firm. I learned a lot I can tell you! The main thing being how grateful people were that someone took the time to sort out THEIR problem, not just lumped them in a queue.

    Nowadays everything is about cost, cost, cost.But, Im willing to bet that those who are not dealing with their own complaints in house will be the first to falter as competition gets more fierce for peoples attention.
    As an aside, one thing I always look for when I research changing supplies with a new company is how their feedback rating is doing via the various opinion forums etc. Good old fashioned customer service and focus wins every time.( And saves so much time.)
    Have a mighty weekend!
  • Hi Robbie, and you've raised some great points. I believe that customer service is the 'new marketing' and a company's feedback rating is a great indicator for how an organisation values what it's customers/clients say.

    A good example of this is BT and how they're using Twitter (@BTCare) http://www.plebble.com/article1401/believe-or-not-bt-setting-a-customer-service-example/#

    Thanks again...
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