Alan Munro's Blog - All Comments

re: Some things you just need to get right

Kevin Gordon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:59:04 GMT

We all know Napoleon said "Britain was a nation of shopkeepers." and we are still a mentality that focusses on service, even if we don't get it because the call centre is in Mumbai. It's an incredibly British thing, just as much as it is not to complain.

A Russian friend asked me once what it means when English people do this:.

Tut and look to heaven. There are no airs and graces in Russia. You just do it,

or someone does something bad to you.

In the US I there was an internal flight where the staff were so rude I couldn't beilieve my ears: "YOU sit THERE".... (She was splitting up an elderly couple).

and "BURGER" the announcememnt that lunch had just arrived on your lap...

Not enough people get up and complain? Years ago in France, I took a commuter train to Paris in the rush hour. The train was 2 minutes late. They almost lynched the driver. Every train in France is on time because the drivers know if they are late, the French Revolution is waiting in the next carriage just behind them.

Perhaps this is what the Post Office lacks: A bit of get up and work. It's great when it works, and only visible when it doesn't. The sad thing for me, is so many other businesses lives are at stake because a few selfish individuals who are ruining things not just for their fellow employees, but for the rest of the nation. They would rather die than accept inevitable change that could allow a few of them to survive.

re: Some things you just need to get right

Alan Munro — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:37:56 GMT

When the world is run by accountants, the idea of outsourcing customer service functions to lower-cost economies looks like a stroke of genius. As we've seen in the past year, accountants and their ilk aren't very good at running the world. Everytime I get plugged into 'Dave' in Mumbai I get that sinking feeling. Of course, I feel bad for 'Dave' but I feel worse because I know I'm about to take part in a frustrating telephone call that won't resolve my problem. To me, this kind of outsourcing is just wrong on so many levels. Vote with your feet and switch to another provider.

re: Some things you just need to get right

Kevin Gordon — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:51:35 GMT

Dear BT Complaints Department,

6 months ago I went wifi at home. They issued me with a password and an internet address that does not work. It still does not work, and I refuse to use BT e-mail service becase it is so inefficient.

Last week I called them (Mumbai) and asked for technical support in UK. They told me they could not give me the number. I told them You are BT. You have the number. London told me you have the number. Do it.

They gave me a new password and the service worked for 2 days and failed again because FACT: First world companies are being run by third world services.

I duly informed them I could post a letter to India, and it could take a week to get there. I signed-up for BT e-mail service, and six months later I cannot get a message to my neighbour.

People in Britain are being laid off because of BT's failure to provide a decent service through their grossly inefficient overseas offices.

This is totally unacceptable.

re: Some things you just need to get right

CF — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:05:40 GMT

I had to get some Hungarian Forints before Christmas. So I asked my local post office whether they had them in stock, or whether i had to order them.

I was told they definitely had them in stock. I couldn't get them there and then as I hadn't been paid, so when I had, I went back, only to be told that they definitely never had them in stock and had to order them.

Our local post office also has the wrong opening hours on the internet - so if you turn up after 5.30 on a Saturday, you'll find a lot of hacked off people trying to get in.

I recommend M&S travel money kiosks - perfect perfect service.

re: Some things you just need to get right

Nicola Lucas — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:45:19 GMT

Ive had so may problems with the post office, specifically their re-delivery service. Twice I have requested parcels to be redeilvered to my local post office as I was out, they give a list of days to choose when it's delivered online, i choose a day, i go to the post office on that day and it's obviously not there. Twice. I also got into an argument with the person at the post office as he didn't understand that having 2 'sorry you were out cards' with x2 written on one of them equals 3 parcels. "..but you only have 2 cards.." sigh, baffling.

The problem with this is it's not as if we have a choice of who we post with, it's this or nothing, so they don't have much incentive to actually get it right. Instead they decided to strike and make it worse for everyone.

re: Some things you just need to get right

Alan Munro — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:42:28 GMT

I got a shrug and an apology from the guy at the post office this morning. It's not his fault - but, if I was him, I'd be getting it fixed.

re: Some things you just need to get right

Stef Brown — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:45:15 GMT

And that other old adage - don't make a promise if you can't deliver on it (no pun intended). Or if you break the promise, do something to make amends....

re: Some things you just need to get right

Jacob Collins — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:07:33 GMT

It's very true: the old adage still holds. If you have a good experience you tell one or two people. If you have a bad experience you tell 10 ( - thousand if you have a blog!)

But at the same time, [url=businessblueprints.wordpress.com/.../96-of-people-do-not-complain]96% of people don't complain[/url], highlighting the need for businesses to get real feedback from their customers and, most importantly, to listen to it and address the problems.

[url]www.businessblueprints.co.uk[/url]

re: How things work these days

Alan Munro — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:43:29 GMT

Gotnoteef, I'm looking forward to seeing your tweets.

Kevin, I do take the point about much of the nonsense that gets posted on Twitter. I think the personal stuff is fine to an extent because it gives you a little insight into each individual. On the 'useful' side, I do pick up a lot of information from the people I follow and for brands, I can see it being very influential in the right hands.

Overall, I think social media has to fit into most brand's strategy somewhere, whether it's playing a supporting role or it's their main activity. Ignoring it is not an option.

re: How things work these days

gotnoteef — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:05:34 GMT

do you also struggle to see how brands can commercialise the service?

I appreciate relationship building - I work in DM - but this does strike me (as Alan says above) as more of a random act, rather than a concerted effort to engage with punters and achieve mutual long-term value.

Do I care if the Bacon buttie wagon on the Business Park in Middlesex uses HP and not Daddies and Dave, marketing matey a Brand B thinks it's an abomination - does he want to talk about it? Do I?

Kate put forward some examples of companies who are making 'social' work for them. She mentions Dell using tweets effectively to sell their 'outlet' machines - good for all concerned, but how often do people buy big-tickets items like PCs - isn't this more of a brand buy-in/lured by the deal, rather than the result of ongoing relationships built through tweets.

I see how Wiggly Wigglers are gaining ground in punters minds for all things outdoor/gardening/eco-related by being a valuable info resource / thought leader - but could Audi/Clarks/L'Oreal/a.n.other big brand own an area of general interest like this? Are there enough 'interests' to go around.

Your posts elsewhere are always solid Kevin - I'd be v. interested to hear your thoughts on twitter, facebook and the various other social-shakers.

Again - not a luddite, just keen to learn - fill my empty head!

re: How things work these days

Kevin Gordon — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:21:52 GMT

My dog ate a bar of chocolate.

An inebriated elephant just walked over my flowerbed.

Transcendental billing will make grass grow taller.

This is my experience of Twitter. It is so unfocussed and irrelevant I get bored very quickly and move on. I was happy to abandon it altogether until I heard about the Iranian elections, and how the power of an interactive texting kit can bring down a government or a UK Furniture store.

Twitter to me is like dynamite. Handle with care.

re: How things work these days

gotnoteef — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:02:25 GMT

feck it - I'm gonna have to have a go aren't I.

Mr Munro, you might be gaining a new follower. Kate, thanks for the input and links.

Be warned though - if this starts taking over my life I'll be back for the folks that forced my hand.

Thanks again.

re: How things work these days

Alan Munro — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:01:21 GMT

Interesting you mention Whyte & Mackay, Kate. I used to work on their account years ago and they could not have been more old fashioned. Having said that, I've started following Richard Paterson (their master blender) @the_nose on Twitter and he is going for it big time on Twitter with all his usual style. To me, he's a fine example of how big companies can successfully use Twitter because he is interesting in his own right, passionate about what he does and empowered by his company to engage with people.

re: How things work these days

Kate Wooding — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:47:20 GMT

Hello Gotnoteef and Alan

Totally agree that social media is very different to the other marketing/advertising routes that brands use - it works so much better when it's not broadcast but engagement - so that does mean investing in having lots of little conversations. tictoc (the digital agency I work for) held an event on exactly how brands can use social media last week (in conjunction with the Marketing Industry Network), and the presentations from brands as diverse as Carphone Warehouse, Wiggly Wigglers and Whyte & Mackay were enlightening - CPW use Twitter to offer customer service, so if you go on Twitter and moan about a problem you're having, more than likely @guyatcarphone will contact you and try to help you out. Wiggly Wigglers are using Facebook, Twitter and vod and podcasting to build a community out there of people who are also interesting in green-living (rural living/ environmental living) and the people within that community then become advocates for the brand. As a Wiggly-follower (on FB and Twitter), I can see how it works really well - and Wiggly Wigglers is then top of my mind if I need to buy something for my garden. And Whyte & Mackay used Twitter to run a kind of 'hunt the whisky man' competition - again, it worked well to get involvement and good PR. As a big M&S fan, I'm happy to follow M&S on Twitter and hear about their Deal of the Day (though so far I've not bought any items featured) and if I was thinking about buying something from Dell I'd probably follow the DellUKOutlet and see if I could get a discount, but the brands I love best are those where I get a sense of personality. @DogsTrust does it brilliantly for charities, and @Wiggled for Wiggly Wigglers and @ASOS are also doing it brilliantly. As Kyle from Blether Media said - social media is about conversations, and if people talked at you the way most advertising does, you'd want to punch them in the face. The challenge for brands is to move into these new ways of communicating (less broadcast, more engagement). The feedback from those doing it is that it doesn't have to take a massive amount of time. See the tictoc blog for a fuller report on the event (www.tictocfamily.com/blog)

re: How things work these days

Alan Munro — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:08:04 GMT

I think brands can successfully use social media but they will have to work very hard at it and they'll need very different skills than have served them in the past. And I do think that people have time to engage with the people and brands that interest them or that they find useful.

I look at my own usage of Twitter and I pick up a lot of useful stuff from the people that I follow while I've learned to skim pretty quickly through the tweets to get to the stuff that interests me. I also think you have to accept with Twitter that it's a bit random and you won't slavishly follow all of it. You don't have to let every brand deeply into your life, just a little is enough for some.

The thing that interests me though is the connectivity - how many different ways there are to keep in touch with people and companies and how quickly ideas can spread. The tools of our trade are changing fast and they're creating incredible opportunities to carry our ideas out into the world.