"We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it."
Cluetrain Manifesto (1999)
I’ve never endorsed or sold anything on this site but I felt compelled to share a story with you about my phone. I’ve been a BlackBerry customer since they made pagers. The culture at the company hasn't been great for years but I like the phones. I’ve been a (reasonably) satisfied customer. So far.
I live half an hour from their world headquarters. I know people who work there. I also know many who no longer work there. I realize gadgets break down but this is about much more than technical issues I had with my Z10.
Time to Switch
In my case, calls would often go straight to voicemail, the ear bud connection was temperamental, others would often say they couldn't hear me properly. I would contact my service provider and they would blame BlackBerry.
It’s disheartening when you go onto the BlackBerry site and the only people trying to solve issues are other BlackBerry owners. The company was no help and lost another customer. That’s how arrogance loses market share.
We know better
This isn't about mobile devices; it's a contrast of one company understanding that customers want choice and a good experience while the other felt they built the superior device years ago and all others should fall behind them.
The moment you think your company owns the hill, listen carefully for the sound of marching feet on the way to push you into the abyss. Being a market leader is not only about profits, it’s about appreciating what customers want.
After the cash register
Building great stuff is a minimum requirement. Building superior stuff will create loyal customers. Ignoring how you got there will give customers the choice to open their wallets to a competitor. I'm enjoying my new iPhone 6. It's pretty cool.
Celebrate the fact your users, listeners, viewers, buyers, customers, or clients have the choice and ensure you are there to provide them what they need. This is not to suggest you bend until you break but their reach exceeds your grasp.
Deal with it.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit
Showing posts with label user. Show all posts
Showing posts with label user. Show all posts
August 4, 2015
January 23, 2011
The Evolution Will Be Digitized
I meet people all the time who are overwhelmed by the online choices, don’t think they can find the time or see the results of more online activity, while the so-called experts claim everyone is doing this stuff. That is simply not the case. People usually fall into several categories, those who...
• Don’t get it
• Think everyone gets it
• Are overwhelmed by choices
• Want instant results
• View what they are currently doing is enough
• Don’t think they should invest time or money
Social media are the mediums in which we socialize. This includes face-to-face meetings, email, relationships in and out of your organization, mobile, web and any other time two or more humans are connecting.
But I thought it was time to review some numbers on the world’s largest aggregate social networking sites and perhaps this can educated you, inform you and excite you.
There are over 190 million users worldwide who have sent more than 4 billion tweets since 2006. It is the 12th largest website in the world and over 600 million searches occur daily. The heaviest demographic using Twitter is 35-49, 62% access the site at work and 35% from home. The gender split is close to even with 54% female 46% male.
Almost one third of all humans on earth with an Internet connection also have a Facebook profile, group or page. There are over 600 million users with an average of 130 friends. Over a third of all users accesses the site via their mobile device and are twice as active on the site than non mobile users. Close to half of all users log on to the site every day and over 10,000 new websites integrate with the environment daily.
There are over 80 million users in over 200 countries and a new member joins the site every second. Over half users have attended post-secondary educational institutions and executives from all Fortune 500 companies are represented on the site.
YouTube
It remains the world’s second largest search engine next to its owner, Google. It is also the 5th most popular website in the world. Every age is represented in users of the site but the heaviest users fall in the wide demographic 18-55 and the gender breakdown is almost even. More than half of all YouTube users visit the site at least one per week.
Choices
We also could review the over 300 million blogs, the percentage of companies now embracing the use of wiki pages and the increased interest in podcasting and webinars for the purpose of training and education as well. Social media are not limited to these four websites, they are channels you can create with your customers and clients, colleagues and coworkers to educate, inform and advance business.
And it all reminds me of the quote from the first Cluetrain Manifesto published twelve years ago. "We are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers. We are human beings - and our reach exceeds your grasp. Deal with it."
How are you embracing digital now more than ever?
knealemann | email
image credit: istock
March 18, 2009
Customer Service: A Lost Art?
Sandro Panetta runs a music store. It began with his father Amedeo forty years ago. It continues to thrive today because of a strong family bond and worth ethic. Sandro works hard, his wife and kids are delightful, his parents are wonderful, and his employees adore him – or so he says ;-)
This is the kind of guy you want to support in anyway you can.
We grabbed lunch yesterday and talked about the store’s anniversary this October. He is trying to find a way to celebrate the store’s 40th. He is not a client, he is a friend.
Sandro has been working in the music store since he could walk on his own and now he runs the place with the same passion he had the first day helping his dad. We discussed one of the top attributes of his organization which has come back to him through his own customers through all these years and that is how they treat people.
Competition can help you.
This is a stand alone store competing against chains and department stores for music instruments and products. There is a successful music school as part of the business and whenever you go into the store, you are greeted with an honest smile from people who truly want to help you.
He told me the story of young kid coming in to practice on his dream guitar for weeks on end which turned into a purchase because the kid finally convinced his father to come in a buy it for him. Sandro has one mantra: help every customer and treat them with respect.
Too often the cynicism we feel toward companies stems from the words they use to describe us – consumers, viewers, users or listeners. Sandro calls anyone who comes in to his store a customer – whether they buy something or not. He says you can’t judge someone by what they are wearing or whether they will purchase a drum kit worth thousands of dollars.
This mantra has done him and his dad well for four decades.
Another story is of a guy who came into the store on three occasions for a total of about four hours to test out guitar amps. One of Sandro’s part-time employees spent as much time with this customer as he needed, answering all of his questions, making suggestions, and being patient. On his third visit, he finally bought an amp.
A couple of weeks later the customer called the store and spoke with Sandro. He told him that the service was excellent and that the guy who helped him should be commended. Later in the call, Sandro discovered that the man lived eight hours away and had been in town on an extended work trip. He could have bought the amp anywhere, but because of the exemplary service, he made the purchase in Sandro’s store. And then called to thank him.
Consumers, viewers, users or listeners are just people.
Happy 40th Anniversary to International Musicland in Ottawa. Drop by if you're in town, you'll love the big guitar on the ceiling and all the cool stuff inside. But most of all, you will discover why I think so highly of a guy named Sandro.
How important is customer service to you?
This is the kind of guy you want to support in anyway you can.
We grabbed lunch yesterday and talked about the store’s anniversary this October. He is trying to find a way to celebrate the store’s 40th. He is not a client, he is a friend.
Sandro has been working in the music store since he could walk on his own and now he runs the place with the same passion he had the first day helping his dad. We discussed one of the top attributes of his organization which has come back to him through his own customers through all these years and that is how they treat people.
Competition can help you.
This is a stand alone store competing against chains and department stores for music instruments and products. There is a successful music school as part of the business and whenever you go into the store, you are greeted with an honest smile from people who truly want to help you.
He told me the story of young kid coming in to practice on his dream guitar for weeks on end which turned into a purchase because the kid finally convinced his father to come in a buy it for him. Sandro has one mantra: help every customer and treat them with respect.
Too often the cynicism we feel toward companies stems from the words they use to describe us – consumers, viewers, users or listeners. Sandro calls anyone who comes in to his store a customer – whether they buy something or not. He says you can’t judge someone by what they are wearing or whether they will purchase a drum kit worth thousands of dollars.
This mantra has done him and his dad well for four decades.
Another story is of a guy who came into the store on three occasions for a total of about four hours to test out guitar amps. One of Sandro’s part-time employees spent as much time with this customer as he needed, answering all of his questions, making suggestions, and being patient. On his third visit, he finally bought an amp.
A couple of weeks later the customer called the store and spoke with Sandro. He told him that the service was excellent and that the guy who helped him should be commended. Later in the call, Sandro discovered that the man lived eight hours away and had been in town on an extended work trip. He could have bought the amp anywhere, but because of the exemplary service, he made the purchase in Sandro’s store. And then called to thank him.
Consumers, viewers, users or listeners are just people.
Happy 40th Anniversary to International Musicland in Ottawa. Drop by if you're in town, you'll love the big guitar on the ceiling and all the cool stuff inside. But most of all, you will discover why I think so highly of a guy named Sandro.
How important is customer service to you?
October 27, 2008
Stop Selling. Start Asking.
Every day, I read another article about how the advertising world is changing. The advertising world is always changing. Ad Age published an article today about the broken ad model and what we should do next.
In all my years in media, I have been bombarded with people who say I am in the advertising business. The claim is often that we only care about revenue to the the detriment of the viewer/user/consumer/listener. Any company that tries to execute such a business plan is finished before starting.
Wal-Mart has done a remarkable job promoting their superior price point. Whether they have the best prices on every single item in their stores, is irrelevant. Starbucks provides a warm comfortable home-like atmosphere while you wait for your $4 pumpkin spice latte. And Jiffy Lube gets you in and out of the service bay in fifteen minutes.
Before deciding on stories and mediums and fancy slug lines, we must pay close attention to what you want to say and what you want to sell. Integration of product, client and customer are essential. But what is more important is connecting with people. “They” are not some mass of beings with no souls or faces. They are us and we are them. We are all in advertising, we are all customers, we all want solutions and stories.
In our user-generated world, it’s time for us to stop thinking we have all the answers and start asking a lot more honest questions of each other, and drop the charade that we all know what’s best.
km
In all my years in media, I have been bombarded with people who say I am in the advertising business. The claim is often that we only care about revenue to the the detriment of the viewer/user/consumer/listener. Any company that tries to execute such a business plan is finished before starting.
Wal-Mart has done a remarkable job promoting their superior price point. Whether they have the best prices on every single item in their stores, is irrelevant. Starbucks provides a warm comfortable home-like atmosphere while you wait for your $4 pumpkin spice latte. And Jiffy Lube gets you in and out of the service bay in fifteen minutes.
Before deciding on stories and mediums and fancy slug lines, we must pay close attention to what you want to say and what you want to sell. Integration of product, client and customer are essential. But what is more important is connecting with people. “They” are not some mass of beings with no souls or faces. They are us and we are them. We are all in advertising, we are all customers, we all want solutions and stories.
In our user-generated world, it’s time for us to stop thinking we have all the answers and start asking a lot more honest questions of each other, and drop the charade that we all know what’s best.
km
