Matt Baril

Currently working in a customer service job, one thing that seems endless is customers calling in to vent and use their anger to threaten, manipulate and extort. This is a situation that any community builder will have to face sooner or later. It might be because you posted an article that some people profoundly disagreed with, it might be something you said in an email, a presentation you gave, something you promised that didn't happen, etc. You have 2 options in such a situation, either you stay calm and listen to the person, or you just get angry yourself and try to end the conversation as soon as possible. In a digital context, that would mean you don't bother replying to the comment, emails, tweet, Facebook message, etc.

I recently had the chance to talk to a really nice customer who had herself a long experience in customer service, and she told me that little trick that I just love. The rumour has it that the golden rule in Customer Service is "The customer is always right", but I strongly believe this is wrong and it can be a slippery slope to tell anyone they're right when they're not and it can seriously harm the company or your brand. It doesn't mean you have to tell them they're wrong though. One thing that has become standard and is taught in most customer service training is "Never interrupt a venting customer". People just want to vent and if you listen to them and agree with them, it's fascinating to see how many of them just calm down very quickly, thank you and end the conversation. For the more "challenging" customers, one sentence can come in handy and give the conversation a new direction: "How can I help you?"

Listen to the customer, agree with him/her that what happened was very unpleasant and offer your apologies, summarize the situation by recognizing the customer's pain, but also explain the situation from the company's point of view. Make sure you end by saying "How can I help you." Here is an example:

Customer: This is the worst service ever, I placed my order 5 days ago and your website says 3 days delivery. I want my money back otherwise I swear I'll go talk to the media about your false advertising and crappy service! This is outrageous! You're quite fast to take the money off my credit card, but when the time comes to deliver on your promises that's a whole different story.

CS Rep: I understand this is very disappointing, and I would feel just the same if I were you. You were hoping to have this order delivered today right on time for your daughter's birthday, but the package hasn't arrived yet. Your order was sent within the 2 business days as promised on our website, but it was unfortunately held at customs for 4 days which is the reason why you still haven't received it. The good news is that it's now on its way and will reach its destination tomorrow according to [enter delivery company here]. I understand your frustration and as a loyal customer I believe you deserve the best service. How can I help you?

While this alone won't solve everything, it's most likely to change the tone of the conversation and put the customer in a different mindset, trying to cooperate instead of fighting with you. When building a company, a blog or your personal brand, it's not the way you deal with your fans that will set you apart, but the way you can successfully deal with people who hate or are really angry with you, what you do and waht you say. Everybody can be nice to their fans, that's not very difficult. Converting an angry customer, reader or user in a fan is however the best advertising you can possibly get. If someone has been ranting about you for some days and then changed his or her mind, it will have a profound positive impact on the people they have talked to about you. You'll need some marketing, PR, psychology, diplomacy and self control to be successful, but all the effort is worth it.

Idea #25 Take pictures of tourists that can be purchased later on in a following-up email

This idea is not mine. As we were at science world today, selling chocolate bars for a project for an entrepreneurship class and taking a picture of our latest customer as a proof of our work, a bystander said: "You guys should take peoples' email and sell them the pictures." That reminded me different places in Europe where I've had the chance to go and where you can have your picture taken by a professional photograph and you can buy it on the spot. Most of them used polaroid and the quality was not the best, but people would still pay up to 5€. These photographs might exist in Vancouver, but I've never seen any in 3 years leading me to believe there is still room available in the market. All the material required would be a good digital camera you can buy for about $1000 and a license to do business on the street.

Once you find the perfect spot to work (e.g. Steam Clock, Capilano Bridge, Stanley Park, etc.) then you offer people to take a picture of them for free with no engagement required. They could then simply write their email address on a sheet of paper so the picture with a watermark across it can be sent to them. This is direct marketing and people expect your email, you've got the permission to connect with them when they wrote their email address. This opportunity should be fully tapped into. The email should contain a link to a website were other pictures of Vancouver landmarks could be purchased. Frames and even souvenirs could be sold through the website.

In order to attract peoples' attention, a small flat tv screen displaying some of the best shot ever taken could be set on a table close by. If a picture is sold for an average of $5 without a frame, and the cost is about $1 then not many pictures need to be sold per day in order to cover cost and salary. If the website is set properly and the marketing targeted enough, customers could even buy more than the simple $5 picture increasing average spent per customer.

I haven't posted an article for few days, mainly because I'm a little bit at lost right now. I've been reading the so called best Social Media gurus' blogs for some time, I've been buying and reading books, I've been using LinkedIn, Twitter, this blog, I've been attending Social Media events in Vancouver, but it seems something is wrong. I think a lot of bullshit is being said about Social Media and I don't presume to have the answer or hold the truth, but I'd like to see a beginning of a conversation about these issues. I wish current Social Media gurus were taking Social Media more seriously. I wish we could see real debates on Social Media issues and uses. I wish more people were questioning what these gurus are saying. I wish we could have a real and open discussion about Social Media. I made a list of 10 things I believe are wrong about Social Media, but are currently being widely spread. I'll blog about each point over the next few weeks in a special series called "Redefining Social Media Rules."

Here is my list of what I believe are the top 10 bullshit rules about Social Media:

1. Publish often
2. Engage people in a conversation
3. Be available, all the time
4. Publish short posts, or break a long one into many smaller posts
5. Add value
6. Be a content creator
7. Build your tribe
8. Use your common sense, Social Media is obvious and self-explanatory
9. Connect with people in your field
10. Work hard at it and Social Media will pay off

I'm sure you've heard and come across things about Social Media that were total bullshit. What are they? How do you feel about the current positions and opinions that most Social Media gurus hold, does it actually represent the reality? Did I forget some rules or are there some that shouldn't be in the above list? I'll be blogging on each of these 10 rules in the next couple of weeks and try to explain why I believe they're wrong.

Idea #13 Tying real world and Internet promotions to get more information on customers & more flexibility

I've noticed most promotional campaigns tap into either online marketing (e.g. promotional codes for discounts, fill forms and get to win a trip, etc.) or real world marketing (e.g. roll up the rim, buy one get one free), but not many combine the two. While tying the 2 together is not something brand new, I think it hasn't been tapped into its full potential. Real world promotions have the advantage of feeling real, people roll up the rim and are anxious to see whether they'll win something and if they do, they get that free coffee right away. The online promotions usually don't have this real and personal aspect, but they do provide your company with valuable information on your customers that would be difficult to get in your store. A winner could have access to a special website on which customers could connect, have special promotional code for discounts, be notified of special events beforehand, etc. Combining real and virtual world can be very powerful making core customers loyal by rewarding them, but also by getting more valuable information such as what they're interested in (clicks, page views), topics of interest (forum), potential products (let customers design their own product), etc. As far as I know, there is no firm specialized only in this kind of virtual and real world promotional marketing.

Idea #3 Social Media consulting firm for SMBs. Offer training, reports, action plan, viral marketing

This one can be risky since so many people are self-acclaimed Social Media gurus or Social Media experts only because they have 10,000 followers on Twitter or a facebook account. What I'm thinking of here, is a real business set up by people with real experience with using Social Media in a business context, and with tangible results. There is a hype around Social Media and that strangely reminds me of the heydays when all businesses were setting up websites and suddenly, average Joes became professional webmasters overnight. The hype will die down one day or another, but just like websites, the idea of Social Media will stick around. Real Social Media experts seem to focus mainly on big firms in an international context, I say go local, target the small and medium firms. SMBs are easy to access, they're already looking for your help, you can have many contracts at once, you can make your own experiments and mistakes since you haven't much to lose and everything to gain. If you do fail, then make sure you don't risk your customer's reputation and compensate them for screwing up!