As you finish your meal at most restaurants the staff will ask you how your meal was. Standard operating procedure for them and it makes absolute sense…  Get feed back in case something went wrong so maybe they might be able to fix it before you leave and spread the negative reviews.  Additionally, not asking would be implying they didn’t care about the customer’s experience.  Seems smart doesn’t it?  Yet most business other than the hospitality industry forget to ask (or worse listen)  “how they did”. By setting up a twitter search filter within their Twitter program and using Google Alerts  a business can take care of such issues .  Not only does it give you a heads up as to what your customers really think but it shows your company cares when you publicly and proactively take care of complaints.

Recently I rented a vehicle with Hertz for a shoot.  When we picked up the vehicle they asked our plans and they upgraded the rental (at  no additional charge) to a model that would better suit our needs.  During the last part of the rental, however, the rear hatch failed and we had to do our loading and unloading through the passenger doors for a day, not a huge deal.  Upon returning the vehicle they asked how everything went and I explained it was great except for the hatch.  They promptly gave us a day off our rental contract for the minor inconvenience.  Fantastic!  That afternoon I tweeted the experience and thanked Hertz.  Within five minutes I had a direct tweet back from Hertz with a thank you.  Shocking!  I decided to do some research and discovered Hertz were following their name in Twitter and actively responding to comments and complaint issues (and in the open!).  SMART!

A few days latter I received a call from Dell Customer Support.  Having dealt with Dell support before I was mildly curious as to why they were calling.  The conversation started by the rep asking me if I was happy with my Dell and if I had experienced any problems during the past year. Ah!  Finally Dell is showing they care (if you have experienced Dell Customers Support in the past you will know what I am referring to)!  I went over the small issues I’ve had and the work arounds (using posts from other Dell users and not from Dell’s site) and expected to hear how they have some solution for me…To my dismay, the call quickly moved to a sales pitch for the extended warranty!   I emphatically told them I was not interested.  We went back and forth and I explained how I didn’t need the $400 extended warranty at which point she went into full script mode for 3 minutes without letting me get a word in.  I put the phone on hands free and went back to what I was doing before she called.  Eventually she hung up.  I twitted the experience expecting to get a response like I did from Hertz.  Hertz is a car rental company, Dell is a technology company….surely Dell would be as or more advanced than Hertz!  Nope. Nothing.  Now what was suppose to increase Dells revenue has only succeeded in further frustrating a customer.  FYI, a few days ago they called again…I explained they had already called me and I wasn’t interested….they hung up. Wow, not smart, but it appears that’s The Dell “standard operating procedure”!

Coincidently in the same week I sat down with my new friend Ross Simmonds (Twitter-TheCoolestCool)  for a beer.  We started talking about my recent experiences with companies using twitter as a customer support tool and he told me one of his experiences with Aliant Mobility.  He twitted about being dissatisfied with a support call on his account….and know who contacted him back via Twitter?  Rogers Mobility!  Yes, Rogers.  Now that’s taking it to the next level.

It takes all of a few seconds to do a Twitter search and just a little longer to set up a Google Alert.  Not following your brand and company on Twitter and via Google Alerts is the same as saying I don’t care about what my customers experience with my company.  Why?  You’re not listening to what they have to say about the experience!  It would be the same as the waiter not asking how your meal was.  So, on that note, how did you enjoy this blog today? Can I get you anything else?

SW

Scott Westerlaken

With over 25 years of award winning experience in television, film, video, marketing, communications, web, radio, print, and events, Scott Westerlaken has the ability to maintain focus on the big picture and offer a wide range of solutions appropriate to the clients message and budget. He has been recognized with dozens of awards in business, communications and filmmaking from around the world. For the client, this means a truly unique balance of hands on technical knowledge and high level strategic experience that always leads to unique and creative solutions.