Why is there so much WHITE SPACE

Chevy Chase taking out his aggression in the first vacation movie.

Sometimes a customer service mistake can be the best thing for a brand. Not that I am advocating in any shape, form or fashion that a company deliberately go out there and fall on its face on purpose.  However, when a mistake occurs, a brand has one of the best opportunities to shine and move the customer’s relationship with the company from a mere transaction to outright brand advocacy.  In fact, this process of transitioning from a transactional, superficial connection to a deeply emotional and highly energized one can literally change overnight depending on how the company handles it.

An incident that happened to me over the weekend makes this point well. My husband and I had booked a tee time at a local Maine resort that normally fills its course with tourists. We had selected the course for two reasons. First it was the nicest 18-hole course in our area and, two, it offered a Maine resident discount. In fact, when my husband had called two days earlier to book our time, the pro shop offered us an even deeper discount if we played after 11 am. Sold!

So we showed up on Saturday and an attendant cheerfully greeted us at our car and took our bags for us. We were early, so we visited the 19th Hole for some coffee and danishes. Again, everyone was very nice. When our time approached, we went to the pro shop and were told by a stressed out employee (the shop was packed with tourists buying all kinds of Maine golf gear) that she had never heard of the “extra special rate” we were quoted. Exasperated, she waited until the manager was available and called him over. I’ll save you the gory details, but let’s just say things went sour fast. And when it was agreed that we should indeed have the extra special rate, they asked us to confirm our residency again (which had already been confirmed by the stressed out worker), which was an issue because I had already wandered outside. So once we had all reassembled yet again, the manager asked for my husband’s card to issue the credit for the difference. Well, it sounds silly, but my husband has this weird little way of presenting his credit card. He does it no matter where we go — a nice restaurant or a retail store — he flips it out of his wallet like he’s dealing cards at a blackjack table.

Let’s just say that Mr. Pro Shop Guy didn’t appreciate his signature move, and said: “well, if you are going to throw your card at me, I will throw it right back at you.”  And then what ensued reminded me  of one of one of those scenes from a Chevy Chase vacation movie … or maybe even a replayed moment in a movie like “The Christmas Story” with a narrator retelling an infamous moment. You know what I am talking about right? And remember, the place was packed with tourists, 70% of whom return every year according to the resort’s literature.

Not good. Bad even. Needless to say we got our greens fees refunded and left. On our way out, the exuberant and adorable golf cart girl tried to chase us down to carry our bags.

A few hours and one voice mail later we had a call back from the resort’s general manager, who was quite concerned and clearly understood the ramifications. He said he would talk to Mr. Pro Shop Guy, get his side, and then call us back on Monday.

This morning, quite early actually, my husband got a very nice call from Mr. Pro Shop Guy who was clearly “humbled” and thoroughly apologized for his attitude, reaction and poor judgment. His  apology was  followed by: “and a round of golf with carts at any tee time of your choice will be waiting for you. Just call when you’re ready.” Of course, I credit the general manager for making it right, not Mr. Pro Shop Guy. But for the resort itself, the brand damage was repaired and a personal relationship was created where none really would have existed before.

So, here I am blogging about it and both of us have told all our neighbors and Facebook friends about the before and the after (combined, there is more than 500 of them). Plus, we plan to ask a couple of people to join us for golf that day, and they will be paying customers.

It was a happy brand ending for me, but I just wonder what the lasting impression will be on all the tourists in the pro shop who will never know how it was resolved.

– Kim Stiver

Wow, looks like this guy is going to have a hard time finding someone that meets his requirements… he would definitely not like me with my iPhone, iMac and soon to be iPad arriving next week. I bet if he had an iPhone, he could have an app to help him find a roommate. Just sayin…

Enjoy your weekend!

~Stacy

One of my new favorite websites is Social Media Examiner. They call themselves “Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle” which is so true… it is a jungle out there! Since I never seem to get a chance to read my daily updates, I always try to print out the articles that pertain to something I’m currently working on, or may answer questions a client may have. This particular article caught my eye. When we start helping clients launch any type of social media, the biggest question is how do we build a following. Social Media Examiner’s article on July 22nd addresses this particular issue. (Click here for the entire article.)

So how do you get people to “like” your Facebook page? Here are 10 tips…

1.  Be Prepared With Quality Wall Posts and Consistent Engagement

2.  Reward Your Loyal Supporters

3.  Leverage Your Existing Social Networks

4.  Integrate Facebook Social Plugins to Your Website

5.  Remind Your Fans to Like and Share

6.  Utilize Forum Signatures and Membership Sites

7.  Take the Initiative: Request Help From Friends

8.  Use Tagging and Acknowledgements

9.  Participate Outside Your Page

10. Collaborate With Other Page Admins for a Social Event

While social media is often billed as a “free” arena to pedal your products and gain awareness, it does take a lot of work and an ongoing commitment to build the types of relationships that will keep fans coming back to visit your page.

Happy Friday!

~Stacy

I’m taking the easy way out today with my blog post. It’s partly because I am in a huge rush (might as well be honest, right?) and partly because my mind is still swirling over social media stats as a result of a thorough presentation I made yesterday to a client. Here at CD&M we have developed a rudimentary repository of sorts to capture all of our collective knowledge on social media, as well as any brilliant proposals we’ve made to clients. Yesterday’s presentation was to a high-tech B2B client, so the stats have to be much more specific to that audience segment and I couldn’t go to the usual well of B2C information.

The bottom line, of course, is that the paradigm for communication has forever been altered because of social media. We are far beyond the “should I do it?” and are now in the realm of “how do we use it in every aspect of our business?” To illustrate this point from a completely psychological viewpoint, check out Social Media Insider’s blog post today: “Social Media Fundamentally Changing Corporate Worldview.”

What follows is a brief digest of some of my favorite sources of social media stats. I hope you find them to be as helpful and compelling as I do.

• 20+ Mind-Blowing Social Media Stats Revisited
• The Business of Social Media: B2B and B2C Engagement by the Numbers (a great blog from Brian Solis)
• 30 Top Objections to Social Media and How to Respond
• 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report from the Social Media Examiner (also check out the rest of the site – incredible stuff!)
• Business Social Media Benchmarking Study (Business.com)
• LinkedIn Delivers B2B Traffic, Wikipedia More Leads (MarketingProfs.com – also check out the rest of this site too!)

- Posted by Kim Stiver

Last week during a conference in New Orleans, someone said that the term, “fencing the goods” – or selling stolen property – was coined after the pirate and local patriot, Jean Lafitte. Whenever he raided a ship, his crew sailed back into the city and hoisted the captured goods onto the fence surrounding his home.  I don’t know about you, but there’s something weirdly satisfying about a pirate whose “all retail is local” strategy, turned into a wikipedia, Webster’s, and NYPD-Blues verb sensation.

What I also heard more about during this conference is that “local” loses its meaning for anyone under 30. John Zogby in his book, “Where We’ll Be”, finds that nearly everyone under 30 sees themselves living in a global setting. Everything they encounter – ideas, clothes, music, video, friends – is produced, moving, created, or living all over the globe. For them, the geographic boundaries are gone. Even if a label says “made in (pick a country)”, they know the product was probably sourced from many countries. Which means, that other than local food and local beer, marketing something as Maine Made, Made in the USA, or Made in Outerspace is losing much of its relevance.