Posts Tagged customer service

business ideas – local services

Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service on 13/08/2009

Hello,

Instead of me moaning about the customer service of companies, I thought I come up with a few lines of great customer service or better business ideas to be implemented at some local services.

Our local pizza delivery service for instance. For the past 5 years I have been ordering my special pizza: ham, chicken, artichokes, mushrooms, black olives, extra garlic, extra cheese – thin crust. Almost every Friday, and at least once a month. If we estimate an average order volume of £20, estimate on average twice a months, that makes it 5 years of £480 orders, e.g. round about £2,000 I spent with them. Honestly, our combined order is usually past the £25 mark and more than twice a month ;-)

Now, they are great, only made one mistake in all the years and replaced the pizza without extra pay. However, they regularly have offers on where you can save 20%, and you can only claim them during a certain time period, and if you have the leaflet. If you are a regular customer you normally don’t get the offers because you hardly check your leaflet or trash it as soon as it comes through the door. Hence you lose out on the special deals, because you already know what you want and don’t need a leaflet, don’t you?

My suggestion therefore is that they should create an account for each customer. If they had a website, they could automatically do that online, you set up your own account, your preferred pizza, and all you have to do is send a text message or an email or call with a reference number to place your order.

Of course this is not a new idea. And, my next suggestion, as you might have guessed, is to pass on the special offer they have on to regular customers automatically. Make them aware, e.g. deliver the pizza and say “Just to make you aware that we took 20% off your order today because we have a special you might not be aware of.” If you believe it or not, even in a small community like Beckenham, this could make the rounds. People will start talking about it, because people like to speak about their good (and you noticed also their bad) customer service experience. Get people talking and pass on the benefit is the bottom line.

Now, whilst we are on the topic: my local ironing shop.
They have offers on too. They have a website which does not work. So every week I call them to find out if I have to wash my shirts and they iron them or if they still have the special on for washing and ironing my shirt. With a simple newsletter, better a mobile text message service, they reach all their customers. Why not send a text message on a Thursday to all your registered users and tell them “Special this weekend, bring in 5 shirts to iron and get the washing free.” This or similar of course :-)

Where I am going with that – of course cb consulting offers customer service trainings. But, at the moment my time is limited to provide any work. However, I would like people to start thinking as a business. That is my passion, I enjoy doing and running businesses and having ideas for them.

ROI – return on investment. Whilst it is not always about money, money is where it all comes down to. If you get an additional 20 people to order a pizza once a month with an order volume of £20, then this is £400 more in your bank, minus running costs of course. So, you don’t need to have a maths degree to work out how many extra pizzas you need to sell, or how many extra shirts you need to iron, in order to accumulate the costs of an easy to implement website, CRM software, or mobile marketing solution. It is easy and a no brainer to improve your service which ultimately improves the order value….which improves your profit.

Enough of a business lecture on a Thursday morning. Enjoy the rest of your week.

And, if you have too much money to spend, why not develop an iphone application like Pizza Hut did ;-)

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Vodafone got things right!

Posted by Volker in customer service, social media on 05/08/2009

Now, not only was I asked to tell everyone, but I am more than happy to do so!

Vodafone called me late tonight and gave me the offer I wanted. The person I was in contact originally was out of office. Now my question is WHY?

But first, let me say that Thomas Rushton and his Webteam (Thanks Lee) kept their promise and put things right after I tweeted and blogged about it.

It still does not go into my head that
- A company makes it so difficult to change between contracts and that I could have created more work by canceling my (consumer) contract and then becoming a new (business) customer again.
- That I need to push on social media, e.g. Twitter, Blogging, Linkedin to get attention.

And, I don’t believe that the social media influence itself has caused them to think about it. At least I don’t hope it did, but that somewhere along the line the “customer (e.g. me) was king”.

I tried to think of an analogy (maybe not the best but it is almost 10 pm): My teddy bear from years ago: I love him, I nurture him, I want to keep him but he keeps disappearing, gets uncool, looses his fur and although I am certain that I should get rid of him, I am almost in “love” with him – hence I don’t abandon him. But one day, he starts talking to me and says “Volker, I have to leave you.” Would you not be devastated?

Not sure if it makes sense that I “love” a brand like Vodafone (and other brands). I told the guys that I am more than happy to outline a social media strategy for them. I never wanted to leave Vodafone but they seemed to wanted to get rid of me. Maybe they will tell me why no one took ownership of my case and sorted things out for good? Would that not have been better and easier for all of us?

Anyway, Ian Shepherd wanted to make me an advocate, and I am. Of course subject to the free blackberry arriving this Friday :-) Very excited.

I wrote to the Webteam, after sorting it, that I will blog positive about it. I also believe that it is essential for any brand to monitor the social media space and engage with the twitter community or with the bloggers. As an example when I mentioned O2 or Orange earlier, they should have engaged with me and offer me a contract, shouldn’t have they? I was saying I would go and join them instead. And Vodafone should get their voice out there too, engaging with me or others.

Just around 5 pm this afternoon, monitoring Twitter, I found Vodafone being mentioned almost once every minute. It is so essential for brands to monitor and engage. Engage with your customers where they are. Social Media. Offline. Mobile.

Ok, ok – before i go on and speak more about strategy, I should mention the post about “Don’t litter Twitter” by the guys from Jam. I think we should all have “freedom of speech” and should be allowed to say what we want.

If our followers drop/un-follow or if people don’t want to listen what we have to say – then that is ok. I don’t follow everyone back either. However, with brands it is different. They need to listen and get a more “personal” profile on the social media space in order to meet their customers on the same level.

Vodafone has sorted things this time, in future and I am confident they will engage with customers more in the future and think about their social media strategy. Happy to help you if you like!

Thanks again for sorting things out and getting things right. Whilst obviously being subjective, I think that was an objective way of putting things :-)

Happy to keep everyone posted of the progress!

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Can Vodafone win me back last minute?

Posted by Volker in customer service, social media on 05/08/2009

I am sitting here and just do NOT understand.

You must by now got the message of what I think of Vodafone. I hate Vodafone’s customer service. I direct messaged with the director of customer service on Twitter until he unfollowed me, and emailed with his team and finally got moved to a business account. That was, after I had to sign another direct debit mandate and form, because the online form we discussed several times on the phone had suddenly disappeared.

Now, I am officially a business customer and can upgrade my account. However, the upgrade means I need to pay for a new phone rather than getting one for free. To get the latter, I need to cancel my contract, change to a pay as you talk contract, and then come back to Vodafone as a new business customer. Could that be the solution.

I tried. I really think I tried it all. Writing on Twitter, being friendly in emails, asking for nothing else but being transferred to be a Vodafone business customer for a better deal and a free phone, and then, when I thought everything is sorted, I get stabbed in the back. I have to pay for the handset, a whopping £280.

So I wrote them another email, asking to sort things out by close of play today but they didn’t. 4 hours seemed enough to react to a customer enquiry, one that is ongoing for several weeks.

Now, all I can do is wait or cancel. The problem is that I don’t really want to change providers but Vodafone does not leave me a choice. I have to leave a brand I like, a company I care about but their customer service is just so bad.

Go on Twitter and search for Vodafone and you find out how many people talk bad about them. Shame!

I guess it is GOODBYE Vodafone – and the iPhone at last? Or Orange? I keep you posted.

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Vodafone Customer Service

Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, personal on 23/07/2009

I wrote about my “unhappiness” with Vodafone before. However, this time it is different.

When I found out that my new work does not supply me with a blackberry, I decided to get one myself. I was thinking about it anyway and went to Vodafone as my contract is about to run out the end of August. In store they told me that I could not get a business contract, which includes the 24 hour phone replacement service and free land line calls as well as the free Blackberry, whilst having a customer account. Therefore, they suggested that I should cancel my contract to a “pay as you talk” and then come back to the store and take out a business account.

Of course I wasn’t happy with the solution and contacted their online and telephone team and got various answers. Whilst the telephone team sent me a very complicated transfer form, the online team sent me a link for an easy form to transfer my phone number and contract to a business account. However, that form had a usability issue which didn’t let me fill in my correct birth date, e.g. the days only went from 1 to 28.

Now, as I wanted things to go smoothly, I called them up and explained but no one seemed to bother. I then got the answer of

Hello Volkar,
I understand from your email that you want us to inform transfer team to correct you date of birth to 30/4/1977.
Volkar, you need to contact new connection team 08080741741 in order to correct you date of birth to 30/4/1977.
I trust I have done the needful.

Firstly, they couldn’t even address their customer with the correct name which I pointed out but still didn’t get an apology. Then, even for me as a foreigner, the English just doesn’t sound correct! And, lastly, the number wasn’t free. So because Vodafone could not get a form that allows me to do the correct thing, I had to pay money to get things sorted? I don’t think so. They then complied of me sending in a driving licence and again I refused being a customer for many years, they should surely know my birthday by now, shouldn’t they?

I spent another hour on the phone to the customer service, often ending up in a dead end, e.g. “yes, we are happy to put you through to the business account service team, enter your number.” But as my number hasn’t been recognised as a business number, I was thrown out of the line. That happened repetitively and I got so fed up that I went on Twitter!

That is where the whole “fun” started. No one but ex-Virgin and BT seemed to pick up on me complaining about Vodafone. I would have loved to take on the offer from BT who kindly send me a nice reply on how to become a BT Business Customer. BT’s customer service really improved! They are doing a great job of monitoring and engaging with their clients on social media sites, such as Twitter.

A friend finally pointed me in the direction of the Vodafone Directors Office on Twitter, Ian Sheperd. He and his team were great and engaged with me on the level I approached them: Social Media site Twitter! I got a call the very same day of approaching him that my account will be transferred within 30 days, I will get my free Blackberry, and that I don’t need to re-send any proof of my birth date.

Even the next day I got another call from his team, apologising for the poor experience and Ian said that he is determined to make me an advocate for Vodafone. But will I?

First of all it depends on how they deal with my account transfer. If by mid August I will have a blackberry and the contract and everything sorted the way I want, then I am more than happy to speak out for Vodafone. However, I truly believe they need to improve their customer service, not only customer service on Twitter.

For big brands it gets more important than ever to engage with their clients where they are. They need to be on social media sites such as Twitter and find out if anyone speaks about their brand. And, if the experience like in my case is poor, they need to engage with me, and make me an advocate there and then. However, the process Ian went through was quite lengthy and I am sure he shouldn’t be the one that is dealing with complaints, then again I am glad he did in my case.

As you might have noticed by now, I am very passionate about two things: Social Media and Customer Service. The latter is very important for anyone from my local ironing shop to brands like Vodafone. But the combination of both become more and more powerful. All Social Media does is to engage with the audience and clients where they are. If that is Twitter, YouTube or through games or communities does not matter. But Social Media is a channel brands can no longer ignore.

Ian, thanks again for your help and I hope we can sort out my account and you turn me into an advocate for Vodafone. Also, if you have questions about how Vodafone can embrace Social Media, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am more than happy to present you with some exciting ideas! You got my number ;-)

…to be continued…

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BT (British Telecom) – customer service

Posted by Volker in SEM, cb consulting, customer service, social media on 19/06/2009

I keep getting into the habit of writing about customer service. Particularly in relationship with Twitter.

Also, I have a love-hate relationship with BT (British Telecom). About 2 1/2 years ago when we moved into a new flat they drove me nuts. It took me a week to convince their help desk that they don’t need to do a line check every time I call and that there is a problem with the exchange. They eventually agreed to send out an engineer and fixed the problem after 10 days. I got so mad at them that I wrote a letter to the CEO which resulted in the head of customer service apologizing about the incident, and me getting 3 months free broadband as a compensation.

Now, why am I still with BT? Two reasons. One is that my wife likes to keep the land line number. Secondly, it is convenient to have them as they have a good connection, e.g. I hardly ever in the last 5 years had problems connecting to the internet. I believe 2 times in 5 years. That is a very good track record.

After the incident 2 1/2 years ago I decided not to sign for another 12 months in case I want to swap to Virgin for their quicker glass fibre optic broadband. But then I did sign another 12 months just recently because I thought I never going to change to another provider and they offered me some savings :-) I fell for the old sales trick!

What I noticed lately, particularly reading about BT’s throttling broadband speed. Of course they speak about doubling the speed and introducing glass fibre optic technology too. Anyhow, because we have such a slow speed, e.g. we signed up for up to 8 mb/s, and only receive around 3 mb/s, I complained to them and tweeted about it and said that I am not happy with the slow speed but surprised, due to previous experience, about their speedy response. After my complain via email I had a technician on the phone within 2 hours! And he unfortunately admitted that if it is slower than 2.5 mb/s I should call them. However, that is not the reason I signed up for 8 mb/s but I know there is no way to argue about it. Maybe Virgin after all?

BT thread1

Above the replies from Twitter. BT started following me, commenting and offering more help and support. I find that very good and very essential. Actually, this is what the post is about.

Any good brand nowadays needs to adopt to search/social media to follow up what is said about their brand online. With BT for instance, you need to monitor “BT” on Twitter. Go to the search function and search for BT, you will quickly see how much work they have to do and how many people write about “BT” not meaning the company.

Just thought this is a great case study on how well BT is doing, or brands in general, in adopting social media and monitoring as well as engaging with clients. It is more and more essential for brands to engage with clients where they are.

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Twitter’s future and customer service

Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, social media on 15/06/2009

I am a little behind my reading this week. On the i-media newsletter I found an interesting article from Brendan Nelson about “Where next for Twitter?”

Reason me picking up on this one is that Nelson pointed out a few very interesting things about Twitter.

The idea of brands to embrace Twitter is not new. He uses the example of First Capital Connect to alert travelers of any train problems. My hosting provider uses the same method to alert me when the server is down. I know of a company, or many by now, that embrace social media to engage with their clients. Example is a broadband provider where the Managing Director got a keyword alert on a Sunday morning for his brand name that someone was unhappy with his service. He engaged with the customer and sorted things out for him Monday morning, resulting in the person twittering about the great customer service and engagement with the client! This is just one example of many.

In the old days people recalled products, sent letters and tried to reach people through offline advertising. Nowadays people use 140 characters, instant online SMS, to engage with other people. They recommend services and point other users to positive experience with brands – but also to negative experience with brands. People use “Search”, e.g. Google, Yahoo! and Bing, to FIND recommendations, products and services. And, the more positive news they read about your product the better.

Last week on Twitter, I engaged in a conversation about a mobile phone network. Others tweeted about their bad experience being on hold to their broadband provider, eventually hung up and used a different provider.

What do brands have to do? Engage with your clients via social media. That is the key. Monitor your brand name online and be sure you are found for anything related to your products and services, your brands etc. The bigger the corporation and the more brand names you have, the more important is it to monitor all of them. You can automate that but ideally have someone dedicated to engage with anything that is said about any of your brands…at any one time.

Whilst Google for instance takes a few days to index some pages, Twitter is there instantly. It is real time. If someone opens a “can of coke” and has a bad experience, she might tweet about it whilst waiting for the bus. She turns her “downtime” into “bad reputation for the coke producer”. You want to engage with her and use her next downtime to tweet about the positive response she got from you. Make your client/customers happy! Make them being noticed and feel good. If they do, they will tell their friends about it. And don’t forget, this is REAL TIME. And that makes twitter so powerful. And of course, the more followers you or the person has, the more brand awareness (positive as well as negative) you get! Viral marketing!

Why is Twitter so closely related to search marketing? Firstly, I believe that Twitter is offering instant search. That means people will use Twitter more and more to find most relevant and most up to date information. And, it is reputation management, as people talk about things on Twitter.

Secondly, as a brand, or any brand really, you want to know what your customer says, thinks and would like to see. If someone has an idea of how to improve your chocolate bar, your computer or your software – you want to know. Therefore it becomes more and more important to find those information and turn them into value within your organisation. Dell for instance created a forum for customer support that gained them great ideas which in return relates to millions of pounds in savings for product development.

Taking the two things to mind, you want to be found for what your customers associate you with. If you produce a chocolate bar you don’t want to be found for “chocolate bar” only. If you clients talk about you having “the coolest tasting chocolate bar on the planet”, you want to be found for that keyword and drive that message out through online and digital marketing use. By driving these keywords out there, people will use those keywords and you will be found for them – that is if you optimise for them. Look at Orange’s “I am” campaign.

orange-i-am

Now, I can conclude, that customer service in real time is very important and that Twitter is a very valuable source, amongst blogs, forums and other social media sites, e.g. Facebook, Hi5, and Orkut, for you to engage with your clients. Get your communication right and embrace social media and your clients where they are. Embrace their opinion in real time!

Follow me on Twitter, @ballueder

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customer service again – fitness first last

Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, gym, health, personal on 08/11/2008

Hello,

I wrote about fitness first’s customer service before. Now, I decided to leave them and join my local council gym. It is cheaper, closer and it upgraded all the gym equipment.

After the last hassle of changing between clubs my contract got “officially renewed” although I have been with fitness first for quite some time. Now I have to wait for the minimum period to be over to cancel the membership, and have to see an adviser to cancel my membership too.

That is what I did today. And, I was positively surprised. I had to sign another form that says I want to cancel and not take the opportunity to sign up for some free stuff if I decided to stay. Got a temporary card and can use the gym until end of the year. Not too bad.

Will then join the council gym, Beckenham Spa, for £13/month less and it is about 10 minutes closer to home. What else I want. Happy days?!

Only problem: the time to use the gym :-)

Have a good weekend
Volker

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Vodafone – bad customer service and pushy sales tactics

Posted by Volker in Marketing, cb consulting, customer service, personal on 11/10/2008

Hello,

Now, let me have an official go at Vodafone.

As, in my eyes, best provider of mobile services due to its reception in all areas of the UK, including the Scottish Highlands, I find Vodafone quite bad in regards to customer service and sales tactics.

Customer Service first:

My wife was due for an upgrade. When asking the person on the phone, she suggested to get 50 minutes and 50 text more for the same price. So, I was put on the account and started negotiating. Unfortunately, it has not been the first time that happens. Because I had to do that with my contract as well. The trick is that you tell them what T-Mobile offers. Then they say that they cannot offer that to existing but to new customers only.

That is the first problem – why treat customers that have been with you for 18 months worse than some that just want to become your clients? That is the old sales tactic to hook the client. Once the client signs up, Vodafone does not seem to be interested anymore.

My negotiation tactic goes on: “If you cannot offer me a better deal I have to go to T-Mobile.” The magic answer from the upgrade team is: “Ok, I put you through to our promotional team.” Once you are there you get the deal they offer new clients and you feel really happy because you got a very good deal. I am jealous my wife as a new phone now and a really good deal. Ach well, I am due for an upgrade in 8 months and then I can negotiate an even better deal ;-)

Now, the problem I have is that I need to escalate things. As an exisiting client I really should not have to do that. I should get a phone call when I am due to upgrade with a really good deal instead of pushing the service provider to give it to me. BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE VODAFONE!

Sales second:

It gets better. I had about 5 missed calls from Vodafone myself and when I finally answered, a pushy sales person offered me a 2nd line because I am such a good customer. When I said that I do not need one, and that no one has a pay as you go, as he suggested, that wanted to upgrade, he offered me the “deal of my life”.

Why, so he suggested, not get a 2nd sim card for yourself. He checked my account and, of course, I go over my limit every month. So, if I had a 2nd sim I could put it into my phone when my current free bundle is finished. When I asked how people would reach me on my current number, he suggested I could text everyone in my address book once a month to let them know my number changed (and of course using 500 texts for it). It would only be £10/month for a 2nd sim with enough minutes and it works out so much cheaper for me.

I asked him if he was serious because that is the most ridiculous sales tactic and suggestion I had ever heard. Why would someone do that and change their number in the middle of the months to save 2 or 5 pounds? If they had offered me an upgrade to another contract that would have made sense but changing to a 2nd sim just does not do it for me. I would rather go to a competitor, get a new phone and a new contract. VERY BAD SALES TACTIC AND TOO PUSHY!

Summa summarum:

I am with Vodafone for the coverage in the UK. For customer service I would go back to T-Mobile or O2. Latter’s coverage is supposendly very good also, so maybe I change next year. People calling me up to offer me unreasonable, useless deals is just wrong. And, it does not shed a good light on a company that presents itself to the outside in a complete different branding.

Vodafone – change your sales tactic and offer me a job as a Sales Director UK :-) (Sorry, A., I am not serious.)

Have a good weekend,

Volker

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fitness first – customer service second!

Posted by Volker in cb consulting, customer service, gym, health, personal on 29/08/2008

Fitness First seems to be one of the biggest fitness clubs in the UK.

However, their customer service is appalling. I try to be constructive with my critics:

I joined them in their Bloomsbury gym in March and went during lunch time. Since I got busier I could not go anymore and tried to go to the Beckenham club since. There I have to sign in every time I go and if I have any membership related questions they refer me to Bloomsbury.

So, on 14th of July (coming up 2 months) I filled in a form to transfer my membership at same conditions and be a member in Beckenham.

Since, I had  about 5 calls, voice mails etc, returned the calls and nothing has happened. NOTHING at all. Left notes at the reception desk too. Ergo, I called their customer service team in their head office yesterday and said “no one seems to be interested and if I do not hear from you I quit and go somewhere else”.

Guess, nothing has happened.
I think I might have to go to the Bloomsbury branch and quit my membership and start a new one in Beckenham. The assumption I make is that I need to pay extra to join the Beckenham gym. Would not surprise me.

When I refered someone to the club it took them 4 weeks (f-o-u-r) to actually sort out my referral voucher which I had to redeem the same day due to its validity. I was not impressed and complained about that – still waiting for an answer and excuse. And, the watch I got was not working properly – did not really want it but had to chose something!

Maybe big clubs can afford to lose members and can afford an arrogant attitude towards their members. There is no doubt their gym equipment is top notch and their trainers are well educated, but, with all enthusiasm, I cannot see anyone caring for their customers….

If you pick that up, Fitness First, let me know and feel free to comment.

Anyone else had bad experience with them? I knew why I took out a 3 months membership, I might just go back to the council gym for half the price but friendly people….you will see!

Btw, I like their comment about “Fitness First is always working hard to make sure you get the best benefits for your membership – inside and outside your club!”

Wow, they save you pounds but don’t have any offers? And, they are working hard for you to get the best benefits for your membership – WORK HARDER!

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customer service once again

Posted by Volker in customer service on 26/03/2008

Hello,

Today another story of poor customer service – from the financial sector for a change.
I wrote to my lovely credit card (cc) company a “secure message” asking to raise my limit. Purely to be on the safe side for our house expenses coming up (not that I can put the whole house on the cc :-) ).
So, I got a nice message back within a few hours saying that it is not a problem and the limit was granted.

However, today a company called me up saying my cc is not working. Embarrassing! I spoke to my cc company and they said that I the limit was not raised and that I cannot get a higher limit. I said “fair enough” as I do not necessarily need the limit, however I asked how they dared to tell me they raised the limit but did not.

“I should write a complaint online about the limit” they said. So I did, mentioning the above and explicitly saying “I do not care about the limit but mainly about you telling me that the limit was raised”. Haha, got a message back saying that for an appeal about the limit I would have to……

Often I wonder about customer service.  And why people are too stupid to understand me and my emails. Sometimes I wonder if it is me?! Then I show people my emails and they reassure me that it is not me – it is them!

I now replied, again via secure message, that I don’t care about the limit. I care about their service. 18 months ago their charged me for being 150 GBP over the limit for 24 hours and it took 10 emails to sort it and get my money back. Ridiculous.

Alright, I keep you posted.

Volker

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