Tag: customer service

Different meals

FabrizioLeave a comment

Everyone can do marketing.

It’s something most marketers have heard at one point or another of their career.

Of course, what that means is that everybody can do marketing tactics. Or even better, everybody can think of marketing tactics.

Because marketing tactics are intuitive and they are something we are exposed to (as consumers) every single day.

Where marketers can get a real edge, though, is using those tactics within the framework of a marketing strategy that fits the specific market. And do that consistently and over time, measuring results and getting better.

That’s not something everyone can do. It is actually something most people struggle to wrap their minds around.

You might think about it this ways.

On one side, you have the day when you just open the fridge, pick whatever it is that is in there, and try to organize some decent food for you lunch.

On the other side, you have the day when you plan your meal, you do grocery shopping accordingly, you follow a recipe a dear friend shared, and you end up with exactly the dish you wanted to eat.

I know which one I prefer.

Help them move forward

FabrizioLeave a comment

If you approach a customer support ticket, a negative review, a cancellation request with a defensive mindset, you will always fail.

When people approach you with a problem, they are not interested in hearing that it’s not your fault. They might be seeking a solution, a clean cut, a way to rant. Never will they want to hear a closing statement from your defence attorney.

What do you want to achieve and what do they want to achieve are two important things to consider in these cases.

You have a system to monitor your customers opinions because you want to know when things go wrong and try to remedy that, possibly changing people’s attitude towards your brand. Then why is it rarely your fault, why is confrontation often the go-to tactic, why is empathy the last thing that’s being taught to your people?

And on the other hand, customers do very often reach out because they care and they want to share. They are unsure about what happened, they are hurt because things did not work out as they expected, they want to know they have not done a terrible choice.

So, when you see a customer support ticket, a negative review, a cancellation request, keep in mind you are not there to prove a point.

You are just there to help the other move forward.

Scripts

FabrizioLeave a comment

Scripts are out there, they are easy to replicate and scale.

Script #1 – Send LinkedIn contact request faking interest in profile, then send follow up pitch upon acceptance of request.

Script #2 – Collate information you find on Google in an eBook, gate the eBook to collect email addresses, then sequence them.

Script #3 – Map what competitors have on their blog, then have a piece of content to match all topics, possibly changing the content only marginally.

There are more. The problem is that they work for about 10 minutes, then they are old, start annoying people, and you are left wondering why.

If you want to stand out, you have to do something that is not scripted.

It’s not easy.

It’s not supposed to.

Seeking themselves

FabrizioLeave a comment

Why should people follow you?

Why should they comment on your social media posts, subscribe to your newsletter, download your latest research, share and spread your word?

As a marketer, if you are not constantly asking yourself this, you will not succeed.

Also, if your are answer is, “to become a new lead”, you will not succeed.

People are not out there seeking you. They are out there seeking themselves.

Responsibility avoidance

FabrizioLeave a comment

Companies have plenty of sacks of responsibility avoidance. They exist and grow in the space between two poorly designed processes, or between well designed processes that are way past their best before date.

In a way, it’s impossible to avoid. Companies will get to a point where, to a given issue, different people will answer systematically with: it’s not my responsibility.

But if you don’t leave enough space for those who care enough to actually do something about the issue, that’s where the real failure is.