Show me, don't tell me

Southwest Airlines does a great job of using video to help their customers have a good experience with the company. Writing a blog to help the customer understand processes or procedures is a good thing. Showing someone how to a process or procedure works is even better. How could you use video to improve and enhance your customer's experience with your company? If you have any examples of companies using video to help their customers, please let me know.

is it right?

I going to tell on myself.

One of the nightmares marketers face is having somethting go to print, only to find out something is wrong i.e. the phone number listed is wrong or the website address is incorrect. Take a look at this ad I ran this last week in the local paper. I swear I looked at this ad a 100 times and never saw "it". Can you tell what "it" is?

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Putting up with Bad Service Creates an Illusion

I saw a lady (we'll call her Boopsie) on the street the other day. She has a service business and I happen to know that one of her clients is not happy with the results they are getting from Boopsie.

Does Boopsie know about the clients concerns? My point is, unless a customer tells a vendor that they are unhappy with the service, how is the vendor to know what the problem is so they can fix it? If you don't make your vendor aware of a problem with their service and you let them continue to provide their service to your company, you are creating an illusion. The illusion you create hides the problem from the vendor. And unless the vendor knows about the problem, it will be hard for the service provider to makes changes to improve the situation.

So unless you want to be in the magic business where deception is your game, be upfront with your vendors/servic providers and respect the person enough to tell them the truth. Chances are the service you receive will improve and "POOF"...all your troubles disappear.

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Dillards Does It Again

Dillards in Bartlesville has it down. When you make a purchase and you use a credit card, they will use your name over and over. Good job Dillards!

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Dillards Wins Latest Name Game in Bartlesville

3 Cheers for Darla at Dillards. Last night, on a quest to buy some Godiva Chocolate for dessert, I flew out to Dillards, right before dinner, ran in, grabbed 2 bars of chocolate and handed them over to the first available attendant. Although picked at random, I hit the jackpot with Darla. Darla ran my credit card, noticed my name and used my name when thanking me for the business. A customer's name. Music to their ears.

I wish I could tell you this happens more time than not, but it doesn't. The last time someone noticed me and used my name was the OnCue experience. But Bartlesville is getting it...slowly but surely, Bartlesville is understanding the term "enlightened hospitality".

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At least it's real

Although Jet Blue is taking a beating for the incidents of people being on board waiting to take off for up to 8 hrs or longer, I'm tipping my hat to Jet Blue. Good job for taking the high road and cancelling flights rather than pretending to do something about it and continuing to book flights. From a customer service standpoint, it makes sense to take the hit up and cancel flights rather than tell people you can do something when you can't.

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MacAlister's Keeps it Coming

Not only did I receive an email from corporate offices gushing over what they felt was a negative customer experience, but I also got a handwritten, handwritten, handwritten letter from Alicia Tippett, General Manager along with vouchers good for 2 free lunches at McAlister's Deli...wanting a second chance. You bet they get a second chance. And I'll bet that when we walk in, these counter clerks are going to be high fiving and having a party in the kitchen. I am pumped to go and see what's going on. Whatever is going on, MacAlister's Deli is the lighthouse that shows all other restauants how to treat the Bartlesville public with enlightened hospitality. And everyone needs to read Danny Meyers book, SETTING THE TABLE.

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Good Job McAlister's Deli

My wife and I had lunch yesterday at the new McAlister's Deli on the south side of Bartlesville. Because we didn't have long for lunch, I called in our order ahead of time. Once we got there, the food was ready, paid for it with my debit card (order taker did not take the time to learn my name) and sat down to eat. Nameless

So far so so. After taking several bites, Celeste did not like the tast of her French dip sandwich. So we called a waitress over, told her the problem and she promptly sent us out another sandwich. It's nice to see a business trust what the customer is telling them and make it right.

3 out of 5 stars for McAlisters Deli.

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Yea Annabel...Yeah Netflix!

I had a problem with my Netflix account. All of a sudden, only 3 of my 10 reviews that I had posted showed up. So I sent a message to Netflix asking them to help. I got a nice response and the problem has been resolved. The following is the reponse.

"Hello Scott,

Thank you for contacting Netflix.com customer support!

I'm sorry for any confusion regarding your reviews. I'll be happy to help you with this.

I looked into your account, and I was able to view all 10 of your reviews. You may read the reviews you have written by selecting "Your Reviews and Lists" on the Netflix site. Once this page is displayed you will be able to view the reviews you have written. If you click "Browse" then look over at the right sidebar, you'll see a header that says "Guides" then click on "Your Reviews and Lists".

I'm not sure what happened here, but everything appears to be resolved now. You might try signing out and then signing back into the site, to be sure that you are viewing the most recent version of the website.

To logout, click the "Sign Out" link displayed under your name in the drop down menu on the Browse page. You may also sign out by selecting "Sign Out" located next to your name on the Your Account page. Once you click on the phrase you will be logged out of your account.

I hope this clears things up for you, and that you'll continue to enjoy your membership!

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Annabel
Netflix Customer Service

By the way, Mark at BoingBoing posted a horrible response from Lycos to a customer. You can read it hear. No Lycos for me thank you.

What Does Customer Service Mean?

Customer Service = putting others first. It's that easy/hard.