Last weekend my mobile phone froze on me. However, as I was just 11 days from the end of a two year contract I thought it would be a no-brainer to get an early upgrade. How wrong I was! I have been a loyal customer with my mobile provider for well over ten years, yet the company was prepared to let me go for the sake of 11 days!
When I mentioned the foolhardiness of this policy to the manager she replied that she knew – had in fact been refused an upgrade to a customer just one day away from the end of their contract - and because of such restrictions she was actually leaving the company to work elsewhere.
Not wanting to be without a mobile phone service, I walked out of the door and into the next mobile phone provider shop just two doors down. What saved the day was having to get my PAC code over the phone – and for this I went back to the original provider. I had to hang on their phone for over 30 minutes, but I finally got through to someone who offered me an instant upgrade with no loss of cover.
As my personal opinion is that all companies are pretty much the same when it comes to customer service (or lack of it) I was happy to renew. However, when I mentioned the manager’s restricted abilities to the new salesperson, I was met with surprise and indifference.
Yet the company was within a whisker of losing me – and it is always, always, ALWAYS more cost effective to retain customers than spend marketing money on finding new ones. So I urge you to educate your staff to do whatever is reasonable to retain your existing customers.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
When re-branding alone can never go far enough
I couldn't help but be amused the other week when I went to a friend’s birthday celebrations. She had made sure the venue catered for all tastes with delicious food suitable for omnivores, vegetarians and vegans. Along with the meat and cheese dishes were two large bowls of vegetable rice, one clearly labelled ‘vegan’ and the other not. (Presumably the only difference between the two being that one also contained butter.)
By the end of the night the food had all gone except for - you guessed it - the bowl of vegetable rice with the dreaded ‘V’ word in front of it. Even those who wanted to soak up excess alcohol were avoiding eating it - and I don’t think it was because they didn’t want to deprive any poor vegan in the vicinity of extra calories.
The very word ‘vegan’ clearly makes most omnivores run a mile. I suspect they fear it may be tasteless and could even be the death of them – so they’re too frightened even to try a mouthful. Which is a real shame because in reality a balanced, vegan diet is a delicious, compassionate choice that benefits the health of humans, the planet and animals.
Re-branding a ‘vegan diet’ as a ‘plant-based’ diet would no doubt help, but on its own will never last. Just as changing the negatively perceived term ‘Mongolism’ to ‘Downs Syndrome’ works for a while, the new term ends up being equally surrounded by negativity in the end. In such circumstances what is also needed is sustained education that changes biased, negative attitudes and beliefs into positive, intelligent, informed choices of looking at and interacting with our unbelievably rare and precious planet and the individual lives on it - both human and animal.
By the end of the night the food had all gone except for - you guessed it - the bowl of vegetable rice with the dreaded ‘V’ word in front of it. Even those who wanted to soak up excess alcohol were avoiding eating it - and I don’t think it was because they didn’t want to deprive any poor vegan in the vicinity of extra calories.
The very word ‘vegan’ clearly makes most omnivores run a mile. I suspect they fear it may be tasteless and could even be the death of them – so they’re too frightened even to try a mouthful. Which is a real shame because in reality a balanced, vegan diet is a delicious, compassionate choice that benefits the health of humans, the planet and animals.
Re-branding a ‘vegan diet’ as a ‘plant-based’ diet would no doubt help, but on its own will never last. Just as changing the negatively perceived term ‘Mongolism’ to ‘Downs Syndrome’ works for a while, the new term ends up being equally surrounded by negativity in the end. In such circumstances what is also needed is sustained education that changes biased, negative attitudes and beliefs into positive, intelligent, informed choices of looking at and interacting with our unbelievably rare and precious planet and the individual lives on it - both human and animal.
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
When humour isn’t funny
Humour can be an incredibly powerful force. It can help you get a serious message across in a friendly way; make people see an issue differently; or just make people warm to you and your brand. However you do need to take care when using it. When you’re talking to people face to face it’s much easier to judge their reaction and know whether or not your joke went down well. But if you write something funny you don’t know your readers’ reaction unless you get a complaint. Which is something you definitely don’t want to provoke.
When I was at the ice hotel in Swedish Lapland at New Year, we had a briefing on how to survive the night at -5C. As the guests gathered in the ice cold lobby two young Swedish women were waiting for us. They were talking in Swedish and suddenly one of them turned to us and said “We are discussing who takes the survivors and who takes the non-survivors.” Quick as a flash her colleague said, “I’ll take the survivors. Follow, me.” Guests immediately started to file out of the lobby after her – and pretty soon there were very few of us left. At which point the first Swedish woman said, “Wait! Some of you will have to stay with me because the rooms are too small to fit all of you in.”
Luckily her misunderstood joke was easily overcome and the few of us who had waited probably had a better time of the briefing as there were fewer of us crammed in the small ice rooms. But it goes to show that humour is relative and you need to make sure your words will come across as you intended and not be misconstrued. So do think carefully when you use humour. Used well it can be extremely persuasive.
When I was at the ice hotel in Swedish Lapland at New Year, we had a briefing on how to survive the night at -5C. As the guests gathered in the ice cold lobby two young Swedish women were waiting for us. They were talking in Swedish and suddenly one of them turned to us and said “We are discussing who takes the survivors and who takes the non-survivors.” Quick as a flash her colleague said, “I’ll take the survivors. Follow, me.” Guests immediately started to file out of the lobby after her – and pretty soon there were very few of us left. At which point the first Swedish woman said, “Wait! Some of you will have to stay with me because the rooms are too small to fit all of you in.”
Luckily her misunderstood joke was easily overcome and the few of us who had waited probably had a better time of the briefing as there were fewer of us crammed in the small ice rooms. But it goes to show that humour is relative and you need to make sure your words will come across as you intended and not be misconstrued. So do think carefully when you use humour. Used well it can be extremely persuasive.
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