Last week in my post regarding Social CRM growing pains, I issued a challenge to all readers to stump me on my ability to create a fitting analogy from any film to Social Business. Well, Lindsay Bell was the only person to take me up on the challenge and she put forth a challenge based on the 1975 film The Story of O.
Challenge: Accepted.
First things first, if you are unfamiliar with the premise of The Story of O, feel free to click the link above and read the description from wikipedia; if you don’t want to do that, just imagine 50 Shades of Grey, except French and terrible.
Rest assured that this post will not be about sado-masochism or anything like that in any traditional sense of the term. Although, if that’s what you were hoping for, I’m sure you can find something else on the Internet that speaks to that kind of thing.
Hurts So Good
How many processes does your business have set up that are torture for your customers? Do you have an aggravating automated phone tree that makes it almost impossible to talk to a human being? What about a warehouse process that constantly cause deliveries to be days (or weeks) late?
You may scoff at my examples, but I have worked at or with companies that had those very issues and when I approached them about it, the response I got was, “Oh, yeah. We know about that, but it would cost too much to change/fix that so they’ll just have to deal with it.”
Speaking from the other side of things, it’s like torture dealing with a company’s bad practices and being expected to “deal with it” just because I like/use/need that brand’s products/services. Eventually, the pain gets too much and we start looking for other suitors.
It Takes Two
Customer/company relationships can be intense, long-lasting things (sometimes lasting even longer than marriages, which is a whole other post), but just like in any marriage or committed relationship, both sides must contribute joys and pains. The problem that exists for most customers is that it feels like the company is never taking it’s share of the licks. Very rarely does our Sir Stephen declare his love for our O as we make our own marks.
How much do you really care about your customers and making their lives easier?
The great thing about Social Business practices and technologies like Social CRM is that it shows your customers that you’re willing to open yourself up and take the hits that are coming your way, that you can be a true partner in the relationship and that you appreciate them enough to show vulnerability in the process. It also lets your customers open up more to you as well, meaning you can learn more and have the chance to make more money in the long run, which is also pretty cool considering we’re in business to make money in the first place anyway.
Are you ready to tell your customers that story? Ready to get branded for your customers as well as promote your own brand? Contact us - we can help with that.
Thoughts?
| Get our latest posts straight to your inbox! |    |
HA! You did it. Great work Joey. Caveat: I have never seen the film (read the book! LOL).
@belllindsay Well, thanks for the suggestion anyway. It turned out to be an interesting post. : )
@joey_strawn I’m not sure the book was any better than the movie sounds. LOL But I *was* only 19!
@belllindsay I think the movie was French, so it was artsy and uncomfortable. LOL.
@joey_strawn I should have suggested “Last Tango in Paris” – #yowza!
@belllindsay Haha, keep that one in your pocket for the next time I present the challenge. : )
Brilliant.
@KenMueller Thanks!
@belllindsay why Lindsay why!!!?
@BrandonWaselnuk Trust me. It’s not what you think. ;P
@belllindsay Good news
Ha! I just wrote a 50 Shades of Condos blog last week…
Oooh, feel free to share the link here, Melanie! ^DB
@Brett thanks for sharing the post!
Great points, Joey. Thanks for starting this discussion.
It’s true that going social opens you up to criticisms from customers in front of a huge audience – their entire social network. But many would argue that that criticism will happen whether you foster a social presence, or not.That’s why creating a positive image for your business in the social media space is important.
I think the first step to “going social” is to focus on the larger customer service experience. Every contact point with the customer contributes to the image of the company on social sites. Social media needs to be integrated into existing processes, rather than viewed as its own new form of marketing or customer service. That way, reps can seamlessly respond to customers on whatever channel they need to.
Social is important but we also can’t lose focus on traditional lines of communication. Most customers still make phone calls or send emails to get customer support. It’s important that we listen and respond in all of the available spaces. Bad press on social sites doesn’t come from not being on social sites – it comes from having bad customer service. Businesses need to repair and maintain their customer relationships first, before they worry about having an active social presence. All of the social visibility in the world won’t fix bad customer service.
John-Paul Narowski, Founder – karmaCRM
@JNarowski John-Paul, thanks for the GREAT comment. I totally agree with you. While a lot of these posts are focused on the social aspects of things because it’s a blog focused around Social CRM. We tend to skew more towards the conversations of social business and total integration of communications functions.
Just like you mentioned, every experience means something to a customer and the ideal situation is one where ALL experiences are positive. This post dealt directly with that and I like to see that you and I are speaking the same language.
Thanks for your thoughts today and I hope to see you commenting in the future.
Cheers!