Customer Service – @DanaMNelson

June 29, 2016

5 Lessons from Reese’s Christmas Tree

Today I have a guest post from Jenna Winslow.

Jenna Winslow is a recent graduate from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. Jenna interned at Signarama Evansville during her senior year and is currently the Digital Marketing Intern at Ten Adams Marketing.

5 Lessons from Reese’s Christmas Tree

Social media is not only a fun place to interact with friends, family, and businesses; but is also quickly becoming one of the leading marketing platforms. Social media offers the ability to reach consumers and to connect with them unlike ever before. And in our rapidly evolving technological world, social media can either make or break a company.

Unhappy customers often go straight to social media to complain about a product or recent negative experience with a company. And if they are able to express their rage in less than 140 characters, they typically tag the company’s social media account directly in the post. All eyes then turn to see how, or if, the company responds.

There have been various cringe-worthy social media fails over the years: companies responding inappropriately to complaints – or just flat out ignoring them. There are plenty of lessons that can be learned from these mistakes; however, just as many, if not more lessons, can be learned from social media wins – when a company nails their response to public customer complaints, settling the issue.

Reese’s had a social media win of their own after releasing their annual Reese’s Christmas Tree last November. Social media savvy customers headed to Twitter to express their thoughts regarding Reese’s Christmas Trees – or more like the lack of resemblance to a tree.

Despite being put in a difficult situation for the entire world of social media to see, Reese’s was not fazed by the complaints and used them as an opportunity. Their response is what I would call the biggest social media win of 2015.

Reese’s created a Twitter campaign exclusively focused on the ugly, misshapen trees, making it official with the hashtag #AllTreesAreBeautiful.

Reese’s did not simply apologize to their customers, although they did apologize. Reese’s took their response one step further by admitting the Christmas Trees are not perfect, and fully embracing that fact. “It’s not what it looks like, it’s what it tastes like.”

Here are 5 lessons we can take away from Reese’s Christmas Tree win:

Your customers are on social media, and you should be, too; build connections and reach customers you otherwise may not have been able to.
Monitor what people are saying; turn complaints or bad reviews into an opportunity to gain feedback and learn from your customers.
Never ignore a complaint on social media; not only does this reflect poorly on you, it could also be a missed opportunity.
Engage with your customers on social media; whether a comment or post is about a great experience or a complaint, it requires a prompt response.
Use social media to improve customer service; this can be as simple as responding to a complaint, and shows customers you value them.

Connecting with customers is easy thanks to social media, creating the opportunity to provide exceptional customer service. Your next response to customer feedback on social media doesn’t have to become an entire Twitter campaign – but it could!

January 15, 2014

It Started With a Pen

This week I Begin a New Journey

This is my first week as an employee of Signarama Evansville. I have accepted a part time Marketing Coordinator position with them. My position is one that will grow and change as time goes on. That’s really how today’s successful businesses work; ever-changing. The few people I have told have all asked: “What will you be doing?” Then after answering with the simple answer, “web, social, digital, marketing and special projects,” I got almost the same response, “Duh.”

It’s What I do

What I do isn’t changing. I will still be teaching at the University of Southern Indiana, Northwest Kentucky Training Consortium, and my not yet really announced teaching partnership with Western Kentucky University. For my existing corporate clients, I will still be here, don’t worry. I will be very selective on any new corporate clients, but I like it that way.

Nothing New/Making Things New

I have been working with Signarama Evansville for years, teaching, training, consulting, reviewing, and strategizing. They have always been a good client. In this regard, not really a new thing. But coming into this position there are some areas of blank canvas. I will be doing some special projects and working on some really exciting things. I can’t wait to start making some of this canvas come to life and share it with you!

It Started With a Pen

I love the people at Signarama. I first met Debbie Valiant at an event I saw advertised on Facebook. I looked at who was attending and saw that she would be there. I didn’t know her, I just knew I was in the market for a pen. (I owned a computer consulting company at the time.) I sought her out and was quickly impressed not only with her, but the whole company. I love the people that work there already and I know a lot about the sign industry. Don’t get me wrong, I know I have a lot to learn going into a new field, but being with such remarkable people will make it an exciting and fun adventure! I consider myself lucky to work for this company, owned by the Valiants. They are a strong, caring company with values. (I’ve blogged about them before: Valiant Defined)

Let the adventure begin….

April 19, 2012

Almost There…An Invitation…

If you have had me in class or follow me on social networks you know that I am a huge believer in Wayne Elsey, former CEO & founder

of Soles4Souls, & author of the highly acclaimed book, “Almost Isn’t Good Enough.” This book has been such an inspiration to so many hard working, dedicated professionals, including myself, I would love to share what I’ve learned with you. In his book, Wayne stresses the fact that It’s all about the people. It’s about making a difference. Yes it is written and geared toward NPO’s but the same principles apply in the business realm as well.

You deal with people. People are your life and your passion. You live to serve, & to make a difference, but the restraints of money, time and your board of directors are draining your passion.

If this is remotely how you feel, I invite you to join us for “Almost There”… a book discussion group where we will read thru “Almost isn’t Good Enough” by Wayne Elsey. It will be well worth your time, & refresh & inspire your mission as a servant leader.

The details are not all set. We need to know how many people are intersted, and what their schedules will allow for a meeting time.

Here is what we do know:

We will discuss the book and how it applies to YOUR situation.
10 people will get a free hard cover book.
5 people will get a free digital book.
Everyone will get a free study guide.
At the end we will have a live Google + hangout with Wayne.
Will be held in the greater Evansville area*
6 weeks long with one 1.5 hour meeting per week
It’s free to attend.

If you are interested, please fill out this quick form and you will be contacted with more information soon.

*If you are NOT in the greater Evansville area and would like to attend or host an Almost There book disscussion in your area please fill out this quick form. We are working on some exciting resources, and will get them to you just as soon as they are available.

July 6, 2011

The Corporate Breakup

When I ran a computer consulting business, I started noticing some trends with businesses that were confusing to me.

We don’t like change, even if it is good, even if it saves us money and time.
That fear of change makes us very forgiving.
We fear conflict that ultimately leads to change.

For example, old antiquated hardware and software that breaks and requires constant maintenance cost us more than money. It costs frustration, employee productivity and happiness. But we keep calling in the IT guy who band-aids us back together. We fear the hassle of learning new software. Again time, money, productivity and company morale are all at stake.

But now I’ve noticed this pattern in other areas of business, not just where it relates to tech.

We forgive the mistakes of vendors over and over. It’s easier than finding a new one and making a change.

We forgive employees. There are times when managers and business owners look the other way because they fear the process of hiring and training a new replacement. We forget that by “protecting them” – we’re really protecting us from the hassle and fear; we’re hurting our other employees in the process.
We hang on to dead weight accounts. Yes, sometimes you need to let a customer go. The one who has burned you, taken more time, energy and effort than they’ve invested in your business; the one who refused to pay you or takes forever to pay. We forgive them too, for fear we won’t replace the income they represent. (If you have one of these customers… let him go. You’ll more than make up for it in time and happiness.)

I’m not suggesting that at the first mishap you drop a vendor, employees, or clients. I’m saying if you’ve been dealing with the same old story from one of them for a long period of time, maybe it’s time you step back take an objective review, and evaluate that relationship.

You can be friends with any of those people; social media makes it so easy to fall into friendships with business acquaintances. You need to remember, however, this is your business. We do forgive friends, but even with friendships, when a relationship is toxic to one party, it’s time to end it.

If you benefit from this post, great, but I wrote it for me. I wrote it because after:

repeated bad customer service
hours and hours on the phone caught in a phone maze, transferred to the wrong department repeatedly, where I had to tell my story again
repair request after repair request; it took over 4 months to get help
help arrive and made the problem worse
a major cell tower went down and is still not replaced
countless dropped and missed calls
I have been emotionally and financially abused

I am leaving AT &T.

I’m standing up for myself and my business. I’m done forgiving and I’m taking back control of my communications.

January 9, 2011

Are You Responding to Influencers?

Southwest Airlines has long been a leader and innovator in social media. They do things differently and are not afraid to step out to try new things; to be the first guy on the dance floor, if you will. They are known for their antics and humor online, in the terminal and in the air. But how do they deal with serious issues? With style and grace.

Does every complaint matter on Twitter? @SouthwestAir says ‘yes!’

The above article outlines the story one man’s response to a major renovation in the airline’s rewards program. This one man made a stink and he was not shy about publicly letting Southwest know that he was not happy about it.

Who was this guy?

It wasn’t Scott Statten, who’s lead some very successful campaigns about how airlines treat their customers, with only a few tweets and his army of almost 77 thousand social savvy followers of his @unmarketing twitter account. It was @SJCsouthpaw With is ~~106~~ 107 followers that were genuinely upset with the company’s new program. He wasn’t the only one, but Southwest chose to answer him. Why? Because at Southwest “Our strategy is every customer matters, every customer’s opinion matters.”

Was that the right move?

Critics wondered. Frank Eliason, senior vice president of social media for Citi, says the airline made the right move, viewing Twitter as a customer service venue, not a PR podium.

“The number of followers is meaningless,” he says. “Today, every customer is an influencer. If your concentration is follower count, then all you’re doing is managing a PR situation. In this case it would appear to me that they are servicing their customer. Nice job, Southwest.”

Are you responding to influencers?

Frank couldn’t have said it better: every customer is an influencer. If your company ism’t monitoring and responding to your brand on twitter, you are not responding to an influencer.

Many companies today use only Facebook campaigns to promote their brand. They delete negative feedback to protect the brand. What they’re missing is that all social media can be used as a powerful customer service tool. If your brand is one that practices the above and uses it only as a promotion tool, or your brand is on twitter, but it is linked to your Facebook, and you’re not responding to comments or complaints on twitter, remember @SJCsouthpaw and @unmarketing – If you delete them on facebook, they are still influencers on twitter, where they can carry on the conversation about you – good, bad, and ugly.

You have a choice in how you use your tools in your tool box… use them wisely.