Latest posts from Danny Brown

Enjoy the latest posts from Danny Brown, and feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments after the post.

Everyone is a Customer

One of the things we’re always advised to be wary of is that social media puts us in the spotlight 24/7. As businesses, we need to be focused on our customers and their needs, and as customers we now have an “in” to the businesses that provide us our goods and services.

This have been a double-edged sword in many examples, with customers taking out their grievances in very public places whether the grievance was warranted or not. Yet it’s also allowed business to respond to grievances, and be seen to make things right in the same public space as the original complaint. This has led to haters turning into fans, and everybody wins – customer and supplier.

One of the things we’re often advised to be wary of is that social media puts us in the spotlight 24/7. As businesses, we need to always be on and aware that our customers have an “in” to airing their views in a public place.

Wise words. It works both ways, though.

Customers – or potential customers – are also always on when it comes to thinking ahead and making decisions. We check companies out; we see how they position themselves in public; how they react and deal with queries and situations that we, as future customers, might encounter.

Which made this exchange today (highlighted at the end of the post) really stand out.

Reading through the exchange, two things came across. First, whether information is incorrect or not, lambasting a customer (and therefore a stakeholder in your business) never comes across well. Second, would I want to be a customer of a business that responds this way to a point of view (misled or not)?

Since potential customers don’t wear signs over their heads that say they may be interested in our products or services, we can’t tell who is and who isn’t just a passing visitor. Especially online, where there’s no physical store to walk into and grab a salesperson to talk to.

So, if everyone is a (potential) customer, how are you presenting yourself?

Everyone is a Customer

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God Bless

Learning from Rich Gubby of Wapple

Rich Gubby is the Senior Web Developer over at Wapple in the U.K. Wapple is one of the leading developers of mobile Internet solutions, from websites to WordPress plug-ins and more. And if Rich Gubby is anything to go by, then Wapple are also leading the field at customer satisfaction.

I recently installed the Wapple WordPress plug-in as I wanted more options for mobile visitors to this blog. There are a host of functional plug-ins out there, but a lot come with ads and many are limited in features.

Looking around I found the Wapple site, and the ability to customize the mobile version of my blog to replicate much of the web-based one appealed. Plus the fact you can tailor search engine optimization, even though it’s a mobile app, and I was sold.

I installed the plug-in and it worked. Then it stopped, and all I got was a blank screen when accessing from my BlackBerry. So I deactivated Wapple and switched back to the previous one. Cue impressed-as-hell experience with Wapple.

I received a pleasant email from Rich mentioning he noticed I’d swapped back to another plug-in, and was there any particular reason and could he help in any way. I wrote back thanking him for taking the time to contact, and explained what had happened. Rich offered to style up the plug-in and also look to see what the issue was.

It turns out that it was a comment that had messed up the code a little, so Rich fixed it there and then. He also made sure I had the latest version and new dev key that would allow me to tailor the plug-in more to the styling of my blog.

And this just impressed the hell out of me and it left me thinking that Rich and the guys at Wapple could teach many businesses a thing or two. Here’s why:

Monitoring your product. Rich knew that I had his plug-in but wasn’t using it. Instead of letting that slide, he contacted me to see if there was anything wrong with the product, and if he could help. This leads to the next point.
Excellent customer service. Rich saw there was an issue and made sure that his customer had the best customer service experience around. He resolved the issue and followed up to make sure everything was okay.
Brand loyalty. There are numerous WordPress plug-in developers, yet I’ve never been contacted before by one and offered an experience like the one I had with Rich and Wapple. That’s made me incredibly loyal to them and they’ll be the first I go to when I need mobile solutions.
Consumer marketing. I’ve talked before about the power of consumer marketing and why it’s an untapped weapon for many businesses. Through Rich, Wapple’s service now has me blogging about it and sharing with you, and that’s all free marketing.

As budgets and belts tighten, the people and businesses that are succeeding are the ones separating themselves from the rest of the noise around them. Rich Gubby did that in spades and then some.

Something to learn from, yes?

Tick Tock

Tick tock. The sound of a clock. The sound of watching the minutes go by. The sound of boredom. The sound of anywhere but here.

Silence. The sound of creativity at work. The sound of not really feeling like a job. The sound of expressing yourself. The sound of making things happen the way you want them to. The sound of success.

You’re not encouraging clock watching, are you?

Looks Aren’t Everything

American Spirit Organic Cigarettes Each day I commute via train. Each day I might see up to a couple of hundred different people coming and going at various stations, and that’s just on the train. Then there are the thousands that pass by in the station and on the road.

When I get to the Maritz building, I interact with up to 400+ people on a daily basis, although the core interactions are probably around 30. These are some of the smartest people I know, doing amazing things daily. Creative directors, marketers, finance folks, HR people and more.

Yet if you were to judge these people on appearance, you might think that they’re “normal”.

You might be surprised to know that they’re creating innovative solutions and off-the-wall creative ideas for some of the biggest companies in the marketplace today. Why? Because of an out-of-date mantra that says you have to dress a certain way for business.

I read a newspaper article the other day by a high-end tailor, who was saying you need this suit and these shoes and that hat if you want to create the “right expression”. But he wasn’t defining a certain industry or profession – he was saying all business people should be in suit and tie, otherwise you don’t get taken seriously.

This is a mistake.

Clothes don’t make the man or woman anymore. It never should have to start with. The idea that a suit and tie is the de rigueur dress code for business is as outdated as 486 processors are for computers. The guys I work with? Jeans, trainers, tee shirts, casual shirts – pretty much anything but a suit and tie. Yet they’re responsible for multi-million dollar business deals and ideas.

There’s nothing wrong with choosing to wear a suit and tie or a really smart skirt and jacket mix – some people feel more comfortable in this outfit just as some prefer casual. But the key word here is choosing – give people the choice as opposed to making it for them and you’ll get a more effective employee/colleague.

I pretty much guarantee it.

photo credit: ATIS547