The Dots Need Connecting

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Altitude Branding - The Dots Need ConnectingSocial media is grand, and yes, it’s proving to be valuable for customer service in some scenarios.

But it’s exposing a big disconnect: the companies embracing using things like Twitter or blogs aren’t necessarily taking those principles and applying them to their more traditional ideas of customer service and the operations that support it.

Best Buy’s Twelpforce

Yesterday, I had a small experience on that front with my local Best Buy store. I tried to call the store to find out if they had a product in stock. Four times. No one ever picked up the phone.

In typical social media fashion, I vented on Twitter, and headed out to the Apple store to find what I needed.

In rather short order, @Coral_BestBuy reached out to help. But of course, she couldn’t, at least immediately.

As awesome as Coral is (and she really was), she’s part of the corporate team, not the one at my local store that’s failing to answer their phone. She’s a couple of levels removed, and while she told me she was sending an email to store management, the problem is not of her construction. She can only rattle the cage on her end, apologize to me, and try to make things right the best she can.

(Aside: Let’s be clear. This was a minor inconvenience on my end. No one died. I don’t need anything to fix the problem. But to me it’s pointing to something bigger.)

The Disconnect

I love the potential of using things like Twitter for customer service. We at Radian6 use it too, and I’ve had some great experiences with folks like Coral, and the teams at Seesmic, Evernote, Comcast, and the Roger Smith Hotel.

Some of these companies are really taking the intent behind social media engagement – to improve their customers’ experience – and bringing it into the operations of their companies. Or, perhaps more accurately, they’re building companies that are equipped to deliver those kinds of customer experiences in the first place, and they’re deploying the social media tools as one way to do that.

The trouble happens when the companies are building something like a Twitter brigade as a surface treatment, or an isolated channel. The folks manning the accounts aren’t really empowered to do or change much operationally, and there are still some significant shortcomings in customer experience via the call center or the website..

It creates a disparate experience, and an inconsistent one that still doesn’t reflect well on the brand. It drives people to use Twitter, sure, but more because they are more certain of a response, and less because of deep affection for Twitter itself.

For the optimist, it can appear like they’re trying, but that the mainstream operations haven’t caught up to the new stuff.

To the cynic, it can look like they’re chasing the trendy tools, and ignoring the underlying problems they have, both culturally and operationally.

Life on the Front Lines

I live and breathe life in the social media trenches, along with a super kick-ass team. We are responding to and experiencing the front lines of social media on a daily basis. So I get it.

And we are fortunate, because our executive management team looks to us to actually inform process, operations, and product development to help align what we do with what our community tells us they need. But that’s not always the case.

How much are folks like Coral empowered to actually change the broken processes that are affecting customer experience? Can she really call up my local store and make sure they fix the phone answering problem, or does her authority end with a sternly worded email?

What happens when you just park an intern in front of the Twitter stream? The expectations for delivery on the part of the customer might not match the execution ability of that person.

I always talk about offering solutions instead of just pointing at problems, so I’m going to try and tackle the “so what can we do about it” question in a separate post. But do you see the problem here?

If we go about social media from the outside in, it’s going to have a really hard time taking root. If  the intentions of social media are not wired into the function and purpose of a company, and if those manning the social media posts aren’t able to help inform and drive necessary change, it’s just veneer.

What Can We Change?

I’ll be thinking on this and delivering some ideas. But I want to hear from you too. Let’s talk in detail about not just that we need to bring social media into the operations, but how we’re going to do that.

Do you have thoughts and ideas to share? What do you think?

image credit: Quinn-S

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  • erywgh

    Oh! Customer service issues?

    Before becoming a web marketer last month, I spent seven years in retail. The situation is fairly dire on the inside as well – even here in Canada. The systems are outdated from the ground up, and don’t provide any relevance to the expected consumer experience today.

    Feel like a laugh? I published an open exit letter to the industry, link follows. In fact, here’s an excerpt:

    “The face of retail itself is changing. We’ve all seen it coming. I bought more electronics online in the last two years than I did in store, even with my employee purchase plan, because cost has become such a point of contention between the unseen brown box from Amazon and the hands-on feel of the store. Where Radio Shack, and by extension The Source by Circuit City won has always been customer engagement, trivia knowledge base, human business, and staff enthusiasm. I’ve seen every single one of these drop dramatically in all new hires since I came on in 2005. The point of differentiation between Us and Them has always been the in-store experience, and the consumer’s base need for that is coming sharply to an end. The changes I’m seeing in our business model are not helping them choose to return to us.

    Put another way, my employee number is (was) 34xxx. One of the staff here has a number beginning with 64xxx. I read this as, nearly as many employee numbers have been issued in the last five years as had been issued in the more than 25 years before. We’re blowing through five times as many people as we ever did in the past. How can these new people, this disposable work force, possibly gain, sort, and retain all of the knowledge our long-time customers expect? Doing wrong by our staff does wrong by our customers.”

  • http://philadams.tumblr.com/ Phil Adams

    Observation 1

    Many companies put their toe in the social media water as a marketing initiative. But they very quickly realise that people will not allow them the luxury of distinguishing between marketing and customer service. Conversations before the toe went in the water would have been about tone of voice and integrating with marketing campaigns. Conversations after the toe is immersed quickly turn to ‘back end’ infrastructure. ‘Is our product available in Germany?’, ‘Who is the best person to answer this customer’s question?’, ‘What IS our policy on this issue?’

    Observation 2

    I suspect that whilst most customer service professionals will recognise the potential of social media, it will be some way from the top of their list of priorities. Other big capital-intensive projects will be higher up the pecking order. Legacy issues might mean that they are not sitting on a single-view customer database for instance. Sorting that sort of issue will always come first. Meanwhile marketing are dipping their toe in the water…
    .-= Phil Adams´s last blog ..This book moved me.I read a lot and derive some form of… =-.

  • http://philadams.tumblr.com/ Phil Adams

    Observation 1

    Many companies put their toe in the social media water as a marketing initiative. But they very quickly realise that people will not allow them the luxury of distinguishing between marketing and customer service. Conversations before the toe went in the water would have been about tone of voice and integrating with marketing campaigns. Conversations after the toe is immersed quickly turn to ‘back end’ infrastructure. ‘Is our product available in Germany?’, ‘Who is the best person to answer this customer’s question?’, ‘What IS our policy on this issue?’

    Observation 2

    I suspect that whilst most customer service professionals will recognise the potential of social media, it will be some way from the top of their list of priorities. Other big capital-intensive projects will be higher up the pecking order. Legacy issues might mean that they are not sitting on a single-view customer database for instance. Sorting that sort of issue will always come first. Meanwhile marketing are dipping their toe in the water…
    .-= Phil Adams´s last blog ..This book moved me.I read a lot and derive some form of… =-.

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  • http://www.sonnygill.com Sonny Gill

    Really loved this post, Amber, and truly gets down to what we as a University are doing and looking to get a lot better at.

    Looking at it from an edu perspective – you have admissions/international admissions, financial aid, career services, student services, alumni, operations, etc. Then dig even deeper to localized issues and that’s when you get into specific campuses and their respective deans & operational folks that you have to deal with.

    Head spinning, yet? :)

    Seriously though, we have HUGE opportunities – and where we have set processes from a high-level operational standpoint (which is sometimes ‘on the fly’ and not completely streamlined), there’s an overarching need for that connection on all of those aforementioned touch points.

    How are we/do we get there?

    For large organizations, it really starts IMO with the executive team and having them help lead the charge in changing processes and how we function operationally – because we all know that this sort of change 1 – doesn’t happen overnight and 2 – isn’t easily accepted by all.

    Because this change is going to include a lot of integration between colleagues and teams that never communicated before. It’s going to incorporate respective team leads that are the conduits when certain issues arise. It’s going to require training across those touch points and require a ‘go-to’ person/team when something like your Best Buy issue does happen. How? Through a deep look at the structure of the organization, identifying teams/leads, continued training and providing resource documents, and honestly a whole lot more that we and other org’s are figuring out.

    And in the end, we all hope to have built a culture that lives and breathes this. Where it becomes second nature, and where a student from a location thousands of miles away isn’t in disarray because their issue that they raised on Facebook goes unanswered.

    Kind of spewing out thoughts as I type, but you’ve touched on a great topic and one many organizations have overlooked. One thing’s for sure though, we’re ready to help lead the charge to help change that.

  • http://www.sonnygill.com Sonny Gill

    Really loved this post, Amber, and truly gets down to what we as a University are doing and looking to get a lot better at.

    Looking at it from an edu perspective – you have admissions/international admissions, financial aid, career services, student services, alumni, operations, etc. Then dig even deeper to localized issues and that’s when you get into specific campuses and their respective deans & operational folks that you have to deal with.

    Head spinning, yet? :)

    Seriously though, we have HUGE opportunities – and where we have set processes from a high-level operational standpoint (which is sometimes ‘on the fly’ and not completely streamlined), there’s an overarching need for that connection on all of those aforementioned touch points.

    How are we/do we get there?

    For large organizations, it really starts IMO with the executive team and having them help lead the charge in changing processes and how we function operationally – because we all know that this sort of change 1 – doesn’t happen overnight and 2 – isn’t easily accepted by all.

    Because this change is going to include a lot of integration between colleagues and teams that never communicated before. It’s going to incorporate respective team leads that are the conduits when certain issues arise. It’s going to require training across those touch points and require a ‘go-to’ person/team when something like your Best Buy issue does happen. How? Through a deep look at the structure of the organization, identifying teams/leads, continued training and providing resource documents, and honestly a whole lot more that we and other org’s are figuring out.

    And in the end, we all hope to have built a culture that lives and breathes this. Where it becomes second nature, and where a student from a location thousands of miles away isn’t in disarray because their issue that they raised on Facebook goes unanswered.

    Kind of spewing out thoughts as I type, but you’ve touched on a great topic and one many organizations have overlooked. One thing’s for sure though, we’re ready to help lead the charge to help change that.

  • http://www.sueannereed.com Sue Anne Reed

    I’ve had similar experiences recently with Network Solutions. Talked with customer service on the phone and got an unsatisfactory answer. Tweeted about it a couple of times and someone contacted me via twitter to send a message via email. Sent the same complaint via email and received a call that resolved the issue. There was no connection between the three. Even the guy that answered the email had no clue that we had received that email due to tweets.

    I think the biggest issue is infrastructure. Are traditional customer services reps using the same systems as those answering email or community managers listening on social media? Are the folks monitoring social media being held responsible for entering that information into the customer service applications? Are the three groups under the same management structure with the same goals and objectives?
    .-= Sue Anne´s last blog ..sue_anne: 5 Ways to Increase Donations through Social Media http://is.gd/9WUzh =-.

  • http://twitter.com/sue_anne Sue Anne

    I’ve had similar experiences recently with Network Solutions. Talked with customer service on the phone and got an unsatisfactory answer. Tweeted about it a couple of times and someone contacted me via twitter to send a message via email. Sent the same complaint via email and received a call that resolved the issue. There was no connection between the three. Even the guy that answered the email had no clue that we had received that email due to tweets.

    I think the biggest issue is infrastructure. Are traditional customer services reps using the same systems as those answering email or community managers listening on social media? Are the folks monitoring social media being held responsible for entering that information into the customer service applications? Are the three groups under the same management structure with the same goals and objectives?
    .-= Sue Anne´s last blog ..sue_anne: 5 Ways to Increase Donations through Social Media http://is.gd/9WUzh =-.

  • Amber Cleveland

    I love the dialog above and will toss a couple of other pennies in the pot. Thanks Amber for continuing to drive to some SMART goals.

    I think that it is critical to all companies to develop meaningful mission/vision/values and wrap their brands up with those things. Many companies have m/v/v in a dusty book sitting on a shelf somewhere and they forget to communicate this info to their employees. Additionally, when m/v/v are not intrinsic to the brand, they can be corrosive. When m/v/v aren’t core to the organization, of course they aren’t core to their employees. It has to be simple, obvious, and in their face (because unfortunately most employees at the store level are just trying to collect a paycheck). If a value of customer service is ingrained in each aspect of their employment, it makes it easier to focus on customer service when you have a customer in front of you or on the phone.

    Also, I think it is possible to incent employees in multiple ways. The most important way is to provide an engaging place to work, where people feel respected and valued. If employees are just working for a paycheck, they are less engaged then if they are working for something bigger than themselves.

    Start at the top and work your way down. No one in the organization is exempt from being an ambassador for the brand. Be consistent.

    As that consistency is developed, the dots are closer together and easier to connect. There is a commonality between all parts of the organzation. Focus on local, regional, national, global channels at the points where they come together to go to the next level and use the chain to drive the change. Include “corporate/virtual” personnel in the chain, attach them to a region, allow them to develop relationships with their counterparts in the stores, so that there is a specific person for them to go to when there is customer service feedback in the SM channels. Recognize the people that are in the chain educate them about the value that they are in that role. “Great job in serving customer X. Due to your efforts, they will be back to make additional purchases and they will refer their friends. Our relationships with our customers are key to our success. Thank you for being on the frontlines for us.”

    I don’t have a blog yet, so I can’t link anyone to it. (blush), I’m a newbie. I am on twitter @ambercleveland

  • Amber Cleveland

    I love the dialog above and will toss a couple of other pennies in the pot. Thanks Amber for continuing to drive to some SMART goals.

    I think that it is critical to all companies to develop meaningful mission/vision/values and wrap their brands up with those things. Many companies have m/v/v in a dusty book sitting on a shelf somewhere and they forget to communicate this info to their employees. Additionally, when m/v/v are not intrinsic to the brand, they can be corrosive. When m/v/v aren’t core to the organization, of course they aren’t core to their employees. It has to be simple, obvious, and in their face (because unfortunately most employees at the store level are just trying to collect a paycheck). If a value of customer service is ingrained in each aspect of their employment, it makes it easier to focus on customer service when you have a customer in front of you or on the phone.

    Also, I think it is possible to incent employees in multiple ways. The most important way is to provide an engaging place to work, where people feel respected and valued. If employees are just working for a paycheck, they are less engaged then if they are working for something bigger than themselves.

    Start at the top and work your way down. No one in the organization is exempt from being an ambassador for the brand. Be consistent.

    As that consistency is developed, the dots are closer together and easier to connect. There is a commonality between all parts of the organzation. Focus on local, regional, national, global channels at the points where they come together to go to the next level and use the chain to drive the change. Include “corporate/virtual” personnel in the chain, attach them to a region, allow them to develop relationships with their counterparts in the stores, so that there is a specific person for them to go to when there is customer service feedback in the SM channels. Recognize the people that are in the chain educate them about the value that they are in that role. “Great job in serving customer X. Due to your efforts, they will be back to make additional purchases and they will refer their friends. Our relationships with our customers are key to our success. Thank you for being on the frontlines for us.”

    I don’t have a blog yet, so I can’t link anyone to it. (blush), I’m a newbie. I am on twitter @ambercleveland

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    Excellent study, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing just a little study on that. And he actually purchased me lunch because I discovered it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Many thanks for lunch!

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