From the category archives:

Customer Service

Don’t Get Grumpy, Don’t Get Pissed. Get Happy (This Isn’t About The 7 Dwarfs)

by Brendon Sinclair on January 24, 2012

My son Jack has just been in New Zealand for a couple of weeks doing, amongst other things, white water rafting, clay target shooting, horse riding, kayaking, sailing and 9 day mountaineering course.

Jack enjoys the glaciers of the New Zealand Southern Alps

He finished up last Friday and my wife (Mel) decided to fly over to NZ, grab a hire car and pick him up from Mt Cook.  They then went off sight-seeing and enjoying a few different activities.

On Saturday it was sailing for afternoon cruise on a yacht and they were set for a great time.

An easy Saturday afternoon cruise

Set For A Great Time…….Except Mel Hated It

Except Mel hated the sailing.

Really hated it.

The only other guests on the yacht was a guy who had done plenty of competitive sailing before, and his wife – and he hammered that yacht to be sailing as fast as she would go.

Instead of a gentle cruise around the harbour, Mel found herself clinging on for dear life as the yacht keeled over to 45 degrees and hating every second of it.

Then Things Got Interesting

And then things got interesting.

I’d booked the cruise from Australia and so the yacht’s skipper and owner emailed me afterwards.

He said whilst Jack loved every moment, he wasn’t so sure about Mel.

He’d reassured her that they weren’t about to end up in the water, he wasn’t convinced she believed him.

I Told Him The Truth – Mel Hated His Cruise

So I told him the truth – nothing like a bit of honest feedback, right?

  • Told him Mel hated every second of it.
  • That Mel had vowed never to go sailing again.
  • That she’d advised everyone at home never to go sailing.
  • That she was setting up an anti-sailing group to lobby against sailing (made that up for dramatic effect – clever, huh??)

People Usually Get Pissed Off

What generally happens when you give a bit of honest feedback that ain’t so positive is that people get pissed off.

They take the criticism personally and get angry.

Which is kind of stupid, because surely you’d want to know the perception of every customers – good or bad?

Only then can you improve your business through a better product offering, better communication and better service.

Perfect Customer Service From The Captain

But the Captain of this cruise is smart – he didn’t take the criticism personally.

He saw it as a chance to improve his business and demonstrate further the quality of his service.

And then he took action that 99% of businesses receiving a complaint don’t take.

  1. He kept in contact to find out exactly what Mel didn’t like.
  2. He acknowledged Mel’s concerns as legitimate:  “I’m sure I have had other people aboard who didn’t feel happy about the heeling, but I’ve never had such honest feedback.”
  3. He empathised with her via his own personal story and experience:  “I did my best to reassure Mel that she was safe, but I understand her feelings. My own wife sailed with me on Auckland harbour for 5 years, …………..however has subsequently developed fear of heeling.”
  4. He asked how he could improve:  “….Was (there) anything I could have said or done to make her feel better about the experience?”

 

Then the Captain offered some compensation – it wasn’t free beer so we turned him down ;o)

Perfect Customer Complaint Resolution

This isn't really the Captain

Brilliant work by the Captain to show some genuine concern, recognise the feelings of his customer and try and make things right.

So the next time a customer complains to you, think “What would the Captain do?”

Then do that.

If you wear an eye patch, have a parrot on your shoulder and talk like a pirate you get extra points!

Cheers,

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How Marketing Has Changed

by Brendon Sinclair on January 14, 2012

Marketing is so much easier these days for many, many businesses.

In the olden days* (* pre Internet), businesses had to go searching for their customers.

Now customers go searching for the business.

Marketing has changed from searching for customers to being found.

Can you be found if your customer searches for you?

Because that’s what business marketing is these days.

Cheers,

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Any Doofus Can Develop A Web Site

by Brendon Sinclair on January 11, 2012

Just spoke with a client a few days back and he told me his web site that we just redeveloped and launched has, after 1 month, doubled the sales of their previous record month (they’ve been going for years).

Cool.

Look, any doofus can do a web site.  Yes, I said doofus.

We’re Talkin Ooooodles

But web developers who can get your site generating oooooooodles of sales are more difficult.

That’s why we try and charge based on the value we provide.

It’s never about price. It’s always about value.

 

Cheers,

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How My Gay Days Came In Handy

by Brendon Sinclair on January 10, 2012

Before I went into business about 14 years ago, I was a ‘Nursing Sister’ for 11 years – and that was after doing my nursing training for 3 years.

I really enjoyed the nursing days, pretty rewarding sort of job and tons of variety.

I was consulting with a business today and explaining how his business was like my nursing days.

It’s all about solving problems.

As a nurse, you just solve problems all day long.

You see the problem, look at what’s causing it and take action to solve it.

  • Patient has a low blood pressure – stick their legs up higher and increase the drip rate.
  • Patient is vomiting after an anesthetic – give them a bowl and jab them in the ass with an anti-throw up potion – all you nurses reading……I know it’s an anti-emetic  ;o)
  • Patient is dead – try and get ‘em alive again!  Good thinking, huh??!

All you’re doing in business, any business, is finding solutions for problems.

That’s it.

You’re Not Really Selling

So if you’re selling gym clothes, camping gear, contact lenses, car servicing, surfboards, energy bars, phones, pens, swimming goggles, whatever it is – you’re not really selling (or you shouldn’t be at least).

What you’re doing is solving problems.

Understand and embrace that and watch tons of people buy from you when you solve their problems.

(Just so you know, the biggest problem for most businesses is they don’t enough money.  As a marketing/web guy I show people how to make more money.  I solve that problem.)

Cheers,

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Cheap Surfboards Online at Surfboard Warehouse

by Brendon Sinclair on November 18, 2011

We’ve just launched a nice little web site for The Surfboard Warehouse, a great business that sells cheap surfboards from the Gold Coast.

The Surfboard Warehouse

Tim is the owner with his lovely partner Avalon, but the real boss is the beautiful Maevin.

Maevin is a little puppy dog (cough) who helps out around the store.

She’s more than keen for a pat as you wander by!

Former Manager of Kirrasurf

Tim has a bit of a background in knowing where to source the best surfboards at the best prices – you see, Tim spent a couple of years managing the all new Billabong owned Kirrasurf.

So if you’re looking for some super cheap quality surfboards for Christmas, head along to The Surfboard Warehouse at 1237 Gold Coast Highway, Palm Beach and Tim, Avalon and Maevin will look after you.

Cheers,

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Your Web Site Will Never Be Perfect

by Brendon Sinclair on October 7, 2011

We’ve just launched this ski Japan web site for our mate Mark.

Mark didn’t really want to launch it yet, but I was rather insistent.

You see, Mark wanted it to be absolutely perfect before he launched it.

I knew it wasn’t perfect – but it was good enough.

I wanted to launch it so we could start marketing it.

It’ll Never Be Perfect

No web site is ever perfect – they’re all just just heaving, living organisms

It doesn’t matter that we had such different goals.

It doesn’t matter that I ‘won’ the battle of “to launch/not to launch”.

What matters is we both have the success of his business as our motivation.

When you and the client agree on that, the rest is just details.

Cheers,

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Ski Japan & Give A Helping Hand

by Brendon Sinclair on October 1, 2011

After a ton of hard work, we’re just about ready to launch a site for a client who does ski Japan accommodation.

The client, Mark, has worked his butt off over the years to build up a terrific accommodation business in the Japanese ski village of Nozawa Onsen.

Plenty of that hard worked was wiped away with the devastating March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami crashing tourist numbers this year.

Perfectly Safe To Ski In Japan

It’s perfectly safe now to ski Japan (as safe as skiing is anyway!) and we’re hopeful that Mark’s new web site, along with some online marketing work will increase the visitors to the village and give the locals a much needed boost.

If you’ve ever wanted to go and ski in Japan, then give Mark a yell – he’ll give you a great deal, it’s amazing skiing and you’ll help support some nice folk who need a helping hand.

Here’s the Before of the web site

Here’s our After – will be launched in a few days

ski japan site

Cheers,

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How To Reply To A Bad Review On Trip Advisor

by Brendon Sinclair on September 14, 2011

Trip Advisor, the online travel and restaurant review site, is enormously influential on the success or failure of many businesses.

As someone who manages the Trip Advisor accounts for clients, I see the full range of reviews and act on behalf of my clients to manage the influence of Trip Advisor.

Sometimes things go bad.

And when they do, a horrible review on Trip Advisor can be the result – it’s important to know how to react to a review.

Top 7 Tips On Responding to A Bad Review

Here’s my top 7 tips for responding to a bad review on Trip Advisor:

  1. Don’t reply angry. Keep calm and approach the complaint in a calm and rationale manner.
  2. Don’t abuse or give any negativity to the reviewer.
  3. If you suspect it’s a fake review, feel free to complain to Trip Advisor.  Unless it’s an obviously fake review, the review isn’t going anywhere – Trip Advisor will not take down bad reviews.  They’re there forever.
  4. Respond positively – the first thing I do is thank the complainer for providing us with the feedback to help make the business better.
    “Thanks for the feedback Bob.  We’re committed to providing the best possible accommodation and service and your comments help us to achieve this.”
  5. I always address each specific issue – never ignore an issue or be evasive about something. Address it and move on.
  6. Don’t waffle – keep it short, sharp and friendly.
  7. Let the complainer know what is being done about the issue(s) they raised.

No-one likes a bad review, but in hospitality and accommodation businesses it’s inevitable that someone is going to have a bad experience.

When they do, they may well tell others about it via sites like Trip Advisor.

If you address the issue with humility, thought and education then you’ll almost certainly undo the damage caused and, in many cases, positively build the brand of your business.

Some Phrases You Might Like To Use

Here are a few phrases that might come in handy for your next review response:

I apologise that we did not meet your expectations on this occasion.

Thanks again for your feedback – we’ve certainly learned from it and it will help us to provide the very best to future customers.

It’s only with feedback such as yours that we can get better and better. So we appreciate you helping us improve.

I certainly regret that we didn’t meet your expectations ….

One of the challenges is ensuring the ….

Thanks for taking the time to write your review – we do appreciate all feedback here, good or bad, as we strive to provide the best value for our guests.

Cheers,

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