no service=bad company experience

I was traveling the other week from Copenhagen airport and I of some reason had some problems with my ticket (I was flying with SAS), I of course go over the SAS "SERVICE" center to ask them to assist me with my issue, since I did not know what it was and couldnt solve it with out their assistance! 

I got a direct answer from the bitter lady behind the desk directly told me that she couldn’t help (read: dont wanted to help me and give me the service she was hired to give). 

I insisted and after about 10 minutes of not giving up she finally took my ticket and makes the phone calls needed and wham the problem was solved and she finally became friendly (read: she realized that the problem was on SAS side).  Do you think I got an excuse or apology? No no but I at least check in!

Wow how important service is (we live in an experience economy people)-to have the right people working for you as a company-they are really an extension of what the company and the brand stand for no matter if you are a small or stock listed company! 

Good cause no engagement? I say no no!

I was at a fair the other week in Sweden and I got really surprised of how organizations with a really good mission and vision, really lacked a way to engage the people.

Come on-to be able to act with the principle of doing well by doing good you need to do something to engage people!

Come on, we live in a world with a lot of blur and messages coming from everywhere at any given time or place-we are never left alone which is both good and bad!

Come on, if you as an organization with a great mission completely miss the fact that for people to see you-you need to engage in a interesting way-come on people we live in the experience economy and that’s a fact!

Come on, next time-think and engage and I promise you that you will have more people paying  attention to you!

Service-the thing you need

After spending years in South Africa experiencing great service both in restaurants, café’s, stores- you name it-great service was always at your hand-a real experience. It was something that I grew used to and really appreciated.  

 

Now 6 months in Sweden I can now confirm, service is long gone forgotten-you pay too much for most of the services and products from rude employees that don’t feel that they are required to go that extra mile-its an experience but not the type that I want to support-I really hate the none-existence of service and I speak loud of these to people around me every time they occur.

 

Here is a great business opportunity - open a restaurant that got good quality food to a fair price and extraordinary service-blow them away, given them the experience they never expected and they will be happy, they will come back, and they will speak about "Restaurant Service” and more people will come.   

 

Go service go!

illusions-is that the world we live in?

Back in the day magicians and similar artists of trade blew their spectators away with great tricks of illusion - simply great entertainment!

Is this the world we live in today any different? Is it that we simply buy into a particular marketing message (illusion)? 

Or has it changed and we as a group is now hearing the word of mouth and adjusting our desires and needs of something dependent on what people that we trust tells us? Or do we act as individuals and do what we want and how we want it? Should the marketing message continue to be an illusion? If not, to whom should marketers communicate with and how? 

My observations tell me that the word of mouth effect surely applies to certain aspects of the modern person-other areas are true necessities and we buy into it anyhow whatever is being said about it! So what does one do to find the holy grail aka. the ones that start the word of mouth effect may it be in a small scale or larger scale?   

Rebel with a cause!

There are so many grand examples of companies and people that have changed they way we think about various stuff by making a point of being a rebel and what really made them different from so many other rebels is that they have a cause that was so so strong that they will not think twice and change their entire belief system just because. They have set their minds to something that is greater then what their peers understand at that given time. Here are some companies and people that comes to mind:

 

Today’s short list:

 

Nokia - from tire and rubber boot company to world’s nr. 1 cell phone company

Steve Jobs - don’t need to say more-wow! 

Zappos - nr 1 Culture Company.

Seth Godin - why? Exactly that- question why is so crucial! also he is a really good storyteller! 

Facebook - the way we keep track and keep up with people around us

Jimi Hendrix- one goal and that was to go from rumor to legend and change what music was    all about 

Skype - now a verb...that’s it!

Google - simple is their first name

Pandora - changed they way people listed to music (now just in the US) 

Amazon - data mining, who wouldn’t buy a book from them? 

Tom Peters - Keep It Simple Stupid 

ING Direct - it’s all about what the consumer wants and needs to be simple (different from    other banks

Twitter - less is more

IKEA - economics of scale on furniture (that buyer puts together)-brilliant!

Jan Stenbeck - where ever there is a monopoly there is an opportunity

If I were to...

Launch an music album that is more alternative, I would make sure to have a "hit", a mainstream song that would get that song to be played at clubs, at peoples parties, at dinners and out in summer parks get people to talk about it and get the full viral effect going strong. 

 

Before it must have been more difficult to get a good distribution going of an album, either you made it or you didn’t (you were as an artist more dependent on your record label for distribution). That was before smart inventions such as Itunes, Youtube and Spotify was around. Now people can explore and enjoy albums and artist they would never really listen to and thanks to that "hit" people or at least me would explore that particular album. My own experience has shown that this is the case. I don’t know if it’s just me or if this would be the case for more than just me. 

 

This "hit" wonder is applicable on more industries and it’s really interesting to observe the force it. 

Marketing or waste of money?

I just found out from a friend that a marketing campaign that I didn’t know whom the communicator was. It now appears that is a candy company. They has been doing below the line marketing campaign all over Sweden, targeting bikes in all major cities among them Malmo. The campaign looks like this and covered many bikes all over the kingdom of Sweden! 

 

You can check it out here!

 

Can you tell what company it is? Me neither. Is this not a good example of how to waste money on a mass massage trying in a native attempt to get some sort of reaction of busy people?

 

What a waste!