August 18, 2009
Customer Care, Relationship Marketing, Retail
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There are times when I think I should go back to my customer care training days. From my early days at college, I consumed everything about relationship marketing - books, magazines, Harvard Business Review supplements etc. Susan Fournier was my favourite writer on the topic back then.
I did my thesis for my MBS on Relationship Marketing for the airline industry. I loved relationship marketing - the arguments for and against, the technicalities of it, the operational display of it and the theorys around it.
I still do a customer care training for previous clients and think now that I should go back into it after a phone call from a Vodafone rep. This is a paraphrase of it, from the customers perspective:
Vodafone rep: is that Denise Fay?
DF: Yes
Vodafone: Are you an 02 customer or still with ourselves?
DF: Surely you should know that - you’re calling from Vodafone (Friction No. 1)
Vodafone: Well we’re calling from the landline service
DF: Okay - I’m still with vodafone but am still thinking of changing
Vodafone: Do you want me to get someone to call you?
DF: About what? The mobile or the landline?
Vodafone: The landline.
DF: It’s okay - I’m with BT, I changed some time ago. You guys don’t have broadband.
Vodafone: Oh we do.
DF: Oh really. I didn’t realise that. But I’ve bundled my service - landline and internet with them.
Vodafone: You’re probably in regular contact
DF: With BT? (Friction No. 2)
Vodafone: Yes.
DF: no..like yourselves, I pay my bill.
Vodafone: Oh okay.
DF: So are you giving me information on the landline here?
Vodafone: No. I’m just seeing if you’re interested and someone will call you back
DF: Let me get this straight. You’re calling me to see if I’m interested in talking to someone else about landline services but not you. The purpose of this call is to get someone else to call me back. (Friction No. 3)
Vodafone: That’s right
I got off the phone incredulously - why does it take two people to find out if I’m interested in finding out about landline services and then giving me information? Surely one person would be enough?
I’m all for people keeping their jobs in an economy that lets say, isn’t great, - but lets face it - three frictions in one phonecall is not good customer service.
Where is their relationship marketing?
1. They should have access to a database which shows I’ve been a Vodafone customer for in excess of five years
2. Am I in contact with Vodafone regularly? No. So why would I be in contact with BT? They provide a service, I pay for it. That’s the level of contact with most telecom providers
3. Why two calls? No wonder the cost of telecoms is expensive. We’re paying for a cost of sale that makes no sense in proper financial terms.
On a final note, the rep was lovely. She was friendly and was doing her job well. It’s the idea of not appreciating my business from the get-go that finished that conversation before it could even start. Relationship marketing would appear to be missing within the multiple divisions of Vodafone.
Perhaps, I should send them a copy of my thesis - It covers multiple divisions within an airline but can easily be applied to a telecoms company.
August 17, 2009
General Marketing
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- A quick review of Achieve Marketing Learnings from last week. Things I learned last week include:
- There is an event listing for conferences and networking events for the rest of the summer over at Marketing Mentor on Facebook.
- A much needed SWOT analysis of Social media is well underway, if not finalised already over at Channelship.
- Apple charge €7.99 to upgrade the software on the iTouch.
- @Facundo introduced me to a new word: Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realise it was your money to start with.
- Yahoo apparently spent US$80k to get OMG.com.
- It’s important to check for quality not quantity with twitter followers - I deleted 12 spammy followers last week.
University of Kent found that as a woman, I need thin eyebrows, wider eyes and fuller lips to be a future inspirational leader.
August 13, 2009
Good News Thursday
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Delighted to see good news coming my way over the last two weeks - it might be a small post but it’s got positive news.
1. There are jobs out there…..
Jobs News posted that over 700 new jobs were announced by 5 companies in Ireland.
Lindsay Browning of CPL, using her twittername of @marketingeire, is constantly informs Twitterland of real Marketing jobs. Contact her for more information.
From Econ-Optimist blog: Search engine consulting company FirstFound is embarking on a £600,000 investment and recruitment drive in Dublin. The company is now recruiting for its first intake of new account managers ready for when they open for business in August, having already established offices at Merrion Square, Dublin. Britain’s leading search engine consultancy currently has more than 6,000 clients and is set to turnover £4.5m this year.
2. Innovation is alive & well….
Taking advantage of the IKEA move into Dublin, Maryrose Lyons of Brightspark has set up Simple Assembly me Hole - a website dedicated to people who need help with assembling all types of furniture from IKEA. The name is ingenious and they are getting a lot of well deserved media coverage.
Host-it’s newly expanded and upgraded Online Back-up service, Backup Vault, caused a stir at a client’s office. HandyBaby was thrilled by the fast support service as one of the directors “nearly had a heart attack when she thought she lost her email.”
Award winning graphic studio Dara Creative has a fanstastic web scrappage deal. Instead of scrapping your car, scrap your website instead. They want you to scrap your old website for a brand new 2009 model and they’ll give you €3,000 worth of extras absolutely free.
3. Pensions are up….
Independent financial broker Cregan Kelly shared some great news at our BNI meeting. He said pensions are up on average 12% this year…so that is good news for all pension holders.
***Ends***
August 10, 2009
General Marketing, Networking
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Last Thursday, I was running late for my BNI Abbey meeting. I’m not a morning person, I find it difficult to get up between 5.30am and 6.00am and I was moaning to myself on the way in…is BNI worth this? And the answer is yes. When I’m at my BNI meeting. I really enjoy it. This week was no exception.
For those of you that don’t know the BNI, it is an international Business Networking & Referrals Organisation. Set up by Dr Ivan Misner in 1985, it has become a global network with chapters in almost every country in the world. It’s interesting because Ivan Misner never set out to create a global organisation, he was simply looking for referrals for his consulting business.
That’s really the premise of BNI - getting and giving referrals. However, I always find that there is more than business networking to a BNI meeting.
Take last Thursday’s meeting for example. 28 business owners around one table are all going through the same ordeal of the recession. They’re all concentrating on surviving and thriving in tough economic times.
BNI Creativity at its Best
But the level of creativity that is coming out of this table alone would inspire anybody.
Derek Balfe of Heritage Insurance posed the question:
“If you were to swap jobs with me, who is the first person that you’d contact?“
The question was obviously posed in a business context but I thought isn’t that a clever way to seek referrals? A few names naturally came to me and that helped me get a referral to Derek and hopefully get him new business.
Stephen Monaghan of Phonelink and Ronan Reynolds of ACS have collaborated to offer a package for employers who have employees with suspected and actual swine flu. Many employers aren’t equipped to network out their telephone or IT system but these guys are now allowing an employers to do that - give access to an employee while they’re at home.
Tom Molloy of Flux Web Design created “The Flux Factor” report - a report that assesses everything about your website - SEO, design, wording, graphics etc. For the month of August, he’s giving free reports. It normally retails at €199.
BNI is more than a 6am start. It’s about collaboration, looking out for one another, learning from each other and having a bit of fun in the process.
Ivan Misner may not have set out to create an organisation that affected millions of business owners but that’s exactly what he has done. I’m sure my 28 colleagues around the table would agree.
August 10, 2009
General musings
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I got to thinking about setting goals for this upcoming week as per advice from a variety of coaches. I decided that in order for me to set goals for the upcoming week, surely, I should look at what I learned from the previous week.
These are my findings:
1. Four day work weeks are extremely busy ones - I need to set a more realistic to-do list on four day work weeks.
2. Twitter outage can reduce a grown woman to pulling her hair out.
3. I can become a social media expert in four days.
4. Coca-Cola and Pepsi have two very, very distinct corporate identities. Check out this fascinating article on their logo development and comments afterward.
5. 121 Network is a great place to meet great people, like Fred and Facundo from Channelship, Aisling from Strata3, Paula from Simply Digital, Anne-marie from What she wears, Una from Codega. The Westin was just buzzing.
6. There are over five ways to shorten a url - each with their own pros and cons.
7. There are three ways to schedule a tweet - but haven’t decided if it’s a good idea or not.
8. You can’t find everything on the Internet - Fell in love with a pair of blue/teal Manolos and can’t find a pic of them on the Internet, despite help from @styletonic. 
August 4, 2009
Drogheda, General musings
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I got talking with my friend Lindsay Browning who has been hired to fill this great position in Dundalk. Usually I don’t post job offerings like this – I tend to keep them in the ‘SMEs are still hiring‘ section of Good News Thursday.
However, it is such a good job that it might just suit some of you readers out there – so if you’re interested in finding out more or talking to Lindsay, just drop Lindsay a mail at browninglindsay (at) hotmail (dot).com
The best of luck!
Director of Ecommerce
Summary: As Director of Ecommerce you will strategically manage all online sales initiatives in order to drive profitable incremental sales while exceeding budgeted revenue and customer acquisition targets.
This position requires excellent strategic thinking in all marketing disciplines to ensure that we are investing in the areas most likely to return the highest ROI for our advertising dollar in the long term by creating and executing a fully integrated online marketing program.
This includes the ability to thoroughly understand web analytics, across multiple brands and microsites, and use those results to properly manage the total online experience including; conversion rates, check out success, Email campaigns, web promotions and rules based marketing.
You will be championing the development and deployment of a new and improved customer web experience. In this role, you will envision the strategy, define requirements, and drive process change and the rollout of the new web platform. You must create partnerships across the business, and particularly with Information Technology.
You must also continually search for new creative ways of increasing response and conversion rates for all online media and act as the National Pen online champion by always pushing to improve the overall web experience. This includes identifying external best practices for benchmarking and improving our results.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Directly supervises the Ecommerce Department and carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.
Education, Experience and Skills:
B.A. in marketing or related field plus a minimum of 4-5 years of hands-on Ecommerce management experience in a highly transaction, direct response environment generating annual sales of at least €6.5m
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Strong quantitative and analytical skills with exceptional web analytics and reporting capabilities, and the desire to delve into data.
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Thorough understanding of Rules Based Marketing and customer contact strategy techniques.
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Strong creative skills with a good eye for design and copy.
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Exceptional communication skills and able to effectively communicate results, successes and improvement strategies to senior management team
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Organized with a strong sense of urgency
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Proven knowledge of site structure, navigation, page construction, content, keyword list development techniques, spiders, and link-building strategies.
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Proven track record in growing web traffic with experience developing a personalized web experience to drive higher traffic and conversion.
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Experienced with Search Engine Optimization initiatives including the management of relationships with paid search vendors and improvement of natural search through site design
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Experienced in Email Marketing including email address acquisition, determining the optimum schedule of Email campaigns, and testing email designs and offers.
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Familiar with social marketing campaigns and able to gain positive exposure on external social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
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Able to manage data feed programs supporting 3rd party affiliate search engines and shopping sites with daily product, inventory, and pricing updates.
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Hands on experience maintaining pricing, images, text, and content on web sites
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Good understanding of ecommerce infrastructural technologies, web site development, reporting, email campaigning and requirements analysis. Prior experience working directly with developers.
Experience with Scene 7 imaging strongly preferred.
Why not contact Lindsay on the above email address to find out more?