Thursday, January 8th, 2009
In July of 2008, I wrote two posts on what not to do when selling homogeneous products with specific references to G&B Comics at the Bras Basah Complex, and today I’ve finally decided to take my business elsewhere.
You might remember in one of the posts, I said “Don’t make it seem like all you’re in for is the money“, referring to my email telling them not to order product for me while I was away in Canada, and their subsequent reply.
Today I enter the shop and they dump four months worth of comic books on the counter. When I told them I had emailed months in advance not to order comics for me and that I had received an acknowledgment from them. I got an irritable look like this was my fault. I sent them that email to save them money and stop them from over-purchasing, but clearly, such intentions aren’t appreciated.
As I’ve said many a time, in this recession economy, if I can get the exact same product at a different store for a lower price, better customer service or some other differentiating factor, I’ll do it. And that means you’ll lose out.
With that, goodbye G&B Comics. Your horrendous customer service has done you in and I assure you, the customer lifetime value you’re losing from this hardcore comic book reader will amount to the thousands that someone else will be benefiting from.
Tags: bad customer service, bras basah complex, canada, comic books, comic shops singapore, g&b comics singapore
Posted in Poor Practices, case studies | 2 Comments »
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
I had to do a marketing case study or “show and tell” in class awhile ago, what else would I use, but social media?
Two bloggers, Pat Law and Steven Hodson from Singapore and Canada, had negative experiences with Challenger (a Singaporean Best Buy alternative) and Tim Hortons (the Canadian alternative for Starbucks) respectively. With Pat, there was a huge mess with getting delivery on time, horrendous customer service and problems all round. With Steven, a Tim Hortons cashier short changed his wife of $20, and despite the fact that it was obvious from the CCTV that there was an error, they were told there was nothing Tim Hortons could do.
Both cases resulted in pretty strong words from the bloggers and the commenters against the companies involved, but also pretty strong statistics. Pat shared with me her blog stats, and there were over 1,000 views in five days, with the average time spent clocking at six and a half minutes.
Think about that. 1,000 people with 6.5 minutes of negative exposure to your brand. You can buy all the ads you want and you probably won’t even get 6.5 minutes of positive brand exposure in a month.
Why is this a problem?
Any Monkey Can Blog
It’s a problem for companies because it’s just too simple for anyone to set up a blog and blog about a negative experience with your company. Why would I bother picking up the phone calling customer service when odds are I’ll get crappy customer service anyway? It’s just easier to “stick it to the man” online.
The Mistake
Companies are mistakenly not monitoring their brands online, thinking “no one” cares. Well, one thousand people at 6.5minutes each suggest otherwise. I think when we’re talking about customer lifetime value and potentially large amounts of revenue being lost (you can rest assured I’m not buying a television from Challenger although I’m in the market for one), someone should at least be attempting to make things right.
So What Then?
I'm Not Listening
Companies need to focus on good customer service and relationships to differentiate themselves. Especially for companies like Challenger and Tim Hortons who are selling fairly homogenous products, it’s just too easy for a consumer to go to another electronics store or somewhere else for coffee. Particularly in this recession economy, excellent customer service both in and outside the store may just be the differentiating factor you need. If you’re going to hire those service staff anyway, you might as well make sure they’re doing a good job of it.
The bottom line is this. Stop asking what positive ROI social media is going to bring you, because it isn’t the most important question. If it manages to bring in some sales/conversions, great. But at the very least, it can be used to negate the effect of such negative word of mouth. From one blog post, Challenger easily lost a $3k purchase from me, and who knows who else? How many people are going to forego that product from your company because of something they read, and your company did not respond to set things right?
How much is not getting involved in the social media space costing you?
[Image credits: Any monkey can blog | I'm not listening]
Tags: bad customer service, best buy, blankanvas, canadian blogger, challenger, crappy customer service, excellent customer service, homogeneous products, marketing case study, pat law, show and tell, singapore blogger, social media, steven hodson, stick it to the man, tim hortons, winextra
Posted in Marketing, Poor Practices, case studies, social media | 7 Comments »
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
You might have read the “About me” section that I put up on the blog maybe a month ago and picked up that I collect comic books/graphic novels. The thing about comic books (and to some extent normal books), is that they’re homogeneous. I could get them from any comic store (or book store) in Singapore (or the world, for that matter), and it would be the exact same product.
So what do you have going for you? Either a very competitive price, excellent service and customer relations, or both. (Singapore is pretty small and all the stores are centrally located, so I’ll leave location out of the equation).
I had to move to G&B Comics when the previous shop I went to closed down. Their prices are not terrible, but I’m paying more than I did at the old shop, and I can get some stuff at Kinokuniya at a better price. What really irks me is the customer service. So much so that I’ve had time to sit down and think of four things not to do if you’re in their position, of which I will share two today.
#1 – Don’t give your customers a number
The thing about this store (as opposed to previous stores) is that they don’t know who the hell you are. We go by numbers. So every week when I go to the store, I report my number like a prison inmate before I get my stash of comics. It’s not a great feeling.
#2 – Don’t employ the wrong people
In the previous store, Colin did everything himself, which means he knows a little bit about the comics industry. If you needed to order something, he’d take note immediately. The people hired at this store, aren’t like that and they’re literally like the checkout people at a supermarket. They’ll take your cash, but ask them about anything actually related to comic books, and you’re out of luck. It also doesn’t speak very well of the store if you’ve told the staff three or four times to help you keep a book, and they keep leaving it out.
After awhile actually becomes easier for me to just forget about asking them “Sorry I’m missing a copy of Manhunter” and just pick it up elsewhere instead. If they can’t be bothered about taking note of my buying preferences, then some other place can take the money.
#3 and #4 coming tomorrow. By the way don’t take this post like I hate the store. I’ve just had countless negative experiences in a few months that have been bugging me, despite me giving suggestions on how to improve.
Tags: bad customer service, comic book stores singapore, comic books, competitive pricing, customer relations, customer service, Graphic Novels, selling homogeneous product
Posted in Poor Practices, Singapore | 2 Comments »
