Social Media and Web Marketing Success – Bacon Salt
Published April 7, 2010 | 
Many times it’s good to find cases and stories of real Entrepreneurs that were able to create a little marketing magic in their quest to build modest business success, but the quest turns wildly successful, something they could never have envisioned before starting the entrepreneurial adventure, and we want to learn from how they were able to achieve their great success.
Having said that, there are two technology executives named Justin and Dave that had absolutely no experience in the food industry between them, and no budget for marketing, but they decide to launch a product they called “Bacon Salt.”
To understand the market they begin their search for people who profess a great love for bacon on social networking sites, and then friend them of course, and begin to inject information about “Bacon Salt” into the vast social networking echo chamber, and awareness starts to build with a small percentage of the bacon lovers, and their enthusiasm begins to spread about “Bacon Salt,” and what began as a small group or tribe of bacon enthusiasts quickly begins to multiply as the word spreads throughout the many small silos of networks that make up the fabric of larger social networking sites, and turns into approximately 37,000 fans between Facebook and MySpace.
Time passes, and months later, the buzz that has been building starts to spill over into other media in newspaper articles, television interviews, until finally they reach the pinnacle of public relations, with an appearance on Oprah. Okay, so Justin and Dave with no knowledge of the food business and with no marketing budget, that find themselves in the unique position of having what some would call a cult hit, and feeling the inspiration, they create several other bacon-flavored products, which finally gives birth to the “Bacon Salt” brand.
Their wild ride to success began with a very small group of self-indentified fans of a category of food and spice, and even when social networks have millions of members, the odds are great against the group being able to transform into a larger group of millions of active buzz-spreading fans. 
Now Justin and Dave’s Bacon Salt success story serves to illustrate how what is typically a very small percentage of the tribe of fans who find it important enough to spread the word, and this small inner tribe of actively vocal fans normally makes up one percent or less of the larger tribe of fans, and reaching them should your targeted objective.
This extremely small percentage of the market is difficult to define, since they are not your typical name-brand bloggers, mommy and daddy bloggers, or even business bloggers, and they are scattered throughout all market segments and niches, yet you have to understand in no uncertain terms their importance to your immediate and long-term business success, because they are where word-of-mouth begins, the roots of word-of-mouth, and should be at the very top of every Entrepreneur’s list to not only find them, but attract and connect with them as well.
Understanding What Being “Connected” Means
Published April 6, 2010 | Believe it or not, there are many businesses that have ignored the trends about the importance of being connected with their markets, or might not even have an awareness of Twitter, Facebook, blogs and MySpace, and they are still making millions in profit.
At first glance we all think how can that be, what’s wrong with them, and how much more successful would they be if they were “connected?” Or worse yet, have we spent all the hours getting connected through the social networks that we hear about everyday so we don’t miss out on the latest wave of technology, and just what is it that’s important to allow us to maintain success in our business during challenging times like we are currently in, even if we’re not using the latest social media technology to stay connected?
At closer examination, we discover a simple fact that in reality is the key component to being “connected,” and that is businesses and Entrepreneurs have built their success through developing and maintaining personal relationships, and consistently delivering “great customer service” as part of the relationships, which continues to work for them and keeps their business more successful than most that become mired in the maze of 
social media technology.
I continue to be amazed by the phenomenal growth of people that continue to swell the ranks of users on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and the many other social networking sites, and the ever increasing amounts of time so many of us are spending in the echo chamber that keeps getting both larger and louder.
As more of us become slaves, tied to our mobile devices and the information radiating from our computer screens, some of us have come to the realization that having more voices doesn’t always mean there is a better dialogue, and more information doesn’t mean simplicity as hoped for.
You have probably looked around like I have, and noticed more and more of us walk with our heads down while we stare at small 3 inch mobile screens, oblivious to the world around us doing the same, and somehow we have 
convinced ourselves both individually and collectively that we are more “connected” then ever before in history, and anyone who can multi-task is looked at with great admiration reserved for only a select few.
I admit to not having all the answers to the many questions that are swirling around the social media echo chamber that most of us have become part of, but the answers are evolving along with how we adapt to and develop new technologies, and the one true fact we must never lose sight of is that building personal relationships and weaving them into the fabric of our customer service tapestry is an absolute critical component to achieving and maintaining the maximum perceived value and associated success of our entrepreneurial and business endeavors.
How to Recession Proof Your Business with Customer Service
Published June 24, 2009 | 
In rough economic times when businesses cut costs in an attempt to improve the bottom line and the cash flow needed to effectively operate during slowdowns and economic recessions, they forget in many cases to retain the staff that provides good customer service, and more often than not, it’s staff that provide the best customer service on a consistent basis are the first ones to be laid off, as Circuit City did as recent as last year in an attempt to save the business, and the employees it laid off in its cost cutting measure immediately went to work at the nearest electronics competition such as Best Buy, where they were followed by many loyal customers, and we all know Circuit City was later forced to close and cease operations.
This is just one way businesses that deal with consumers seem to be suffering from a definite disconnect, between the level of service they want to provide, and the service actually provided by their employees.
Signs of Poor Service
There are some key signs that customer service may be in need of some attention – and most probably some staff training & experience retention – to help restore the customer’s faith:
- Poor employee retention
If employees are leaving too quickly (i.e. within three years), there can be no real opportunity for them to build up relationships with customers and knowledge about individual customers leaves the company with every lost employee, so if this is the case, consider bringing in an outside HR (human resources) consultant to talk to employees and find out what needs to be done to change the situation; employees will often tell an “outsider” things that they would never tell their manager. - Customer complaints
On average, only around 6% of dissatisfied customers will actually take the time to complain, so out of all the customers who encounter a problem, 94% won’t tell you (but they’ll tell their friends and family, of course), and when these dissatisfied customers do gather the strength to actually complain, many front line employees have a natural instinct to refer the customer to someone else or, worse still, to deny that there’s really a problem. So if management sees that there are very few complaints, that doesn’t mean that customer service is perfect at all, and if employees have not built relationships with customers, many customers will defect without any further prompting, so make sure that your front line teams are required to record all complaints and any action taken to
solve them and complaints data should be treasured, documented, and shared with management. The important point here is that if you’re not getting complaint data from the front line, there’s a serious problem. - Employees aren’t empowered to handle problems
Unless front line employees are empowered to resolve customer complaints and problems without resorting to calling supervisors or referring the customer to a manager, customer service – and the company’s reputation – will suffer greatly, as customer issues should be handled from start to finish by the same person if at all possible. Remember, customers do not want to wait or, even worse, be transferred to multiple people to have their problems solved, and there is nothing worse than having to repeat the problem over and over again to different people. The important point to know here is this is where you need employee training and empowerment: give the whole customer-facing team the knowledge, tools, and authority they need to defuse angry customers. - Loss of long-term customers
When a long-term customer leaves, you need to notice it and query it, since when you have built a long-term relationship with a customer, your ability to retain that customer significantly increases, and when a customer who would normally give you the benefit of the doubt takes their business elsewhere, the problem is almost
always the service they’ve received. What you have to do is try to find out the real reason they defected, and use that information to prevent it from happening again. Remember that flexibility is needed in order to make changes in the company based on information from lost customers. - Fewer referrals
A business with delighted customers should always be gaining new customers from referrals and if your service isn’t good, referrals will drop off first – even before your existing customers defect to a competitor, and this makes the continual monitoring of referral levels one of the most powerful indicators of ongoing customer satisfaction. To quote a wise mentor, “Satisfied customers buy from you, but delighted customers sell for you.” Also, if you’re gaining lots of new customers but losing just as many existing customers, this indicates a serious disparity between what your brand is promising and what it actually delivers. - Low morale
Employees’ morale is something that shows whenever they interact with customers, and the customer is very quick to pick up on negative sentiment toward the company, and while low morale is not always a result of poor customer service (although it can be due to a lack of empowerment), it always creates poor service. If this is the case, then you as the management need to try to instill a sense of pride
throughout the company, and offer employees some well-deserved “rewards and recognition.” Empower employees to make decisions (within reasonable limits), and train them to make good decisions that have both the customer’s and company’s interests at heart. - While there are obviously more than six signs that identify bad customer service, these are certainly among the main ones to watch out for, and if you recognize any single one of these six signs, the time has come to focus attention on fixing it urgently. If you recognize more than one of these signs, there’s absolutely no time to waste, because chances are great that you’re already losing market share.
Recognize Signs of Poor Customer Service
Published March 11, 2009 | 
In times when businesses cut costs in an attempt to improve the bottom line and cash flow needed to effectively operate during slowdowns and recessions, they forget in many cases to retain the staff that provides good customer service. More often than not staff that provide the best customer service on a consistent basis are the first ones to be laid off, as Circuit City did as recent as last year in an attempt to save the business, and the employees it laid off in its cost cutting measure immediately went to work at the nearest electronics competition such as Best Buy, where they were followed by many loyal customers.
This is just one way businesses that deal with consumers seem to be suffering from a definite disconnect between the level of service they want to provide and the service that their employees actually provide.
Signs of poor service
There are some key signs that customer service may be in need of some attention – and most probably some staff training & experience retention – to help restore the customer’s faith:
Poor employee retention
If employees are leaving too quickly (i.e. within three years), there can be no real opportunity for them to build up relationships with customers. Knowledge about individual customers leaves the company with every lost employee. If this is the case, consider bringing in an outside HR (human resources) consultant to talk to employees and find out what needs to be done to change the situation; employees will often tell an ‘outsider’ things that they would never tell their manager.
Customer complaints
On average, only around 6% of dissatisfied customers will actually take the time to complain. So, out of all the customers who encounter a problem, 94% won’t tell you (but they’ll tell their friends and family, of course). When these dissatisfied customers do gather the strength to actually complain, many front line employees have a natural instinct to refer the customer to someone else or, worse still, to deny that there’s really a problem. So if management sees that there are very few complaints, that doesn’t mean that customer service is perfect at all. If employees have not built relationships with customers, many customers will defect without any further prompting. Make sure that your front line teams are required to record all complaints and any action taken to solve them. Complaints data should be treasured, documented, and shared with management. If you’re not getting complaint data from the front line, there’s a serious problem.
Employees aren’t empowered to handle problems
Unless front line employees are empowered to resolve customer complaints and problems without resorting to calling supervisors or referring the customer to a manager, customer service – and the company’s reputation – will suffer greatly. Customer issues should be handled from start to finish by the same person if at all possible. Customers do not want to wait or, even worse, be transferred to multiple people to have their problems solved. There is nothing worse than having to repeat the problem over and over again to different people. This is where you need employee training and empowerment: give the whole customer-facing team the knowledge, tools, and authority they need to defuse angry customers.
Loss of long-term customers
When a long-term customer leaves, you need to notice it and query it. When you have built a long-term relationship with a customer, your ability to retain that customer significantly increases. So when a customer who would normally give you the benefit of the doubt takes their business elsewhere, the problem is almost always the service they’ve received. Try to find out the real reason they defected, and use that information to prevent it from happening again. Remember that flexibility is needed in order to make changes in the company based on information from lost customers.
Fewer referrals
A business with delighted customers should always be gaining new customers from referrals. If your service isn’t good, referrals will drop off first – even before your existing customers defect to a competitor. This makes the continual monitoring of referral levels one of the most powerful indicators of ongoing customer satisfaction. To quote a wise mentor, “Satisfied customers buy from you, but delighted customers sell for you.” Also, if you’re gaining lots of new customers but losing just as many existing customers, this indicates a serious disparity between what your brand is promising and what it actually delivers.
Low morale
Employees’ morale is something that shows whenever they interact with customers, and the customer is quick to pick up on negative sentiment toward the company. While low morale is not always a result of poor customer service (although it can be due to a lack of empowerment), it always creates poor service. If this is the case, the management needs to try to instill a sense of pride throughout the company, and offer employees some well-deserved rewards and recognition. Empower employees to make decisions (within reasonable limits), and train them to make good decisions that have both the customer’s and company’s interests at heart.
While there are obviously more than six signs that identify bad customer service, these are certainly among the main ones to watch out for. If you recognize any single one of these six signs, the time has come to focus attention on fixing it urgently. If you recognize more than one of these signs, there’s no time to waste: you’re already losing market share.