March 5, 2007 at 11:42 pm · Filed under Business
Case 2 of how social media is leveling the playing field in the world of business, and giving the customer a bigger voice than ever before. For Case 1, click here.
#2 George Vaccaro VS. Verizon
George was travelling to Canada, so he called his cell phone carrier Verizon to ask what their roaming rates were for Canada (specifically for data charges). He was quoted .002 cents per kilobyte by Verizon. When he received his invoice, he realized that he had been charged .002 dollars per kilobyte (100 fold difference). When he called to clarify the situation, he ended up getting into “math education” with various Verizon representatives. Although the charge of $70 was not that significant, George’s main beef was how Verizon reps are quoting one figure, when their accounting system charges another. However, the Verizon reps that he was speaking with saw the numbers as the same thing.
He ended up taping one of his conversations and posting the audio up to You Tube (just search for Verizon math on You Tube and you will get there).
He also started a blog at http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2006/12/verizon-doesnt-know-dollars-from-cents.html that documents his process. The response? The You Tube video that George created was viewed over 497,000 times at last count, and started a tidal wave of Verizon customers calling to dispute charges on their bills. George is now the “unofficial” voice of the Verizon customer, and Verizon has stated that it made a mistake (although it isn’t finished yet…)
Once again, I find it fascinating that one person can use technology to leverage their voice to get the message across to sometimes faceless corporations. Once the story caught on, and others chime in with the same message, the coporate entity has practically no choice but to address the issue.
If I stumble across any more of these, I will reference them on the site. In the meantime, if you have an experience that you would like to add by commenting below, feel free.
March 13, 2007 at 5:13 pm · Filed under Business
I recently responded to a forum thread about various ideas to say thank you to your clients. I thought I would also share some ideas here…
I use a varity of “thank you” gifts for my customers. Here are a few of my ideas. I don’t want to blend in with all the other seasonal cards / gifts, so I try and send them out throughout the year (helps with my budget too!)
1. If I meet with a potential JV partner, mentor, or cross promotor, I will try to send them a hand written thank you card in the mail one week after I meet with them (I include 2 business cards as well for them). The purpose of this is just to keep me at the top of their mind for another week or so, and to also thank them for their valuble time. The cards are there so they can pass them out to potential referrals. Depending on the contact, I may also throw a Starbuck’s gift card in with it ($5-10)
2. Corporate gift baskets - I use these for my “key clients”, and usually spend about $100-200 on them. These go into the staff room at my client’s location for their staff to munch on for a couple of days. Depending on the client, I usually exclude wine from the baskets.
3. “Man Buckets“ - These are gift baskets for guys! They aren’t so girly, come in a metal tub and come with a variety of soft drinks and snacks. price = $100-$200.
4. Ice Cream Gifts - We have a company near us that packs ice cream in dry ice and ships it via courier to any location. I tested how long the product lasts, and it is about 3 - days, so you could ship this virtually anywhere in North America. It comes with spoons, dishes, sprinkles, and syrops, plus your choice of various flavors of ice cream. I usually send a few of these out on during the summer months. Price is between $50-$100. If you want the name of the store, e-mail me.
5. I also have sent out personalized pens, or marble stonework with an enscription on it. These last longer than consumable gifts, and usually stay on desks or counters for years. I gave a client a personalized pen about 4 years ago and they still use it (he has refilled the ink 3 times). These cost around $20-30.
Got any more ideas? Feel free to add your comments.
