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What Summize can do, part 2
By Justin Goldsborough | October 6th, 2008
Justin case you were wondering…I’ve always been a fan of dominoes. Not necessarily the game, although I’ll play it. But what I really meant is when someone sets up a huge line of dominoes and then knocks them all over one by one. You know what I mean, right? If not, check out this video. 4 million…that’s quite a few more than the domino tricks I used to watch on Sesame Street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgtekdw1eyo
I know the whole dominos fascination is kind of strange, but it’s applicable to the topic of my post, which is once again Summize. Bear with me for a second and you’ll see what I mean.
Think of the dominos as conversations on the Internet about your brand. When a customer has a negative experience with your brand, he/she can push those dominoes over by writing a scathing blog post or tweeting about how much your company sucks. Those conversations are going to happen whether you like it or not and as people jump on board and comment that they agree with the post, our brand reputation takes hit after hit and the dominos keep falling.
You may have seen a situation like this before or heard about one anecdotally. These situations aren’t confined to blogs. A lot of these brand-damaging conversations take place at parties, on the phone or even at work. But they also take place online, more specifically on Twitter. In the past, you may have felt helpless to influence these conversations. And that’s where the beauty of Summize kicks in. We’re not helpless anymore.
Let me give you an example. Meet Darryl Ohrt. Darryl co-authors the blog Brand Flakes for Breakfast, which he says has more than 150,000 readers. He’s also active on Twitter. In fact that’s where I first noticed him, when I found this tweet on Summize:
Sprint claims that $1000/day for internet is fair, if you’re roaming. I’m pretty sure we could have rented a satellite truck for the day. 10:41 AM September 24, 2008 from TweetDeck
I replied to Darryl’s tweet and asked if his problem had been resolved. Here’s the e-mail he sent to me:
Hey Justin - Great to see that someone at Sprint is monitoring social media. That’s awesome. Thanks in advance for getting this to someone who can make a difference. Here’s my situation:
We purchased two Sprint USB wireless cards for use on a company promotional tour (people/www.PlaidNation.com). One day of the tour had us in Vancouver. We crossed the border on the evening of July 20, and returned to the US late on the afternoon of July 21. We were in Canada for LESS THAN 24 HOURS. We received an additional invoice for the ‘roaming’ we experienced - $1084.39 for one card; $1321.71 for the second card. (This doesn’t include taxes, etc - only the roaming charges).
I FULLY EXPECT to pay a premium for internet service while in Canada, on a United States service plan. That’s fair. But what’s a premium? $50/day, $100/day - while exorbitant since it’s more than we pay for an entire month of service in the U.S., would seem fair. We were billed over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS for each card. For less than 24 hours internet service. Honestly - we could have rented a satellite truck for the day, for far less.
I spoke with a Sprint customer service agent who indicated “that’s the plan that I agreed to, and that’s the rate Sprint charges for the service while roaming.” No cap? Is this really fair?
If nothing can be done - I’ll pay the invoice. But I’m going to be EXTREMELY VOCAL. (Our main blog is read by over 150,000 readers monthly.) And I’ll be submitting stories to Consumerist, and other social media outlets. Alternately - it would be AWESOME to tell the flip story. That we had this issue with an invoice - and through the power of Twitter (because Sprint was listening), we were able to resolve the issue.
THAT’S how to use social media for a brand - and I’ll tell the world. On our blog, at my speaking events, and elsewhere. Please let me know if you can be of any help!
darryl
After receiving this e-mail, I forwarded Darryl’s message to John Crowdis, one of our VIP Analysts in Executive Services. Took all of five minutes. John contacted Darryl, they discussed his complaint and came to an agreement leaving Darryl with a much more positive story to tell about Sprint.
Check out how John pushed the dominoes in the opposite direction:
Dear Mr. Goldsborough: Thank you for forwarding the above-referenced inquiry to the Executive & Regulatory Services Department. I am pleased to inform you that Mr. Ohrt’s billing concern has addressed and resolved to his satisfaction. I contacted him directly yesterday and spoke at length. We have re-rated the charges and he is completely satisfied with the outcome. He blogged about the experience and his initial frustrations ending in a ringing endorsement for us.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me directly by calling (817) 215-3059. I am available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Central Time. Sincerely, John Crowdis
VIP Analyst
As I said before, John started the domino effect in a positive direction for Sprint. But what’s most telling — and pretty darn cool — is how Darryl and the blogosphere made sure the dominoes kept falling in our favor.
First, take a look at his blog post complimenting Sprint instead of condemning us. Then, check out how that positive Sprint story got picked up by Brand Aid just a couple of hours later. And if you search Sprint on Summize, you’ll see a number of Tweeters commenting positively on Darryl’s post.
My friend John Taylor called it traction. I call it the domino effect. Thanks to Summize, the dominos fell in our favor. And it isn’t rocket science or a huge time commitment. It’s a rather simple way employees can connect with our customers and have an impact. And next time you could be the one pushing the dominoes.
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