Positively Outrageous Service

Positively Outrageous Service-- A term coined by this man... http://www.tscottgross.com/ T. Scott Gross.

After many negative dealings with At&T here at work and a rep that is about to drive the office up a wall I got a fluke call from AT&T about something else. I mentioned the service issues I have been having with the rep and asked what could be done about it.

The rep was taken back by my complaints and seemed to be a little side swiped by my request to get another rep. The man I was talking to handles another one of our accounts for the same service and I asked him point blank, I like you pretty good, why don't you take the account for us?
He stopped and thought for a moment then told me he had to check with his manager and find out a few things and call me back.

He returned with a follow up call that I would have to deal with the reps manager to get a new rep. I told him I wanted the two account combined and I wanted to only deal with him. He is the first rep I haven't wanted to hang up on. He told me that would be not possible. I asked him what would be possible if I pulled this account out of their phone book. He told me he would call me back.

The return call was kind of funny about policy and a lot of stuttering. AT&T is still working on it after I refused to accept that I would have to stay with the same rep.

This reminded me of POS. If AT&T would give their reps and even managers the empowerment to make decisions to keep customers happy how would it effect their over all feeling. Thinking about WOM as a component how would I be reacting currently to the service I received? Would I still be thinking about switching to that national rep who is going to cut AT&Ts over all profit for the year on this account? All this situation will take is a little POS for me to keep my marketing there and fully and I might even spread some good WOM.

Word Of Mouth Marketing

It's something that is "sweeping" the marketing world. People are so excited that they have discovered this amazing idea. People are holding conventions and starting groups coming up with cool acronyms.

WORD OF MOUTH!

After attempting many times to read The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing by George Silverman I realized why it was so hard for me to read. Marketing folks are now "harnessing" and giving more power to word of mouth than ever before. Well the any Public Relations person we would all scream at once, It's about time people!!!!

There doesn't need to be, as according to G. Silverman a VPWOM, why would you do that when

Publish Post

you have a public relationship person? Lets not be silly folks. It's good that Marketers are seeing this as a marketing component (as it has always been) but isn't that a matter of public imaging? Of course you want good WOM, every business does... I don't need a book to explain that to me. This book was beneficial for different strategies of elevating awareness of your brand how to set things up.

Although it's not be titled as word of mouth all the time (sometimes is has been) I'd personally like to welcome marketers to public relations. We have been needing to meet for a while.

Something Interesting...

just something interesting to look at when thinking about building a brand.

http://www.slideshare.net/themarketingspot/the-experience-economy-by-betsy-allgood-presentation

The Power of a Blog.

The exchange of information is a very powerful thing.

Communication is changing greatly as we reach out and connect more than ever before. I have always been skeptical of the blog world. I believe the name seems a little funny and abstract.

As I start my adult life I am noticing a trend that is around me more and more. The blog. After watching the world of politics of the last 3 weeks I never realize the power of a blog until last night. A young man in college predicted that Sarah Palin would become the running mate for Senator McCain. (The information was brought to light to me by Jon Stewart...) This is amazing that there is potential that this young man's thoughts posted in cyber space might have caused a chain reaction. Regardless of political views this is a lot of power to put in the hands of bored college kids.

This is an amazing way to network, share thoughts or ideas. Building Brand is another thing blog are useful for. Brainstorming with others. Sometimes answers to problems seem so clear to someone who has never looked for them before. Including different people on decisions, topics, general thoughts, is a great way to make sure you staying well rounded and have a strong hand on what is going on in the world around you.

So I guess, finally, I am sold. Welcome to my blog.