CEO Marketing?

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CEO Marketing?

July 28th, 2007 at 5:50 am star

How many CEO's call a customer after they place an order with their company and thank them in person? Answer: Not very many. Do you ever wonder why? Do you even care? Let me give you some reasons to care and lets see if I can convince you why you should care.

In this day and age of e-mail and computers things are becoming very sterile in terms of selling a product. Even the cash registers at your local super market say thank you on the display card so the cashier does not need take the time to thank you. Why is that? In my humble opinion I say, we have lost focus on the most important Factor. The human Factor. (It may be linked to the black helicopters but I just can't prove that yet lol :))

What can we do to correct this? What advantage does my company have if I take the time to do this?

To answer the first question may I suggest that you take to the time to call a few of your customers every month and personally thank them for ordering from you. Most are in shock that the CEO himself/herself is taking the time to talk to the customer and not wanting to sell them more stuff. Once they get past the point of being shocked they become a gold mine of information and insight about your company and how things are being run.

The answer to the second question above is those people who you just called via phone and spoke with will most likely get on the net and write in a blog somewhere that you called them and it was really a nice thing that a CEO of a company took the time out to personally call them and take the time just to talk to them. This is great for your company in terms of free marketing for your company. It is also makes you feel good inside as a person! Now you have something to look forward too every month. I do this every month and it is so much fun. 99% of the people I speak with have so much fun talking with me and I have so much fun talking to them. So lets all set a new goal for next month! Lets call and make a customer happy! A happy customer is a paying customer for life!

My next article will be about Whales. It is such a cool marketing concept. Hint: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Brian :)

Posted in Tips and Advice by Brian Shockley

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Debbie says:

July 28th, 2007 at 8:48 am star

Thanks Brian...I really like the idea of the humble factor. In this age of the virtural world, internet communication and being "connected", the idea of people talking to people is refreshing. I, for one, applaud your novel concept and take on your challenge.

Brian says:

July 29th, 2007 at 9:37 pm star

Edit

Good for you Debbie! Now if only Bill Gates would take the time to call me. :)

David says:

July 30th, 2007 at 9:44 am star

Edit

First and foremost, as a consumer, I would like to have a trouble free transaction and I expect the CEO to enable that. This goes pretty deep as well and includes having a quality product or service and then proper support to 'deliver' that product or service from start to finish. My first advice for a CEO is to focus on quality and this goes through all facets of the business - R&D, purchasing, production, QC, fulfilment.... The key from the perspective of the CEO is to have the confidence that your ship is not leaking first and foremost and not have to rely on monthly calls to find such problems. I have also found that individuals who have had problems tend to find you anyways or, procedures should be in place where such problems do end up on your desk for you to review (have a support log). I personally review the support issues that come in via e-mail for instance. Then, for the monthly contact, leave that to a customer support person unless you really have a lot of time on your hands but I have not met too many CEOs that have tons of time on their hands so the main point is that I do not believe that this approach is very realistic. It is a valid concept on paper, but another issue is that if I want to scream to the world that you are just a tiny biz, this would be the way to do it (whether you are tiny or not, this will be the impression). I would be just as happy if a customer service person called me and asked if everything was satisfactory with the product/service and if the transaction went smoothly. This would tell me that the CEO is running a tight ship and should be applauded for it. Another idea if you want to be so involved is to include your personal (business 'personal') contact information with each order (on the confirmation page for instance) and allow customers to contact you personally if they have an issue. This takes out the random nature of the call and again can lead to the warm and fuzzy feelings that we are trying to achieve.

admin says:

July 30th, 2007 at 10:20 am star

I agree with David. I think that if you look at companies that have succeeded. The CEO just can't do the role you outlined.

However, I will say there is nothing wrong with being the "small business"

In fact I am seeing small "ma and pop" stores fail here in my home town. What people don't yet realize is that the "ma and pop" stores are not extinct -- They just went global!

Think of how many small businesses are on the web. And I know first hand that the majority of the new startup web sites focus on service. In fact I see our Website Forge store owners bending over backwards for customers that are unsatisfied in any way. Whether its the their fault or not.

There are millions and millions of "ma and pop" shops all over the world willing to give personalized and excellent service over the web. And They are doing a good job.

Shane Merem
Web Design and E-Commerce
www.websiteforge.com