Customer Service IS Marketing

Pottery Barn is a Big Brand.  They know how to market online and off.  But today I had an experience that reminds me that customer service is your most important marketing.  I bought a headboard from Pottery Barn earlier this week and received notification that it had shipped.  I live in the Dallas metro area and, according to the website would receive the order in 7 to 10 business days (an obfuscation that I detest, give it to me straight and tell me less than two weeks).

I received one part of my order today and wanted to know how the headboard would be delivered.  I called and could not get an operator in less than 10 minutes so I went to the web site and started a customer service chat.  This is what transpired.

Please wait while we find an associate to assist you...
We are now connecting you to an associate.
Earl: Thank you for shopping Pottery Barn, my name is Earl. How may I help you?
Customer: Can you tell me how a particular item is being shipped? The order number is ###########
Customer: The item is the Lewis Headborad
Customer: Headboard
Earl: I'll be happy to check that for you. One moment, please.
Earl: Thank you for your patience. The headboard will be an in home delivery. We will contact you to arrange an appointment to deliver it.
Customer: Do you have an ETA?
Earl: let me check the order for you. One moment, please.
Earl: Thank you for waiting. We should be contacting you to schedule your delivery around 5/17.
Customer: That's quite a delay for delivery... the item says it's been shipped.
Earl: I'm sorry for the confusion. It has shipped from our furniture warehouse but it is not scheduled to be your area until 5/17, when we will be contacting you.
Customer: Since I'm outside of Dallas, I expected the stated 7 - 10 business days. I'm dissapointed.
Customer: dissappointed.
Earl: I am very sorry about that, Mr. Swank. It is on the way.
Customer: Will it be sitting in a Dallas warehouse for the next two weeks?
Customer: I can pick it up if that's the case... but for almost $100 in shipping and fees I'd expect
Customer: that I could get the same delivery as Dallas.
Earl: I'm sorry, Mr. Swank. The headboard is not in Dallas. It is on it's way from the west coast.
Customer: I understand that, but since you claim 7-10 business days delivery to Dallas, and the item has been marked "Shipped" since 4/24, I should be able to assume the piece would be in Dallas by the 7th of May. That's not the 17th of May.
Customer: So even if it isn't in Dallas yet, will it be in Dallas by the 7th and can I pick it up rather than wait for you to call on the 17th?
Earl: Unfortunately, Mr. Swank, there is no way I can arrange for you to pick the item up. If it gets to Dallas any sooner, we will contact you to arrange the delivery.
Customer: I expected more.
Customer: The longer I wait for a response the less affinity I feel for your brand.
Earl: I am very sorry for that. What else would you like me to do for you today?
Customer: You've made it clear that there's nothing you can do to help your brand image, so I suppose we're done.
Earl: If there were anything I could do, I would be happy to, Mr. Swank.
Earl: We really are getting it to you as soon as we can.
Customer: Good night.
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.

You might ask, "What do you expect?"  More.  Different.  There were options that Earl had at his disposal.  Obviously, I was disappointed in the ETA (even if I couldn't spell the word... TWICE).  He could have asked if he could try to find a similar product in the area and cancel the order.  He could refund me the nearly $50 in handling and processing fees I paid above the $50 delivery fee.  He could have handed me off to a manager.  I did everything short of offering to drive to meet the truck.  I want the headboard!  From the time I note the long delivery time Earl uses the word "sorry" four times.  He never offers a solution that improves my mood.  If he'd offered to try to find a similar piece in the area I would have felt like he was trying.  Succeed or fail, it's a customer service win based on the attempt.  Instead, he didn't try... FAIL.  If he'd offered some sort of refund, I would have taken it and felt less sore about the lack of value I was getting for the money.  If Earl had passed me off to a manager, I would have felt I was getting a proper level of attention.  None of these things happened.

So, in response, I have posted this unedited transcript here on this blog, on my personal Facebook page and on Pottery Barns Facebook page.  It was there that I learned that "I'm sorry" is a mantra for Pottery Barn.  If they have a customer complaint on the Facebook page the response is something like, "I'm sorry for the issue, please leave your email so that we can message you..."  Hey, Pottery Barn, wake up!  You're failing at customer service in the social media space by not helping your public in full view of the hundreds of millions of people on Facebook.  By not rectifying the situation in public your leading potential customers to believe that you're not fixing the problems.  Do better, Pottery Barn.

The Tie Goes To The Existing Brand

Playing pickup baseball growing up one of the most heard phrases was, "Tie goes to the runner."  It was as if the phrase was whispered by the doctors into the ears of every newborn boy.  Without the benefit of umpires we would start yelling this incantation even before reaching the bag to ward off a tag.

I modified the phrase when I entered the realm of marketing to be, "Tie goes to the existing brand."  That one hasn't quite caught on, but it should.  And I'll keep telling clients when their concept is built solely on siphoning business from an existing brand that, "tie goes to the existing brand."

I had a client who opened a location less than 100 yards from a national competitor and chose to use a name very close to that competitor's name.  Despite heavy advertising, the store never met expected sales and we eventually changed the name.

For a more high profile example, I submit the following:

I saw an ad for BOBS.  The shoes look like this.

I get it, a comfy, casual shoe with the socially positive benefit.  That sounds like a fantastic idea... so great that TOMS has been doing it for several years.  

Skechers is a big company... 100 times larger than TOMS.  It seems that Skechers could do better than just ripping off a business model and a design.  Aside from the "dirty pool" aspects of the big guy steeling the little guy's home work, there is a real marketing reason not to lift the design and business model directly.  TOMS has made a big enough splash that Skechers is actually advertising for TOMS.  I see BOBS... I think TOMS.  Score one more impression for TOMS.  Since the price of the shoes is similar, there is no compelling reason for the consumer to consider BOBS apart from TOMS.  The tie goes to the existing brand!

At least Skechers could charge less for the shoes or have a different philathropic twist or slap a picture of Brooke Burke on the advertising.    

Words That Sell

I saw this billboard today and had to take a picture of it.  The advertiser is an established cemetery in the area.  It's very well respected and a lovely place with signature horse sculptures as seen on the sign above.  There are many things that could be said about this place.  Beautiful.  Serene.  Pastoral.  Historic.  Peaceful.  Instead of any of these, they chose "Convenient".

I wish I was in that creative meeting when either agency or client decided that cemetery plot purchasers (and that's all of us, if you think about it) wanted convenience from their cemetery.  I can imagine the client saying, "We see ourselves as the most convenient choice for people in the area," they might say.  Fair point.  The location is centrally located and I'm sure that if you call a friendly person will pick up and help you immediately.

However, this is a cemetery we're talking about.  "Convenient" reminds me of the old, prank answering machine message, "Bill's mortuary and delicatessen... you stab 'em we slab 'em."  Convenient is a drive through. Convenient is a one-hour cleaners.

No matter what word you slap on the billboard, cemeteries evoke a single concept... death.  And isn't death the ultimate inconvenience?  Nothing can ruin a schedule like death.  You don't hear someone say, "I've got to run in for my funeral on the way to work."  People don't beam, "We'll have his ashes back in an hour... we can still make is to the game!"