Sorry, not sorry

Sorry, not going to be sorry anymore.

The Pantene adverts are getting it just right. Their latest advert is striking a cord.

Click here to view the advert

I am in total agreement that we apologise too much, and not only women, but South Africans in general. Don't get me wrong - basic etiquette of apologising is important, and I do also appreciate that it is a cultural thing - which can be quite endearing when someone else does something stupid, hurt themselves or break something - you feel compelled to apologise for them, the situation, and for everyone who may have been anywhere close by.

Apologising - for everything - has become part of our DNA and pretty much happens automatically. Why is this?

We automatically put ourselves on the back foot, take a submissive stance and then represent ourself as a second-rate citizen when we apologise for everything that we do. First world countries, and truly successful business people are not so apologetic about everything. By no means should we become bullies or arrogant, we can keep our dignity, head up and grace without being sorry for everything - in fact I believe that we will get more repect if we weren't so apologetic - take another look at the video, and the difference it makes.

Again, I too am quite guilty of this, and am challenging myself and everyone else to be a lot more cognisant of the amount of times you catch yourself unnecessarily apologising during the day.

So, sorry - not going to be sorry anymore - who is with me?

Customer Service Part II

As I am growing the business, I am constantly learning and seeing how all the theory and books are falling into place. In any business there are a number of stakeholders that you need to build and foster relationships with.  For me, two of the most important groups are the people you work with to deliver a product or service, your employees; and the people you work for, your clients. Today, I’m going to continue on from last week's theme of customer service.

We hear to infinitum the importance of customer service. We all know that it is important, but surprisingly, or should I rather say, sadly, too many companies (not only the automotive industry - see last week's post) are forgetting about the importance of their clients. The acquisition fee to get new clients is so much more than keeping current clients happy.

A couple of months ago, I had two situations where the blatant “couldn’t-care-less-about-you-as-our-client-of-many-years” attitude stunned me.

The first is a media monitoring news clipping service – we had invested hundreds of thousands of Rands for their service over the last eight years. For various reasons, we gave notice, I only received an email asking for the reason; pretty much to tick-a-checklist exercise. At minimum a phone call and some attempt to try and find out why and to try and change my mind to remain a customer would have meant something. Clearly my support over the years meant nothing. I am pretty sure that that the Managing Director of this company has firstly no clue who their clients are, and secondly there are clear issues if I look at their incredible staff turnover, especially of late. There was never a proper handover given to their new recruits, so each time we had to form a new relationship and brief the account manager from scratch.  Interestingly I got a mail from this company yesterday letting me know that they have launched a new product. They did not show any appreciation for our service; or remotely interested to keep us as a customer - so what is the likelihood that I will now even consider giving that mail or company a second thought? 

The second was an online flower and gift ordering service, manned by the ever flamboyant "Harold". Another company we have invested a substantial amount in for various special occasions. Recently I ordered my Mom some flowers when the sub-standard bunch arrived, there were dead flowers in the bouquet! How embarrassing! When I saw the replacement bouquet the next day, my blood pressure revved into scarlet - the tiny bouquet of white lilies, gip (a bigger version of 'Baby's breath' and a hit in the '80's), one chrysanthemum and two pink roses left me aghast, and hugely worried as to what quality our other clients had been receiving in the past. When I phoned, the operator indicated in a "well-it-has-been-replaced-what-is-your-problem?" attitude. I reminded them to look on the system to see that we are not a once-off client, and the investment from our side would be drying up. I was promised a phone call from the manager...still waiting for this call. 

Customer service is really important to us on all levels and making sure that we listen to what our clients say. It really is about the detail, and the small things that make a difference - wouldn't you agree?

Infinitely happy

Customer service, or let me be more specific, the clear lack thereof especially within the automotive industry has been, to say the least jaw-droppingly disappointing.

For the last eight months I have been on the market to acquire a new set of wheels. It's been quite a journey. As much as I really loved my little Diesel (the clothing brand not fuel) Fiat 500c (limited edition), it was time to upgrade. When I first got it, there were very few on the road, and I really liked the 'funkiness' of them; but now, every second car is a Fiat 500 and it's lost its uniqueness and appeal. I did not have to buy a new car, but if the right one came my way, then I would consider investing in it.

My first port of call in December last year was Mercedes-Benz (Claremont); my perception of this 'luxury' brand has been shattered into a million pieces. There were a myriad of things that went wrong from the start, e.g. when I arrived for the test drive that I had booked, they did not have the car that I had requested. Clearly their sales are high enough that they don't really want or need to get dynamic businesswomen into their cars. Understandably, (or so they say) the vehicle I had my eye on (CLA) will not be brought into South Africa anytime soon, apparently November 2014 would be the soonest. Interestingly, they did not try and give me a deal on any of their other models, surely a salesman | dealer principal (trust me I spoke to them ALL) worth their salt would try and get me into one of their other models or at least keep their (eager) client in the loop and make a potential investor in their brand feel somehow fostered. I made it very clear that I was very eager to invest in a Merc - not even this lit a fire under them.

I had to get over my disappointment, so test drove a number of other brands and again received luke warm receptions. Interesting. I discussed this with a number of people who said that they had experienced the same treatment. So, made peace with the fact that I would not be investing in a car anytime soon.

...then, an 'aaaaaaaaah' moment - I was driving out of Hout Bay, and it was as if the skies opened and a sun beam shone on one of the most beautiful cars I had ever seen, and the little dwindling embers in my gut to buy a new car re-ignited and I was ready to pursue the car-hunt again.

Upon some frantic Google searching it was apparently the Infiniti-brand that I had seen; I called on the help of the better half to help with further investigations and research (he is amazing with this) - and booked a test drive online.

Within less than a day I had a call to confirm the test drive at the Infiniti dealer in Green Point.

When I called the dealer, purely by my voice, the lady on the other side of the phone said, "Oh hi, yes Ms le Roux..." she new my name, before I even said that it was me! This in itself may have been the selling point for me (never under estimate the power of that first phone call!).

To make an extraordinarily long story short (there were email hiccups / people being quicker off the mark to sign up for exceptionally good deals than me etc. etc.) - but Leslie Blake-Taylor, always made a plan to get me a really good deal. He even drove all the way to Hout Bay to hand-deliver an email when our e-mail systems did not want to 'talk' to each other. I had said to him at the beginning that I was not in a rush to buy, but I would always be interested in a good deal. He made this happen.

The whole experience of the handing over of the new car was on another level, details really are important, isn't it? The purple draping with ribbon, the goody bag and even two caps for when the roof is down, were super touches!

Thanks to Infiniti I have (somewhat) regained my trust that there are companies out there that foster good relationships, and see customer service as a key driver to building their businesses.

Proud !

Book review - Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

It is not often that I find a book that draws me in from the first page.  Embarrassingly, actually sadly, I knew very little about the life and accomplishments of Steve Jobs.

He wanted to change the world, and wow did he manage to shift humankind with his art and genius through the Mac, Pixar, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

I am in awe - clearly he was not the easiest person to work with, but what inspires me is that he knew what he wanted and did not compromise on quality or his vision and pushed individuals and teams to achieve in fact over-achieve, things that nobody ever thought possible. Even though he was not an easy soul to work with, those working with him pretty much new where they stood; he had no problem to let those around him know if something sucked, or the best thing in the whole world - being honest was more important than being liked. 

The author - Walter Isaacson has captured the story with great sensitivity - it is however funny how he zooms in on specific details, e.g almost every time he refers to Steve's house he mentions that it was not furnished.

The life of Steve Jobs does make you reflect and wonder what you are doing with your life - what is the legacy that you are leaving that will change the world?

Highly recommended book 9/10

Have I told you lately how much I love my team?

Our team is growing – all the better to serve you with!

Have I told you lately how much I love my team, and how much they love looking after reputations?

Because our reputation matters, we have a rigorous recruitment process to make sure that we employ only the best people to look after your reputation.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the latest two additions to the Reputation Matters family to you.

Lara de Stadler - Account Co-ordinator

Lara completed her B.Com Honours (Communication Management) Cum Laude at the University of Pretoria. Her Honours thesis focussed specifically on external crisis communication within the automotive industry.

She is currently showing her mettle by working very closely on a strategic internal communication engagement with one of our key clients in Gauteng. No task is too big, and Lara eagerly takes on any challenge bowled her way.

We are so thrilled to have her on board with her industry and academic best practices knowledge. Lara is a true people’s person and enjoys interacting with people from all walks of life, she loves the outdoors and has a soft spot for animals – especially the fluffy kind.

Zydèlia Kleinhans - Account Co-ordinator

Another BCom Honours (Communication Management) Cum Laude graduate that we are very proud of is Zydèlia. Also from the University of Pretoria and bitten by the academic bug, she has a keen interest in the impact of crisis communication on reputations. Her honours thesis investigated the use of social media during a crisis within the petroleum industry.

Zydèlia is currently working towards her M.Com degree, ‘Exploring Leadership and Communication Approaches in Support of Employee Personal Development Goals’. She is a nature lover and (unlike me) loves to go camping in her spare time.

No one likes a crisis – but they happen. We'll be sharing how to navigate through them; make sure you don't miss out

SAVE THE DATE – Clients are warmly invited on a complimentary basis to attend our information session about crisis communication earmarked to take place on the morning of 06 August 2014 in Midrand, Gauteng.

If you are not a client (yet) - tickets cost a minimal fee of R250 (excl. Vat).

YES - Please book a seat for me for the crisis communication session in Midrand.

Watch this space for details about Cape Town and Durban sessions.

Halloo Chicago!

It was that time of year again to travel to one of the two annual ECCO PR International Network Conferences. This year saw the ECCO members descend on Chicago (my first visit to the United States!)

ECCO is a global network of approximately 40 independently owned agencies across the globe. Twice a year members get together to share knowledge, best practices and to brainstorm ideas and discuss challenges within the industry.

The two key areas we focussed on this year was on social media and building a PR agency. It was a great session of idea sharing and learning; where in the past I felt that we as South Africa are pretty much on par when it comes to PR and communication related themes, the US is way ahead of us when it comes to social media - there were some very interesting case studies discussed, and new trends in social media mentioned that I am very keen to see how we can role it out in South Africa. With that said, many of the case studies were more consumer focussed brands, but it will be an exciting challenge to see how we can translate it for our purposes.

Two (general) lessons that I learnt during my stay was the absolute pride in the country Americans have - there are country flags on almost every building. They do, and say that that they do everything  bigger and better - to a certain degree I agree, but I also think that the more you say you are wonderful and great, the more you will believe it and those around you believe it. I'm quite tired of South Africans always putting themselves down - we need to believe in ourselves and become more confident in our abilities. We need to stop selling ourselves short. If we say and believe that we are great, and show the rest of the world just what a wonderful country and nation we are, we will all start believing it and living up to a positive reputation. It often feels that we apologise for EVERYTHING - why is that? I believe that if we put it out there it will happen.

The other lesson I learnt was how wonderfully well the Americans do 'sell on' - e.g. for $1 more you can add / upgrade / up-size (their already huge portions). Servers also almost always encourage up-selling and letting customers know about a special.  Yes, this is (again) more relevant when it came to consumer goods and food, but I am keen to test and measure to see how something like that could potentially work in the communication field.

Watch this space for some exciting social media developments and up-selling deals-you-simply-cannot-miss-out-on!

Book review: Instant Success Series - Successful Franchising, Brad Sugars

Franchising is something that I definitely have on my radar in the future. Not something that I will invest time in right now – but I am intrigued by it. For now, my focus will be on building branches in the different provinces, but there is an allure to getting the processes, procedures and systems in place to have franchising opportunities in place for people who want to invest in the brand, and implement a communication and reputation management system that works. 

I am seeing more and more opportunities for communication management and reputation consulting so am keen to help people that want to do their own thing with the support of a trusted brand; opposed to having to start the business from scratch. I am quite aware that there are many pitfalls and franchising has its own set of challenges, but it will all happen at the right time. I have mentioned before that I really enjoy Brad Sugars’ Instant Series books – they are easy reads, and there are always great ideas, which are really quite easy to implement and refine for one’s own business scenario. 

One of the things that he focuses on in this book is defining the culture of an organisation. This is an exercise I am quite keen to pen down with the team. I am also re-inspired to update and document all the current systems – we have an incredible step-by-step folder, I am very impressed by the team’s contributions and commitment to keeping the SOPs (standard operating procedures) updated. Working in different locations across the country makes it so much easier to give a consistent service when there are clear processes in place. It’s important to me that it does not matter whether it is me or the newest person that has just joined the team that is in front of the client, we all need to walk and talk the same language.

We have been doing some work with Mustadafin Foundation in Cape Town, and it was so heart-warming to receive the following from their Communication Manager the other day:

“Mustadafin Foundation has worked with Reputations Matters for just over a year now. In that time we have found their service to be impeccable, their support unwavering and their standard excellent...“Of particular importance, is that as the Reputation Matters team has grown, there has been no change in the personalised handling of our account, nor any variance in the standard of service delivered. The warmth and friendly support they are known for is present in every meeting, information event and all the follow up interactions. We will definitely continue our relationship with them as the guardians of our organisation's reputation.“  Hani du Toit, Projects & Communications Manager – Mustadafin Book recommendation: 8/10