The Antidote to Technology
Posted on April, 29, 2012 by Kerry Rego -
I have discovered the antidote to technology. Don’t get me wrong, I love tech. I love the buttons, design, functionality, the possibilities, and the experience of a great user interface design. I don’t love what it’s doing to us. Computers, communication, and social media are such an ingrained part of our lives now, it’s no longer about how to use them but about how not to let them rule our lives.
I spoke at the Northbay Biz Magazine’s BIZNOW event April 19, 2012 and I was given a very specific request. I was asked to talk about how computers and social media are changing us and how to cope. Normally, I’m asked to speak on social media in general or about an individual tool such as Facebook or LinkedIn. This presentation had an Ignite style delivery and was a welcome deviation from my every day speech. To cap off its dramatic flair, it was delivered in an air hangar beside a fleet of jets.
What did I talk about? We have added work loads, increased stress levels, amped up demands on our physical and mental health, and invasive wireless wavelengths. How do you counterbalance all of that? I won’t simply give you the answer but show you how I arrived at it.
I am a California Community Colleges trainer for the Interactive Internet and Mobile Applications for Business (iima4biz) initiative and was brought down to Los Angeles to run a pilot of the course material in May of 2011. Let me set the scene for you. I was seated halfway down a long table in a conference room with 8 small business owners. There was one prospective trainer behind me watching my materials over my shoulder. The grant coordinator and the curriculum writer were witnessing the interaction from the far end of the table. I had my laptop, an iPad with instructor’s notes, a paper workbook so I could see the attendees’ materials, my phone for texts of guiding direction from my coordinators and as a session timer, an overhead projector, audio equipment and a video camera. I delivered 6 hours of curriculum, demonstrated websites, moderated conversation, and managed all of the people and technology like a social media dj. Then I did it again on Day 2.
After flying home, my family and I went to a property my husband manages near the Russian River that has little or no cell phone reception. It was a bright and sunny Mother’s Day and I ended up in the garden weeding. Now I’m not a gardener and I’ve never really had a desire to get my hands dirty. As a kid, weeding was practically a form of punishment. But when my husband asked me and my five year old if we wanted to help so we could get out of there faster, I agreed. I started to pull plants out of the ground, warmed by the sun, I was spending time with my little girl, and putting my hands in the dirt, I realized something. I was having a wonderful day. I had just spent two straight days with electromagnetic and wireless waves beaming through my body and the lack of cell reception plus sun, earth and family, I was in heaven. I felt healthy, happy, and alive. After weeding the whole garden, my daughter and I walked down to the river’s edge and I sat peacefully while she splashed in the water. It was the most profound and simple Mother’s Day I have ever had.
I didn’t put it all together then. As the year has progressed, I started to pick up signs and pieces of the puzzle. It wasn’t until I spoke at BIZNOW that I had been asked to verbalize it. The antidote to technology is Nature. Not just dirt and trees but anything natural. From silence and meditation, working all of your muscles in exercise, interacting with humans and animals, not just being in a natural environment but experiencing it with your physical body, as well as self preparation and enjoyment of whole foods. We are biological beings and we are experiencing organic elements less and less in our daily lives.
We are stressed out. We are tired. We are sick. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Take a walk. Play more. Eat fresh food. Dig in the dirt. Watch or swim in natural water. Listen carefully to your body and the world around you. The solution has no batteries. The power source is the sun.
Go play.
Risks & Reputation Management: Action Items
Posted on March, 13, 2012 by Kerry Rego -
You learned a lot of information when you attended “Risks & Reputation Management: Using Social Media to Protect Your Brand”. Or maybe someone you know wasn’t able to come. What are the takeaways?
Disclaimer: You will not be able to accomplish all of this in one day. I want to help manage your expectations. You will want to set aside time to accomplish these tasks on a regular basis (maybe once or twice a week) until you’ve worked your way through the list. Pace yourself. What you learn in this process about the online image of your name and your business will be worth all the effort.
• Perform a vanity search (*1)
• Respond to negative commenters in a positive and validating way (*2)
• Setup Google Alerts (*1)
• Setup Google Places (*3)
• Setup business on Directories (*3)
• Legacy Management/Process (*4)
• Assess Computer Systems security (*4)
• Create a Crisis Plan (*4)
• Setup internal Social Media Communications Policy (*4)
• Assess customer service requirements with survey (*2)
• Review website (I recommend reading it out of order to to more easily spot errors) for correct information, functionality, browser compatibility, update on a schedule to keep rankings high with Google (*4)
Blogs to show you how to do the action items:
*1 – Tools for monitoring your reputation
*2 – How to deal with negative customer feedback
*3 – Get yourself listed on the web
*4 – Legacy and process management, steps to take
[Image via CampaignsMD]
How to Deal with Negative Customer Feedback
Posted on March, 08, 2012 by Kerry Rego -
When asked about negative online comments I say, “Any company that has been in business longer than 5 minutes has an unhappy customer. You simply can’t please everyone all the time.” How you deal with it is more telling than the fact that the negativity exists. The lack of control over what people say about businesses makes many owners uncomfortable. I’ll let you in on a secret, the internet didn’t take away your control. You never had control. Control is only an illusion. The only thing you actually control in any situation is how you react.
According to the Opinion Research Corporation, 84% of Americans say online reviews influence their purchasing decisions so this is an important area of which to pay attention. I was doing a platform audit for one of my clients, Getaway Adventures, when I came across a negative review on TripAdvisor. The customer was displeased with the tour he went on and felt it wasn’t what he expected during purchase. The owner, Randy, dealt with it in a really effective way. He apologized and told the customer that the next tour was on him and that he’d take the customer out himself. Done. A negative turned into a positive, at least from my perspective. You can learn a lot about a person/business by the way they treat people. He handled it just the way he would’ve if the client had been standing in his place of business. The way we cope with online feedback should be very much like the way we’d handle it face to face. Same skills different application.
A word about having your friends or employees write reviews for you. It’s called astroturfing. Astroturfing is a bogus grass roots movement or the practice of disingenuously creating reviews for a service that come from someone other than an actual customer. Lifestyle Life, a cosmetic surgery clinic in New York, was required to pay $30,000 in civil penalties after an investigation by the state attorney general’s office. Employees had been found guilty of posing as plastic surgery patients and had been writing wonderful reviews. It’s tempting. Don’t do it. Also, don’t promise free merchandise or services for good reviews. You are in effect paying for their words. Same premise different approach.
Retail customers prefer social media support to a tune of 45%, according to ZenDesk. Do you know what kind of support your customers prefer? Give them a survey, high tech or low tech, the important part is you know their preference before it gets to the bad review stage.
Let’s say you really did mess up. Here are the basic steps to go through:
- Apologize. This can be hard for people but sometimes the complainer just wants to be validated or acknowledged. If a customer complains about a pizza arriving late, not necessarily to the company itself, the company can respond with an apology and a promise of a free item on the next order. Tracking complaints will allow you to spot recurring issues. This accomplishes several things: the customer is happier because they’ve been acknowledged, you are tracking a possible problem in your service chain, and the general public can witness how you handle the situation.
- Procedure. When a simple apology won’t solve the situation, you need to have a more organized approach.
- Have a dedicated point of contact to take ownership over issues and see them through to resolution. This person will be tracking complaints to be able to spot patterns.
- Set expectations for the customer. After the initial contact with customer, let them know when a full response will be forthcoming. If the complaint is in a public arena, strive to take it private as soon as possible. It will be easier on the customer and keeps further negativity out of the public eye. Time isn’t your friend if the complaint originated online. Find a resolution fast.
- Respond with the resolution. An explanation or maybe a discount. This is your call as your business model is yours and yours alone.
- Publicly resolve. If it started in a public forum, make sure you let the public know that you care about customer service issues and that you work hard to make it right. If it began on Twitter, post your public resolution there.
- Make Changes. By having your process in place you will be able to make necessary changes to the way you deliver your product and improve the customer experience.
- Encourage your Super Fan. These people believe in your brand and will keep the tone where you want it to be.
- Don’t take it personally. As I already said, everyone has had an unhappy customer. It’s part of the gig. Your job is to make sure you did all that you could when it’s all said and done.
Solving Our Problem of Digital Illiteracy
Posted on November, 05, 2011 by Kerry Rego -
I pointed out my concerns about our workforce being digitally illiterate. I’m not a fan of all talk and no action. So here are my active suggestions on how we can improve the situation and make us competitive again:
- Invest in technology tool upgrades in our public schools. Take a tour of the average computer lab at public schools here in the US. They are quite out of date and all programs are desktop based. If we were to partner local businesses with school systems, they can subsidize the purchase of inexpensive units that maximize space and usability. Businesses have a vested interest due to the fact that in a decade, many of those children will be their local talent pool from which they’ll be hiring. Check out the Apple learning labs to see an example of a way to bring tech in in a new way. I’m not suggesting that schools can afford this exact option but I’m inspired by the compact design and mobile storage possibilities. This is different than any computer classroom you’ve ever seen.
- Make basic technology proficiency a high school graduation requirement. Not just typing, spreadsheets, and word processing but we need to offer database administration, networking, and web design. These are the skills that are in demand. According to Bloomberg, as of May 2011, Microsoft had 4551 jobs available (in an economy where we have 9.1% unemployed!) yet it takes them an average of 65 days to fill a single position. This figure alone demonstrates that we need to get our youth equipped with skills that all employers are asking for. There is the ICDL or the Internet Computer Driver’s License, the international standard in end-user computer skills. It’s a certification in the practical use of computers and computer applications and is supported by governments, informatics societies, international organizations and corporations globally. ICDL is delivered in 148 countries, through 41 languages. Internationally, many places that one applies for a job, this certification is required.
- Offer more breadth of technology in higher education. Data is king and data analytics, data mining, data manipulation of all sorts is highly in demand. How about game design? Or development courses? Or technological anthropology? The point is, what is being offered is limited and not that helpful in getting undergrads one of the many available jobs in technology.
- Put more money into job training courses like the one in New York City backed by Mayor Bloomberg. When our workers are being let go from their jobs on a Tuesday and they are looking for a job on a Wednesday, how are they any more qualified today than they were yesterday? They aren’t. We need to provide our fellows with the tools they need to be competitive. Business skills, job interview skills, LinkedIn profile writing, business technology 101. Small business development centers, SCORES, state employment offices and SBA funded programs are the perfect delivery device for this type of education. They could even hire out of work educators as trainers and get even more people working.