Guerrilla Marketing, The Influence Factor and Customer Service: 5 Techniques

Written by Ann Evanston. Posted in Business Strategy, Influence Factor

Creating a customer experience is not always easy, but there are great examples every day if you watch. I have been a HUGE fan of Guerrilla Marketing for many years, and recently had an amazing “Guerrilla” customer experience via Twitter. There is nothing more powerful than having it happen to you! You may not be in social media, but you are in customer service. Everyday we are given the opportunity to BE Influential with our customers, internal or external.

Comcast has never really been my favorite. But @ComcastBill is my superhero. I personally think they should have him training the CSR’s that answer the 800 technical issue line. And because of @ComcastBill I’m still a Comcast customer.
What can we learn from @ComcastBill about how we can use a brilliant Guerrilla Marketing techniques to increase customer experiences and be more influential?

  1. Listen more and talk less.
  2. Let the customer have their experience. Understand the power of empathy, even when you think they are RUDE!
  3. Never say “calm down”.
  4. Follow up- are they satisfied now?
  5. If something negative happens; deal with integrity and good communication.

 

What Guerrilla Marketing techniques can you embrace in your business?

[author] [author_image timthumb='on']http://www.warrior-preneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20639_1304654341293_1650354_n.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Ann Evanston, MA, has been named by About.com as one of the Top Six Marketing Consultants, Feb 2011. She is an international speaker, consultant and coach specializing in the Influence Factor. [/author_info] [/author]

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  • http://louiseedington.com Louise Edington

    I remember watching this happen on twitter and marketmesuite are also excellent at answering. A not so excellent example was the ski resort we use, The Canyons. They delayed opening by two weeks this summer and announced it by saying ‘we are pleased to announce….’. No apologies to season pass holders, completely ignored all questions and complaints on their facebook page and then very reluctantly gave us all 2 free buddy passes with black out dates which, unless we have friends coming to town or we sell at a discount, are no REAL benefit to pass holders. A discount of next years pass would have been the right thing to do.
    I am a true believer in owning up to problems and dealing with them graciously so love your tips and will be setting up some more searches.
    Louise Edington
    Facing Fears For Freedom
    http://louiseedington.com

  • http://twitter.com/backngroovemom rachel h blaufeld

    you need to share this video with tory burch (fashion designer) — I am a big fan of hers, and apparently over the holidays there were many unsatisfied customers who took her facebook fan page by storm. As far as anyone could tell…no one was addressing the guerilla marketing that was occurring on fb. If your vlog was available to the people at tory burch, I bet you that they could have turned this guerilla episode into positive customer service piece. unfortunately, it looks as though they did not.
    as always — your info is so valuable! Rachel

  • http://www.smartbusinessowners.com/blog Merlyn Sanchez

    great post! Believe it or not, a customer that has had a problem is more loyal than a customer that hasn’t, provided the issue has been well handled.

    Love your idea of setting up alerts on various services, I also use google alerts.

    Thanks Ann! I’m going to share this.

  • http://twitter.com/lvitale lvitale

    Coincidentally I just did a webinar yesterday that was exactly about using twitter to set up searches for your business, one of them being exactly what you’re talking about, what are people saying about you. It was great, and really focused on being proactive, like @comcastbill.

    I’ve been tweeting about Chase for a couple of days now, no response, no guerrilla marketing there!

    I do this with some of the mom boards that I’m a member of, when someone posts anything about real estate, I reply, to them directly, and see if I can help.

    Great post, thanks for sharing, and giving me a real-life experience of what I just learned yesterday.

    Lisa Vitale
    http://lisawifemom.wordpress.com

  • Donna McCord

    I am so looking forward to getting set up on Twitter and taking advantage of all the ways this can help us be more in touch with what is going on out there as well as being more proactive and responsive. This whole social media world is so new to me, and a little scary, but the more I learn about it the more exciting I think it is! I feel really blessed to have been introduced to you, Ann, because I don’t know how long it would have been before I learned all this if I had not met you and signed up for the SNCC!

  • http://www.thereflectivewriter.com/blog/ Judy Stone-Goldman

    Couldn’t agree more about the importance of someone stepping up to provide immediate assistance. We had trouble with Comcast last night with our DVR–a recurring problem. The first person I spoke to said, “I don’t think we can do anything about it.” Happily, I got disconnected from her and when I called back, I got someone who knew what to do! This person was sympathetic, gave us a credit for the lost service, and apologized for the problem with the first person (likely a newbie). Even though the problem is a crummy box, I was left satisfied by the help I received (plus they are giving a better quality box free for a year).

    I really like the recommendation to not delete complaints or problems but to let people see how you resolve them.

    Judy Stone-Goldman
    The Reflective Writer

  • Jenniferward

    Excellent example Ann! I wish thee were more companies paying attention to online customer service via guerilla marketing or just because it makes sense for their business And clients!

  • http://www.mywealthspa.com Darcie Newton

    Love the real time example. Can’t wait to get a handle on ‘twitter’.

    Darcie Newton
    http://www.mywealthspa.com

  • http://MagnoliaJazz.com/blog Robbie Schlosser

    Wonderful advice, Ann. Particularly the five techniques you described. Using a little imagination and insight, there’s no limit to the ways we can customize each of them to our benefit.

    Although all the Guerrilla Marketing books are the ultimate inspiration, Wikipedia has a concise article about GM, listing many examples, and I refer to it frequently for ideas. Here’s one that I’ve recently begun using: I read and leave comments for bloggers that appear in my “searches”. Then I scan through the other comments they receive, and leave comments on THEIR blogs. It’s a great way to broaden the conversation, until the job becomes overwhelming. So I keep it whelming.

    • http://www.warrior-preneur.com Ann Evanston

      I did a video and blog about strategy and commenting on others blogs, especially industry related ones- VERY powerful!

  • http://www.brucebarone.com Bruce Barone

    I think I do 2–4, but not #1. Now I will! Thank You!!

  • http://www.fierceover50.com Fierceover50

    You are really great at seeing opportunities and examples of marketing in all of your every day activities like tweeting. I might not have even made that connection. Now I would as I am aware..Thanks

    Julie Labes, the…Fierce over 50 but feels like a young mom, point and click junkie, loves to travel, does not use a jogging stroller, and before you ask, this is NOT my granddaughter..Woman

  • Rachel Lavern

    Thanks for this reminder to build trust and credibility with our target market. Some companies forget that their brand includes their promise to their clients/customers.

    Rachel Lavern
    http://www.rachellavern.com
    Personal Transformation, Enlightenment and Development

  • Fiona Stolze

    This was great to hear. It has reinforced my determination to really get on board with Twitter and be part of the conversation. Thanks for your great tips!

    Fiona Stolze
    http://fionastolze.wordpress.com

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1120890913 Debbie Goldberg

    Live it and love it!

  • http://www.brandymychals.com/mb Brandy Mychals

    Hi Ann,
    This is very interesting…I have much to learn about “Twitter Love”! So glad you’ll be speaking more about this and I know you’ll knock their socks off today at your speaking event :-)
    Brandy Mychals
    Communications Coach
    Creator of Split Second Perceptions

  • carolyncjjones

    Great strategy, Ann. Thank you. My mind is in gear, thinking of my target market’s problems, the issues they face. I can think of several… Great experience with Comcast Bill. I have to tweet him.

    cj

  • http://artists-edge.com CoachDebra

    I’ve had experience with @comcastbetty – she rocked! I search #musicbiz artistsedge, “Debra Russell”. I’ve found people use my name sometimes without my twitter handle (@artistsedge) And sometime use my twitter handle without the @ (which means it doesn’t make it into my mention column). It’s how I discovered that people are using my Niche Marketing youtube video to market their own Niche Marketing products! Isn’t that true Guerilla Marketing – since that spreads my name, and my businesses name as well.

    I often tweet suggestions for resources or solutions to the problems people complain about. I do that both in my passive stream as well as directly @mention when someone has a specific tweet about a problem.

    And of course, most of these techniques – I learned from you, my dear!

  • http://twitter.com/barryrsilver Barry R. Silver

    Comcast has been very proactive in using Twitter to stay ahead of the curve and generate positive results. When I had a billing problem @comcastcares (Frank) was back to me in a flash. On the flipside, I shot out a general tweet of frustration in trying to deal with utility ComEd’s “no humans allowed” phone system. ComEd responded on Twitter and than didn’t reply for over 2 hours to my specific problem. I had already resolved by phone. So if you reply to a tweet and than have nothing to offer (and worse yet don’t even reply), perhaps that’s just Monkey Around Mktg.

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