NOTE FROM MIKE: As we continue to march towards HAPPO on Feb. 19, I will feature job-hunters on this site. I am very happy to introduce Emily Heend to you. Emily was an all-star intern with my company a few years back and, like many others in her position, is working her way into the PR industry. She’s someone I would want on my team for any project! Contact her at emily.heend@gmail.com and read more of her work at www.arlingtonunwired.com.
Guest HAPPO Pitch by Emily Heend
I have drive. For example, the day I got my driver’s license, I knew I would not be content until I had a car that I 
could call my own. I also knew that when I arrived home, a silver Audi tied in red ribbon would not be awaiting me, as it always had been in my dreams. According to my parents, the only way that I would ever get my own car would be if I contributed a sizeable portion of the payment and put in the hours researching and learning the ins and outs of every potential car that might be a reasonable fit for me. The desire to have my own car took on a life of it’s own, and I spent countless hours on the Internet researching and perusing used car listings. In no time at all, it is safe to say, I knew everything about Toyota and Honda, from model to miles per gallon to standard pricing per year – you name it, I knew it. After what felt like an eternity (approximately 3 months), I was the proud owner of a lightly used, silver Honda Civic LX. The day I drove my car off the lot was the first night that visions of cars did not consume my dreams. It would only be a matter of time, however, until I found a new goal to chase.
This relentless drive and determination extends beyond my personal life and defines my professional character as well. I had always been a little weary about Twitter (never particularly interested in making my personal life public), but I realized that social media is the wave of the future and so I decided to push my reservations aside and allow myself to catch the Twitter bug. I took it upon myself to immerse myself in social media literature and become an active member of the Web2.0 world. Between Groundswell, my weekly Dan Zarrella e-mail updates, and Seth Godin’s blog, to name just a few resources, there are simply just not enough hours in the day to get my hands on all of the literature I want to absorb. In addition, I made a proactive move and took my company’s latent Twitter account for their Arlington events website and created an active twitter presence to benefit the company and improve my own social media prowess. To date, social media is my Everest, and if the past is any indicator of the present, I will not be content until I am Web2.0 guru.
Some might say that my obsessive drive can sometimes be a curse. For example, I have been known to scour every mall within a 30 mile radius for days looking for the perfect dress, but hey, what girl wouldn’t?! In a professional environment, however, I believe that unyielding drive can only be a blessing. Not only do I finish projects, but I also aim to exceed expectations. I will put in the hours and I will not be content until the finished product measures up to my own high standards. Drive, motivation, perseverance. Three qualities that only begin to describe the contributions that I would bring to a PR company.
Customer service is the center of business. Treat your customers well and they will be happy, thus, in theory, become repeat and loyal customers.
Sounds fairly basic, right?
And yet, here I am, waiting for the DC Water Authority…for a second straight day. Let me timeline this out for you, and hopefully give businesses a how-not on customer service.
Thursday – I log on to my online bill and see my water bill is ELEVEN times what it should be. That’s bad. So I call the number listed on DC Water’s website. Of course, that number is NOT the Customer Service number and the person who answered seemed peeved I called that number.
Customer Service Lesson #1 – Make your customer service contact information prominent. Most of your incoming calls, no matter what your industry, will revolve around customer service!
I actually had a terrific person help me that day. She agreed that the numbers seemed horribly wrong. She scheduled an appointment for Monday (between 8am-Noon) to have a home auditor take a look and see what the problem was. In addition to that, she put a freeze on my account, so I wouldn’t be charged late fees for not paying that astronomically-high bill.
Customer Service Lesson #2 – Think like your customer. How would they want the problem handled? Do those things, within reason.
Friday through Sunday – Washington, DC, is pummelled with the 6th-largest snowstorm in recorded history!
Digging out from the SnowPocalypse!
Monday 8:15am – I call DC Water’s CORRECT Customer Service line to confirm they are still coming today. Of course, with the SnowPocalypse, I didn’t expect them to keep the appointment, but, shockingly, they said they would be there!
Monday 11:40am – With the Noon endtime approaching, I called Customer Service to get an ETA on their arrival, so I could go and try to dig my car out of the 3 FEET of ice encasing it (good times!). The representative was rude and combative when I asked a simple question: “It is currently 11:40am…are you still planning to come by noon?”
He snapped that, “Yes, we established the parameters when we scheduled your appointment last week!”
My response: “What will happen if you aren’t there by noon?”
Representative: “It isn’t noon yet, so you don’t have a problem.” Yikes!
Customer Service Lesson #3 – Snapping at customers is not a good way to handle simple questions. Try responding with something like: “We deeply apologize, it looks like we are running behind, do you want to wait or reschedule now?”
Monday 12:30pm – Still no word from DC Water, so my wife calls and they finally admit that they weren’t there by noon (yeah….) because half of their staff was unable to make it in that morning. They could reschedule us for Tuesday morning between 8 and noon again. We took their offer and went about our day, working and digging, working and digging, working and digging.
Monday night – DC re-freeezes, the SnowPocalypse becomes the IcePocalypse.
Tuesday 11:30am – With no word from DC Water, I call them (Customer Service number, of course) and speak to a representative. She explains to me that because they are running with about 2/3 of their staff, they are prioritizing emergency calls over inspections, which makes perfect sense. She says that because of the snow and ice, they have to focus on those emergency issues for this entire week and will have to push our inspection to Monday.
Customer Service Lesson #4 – Tell the truth! If there is something happening that is preventing you from keeping a promise/appointment/deadline, be up front with it. Own the issue, take responsibility and your customers will understand.
This representative was open and honest, apologetic that her coworkers put me in this position.
I explained to her my issues:
1) I called to confirm the appointment on Monday.
2) They rescheduled me for Tuesday.
3) I had to track them down for them to say they were unable to come. My phone number was on their appointment ledger. Let me know something is wrong BEFORE I wait for two days!
Customer Service Lesson #5 – Be proactive! If you know there will be a problem, or even COULD be a problem, let your customers know in advance. Even if everything goes as planned, they will appreciate the fact that you are looking out for them.
If they had called me Monday morning and said “Listen, this SnowPocalypse really messed everything up and we have dozens of emergencies to respond to, so we may have to push you to next week, is that OK?” I would have ZERO problem with that. Heck, it’s Tuesday and my car is STILL frozen in!
The funny part is that I’m not mad. I’m amazed that a major city utility can be so inconsistent in customer service.
Just a little customer service really can go a long way to having a happy consumer base.
(Note – Pepco, our local power company, thought they missed an appointment with me and had their Twitter Customer Service Representative check on me! Now THAT is fantastic customer service!)
