Play Golf with your Children

My son has been bitten by the golf bug and I am so glad.  I enjoy watching him play sports and coached hockey, baseball, and lacrosse teams, but golfing together is a much more rewarding experience.  Let me tell you why.

1. We get to talk to each other: lives have become so hectic; conversations and life lesson time seems to disappear.  I am fortunate to eat dinner with my family each night, however with three children, it is tough to get equal billing.  While I teach the game of golf, we also discuss the game of Life.
2. Gatorade not suds: playing with my friends is about the great courses we play as well as the conversation, but let's face it, who doesn't enjoy a few adult beverages too.
3. Honesty: You don't tell the scorekeeper you shot a 5 when you swung the club 8 times.  Your children notice how you play; teach them the right way (a true life lesson here).
4. Temper, temper: As much as I enjoy playing, golf can be a very frustrating game.  Show your son or daughter that you are a gentleman or lady and can win with grace or lose with honor.
5. Dress for Success: No matter a public or private course, I wear a collared and a nice pair of shorts or pants.  If your child wants to play, he will be willing to dress the part.  
6. Shake Hands: After the last member of the group sinks the final put, everyone looks each other in the eye and shakes hands.
7. You will eventually see your child do something like this and be torn between pride and jealousy.

Get out there and have some fun!

I look forward to your comments.

Best,

Toby

Run Your Business Like a Rock Band

This piece was inspired by an article from "The Boston Globe:"

What businesses can learn from the Grateful Dead 

The Grateful Dead provided us with more than memorable summer nights; they showed the way to business success.  I will focus on two ideas and how they relate to Community Management and Customer Service.

1.  Be Transparent
"The Grateful Dead's authenticity endeared them to fans and allowed the band to experiment. They found that mistakes are quickly forgiven if a company is transparent about what it's doing."

Trust is everything in business and your business will disappear if your customers do not trust you.  Come forward and admit to your mistake, apologize and fix the problem or policy.  Problems happen, the very companies do not sit back and hope the problem goes away, they take action to fix the issue AND admit they made a mistake.  Do you think GM wishes they acted quicker?
Transparency is not just about customer service, it relates to your financial accounting too.  Enron (and others), lost customer trust and fortunes because of greed and terrible ethics.  Don't keep two sets of books.
Great service and sound ethics are foundations on which you should build your company.

2.  Give, and you shall Receive
"The Grateful Dead removed barriers to their music by allowing fans to tape concerts for free. That brought in new fans and grew sales for concerts, records, and merchandise. They showed that when content is free, more people hear about a company and eventually do business with it."

Customers are demanding access to knowledge in order to self-solve their problems.  Providing an open knowledge base lowers your customer service costs, increases customer satisfaction, and shows your company is a thought leader.  The Consortium for Service Innovation has published a paper about how Mathworks has turned knowledge-share upside down by publishing their entire knowledge base within their Community.
I can hear the question now: "But support contracts are a large part of our revenue, we can't just give away our knowledge."
Give away the knowledge, not the support.  Customers who pay for a service contract are NOT paying for information, they are paying for immediate support and people to solve their problems for them.
Stop funneling your customers into horrible phone queues: listen to them on social media and build them a community where they can interact with you (and other customers) to learn, share knowledge, and solve their problems.

Rock on!

Cheers,
Toby

Dalton the Community Manager

Regardless of you role or years of experience, it is always good to gather new ideas and perspective.  For my fellow Community Managers, I believe this will be that new perspective.  Imagine Dalton not as a cooler, but a Community Manager - here are some great words of advice to help you with your community and the important job you do.



"Be Nice"
A Community Manager's job is to build relationships, listen to and help community members, and steer discussions; all while staying positive.  It is fine to set standards and be firm, but be nice.  Make your positivity contagious.

"Nobody ever wins a fight"
It can feel good to get the best of a troll, but there will always be another.  Never get caught up in the anger of someone who only seeks to throw bombs or attack others - delete the post, block the troll, and move on. Community members look to you to set the tone: if you are rude and attack others, they will too.

"I want you to remember that it's a job. It's nothing personal"
Never let a troll get the best of you by getting into your head.  No matter the community, members will have opinions about the way do do a job or solve a problem: as the Community Manager, it is your responsibility to see that conversations stay on track and remain professional.  Stay on topic and NEVER let a discussion become an argument.

"People who really want to have a good time won't come to slaughterhouse"
No matter your community: business / hobby, internal / external - members join to learn from one another, to share best practices, and help each other solve problems.  No one wants to read personal rants or get attacked for their opinions: a bad environment will not only hinder discussion, it WILL destroy your membership.

Be fair, Be firm, Be nice
I welcome your comments.
Cheers,
Toby

@Toby_Metcalf
#CMGR #CMGRCHAT

Work Toward Loyalty

Good morning,
Price may get them in (and may even cause some to shop around), but it is the service and experience a customer receives that makes him loyal to you or your brand. We lead such hectic lives it is wonderful to find a brand you can count on to get it right and put you first.
How comforting is it to walk into your favorite restaurant where you are known, the food is consistent, and, the service right on? The service provider who is always on time, knowledgeable, and friendly? 

Need to see the numbers, check out this infographic from Entrepreneur.com

Customers have choices - work toward loyalty.

As always, I welcome your comments.

Cheers,

Toby

Thanksgiving Wine Tutorial

 

Good afternoon all - 

Thanksgiving is almost upon us and I would like to share two red varietal alternatives. With the cold November weather and hearty sides that accompany old Tom, reds can actually be a better match than white wines.

Red Zinfandel and Pinot Noir have the combination of tasty flavor punch and silky mouth feel to be wonderful complements to your meal.  

Below are some of my favorite wine makers as well as regions - even if you local wine shop does not carry these brands, look for a Zin or Pinot from these regions.

Zins:
Ravenswood - Steele - Plungerhead - Ridge - Four Vines (Wine Makers)
Russian River - Mendocino - Lodi - Paso Robles (Wine Regions)

Pinot Noir:
Belle Glos - Meiomi - 90+ - BearBoat - Argyle (Wine Makers)
Willamette Valley - Russian River - Sonoma (Wine Regions)

Have fun and try something new this Thanksgiving!

Cheers,
Toby

Don't feed the Troll - Respond to the objective third party

No matter if you are a blogger, marketer, or community manager, you have had a run in with a troll.  Rather than using their experience to help others, trolls concern themselves with asking "gotcha" questions or starting arguments with other community members for the purpose of attention.  It is important to have an engagement plan of how to deal with them.

Here are some simple guidelines to get you started:
If the post, tweet, or comment is a legitimate complaint:

• Your response should come within the hour
• Apologize and show empathy
• Answer the question or provide a resolution
• Include a link to your site or YouTube channel
• Thank the customer and confirm satisfaction

If the subject seems to be a troll's rant:

• Your response should come within the hour
• Ask the poster to define his expectatiions
• Offer a private engagement channel like phone or email (NEVER argue with troll in public)
• Fighting with a Toll will only encourage him to continue - sometimes ignoring or deleting the comment is best

Before responding, step back and remember there are objective third parties who see the difference between a legitimate customer complaint and a troll's rant.  If the post is a legitimate complaint: excellent, you have an opportunity on your hands because all brands encounter problems from time to time - the great ones acknowledge and overcome the problems.  It is not always what is said about your brand, but how you respond to it.  People follow you on Twitter or join your community to learn from and engage with like minded folks; they do not want to be bullied or read fights.  It is often best practice to not respond to trolls, but sometimes these folks can be transformed in to brand advocates. 

As always - I welcome you comments.

Best,

Toby

Slow Down to Move Faster

Have you ever clicked "send" and realized there was an error in your memo or an important thought or call to action was left out of your email?  These mistakes can move you further away from your goals rather than closer to them.

"I'm under the gun."  "I want to be first to market."  "I need to beat my competition to the punch."  All of these things show passion and drive, but without planning and attention to detail, your message will be lost.

A quick, but funny example:

"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."

Programs can identify spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, but they cannot help you with the clarity and flow of your message.   Just like spelling, your objective and message are clear in your head and this may result in missed errors when proofreading; it is imperative you have clearly communicated your thoughts and calls to action to your audience.

You are busy, your team is busy - your boss and potential clients are certainly busy.  Do not waste their valuable time or lose that opportunity because you had such desire to be heard or first to their inbox.

Slow down to move faster.