Jemef PR

The customer might not always be right, but at least give him or her a chance to be wrong.

1. My mom was wrestling with a baby registry at a popular superstore:

An employee was walking through the department. Mom asked, “Can you help me?”

Employee: “I’m busy right now.”

“Can you page someone to help me?”

“Is it an emergency?”

Mom said, “Never mind.” She looked around without success, and gave up. On her way out of the store, she stopped at the service desk and shared that exchange. The employee said, “I’m sorry.” Pause. Mom said, “OK, I just wanted to let you know.”

2. My husband and I overestimated our ability to take the heat at a local restaurant:

Manager: “How do you like it?”

Me: “It’s spicy.”

Manager: “Not too spicy, right?”

Doug: “Too spicy for me.”

The manager smiled and backed away from the table.

3. I had to take my dog to the vet for a follow-up:

The next day I got a postcard from the clinic that said my dog was due for a shot. Wouldn’t it be great if the software had alerts, or the employees manually check a field every time you’re standing in front of them?

They’ll say, “Oh, by the way, she’s due for a Bordetella shot, so let’s do that, too.”

You’ll say, “Wow, you’re making it very convenient for me. Thank you!” and we all live happily ever after.

So when I called, after making the appointment, I said, “Can I offer some feedback?”

The defensiveness in her voice came through loud and clear: “About what?”

All these experiences were, in a word, poor. The first one in particular makes me very sad, because I LOVE that store. Sigh.

I did a lot of time in restaurants and retail, and was trained that the customer is always right. My husband works in the hospitality industry, and it wasn’t until he gave me some examples of guests trying to work the system in some very shady ways that I realized that’s not always the case. However, the customer ALWAYS deserves respect, and you have to hear them out. Yes, they might be in weasel mode. But you have to start from a positive place.

Even if the pace is between frazzled and crazed in my office, when the phone rings, I will take a minute to take a deep breath and go into calm mode before I answer. And I smile. You can hear it through the phone! It helps me focus on the call.

I’m not saying that you need to give your customers a free dinner or hold their hand every time they come in the store. We all get so busy and distracted, it’s worth taking a minute to remember how awesome it was when that employee you encountered greeted you so warmly and was very focused on helping you. We CAN do that.

What’s your customer service story? Whether it’s a plus or minus, I’d like to hear it!

P.S. The customer isn’t always right, but you don’t have to go totally insane about it, Samy and Amy! See:

The most epic brand meltdown on Facebook ever

I was a panelist at the American Society Of Journalists and Authors annual meeting in NYC last month. Thanks to Lynne Golodner of Your People  for recruiting me! I was honored to be part of this group:

Our panel was “So You Want To Be a Publicist/Public Relations Specialist”. Lynne facilitated, and we talked about transitioning from writer to PR person before participating in a question-and-answer session with the 50-or-so attendees.

I was fascinated by and cringing at stories about PR folks missing opportunities or straight up messing up with the editors in the audience and the one sitting on my right, Lisa Brody from Downtown Birmingham/Bloomfield. Even if you aren’t a PR person or have a PR person supporting your business, you can use these examples of no-nos that apply to all of us trying to do business, period:

1. Not following through.

A PR person offered a story to an editor. The editor liked it and emailed a few questions and … nothing. The PR person never responded. The editor won’t likely forget that. How does it apply to doing business? Maybe someone calls you after receiving your direct mail piece, and you’re so busy you never call back. If someone takes time to reach out to you, make time to follow up.

2. Not doing your homework.

A PR person sent a story idea to an editor that had NOTHING to do with what the publication covers. Another sent a calendar item to a publication, not realizing the pub is a monthly and the deadline was long gone. How does this apply to doing business? Our digital society puts so many resources in your hands, there’s no excuse for not knowing your customer. Let’s say a businessperson asks about your product or service. Take the time to go through his or her website to understand the perspective. What’s the point of pain? How can you or your product help?

3. Lollygagging.

Speed is of the essence in most business practices. In PR, if an editor needs a source and you can’t get back to them the same day, maybe even the same hour, he or she will often move on. If a prospect sends you an inquiry about your product or service but you don’t look at your email until the end of the day, they might very well be long gone. Can you afford to be casual in your follow-up?

4. Not being honest and managing expectations.

One of my favorite moments during the panel was when an opinionated and animated author told fellow panelist and book publicist Kathleen Schmidt of KMSPR that he didn’t want to work with his 20-something publicist; how could she possibly have contacts and know what she’s doing at that age? Kathleen politely pushed back, leading with her policy to always be straightforward with her clients. She then explained the expertise and insight that 20-something publicist was bringing from her publishing house, and urged him to give her a chance.

We’ll all run into clients, customers and associates who are going to tell US what we’re going for them, instead of listening. I have a choose-my-battles approach with difficult folks, but that includes always speaking up when they’re going in a direction that is not in their best interest, even at the risk of vitriol. You would want someone to rein you in when you’re going down the wrong road, so we owe it to them to do the same.

What’s on your no-no list?

 

A few months ago, the super-networked Nikki Little shared her Fail Detroit post on Facebook. I was intrigued, and after poking around on the site, referenced a big FAIL from earlier in my career. One thing led to another, and the post below appeared on Fail Detroit, which tells us, “We all fail. Learn from it.” Shout-out to Brandon; keep up the creative, courageous work in the D!

The Attempt

I was the client manager in an agency team working on a brochure. We had the usual process of creative meetings, copywriting, design and client approvals.

What Went Wrong

After delivery, the client sales manager called me to tell me that there was a mistake on the cover. The cover, which had a grand total of eight words. We had repeated a word in the title. There were three lines of copy wrapping around an image, and at some point during the design process, we had been trying out different combinations to see what looked best. The problem was it balanced best with the extra word, so everyone somehow focused on that, instead of actually reading the copy.

Eight people needed to sign off before it got printed. Eight. All of our initials were in a row on the proof. Obviously as the client manager, the one that mattered was me, and I blew it. I can feel that “ugh” feeling in my gut as I type this, and that was 10 years ago! Oh, the pleasure of apologizing to the client and everyone else, and then reporting the incident during our 50-person staff meeting.

Lessons Learned

I did not run screaming for the hills, as I’m sure I wanted to at the time. I’ve worked my way up through the communications industry, and now work as a public relations consultant. If eight people can miss a clear mistake, it is all the more important that I check and double-check. It’s all on me. You NEVER have to push something so fast through production that you can’t take the time to make sure everything is correct.

One of my mandates when I’m producing material for clients is that the copy has to be final when we go to design. It’s not fair to ask designers to play with words; that’s not their area of expertise, and you’re just asking for trouble.

No one’s perfect. The best way to arm yourself against those mistakes that will happen is to create your own system of checks and balances, which will boost your confidence and reduce your stress. When that mistake does happen, I guarantee that 99 percent of the time, you are more upset than the client is. Own it, fix it and move forward. That’s what will keep your client’s trust.

Do you have an example of a fail? How did you power through?

 

I decided there aren’t enough public relations bloggers out there, so here’s my blog!

I’d like to thank bloggers including Nikki at Essential Elements and Shonali at Waxing Unlyrical for encouraging me to go ahead and jump in this busy pool of public relations professionals. I’m not going to proclaim I’m THE innovator. However, I’ve been in the business for 15 years. Before that, I was the journalist on the other side of the pitch, so I’ve seen lots of interesting stuff, good and bad. I’ve had victories and gaffes, and I own everything that’s helped me get where I am now: A public relations consultant with a diverse book of business and a network of smart, cool colleagues that I’ve molded into Jemef PR.

I’ve been on my own since 2011, and was a home office advocate a few years before that. I rolled into Detroit in 2009, and it turns out it was NOT good timing. Auto companies and suppliers stripping down and starting over meant the market was flooded with communications folks looking for new opportunities. It turns out, I found the right one: At the encouragement of new friends from PRSA Detroit, I decided to take a partner and we made a go at running our own business, which evolved into me running solo. Things were going great, then I found out I had to take the show on the road: My husband’s in the hotel biz, so moving is also part of my world. In the summer 2012, I started calling Dallas-Fort Worth home. It’s a testament to my great clients and the strong partnerships I’ve forged that I’ve continued to work with my two biggest, both of whom are based in Metro Detroit.

I expect the Jemef PR physical location will change again, and my geographical home base will inform/inspire/infiltrate my posts from time to time, along with my perspective on the home office thing. You can see in this pic what Jemef PR looks like 99 percent of the time. Most of my stuff will come from where I’m the most comfortable, but I’m going to be coming at you with a lot of different stuff. I’m excited to talk about what I see in the world of communications, to hear what you have to say and to get smarter from it!

Welcome to my new home. I look forward to connecting with you! What would you like to talk about?