Some brands always recruit from within. Others recruit from the outside. No doubt there are different advantages to both of these approaches, like experience with the product and corporate culture or bringing in new perspectives and experiences.

But, what about passion? What kind of passion for Opel does a marketing manager who previously worked for Peugeot and Seat (article in Swedish) bring to Opel’s marketing department? Sure, he worked for almost two years as a consultant since he left Peugeot, so he has some new perspectives. But, what does this say about the brands? Do they have personality? Do they stand for something different? Do they inspire passion? Do we want to talk about them as something entirely different?

Or are they entirely exchangeable? I believe not, just like Branding Strategy Insider writes in The Seven Markers of Passion:

“Hire Passionistas as Brand Stewards
Nothing brings a brand down more quickly than an interchangeable parts philosophy in the recruitment, hiring, and rewarding of the people behind it. Careerists who jump from one company or industry to another on their way to ever more senior posts may be building their own brand, but they will neither feel nor fuel the passion.”

The irony of the story is that just last autumn Peugeot recruited their new marketing manager… … from Opel!

Disclaimer: This post is NOT about the knowledge or professional skills of the respective marketing manager. I know neither of them nor have heard anything about their current or previous work!

Two days ago we were reached by the news that an 11-year old girl had been dismissed from a train because she didn’t have a ticket, while her sister (with the ticket) were in the bathroom. The 11-year old was left on an empty station halfway, and was luckily taken care of by an older woman who saw her crying. The story has spurred an outrage on twitter and blogs in Sweden. See for example För några få kronor ensam i Kumla. The conductor’s excuse was that the girl seemed to be older than 11 years, and the initial response from SJ was that it was a big mistake, but is in fact a criminal act to ride the train without a ticket. The girl was lost more than half a day, but to make a long story short, the girl was found and the older sister is now forgiving the conductor.

This story raises the issue of personal responsibility – something Seth Godin has written about a lot before and Deepedition writes about in relation to this story (in Swedish). As Seth writes in another post…

It comes down to this: only people can have ethics. Ethics, as in, doing the right thing for the community even though it might not benefit you or your company financially….

[...]

…I worry that we absolve ourselves of responsibility when we talk about business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Corporations are collections of people, and we ought to insist that those people (that would be us) do the right thing. Business is too powerful for us to leave our humanity at the door of the office. It’s not business, it’s personal.

There are no rules nor corporate policies that can excuse dismissing an 11 year old from the train and leaving her on the station in an unknown town. I have a small grudge against SJ after my own experiences this summer (see below) and I believe they have a lot of problems and a culture that isn’t very healthy right now, but the responsibility for actions taken are in the end always personal, no matter what policies say.

———-

I really wanted to take the trip to Oslo, Norway this summer. But after an hour on the train, without even leaving the station, I gave up. There was no driver. For some reason, the driver didn’t make it and the swedish railroad company, SJ, wasn’t able to get him/her replaced. And, they couldn’t tell me when I would arrive, since I would miss my connecting train. So, no driver, no info, no nothing.

That was my third experience with SJ this summer. The first was also to Oslo – I arrived more than an hour late and had to go by bus part of the way due to some problems with the tracks that they discovered halfway. The return trip was without problems.

Fail ratio for SJ: 67%.

… treats you as if you are on a family dinner, making sure you are satisfied not just with quality but also with quantity?
… lets you try the plate before you decide, just like you try the wine?
… lets you order not just what’s on the menu, but what you really feel like?

What could be done to reinvent other businesses?

It is finally ready! Download by clicking the image or link below.

Viral Thinking – a “Viral Marketing Toolkit” is my ebook about how to maximize the potential for viral spread. Creating something that is viral is sometimes the goal, but it is not easy. In this ebook I have tried to cover the areas you can work with to improve the odds.

You could call it a “viral marketing toolkit”. However, just increasing the spread improves the ROI, even if it doesn’t go viral. So, my hope and belief is that it is helpful for anyone who works within marketing, PR or communications, whether online or offline.

I would like to thank the people who have generously helped me with feedback on this text and made it a lot better.

In alphabetical order: Valerio Franco (doublebblog.it), Anton Johansson (antonjohansson.com), Henrik Johansson (theviralcompany.com), Daniel Mencák (danielmencak.se), Patrick Möller (flavors.me/patrickmoeller), Cédric Rainotte (bwat.be), Niclas Strandh (digitalpr.se) Pere Tufet (tonterias.com) and Emmanuel Vivier (emmanuelvivier.com).

And of course, if you have feedback to give, do not hesitate to send me an email on kristofermencak[at]gmail[dot]com.

I hope you enjoy it!

And feel free to pass it on!

I recently visited Cuba and Dominican Republic. Just like when I visited Trinidad & Tobago in February last year, and Brazil in June/July, I become inspired, I get business ideas and I get some good and bad experiences of customer service. I’d like to share two incidents from this last trip – one from Cuba and one from Dominican Republic.

In La Habana, I went to one of these restaurants that offer reasonable food for a pretty good. I sat down, ordered some food and some water to drink with that. So far so good. Food arrived. I figured my water would be brought in pretty fast, but no. I finished eating and got contact with another waiter, since my waiter had mysteriously disappeared since I ordered. I asked for the water again and he went to the “bar” to get it. Nothing happened. I waited for some 5 minutes more, and then the waiter looked at me again and remembered my order. A good sign. I could see and hear that he got the bartender’s attention and reminded him of my order. Nothing happened. I gave up.

I went to the cashier and asked to pay, but not to pay for my water since it never arrived. No real apologies from them, I just got to pay and leave. Part of the story is that practically everyone there was 18-23 years old, pay was probably horrible and very few really wanted to work there. So, service levels and ambition was low. Not surprising. But, on the other hand, here comes a “gringo” who might be able to pay a quite nice tip for someone who doesn’t earn much, but still no effort?! Strange to me.

The lesson: The importance to hire the right people, someone who wants to work there, someone who wants to do a good job.

In Santo Domingo I once again visited a normal restaurant in the more touristy area around the street El Conde. I had a lasagna. What was  a bit different though was that I got it with plastic cutlery. There are two general problems with plastic cutlery. They are weak and they are flexible. In addition to this, these ones were pretty small. It was a struggle to get food to stay on all the way up to the mouth. It makes you feel like a kid again, who is learning how to eat with knife and fork. Not a good feeling. The flexibility also makes you fear that the fork might get stuck on something and then shoot it away when it gets loose.

The lesson: We need to think about how our customers feel. How do we make them feel about themselves when using the product or service we sell them? Will they feel smart and competent? Or will they feel like a kid?

Just like one of my previous (previous just because she isn’t blogging anymore) bloggers Kathy Sierra wrote in Users shouldn’t think about YOU:

“Care ONLY about what your users think of themselves as a result of interacting with your creation.”

P.S. Making someone feel like a kid could be a good thing too, if it means that they feel creative, without worries or similar. But, when it’s not the intention to make them feel like a kid, it’s a bad thing. D.S.

We already know it – everything communicates. But, it is great to see that businesses probably soon will start realizing this for real. One step towards this might be the “death of the brand manager“, leaving room for a “conversation manager”. Just like Tim writes, I don’t think job titles mean much either. But, I think the focus is shifting now, and changing titles might be one of the signs of this. Businesses start to realize that they have to know what conversations are going on, follow them and take part.

And I believe a next step in this would be looking after what conversations the company is actually creating. It is not only the press officer or CEO who “communicates”. Businesses need to think about what their “welcome letters” to new customers communicate? What does the returns policy communicate? What do their contact page on the site communicate?

Everything communicates, and there are so many different touch points to work with. Touch points that can be made into conversations, customer satisfaction and positive word of mouth. And one of the most important touch points is every person that is in contact with customers. So, there is a very good reason to make sure they all have authority and can take own actions which communicate what you want the company to communicate. In addition, it gives the company a conscience.

I had heard about it and had pretty high expectations. Would Prufrock Coffee in Shoreditch in London deliver? It wasn’t the typical combination; a clothes and accessories store, combined with a coffee shop featuring two world class baristas. The coffee was great – I had a cappuccino. But, it’s hard to judge whether it was the best in the world, even though the 2009 UK and World Champion Barista, Gwilym Davies made it.

However, something that intrigued me was that they had a “dis-loyalty card“. That is not very common. Usually, businesses try to keep customers to themselves, viewing others offering the same product or service as bitter enemies. So, what’s the deal then? Well, this is what the card says: “Complete this tour of East London’s emerging coffee scene to claim a free coffee from the World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies @ Prufrock.”

I have been thinking a bit about the logic with this card, and the obvious is that what Prufrock gains is a return visit. But, they also potentially lose out on eight other visits?! It is not obvious that it is to their advantage. So, what else? Well, they are of course growing the pie instead of trying to get a bigger slice of a smaller pie. Also, it is a sign of greatness to dare refer customers to competitors.

And, it seems this disloyalty card, has gotten quite some attention in around the net. Steve Sack for example, gives us one of the better analyses and I agree completely:

“Great idea and a simple twist on a trusted marketing standard. Actually encourage your customers to experiment, to sample the competitor, to explore the industry landscape – and trust them to form their own educated opinion. Raise the bar for quality, show implicit confidence in your product, and display transparency. ‘My product is so good that I trust you will remain loyal even after having sampled the competition.’ And best of all, the idea is being discussed, blogged, tweeted and debated – which is all good for business.”

Just as Marty Neumeier writes in Zag: “When others zig, zag”. It no doubt creates word of mouth, and the idea has already spread to Seattle and Toronto.

Here are some links to what others have written.

Here is a really tasty quote from Seth Godins post – Win the fight, lose the customer.

…smart marketers understand that the word ‘right’ in “The customer is always right” doesn’t mean that they’d win in court or a debate. It means, “If you want the customer to remain a customer, you need to permit him to believe he’s right.”

If someone thinks they’re unhappy, then you know what? They are.

It is definitely not rocket science, but it’s always worth repeating. And in addition, it is worth not just repeating, but actually living by and taking action based on it!

The origins of word of mouth
I believe word of mouth must have originated because of some evolutionary advantage. With a foundation in the rule of reciprocity, groups of humans that gave each other valuable tips about where to find food and shelter were able to survive and reproduce to a greater extent. People love to talk and give tips.

When society developed, and hunter/gatherers became farmers, the way to cultivate the land in the best way possible was also spread through word of mouth. And of course, people still hunted and gathered, as well as learnt how to build shelter from each other.

Markets are conversations
Development continued, and a new era for word of mouth came as farmers started to be able to produce more, and sell it on the market. We all know that markets are conversations. Word of mouth spread about who produced and sold the best corn, wheat, apples or what have you. Service also started to become important for the people working in the market. Another dimension was adde to word of mouth.

A world of abundance and marketing
As technological development moved faster and faster, and specialization moved us into the industrial revolution, we entered a world of abundance. We got more and more different products solving the same problem, with marketing becoming increasingly important. During the golden days for TV, word of mouth was still important, but the TV-medium, filled with advertising, could probably maintain a bad product on the market longer than before. If you had money, you could market your way to success.

The digital revolution
Then came the digital revolution. Word of mouth got rid of the chains called time and space. Powered by the Internet, word of mouth went viral. A positive review, posted in Australia could be read seconds later, in the US. The same for negative reviews, of course. Both positive and negative word of mouth could reach more people faster.

Word of mouth – from qualitative to quantitative
But word of mouth is becoming increasingly important not just because it is possible to reach much more people now. The most recent developments are that word of mouth is no longer just single individuals saying something about a product, that we then have to value and judge to make up our mind about the product.

Now word of mouth is also increasingly produced in an aggregated format, computing what people think about a product or service on average. Amazon.com (Amazon is just one example) gives us access to an almost unimaginable number of ratings.

Word of mouth is no longer just qualitative information. It is also quantitative. And I love it. I very rarely buy a book from Amazon if it doesn’t have at least 5 ratings and an average of 4 stars or above. That’s my first filter. If I want to dig deeper, I read the reviews, the qualitative information.

Customer satisfaction and evolution
I guess most companies that provide great products or services, that have happy customers, are happy too about this development. Providing great customer service is just one example of how to get positive word of mouth.

The ones that don’t provide great products or services will have a hard time, and will probably have to evolve or become extinct. So, speed up evolution!

I couldn’t agree more actually. Check out the post on Brains on Fire – Do the right thing.

Short quote:

“…Purpose-driven companies do the right thing and sales is a byproduct of that mission.

You shouldn’t get into social media to make more money. You should get into it only if you can do right by your customers. Your fans. Your employees.”

It’s nothing new, but worth repeating over and over again. Actually, I wonder if you should do anything (not just get into social media) to make more money. You should always do the right thing though, and money will follow.