Customer Service

Peter Shankman–PR Week Magazine has described Peter as “redefining the art of networking,” and Investor’s Business Daily has called him “crazy, but effective.” Peter Shankman is a spectacular example of what happens when you harness the power of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and make it work to your advantage. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about social media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service.   Peter is perhaps best known for founding Help A Reporter Out (HARO), which in under a year has become the de-facto standard for thousands of journalists looking for sources on deadline, offering them more than 125,000 sources around the world looking to be quoted in the media. HARO is currently the largest free source repository in the world, sending out over 1,500 queries from worldwide media each week. HARO’s tagline, “Everyone Is an Expert at Something,” proves over and over again to be true, as thousands of new members join at helpareporter.com each week.   In addition to HARO, Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique social media and marketing strategy firm located in New York City, with clients worldwide. His blog (www.shankman.com), which he launched as a website in 1995, both comments on and generates news and conversation.   Peter’s PR and social media clients have included the Snapple Beverage Group, NASA, The U.S. Department of Defense, Walt Disney World, The Ad Council, American Express, Discovery Networks, New Frontier Media, Napster, Juno, Dream Catcher Destinations Club, Harrah’s Hotels, and many others. In addition, he sits on the board of the Scott-e-Vest, the world’s first technologically enabled clothing line.   Peter is the author of Can We Do That?! Outrageous PR Stunts That Work and Why Your Company Needs Them (Wiley and Sons 2006) and is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop presenter at conferences and tradeshows worldwide, including The Public Relations Society of America, The International Association of Business Communicators, CTIA, CTAM, CES, PMA, OMMA, Mobile Marketing Asia, and the Direct Marketing Association.   A marketing pundit for several national and international news channels, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC, Peter is frequently quoted in major media and trade publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York DailyNews, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, and USA Today.   Peter started his career in Vienna, Virginia, with America Online as a senior news editor. He helped found the AOL Newsroom and spearheaded coverage of the Democratic and Republican 1996 conventions, which marked the first time an online news service covered any major political event.   Born and raised in New York City, Peter still lives there with his two psychotic cats, Karma and NASA, who consistently deny his repeated requests to relinquish the couch. In the few hours of spare time Peter has per month, he’s a frequent runner, with 13 completed marathons and countless triathlons to his credit, and is a “B” licensed skydiver, specializing in free-flying.

Introduction     1

1  Putting Together a Social Media Team     11

Meet Your Team     12

The Customer Service People     13

The PR Person     13

The High-Level Exec     14

The Marketing Guys     15

The Guy from Accounting Who Has a Facebook Page     15

The Flip Side: Meet Your Audience     16

The One-time Complainer     16

The Constant Complainer     16

The Axe-to-Grind     17

The Happy Customer     17

The Prima Donna     17

End result     17

2  Examples of When It Doesn’t Work (and What Happens)     19

Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst     24

Always Be Aware–It’s the Thing You Don’t Think of

that Can Kill You     25

Trust Your Instincts     27

Cooler Heads Prevail     28

Doing Something Is Better Than Doing Nothing     31

Your Audience Is Smarter Than You Are     33

Never Deceive Your Audience     34

3  Before the Explosion: Winning Your Customer     37

Before the Customer Is Even a Customer     38

Driving Revenue     39

Find Out Where Your Customers Are     39

Pay Attention     41

Devise a Plan to Reach Your Customers     44

Case Studies     49

Solematescom     49

HARO     50

4  Customer Service Is a Way of Life     53

Self-Promotion Versus Helping     59

Case Study: Bravo! Italian Restaurant and Bar     61

Case Study: Risdall Integration Group     61

Case Study: Law Offices of Daniel R Rosen, PC     62

Background     62

A New Approach     63

From Invisible to the First Page     63

Case Study: Grasshopper     63

Case Study: Peter Kuhn’s Food Truck     65

Case Study: Inclind, Inc     66

Case Study: Which Wich Superior Sandwiches     67

Summary (and a Challenge)     69

5  Social Media Damage Control: Stopping Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones     71

First Things First: Different Types of Complainers     73

Overarching Rules for Handling any Complaint     75

Handling Different Kinds of Complainers     76

The Never-Complained-Before Complainer     77

The Multi-Complainer Complainer     79

The I-Can’t-Believe-He’s-Complaining Complainer     80

The One-with-Photos-and-Videos-and-Multiple-Camera-Angles Complainer     84

Dealing with Complaints That Are Personal     86

The @cnnbreakingnews Complainer     90

Wrap-up     91

6  Making Customer Addicts Online: Best Practices That Work!     93

A Few Rules of the Road     95

So, How Do You Do It?     96

So You Have a Physical Presence     97

Make Them Feel Welcome     100

Make Them Feel Appreciated     103

Make Them Want to Return     105

Make Them Want to Share     107

Loyalty Codes     108

Recap     112

7  Keeping the Addiction Going     113

Ten Rules to Live By     115

You Want to Hook Your Customers     116

Poor Quality = Fewer Returning Customers     117

Yours Better Be Better     119

Breed Loyal Customers     120

Offer New Value     122

Make It Easy for the Customer     124

Refine, Refine, Refine     124

Know How Customers Want to Receive Information     126

Keep an Eye on the Competition     128

Freebies = Loyalty     131

Supply and Demand, Baby     132

Summary     133

8  Monitoring Your Successes and Failures     135

Google Tools     137

Google News Alerts     138

Google News (http://newsgooglecom)     141

Google Blogsearch     141

Twitter     141

Facebook     145

Email Marketing     148

An Example of Email Marketing Done Right     151

Finding the Time to Monitor Social Media     152

9  Putting It All Together: What Did We Learn?     157

The World of One Screen     160

Be “That Guy”     163

Saddling Up     164

Recovering from Social Media Face-plants     166

Paying It Forward Pays Off at Crisis Time     167

Learn It Know It Live It     169

Head ’em Off at the Pass     171

Creating Customers for Life     172

Thinking Like a Drug Dealer     174

The Right Tool for the Job     175

A Few Final Words     175

Index     179