Satisfied Customer Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000 | BOOK REPORT | 01.03.09

Pete Blackshaw is a tireless evangelist detailing the power shift between company and consumer.

In the early 90s, Blackshaw began tapping into new technologies to increase the level of consumer engagement while working in the California legislature. From there he began to see the shift that inspired him to found Planet Feedback in 1999.

In his book, “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000,” Blackshaw offers left-brained insight into doing more than simply reacting to the power of word or mouth, the changing consumer and the quickly evolving social media landscape.

Conversation Must Be Earned
What I enjoyed most about this book is that Blackshaw makes it clear that there are no short cuts to being transparent, authentic and having a solid product and customer support system.

“Business is no longer in control. The relationship between a company and empowered consumers must be built on two-way communication and mutual respect.”

WOM How-To Manual
The book outlines several tools readers can use to organize themselves for this new relationship with the customer.

Credibility Quadrant: This tool serves as a gut check, telling companies if they’re prepared to actively participate in social media.

Indexed Searches: Blackshaw walks readers through creating indexed searches on several sites to track conversations around relevant keywords and issues.

Troubleshooting Playbook: Are you prepared to defend and protect your brand in a time of crisis? Blackshaw briefly outlines the steps to do so, including listening, identifying an issue and responding to it.

Know thy Customer
One of my favorite ideas Blackshaw provides is fleshing out customer profiles to determine if they are an online influencer. Threadless does a great job of this. Threadless knows I’m not spending a ton of money on their t-shirts…not as much as I would like anyway. But they also know I have an online presence. Done gracefully, companies could create expanded customer profiles and rely on influencers to help spread the word about important brand news or issues. Any company with e-commerce capabilities could easily create these profiles in short order and help inspire word of mouth about their brand.

Bottom Line
This book is designed to help marketers get what they’ve wanted all these years -- a better relationship with their customers. Pete Blackshaw’s left brain approach to the fuzzy, “2.0 social realm” makes for a helpful read for anyone trying to connect social and metrics.

050905.wom_n uploaded by Tom Fishburne
tags | public relations | PR | advertising | marketing | consumer-generated media | brand | Pete Blackshaw

Comments

[Pete Blackshaw]

Appreciate the review and commentary, Kevin. Means a great deal to me coming from you. Wishing you the very best in 2009. Let's keep this great WOM and social media space credible and trusted in perpetuity. - Pete

[seosoeasy]

Thankyou for your great release and it was a great deal for me!

[Sam]

Thanks for the great review Kevin. I've added it to my ever growing list of "to buy" on Amazon.

I've seen and read many books and blogs about the social media buzz that's going on right now and there aren't enough that actually provide a roadmap with how to deal with customers.

This book sounds like it's hitting that point from a different angle so that's what's got me excited.

Thanks for the heads up and run down of the important points you've picked up from it.

Sam

[Sonia Roody]

Come to think of it, that book is right! I've only heard things about good customer service from a few people in the Internet, and even from my friends. When the service is bad, they talk about it all day. When you work in a call center, having a lot of satisfied callers is a good thing. It's the same thing as a customer smiling when he leaves the barber shop with a new and awesome haircut. These good stories should be the ones shared, not the bad ones!