Are the prices too high or is the customer service just too bad?

Best Buy (and many other brick and mortars) often blame online stores like Amazon for their problems. The chief complaint centers on how online stores compete unfairly because they don’t have to collect sales tax.

But is that the real reason? I don’t think so, and neither do many of those I’ve spoken with on the topic this past week. Those conversations were prompted by an article on Forbes.com by Larry Downes, “Why Best Buy is Going out of Business…Gradually.” He puts some numbers with his poor experiences at Best Buy and comes to the conclusion that it’s customer service which really makes the difference – not price.

At the risk of “piling on,” I present two experiences I had with Best Buy this past year which I think prove Mr. Downes’ point quite well:

Experience The First – Buying Mom a New Computer
Whenever I head up to Michigan to visit Mom, I usually get hooked into doing pro forma tech support. I don’t mind, though, because her being online and tech savvy helps us to communicate better. When we were there this Summer, she said it was time replace her outdated desktop. So, we headed over to the local Best Buy to see what we could find.

Mom had a specific budget and certain things she needed her new machine to do. I wanted to get her a powerful enough computer to last a few years from a brand with decent tech support – in case I wasn’t available to help her over the phone.

We walked into the store and straight back to the computer section. Of course, we were immediately approached by a sales person. I explained that I would let him know when we’d made a selection, but that we really didn’t need any help. He hovered around (way too close, I might add) for several minutes.

In the meantime, I pulled out my iPhone and started looking at the models they had on display, checking details, specs and user ratings from various sites. Much the opposite of Best Buy’s complaint that people use them as a showroom then later go purchase from Amazon, I often go to Amazon for ratings because they usually have good ones. I also check NewEgg and search Google and Bing on the model numbers to catch any ratings I might miss. That was when the sales person disappeared.

Once we narrowed down our choices to two, I had a specific question about one of them. Once we hunted down the sales person, he had no idea what I was even asking. More googling came up with the answer and we had our choice. Then we had to hunt the guy down again to get the item so we could pay for it. Of course, we were asked a half-dozen times if we wanted to purchase the extended warranty. After declining the first time, I wished they’d quit asking.

This experience wasn’t too terrible, of course. Pretty typical for Best Buy and many other stores.

Experience The Second – The Missed Pickup
My wife and I recently decided to replace our malfunctioning home theatre unit.  She did most of the research, narrowing the myriad of selections down to two. We decided on one and checked prices online. We found that Best Buy had the best price, beating Amazon – even including the sales tax and $10 in-store pickup delivery charge. (Why is there a delivery charge to pick up an item already at the store? That really puzzled me.)

I ordered the item from Best Buy’s web site and opted for the in-store pickup.

The next day, we went to our local Best Buy to pick up the item and purchase a new HDMI cable. The pick up line is situated next to the returns line, with a shared POC terminal between them. The people working didn’t have my item immediately ready even though I got an email indicating it would be so. No big deal, though, since someone very quickly went to the shelf and grabbed one for us. But, I had to get into the returns line to pay for the HDMI cable. Again, no big deal since they put me ahead of others already in line (which probably didn’t make them happy).

We went home and set up our new sound system. It is very nice. My wife is playing Skyrim right now and the sound is excellent. We are quite happy with the purchase.

The day after I picked up our item, I got an email from Best Buy reminding me to pick up my purchase. I was a little puzzled, but just deleted the email. My initial thought was, “The in-store system hasn’t synced with the main system, yet.”

I got another email the next day, and the next. For ten days, each morning, I received an email reminding me that my purchase was ready for pickup. I remember even tweeting once something like, “@BestBuy, why are you spamming me to pick up an item I already picked up?” I though it rather humorous. The last email warned that if I didn’t pick my item up, they would cancel my order. Cancel? On an order for an item I already picked up? Nonsense!

Oh, but they were serious. The next day I received an email letting me know that my order had been cancelled and my card credited the amount of the purchase. A quick check of my bank account verified that they had, indeed, refunded my money. Now I laughed out loud.

I wanted to let Best Buy know about this so they could get their money; that was only fair. I called the number on my email receipt and hit zero until I got a real person. I explained to the lady I spoke with what happened in detail. She was surprised and said she’d transfer me to the correct department immediately.

I sat on hold for half an hour. After wasting enough of my monthly allotted cell minutes on this, I decided to try to email. After all, this was their error – why should I waste my minutes.

I pulled up my email receipt again and hit reply. I wrote a very detailed message describing what happened and asked them to respond so we could work out how to make this right. After all, I wanted to get them the money they were legitimately due for my purchase.

My message received an auto response:

This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email.

If you need assistance, please contact our Customer Care, http://www.bestbuy.com/ or call 1-800-BESTBUY.

I hate auto responses like that.

Companies Note: Never bounce an email from a customer telling them you don’t monitor a specific email address. MONITOR ALL EMAIL ADDRESSES you send email from. Don’t waste your customers’ time.

I clicked on the link in the response, which lead to Best Buy’s customer service contact form. I copied the text from my bounced email and pasted into the message box on the form and made sure to enter my order number in the appropriate place. At this point, I was starting to get a little perturbed, having wasted almost an hour trying to give them their money. In the message box I wrote that this was the third and final time I was going to try to contact them regarding this matter. If they wanted their money, they should email or call.

Another auto response was the last message I heard from them:

Best Buy Customer,
This message was automatically generated in an attempt to answer your question as quickly as possible. If you are contacting us to cancel, or modify your BestBuy.com order, please call us at 1-888-BEST BUY. (1-888-237-8289)
Thank You.
Best Buy Customer Care

I didn’t want to cancel or modify my order, and I certainly didn’t want to spend another 30-plus minutes on hold.

It’s been nearly a month since this transpired and I still haven’t heard anything. Those I have related this story to feel I did more than most people would have to get them their money and that I should consider the home theatre unit a Christmas gift. Perhaps they are right.

The Bottom Line
There have been many surveys done in the past several years where consumers have indicated they’d be willing to pay extra for better customer service (examples here, here and here), and many people willingly pay a little extra for more service than standard offerings. I’ve experienced exceptional customer service for which I probably payed a little more on several occasions. I didn’t mind a bit.

I’m really very surprised Best Buy didn’t beat a path to my door to collect their money. If they had at least acknowledged my efforts to contact them I would be telling quite a different story here. Instead, I’m commenting on an article which offers up what I think is an apt analysis of Best Buy’s self-inflicted woes based on my own experience with them.

I wonder if their leadership will take notice and try to change course. If they don’t I suspect it won’t be too long before they meet a similar fate as so many of their former competitors.

What say you? What do you think about Mr. Downes’ take on Best Buy’s situation? What do you think about my experiences with them? Do you think I did enough due diligence in trying to right their error? Please feel free to tell us what you think in the comments.

Oh, and Best Buy: If you do decide you want your money please give me a call or email me. You have my contact information.

Lastly: Just as I was finishing this up, I caught a response to the Forbes.com story by Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn on their blog. Check out the comments, too.

First Picture: photo credit: pat00139

Second Picture: photo credit: tsaarni

Be excellent to each other! – Fake Socrates in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”

I’m going on my soapbox here. I hope you will indulge me while I get something off my chest.

I wrote once before about how your attitude towards those who give you service you in buying situations can affect what kind of treatment you receive. Although their attitude is primarily their responsibility, how you act toward them can affect their attitude positively or negatively. I bring this up again because yesterday it hit rather close to home.

My wife works in the retail businesses. This close to Christmas, you can imagine she’s pretty harried. The stores are crowded with holiday shoppers who are in a hurry and in foul moods. Although most of those who work at her store try to deliver superior service, sometimes things outside their control adversely affect what kind of service they can give.

For example: long lines at the checkout can be caused by a flu bug going around and several key people calling in sick on the same day. That type of situation can adversely affect how long customers will wait in line to pay for their purchases. It’s also something outside the realm of an individual’s control.

My wife cried herself to sleep last night. As she was going about her duties she ended up on the cash register and had to deal with someone who lambasted her for having to wait too long in line. With little regard to her feelings or the fact that she had no control over people calling in sick, he insulted her and blamed her for all the problems with this particular retail outlet. She was so upset when she came home, she couldn’t even tell me what the man said, other than he cussed her out and called her terrible names.

I understand this person was probably having a bad day. He was likely tired and in a hurry to finish his holiday shopping so he could finish other tasks. Or, he could just be a total jerk. We’ll never know for sure. What we do know is he ruined the day of someone who was doing her best to help him along.

I say again that the Golden Rule applies: Treat others as you wish to be treated.

I’ve been thinking a lot about online contests over the past several months. Moderating the “Engaging Your Community and Audience Through Contests” session at PubCon gave me some new idea as to how I might use contests at work.

Over the long weekend I entered two contests. Each was for a brand I like very much which offered prizes I would enjoy having. One was for Cracker Barrel, which I learned about from scanning a QR Code on a tabletop placard. The other was for the Zagg “iPad An Hour” Black Friday event, which I learned about when they sent me an email. Here are some observations I made of each:

Cracker Barrel’s

Pros

• It was fairly easy to enter
• Bonus entries were available
• It was sharable
• The prize was valuable enough to be an incentive to enter (a gift basket and a $250 Cracker Barrel gift card)

Cons

• The form required way too much information. For example, did they really need my phone number and postal address if I provide an email address? Also, why was it necessary to set up an account with a password just to enter a contest? To their credit, they did offer login through Facebook, which may have negated the need to fill out the form.
• Because I got to the form by scanning the QR Code on the tabletop card, it would have been nicer to have been sent to a mobile-friendly version of the form rather than the one designed for a computer browser. Also, while I understand the reason for CAPTCHA, it’s a pain to use on a mobile device (Auto-Correct, anyone?)

Cracker Barrel Holiday Sweepstakes Entry Form

Zagg’s

Pros

• It was very easy to enter, just provide full name and email address
• Bonus entries were available
• It was very sharable (as this was the way to get bonus entries)
• The prize was valuable enough to be an incentive to enter (a new iPad2)

Con

• To be considered for each hour’s drawing everyone had to enter once every hour, which put a huge demand on Zagg’s servers. I had trouble getting the entry page to load early in the morning, though they had it under control and loading quickly in short order. The rest of the site loaded well during the short-lived slow time, so their commerce was, hopefully, not adversely affected.
• I didn’t win one. (Well, OK, perhaps that’s not really a ding on how the contest was implemented …)

Zagg iPad An Hour Giveaway Entry Form

 

Each of these contests had merit. Without knowing the goals of each, however, it’s hard to tell whether or not they were effective. Each had a good prize to offer and it was reasonably easy to enter both. From the consumer standpoint, however, I would say that Zagg had the better implementation given the very simple entry form. The one seeming mistake was that they didn’t anticipate the popularity of their giveaway and weren’t prepared for the onslaught; though they did recover quickly much to their credit.

Update: After I posted this, Scott Cowley at Zagg told me that from their point of view, the iPad An Hour contest was a huge success. He cited some stats on the results from Drew Conrad that look very good. Thanks Scott and Drew.

What say you? Did you participate in these or another contest over the “Black Friday” weekend? What did you think about them? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Back when I was a mere lad of 16, the first job I got was as a Stockboy at a local Kresge store. Kresge was the “dime store” predecessor of Kmart, founded by S.S. Kresge in Detroit. I came in on evenings after school and on alternating weekends to clean up the store. It was a great learning experience.

Everyone was a “regular.” Most of the store’s employees worked there for many years. The customers came from the neighborhood. When describing the store, I even joke that the shoplifters were regular “customers.” It had a nice family atmosphere.

There was a elderly man who frequented the store. He would come in and walk around, looking at things and mutter to himself in Polish. He always wore a charcoal grey suit and a hat with a hat feather in it. Always quick with a wave and a greeting though, he would say the only two English phrases I think he knew: “Hey, how’s it going?” and “Don’t work too hard.” After I got to know his routine I would often cringe watching him cross the very busy street outside the store as he walked against the lights. There was more than once he came close to getting run over.

One Saturday when I first started working there, I was doing something on the sales floor when I saw him pick up a candy bar and put it in his pocket. I watched as he made his usual rounds through the store and then headed for the exit. I stopped my manager, “Mrs. L,” a wonderful lady who clearly understood the role of that small store in the grand scheme of things (she started with the company as secretary to the then-Chairman of the Board when he was a district manager). I told her what I saw and offered to stop him and bring him to her.

She told me not to do it, though. No doubt I had a puzzled expression on my face. She went on to explain that he suffered from dementia and really didn’t know what he was doing. When he came into the store, the employees were told to watch him and report the the service desk person on duty if he took anything so it could be tracked. On Friday afternoons, his daughter would come in and pay for whatever he took.

Now, that’s personalized service! Can you imagine a Walmart or a Target having employees who were empowered to do that kind of thing? I don’t know if such an arrangement is possible in today’s environment.

Still, if you own an small, local business, what kind of special service can you offer customers to set yourself apart from your competitors? Really, the sky’s the limit so long as it makes sense … and cents.

photo credit: TommyIS

Back in the day (and not to long ago, either) we were taught that the sales process (or purchase process, depending on which side of the transaction you were on) went through a process shaped like a funnel. It was more or less a linear process. It may not have actually been so, but it was a nice model and likely fit many transaction processes.

Now, with the internet and all of the information resources it makes available to consumers, the sales process is no longer linear at all. Often, by the time a customer walks into a store, he has researched features, brands, prices, warranties, and any other information available and knows exactly what he wants. If research wasn’t done ahead of time, it can be done in the store with a smart device. The world, literally, is in each customer’s hand.

This is where the idea of the “Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT) comes in. It’s no longer easy to predict where or when a customer will make her purchase decision. It could be any where at any time. The information which goes into her decision process can come to here from traditional advertisements to banner ads, reviews, videos from other customers on YouTube. Many times another customer’s “Second Moment of Truth” (experience with a product or service) can very well become another person’s ZMOT. If you can find a way to get the right information to a person at the critical time, you can win at ZMOT.

Here are some quotes from the work which got me thinking:

Kim Kadlec, Worldwide Vice President, Global Marketing Group, Johnson & Johnson describes the change in mental models this way: “We’re entering an era of reciprocity. We now have to engage people in a way that’s useful or helpful to their lives. The consumer is looking to satisfy their needs, and we have to be there to help them with that. To put it another way: How can we exchange value instead of just sending a message?

Companies who are winning in this area are already on their way to becoming information resources. Rather like Santa Claus in “Miracle on 34th Street,” they are becoming helpful to their customers, sometimes even at the expense of their immediate bottom line. They are looking to invest in the long-term success of their customers. Last year I wrote about Gun Dog Supply and how they turned themselves into an information resource for those interested training hunting dogs. By doing this, they made themselves an invaluable resource which helped their sales in a huge way.

How can you help your company do this?

Let me make another point about ratings and reviews online: They’re a tremendous resource for customers, but they’re also a tremendous resource for businesses.

“A focus group is artificial. People are paid to be there. They know that there are agency people behind the glass watching them … . The only thing that’s pure and authentic in terms of what’s actually happening in the marketplace is how people talk to each other.”

Think about this: You have a great opportunity to learn what you’re doing well and where you need to improve. This is a tremendous asset to the business person who realizes it’s there and takes advantage of the knowledge available to make positive changes to their product or service.

Beth Comstock, the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of General Electric … says:

“Maybe if you make locomotives, or the software that automates production lines, you think: Why should I have videos or web content out there, who’s going to use that?

But one day at our marketing council we did YouTube searches for just those kinds of things. And you know what? Up came hundreds of videos, including videos from our competitors on things like intelligent thinking for product line automation. It was a great eye-opener.”

This really can apply to any product or service. People want to know what’s out there, what’s available and what might best solve their problems. If you can build out content (and not just videos) you can really hit a home run when it comes to attracting good attention. National Instruments has an excellent community full of content on how to use their products. I’m willing to bet all that great content gives them a big advantage over their competitors.

If I’m having this conversation privately with a CMO, this is the first question I ask: “Who’s in charge of ZMOT for you?”

Because if it’s nobody’s job, it’s not going to get done. If I ask you, “Who runs your TV department” or “Who’s in charge of your in-store marketing for FMOT?” or “Who makes sure your green beans reach the shelf on time?”, you’ll give me one person’s name. You should also be able to give me one person’s name for ZMOT.

And that’s because of no one owns it, it won’t get taken care of. I wrote about this regarding web marketing in a guest post on the PubCon Speakers blog. If you’re going to take ZMOT (or anything else) seriously, someone has to own it.

If you’re a marketer, I hope you’re encouraging your customers to make videos about your product that others can find at that Zero Moment of Truth. Never forget that your customers are ahead of you, and that’re ready to contribute right back to ZMOT in real time.

I sometimes get into conversations about creating content. Here’s an idea: if you can’t make enough content, crowdsource it. If people are delighted with your product or service, they’ll likely be happy to share that knowledge with their friends. Sometimes all they need is a little encouragement.

Check out Winning The Zero Moment of Truth by Jim Lecinski. The Kindle version is free. It’s a quick read filled with great information including quite a bit from Google’s research. It only took me a little over an hour to read it and watch the videos; very well worth the time.

You can also get more information by visiting the web site: www.zeromomentoftruth.com

Early in my military career I was put in for promotion to the rank of Sergeant by my boss (and, later, very good friend) John. At that time, to make that first rank in the Non-commissioned Officer Corps, one of the things a person had to go through was the promotion board. Promotion boards at that unit consisted of the Sergeant Major and the senior NCO from the units in the squadron asking questions of the soldier. Although it was more or less a formality, the amount of points award from the board members could have a direct bearing on how fast one was actually promoted. It was a big deal.

I was scheduled last out of the slate of 6 or so soldiers who were set to appear before that particular promotion board. John and I showed up a little early for our scheduled time, both in our Class A dress uniforms with everything shined and polished which could be shined or polished.

I formally reported to the board at my appointed time, while John took his seat at the back of the room. When I sat down, the Sergeant Major leaned over to look around me to look at John. He asked, “Sergeant, why are you dressed in your Class A uniform?” John replied as he pointed at me, “Well, Sergeant Major, because he is.”

The Sergeant Major stood up and said, rather loudly, “Come here! I want to shake your hand. You are the first supervisor to come with his soldier before the board dressed in the same uniform. Thank you for doing so.”

I thought, “So far, so good.”

Elmer at the National Training Center near Barstow, California

John gave his “spiel” about me to the board, telling them what a great soldier I was and what a great NCO I would be. The Sergeant Major looked over at me when John finished and asked, “Well, those are some very flattering words. What do you think about what he had to say about you.”

I have to admit, I was rather flattered. John wasn’t always one to puff someone up, but you certainly knew where you stood with him. I was happy most of all that he appreciated my efforts for our team. I said something contrite and humble* and we continued on.

The rest of the time in front of the board was spent answering questions about unit history, basic soldier tasks, leadership and current events. I answered most of the questions correctly. The ones I didn’t know the answers to I plainly admitted as much rather than try to tap-dance around the fact that I didn’t have an answer.

When the questions were wrapped up, I walked out. As John rose to leave after me, he got a “thumbs up” from our First Sergeant. That meant a lot, considering he was a fair man, but expected a lot out of his charges.

What Does This Have To Do With Business?
In short, part of the success John and I had that day was that we delighted the people on that board. We gave them more than they expected, and they reacted to it very positively.  This taught me a lesson I still remember today: deliver excellence and people will respond.

While you may never be in exactly the same position I was in that day, I’ll bet you regularly have similar experiences? For example, how many times are you placed before a potential client (or a room full of potential clients) and asked to put your best foot forward in an attempt to sell them your goods or services. Or, how many times have you given a presentation to your boss or senior staff over a very important topic?

In this situation, John and I were selling the idea that I would make a good Sergeant and we did a great job convincing that board of that fact. We went out of our way and spent a great deal of time preparing for the 20 minutes or so I would be sitting in front of that board. It paid off.

Think about it:

• Do you spend time preparing for those meetings when you have to deliver to potential clients? Or – do you just throw something together at the last minute?
• Do you learn about those you will be speaking to and attempt to learn what it is they might use your goods or services for? Or, do you use the same canned presentation for every meeting?
• Do you know what problems you might be able to solve for those you meet with?
• Do you spend time preparing your team members to deliver excellent customer service?

If you answered “no” to those questions, here’s your change to rethink how you do things. Instead of delivering schlock, delight those you come in contact with. You may very well be amazed at the results.

* John later told me my answer should have been: “Of course I agree with them, Sergeant Major, I wrote them. And, I paid Sergeant Smith a handsome sum to say them.” We laugh about that even today, but I don’t think it the humor would have gone over very well on that audience.

I hereby claim I coined the term “Tech Support Custom Code Cop Out.” This is described as a lame excuse used by some tech support people to avoid dealing with a difficult issue a customer has with software or a service they purchased.

This has happened to me a few times – and it’s really annoying. I’m certainly not saying that tech support people should be expected to support someone else’s totally custom application. But, when just a couple of things are changed in a product which is customizable and the person calling for help has clearly documented the changes in their tech support request, this excuse becomes unacceptable.

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean.

Once I was helping a friend who ran an online art gallery. He decided to go full on with an e-commerce site, adding a shopping cart while keeping some list pages organized in categories as he had on his straight HTML site. I recommended a new host for him which had a built-in shopping cart application he could rent. I figured there would be no problem recreating the look of his “old” site (which was working very well for him).  I’d merely put all the products into the shopping cart database with a category flag and then query up the data to put into his list pages.

No problem, that is, until I tried to find information on creating a connection string to the database on the host’s web site. I found nothing. No examples, not even a mention of it. Now keep in mind this is a major shopping cart host, not some rinky dink outfit.

So I went through the support forums. I saw lots of people asking the same question, but no answers. I found that strange, but I carried on with my task.

I eventually ended up emailing their support. My request went something like, “Please tell me how to do a connection string to my client’s data on your service. I have the database name, user name and password, I just need the server name  to connect to.”

A couple days later I got a reply, which went something like this: “We’re sorry, that’s custom code. We don’t support custom code.”

That made me go, ‘Hmm.” I replied to that message pointing out there was no custom code yet, because without a connection string I really couldn’t even get started writing the custom code. I didn’t need any help with the data queries or anything like that, I just needed to know how to connect to the database. A database which they, no doubt, already had connection strings for or my customer’s shopping cart wouldn’t work.

The answer back was exactly the same, “Sorry, that’s custom code. We don’t support custom code.”

I went back and forth three or four more times, always with the same answer. No help, no how. Needless to say, I do not recommend that host any more.

More recently, a work colleague and I were troubleshooting the administration piece of another shopping cart. (Coincidence?) My colleague did some major work on the CSS files for this product but just a couple small custom user controls were added to the code in order to display a little extra data on our products display pages.

We tested, and everything worked properly in our test environment. Once we moved the files to our production server, however, the admin piece started failing. We went through troubleshooting ourselves. When we couldn’t find a problem, she went into their help forums and found a couple of possible fixes, but nothing would get us past the error. Finally, when we could do no more ourselves, she opened a support ticket.

The first answer: “You did custom code on your site. We can’t support your installation because of this.”

My colleague replied that the customized parts were not in the admin section, but their reply was the same. She finally documented the changes she made, showing that they had nothing to do with the administrative portion of the software. Still, the reply was the same.

Good news: My colleague found a solution on her own. Still, it’s kind of sad she had to slog through their code for a couple of days before she found the problem. They, likely, could have found it much quicker. And it had nothing to do with any customization she did.

We Have To Do Better
Again, I’m not expecting  a software vendor to support a complete customization unless they wrote it all themselves. But in these two examples I don’t think the requests for support were unreasonable. It looked to me like the support folks were trying to close the tickets as quickly as possible, regardless of whether or not the customer was satisfied. Service after the sale is important – and this ain’t it.

Here’s another thought: If you’re a vendor, what if you had a couple of tech support people on staff who could help customers regardless of their customizations? Now that would be rock start support. Would you have to ask higher prices or perhaps a premium on your maintenance fees? Yes, but I’ll bet a lot of customers would find it worth the extra cost. That could be the one thing to differentiate you from your competitors.

What say you? Have you been a victim of the Tech Support Custom Code Cop Out? What do you think about it? Have you ever been on the other side? I’d love to hear from folks on the support of the issue. Please feel free to share in the comments.

photo credit: Lazurite

I first wrote about how The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan “gets” social media back in 2009 after a visit there to see the “Guitar Stars and Cars” exhibition. I’ve had the opportunity to visit again a couple of times since then; most recently a couple weeks ago. This last time, I had the foresight to contact Kate Storey, Social Media Manager for The Henry Ford, ahead of time and arrange to talk with her about how they use social media to help tell the story about this unique indoor and outdoor history museum.

In this installment of the interview, Kate describes the basic strategy she and her coworkers employ to engage people about The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village*.

I’m really interested in how The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village are using social media to get the word out about this gem of history.

We’re trying to find ways to let people know about the different things happening here.

People outside the area don’t know or may not have had a chance to visit here before. Truth be told, not many people think of Detroit as a vacation destination because, unfortunately, there are a lot of bad perceptions about the area. I think that once people come to Detroit, they will see that the city itself is really a fantastic place to visit.

The people behind the @visitdetroit Twitter handle, managed by the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, have been doing a very good job and working very hard to try to change perceptions about the area and get people to come and explore. They say “We know what you’ve heard, now come to the area and give it a try. Come see it for yourself.”

Our location and our attractions are part of this as well. We hope that as people start to explore the Detroit Metro Area they will discover us and see what we have going on here. We’re using social media to give people the inside and “behind the scenes” looks.

There is such a wide range of interests here. One misperception people have is that because it’s called “The Henry Ford” that it’s either only about Henry Ford himself or it’s just about the Ford Motor Company, or all about cars. That’s not really true.

 Right, it’s not at all. it’s really about a lot of everything

Exactly. We present many other things in many different areas. But, there are many people who want to learn more about Henry Ford, the Ford Motor Company or cars. So, we do present some of that history. At the same time we want to show many different ways Americans have innovated over the years and different ways people have helped make this country great.

We hope that through social media we are sharing those stories so that people understand, for instance, we have a fantastic design collection in the Henry Ford Museum; great examples of furniture and industrial design and many other things.

And out here in Greenfield Village we have all these different buildings which tell different parts of America’s history. One can visit the Wright Brothers home and their bicycle shop where they built the first airplane. We also have Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory. Many people come here and say, “I didn’t know you had those things.” They had no idea, and either thought the buildings were still in their original locations or that they didn’t exist any more.

Henry Ford had the foresight to preserve those buildings and bring them here. We continue to keep them up and present them today in the hope that people will make those connections between the past and the present.

I know you have a blog and that you’re very active on Facebook and Twitter. We’ve conversed on Twitter many times. How do you as the social media person incorporate those things together in presenting the story? What kind of strategy do you have to spread the word out about The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village on social media? 

It’s all about conversations on social media; it’s all about making those connections with people. Our effort is really just an online version of what we do here every day. We try to connect with people and share in their passions and their excitement over a particular artifact or with a program we’ve presented. Part of my strategy is to help bring that excitement and passion online and to spark those conversations which a presenter might have here in Greenfield Village with a visitor as the person might say “I didn’t know you had this here.” Or they might say, “Tell me more about this point in history.” We’re really hoping to bring those types of conversations online and to be able to share them more broadly so more people can take part. It’s not just a one to one interaction; now it’s with everybody.

It helps us to learn as well. It helps us to understand what types of programs people would like to see or do here. Perhaps it means we should do more video content or more stories on our blog. Perhaps they would like to just have a “here’s what’s happening right this minute in Greenfield Village” kind of thing. Perhaps it’s a quick snapshot or tips about how to make your visit more interesting. We might even help people who are doing research or who are interested in trains, for instance, and they want to get a little more information. We can answer questions like “At what point were steam engines still widely in use?” We can answer many questions like that.

Part of our strategy is to help share those conversations and that excitement.

The Weaving and Pottery Shops in the Liberty Craftworks Area in Greenfield Village

 Do you have a YouTube Channel?

We do.

OK. I just haven’t seen it yet. I was just in the Glass Shop and was taking some Bloggie shots and thought to myself “They must have a YouTube channel; I just haven’t seen it yet.”

Yes, we do have a YouTube Channel. I’ve put up several videos recently about our Liberty Craftworks area. We did a 3-part video series about firing our salt kiln outside our pottery shop.

I did see the blog post about that. I was just telling my mom, “Hey, I know how that works because I read about it on their blog.”

That’s so good. Farther down in the blog post there is a link which takes you to the video where we show how it works.

I’m also getting ready to post one about the glass shop. Our glass artisans were changing out the crucibles in the glass shop. As part of that they had to remove all the molten glass which has accumulated over the past several months. It looks like lava just pouring out of it; it’s very cool looking. That will be coming soon.

Click here for the next installment in which Kate will describe how The Henry Ford’s social media efforts got started and some new things coming to the museum.

* I transcribed this from the audio I recorded of our conversation and edited for clarity and formatting.

I’m in the Detroit area visiting family this week. On Monday, my  mom wanted to pick up some lunch meat and some fresh corn. We went to Trentwood Farm Market (3 locations in the Downriver area).

Trentwood Farm Market is a little gem of a store located in what was once (for decades) an A&P grocery. In these days of one-stop shopping where the Walmart Supercenters, Super Targets, Krogers and Meijers dominate, this is a nice, little store which focuses on fresh foods and superior service.

I was quite taken aback by the smells. Next what got me was the variety of local (and not so local) goods on the shelves. It’s not laid out in a grid like a traditional grocery store, but rather in a meandering of aisles with a surprise at every turn. It looked nothing like the A&P which used to occupy the space.

The service was excellent, too. All the people working behind the meat counter were friendly and efficient. They made sure the lunch meat and cheese were sliced exactly how the customers wanted it. The people at the checkouts were also very friendly and efficient. One could even opt for paper sacks instead of the plastic ones if reusable bags weren’t brought with.

We normally shop at Walmart because it’s easy and convenient. I can see, though, where this type of store could turn into a great option for the person tired of the harried and hurried shopping experience which is prevalent today. I very much enjoyed my visit there and I hope this type of store concept takes off.

The oddest thing, too: They don’t have a web site – or at least I couldn’t find one. They must get some great word of mouth coverage because the place was packed.

Update – August 29, 2011
I was quite surprised to see this article of mine is one of the top-read items in the past several weeks and that it scored high in the SERPs on Google. I decided to google “Trentwood Farms” to investigate further and found that Trentwood Farms now has a web site. Good for them and I wish them all success.

I’m on a road trip this week, driving from Texas to Michigan.

All was going smoothly until we got to Sidney, OH. That was where we got a flat. Talk about an inconvenience.

No problem. I was wise enough to make sure the donut spare had plenty of air before we left. We exited the highway and pulled into a gas station to change the tire.

What I didn’t count on was not having a jack or a lug wrench! When I bought this car used a few months ago, I took it to a mechanic to have it checked out before I bought it. He checked it over from top to bottom and front to back and declared the car in great shape. I didn’t think, however, to check for those items under the spare tire in the trunk. Momentary panic set in.

Then I remembered we had roadside assistance coverage though our auto insurance provider. A quick call to Progressive secured the required assistance and help was soon on the way.

Now, we didn’t relish the thought of driving the last 150 miles or so of our journey going 50 miles per hour on that donut spare. It would seem we had little choice, though, this happening in a small city on a Sunday evening at 5:45. My wife suggested we look for the nearest Walmart. After all, their Tire and Lube Centers (T&LC) were open on Sundays.

I googled for the nearest Walmart on my phone and found one was nearby, just one exit up the road. I called to make sure they were open – best to be prepared (especially since up to this point I was woefully unprepared). I spoke to the Co-Manager, who told me the T&LC closed at 6:00 PM.

Well, that wasn’t going to help. I told him the situation we faced; just as an aside, actually. When he heard we were passing though on a long drive, he offered to hold the T&LC guys late to help us out. That was great, and certainly unexpected.

The truck from Bushnell’s Collision and Restoration arrived at our location 1/2 an hour before the estimated arrival time and got us on our way within 15 minutes. Of course, with the proper tools, changing a tire doesn’t take very long. Once that was done, on to Walmart.

Once we arrived, we got a new tire mounted, balanced and installed on the car in short order. The Co-Manager even stopped by to check on us. Overall, it was a great experience.

Why Am I Telling You This?
I think we can all agree that Walmart does not have the best reputation when it comes to customer service. In the “Race To The Bottom,” they are generally regarded as the forerunner. Still, even in such a large organization there can be individuals who, by their actions, make an experience for a customer a joy. This was certainly the case for my experience with the great folks at the Walmart in Sidney, Ohio.

Oh, by the way: while I was there I made sure to purchase a jack and lug wrench. I won’t be caught without those again!

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I was not paid by Progressive, Bushnell’s or Walmart in any fashion.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks