Dave Ramsey Gets It
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Whether or not you are a fan of financial teacher Dave Ramsey, I believe his organization sets a great example of how to engage customers via social media. They are also a shining example of good customer service. I think they are a great case study from which you can get some ideas about how to improve your business.
I am a Dave fan and have been for over a year since I first read his book “The Total Money Makeover” (Amazon Affiliate Link). Since then I’ve gone on to take his Financial Peace University (FPU) Class and to be a class coordinator for FPU at our church.
Socmed Savvy
Dave’s organization is very social media savvy. Whether he personally directs this or not, I do not know. What I do know is that he has surrounded himself with some very dedicated, talented and knowledgeable people who have taken to social media and set a high standard for those who wish to follow.
I started following @DaveRamseyLive and @RamseyShow on Twitter last year just before Dave held his Town Hall For Hope simulcast event. The producer of the Dave Ramsey radio show, Blake, does most of the tweeting for the organization. During the Town Hall For Hope a large number of us who were hosting the simulcast were also tweeting amongst each other and interacting with Blake. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by how many were tweeting their locations and attendance numbers as well as juggling incoming questions and his other duties. Still, he did a great job taking questions on Twitter and Facebook and reporting on what was going on behind the scenes. For those of us watching the simulcast and following on Twitter, this event took on a whole new dimension as an interactive event rather than a one-way “talking to.”
*** Correction (7/14/2010 ): It was rightly brought to my attention that Chris Thomas did the Twitter feed for the Town Hall for Hope. He gets the credit for making the event very social. Thanks to Jack for pointing this out. ***
Over the past year the Ramsey organization has continued to do social media very well. They have tens of thousands following them on Twitter and Facebook. Events and special promotions are well-promoted by Dave’s team members, and those who are fans and followers relay the information. It works very well. These folks really understand “The Groundswell,” “The Conversation,” and how to get people who like their products to spread the word. (Of course, it helps that they have great products, too).
Savvy at Live Events, Too
Their sensitivity to online social was very evident during their recent Total Money Makeover Live (TMMO) event in Houston, TX.
I bought tickets to see Dave live in Houston back in September, a full four months before the event. I learned of the event through their Twitter stream and got tickets for a special introductory price of $9.99, well below the regular $40.00 and was well promoted through Twitter and Facebook.
The day before the TMMO event, Dave held his Entre Leadership workshop. This set of classes is aimed at entrepreneurs and business people who are looking to strengthen their leaderships skills. There were a number of people live-tweeting throughout the course of the day. Because of the bits of information which “leaked” out, I’m now looking to attend the training myself to sharpen some of my skills.
On the morning of the event, before the doors opened, there were a few of us who gathered outside in the cold waiting to get in. Of course, there were people with their iPhones and Blackberrys going with some, of course, tweeting about the event. Two of Dave’s staff came out looking for us “Tweeters.” They took our pictures to put on their live blog of the event (which was, unfortunately, taken down a couple days after the event). 
A little bit after they came out and took our pictures, the two came back out and gave us vouchers for a free item among the many things offered for sale at the event. We ended up giving ours away to a young couple who were interested in taking FPU, but that’s another story. This was totally unexpected and very welcome.
Interactive Through Texting
During the event, the people in attendance were encouraged to interact by texting answers to questions which were shown on the screen at the back of the stage. Attendee comments and answers to the questions were shown on the screen during the breaks.
The events I usually attend are more techie-oriented. Thus Twitter and Facebook are more commonly used. The general public, however, may not be tuned in to the mobile versions of those applications and texting is an excellent way to go. A special 5-digit phone number was set up to make it more convenient to send texts. One sign of widespread participation was the cumulative answer to the question asking how much everyone’s debt load was. The total of those who responded out of the 8000 or so participants was over $700 million.
Of course, the regular “Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, etc.” and “join our online community” slides were shown, too.
Customer Service is Excellent, Too
I’ve been on somewhat of a rant about customer service lately. The Ramsey organization is very keen on this as well. As an example:
I recently purchased six FPU Membership Kits via their web site. I’ve only ever had one kit at a time sent to me, and that was sent to my P.O. Box. I placed my order on a Wednesday and was informed the following Tuesday that my package would go out the next day. When I responded to this notice with my disappointment on the late ship date, I received an answer right away from Josh, the Church Department Advisor. The explanation was forthright and honest. All was shipped according to their policy (which I have to admit I failed to read thoroughly). Still, I did receive my packages before our class started. All is well.
This past Sunday was the first session of the latest FPU class my wife and I are coordinating. After this first class, I received an email query as to how the class went. I assume this initial contact was automatically generated, but the response to my answer was not. I had a great email exchange, again with Josh, about the class and some other things. This correspondence goes to show the effort going on to help make sure the customer is part of the team and not just a sales target. I appreciate that very much.
In putting together this article I had need to contact Dave’s Media Office. Jane came through with the head shot you see above and permission to use the image of me and Jen from their web site. It was all quick and efficient with no hassles nor drama.
Worth Watching
If you’re involved in business, I highly recommend you check these folks out. They do the web and customer service very well, indeed. You can learn a lot from them.
