JD  on December 16, 2009

It’s straightforward, common sensical thinking but by that very definition it’s not common in the Irish workplace. As I work in a small company responsible for marketing I beat my head off the preverbial wall trying to make sure everyone involved in our process of buying-things-to-sell-things, from our warehouse guys to our delivery and phone people, that their role is as important as the MD’s role, and sometimes moreso. But the perception is that me-fein is a ’safer’ and ‘easier’ option and growth is level or non-existent. I’m old-school when it comes to customer service and relationships and that it actually does pay off in the end when you can treat each customer as your only customer. Making their experience worthwhile does bring them back. Why so many companies in corporate Ireland (banks to mobile phone companies) don’t get that is always disappointing.
I’m a big fan of over the top American customer relationship gurus as sometimes it’s the small things being forgotten are the most important.

Conor O'Neill  on December 17, 2009

There is still a strong “what can we get away with?” mindset in business in Ireland which drives me nuts. One of the huge advantages of ubiquitous internet is that those companies have nowhere to hide any more.

I was at the Hotel Website Marketing event recently where someone wondered if they could get their hotel taken off Tripadvisor! So their response to bad reviews was to try and kill the reviews, not fix their service.

I love seeing more and more Irish biz realising that customer service is the key to long-term sustainable business. Whatever short-term cost it involves will be tiny compared to all the repeat long-term business you gain.

Tony’s talk at Le Web really struck a chord with me. I hope we can learn from him in our business.