Trafcom News

Communicating food recalls to consumers

I dashed out this afternoon to pick up a few groceries, and found myself wandering the aisles because I could not find a product that I buy regularly: PC Brand Organics Quinoa. (Readers in certain parts of Canada know the President’s Choice or PC brand well. For the rest of you, it’s a very popular in-house brand sold by several retailers within a chain.)

I found a clerk who had no idea what quinoa was, but who was willing to find out where it was now located in the store. The good news: She quickly found the answer. The bad news: The product had been recalled. There was a sign on the shelf, but it was oriented toward store clerks, not customers. It said: “Recall. Do not restock,” with the product name in tiny letters.

Back home, I phoned Loblaw’s and got through to the customer service department right away (kudos to Loblaw’s for not putting me on hold). A cheery woman named Jennifer investigated the matter and let me know that sand had been found in the product, hence the recall. The box I already had at home was included in the recall, according to the bar code.

I asked: How would I as a customer find out about a recall like this? Other than happening to see a sign in the store, how would I know? In this case, I missed the sign entirely on several forays down the aisle because not only had the product been recalled, but its regular shelf spot had been moved to a different aisle.

I shudder to think of people consuming sand – or worse – in recalled products.

Is there an email notification list that customers could sign up for? No. But Jennifer agreed it was a good idea.

Why not a mailing list to let me know of new products, recipes and so on, in addition to recalls?

Looks like a great opportunity for a grocery chain.

By the way, I checked online and found a website for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, but the quinoa product was not listed anywhere. I suspect the problem was not found by the feds. However, you can sign up for email or RSS or Twitter alerts on this site so that you can be notified of recalls.

How to stay top of mind

Does everyone know what you do? How do you remind them?

Listen here for an audio version of this post.

Trafcom News: How to stay stop of mind by donnapapacosta

I received an email yesterday that made me sad. It was from someone whose name I didn’t recognize, but I opened it because of the subject line. It was a plea for work. Apparently I’d crossed paths with this fellow at some point – me and about 40 other people whose names he put in the “TO” line. But let’s forget about this email etiquette breach. The important thing is this: He – let’s call him Joe -- was pleading for more business because things were too slow for him to keep his independent communications practice open.

That’s sad.
What’s even worse is that about a month ago, a colleague of mine was looking for someone with the precise expertise that Joe possesses. At the time, I wracked my brains, trying to remember if I knew anyone who was an expert in this niche. A search through my brain, my database and LinkedIn turned up nothing. No Joe.

Joe did not come to mind. And do you know why? Because even though we’d crossed paths at some point, he didn’t keep in touch. He didn’t ask to put me on his mailing list. He never offered me a newsletter. He didn’t have a blog – not one that I knew of, anyway. He wasn’t active on LinkedIn. Oh, and I just checked: He has a Twitter feed, with about four updates in the last three months.

So after Joe and I had that initial interaction – whatever it was – for all intents and purposes he disappeared into the ether, from my point of view.

As independents, we are always at risk of disappearing. Or falling off the ends of the earth. Or whatever doomsday metaphor you prefer.

So how do you save yourself from Joe’s fate?

1. First, of course, you have to do great work, so that clients will hire you repeatedly, and they will tell their colleagues about you.
2. Publish a regular newsletter of tips and information of value to your clients and prospects. Invite people to subscribe to it. Don’t spam them!
3. Start a blog; write posts related to your industry. Invite clients and colleagues to read your blog. Comment on blogs by people you admire.
4. Start a Twitter account; follow people who are important in your field, and post your own helpful updates.
5. Listen to podcasts related to your industry; submit comments to those podcasts.
6. Curate content that would be of interest to your clients and prospects; link to this content in your blog and on Twitter. Do this on GooglePlus, too.
7. Keep in touch with your clients on a regular basis by sending them a link to an interesting article or blog post that you’ve come across. All you have to say is: “Hello, Mary. I saw this piece in the Economist and I thought of you. I hope all is well. Please keep in touch.” That’s it. If you’re afraid of being pushy, don’t worry. You don’t have to be pushy.

The goal is to be top of mind so that you don’t have to send out a desperate plea as Joe has resorted to.

Don’t be him. Make yourself top of mind.

Of course there are many other marketing tactics that independents can use. But I think all of these that I’ve mentioned could have been helpful to Joe or to any writer, editor or communications or PR consultant. What would you add?

For more content like this, follow me on Twitter or GooglePlus.

Related post: Don't be shy about following up.

Don’t be shy about following up

Audio version below

This morning I was speaking with a fellow independent communicator about the subject of following up. Sometimes we indies fall into the trap of responding to a request for a quote, and then forgetting all about it. You get busy. Stuff happens.

In my experience, clients appreciate your following up, for a couple of reasons:

1. Your quotation may have gone astray. This happened to me this afternoon. I had sent a proposal on March 25. The prospect phoned today, March 31, to say she had just found it in her junk folder. If I had followed up, she would have been alerted to the presence of my precious message among offers for malehood enhancement.
2. The client may truly want to move ahead on the project, but is bogged down with other priorities. So, your follow-up call helps her to stay on track with her project.

My favourite way to follow up is by phone. These days, email is so ubiquitous that a phone call stands out. And if your original email got trapped in Spam Land, what makes you believe that your follow-up note won’t suffer the same fate? In the call, I don’t want to badger the person by saying what might be on my mind: “Hey, have you read the proposal that I spent six hours on? Huh, didja?

No, instead I say something like: “I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to look at my proposal for your podcast project. April is looking pretty busy, and I wanted to be sure to set aside time for you.” In this way, you’re seen as helpful, not pushy. And of course, in your heart of hearts, you do want to function as an important resource for your client, right?

So please don’t be afraid to follow up. Even when you’re busy.

Here's an audio version of this post. Note, if you want to download it, click on the "down" arrow in the player.

Following-up by donnapapacosta ;

IABC/Toronto Communicator of the Year

Peter Aceto, President and CEO of ING DIRECT Canada, received the 2010 Communicator of the Year  award from IABC/Toronto this morning at a ceremony downtown. ING DIRECT Canada is the largest direct bank in the country.

If you’ve seen Mr. Aceto in one of his videos or read his tweets, you know that “what you see is what you get.” He carries this sense of transparency in all of his communications.

Powered by two lovely cups of coffee, I’ve captured some of his remarks for you.

Truly a “social CEO,” Peter Aceto places the highest value on communications and connecting with people, referring to this strength as the biggest predictor of leadership success. Of course a CEO must be concerned with profit, but he contends that the leader must also be held accountable for valuing people and communications, for behaving responsibly, for providing value and service, and for always telling the truth. “Communications will become the most valued leadership skill in five years,” he predicted.

To be effective, messages must be simple, transparent and honest. He believes that there’s no longer a need to communicate differently to different stakeholders.

Throughout his speech, Peter Aceto emphasized the excellent contributions of his team at ING DIRECT Canada (some of whom were in the room – along with his wife and mother), and introduced a few of the staffers who so capably handle internal and external communications.

He reminded us that communication occurs when the message is understood, not just when it’s disseminated.  He then shared a story of one time within the bank when leadership assumed that all employees were aware of a new program. Thanks to Peter’s brown-bag lunches with call centre and operations staff, he discovered that this wasn’t the case, and that employee communications needed to be improved in this particular area.

When asked about internal communications, Mr. Aceto told us that the bank has recently implemented Yammer, an internal Twitter-like micro-messaging tool. “It’s important for us to hear what people within the organization really care about,” he said.  

Responding to a question about the time he himself devotes to social media, he said: “We know that social media is not going away. We need to be there, to be a part of the conversation.” He cited the example of ING DIRECT Canada’s new Thrive account. “Online we’re getting direct feedback from people, from customers,” he said. The public responds through social media much more easily and quickly than they would by email or letter.

All the IABC/Toronto members I spoke with were impressed with Peter Aceto’s passion for his work and his dedication to constantly improving as a communicator.

We were also inspired by a speech by Priya Bates, ABC, who has been named a Master Communicator, the highest honour bestowed by IABC in Canada. Congratulations, Priya!

Thanks to the organizers of IABC/Toronto for this worthwhile morning, and to the event sponsor, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.

If you’re not going to check your sites, then don’t bother with social media

My friend Dave Howlett once suggested that people wouldn’t have pet peeves if they stopped feeding their pets. (I’m paraphrasing.) Dave is right; in a perfect world, I wouldn’t let anything bother me.

Well, I’m still working on being perfect (ha!), but I do need to get something off my chest. Here goes: Increasingly, I’m coming across Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, blogs and other social media presence points that have been created by organizations and then seemingly abandoned.*

Just imagine a customer or prospect being interested enough to post a comment to your blog or Facebook page, and then being ignored. This is the equivalent of never returning phone calls or answering emails.

So what’s the answer? Do not create a social media site if you don’t have the resources to maintain it and to monitor it. Simple, right?

When I work with my clients, I try to help them to understand the conversational aspect of social media – the give and take, the exchange of ideas, indeed the social aspect. Unfortunately, too many people still view social media as a broadcast mechanism, a way to shove content out into the world. This approach just does not work.

Thanks, I feel better.

(*UPDATE: I haven't even addressed the scourge of spam left on blog posts and FB pages because admins don't even know it's there. Sigh.)

Solve, don’t sell

One of the things I’m enjoying most about podcasting my client’s conference in Vegas is the people I’m meeting. You see, this is an internally focused event for sales people and resellers (which is why I can’t share any of the audio content we’re creating – sorry). In conversations with these top performers, I’m hearing a recurring theme: Don’t try to sell your product or service; instead, work hard to solve your customers’ problems.

In an address to 3,000 people this morning, the CEO of my client’s organization cited one example after another of success stories that happened only because someone looked at the long-term relationship with the client (not just this quarter’s sales figures), listened carefully,  and then  asked, “How can we help solve this customer’s business problems?”

Especially in this economy, clients and prospects want to know: “Do you understand us? Are you listening? Can you help?” And if you’re positioned to be that person who listens and understands, you’re golden.

Photo: Indoor waterfall at the Palazzo Hotel.

What happens in Vegas is customer service

Say what you will about Las Vegas: it’s glitzy, the cacophony of architecture is over the top, and it’s Sin City – with the gambling, boozing and girls girls girls. But one thing that Las Vegas can claim for sure is a superior level of customer service – from the cabbie who greets you at the airport like a long-lost cousin, to the clerk at the Gap who won’t give up until he finds the sweater in your size in the back room, to the waiter at Wolfgang Puck who swoops by to refill your glass and seems to genuinely care that you’re happy with your steak.

Over the past week, I haven’t met one person in the service industry who wasn’t smiling, or who didn’t seem interested in the welfare of guests.

Maybe it’s all this sunshine that puts people in a positive mood?

Customer service rule 1: Do not hang up on customers

How I wish I had recorded this call today.

First, some background. All week I've been receiving calls on my office line from an 888 number. I usually don’t pick up. When I do, it’s a hang-up. After it happened today, for the 12th time this week (I know how many times because my phone displays this), I called the number back. Here’s what happened. (I am not revealing the company name since I didn’t record the call and can’t guarantee that my memory is 100% accurate.)

Company XYZ: Hi, this is [unintelligible name], XYZ Telephone.

Donna: Hello, this is a customer of yours. All week, your company has been calling me and hanging up. I wonder why.

Company XYZ: This is an outbound call centre.

Donna: So you are making outbound calls to customers.

Company XYZ: Yes.

Donna; Well, you are hanging up on customers. You are a phone company. I would think that you know how to make phone calls.

Company XYZ: We use auto-dialers. Some times there is a delay.

Donna: I am familiar with auto-dialers. Believe me, this is not a delay. This is a hang-up. It’s very annoying. So tell me, why were you calling me anyway?

Company XYZ: We call our customers to see if they’re happy with our service.

Donna: OK. I’m NOT happy with your service because you keep calling and hanging up on me!

Company XYZ: We use an auto-dialer…

Donna: Yes, I know about the auto-dialer. I can’t imagine that this is a good way to build customer relations, by phoning people and hanging up on them. I can’t be the only customer who actually called back to see who’s annoying me.

Company XYZ: Would you like us to take you off the list so we don’t call you any more?

Donna: YES. Thank you!

So there you have it. A phone company calling customers and hanging up on them. That’s what I call top-notch service: technology first, people second. And cost-cutting above all.

Not what you expect the store clerk to say

At lunchtime today I stopped by the Home Depot to buy some mousetraps for a friend. Really! They’re not for me. (I already own a half dozen of them to capture the critters that invade my crawl space each autumn. Let’s just say that retrieving them is not my favourite job.)

As she passed the traps over the scanner, the store clerk said, “evil.”

I  just looked at her.

Then she shared her opinion again: “These traps are evil.”

OK, I couldn’t stop myself. I said, “If you’d prefer, we can trap the mice humanely and then deliver them to your house.”

“Don’t you think it would be better to buy the poison?” she asked.

“Um, no, I actually think these are more humane,” I answered as I pocketed my change and left the store, wondering what kind of training this clerk had received. Can you imagine her working at Whole Foods? “Oh my, are you buying chicken? Yes, these are organically raised, handfed and cost $47 a pound, but how COULD you?”

When I was a teen working in retail, I don’t recall expressing any opinions to the customers. What do you think?

What does your voicemail say about you?

Sometimes – this week for example – I spend oodles of time on the phone. In the course of arranging and conducting interviews for clients, I do lots of dialing. And as a communicator, I can’t help but analyze some of the things I hear after I punch in those 11-digit numbers.

For starters, I am amazed at the number of business people who answer the phone by saying just “Hello.” Right off the bat, I don’t know if I’ve called the right party, so I have to ask, “Is this Joe Jones?” Suggestion: Answer the phone with your name, even just the first name: “Hello, this is Chris speaking.” That would be nice.

What if you’re not there? What does your answering machine or automated voicemail system say? Believe it or not, this is what I heard when I phoned a consultant the other day: “You have reached the number that you have dialed. Please leave a message.”

Ha ha. Very funny. So, did I reach the right number? Are you operating a real business or is this your personal line and you’re using it to run your consulting gig on the side? In this case, I left a message for the person and followed up with an email to say, “I THINK I left you a message!” (Of course his email sig doesn’t list his number; another of my pet peeves.)

And then there are the mumblers. They leave YOU a voicemail message that’s so muffled that you can’t decipher their name. You actually phone them back, and you STILL don’t know who they are because they’ve also mumbled on their voice recording.

What about the secret vacationers? You dial their number and leave a message, expecting a call back in a day or two. Of course you don’t know that they’re on a three-week South Seas cruise, because their outbound message was mum on the subject. (I know some people don’t like to say they’re away because of security and privacy concerns. On my home phone I never reveal that I’m out of town, but I do so on my business line as a courtesy to clients, prospects and colleagues. If I’m going to be checking my messages from a remote location, I’ll often just say that I’m in meetings or away from the phone for the day. At least they’ll know why I’m not returning the call quickly.)

So, here are my suggestions:

1. Always include your name in your outbound voicemail message.
2. Speak clearly; don’t mumble.
3. If you’re not able to return calls within 24 hours, say so.
4. Use humour if you wish, but remember to follow suggestions 1-3.