"nothing like this has ever happened here"

I began writing this post on those little note pad sheets in my hotel room because my laptop was stolen from my room.  The sliding door was shattered and my bag, containing my Macbook Pro and my beloved Panasonic Lx3, was taken.

I began writing this on little notepads because of how infuriated I was with the process and how I was treated at the Courtyard Marriott Las Vegas.

Thursday’s final keynote by Chris Brogan hit on a fantastic subject, which he calls human business.  He stressed that businesses need to create and foster communities, not audiences. “The difference between an audience and a community: one will fall on its sword for you and the other will watch you fall.”

Imagine if every person that interacted with your company was treated as a friend.  I don’t mean a “move your couch” friend but perhaps a friend of a friend, someone you know.

• Perhaps the security guard who came to my room could have introduced himself, shook my hand, expressed some lament for the scene in my room instead taking a quick glance and telling me, “Metro is on the way”
• Perhaps the front desk person could have come or sent someone with a key to another room rather than waiting for me to call them
• Perhaps she should not have repeated the same statement that the security guard made, “nothing like this has ever happened here”.  The neighborhoods near the convention center are not exactly plush luxury homes, this was an insult to my intelligence.
• Perhaps if I did not have to keep asking what I needed to do or if I should get them a copy of the police report or what happens next
• Perhaps if today, four days after the incident I had some sense of what the hotel is going to do about it

Perhaps then, I would not have such a great lesson in what not to do to your customers.

I suppose you could talk to your employees and make up some procedure and try to teach them this at orientation but I would just ask them if they treat their friends that way.

blogworld, blogworldexpo, brogan, bwe09, courtyard marriott, customer service, human business, vegas Hide

Well, sort of.   I just wanted to share an incredible customer service experience from an unexpected source.

I was leaving work a couple of months ago and the traffic light that leads out of the campus was only allowing one or two cars to turn before changing to red again.  I sat in the car for nearly 20 minutes about 500 feet from the light waiting to make my left turn.

While sitting in the car, I searched for “miami-dade traffic lights” on my iphone goolge app and ended up on this page.  There was an email at the bottom
(gomiamidade@miamidade.gov)

At this point the light changed and I had to move but I left the email open and drove home.  Still fuming from the idea that I may have to deal with the light again the next day I continued writing the email on the phone as I got out of my car at home.  My wife asked what I was doing, to which I replied,  “Writing an email about the traffic light changing too fast”.  Her response to this came with a slight chuckle and an eye roll, “To who?- Are you serious?”

Deep down I did not really expect anything to come from it but thought perhaps the email would have a cathartic effect, so I finished my note and hit send.

Here is my exact email to gomiamidade@miamidade.gov:

The traffic light behind FIU at 117ave has been changed.  It only lasts about 30 seconds.
Was this done for the fair? (I was talking about the county fair which was over at this point)
Can it be changed?

The very next morning I received a reply:

In order to investigate the request we would like to know the direction that the back up was occurring. Was it the SW 117 AV or the Exit at FIU that had 30 seconds?

So I replied with a google map link, giving the precise location of the light and hours later I was sent this message:

Mr. Merille:
Thank you for the information that you have provided.
The area engineer will investigate your reported problem as soon as possible and you will be advised by Monday afternoon.
Have a nice weekend.

A day or two later I received a confirmation that the issue had been addressed and by monday, when I left work, the light had been changed.  I was so amazed by the service that I had to write this post.  Here is the full email thread.

So thank you Miami-Dade Public Works Department (Francillon, Harry; Badrampour, Ferydoun; Williams, Robert; Hernandez, Hiram; Molins, Delfin; Penland, Milen) Keep up the great work!

Some Marketing takeaways: (This story has quite a few)

1) Great search engine optimization – I was able to find a contact point very fast.
2) Up-to-date contact information – Are there emails on web pages for your institution that are not monitored? I know I would have to answer yes to that.
3) Team work - If you click on the thread you will notice that the email went through a few people and then back again. From engineers to support personnel, the chain was never broken.
4) Courteous instant feedback – I did not give enough information in my initial email and they responded immediately asking for detail.  I got a thank you email and even a time frame for a reply.
5) Follow-up – They even sent me an additional follow-up email with a summary of what changes they made and a confirmation that they checked the light again throughout the day.

customer service, marketing, miami dade, traffic lights Hide