From book bag to briefcase

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Guest Blog by Riley Wattier, Spindustry Intern

Most people coming out of high school or college have a general idea of the career path in which they want to take. One of the greatest assets a young person can have involves actual work experience, regardless of where it happens to take place. However, it is very advantageous to have work experience related to the job they are seeking.

Not too many current high school students get the opportunity to work at an up-and-coming business. So, I have had all sorts of reactions when sharing my experiences working as a marketing intern for Spindustry.

“This is a great chance to create networking opportunities for your future.”

“I wish that I had this opportunity in high school, it would have helped my college internship a lot.”

“This could help refine your college search, make sure you know what you want to do.”

Each of these people hit the nail on the head, because this opportunity will empower my future. Waukee high school has placed high school interns at jobs for more than 15 years, and the majority of these companies have responded very positively. High schools are now offering advanced classes devoted to student’s futures. I learned how to craft a resume, how to interview, how to act in the workplace, how to send ‘thank you’ letters, how to email co-workers and supervisors and the list goes on and on.

Spindustry has exceeded my expectations; they are constantly doing things I had not thought of before. Spindustry makes sure everything fits perfectly, so the potential for success is very high. When I thought of marketing/design companies, I never realized the variety of jobs available. This may be naive, but I thought marketers sold things, and designers created things. People do so much more than their title tells you. Everyone helps each other out, and each individual has the capability of doing anything.

Every aspect of the atmosphere here brings uniqueness. Everyone has an equal say in matters, and even though Spindustry has superiors, interactions do not show any sign of this, and. The office creates staff lunches, prank calls and lasting friendships I have never seen before. This lively and up-beat office matches the tempo and pace of their work ethic.

I still have much to learn, but everything I get, I try my best to accomplish in a time efficient manner. I do make mistakes, but it excites me to learn and to confidently go into my future prepared.

You don’t get the right answers if you don’t ask the right questions

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Guest Blog by Jim Immel, Owner of Immel and Associates, Inc.

At lunch today, I was asked by a young sales person, “what is the trait of sales people that you really admire?”  I responded, “Perseverance”.

After the appointment I asked the follow-up question, “where does perseverance come from?”  Knowing where perseverance comes from often helps us understand how to acquire and maintain perseverance.  Is this a trait you are born with, or can you manage yourself to persevere?

I believe we can manage ourselves to overcome challenges.  What we think and believe is at the core of our self-management.  Like Henry Ford said, “If you believe you can…you are right.  If you believe you can’t…you are right.”

How we view ourselves makes a big difference.  Who do we listen to most about our potential in business or personal performance?  Most of us think of coworkers, peers, family and friends.   Who influences us most?  Who has the most influence?  We do. So, the question should really become, how do we manage ourselves?

I thought about the best sales people I know.  The traits I found included:

  1. They are optimistic and put a positive spin on almost anything.
  2. They get their mind straight after challenges.  Some put their “gratitude list” together; others go work out or play.  Then, they change their perspective.
  3. Some simply surround themselves with positive people that truly appreciate them.

I believe we all have the ability to persevere, but it is up to our internal perception and our internal voice.   What is the question you can ask yourself?  How do you find a question to help with self-management?   Maybe it is as simple as, how can I enjoy what I do better?  Or maybe, it is simply believing in yourself.

How Social Media is Redefining Customer Service

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We have all had a poor customer service experience.  In most cases, you probably shared this experience with peers; even if you chose not to share it with the business owners/management. Growing up surrounded by two family-owned businesses, I was always told,  for every one person you make happy, they will share it with one person; and for every one person you make angry, they will share it with six people. In today’s digital era you can multiple that times 100.

A recent survey reported 90% of people trust peer recommendations, while only 14% trust advertising. Take a guess at where the vast majority of those recommendations are coming from? You guessed it, Social media.  Social media can be a gift, or a curse, to businesses. You can choose to participate in it, to engage and listen, and you can also choose to turn a customer’s bad experience into a positive one. I am continually baffled by companies who choose to delete a negative customer comment, or refuse to acknowledge the comment. Unless the comment is totally unmerited and/or false, you should avoid deleting a negative comment from your social media platform.

Why? There are two primary reasons. The first, involves the persons continued actions. They have engaged your company in a dialogue whether you like it or not. If you remove their comment without any acknowledgement, they will likely continue their posting until further action is taken. Second, no one appreciates being ignored. Simply deleting the note may fuel their passion to share the experience with a wider audience.

A Spindustry team member recently had their own poor customer service experience when a local Wal-Mart would not refund their money after receiving the wrong product from an online order (two packages of adult diapers rather than four packages of Keurig cups). With the help of social media, and a handful of other colleagues who helped gain visibility by ‘liking’, sharing and commenting on the post, she received a phone call and was refunded her money…with no apology. I should also add that her first post (without anyone ‘liking’, sharing or commenting) was deleted without any Wal-Mart representative following-up with her.

As a social media specialist, I am confident in suggesting to clients that if you respond in a respectful, honest and service-oriented manner, you have a significant chance at gaining back a customer and expanding your goodwill. Take for example, one of Spindustry’s clients, Brownells.  Brownells took a disgruntled customer’s Facebook post regarding a lost shipment and responded publicly to hear her concerns. They took responsibility, apologized for the error and corrected the situation. This led to other customers, as well as the disgruntled customer, applauding their response and touting their excellent customer service online.

Your company can turn a customer’s bad experience into a positive one by following a few simple guidelines:

  • Be timely. You should have a monitoring system in place so you know what is being said about your company even if it is not on your company’s social media page.
  • Be sincere. The first part of your response should be an apology, and it should also be genuine. People can always tell when you are not being sincere.
  • Let them know you are working on the issue, give them a time and date of when and who will be contacting them.
  • Reinforce your apology by offering them something for the inconvenience. Maybe it is something free at your business, or maybe it is a gift card for a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
  • Follow-up with them via their original social media post to assure the issue was taken care of. By doing this, you are showing them as well as any friends viewing the post that you truly care.

I hope these tips help you in paving a process for how to handle customer service issues on your company’s social media sites. Please remember that the first step to handling any negative content is to know that it is out there. If you don’t have time to do this yourself, Spindustry’s Marketing Assurance Program provides this monitoring feature as a part of a slew of many other exceptional components. To learn more, contact myself: aguzik@spindustry.com or treding@spindustry.com.

A Social Media Lesson from Ancient Egypt

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Ever since I was a kid I have been a sucker for history; I am pretty sure I was the only kid on my block begging my mother to take me to the Abraham Lincoln exhibit when it opened at a local museum. So, it was no surprise that I was immediately drawn to finding out as much information as I could when I found out about the “Lost Egypt” exhibit at the Science Center of Iowa. Thankfully, we are living in the digital era, and everything I ever wanted to know was at my fingertips and accessible through social media.

'Lost Egypt' Facebook Banner

This got me thinking, how many companies and organizations that host events and do not use social media properly, or to their full advantage. Maybe your organization does not have the pre-established anticipation and suspense of ancient mummies and cryptic scrolls, but businesses should take a hint from the Science Center of Iowa and its use of social media to attract visitors. So, with the help of Emilee Richardson, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the Science Center of Iowa, hopefully I can shed some light on how you can maximize your company’s event exposure through social media.

First things first, once you decipher which social media platforms you will be utilizing, build a brand for the event. If you have an in-house graphic designer, have them create a logo, incorporate a creative event hashtag for the event and use all of your promotional platforms in collaboration (i.e. post a video from your YouTube channel on Facebook).

As with any event, you always want to build anticipation; Richardson told me their first step began with creating a contest where they released two hieroglyphics each week along with a ‘hidden’ webpage for decoding. “The key to this strategy was giving people the opportunity to have a unique experience – to give them something they wouldn’t be able to buy – and to engage them with Science Center of Iowa,” says Richardson. While I love this idea, I would recommend being very cautious with contests and Facebook. Facebook has certain stipulations, so to be safe, always run the contest through a blog, separate website page (like the Science Center of Iowa) or create a Facebook landing page.

Facebook Photo of the Mummy Arrival at the Science Center of Iowa

Another rule I have about using social media to promote events is to make your followers feel included. Besides the obvious inclusion of posts offering engagement, be sure to always include event preparation photos. “Installing an exhibition is no easy task, but because it’s done behind closed doors, most people have no idea what’s involved,” said Richardson. “With Lost Egypt, we took our social media audience behind the scenes through photos of the crates arriving at the Science Center of Iowa, initial set-up and eventually, the elaborate arrival and installation of the human mummy and coffin.” So, maybe you don’t have people unpacking ancient relics to display in your photos, but your followers will feel exclusive if you offer them behind the scenes ‘sneak peeks’.

WHO Reporter, Megan Salois, having her photo taken with the fiberglass Camel

Lastly, just because your event has started, does not mean that you should not continue promoting it. In fact, you can sometimes create more buzz when it begins. Science Center of Iowa is doing a fantastic job by allowing guests to take pictures on a life-size fiberglass camel. The camel has a sign next to it instructing visitors to ‘join the caravan’ by posting their pictures on the Science Center’s Facebook and Twitter.

Hopefully these tips have, and will, be helpful for your future event promotions. One last piece of advice Richardson mentioned, and the golden rule of anything relating to social media, “encourage input from people and show them that their ideas make a difference.”

A big ‘thank you’ to Emilee Richardson and the Science Center of Iowa for taking the time and offering her contributions and thoughts on this topic! I cannot wait to check out the “Lost Egypt” exhibit this weekend!

Baseball and Business

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Guest Blog By Jim Immel, Owner of  Immel and Associates, Inc

I relate many sports movies to business, and “Moneyball” got me thinking.

  • Has your business changed?
  • Has the way you compete for business changed?
  • Are there new competitors that have entered your business?
  • Does your competition have deeper pockets than ever before?
  • What about your best people?
  • Has the competition for your talent changed?
  • Previously the biggest competition was your competition recruiting your people?
  • Is the threat of your people starting or partnering with others to start their own business becomes a bigger threat than competition hiring your talent?

So, how does this relate to “Moneyball”?  The whole concept of “Moneyball” is about asking new questions to answer problems that have existed years.  How does a small market major league baseball team compete for talent with big market teams?  With free agency how does a smaller payroll compete for people who can score more runs (and keep other teams from scoring)?

Well, there was a change in perspective.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.  Without a change of perspective and new questions we actually may be acting insane without a new perspective.

Brainstorming a new question can take some time.  Maybe one question will lead to better questions. Maybe it is time to ask others the right questions.  What if you start by asking people who appreciate what you do?  Just ask, “How can we get better?  How can we improve?  What else?”

After continually questioning your process, you can get closer to understanding how to compete with competitors that may have deeper pockets than you.