‘They’ who?
content, effective communication March 6th, 2008
I just hung up the phone from the circulation desk of my local newspaper. My newspaper is suddenly being thrown on the wet ground instead of delivered in the news slot of my two-part mailbox, so I called to alert the customer service folks of this undesired change in service.
The reply? “They changed their policy and now only deliver to the driveway.”
Since I was only given the choice of soggy delivery or no delivery, I chose no delivery. As the call ended, disappointed that the only newspaper in town would rather lose me as a customer than keep me for little effort, I thought, “Who is they? SHE is they!”
Indeed. The woman on the other end of the phone was “they” whether she knew it or not. Perhaps she just wanted to soften the bad-news blow by blaming an unknown entity. Or perhaps she hadn’t been thoroughly trained. Dunno. Don’t care. It just left me feeling badly about them.
The writing and communication lesson here (we won’t even go near the customer service one!) is this: offline communication channels — like the telephone — are equally important to your customers’ perception of your brand. The best ad campaign, web copy or direct-mail postcard won’t stand up if the people who represent you fall down.
Leave a Comment