Join our Digital and Direct Marketing Quarterly Hiring Survey

Keep up to date on the latest trends in hiring and employment in digital and direct marketing with our free quarterly reports, distributed to more than 15,000 professionals at the forefront of digital and direct marketing. To opt-in, send an email to survey@bernhart.com and put "opt-in" in the subject line.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Jerry Bernhart to Moderate Popular Tweetchat Jobs Forum


Multichannel marketing recruiter Jerry Bernhart has announced that he will be hosting a second Tweetchat on DM Jobs soon after the New Year


The online session allows participants, through the popular social media network Twitter, to exchange job leads, ask questions, share ideas and get advice on all things related to digital and direct marketing hiring and employment.

"We've decided to host another session in response to a large number of requests we've received since our fist session last August, " said Jerry Bernhart, Principal of Bernhart Associates Executive Search, LLC, in a statement. "There are still many unemployed direct marketers out there who could use all the help they can get."

For those unfamiliar with Tweetchat, Bernhart describes it as "texting on steroids," allowing an unlimited number of participants in a confidential forum to exchange informational tweets with one another almost instantaneously on a common topic. Bernhart said this session, like the first, will be open to any and all areas related to hiring and employment in digital and direct marketing, including job leads, resume preparation, interviewing tips, salaries, job offers, finding candidates, counteroffers, job descriptions and sources of hire. It also allows Tweetchatters to share links just like they would with one another on Twitter.

"This is also an excellent opportunity for employers to advertise open positions, " said Bernhart. "There will be a ready audience of motivated and experienced job hopefuls, and if they're not the right candidates they might know someone who is."

The Bernhart Tweetchat will take place Sunday, January 10, at 8 pm Eastern time. All that is needed to participate is a Twitter account. To join the session, go to Tweetchat.com, sign in with your Twitter username and password, enter DMCareers in the "enter hashtag to follow" box, then click on "Go" which will take you to the DMCareers chat room.



Visit our website at www.bernhart.com

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

6 key takeaways for getting a handle on this new-fangled social media customer service

From the Blog of Jim Gilbert- The Gilbert Direct Marketing Blog

A few weeks ago, I downloaded a Monopoly game from a company called GameHouse. My son was itching to play the computer version with us on our family night (mostly because I move too slow).

Downloading was a success, but I had problems finding the activation code for the software, so I went in search of a company contact.

I jumped on GameHouse’s website, and my first instinct was to look for a phone number to call its customer service department. If you read part 1 of my “You Lost Me There” series a few months back, you know that I’m an adamant believer in having your contact info prominently displayed on your website. Another one of my pet peeves is the ubiquitous page with the contact form. Or, more importantly, how long it takes to get a response from said form.

To me it’s simple: Make it easy to speak with me or my business goes elsewhere. I couldn’t find a satisfactory way to contact GameHouse, and I grew frustrated. But there was a big (really big) “Follow us on Twitter” button, so I clicked it. I sent a tweet to GameHouse — and the rest of its followers — on how I was having problems and was aggravated that its website had no contact info. For good measure, I joined its Facebook fan page and sent the same message.

It didn’t take GameHouse long to respond. Thanks to Kristy, who manages GameHouse’s Twitter presence, I had an easy way to establish communication with the company and resolve my issues. Turns out that I also ordered half a dozen copies of Monopoly as I tried to get the activation code. Kristy helped me get squared away with GameHouse’s billing department, too. It took about a week of back and forth to get all the additional orders credited to my account. Kristy had one of GameHouse’s customer service reps work closely with me throughout the process.

Then — and this one blows me away — about a week later I got a package from GameHouse with a different version of Monopoly inside. Also inside was a handwritten card thanking me “for my patience” signed by Kristy with the note: “A little gift for all your troubles.” My son loves it, and everywhere I go (including a lecture I did last week) I tell of my exceptional customer service experience with GameHouse. With this in mind, I offer up some useful pointers.

6 Customer Service Takeaways

  1. I sent my “You Lost Me There” article to Kristy, who said she’d pass it up the food chain. I hope GameHouse heeds my advice and makes it easier for customers to be served by adding a prominent phone number to its website. I’m not sure everybody will use Twitter like I did, however, meaning the potential for a negative customer service experience is present.
  2. I was also quite surprised by how seamless the customer service experience can be without “traditional” contact methods being in play. As a “stone age” customer, once I adapted I was happy again.
  3. Serve your customers in all channels. Social media is having a dramatic impact as a customer service tool; customers will self-select the channel of their choice.
  4. Exceptional customer service can (and should) be the rule in all channels — online and offline.
  5. If your customer service isn’t exceptional, expect to see negative reviews expressed publicly. Also expect to see bad customer service stories spread virally. Had I not been totally satisfied by the work of Kristy and her team, this column would have read very differently.
  6. Upset customers can easily be turned into advocates with proper service. Today’s angry customer is tomorrow’s best customer.

Visit our website at www.bernhart.com