Fixing The Dell Problem

I tell you what, it’s a tough road for a company nowadays. You can’t help but be bombarded with wants and needs from every blogger imaginable. And seeing as blogs are being seen as a “cancer” according to some (don’t worry, the radiation of Blog Upkeep will weed most of them out), the problem will only grow exponentially.

Or will it? Allow me to throw another wrench into the Devil’s Advocate Arena: Is appeasing bloggers necessary for a company to do well?

I think there are two important distinctions here:

One, where a product is just completely defective.

Two, in which the product is a lemon.

Both get free press depending on who it is that’s having the problem, but there’s a secret in there: Fixing the problem has nothing to do with appeasing bloggers. Bloggers are a fairly demanding group. I mean, hell, I sent a letter to Site5 and I’ve gotten no response. No worries there, but again: I’m not essential to their business. Maybe I’m just not that popular.

So then perhaps the question morphs into: Is appeasing popular bloggers necessary for a company to do well?

It’s one thing to google “Dell Sucks” and it’s another to hear it from a popular dissenting voice. One has far more impact than the other.

But we’re left with a conundrum. First, Steve Rubel gives what I thought were a few interesting ideas for the company to explore. Then they were debunked and his answer is “Have Dell blog.”

But what does this mean for them? It’s like saying “Go find gold” and pointing to the mountains. I think the phrase “Have Customer Service Blog” looks better on a powerpoint than it does in real life processes. What it basically means is to simply expand the web abilities of those customer service folks: Give them the power to comment and interact with the populus. Technorati tags are a start, because it gives them a guide. Giving each customer service rep a blog solves no problems: DellRepSandy writes, “Today I solved X problems, and I didn’t like how Mr. Smith treated me on Call #2341–XBIJ.” Yeah, wow, DellRepSandy, I feel so much closer to you and your plight. I hope calls #2342 and beyond give you more satisfaction.

So the answer is this: Allow your customer service representatives to interact with bloggers.

Provide instructions on your site to bloggers seeking help (ie, “This is how to create a tag, and this is how we respond to them.”). Sometimes all a blogger needs is a forum link. Sometimes it’s more. But if they’ve exhausted the normal avenues of service, then go the extra mile. Even if the end user hasn’t called support, sometimes it’s nice to let them know you’re listening. Not all problems need hours of tech support. Some are simply inconveniences that a listening voice may be able to fix. Let your people have the ability to do that.

This is how I see blogging helping real companies with huge array of services and clients. I further suggest maintaining a “hub site” of some sort (with a much better name) to track your progress, get real quotes from real blogs to pepper it with, and lead the way for other companies to see how its done, and done right. Blogging is about transparency and truth. This will provide both.

Until then, Dell still sucks.

When everybody says no, no, no
Well it’s your misfortune and none of my own

Tags: Blogging Blogger Defective Lemon Devil's Advocate Site5 Steve Rubel SteveRubel Popular debunked Dell Customer Service Technorati Techblog Jeff Jarvis JeffJarvis Buzzmachine Dellhell