Stuffleufagus

Well, this blog post is about 4 months over-due.  That’s when someone I respect asked me to blog about the worst advice I have ever gotten.  In this case, I still get this advice almost every day – “Be careful”.

Now I am not suggesting any of you go out there and become dicks at work – that’s reckless.  I am suggesting that careful is career-limiting in some cases.

Don’t go tell your bosses they are idiots and then come back and blame me if you find yourself on the street – that is not what this blog post is about.

So what is it about?  It’s about risk and reward.  It is about knowing where the line gets drawn in the sand.  It is about knowing how and when to hold your company, your co-workers, and your contemporaries up to a simple standard.  Simple Standard? Yeah – it is not so simple – it is different for everyone.

I have a few very basic standards that I will not tolerate us (and by “us” I mean anyone I work with or for) abusing:

1. Never lie.  Not to employees, and not to customers.
2. Tell as much truth as you can as soon as you understand what the truth is.
3. Admit failure.  We all suffer from it.  It only seriously hurts us when we try to hide from it.  Or lie about it (see #1)
4. Never put your company ahead of your customers.  Unless you do not care about your company.

So the worst advice I still get is always about “being careful”.  “That VP is powerful – you better not piss them off – be careful”.  “Everyone loves this marketing campaign, don’t tell them why it sucks – you better be careful”.  “You aren’t making any friends by admitting we handled that poorly – you better be careful”.

Whatever.

I find that keeping the customer’s best interests ahead of mine, and ahead of the company’s is the only way to honestly advocate what is right for the company.  If I keep customers first and foremost, even when it causes short term pain for the company (and me), the company wins in the long term.  And I build credibility within the company, and with customers.

You can’t effectively advocate for customers if you are more concerned with keeping your job.

And if you work for a company that expects you to be the customer voice, but tells you to “be careful” with your internal communications – well, you are in the wrong position, and at the wrong company.

I can be a total ass at work when I think we are doing customers wrong.  And yes – that does not please everyone.  But it pleases my customers – and that pleases me.

My job isn’t to make the company happy, after all.  My job is to make customers happy.

And I am “careful” – I am careful to make sure we actually tell customers the truth.  I am careful that customers trust me because I have earned their trust.  I am careful that the arguments I am making internally actually matter to customers – that I am fighting the right fights.

But I am not careful to keep my job – that would render me ineffective at my job.

None of my days are typical. Every day brings something new. Some days I wake at 10am and work until 3am. Other days I work until 3am and wake at 7am. Today was one of the latter days, and that’s fine with me. I sleep when I need to and work every moment I can. My company “gets this”.

Today I woke up very early (for me) and drove ~90 miles to meet with a customer that wasn’t 100% satisfied with us. I had talked to him on the phone, and he wasn’t even really sure why he wasn’t happy. So at 9:30 this morning I met him in his office and we talked, briefly. It took all of 30 minutes to understand he did not have a problem with our service, but with how he perceived we perceived him. He thought we had grown too big for him to be important to us.

Until I showed up. The fact I just drove 90 miles changed his mind.

Showing up is the number one thing you can do for your customers. Show up where they need you – in their office, on Twitter, Facebook, or comments on a blog post. Just show up. Showing up is 60% of selling, my dad says. Another 10% is knowing your customer and the other 30% is just caring. You may not agree with the math, but my dad was a top sales producer for decades. I trust his math.

Show up, know your customer. Give a shit. This is really a simple game we tend to make overly complex.

This is Social Media, New Marketing – whatever you want to call it. But it is the same old game, with the same set of rules – we just have better playing fields than my dad did. It is actually easier for us to demonstrate that we care, and that we are listening – and that we are learning. But you still need to occasionally actually be there – in person, with breakfast tacos and a smile.

I talk to a lot of people that deal with people. Social Media people, support people, sales people. Almost everyone I know deals with a customer at some level.

And they almost all hate “dealing with” a pissed customer.

I actually like talking to disappointed customers – it gives me a great opportunity to learn what is important to them, and where our weaknesses are.

It is also an excellent opportunity to make real change happen. If you are empowered to drive it back into the company.

Talking to customers that you haven’t completely satisfied is empowering. They tell you where you have failed them, and why.

If you are only interested in talking to customers you have pleased, you are missing out on both a great educational opportunity and a customer satisfaction opportunity.

Pissed customers are very honest – you can learn more from them than from surveys, I think.

What you are empowered to do with that information is critical. If all you can do is listen, that sucks. But if you are empowered to use that feedback to drive change – well, you have a great job.