The hospitality industry thrives on customer service. Some get it right, others get it disastrously wrong. Here are two places in Edinburgh that I love, and I love them (in part) because of the attention they pay to their customers.

(and yes, the food is awesome too)

Mark Greenaway
Last night I took my girlfriend out to visit Mark Greenaway‘s restaurant on Picardy Place. I go there all the time on business, but last night was the first time I got to experience the restaurant in a relaxed social occasion.

(as Nicola, the Maitre’D, said to my girlfriend “whenever he’s here he’s always talking, never eating”)

Now if you haven’t been there at lunch. Go. Stop reading this and call them (0131 557 0952) to book a table. Do it now. This is the steal of the city. £16.50 for two of the nicest courses you’re going to find. You can’t beat it. It’s insanely good value. I mean almost criminal. I bring a regular business group here every month and everyone who comes is amazed at the food and the value. It’s quite simply the best place in Edinburgh to have a business lunch (we get a private room for our lunch meetings – makes it even better).

Back to last night. My girlfriend has some food intolerances. You know – Gluten, nuts, some dairy – that sort of thing. I talked to Nicola and Mark beforehand and they assured me they could handle everything. And boy did they. From start to finish they did a lot of little things that made our evening pretty special. To start with, the ‘amuse bouche’ that everyone else (including me) got had some cream in it so, without any fuss or mention, they brought out a special one just for her. It looked awesome. I was slightly jealous.

Bread is another thing. It’s one thing not to give her any bread (most places) but they went a really nice step further and brought her some rye bread (which she can eat). That was awesome. I could eat my bread without stealing guilty glances at her.

Now the food. Ohhhh the food. Just unbelievable. I had scallops as my starter and she had langoustines. Both were amazing. Now I go diving for scallops, so I’m an old hand at cooking scallops and I always judge a place pretty harshly on the quality of their scallops. These were stunning. Fresh and perfectly cooked. The taste combinations were amazing. Yum.

Without any fuss, they modified the dishes to suit my girlfriend’s intolerances. Nothing was a problem, and they were more than flexible. That meant a lot to both of us.

The mains were the same way. I had a stunning beef dish which may have been topped by her duck, which was sublime. I loved the beef, but that duck was good enough to make you cry.

(On a side note, they had put aside some of the purple mash and made it without cream so she could have that if she wanted. Nice touch.)

Dessert was a tough one. She can’t have cream or gluten, so most of the desserts were out. They put together a lovely summery eton mess (minus the cream)  for her and gave me one of the nicest chocolate fondants I have ever had. Seriously. I almost had to get a room so I could be alone. I’m not kidding. Have it. Bring a hanky.

At the end of the meal, Mark came out to say hi. We’re going back in a couple of weeks with some friends, so he offered to put together a special dessert for my girlfriend so she could enjoy some chocolate too.

Sum it up? The food was sublime, but the business moral is even better. There were a lot of little things they did to make our evening special. A lot of little things that meant my girlfriend could have an amazing meal without worrying. That doesn’t happen at a lot of places. And it’s a great advert for what makes good customer service. Attention. You have have to pay attention. It doesn’t have to be big things, in fact, the little things matter even more. Mark Greenaway delivered in a huge way. On every level.

(and guess what? I’m back there for lunch today. I’m spoiled…)

Illegal Jacks
Slightly different from Mark Greenaway. Just a bit.

I love Jack’s place. I’m an official #jackaholic. I just don’t have the t-shirt yet.

But anyway, let’s get to the point. Illegal Jack‘s has a pretty big  following in Edinburgh. They do a lot on social media and they get a whole lot of repeat customers. There is a reason for this. And only part of it is the food.

The food is awesome. I personally can’t tell you how many times I have had a craving for an Illegal Jacks’ burrito that went almost to the physically disabling point. I mean, what the hell do they put in their burritos? Is this another Coke thing? Should I be worried? If you haven’t tried Illegal Jacks yet, let me give you some advice. Beef/Pork burrito is the only thing you will ever need (their chicken wings and nachos are great too). Get a burrito. Load it up with pinto beans, beef, cheese, sour cream and salsa. And good luck. They are a susbstantial meal, but I have never failed to eat it all. I can’t stop myself.

The food is only half of it. Jacks really love their customers. And it shows in everything they do. Again it’s the little things. I reserved a table for my birthday and they always print out a nice reservation notice with your twitter handle on it. This time, it mentioned me as the “Birthday Boy”. It made me laugh. If you have anything you need that’s special or you want to do something a bit different for someone, they are up for it. They are there all the time for their customers. They want to engage. They want to hear from us.

And that’s what makes it special. Yes the food is awesome, but you feel like you’re a part of Illegal Jacks. You feel like it’s your place. It’s like Cheers, with no Norm. Well, maybe not exactly like Cheers, but you get my point. They pay attention to their customers. They pay attention to the little details. They make their customers feel special.

There it is. Two fantastic places to eat in Edinburgh. Two places with amazing (albeit very different) food. Two places that really care about their customers and understand that customer service is about one main thing: paying attention to the little details.

(and now, after all of that, it’s 08:42 in the morning and I’m absolutely starving)

-j

“How do I  measure the return on social media for my business?”

To be honest, I couldn’t answer them. Or at least not completely. The truth is I didn’t know enough about their business or their activities to give a meaningful answer. And that’s a point that a lot of people don’t really understand – Every business has different criteria that they use to measure the success of their marketing, and social media is no different. There isn’t a stock answer. It has to be specific to your business….what you do…how you sell.

But I did tell them how I  measure it for my company, Designate.

Let me give you a bit of background understanding:

Designate is a marketing strategy company. That’s what we do. We don’t build websites. We don’t design anything. We don’t build anything. We don’t sell products. No, instead it’s our job to thoroughly understand our clients’ businesses and figure out the ways to create the most profitable strategies for growth. We’re a service. You bring us in and we create a strategy, then we run it for you on a monthly basis. That’s us in a nutshell.

(a bit simplistic, but if you really want to know more, you can buy me lunch)

So how do I measure the return on my social media activities?

To be honest, the same way I measure the return on my offline marketing activities. It’s exactly the same criteria.

I’ll elaborate. For my business, I look to engage with a very specific type of client. We’re not selling a product and we’re not a cheap service (with no disrespect intended to those that are). We’re an great investment, and one that is taken by companies that fit certain criteria of budget, opportunity and management team. I have a very specific market I aim at and a very specific way of getting business. My company’s marketing is focussed on building the right networks of people in the right areas with the right contacts and the right opportunities. That’s it.

And it works online just as well as offline.

So that is how I measure social media for my business (and it’s specific to my business). Not by a stock formula or by applying some conversion rate, I measure it by seeing if it’s helping me achieve the marketing objectives I have set out. Is it helping me achieve my main marketing goals? Is it helping me build my network? Is it working with the same effectiveness as my offline activities?

There are lots of ways to measure you marketing activities. Some are concrete (click throughs) and some are more intangible (reputation). But before you can even start to look at how you can measure the success, you have to have a clear understanding of what that success really means. You have to set your goals and understand which tools you’re going to use to achieve them. It doesn’t work in reverse. You have to plan for it.

- j

How social media works. Hmmm… or doesn’t work. Or works sometimes. Or never.

Kind of depends on who you speak to. Kind of depends on who you are.

Before I met them all, I did actually take a bit of time to think about what I would  say (hey, I’m a professional, right?). I also thought a bit about the people I have heard speaking about social media and what they had to say. It wasn’t a happy time. It confirmed, for me at least, one of the core problems we’re facing right now:

Social media ha sa lot of people convinced they are Tesco. Or at least that they are playing in the same marketing field.

(here’s a hint. You’re not)

I like social media. A lot. I can see how it can develop further and I like the communication model. We’re just going to have to get through the childlike period we’re in now. It’s the same thing that happens anytime we have a new technology or set of tools at our disposal. The first thing that happens is a lot of people appoint themselves as experts (pardon me, ‘gurus’) and go off to make money convincing the unaware or uninitiated that this is the ONLY THING YOU NEED! Email marketing was the thing right? It’s the best way to communicate with your customers, right? It’s easy to prospect new customers, right?

Except when it isn’t. Which is a lot of the time.

Back to my Tesco analogy….

A lot of people who talk about social media tend to use the big boy analogies. This is how Dominos screwed up. This is how M&S are doing it. This is how you engage your customers with your brand.

Who gives a shit? You’re not a national brand. You’re not recognisable. You’re not even in the same stadium.

What matters to your bottom line is way way (WAY) different.

See? This isn’t a rant about social media at all! It’s a bit of a rant about marketing in general.

At the SME level, marketing is a very direct activity. It has to connect directly with your bottom line. It has to connect directly with your networks and your surroundings. It can’t be abstract. It’s got to be a concrete building block.

And social media can be a tool you use. It can be a tool you use to communicate, to interact, to promote, to inspire loyalty, develop a wider network. All of these things.

But at the heart of your social media strategy has to be a solid marketing strategy for your business.

Otherwise you’re just pissing in the wind.

- j

But really this is a pet peeve of mine.

Why on earth do people insist on using online networks as SPAM vehicles? It’s such a waste of a (potentially) powerful interactive tool.

It happened today again, and it was just about the time where I was thinking about writing anyway, so here we are.

I don’t know about you, but I get this a couple of times a week. There is an Edinburgh-based business (I won’t name names yet) that runs networking events in the city. I am connected to the MD on LinkedIn.

Now pop-quiz:

Hands up who think that your online networks should be treated with the same respect as your offline one?
Hands up who thinks your online networks are there to be an cheap sales platform?

(I’m not normally subtle – the first answer is correct)

So this morning I, yet again, get a message from LinkedIN. MD-man has sent me an invitation to an event. Again. This happens every month.  Multiple times. And you know what? I’m actually to the point where I am going to block him from my network. I mean, what’s the point? He doesn’t think “gee Jordan’s business might really benefit from this event. He hasn’t been in a while, so I’m going to get in touch with him and see if he’d like to come”. No, instead I’m pretty sure his thought process is “right we have an event coming up and I need to sell my tickets, let me go into my handy online community and send it to everyone. It’s easy and free and it’s the law of numbers, right?’.

Well you know what? He’s right. It is the law of numbers and I’m sure he’ll get his attendance.

But he’s lost me. Absolutely. He’s lost me for good. He’s lost any referrals, any relationship, and business, he might have received from me.

And I’m probably not the only one.

Your online community is no different from your offline one. You build relationships and you build trust. If all you’re going to do is SPAM me with sales messages, you’ll see how quickly I get rid of you – and you’ll lose me for good.

It’s not that hard. Treat your online community with the respect they deserve. That is the surest way to building a mutually beneficial (and profitable) relationship.

(And stop sending me all those fucking LinkedIn invites please)

- j

Or alternatively, if you’re anything like me, sigh…

This won’t be particularly shocking to most of you. For those of us who work in the field (well, marketing in general) it’s even less so.

I think we’ve finally reached the point where spam is starting to outweigh the good in some of our favourite social media tools.

I don’t know who first decided that all sales is a numbers game, but if I could I’d go back in time and punch them right in the mouth. I’m sure they meant well. I’m sure they meant to say something along the lines of “you can’t get if you don’t ask” in order to convince people that it takes effort to get sales.

I’m very sure (I say in a “oh please” tone of voice) that they didn’t mean that you should just spam everyone you can see with any old shite.

Why this topic?

In the past four days I’ve had four emails (sorry inMails) through LinkedIn and five twitter DMs that were directly trying to sell me something that is absolutely no use to me.

No attempt at seeing if the opportunity was relevant to me. No attempt to engage me and tempt me to it. Just very easy and very direct spam.

Buy this.

Sign up here.

And what is worse is that these are coming from people I know. People who I have met. People who, for all intent, are part of my ‘trusted’ network.

And what do they do with that trust? They send me spam. They use their network of social media contacts and send out spam.

Guess what the result has been – I delete their message and I evaluate my relationship with these people.

30 seconds of quick spam = serious doubts of a future business relationship.

Is that really the best they can do with these wonderful new tools?

I can sometimes sound quite negative about social media tools. I’m actually a big fan. I love them. More importantly I see how powerful they can be for interaction and relationship building – with your customers, your employees, your public.

And what happens? You devalue it all with a 30 second piece of spam.

If you’re in someone’s network, you have a responsibility to respect that relationship. Regardless of the toolset (be it social or not) you have a responsibility to you network to respect them and build your relationships.

Enough already.

It’s a very quick way to losing a network. It’s a very easy way of losing my business.

(and I’m not the only one)

- j

Ugh.

I’m sorry. I really do have a weird knee-jerk reaction to meeting people who call themselves gurus. And these days, it’s made even more fun by adding the words ‘social’ and ‘media’ in front of it. I’ve been surrounded by them last week, and I think I’m suffering some sort of an allergic response.

I guess this isn’t really new. There will always be people out there that latch on to a new trend and ride the ever-loving shit out of it. It’s not really any different here is it?

It still makes me twitch.

So far, I have met at least 20 people who have called themselves a social media guru. At least 20.

My experience?

Possibly not a winning percentage.

- j

Onwards and upwards.

I’ve been asked to speak about Social Media at a couple of business events later this year. What’s funny about that is this: I’ve been asked because I normally present the complete opposite view from all the so-called social media gurus out there. And I can see why. I listened to a guy speak a couple of weeks ago, and he was basically insistent that social media is the area ll businesses need to focus on. A not-so-subtle byline to his message was – if your business isn’t concentrating on social media….you will suffer tremendously.

Sometimes that’s true. Social media can be a very effective tool. Or should I say, there are a lot of very effective social media tools out there. These tools are like any other tools. They work extremely well for some jobs…not so well for other jobs.

(the metaphors write themselves, really. Hammers & nails come to mind immediately)

Coming back to my point: Not all tools work for all jobs. There is no golden ticket and Willy Wonka doesn’t actually exist.

Marketing casts a wide net. It needs to. And underpinning everything that you do has to be a solid understanding of what you’re trying to achieve, where you’re trying to get to, and what the best tools for the job are.

It’s a bit of this and a bit of that.

It’s a combination of things.

If someone tries to tell you that this is the one thing you have to concentrate on, and it will be the thing that makes your business, it’s probably too good to be true.

At this moment in time, this is particularly applicable to social media. At one of these talks, the current ‘guru’ was talking about how businesses need to take advantage of Facebook. (to which I say: potentially true, but not always) He talked and he talked and guess what? His business has a Facebook page with about 24 fans. Mostly friends of his. Now I ask you, does that seem like a good resource to spend time on? Do I need to answer that? (hint: no)

When I develop a marketing strategy for a company, I look at all areas and all opportunities. Nothing is prejudiced against and everything is valid until it’s been argued against. Direct mail? Sure! It’s hugely effective for some businesses. Telemarketing? Absolutely! We’ve had brilliant results. Social Media? Definitely! you just have to pick the right tools for the job.

Pick the right tools for the job. My old shop teacher would be so proud.

- j

I don’t read (or, in fact, speak) Dutch, so in between excursions around the country, I was hungry to read anything that was printed in a language I could understand. I fell onto an old copy of US Airways’ magazine, and was struck by an article they wrote about companies engaging customers via social media.

I was struck because, somewhat unexpectedly, the article made a lot of sense.

The gist of the article was pretty straightforward:

‘Customer Service hasn’t changed. It’s still about the customer.’

Think about that for a second. I don’t know about you, but I’m usually bombarded by social media experts and online advertising gurus. There are lot of words that get thrown about. Buzz words. Dumb words. Scary words.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
SEO
Pay-Per-Click

(your company doesn’t have a Facebook page????  PANIC!)

Anyway, what impressed me about the article was the focus back to the essential point:

Customer service is about the customer.

(That is one of the best marketing rules you will ever want to remember)

I’ll put it simply:

Social Media can be a hugely valuable customer service tool for your company, but don’t forget:

1. It’s about the customer.
2. It’s about the customer AND you
3. It’s about listening and interacting – not shouting

It was a good article, and it was an unexpected pleasure to read.

(also, the beer was excellent, thanks)

- j

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Facebook (along with other social media sites) can be a very effective  platform to engage with new (and existing) customers, but I have to laugh at some of the companies that set up a Facebook group.

The dirty secret: It’s not necessarily a good thing for your business.

It can be.

It may not be.

Surely these businesses see Facebook as a route to new customers? Maybe they can take a second think and look at where the new customers are really hiding?

These are all just tools… make sure you’re using the right ones.

- j

Ok, it doesn’t rhyme, but it needed to be said.

This could be classed as part 2 of my social media rant. My new favourite activity is watching companies (particularly small ones) absolutely miss the point of twitter. Yes it’s a way of reaching a lot of people. Yes you can use it to broadcast a message. No, that’s probably not going to work.

It’s all about a personal connection. Almost everything in marketing boils down down to personal connection.

So here are two #don’ts and one #do

Don’t send automatic responders that point to what a good service you provide.
Don’t just broadcast out messages
Do take the time to interact with the community you are following

I’m not going to write a huge dissertation on what to do with twitter. There are a lot of ‘social media gurus’ out there that can charge you for that.

I’m going to go update my list.

-j