Responding Now

Within Chapter 14 of David Meerman Scott's "Real-Time Marketing & PR," he goes in-depth on the topic of responding to inquires in the now. For the longest time I could never figure out how a sales representative got back to me in such a quick manner when I only sent in my information minutes prior. I always assumed the company was not busy so I became a top priority. After reading the chapter, I came to conclusion that what I was assuming was rarely the case; rather it was because of automation. 

So to skip all of the technical terms and mumbo jumbo, I will explain what it is in terms of what my fourth grade mind believes it to be. The process starts when the client fills out and submits an inquiry within a company’s website or platform. The information would include where the client originally expressed interest through (one website verse another) and the nature which the client is interested. The inquiry is then forward to a sales representative who can immediately contact said client in real-time. 

I am surprised I never connected the dots before reading this chapter. David defines the moment which the client submits the inquiry as a "trigger point" which is "the point at which somebody actually raises his or her hand by filling out a contact form or responding to an offer." I thought the way he phrased that is key for a person like me with a simple mind to understand. It really is like "raising his or her hand" because once the sales representative notices the "hand is raised" then he or she can focus on communicating with the client. David Meerman Scott does an excellent job on explaining the automation process and how it can help a company respond in the now even faster than ever before.  

Until next time,

Matt

American Airlines Recent "Oops"

American Airlines recently had a "oops" moment and almost had a severe marketing insistent on its hands. On Sept. 17, American Airlines flights were delayed for several hours and or cancelled due to a system malfunction. The malfunction came from a glitch in the organizations reservation system. This glitch caused hundreds of flights to be delayed and six flights to be cancelled completely.

Being that American Airlines did not immediately act and control the situation by releasing statements, the media quickly turned to the social media posts of those who were on the flights. Imagine, you and hundreds of other passengers are in a rush to get to your destination and are being told American Airlines has no idea how long the delay will take so be patient. Now take that uncertainty and expand that for an average of a six-hour delay. If I were a betting man, I would bet that American was about to receive a whole lot of negative publicity and reviews, which is exactly what happen. 

American finally realized the potential media disaster it could face and took preventive actions. It started to inform those directly affected by the flights, released statements to the media and more. The airline provided as much information as possible so that the media would be forced to stop reporting the negative social media posts. 

I think this was an incredibly smart move on its part being the extent of the delays. The company did not ignore the issue and let it play out in time; rather they acknowledged it and went into damage control mode. I feel it could have acted faster to avoid the initial reports, but that could also be because of it not having all of the information available yet to take those steps. If you would like to read more on this, please read Jad Mouawad's article from The New York Times, I found it to be extremely insightful.

Until next time,
Matt  

The "I Am Broke" Moment

Have you have had that moment when you realize you are completely broke? I am not talking about the emotional "I feel broken" type broke; rather the "I have zero money to my name" type broke. Well I finally experienced this moment and I almost did not even realize it was happening.

As a little background information, I recently have had financial misfortune.  First, someone attempted to steal my identity and use my credit card information to buy stuff in New York (mind you I have never even been there before in my life). Lucky my bank caught it and froze by card and information before anything serious could happen. On the other hand, that means I am credit card-less until it ships me the new card. The only issue with that is the bank ships the new card to my house in Michigan, which means my mother then has to ship it to me in Ohio. So it might be awhile before I have my old reliable back. The bank account that I use to pay my credit card bills needs me to reset my password before I can do anything with it. In terms of having a job to help my situation, I am still going through the paperwork stage, so there is no cash inflow right now.

From this, my main financial purchased have turned to my savings account, meaning I constantly am withdrawing money. Withdraw after withdraw; I sadly watched my savings dwindle until I could not take any more out. This now leads to the "I am broke" moment.

Yesterday, my roommate asked if I wanted to split a pizza from East of Chicago for dinner, so I of course said yes. Keep in mind that the pizzas are something around $15, due to the tip and the size we get. Therefore, with no money in the bank and no credit card to use, I had to somehow gather up just about $7. As I am brainstorming where I might have the money, the moment has yet to set it. It was about 5 minutes later when I was tearing my room apart; searching for every quarter and dollar bill I possibly could have that it finally set in. After minutes of looking, I gathered that $7 and it consisted of four dollar bills, $2.25 in quarters, $0.70 in dimes and one nickel. Here is how the moment came about: I looked at the $7 that I gathered and said out loud "wow, I am broke as hell."

Granted my situation could be so much worse, but realizing your broke still sucks at any level. If you have experienced this moment you can relate to this low and saddening realization.

Until next time,

Matt