These days, I’m busy devouring one Seth Godin book after another. And it’s interesting - the more I read his work, the more I start seeing it all over the place. Apparently this talk he did at Google was download about a billion times. The dude’s ideas are both fascinating and highly relevant.

In his ebook Who’s There, he mentions:

Imagine customer support that works like that. Instead of calling a number of waiting forever, you just post your problem on your blog. As specifically as you possibly can. Then the company uses a blogreader/RSS tracker to search all 20 bazillion blogs. They do this all the time. Within minutes, they see your post and contact you directly - or post their answer right there in the comments section of your blog.

If the comment/fix worked, and it was quick, you would likely post your satisfaction right there on your blog. The interaction is performed in public, the satisfaction is evident. The process helps the company get new customers.

Something clicked when I read this - Seth himself did this to me a few weeks back with his own Squidoo website. I posted my issues about my own Squidoo page, and Seth answered me on my own blog, addressing the issue. I was pleasantly surprised and took another look at Squidoo, and use it a little bit more often now.

I personally try to answer every comment and email I ever get. If I have ever forgotten yours, I can assure you that it was probably an accident rather than a dismissal. I endeavour to get better at it as time goes on, despite getting more email than ever. It takes time, but there are huge rewards to participation. Think about it.

Pssssst, are you new here? You might want to pick up my RSS feed, it'll let you know when I put up new stuff. Thanks!

Filed by Julien at 4:45 pm under random