In the comments of my last post, Tim Berry points to a wonderful example of how a company can "talk" to customers via blogs (and comments) and turn frustrated customers into someone who wants to help make the company better. Read this post on Basil at Large and notice the difference in tone between the original post, and the follow up to the reply from PartnerUp.
In the original post, Basil is clearly frustrated and with good reason. The folks from PartnerUp respond to his concern, let him know what their thought processes are, and what their plans are. Basil is obviously pleased to see that his concerns are being addressed and invites PartnerUp to contact him if there is anything that he can do to help THEM!
So by simply listening and joining the conversation, PartnerUp was able to turn frustration into enthusiasm. In addition, people like me who never heard of them will visit their site thinking that they are pretty good folks – before I even know much about what they do.
Bill Brelsford Small Business Marketing Consultant
