Why won't companies talk to their customers?

This week's Marketeer: Herald Sun, 15 May 2010

It started when I discovered that Big Pond were blocking my emails. You see I send regular newsletters to a few hundred of my clients and prospects - as any good business should. But every time my email program sent 20 out, the rest failed.

When I investigated, it turned out that Big Pond, my provider, does not allow you to send out more than about 20 emails every 10 minutes. So I’d have to continually re-start the program, 20 emails at a time.

I called their offices to see if there was any way around this problem - and ended up in Manila, I think. I was politely told, “We cannot change that, it is policy.”

So let’s tackle the policy. “I want to speak with Big Pond Management,” I said. “Sorry sir but you can’t speak to management,” the supervisor replied.

After a couple of hours it was clear that there was no way I could talk to someone in Big Pond about their policy - because their policy is not to talk to customers.

Then I wanted to ask my branch of the NAB about a new cheque book. I plunged into the world of cloying robots: “Thank you for your call” and “To check your balance press 2" and dozens of other menu choices, through voice recognition which could not recognise: “I want to speak to my branch”.

Somehow after five minutes I reached a human. And she found me in a surly mood. I think I scared her into putting me through. The branch conversation was great - the teller knew me, checked my account, arranged for the cheque book. I asked if she could save all this angst and just give me their phone number. “I’m sorry Mr Beatty, we can’t give our number out.” “Why not?” “It’s policy.”

I decided to survey just how many companies refuse to talk to their customers. With Woolworths it took a lot of robot barriers but I finally found a human. No she could not put me through to the marketing manager. Nor to anyone in the management team.

I deliberately did not say I was from the press. I wanted them to think I was a customer who needed to talk to someone in management. I discovered the marketing manager’s name is Lew Dunkeley. Could I speak to him or his secretary? “Sorry sir, policies and procedures do not allow me to put you through.” Why not? “Because you are a customer.”

I tried other companies with varying success. But nowhere could I reach anyone senior - except, actually, Intel. They had a receptionist who put me through to their Melbourne manager.

At Fosters I reached a Brand Communications Manager. What did that mean? “Well it’s mostly PR but from time to time I get customer relations calls from the punters.”

Qantas passed me as far as the marketing manager’s secretary, while Telstra has a “Contact the office of the CEO” email link.

I could go on but these are good examples of what happens when you try to talk with corporate managers. Yes they are busy men and women and can’t be bothered by every Tom or Tammy who wants to bend their ears. But building corporate walls is not an answer.

This lack of contact leaves them just talking to each other up on the 20th floor, and a growth of myths and theories instead of reality. It’s a recipe for big errors and monumental incompetence.

I’ve long thought it would be a good corporate habit for executives to take just one short call a day, at random, from the public ringing in. Just to remind them that customers are real people - and that they would not have a job without them.

Ray@ebeatty.com

Steve Jobs, iPad and the art of being second

February 6th, 2010

Just this week we have seen a demonstration of how to succeed by being second, from the king of being second. The man who made himself a billionaire by never being first.

It might surprise you that I'm talking about Steve Jobs, the CEO and living god of Apple. But you could learn so much by emulating his marketing brilliance.

And it is marketing we are talking here, not inventive genius. Apple is more like the couture houses of Paris than the sweaty labs of Silicone Valley. It's all about style and show and fashion. And it works - it has kept working for 30 years.

Back in the early '80s a rash of small, cheap "personal" computers emerged based on chips from Motorola and Intel. Apple was one of these. Their breakthrough came when they borrowed the graphical user interface (that's what GUI means), and the mouse, from the Xerox labs and brought out the Macintosh.

From the beginning Jobs used the world's greatest designers, starting with Hartmut Esslinger for the Macintosh line. It was launched on the Super Bowl with a two million dollar commercial made by Ridley Scott.

Called "1984" - that was the year - it showed the stuffy old-world conventions being smashed by an aggressive young sportswoman. It spoke to the hearts of the Gen-Xes who have been loyal Apple fans ever since.

When Jobs was axed in 1985 after a boardroom stoush, the company declined and then went into nose-dive. After 12 years they begged him to return. They needed his marketing magic - and got it.

H e brought with him the new generation's design genius, Englishman Jonathan Ive. They set to work and soon came up with the bulbous, coloured, translucent iMacs that looked like they came from another planet. Suddenly Apples were sexy again.

There were already plenty of personal MP3 players around but it took Ive's design and Jobs' marketing to create the iPod. Married to iTunes it became a music industry phenomenon.

Hundreds of companies around the world were making excellent mobile phones, but a little clever engineering and a lot of brilliant marketing created the iPhone, not just a tool but a toy.

Last week Jobs unveiled the iPad in San Francisco and the world's media and trendsetters reacted like the Spice Girls at a Galliano fashion launch.

No word about the note pad launched by Bill Gates in 2002 or the Amazon Kindle from 2007. And those two aren't exactly shrinking violets in the marketing sphere, either.

Jobs has never given us anything we didn't have before. His brilliance is his understanding of design, attention to quality, and - most importantly - very clever marketing. Like a magician, when he reveals the new product, you think you've experienced something totally new.

How often I come across clients who feel defensive because their competitors are already selling a product like theirs. Only cheaper or bigger or they've been in the market much longer.


My response is, forget about the competition. From now on your product is the first, the best, and without equal. Scrap your tired old "me too" advertising, we're going to re-invent you.

After this past week I can add a new morality tale to my repertoire: Look at Steve Jobs - he launches the iPad in the teeth of competition from established Microsoft and Amazon brands, it lacks even a USB port or camera. But it is beautiful, fun, and it's Apple. They are already queueing for it.

Now, take a close look at your own product, how it looks and how it's marketed. It might be No 2 or even No 10, but it can still be made a winner.


ray@ebeatty.com