The Naughty List

Courtney Liebenrood Ellett

Please read this sentence aloud: “You know, the restaurant we ate at on Friday was super luxurious, and the staff was wonderful. However, the dining area was outdated, and the tables were sort of tiny. We had a good meal though.”

Now – and don’t cheat by glancing back up – tell me, which words do you recall most easily? If you’re like a majority of the general public, you just mumbled “outdated” and “tiny” to yourself.

Studies show that negative words, experiences and ideas crowd out positive ones in our minds. When we hear a negative word, it is what we remember the most. Check out this recent New York Times article that addresses why this is just human nature. 

Why should we care? It is important for PR professionals and business leaders to understand this phenomenon as it can have serious, and possibly damaging, effects on client relationships.

Imagine that you’ve just received word from a hotel representative that your room is not available. Ask yourself which explanation makes you feel better, knowing that you’re really hearing the exact same message: Sorry, lady, we gave your room away.

Option 1 (wrong): I’m sorry, ma’am. The suite you reserved already has another guest in it. We accidentally double-booked it in our reservation system, and the other person checked in first. Sorry for the mistake; I’m not sure how it happened. Would you be OK with a smaller room?

Option 2 (right): Ms. Ellett, we’re so sorry, but it seems the suite you booked isn’t available as we promised. We’re working diligently to get everything straightened out so you can thoroughly enjoy your stay here at our hotel. Please have a seat in our lounge, relax and enjoy a beverage on the house while we get this taken care of. We’ll get back to you within five minutes and get you all settled in.”

The point is this: Even when the news isn’t all Pollyanna in nature, it can be handled in a way that makes your audience feel better about the situation. The way we say something can make all the difference in the world.

Here are some tips to remember:

• Don’t say negative words.
• Never repeat negative words – even if it is your intent to deny them.
• Think about all of the positive words you want associated with your company. Ensure any front-line colleagues know these words.
• Think about all of the negative words you DO NOT want associated with your company. Again, ensure client-facing staff members know to avoid these words.
• And remember, jargon – words your audiences don’t use on a regular basis – is considered a part of the negative word club. If you must use jargon, immediately explain what you mean.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to avoid the naughty list, give us a shout.

There’s no “I” in team

Katie Pemberton

“No man is an island…and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

In John Donne’s Meditation 17, he emphasizes the interconnectedness of mankind. It’s also a pretty accurate metaphor for our culture here at Obsidian PR. You see, although each client is officially represented by ONE Obsidian staffer, that client also has the ideas, expertise and experience of the entire agency in its corner. That’s because no account rep is “an island.”

As you may have read about in a previous “From the Rock” post, group brainstorming is a pretty major part of what we do here at Obsidian. There are many times that brainstorming among the entire Obsidian staff might be used for a client:

• When the relationship starts, to get everyone’s input on broad things, like overarching goals, or more specific things, like story pitching ideas or social media tactics
• When the client is starting a new initiative or event and the account rep wants to consider ALL ideas for promoting, helping plan and execution
• When the client has a problem or issue and needs our help overcoming the challenge
• When the client wants some ideas for a tagline or new company or product name

I can tell you as an account rep who has handled several of these types of projects, it is a major asset to the work I do to have our team providing input, guidance and feedback.
 
In addition to the formal brainstorming, there are many other ways that Obsidian functions as a unit, preventing any account rep from ever being the sole person servicing a client. 
Both the Dallas and Memphis locations have a manager of the team who keeps an eye on all client work from an aerial view, providing guidance and ideas to the account rep that she might not have seen from where she is “on the ground” executing tactical work.
 
Yet another example of how Obsidian fosters a great community and group dynamic is how we are all able to fill in for each other when needed. For example, if an account rep is going to be out of town during an important client event, he will transition all of the materials, from the publicity timeline to the contact list and the event planning notes, to another account rep, and that account rep will execute the last-minute promotional tactics, attend the event to field media, coordinate timing as needed, etc. Each account rep will ensure that client work is taken care of (by other staffers, if needed) while out of the office.
 
But sometimes things come up for a client, such as a media crisis, that can’t be predicted, which has actually happened with a client while the account rep was out of town. Fortunately, Obsidian’s culture is such that the team manager was totally up to speed on the client’s issue, and the other account executives had a solid foundation of information about the client from all the collaborative activities we had done. The team manager and the other account executive tag-teamed the crisis and handled it seamlessly while the original account rep was 1,500 miles away.
 
I also like Donne’s advice not to “send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” He was talking about death, but I look at it in a more abstract and therefore positive way. I equate a bell tolling to when we have had a great success for a client, such as a front-page news story. Even if it wasn’t one of MY personal clients, I am still excited for the success of one of OUR clients, and one of OUR account reps. So that bell…it still tolls for me.

Is that in my job description?

Katie Pemberton

When you have a working relationship with a PR, advertising or marketing firm, the expectation is that their work will result in more people becoming aware of your organization and possibly becoming actual clients. What we stress to potential and current clients is that our efforts could send a million prospects your way, but if those prospects have a negative experience when contacting you or visiting your location, you’ve lost them. We happily uphold our end of the bargain when our work informs or educates people about you; what happens after that is all on your end. (But we can help! More about that later.)

One key thing to remember, repeat and live by: Customer service is in EVERYONE’S job description. Of course, a salesperson or clerk knows their job is to help customers, but it’s important for everyone from shelf-stockers and back-end operations staff all the way up to the president to understand that, yes, customer service is their job. Every person who a customer considers part of your organization is an ambassador, whether they realize it or not.

Not every member of your organization is going to be conducting interviews with reporters, but every member of your organization, top to bottom, should be able to speak intelligently about what you do. A good rule of thumb is to never say anything to the general public that you wouldn’t want on the news. I have known reporters and other members of the media to call an organization and not identify themselves as news media. Does the thought send a shiver down your spine? Then read on, my friend.

At Obsidian, we work hard to help clients craft the messaging that we will use in our various tactics to elevate your company’s profile, from media coverage and media interview preparation to collateral materials and social media. It’s so important that your company demonstrates message alignment across all those channels. What I mean is if an ad or brochure says your restaurant can cater to vegans, but your servers have no idea what guests are talking about when they inquire, your messaging is not aligned. If you give an interview and say you deliver a seamless customer experience but then someone visits your location and is dismissed, ignored or not guided step-by-step through the purchase process, your messaging is not aligned.

So how do you make sure your company is communicating a consistent message?

• Communicate with your staff and be transparent. Make sure staff is aware of and trained to answer questions about anything a member of the public could see in a story about you, on your website, on Facebook, etc. For example, if you are offering a Groupon deal, make sure your sales clerk knows about it and knows how to ring it up. Share successes with staff. If someone sees in a news story that last year you had a banner year and mentions that in conversation with your employee, that employee shouldn’t be hearing about it first from a customer.
• Make 100 percent certain every employee understands that HE or SHE personally is the face of your company. If your accountant happens to answer a customer call, he should hold that customer’s hand all the way to the person she needs to speak with. If your executive director is walking through your office and is stopped by a member of the public, she should stop what she is doing if at all possible and help that person find who she needs to speak with. No, maybe your accountant can’t take a customer order, and maybe your executive director doesn’t have the time to give a tour to every person who comes into your organization, but it is their job to make their brief entry into that prospect’s experience a pleasant and professional one. 
• Consider hosting an ambassador training. Obsidian leads these sessions for many clients, where we educate the front-line staff of an organization on the various channels of communication, the importance of the first impression and how to make a positive one, how to choose what types of words to use when speaking with customers, etc.

The bottom line is this: A customer doesn’t know and doesn’t care what is in whose job description. Customer service and ambassadorship must be everyone’s responsibility.