In an era where customers now control 2/3 of the messages about our brand or company – through reviews, word of mouth, customer created content and social media, it is critical to view customer interaction and the opportunity to delight as a major part of marketing. This week I took a deep dive into this concept with JD – the guy who puts a smile on everyone’s face each morning greeting them with an open door at Park Place, 666 Burrard Street in Vancouver.
I visit this building once a week for client work, and I’ve always enjoyed seeing the smiling face, and the gracious manners of the doorman who greats visitors and also offers umbrellas on rainy days during lunch. But this week I decided to engage and learn more about him. And then I got an idea – what if the community that appreciates his service had an opportunity to tell him how much of an impact he has?
So, I returned the next morning, took his photo, and asked permission to share it out on social media through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Here’s the original post, and the story of what happened next…
THE POST
“Sharing some internet appreciation for this guy, JD – the tall door guy who greets with a smile daily at Park Place, 666 Burrard St, Vancouver. He even offers umbrellas on wet days during lunch.
I asked him yesterday how many people thank him for putting a smile on their face and starting their day off right. While he said many say thanks, few if any stop to engage and tell him how much he’s appreciated. I thought the internet should fix that, so made a special trip this morning to see him and grab this photo.
This is customer service marketing – doing the unexpected, capturing small, but meaningful moments, and personal engagement that creates a story that people want to share. I didn’t even know his name until speaking to him this morning, and talking to others in the building about him.
Did you know he is an actor, sci-fi geek, physicist, and amateur writer? Besides being an exceptionally tall human, his online profile notes how his life crosses the worlds of logic and creativity.
He goes by JD only, and has a handle of @JedTheGuy on Twitter and Instagram. Like, share, comment, tag a friend who works in the building – let’s do what we need to do to show some internet appreciation and love. This guy rocks!”
THE REACTION
- Facebook: 4,356 reach + 12 comments and 15 shares on original post, and many more comments and additional second wave of shares
- LinkedIn: 7,162 reach, 10 comments, 4 shares, many more on shared posts
- Instagram: 553 reach, 3 comments
- Twitter: 3,417 reach + 5 retweets
- Total estimated reach: 15,500 within 48 hours
THE FOLLOW UP
I returned downtown Friday morning to catch up with JD to let him know how the post had been shared and to tell him about all the amazing comments of thanks that had been offered. I recorded his response and posted that out on the original thread. (It’s also included in the Youtube video link summarizing the whole experience below)
I estimate the reach at over 15,500+ from likes, shares, comments, retweets online alone. And just imagine the offline word of mouth conversations that took place in that 48hr time period of this measurement. JD commented about seeing new followers on Instagram and Twitter, as well as having several people he didn’t know say they “saw him on LinkedIn” – prompting him to say he was thankful he had spruced up his profile there recently! It’s been really interesting to follow the wave of how this grew too. It was local initially, then went Canada wide and quickly global. JD has become a mini viral sensation half a world away in Australia. The former owner of Chooks – a large chicken franchise there, who is a friend of mine shared it to his network, since much of his growth was by being known for relentless customer focus. It took off from there. Then other contacts in Brisbane and Sydney also shared it out. But most notably the bureau chief for Bloomberg Business news, with offices at 666 Burrard, tweeted it out globally to her followers.
This is customer service as marketing – when you create memorable moments that people will want to share, the result being they will do your marketing for you. It’s a pretty solid example of how to leverage exceptional customer service in an age when consumers control 2/3 of our marketing messages – through posts, reviews and word of mouth, both online and off.
View the video about all of this here – and be sure to watch it until the end, where you get to meet JD and hear his comments about it all.
How about you? Have you ever experienced a truly memorable customer service moment? Tell us about it, and most importantly how you shared it with others.