Wow, what a bold statement.  Sometimes you get great service, sometimes ok service and rarely super, fabulous, awesome service.  Occasionally you can feel like it is a privelege to be served by the service provider in some establishments. 

Well, last weekend, hubby and I headed into Melbourne for a weekend just the two of us.  We stayed at a particularly grand hotel at the top of town in Spring Street.  I am so in love with this hotel, just this morning I mentioned my wake should be there if anything should happen to me.

From the moment you pull up outside in your car to the moment your weekend draws to a close the service is absolutely awesome.  You are made to feel like you are the only people in the hotel for the weekend, nothing is too much trouble.

Once we checked into the hotel we preceded down to the wonderful walkways and arcades that Melbourne is so famous for.  We decided lunch was in order and plonked ourselves down in a little laneway cafe.  The service there was just fabulous.  The waitress came back to make sure everything was in order, we were happy with the food, did we need another cup of coffee.  The waitress returned several times and was unobtrusive, not pushy or 'selling', just very helpful and polite.  In fact the whole weekend we encountered the most super, fabulous, awesome service where ever we went.

The art of fabulous customer service is not a dying practise, it is alive and well.  Everywhere we went from small family run restaurants in China Town, large national department stores and laneway cafes and bars we encountered amazing service.  Even the horse drawn carriage ride around the city on Saturday night, the driver was keen to oblige and take our photos for us on the carriage, even if there was a small queue of eager customers behind us.

This got me  thinking, do we get back what we project?  If we are a happy friendly customer do we automatically receive a happy friendly service?

Just recently on my free webinar series the end comments went something like this... customers and clients only remember two types of service, really super, fabulous, awesome service or really stinky service. Nobody remembers the mediocre service from a provider.

Of all the establishments we visited over the weekend, I have already told friends and family, recommended places and gave a big thumbs up on the services and places  we ventured.  The power of word of mouth marketing! 

Guess what?  It hasn't cost any of these businesses one cent!

My husband has a great saying 'failing to prepare is preparing to fail'. I love this saying because it is so true.   

The one place I don't 'wing' it, is when I am on air on my radio program.  I have on occasions and after listening to the replay I can certainly hear the differene in my shows.  I always make sure I prepare ahead of time.  I even prepare for little unexpected surprises.

If you are going to be interviewed on radio, TV or for a print article then I can not stipulate the importance of being prepared.  It is imperative to be able to determine the preparation you will need to undertake to be able to execute professionalism and show your business and you in the best possible light.

I think the most important point to consider is confirming the date, time and the location of the interview. 
I remember recently I had a guest planned for my radio program.  The program runs from 9.00 am to 11.00am every Monday morning.  My guest was scheduled in the studio to be interviewed directly after the 9.00 am news. At 9.30am when I could leave the panel and make a call I finally got through to her.  For some reason she thought it was after the 11.00am news.  Now my show doesn't go to air in that time slot, I don't know what went wrong at the guests end.

We agreed that she could make it and be interviewed after the 10.00am news.  (I did 'wing' it for about 30 minutes I must admit).  Anxiously I waited and finally my guest arrived at 10.47am.  Now do you think I was happy?  Uh huh, no way!  I had promoted the guest, her business and how thrilled I was to have her on the show for the last few weeks. 

Forgetting how frustrating it was for me, what did this person's clients think?    What were the audience thinking?  Did this instill a level of trust and confidence?  I think not.

The morale of this story is..............failing to prepare is preparing to fail..........  If this is your big chance to promote you and your business do everything in your power to get it right, the first time as there may not be a next time. 

By the way, the guest had a 10 minute quick interview and I have never invited her back on the show.  What a fabulous opportunity her and her business missed, through failing to prepare.

I would love to hear your comments where you have failed to prepare but you have been able to recover with a great outcome.

According to NeilsonWire the top Social Media websites in Australia for 2009 are Facebook with a 75% following, YouTube with a 70% following and Wikipedia with 65%.  MySpace had a 48% following and Twitter just 35%. Don't let the 35% figure of Twitter fool you as the application has grown by 400% according to the latest report on the NeilsonWire Website.  38% of users also interacted with a brand using social media.

Looking at these figures to me it really indicates that small to medium enterprises need to embrace the social media avenues to stay in touch with their clients, customers and strategically aligned businesses.

I know for myself I have had some extremely positive results using social media for business.  I have been fortunate enough to have some fabulous networking opportunities come my way which would not have happened with tradional marketing of my business.  I have also had interaction with other businesses that has lead me to be invited to be a guest presenter.  These opportunities  were only possible through my business being seen and being at the right place at the right time, by the right person.  Six - eight months ago my business would not have been at the right place, at the right time and seen by the right person, I just wasn't there.  Besides my website and a few on-line directories my on-line presence was limited.  

With social media sites growing in Australia Mr and Mrs Small to Medium Business Owner need to ask themselves the key question........... Are you media ready for Social and Tradional Media?   

Seminar
Mastering Media With Clarity - 21st April 2010 (See Events Page)