In this age of high tech social marketing tactics like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr to help engage the customer, it seems like face-to-face customer service tactics can get a bit lost. Well, I was fortunate to see that for some, old-fashioned customer service is still a priority. I recently experienced first-rate treatment at, believe it or not, an auto repair center.

I had been taking my truck to The Car Repair Company for routine maintenance and occasional repairs, but I hadn’t been in for a couple of years. Well, one day the maintenance light in my truck went on and so I took it to The Car Repair Company. They still had me on record and told me come on in and they’d take care of it.

Now here are the three things that I felt exemplified above normal customer service:

1. Like everyone in the car business, The Car Repair Company has had some challenges, but Jim Atkinson, the owner, was very upbeat when I came in. They normally will give you a lift to your work when you drop off your car. I thought with business being tight and all, that I would have get my own ride. But Jim, yes the owner, said that he would still take me to my office if I needed a lift, and he did.
2. They informed me that one of the repairs would take overnight, but I told them that I had no other transportation at my disposal, so I would bring in my truck in the morning. Jim felt that the repair on the lower ball joints should be done for safety reasons and offered to rent me a car and deduct the cost of the rental from the price of the repair. Not too many places would offer that.
3. I had one glitch on my transmission service, but I didn’t come back to The Car Repair Company for few weeks to get it checked out. Instead of saying it had been too long, Jim told me to just bring it in. A minor inspection and minor adjustment was done while I waited and at no cost to me.

I’ve always liked the Car Repair Company, but this one experience demonstrated a commitment to customer service that wasn’t just lip service. It solidified my loyalty to them over other service centers. Most importantly, it reminded me that as an agency, Park&Co needs to keep doing the most for our clients at every opportunity in order to keep their loyalty. Like The Car Repair Company, it’s what we demonstrate above the norm that makes the biggest and most lasting impressions on our clients.

According to research done in December 2008 by Pew Internet & American Life Project, 11% of online American adults said they used a service like Twitter that allowed them to share updates about themselves with others.

With this growing popularity in mind, I recently tried to make Twitter part of my daily routine. I signed up, gave myself a Twitter name, and got a bunch of people to follow me.  However, I ran into couple of problems: I’m never on Twitter long enough to really follow anyone, and when I did “tweet,” none of my followers tweeted back. It seemed as though one constantly has to be online with Twitter to really keep up, and since I’m working most of the day, I don’t know how that’s possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t totally disagree with the concept behind Twitter, but unless you’re a celebrity or have a profound love of a specific topic or person, does anyone really want or have time to read or write 20 tweet updates a day?  My conclusion: if you’re really going to be a Twitter fan, you’ll need to be very committed or it just doesn’t seem like fun. It should be fun, shouldn’t it?

This video crystalizes my thoughts on Twitter in a nutshell:

Admittedly, I have been mostly absent from the Twitter conversation to this point. But with its ever-growing popularity, I figured I’d give it another shot, fully engage and see if I can find the real value.  Turns out what I’ve really found after a couple weeks of participation is that a conversation between good and evil seems to be taking place on my shoulders.

On one side is the angel, happy with the fact that I’ve made a few connections, talked with people that I otherwise wouldn’t have and shared some information. Mostly, these connections have been an exchange of pleasantries, but I get the idea. Having someone acknowledge you (and you them) is fulfilling. 

On the other side though is the devil. And I have to admit, he’s talking a whole lot louder than the angel. What I honestly see on Twitter is a bunch of people calling themselves experts who post links from various sites that usually have little to no connection with themselves. To put it bluntly, many seem to have an RSS feed set up to provide them information on a given topic that they then post to Twitter. Does posting a link make you an expert?

I’m a marketing guy. I get why people are doing this, especially marketing people (who seem to occupy much of the Twitter conversation). Positioning yourself as an expert is akin to finding the holy grail of marketing. It’s what we’re all after. But for me, the ultimate benefit of Twitter is that it has shown me just how few experts are truly out there.

Anyone can set up an RSS to capture links, then race to post them on Twitter in an effort to get out ahead of the countless others undoubtedly posting the same material. My problem with Twitter is that no one has really figured out how to use it. How do you really use Twitter to position yourself as an expert?  More disturbing is the fact that there are a lot of real experts out there engaging with Twitter whose insights I really do value. But their information is being devalued by the many who are saturating the medium with useless or repetitive information. It’s a race to take credit and, unfortunately, I think we’re all losing. I know what you’re saying, “Then don’t follow all the link posters.” The trouble is, Twitter has made it almost impossible to distinguish expert from “poster.”

I’m going to continue my Twitter odyssey in hopes that I’ll stumble onto its benefits any day now.  But I’m even more hopeful that the real experts show their expertise by navigating through the Twitter landscape and finding a way to truly maximize the benefits of a potentially revolutionary tool.   

But until then, I could use your help. Am I right? Totally wrong? Does Twitter work for you? What are the main benefits to you? How do you use it?

Help me! Thanks,

@ryanlarosa