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September 30, 2012

Own the phone

I’m not ashamed to admit that in my youth I spent some time selling credit cards in a call centre – it paid some bills, the people were nice and I learnt a lot. For two consecutive summers, that unexpected call during Corrie was me. Although not the most fun job I’ve ever had, I was actually quite good at it; easily exceeding my target of three an hour, every hour, every day…

One of the reasons I was good at it was that I quickly learned how to ‘own the phone’.

Most people make a call or answer one so they can speak to people. There’s a conversation, a back and forth. It’s a sound-based medium and people expect sound. It struck me that most awkward points in a telephone conversation aren’t when both people are trying to speak, it’s when no one is.

Silence just isn’t what you expect to happen on the phone. It’s awkward, it makes people uncomfortable and they want it to end. So how did I use this little insight to my advantage?

Well, I worked out that when I asked a question and then said nothing, the silence would build pressure. The pressure would build and build. Eventually, the other person would answer. Not because they wanted to, but because they wanted the silence to end. Once they’d answered my question, I knew they’d answer all my questions, that they’d want to avoid that awkward silence.

Now, this little trick didn’t help me persuade more people to sign up for a credit card, but it did mean that people listened to me and answered my questions. They took me seriously and I didn’t waste leads.

The flipside is true too. If you ask a question and the other person doesn’t respond, the pressure builds. If you rush in with another question or clarify your original question, then you’ve lost. Deep down, they know they don’t have to answer your questions. They don’t have to talk to you. You’ve lost that call and you have wasted a lead.

Only one person can own the phone.

July 2, 2012

Cheeky chorizo

Having a young child has had a big impact on when I eat – he eats, then we eat, which means we eat late. Treating this as an opportunity rather than a burden, I’ve started hunting out quick, simple snacks and meals

The recipe is incredibly simple. In fact, it’s probably too short to be a recipe. Just slice up some chorizo, bash up some garlic and pour over some decent red wine. Set aside for a while (I leave it for an hour or so), then whack it in a hot pan for a minute or two and serve. Boom, a nice little tapas-type snack.

An additional bonus is that it leaves you with a sensible amount of wine to share mid-week.

July 2, 2012

Old ideas revisited

Last week there was a brouhaha (or twitter storm) about a website with Shell branding which made preposterous comments about drilling for oil in the arctic. Some were taken in by it, others quickly spotted that it was a spoof. The truly shocking aspect of the whole affair was the number of people who thought it was a new and novel idea.

Back in 2001, animal rights activists set up a spoof website attacking the Bank of New York for its work for Huntingdon Life Sciences, a medical research firm that conducts research on animals. The site, called BankofNYKills.com, was a replica of the Bank of New York’s website with the content changed to highlight the activists’ grievances. BankofNYKills.com spoof website wasn’t the first of its kind by a long shot. The practice is as old as corporate websites.

What has changed since then is how well coordinated the best spoofs are. The recent mocking of Shell reached public consciousness around the Rio+20 summit, where arctic oil exploration has been a big issue. The spoof website was just one tactic forming part of a broad range of articles, tweets, Facebook messages and videos designed to keep awareness high.

Spoof defence

Companies’ fear of spoofing is very real. Back in January, the FT reported that Blackstone Group had hired a firm to purchase hostile domain names, including the wonderful blackstonesucks.com. The hope is to purchase all the spoof-able domain names before activists are able to use them. It’s a tactic that costs a lot and is destined to fail.

In reality, there’s little companies can do to stop spoof sites from springing up. People are creative and domain names are abundant (and growing). Companies can move quickly to have sites taken down, but with the speed of distribution that social media makes possible, it’s likely that the spoof will have achieved its goal before it’s taken down.

Ultimately, if a spoof site gains traction, then you’re probably facing a well planned campaign and focusing on the site isn’t the solution. You still need to acknowledge and deal with the spoof, but you’ve got a bigger reputation issue to deal with.

This piece was originally posted here on the CommsTalk blog.

January 6, 2012