Scott Gulbransen.com

Winning Customers Back...One At A Time

Being a marketing/communications professional for an S&P 500 company like Intuit, I am always interested in hearing how others work hard to get and keep customers.

Working specifically on the Quicken and TurboTax businesses, I interact with customers on a daily basis utilizing social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I do my best to help engage and actively listen to their issues to help resolve them. At Intuit, we call it "wowing" a customer. 

Being the married father of three (soon to be four!), I am also a consumer who experiences sometimes what our own customers experience.

I am a self-proclaimed sports nut. I love all the majors but have the strongest affinity for baseball - once and always America's pastime.

When my family moved to San Diego in 1978, I instantly adopted my new home team - the San Diego Padres and our relationship has been solid ever since. There haven't been a whole lot of years where they've made it really fun, but baseball is baseball and for me the sun rises and sets on my beloved hometown team. 1984 was the best of all as I watched the Swingin' Friars advance to their first World Series on the shoulders of Steve Garvey's blast that sunk the Cubs.

Fast forward 20 years after the Garvey home run in Game 4 against the Cubs and I am sitting in my 20-game season tickets at the Padres new gem of a ballpark, Petco Park. Now a consumer with income to spend, I ponied up back to 2001 and had reserved my spot in the Padres new stadium by enduring a few tough years of watching teams built to lose. But that was OK. I was investing in the future and the team and its ownership looked ready to invest to bring a winner to San Diego.

It could be argued that 2005 was a good year...as the Padres won the West but were swept (again!) by the Cardinals. It could be argued that 2006 was also a good year as the Padres won the Wildcard and were swept by the Cardinals (AGAIN!) and bowed out early.

But the on-the-field performance was something I was willing to accept. Sometimes you don't get the breaks and as much as you want the team to win, they just don't. Even with a great effort, it doesn't always go your way.

The issue that kept gnawing away at me had nothing to do with the front office's inability to grow minor league talent. Or ownership's inability (or desire not to) to swing a late-season trade to help our chances at going deep in the playoffs. No, it was none of that.

Instead, what was eating this Padres fan of almost 30 years was an almost flippant attitude toward the loyal Padres fans. The fans that paid for season tickets through all the bad years. The fans that voted yes on Prop C to give our team a new home downtown. The fans who paid a premium for the new stadium in their ticket prices and $9 near-beer, and $12 hamburgers.

Fast forward to last season. Faced with the renewal notice for my 20-game season seats, I declined. It was  tough decision for me. So tough in fact I oscillated several times between yes and no. I was a die-hard Padres and baseball fan. It was a gut-wrenching decision but I finally weighed my options and opted out.

It was a sad day for me.

What lead me to the decision? Plain and simple: bad customer experience coupled with being ignored by the team that I love. The Padres just weren't that fan friendly. Sure, the ballpark and downtown are both beautiful but prices skyrocketed but the fun didn't.

Petco Park had become as exciting as watching paint dry. No buzz, no wins and no appreciation for its fans.

So, I have stayed away for the most part. Three years ago I would have attended 25 games or more. The last two years I've been four total games. Four. Still can't believe that.

Then, last weekend, a breakthrough.

As most Padres fans know, the team is in the process of a sale from current majority owner John Moores to former Arizona Diamondbacks General Partner, and now Padres CEO, Jeff Moorad. This meant the caustic and, frankly, fan-unfriendly Sandy Alderson was gone along with many of the Padres brass.

One of the great guys Moorad brought with him was Padres current President and Chief Operating Officer Tom Garfinkel.

Garfinkel has been incredibly accessible to the media and granted an interview to the San Diego Union-Tribune last week that gave me much hope. In the interview, Garfinkel acknowledged what long-time fans and season ticket holders had been saying since the move to Petco Park: fans we're not the focus.

For an organization to step out and admit that they had lost some of their focus is difficult. Garfinkel - by simply admitting it - started to heal the wounds. Garfinkel did a great job of defusing the long-standing anger with many fans. Of course, not everyone is satisfied. They want a World Series win now and no matter what they new ownership does, they won' t be happy. It's their right but I am glad to see Garfinkel start to try and win us back.

I was so impressed by his tone and acknowledgment of a problem (something Alderson and his bunker mentality would never allow), I shot him an email.

Within hours he had responded with a nice note saying he understood my point of view and that he hoped the Padres could do what they could to earn me back as a customer. I am sure many contacted him after the article but he obviously knew the importance of a personal response.

All businesses are about relationships and service. The Padres have been awful in recent years with their customers but Garfinkel and Moorad are taking early steps to bring customer focus back.

Today I grabbed our mail and low and behold a letter from Garfinkel was part of my daily stack.

It was handwritten, included some tickets to an upcoming game, and simply said:

Scott -

I hope you and your family can use these and come out and enjoy the game. We hope that we can earn back your trust.

All the Best,

Tom

Now, the tickets were an amazing touch that I would have never expected. My response would have been equal if it had just been a hand-written note. But the step that Mr.Garfinkel has taken to earn me back as a customer speaks volumes about him and the mindset he is trying to drive through the organization.

The Padres have a lot of hard work to do to get those season ticket holders, and fans who attended their games, to come back in force. And as the product on the field struggles, they won't have the easy fix of a team winning and playoff baseball back in San Diego.

I am only one customer and this is my experience. I am impressed as both a customer and as a fellow marketing professional.

Mr. Garfinkel plain and simply gets it. It's about the customers. It's about providing value so price is not an issue. It's about listening and reacting to what your customers want. It's about balancing the short and long term goals of the organization. These guys simply get it.

Perhaps the tide has turned.

I sort of think it has.

Tribute to Billy Mays Shows Power of Social Media

This will be the second time this week that I blog about the passing of a celebrity.

This time, it lead me to action.

The world's best pitchman, Billy Mays, died of heart disease in his sleep early Sunday morning. Mays was just 50 years old.

I had become of a rabid fan of Mays several years ago just by seeing his work. As I learned more about him and his career, I became more of a fan. Then, this year Mays and his partner Anthony "Sully" Sullivan became mainstream television celebrities when they launched their brilliant series "Pitchmen" on the Discovery Channel.

The tragedy, on the heels of the loss of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, seemed more personal to me. I had an amazing amount of respect for Mays and his ability to turn everything he touched - from OxiClean to Mighty Putty - into pure direct television marketing gold. The guy had talent like no one else and his position in the industry was undisputed.

As my good friend Jay Sapovits said when learning of his loss: "Billy Mays is was and always will be the Babe Ruth of infomercials. A legend lost. The sales and business world lost a legend. Sad."

I couldn't have agreed more.

So, as I sat at my computer in our kitchen Sunday morning, an idea popped in my head. How could I use social media to create a way to honor one of my business heroes?

What I came up with was to simply create a "hash tag" on Twitter called: #wearblue4billy.

The idea was to call on the Twitterverse to wear a bright blue shirt - the type Mays became famous for wearing in all his shows - on Monday to honor and show our respect for this cultural icon. Would it work? Could I start a movement to honor Mays and show respect to his family in their time of grief?

The answer blew me away.

After re-Tweeting the call to action several times, it started to gain some modest steam. But it completely blew up when Billy's eldest child, Billy Mays III (@youngbillymays on Twitter) endorsed the campaign as a respectful way to honor the memory of his father.

I was proud that Billy's son would think my small idea was a great way to honor his father. I felt good that I could bring some amount of comfort to him and his family at this difficult time.

The results on Twitter have been staggering. The outpouring of love and respect for Billy and his family has been amazing.The campaign gained steam every hour and was one of the hottest trends on Twitter over the past 24 hours. The chart below shows the campaign stacked up against another popular hash tag #iranelection which helped those trying to get news out of Iran keep track of the happenings there. I also tossed in Michael Jackson mentions to give you a comparison.

 

As you can see, stacked up against Michael Jackson, Iran and just Billy's name, the campaign was on fire on Twitter. This made me feel very happy as my whole intention was to honor Billy and his family.

The power of a network like Twitter, for an individual like me, to connect and link people from all over the world in a common cause is staggering. I am completely humbled by the response and want to thank everyone for taking part. Here's an interesting blog post talking about the unexpected success of the campaign today for Billy.

The campaign was picked up by online and mainstream media and for that I am grateful. They also helped spread the word and make the Wear Blue For Billy Day a great success and respectful tribute to the best pitchman the world has ever seen. Even YouTube is alive with tribute videos and a call to make every June 28th "WearBlue4Billy" Day.

Of course, this is more than just a case study in social media and the emerging power of Twitter. It has to do with a family who lost a son, husband and father. We may have lost the best pitchman to ever walk the earth, but they've lost more. To that, I offer my deepest sympathies. I've been touched by Billy Mays III and his public grieving on Twitter. He's a strong young man and I wish him and his family the best.

I am proud I was able to help organize thousands and thousands of folks in honoring Billy Mays. I hope they find some comfort in it and know how much we'll all miss Billy.

Links of Note:

Billy and Sully's Guest Spot on Tonight Show Just Last Week...of course, on top of his game!

Billy's "The Office" Spoof. Brilliant!

A CLASSIC: Billy Ordering at McDonalds.

Death of Jackson Strangely Familiar To Death of Elvis...at Least for Me

At the age of 39, it might surprise many who know me from a distance that I am a huge Elvis Presley fan. I have been so since first dusting off a few of my Mom's Elvis records at the age of six. That was my introduction to music: Elvis and James Brown.

One of the first memories I have of feeling real loss in my life was on August 16, 1977. That day, when Elvis left us on a hot summer day in Memphis, a little of my youth was lost. I felt his death and went on for days playing his records over and over again. I still recall my mother talking to my grandmother on the telephone perplexed about my behavior.

"He just keeps playing the records over and over again," she said into the phone.

For some reason, which I don't remember, the death of my first idol made me realize at that young age that life was not forever. It was a perishable thing.

The news on Thursday that Michael Jackson had passed away shocked everyone. For me, it was shocking but at first the details were sketchy and it seemed like just another celebrity tragedy that would soon leave my mind. Instead, as the details emerged around the death of Jackson, I was transported back to that day in 1977 when I lost my hero.

I liked Jackson's earlier music but had not much use for him lately. All the scandal and wasted talent seemed to have lead me away from even tracking what the self-proclaimed "King of Pop" was up to.

But today became August 16, 1977 all over again.

The alleged abuse of Demerol; the alleged involvement of a questionable doctor and multiple narcotics all sounds familiar.

It wasn't until later in my life that I came to accept what had happened to Elvis toward the end of his life. A truly gentle soul trapped by fame and unrealistic expectations that lead to a life ended at a tender age of 42. When I still think about it I get both angry and sad for what became of one of the world's most talented entertainers. The "might have beens" haunt me and I always think what my childhood hero would be doing today. I have a strange connection with Elvis - begun in childhood and still part of me today.

Those that feel that way about Michael Jackson now know how I feel about that. They lost their hero. A hero with many faults who had talent that wasn't always utilized to it's potential. A talent snuffed out much, much too early.

In the end, I believe they will determine that these drugs - like those that contributed to Elvis' death - are the reason Jackson died of a heart attack yesterday.

An extraordinary blog post by Elvis' only child - Lisa Marie Presley - is amazing insights from a woman who has had to endure these two monumental deaths personally. Her father and ex-husband...two of the biggest celebrities the world has ever seen. It's worth your time to read it.

 Anyway...a bit of a rambling post. Even though I don't have the adoration I felt for Elvis for Michael Jackson, I do understand the emotion of his fans and how they feel tonight.

Our heroes come in many colors, shapes, sizes and forms. Losing them is always tough and when another passes, it brings us all back to times when we too felt loss.

For me, it's August 16, 1977 all over again.

Damn, I hate that.

RIP...Michael and Elvis...may you jam together in the sky.

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Quicken Online Helps Gridiron Greats Get the Most of their Money

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What Tactics in Social Media Are Off-Limits?

This is more of a question for folks: What tactics, if any, are off-limits in social media?

The reason I ask is an interesting tactic employed by a competitor of my employer (for those that don't know, I work for Intuit's Consumer Group) yesterday during our TurboTax Tweetathon on Twitter.

 Our great Social Media Marketing Manager in TurboTax - Christine Morrison (@ttaxchristine) - organized a Tweetathon yesterday at our San Diego headquarters. The idea was to assemble our tax pros and answer simple tax questions on Twitter. This allows our customers an prospective customers to tap into the tax expertise inside of TurboTax.

After the Tweetathon began, one of our competitors used their own Twitter account to try and hijack the questions and answer them. It was clear they were using guerrilla tactics since they continue to languish against us in social media interaction, sales and place in the market. On one hand, I like the moxy. On the other, I wondered if it was appropriate and if we'd do the same thing.

But that raised the larger question to me: what, if any, limits are there in using social media to market to consumers? Do you "crash" the party when your competitors are engaging with people in channels like Twitter? Do you show up at their Tweet-ups and hand out your product to disrupt their event?

As we continue to evolve as professionals involved in social media, I know we'll make new rules. But I have to wonder if professionalism is taking a back seat to engagement at any cost.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thx.

Scott

Mar 31, 2009

Ok...you know you're at the airport early when you're one of three people in the terminal!

Off to San Francisco and San Jose over the next few days. We're meeting with our new agency of record or Quicken, OutCast Communications. Great stuff on the horizon.

It's only been an hour and I already miss my wife and kids. Not the dog though...wiley little bastard dug a hole in the yard! Frickin'-Frackin....

Peace and love to all!

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School helps teens with cancer get dressed up for the prom

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Sunday Thoughts...

As  I get mentally prepared for another whirlwind week at Intuit, lots of things banding around in the brain. The excitement within my work group is amazing with so many great things on the horizon. With that said, lots of hard work to be done.

Here's my random thoughts for today...please comment if you have any thoughts. I welcome the feedback/perspective.

• What is the right mix of traditional PR (offline/online media) and social media to drive conversations and awareness for your brand?
• When does the "flash" and "oooh...it's pretty" of some Web 2.0 start ups start wearing thin? When do these companies need to actually do something to deserve the positive word of mouth? Or is the fact customers like them enough to carry the day?
• One of my colleagues, that I really respect, always says this: social media is like SEO was 10 years ago. Lots of snake-oil out there...so what really moves the needle? What's the long-term view of where social media takes us?
• By in large, despite the large growth over the past 12 months, social media as a way for companies and brands to communicate with communities is relatively small in scope. This is not to say I don't believe in its trans-formative power, but just hat most people aren't engaged - yet. That means brands still need to communicate their messages in different ways...Twitter and Facebook aside.
• What big brands (outside of some that we all know) are starting to really have impact with social media interactions?

Just thoughts on my mind. All of this is still so much like the wild west, I think stopping to ask the basic questions from square-one is sometimes the most prudent thing to do.

Here's another great blog post by Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang on how the future of PR in social media might be the way companies use customers to create offerings. A little light Sunday reading!

Peace to all...

Proud Intuit "Gets" Importance of Listening via Social Media

Working for America's Most Admired Software Company (that according to Forbes) obviously has its advantages.

But recently, one area (for obvious reasons!) I am extremely proud of is Intuit's willingness to embrace social media and really engage with our customers no matter where they are. There are haters out there; they don't like the "Goliath" entering the fray of social media but we're off to a really good start.

Since it's tax season, let's look at what we've been able to do in TurboTax. Last year, our TurboTax Inner Circle (created by www.twitter.com/ttaxchristine) won the Forrester Groundswell Award, showing the impact social media can have for both customers and the company. It helped us listen better to customers, cut expenses on the support side, and help us make better products via customer suggestions.

Also, our Small Business Division (QuickBooks, et al) is also doing an amazing job of connected small business owners in a way the world has never seen before.The Intuit Community enables the millions of small business owners around the US to connect with one another you couldn't have imagined a few years ago. This coming together of a small business community is extremely powerful anytime but certainly takes on more meaning at a time when everyone is worried about the economy. 

 In addition, our Small Biz folks are going one step further: they're helping small businesses grow even during challenging economic times. The Small Business United campaign aims to get business going, even offering free software to get started. Talk about building a community! At at time when people are losing jobs, they need help starting their own business and I am proud to say Intuit is there for them. Sometimes you just need a leg up, that's what we're doing to get them up and running.

Our personal finance product Quicken recently launch its very own customer community much like the TurboTax Inner Circle.

The Quicken Inner Circle hopes to do for personal finance what the TurboTax Inner Circle did for tax this season. It's been set up to help us drastically improve our customer communications and get direct customer feedback to make our products better. I invite any of you who use our products to go sign up. It's a really cool experience.

Although I am addicted to Twitter, Facebook, etc., these types of social communities are just as vital for big companies like Intuit to connect with customers and influencers. The power of social media is in the interactions and the relationships. These are fully transparent interactions with customers who want to know what we're about as company. The more we make ourselves open to them, and willing to have a discussion, the more apt we're going to make killer products that customers love.

I know this may seem very "company guy" oriented, but we have an amazing dedicated staff of folks here working to engage in more conversations so we build what you want us to build. 

The most important fact to take away is this is all genuine. We are living, breathing and walking this new model of interacting with customers. The communities I highlighted above are just one snapshot of our total outreach. I'll share more another time.

The question is: what is your company doing to engage with customers online?

TCB-

Scott

Long time...no blog!

I have to admit. I've broken all the rules when it comes to blogging.

1. I don't blog very much.

With the kind of exciting yet crazy year we've had at Intuit, things have just been to dang busy for me to get on here and write from a more personal perspective. And frankly, my daily activity on Twitter seems to satisfy my need to talk to the world in the best way I see fit.

Nonetheless, I miss the longer form and I am resolving today to pay more attention to my neglected space here.

There are a ton of things I'd love to write on in the world of politics, economics, religion, social media, et al, so little time.

Meanwhile, we continue to make amazing progress both with TurboTax and Quicken Online when it comes to the world of social media. I just concluded my latest project with MySpace Secret Shows which we dubbed the Freeloader Nation.

The Freeloader Nation consisted of six live MySpace Secret Shows with Fall Out Boy, City and Colour, Metro Station, Lily Allen, Deer Hunter, and Neko Case. We had amazing turnouts and it was an amazing way for our brand to interact in person with our customers.

Needless to say, the traveling and activity has taken its toll...I am tired but still goin'!

More to come soon. Thanks for stopping by.