Chapter 23 How To Create Your Own Bad Publicity

Greetings from rural Australia.

Creating your own bad publicity is very simple. Just don’t keep your word.

Nothing infuriates people more than being let down. And the chatter and prattle that passes from mouth to mouth once someone starts to poison you because of your bad manners, is like a stone rolling down a hill. It gathers momentum with every tumble, crashes into obstacles and causes you great harm along the way.

Most of us crave publicity, because we know that it attracts the right customers or clients to your business.

But it’s so hard to get.

So why does a high profile business expert think nothing of creating bad publicity for himself and his business when he knows better?

I’m flummoxed by the lack of attention to detail that’s considered unimportant and which only leads to guaranteed mistrust on the internet.

I recently signed up for one of this expert’s free Ezines.

On the 11th of May 2009, I receive an email from this expert offering me a trial subscription to a members only newsletter/coaching course.

The email that arrives on the 11th of May also says that if I take up the trial subscription, I can attend a free telecoaching seminar on May 12th.

I am already very impressed by what I read so far by this expert, so eagerly submit my payment for the trial subscription.

A thank you email immediately arrives with the link to the necessary call-in information for the teleseminar.

The link I pay for is a 404 – link not found. The link is to a February edition of the newsletter which has already been removed from the internet.

As scams on the internet are as common as fleas on a stray dog, I am now on full alert.

I email his assistant, described by him as a fabulous woman and a wonderful person to interact with, to say how disappointed I am that the link is a 404. I request an active link to the call-in information. If this can’t be done, I request a refund.

I am polite, but terse.

As with all things to do with the internet, which is the last frontier, distrust is rife.

Online rating reviews overflow with bad experiences. Far too many people pay for something they never receive. Or receive in a diminished format.

When you pay your money to someone you don’t know, and your link is bodgey, you automatically assume the worst. You judge the book by its cover. Especially when the company you’re dealing with presents itself as trustworthy. It’s natural to expect them to be, and do, better. When they aren’t, you’re as suspicious of them as you are of a spouse you believe is cheating on you.

Anyone who reads the first page of my website will glean that trust on the internet is a big issue with me.

The reply email I receive is from his assistant and is for a refund.

This wonderful, fabulous woman who is a joy to interact with offers no explanation and no apology. Just the details of the refund made to my credit card.

I am confounded that he chooses to give me a refund rather than what I ask for and am promised. Which is an active link for the call-in details for the teleseminar. It’s all that I want.

To me, a promise is a promise. Yes, I’m naive enough to expect people to keep their word and although not shocked when they don’t, I am always deeply disappointed.

Ditto for their behaviour. Having read his opinion of his assistant as the eighth wonder of the world, and having read glowing, walk on water reports about him and his expertise on the internet, perfunctory is not what I expect.

I will tell you again that what I read up to now about his methods is impressive and I looked forward to a long business association where I learn a great deal from him.

To get a perfunctory refund with no explanation puts him into a totally different picture frame.

I take him out of the hand carved, ornate frame, overlaid with gold leaf and expensive non-reflective glass, and put him into a tacky, chipped and battered frame, with a cracked pane of glass.

It’s a given that the easiest activity in business is to care for a happy customer.

But the real measure of a business and the calibre of its people, is the way they handle a grumpy, disappointed customer who feels they haven’t received what they paid for.

To pack up your marbles and go home smacks of the tantrums thrown by spoiled children who are used to getting their own way.

The reaction to my terse disappointment doesn’t match what’s written about this expert and his assistant on the internet.

You know what? Once you realise your image of a person doesn’t match the reality, the seeds of bad publicity start to sprout.

Think about it. How many times have you been tempted to put a different, more realistic slant, on a person you know to be unlike their public image? It could be a relative, a co-worker, a pillar of the community. I bet you’ve exchanged differing views more than once.

Obviously any criticism about his manner of business is not to be tolerated. And the person causing the criticism is to be despatched as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, I don’t go quietly.

I’m also not the only person involved in this scenario.

I am so excited by what his company promises to offer, I email the information to a friend, who also signs up for the trial subscription.

He receives a different email link to mine. His link is to the March newsletter, which is active, and which gives the date for the April teleseminar, along with call-in information.

We put our heads together and deduce the call-in number, access code and time of day the teleseminar takes place must be the same. Apply that to the May teleseminar and we should be OK. Just show up at 7AM on May 12 and listen.

I’m there at 6:45AM. So is my friend and a few other listeners. But the host is a no show.

Ever the optimist, I’m the only one left listening to teleconferencing music at 7:30AM.

It finally sinks in that we’ve all been duped and I hang up.

You’re not surprised, are you, when I tell you that there isn’t a positive comment made by anyone.

This ‘Expert Number One’ was recommended to me by ‘Expert Number Two’.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for Expert Number Two.

Because he’s a vocal advocate about the productive use of your time and makes a huge issue about not allowing other people to waste YOUR TIME, I fax a letter to him, telling him that his Expert Number One has let him down in a big way.

Yes, this does rub off onto him. I trust his recommendations and am disappointed that Expert Number One not only wastes my time, but the time of the others waiting for him on the call, including my friend.

And because I never do anything behind the back of another person, I email a copy of my letter as an attachment to Expert Number One.

What time do I send my fax and email? At 8:30AM May 12th. It’s now May 13th. And more than 24 hours later.

So far, the silence is deafening.

As an important addendum to this, do you ever wonder why people are so reluctant to give you names of their friends and relatives as referrals? Many people say referrals are almost as hard to get as good publicity.

Guess what?

The scenario above is reason number one.

People who care about their personal reputation will not make a referral to you of someone they know, just in case you treat their friend, relative or co-worker like Expert Number One does. Which is nothing short of a lack of respect.

This lack of respect comes back to smack you in the face if you’re the one who makes the referral.

Remember my friend who took up his subscription at my recommendation?

He’s now casting aspersion on my judgement and ridiculing Expert Number Two. Guilt by association.

Suddenly, I’m not only disappointed, but I’m on the defensive.

I’m always inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. It’s possible to blame some of this on the prolific use of auto-responders and simply not checking what you send out.

All that needs to be done is to make sure the link is active and correct before emailing it to those of us who take up his offer.

It’s something to be done by an assistant. And checked regularly on a specific day every month. It’s a procedural part of a system. Which obviously isn’t in place in this organisation.

Expert Number One is earning what he reaps. Well deserved bad publicity for being careless.

The truth is, he’s been offering this trial subscription for more than 9 years. He’s had plenty of time to perfect the delivery of correct links that are part of the trial. He’s had plenty of time to practice getting it perfect every time. He’s had plenty of time to make sure there are no hiccups.

Most importantly, he's had plenty of time to make sure he delivers what you pay for and expect.

Why am I really annoyed?

Because too few people make a business truly accountable for how it performs. If they’re not overtly ripping off the public, there’s little criticism or demand for accountability.

In essence, I wasn’t ripped off. I was given a refund.

But yes, I was ripped off, because I expected more and better. Being ripped off includes issues that are more than financial.

Acceptance of the mediocre is currently the norm. And that’s what we get. Mediocre people running businesses that are written up as extraordinary.

Dumbing down in business is as prolific as the dumbing down of the press, the dumbing down of our education system and the dumbing down of our expectations of just about everyone and everything.

How many people do you consider to be head and shoulders above the rest? How many people do you consider to be truly outstanding? How many businesses do you consider to be the crème de la crème?

Also, the lack of response to my email of more than 24 hours ago regrettably confirms my view that he has dismissed me as unimportant.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was recently described as being intoxicated with his own magnificence.

Is this a necessary trait to become a celebrity in the business world, too?

What do you think?

Does it mean Expert Number One isn’t interested in my perspective? Is he too busy to respond? Is he too caught up in his own importance and therefore deaf and dismissive to the mutterings of the underlings?

This is definitely not the first impression I formed of him from what I read about him on the internet. And to discover that it’s false is doubly disappointing.

It’s generally accepted that it’s dangerous to underestimate and dismiss the perspective of a cranky employee or customer. You do so at your own risk.

A little Australian called Bernie Banton brought James Hardie Industries to its knees in the asbestos war for a compensation fund for mesothelioma victims.

James Hardie pulled out all the stops to defeat Bernie. They diverted funds overseas and even registered overseas part of their corporate structure that applied to compensation. They hid valid information and tried with all their might to discredit and smear Bernie and the other victims.

But Bernie won the fight, just before he died from mesothelioma.

James Hardie Industries misjudged, trivialised and dismissed the fire in Bernie’s belly to make James Hardie accountable and to extract justice for all mesothelioma victims.

And the likes of high fliers Meredith Hellicar, at one time one of the most admired women in corporate Australia, Peter Willcox and their co-directors at James Hardie were damned in the courts and are now unemployable. They are paying a huge price for their lack of respect for accountability.

This is a messier and less glorious version of Susan Boyle slaying the judges and the audience on Britain’s Got Talent.

The message? Never underestimate an individual’s drive to make a point.

To my regret, Expert Number Two is distrusted by my friend. Nothing I say changes his mind. Again, it’s a case of guilt by association.

My perspective is this. If he ignores me, I have no option but to question his veracity.

If their silence is permanent, I’ll mull over putting names to Expert Number One and Expert Number Two, as I have in other posts. But I’m giving them both the benefit of the doubt and waiting to hear their side of the story.

But I want you to remember this.

Every action you take is like a pebble tossed into a tranquil river. The ripples spread far and wide. It’s a given. You affect more than one person at a time, every time you deal with someone else. There will always be someone who holds you accountable for your actions.

Don’t trivialise any relationship with a customer or potential customer. You may not agree with their sentiment, but their perspective is as important to them as yours is to you.

I live and work from a remote property in the Australian bush. In a rural village called Ilford. In New South Wales.

As an ex-New Yorker, I’m a rank outsider.

The one thing I observed in my early days here is that everyone is either directly or indirectly related to everyone else. I instinctively knew to be circumspect about what I say. And as a local business, to make sure I’m friends with everyone. But socialise with no-one. Never get caught up in local politics.

Because what I don’t know is the complex matrix that connects these people to each other.

It’s the same with business relationships. There’s only 6 degrees of separation between you and the person you want to meet or do business with. What you may not know is who the 5 people are who are separating you from them.

The person you just buzzed off as ‘not important enough to keep your word with’, may know some very powerful people who will hold you accountable and put a serious dent in your business reputation and your credibility.

If your performance doesn't match up with the image your customer has of you, I guarantee you the seeds of bad publicity will quickly sprout.

If you ignore the ripples of accountability by not keeping your word, I guarantee you that this is the best and quickest way to create unwanted, bad publicity for yourself, with no help from anyone else.

People who know me never underestimate this Guerrilla From The Bush. I have zero tolerance for not keeping your word.

Read this story many times because it’s a graphic illustration of what goes through the mind of a customer when you let them down by not keeping your word.

And multiply me by 1,000.

That’s the number of people who may not be as articulate as I am and write about their experience with you on a blog, but express their disappointment and annoyance in other ways.

The beat of the tom toms on the bush telegraph is still alive.

And be very aware of the power of social networking. All those short and snappy status messages beamed from friend to friend start to add up to a story about you.

My most popular posts are those written about bad manners in business. They’re clicked on more than any other, by men and women all over the world.

Not keeping your word is bad manners and wastes the time of other people. It’s self-centred, self-focused and selfish. All the qualities you want to avoid when dealing with other people.

What’s your take on this? Do you think not keeping your word is bad manners? Or do you think this is acceptable behaviour in business today?

I invite you to post your comments and share your opinion with others.


Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd
Ilford NSW 2850 Australia
Designers of The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover
Our simple solutions for difficult products make every product a joy to use

Let’s have a chat. Ring me on 02 63 58 85 11 if you’re within Australia, OR
+612 63 58 85 11 if you’re outside Australia

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at http://www.interfaceaustralia.com/.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.