As I’ve stated repeatedly, we live in an era of business shift. Not only do companies have the power to know us better than ever before — “We the people” have the power to make ourselves heard in an unprecedented manner. We can do this when we are wronged, and bring a company to its knees like Dave Carroll did with United Breaks Guitars. We can also make ourselves heard when we’re happy, as my buddy, Shelley Ryan did this week to celebrate the Customer Service Wizardry of Chicos. I’ve embedded her entertaining story below.
Now, it’s entirely possible that both Dave’s and Shelley’s stories are, in reality, rather un-unique in their facts — if compared to the ocean full of good and bad customer experience stories out there. After all, other people have had guitars broken, and others have faced great customer service. However, Dave and Shelley have something in common in the way they handled their situations: They coupled their unique skills with creativity and the low-tech tools at their disposal to tell compelling stories that resonated with people. This added dimension, reality, meaning and emotion to what otherwise may have been considered every-day customer experience testimonials. They created something compelling that was instantly sharable, likeable, spreadable….and they began to spread like wildfire.
This illustrates that it’s not always what you tell — but how you tell it, and who you share it with that matters most! This creative storytelling explains how Shelley and Dave drove a wave of interest, engagement from other people — and why those people shared those stories, magnifying them and making them more grand with every like, tweet, share, view, comment. In Dave’s case, that magnification turned his story into a business legend! In Shelley’s case, well, hopefully it will yield a great pat on the back to the dedicated, customer-focused employees at Chico’s. Kudos to them!
We can all (people and brands) take a page out of this book, and learn from Dave, Shelley and people like them. We already know we’ll be seeing this more and more. The question is, will we ourselves shoot for legendary in our story telling? Will we apply what we’ve learned here to differentiate our stories from the sea of sameness? Just a thought — or maybe a challenge — for your day.
