Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Faces and Voices Still Matter

As we all pour hours of our time into Tweeting, Facebooking, and optimizing our websites, it’s worth remembering that we—and our companies—are still basically human. A slick and chatty personality on the web is wasted if you can’t back it up by being courteous and friendly when it comes to the good old traditions of face-to-face contact and phone conversations. Done well, such personal—arguably more intimate—brand touchpoint opportunities can inspire otherwise hard-won trial and loyalty.

Three recent interactions with local companies prompted this post:

Company: Three Bakers and a Bike (1281a Wellington St, Ottawa, 613-729-6236, no website I could find)

Experience: With negative time left to pick up stuff for my son’s birthday party, I was dismayed and panicked to learn at the Three Bakers’ cash register that I couldn’t pay with a credit card for the gorgeous cupcakes I had ordered. Cramming my hands into my pockets, I found a $10 bill amid 500 other crumpled bits of paper—not enough to cover the cost. Before I could check my socks or ask to wash dishes, the owner calmly took my $10 and wondered if I might come back sometime to cover the rest of the bill.

She had never met me before. I thought of her with every bite of delicious cupcake at the party, rushed back the next day to pay her the outstanding amount, and now visit Three Bakers and a Bike whenever I need dessert.

Company: Flowers Talk (1305 Wellington St, Ottawa, 613-321-0592, website under repair)

Experience: My mom’s been fighting a flu for a while. I haven’t been able to go chicken-soup-and-magazine her since our son’s just come off a bad virus (nothing like sick kids when you’re self-employed!) and I’m pregnant and trying desperately to avoid coming down with something this season.

I called Flowers Talk and spoke to a lovely woman who helped me pick out a bouquet and then lingered with me on the phone to perfect the message for the card—double-checking spelling and asking me if it would be okay to add “love” with my name at the end (it was). She so obviously cared about my gesture coming off right, and made sure she could do everything she could at her end to ensure that. Sending flowers is a pretty personal thing, and they get that at Flowers Talk.

Company: Town Restaurant (296 Elgin St, Ottawa, 613-695-8696)

Experience: With a great old friend coming into town for the night, we were excited to get out and try a new restaurant—and had heard Town is pretty special. Sadly, it was a Friday when I called to make reservations and they were booked solid. This didn’t stop the woman on the phone from patiently answering my questions about the menu, checking if we might be okay with bar seating, and getting us onto a cancellation list so she could call me if space unexpectedly opened up. She made me really want to try Town another time—and we will. Contrast that to the couple of other hot spots I called where the people I spoke with who triumphantly declared they were full for the evening and then raced off the phone.

As much as I love a good brand experience on the web, I gotta say that these three offline interactions have stuck with me in a uniquely resonant way.