Why Client Service Matters

10 Simple and Effective Ways to Deliver Outstanding Service

Quality customer service is an intangible asset that can make your company stand out from the crowd of competitors.

By Anna Hovind

Think back to the last time you got really great customer service.

Was it at your local grocery store?  Your doctor’s office?  An expensive restaurant? If you’re drawing a blank, then you’ve got lots of company.

Dedication to customer service has become a lost art at many businesses, the majority of which do not understand why this simple tool is so invaluable.

Courtesy and communication are the two linchpins of our client service philosophy at Firstline Creative and Media. It’s important to communicate pleasantly, effectively and efficiently with clients to let them know you’re on their side and working behind the scenes on their behalf.

Best of all, great client service doesn’t cost your company a dime.  But neglecting it can cost you a valuable client relationship.

Want to learn more?  Here are ten tried-and-true tips for delivering outstanding client service.

1. Be timely in your response. When the client calls or emails with a question or request, don’t wait until the next day to get back with the answer.

2. Anticipate your client’s needs. Based on our experience, we can expect the client to ask certain questions when working on a broadcast or creative services project.  We anticipate these questions and provide the answers before the client has the chance to ask.

3. Remember the 5 W’s. Send emails that are thorough and to the point. Tell your client the “who, what, when, where and why.” When your messaging is clear and concise, you can avoid needless email exchanges that blow up their in-box with a series of rapid-fire questions and responses.

4. Provide delivery deadlines.  Your clients will appreciate it when you tell them what you’re going to deliver and when. Instead of telling them, “I’ll get back to you soon,” it’s better to say “I’ll have that to you by noon tomorrow.”

5. Offer frequent updates. Keep your client abreast of any changes as soon as you learn them.

6. Go above and beyond the call of duty. Deliver more than you promise. Always make sure your clients know it’s okay to reach out to you any time they need anything at all.

7. Be honest and open with clients. Provide your client with your best counsel so they have the information to make an informed decision.

8. Keep their project on schedule.  Lay out a timeline highlighting deadlines to keep the client’s project on track.

9. If you point out a problem, offer a solution. The client may not opt for your solution, but you’ve given them a starting point to develop their own. It also shows you care enough to go the extra mile to help.

10. Be up front about your availability. Let clients know your office hours, and give them advance notice if you’re not going to be available to them. In the business world, no one likes surprises.

In today’s business climate, providing great client service is more than just the right thing to do. It’s also good for the bottom line, because a happy client is likely to become a repeat client.

And better yet, a happy client may refer you to others.

THREE TOP TIPS FOR PICKING THE PERFECT TALENT

Is your talent a super star or a death star? We’ll guide you through a galaxy of booking do’s and don’ts

By Lauren Coffey

There’s a subtle art to pitching and booking media interviews. Creating strong pitches is just one step in the right direction. Cultivating long-lasting and friendly relationships with producers is another important factor in securing a big booking list.

But not every station can be booked from a friendly phone call. Many times producers will ask “What makes this news worthy?” or “How is this relevant to us and our city?” Often, stories we’re asked to pitch have no local tie-ins, or maybe the story is stale and has been run a hundred times. In both cases, we’ll get a “thanks, but no thanks” from producers.

Fortunately, there is something that can be a game-changer for these wary producers: good talent. Before choosing a spokesperson, there are several questions marketing and PR teams should ask themselves.

What makes a talent bookable?

I’ve worked on plenty of projects where the talent is a physician, or dietitian or pet specialist. This type of spokesperson may be well-versed in their field and have plenty of knowledge to share with viewers, but they don’t always sway the stations to book. The problem is, stations love having local information, and that means local experts.  

Most markets have an array of local doctors, experts and nutritionists to choose from. More often than not, if a producer has the option to bring in a local spokesperson in-studio, they will do that, instead of booking a satellite tour with a national talent. If it’s not in your budget to choose a more well-known (aka, celebrity) expert, the best way to book a lesser-known spokesperson is to fill the interview with local statistics or extremely relevant information.

 Who is the best talent for your particular topic?

From my experience, to garner the strongest bookings possible, using a celebrity as the main talent or one of the talents, is the best solution. Now, we all know getting someone huge is probably never going to happen; I can’t really see Brad Pitt or George Clooney talking about a new medicine that helps with outie belly button syndrome. 

But if you have the budget, springing for the celebrity name is worth the cost. Producers will be more likely to book a story they rejected previously if there’s a celebrity spokesperson attached to it.

Choosing a celebrity does have its occasional downsides. For instance, if you have the top-billed actor from an NBC show, stations from other network affiliates may balk rather than book. Also, I’ve had a hard time placing stories where the talent is an older celebrity or a lesser-known cooking or home improvement star. If using a chef, pick someone who’s had a TV show for many years; someone who’s talked about in all forums. Before her fall from grace, we used Paula Dean’s sons Bobby and Jamie, and they booked fairly well, all because they were associated with their larger-than-life mama.

Avoid using a former contestant from season 2 of a show that’s now in its 145^th year, because that person is no longer relevant, and unfortunately, was probably never that famous in the first place. If the name of the talent does not resonate with younger producers, then chances are, money is being wasted.

What should we look for in celebrity SMT talent?

The most important quality in a celebrity SMT talent is relevance. On several occasions, I’ve had to pitch a celebrity who’s been off the market for many years. At one point, maybe 10-15 years ago, they were wildly popular, but over the course of time, chances are that fading star has fallen into the black hole of popularity. Now, I personally am a TV junkie, so if a star appeared in a TV show throughout the 90’s or new millennium, I know who they are. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world does. 

I’ve seen first-hand how well the “flavor of the month” can book. If a reality star on the hottest show is pitched on the same day as a less-relevant but more talented actor, chances are the producer is going to choose the reality star.

One of the most successful tours I ever worked on was with a reality TV star, Miss Kay from Duck Dynasty. Producers went crazy over her, not because she was some award-winning actress, or a well-known activist, but because she happened to be the mom on of the country’s most popular TV shows at that time. News is current and late breaking, and the same thing applies to talent.

Recently, we did a project with Nina Dobrev of The Vampire Diaries, who booked tremendously well, especially on CW outlets (the network which airs the program). Since Nina was popular, young, and not associated with any one of the major TV networks, she was quite bookable. 

      

Bottom line - media outlets always want the newest and hottest celeb or athlete. In fact, attaching a top celebrity to the worst story, will improve its bookability. Creating a non-profit pitch with a popular star as the spokesperson, is a great way to hit media gold.  And of course, remembering my top 3 tips -- and keeping up with the latest celebrity trends – will go a long way toward making your project a success.

The Medium is Still the Message

By Anna Hovind

Wikipedia: "The medium is the message" is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.

Without a doubt, the medium for message delivery has evolved in ways Marshall McLuhan could never have imagined when his book, The Medium is the Message, was published in 1967.

Fast forward to 2014, and McLuhan’s message remains as relevant as ever, even if the medium for transmission now includes technology and services that never existed in the 1960’s: personal computers, tablets and smart phones capable of bombarding us with messages 24/7. 

To dig a little deeper into McLuhan’s thesis, the definition of a “medium” is more than just electronic devices like your smartphone or television. It extends to any type of visual that appears on a screen or a printed page.

All of this means that today’s Public Relations practitioner needs to be aware that less is more when it comes to product mentions, and even more importantly, product placement on satellite media tours.

Consider the message you are transmitting via the visuals on set

Here at Firstline Creative & Media, we do a great deal of work in the world of SMTs, and we coach our clients that the spoken word is only a portion of the message. The elements included in the set design can speak volumes.  At times, the message delivered by the medium – in this case, the products placed on the set - comes through much more loudly than anything the spokesperson may say.

News versus commercial

From a newsperson’s perspective, there should never, ever be any verbal or visual branding during an interview. To a newsroom, product placement on the set and product mentions delivered by a spokesperson are the stuff that you see and hear during a commercial break, not during a newscast. 

But with a mindful approach to the medium and its message, it is possible to deftly include products on the set, so long as you meet a few criteria:

• The product should not be the only element on the set.
• The product should be tastefully mixed in with several generic, non-commercial elements so that it does not stand out.
• The product placement should make sense in the setting and should not look out of place. 
• There should be very few products on the set, not an entire bookshelf filled with them.

Less is definitely more

Following these 4 simple steps can help your SMT achieve much better results and also offer your spokesperson a greater level of credibility with the outlet, and ultimately, the audience you are trying to reach. While your client may want the entire set to be emblazoned with his product, it will send the wrong message to newsrooms. If the product placement is screaming “commercial,” stations are most likely going to reject the segment entirely on the basis of the visuals.

So take it from the team that’s been there, done that, and seen the aftermath. The medium truly is the message. And if you forget, the results of your campaign will remind you.