English author Douglas Adams wrote, Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news, which follows its own rules.
Ive commented before on the almost unnatural speed of the coconut wireless as it exists in Fiji.
There is no doubt that its helped along nowadays by email, SMS and mobile phones. It actually becomes newsworthy to us when information is NOT communicated in a timely manner.
The countrys tsunami scare a few months back stirred up a lot of controversy over whether the authorities should have the ability to implement some kind of warning system using the mobile network when human lives are threatened.
Many letters were written to the paper, various comments were solicited from officials and then the story appeared to just go away.
Are we less vulnerable today then we were at that time or has our attention span shortened as tomorrows news enters our heads?
On a typical day, Ill go through each of the countrys newspapers, listen to the radio on the way to work, read the New York Times online, follow any number of website feeds and if I have time, watch some TV in the evening.
Thats entirely too much information for me to effectively manage and retain. This difficulty could be a result of my brain-cell-damaging years at university or simply because Im getting older. Because Im unable to actually remember what I did at university to damage my brain, that is a more likely scenario.
Anyway...what was I going on about? Oh yeah. Information.
My head is working overtime these past two weeks with all the news going on, specifically in the telecommunications industry.
Theres so much I want to write but out of respect for just adding to the noise, Ill hold back for the time being until things are a bit clearer.
Suffice to say, there has never been a more exciting time to be over-paying for services as right now. Were on the proverbial edge of the cliff where things begin to change.
In the past 10 days, weve seen two VoIP services launched and an Internet provider double their speeds.
Thats about the same amount of activity as Ive seen during the past five years, too. As a marketer, it has me thinking a lot about buzz.
Buzz is a word that has traditionally been used in the marketing industry for calling attention to a product or service, often a new one.
Its also a measurement of the publics reaction to a marketing campaign. These days, its harder and harder to generate buzz using the same old methods. If you imagine bees in a hive, how easy is it to pick out the sound of a single bee from the rest of them?
This is our world now.
Its too easy to become deafened by the buzz around us. From business and marketing messages to newspapers and government announcements, we hear so much about so many things. What stands out?
Id argue that what really tends to stand out is the good stuff and it rises to the top through the recommendations of our family, friends and other sources we trust. The things that stand out also tend to make us happy or remind us of the things we love.
The things that stand out are the items we want to see more of. Bad news doesnt fit into that category.
Back in April of this year, I was reading a blog post on the website of Freshbooks, a Canadian company whose online billing software we use at Oceanic. The post had nothing to do with their product and instead, was an extremely positive review about a snack food called Triscuits and a few newly introduced flavours which, according to the post, were very delicious. Triscuits were a regular staple in my house growing up as a child and reading the post brought back good memories.
I wrote a comment on their blog jokingly asking that the company not discuss foods which Im unable to purchase here in Fiji. I felt it was cruel and unusual punishment, after all.
Last week, I returned to my office from a morning meeting to discover a package on my desk. In it were two boxes of the new Triscuit flavours, sent to me by the guys at Freshbooks.
To write that they made my day really doesnt do it justice. It was such a simple action on their part but reinforced to me how good of a company they are. This is not a once-off for Freshbooks, either.
Theyve provided support to me a number of times before and it has always been done at a similar level of professionalism. They are squarely focused on their customers. This is their buzz, too.
It quickly got me thinking about businesses here and which ones really go the extra mile from my perspective.
This is entirely a subjective opinion and I have no connection to these companies outside of just trusting them. Its that trust more than anything else, however, that makes me want to give them more business.
Thats right...I actually WANT to pay them for their services.
How many businesses can you say that about?
Tanz Auto in Lami is one of these companies. My experiences getting overcharged and mismanaged by so many auto mechanics helps Tanz stand out for me.
Two Thursdays ago, before the long weekend, a part broke on my gas pedal effectively rendering my car un-driveable. I called up Tommy from Tanz, he came over to my office and put a temporary fix on the issue right then and there. Like my previous experiences with his company, they have all been more than satisfactory.
Good buzz, Tommy.
Prasads Upholstery near Flagstaff is another shop Ive had a great experience with. I needed a job done a year or so ago. They scheduled me quickly, did the job well and even called me ahead of time to let me know that it was finished and all was good.
They provided advice, support and it was all done at what I considered to be a fair price. Ive been wanting to go back and have them do something else for me but Ive got nothing to fix. Instead, I just recommend them to people. Nice buzz.
Is it hard for larger companies to have these kinds of customer interactions? I dont think so.
In fact, every now and then a letter appears in The Fiji Times praising individual workers at various companies for going the extra mile. What appears to be hard for many companies, though, is putting processes in place which encourage their staff to provide anything more than the bare minimum of service.
Something as small as giving away a box of crackers can keep a customer for life, not to mention a walking billboard for your business.
Ill finish with a link of the week.
If you find yourself struggling under the clutter, try removing some bad news from your information plate.
Go sign up for the Daily Good newsletter (www.dailygood.org).
Its a free, daily email that delivers a little bit of inspiring goodness without any costs, advertising or agendas.
Nice buzz there, too.
Jonathan Segal is the managing director and CEO of Oceanic Communications (www.oceanic.com.fj), an advertising, marketing and technology agency in Suva. Feel free to send comments and topic suggestions to talanoa@oceanic.com.f
