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Social Service for Success - Simple

I love stories like this one from a small iPhone app developer that acts the way I wish some larger companies would - and in the process become wildly successful through service. This is such a simple formula. Why don't more act this way?

"This is our customer service approach:
1. Answer ALL emails and tweets.
2. Build a support site that is SEO’d and contains all the questions people ask (support.gymu.com).
3. Find our evangelists and love them.
4. Find our haters and love them more than our own mothers.
5. Do whatever it takes to fix a customer’s problem, even if that means meeting them to give them pre-release code!"

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Comments (14)

Oct 07, 2009
Jof Arnold said...
Wow, thanks Steve! We really appreciate those comments!

Customer service is mega important to us and we try really hard (as the post hints at) but as a business we're not all that successful (yet). If you want to see a company that has incredible customer service AND is successful financially check out Flirtomatic (also a UK company) - they not only provide a very human approach but they've managed to scale it also. I'm continually in awe of them!

--
GymFu Jof.

Oct 07, 2009
Aaron Landry said...
Times like this I wish Posterous had Tumblr's "reblog" feature.
Oct 07, 2009
stevesipress said...
Simple. But seems to be the hardest to follow.
Oct 08, 2009
FreeNuts said...
I think it is an attitude to treat your client as God with detailed
Oct 08, 2009
FreeNuts said...
Sorry for the typo, what I want to say is "I think it is an attitude to treat your client as God with attentive and satisfactory service".
Oct 08, 2009
Citizen To said...
There's a typo in the link: "gymfu".
Oct 08, 2009
Sebastian Keil said...
Actually, I every company would behave like this, you wouldn't have to spend all that much on marketing...
Oct 08, 2009
Ahad Bokhari said...
Excellent insight, especially like #4!
Oct 08, 2009
Melissa Barker said...
It has been my experience that you can waste a lot of time trying to turn around a determined detractor. The time is probably better spent getting your side of the story out. For example, those that attack Walmart endlessly are unlikely to change their views. Walmart can more effectively counter these haters by counter their claims and getting their comment ranked higher than the detractor's remarks.
Oct 08, 2009
Jof Arnold said...
I know what you mean, Melissa, and knowing when to quit is a great skill. But people who attack you with all their energy have two important characteristics 1) a lot of energy/passion 2) they feel like you are letting them down. Combined that can make your life quite hard, but the value of turning around someone by making them feel valued can far outweigh the negatives; GymFu is my second startup, and both companies the haters became our greatest evangelists.

Unfortunately I learnt this skill only recently, but since then I realized it's something you can apply to startups and Customer Services - it works for every aspect of your life. I hope to write a detailed post about it in future - it's been a really powerful concept for me.

Oct 08, 2009
Jof Arnold said...
correction:

"...apply to MORE THAN JUST startups and Customer Services..."

Oct 09, 2009
Mary West said...
Love the simple rules and Im willing to believe that they are as effective as honey is to bees.
Oct 11, 2009
charly said...
Great simple rules to follow, may just be hard to follow if you have a big user database. BTW the support link in 2. is broken, it should be http://www.support.gymfu.com/ "Gymfu" not "Gymu"
Dec 29, 2009
Malcolm Bastien said...
Scalable? Or, scalability in a large organization?

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