http://dealarchitect.typepad.com/deal_architect/2008/02/process-angio-1.html

Paula Berg who blogs for SW happened to read it, reached out to me, then reached to her customer relations and I just got a 4 page response to my complaint letter. Not all of it makes me happy but the rep must have taken hours to research my customer track record and the issues I had raised.

One of my issues in my letter was they had taken away my joy of turning on my GPS and tracking our flight on my laptop. I wrote the letter in late Dec. This week the SW magazine showed the policy reversed and they allow it again. Since the mag was probably finalized in mid Feb, they moved quickly. (in fairness, others probably complained also about the GPS issue so my letter was not the only driver)

I thought I would share this positive impact of blog story …

I rather enjoyed reading the exchanges here in your comments. “Dah-Veed” indeed. This was like watching really smart people do a three stooges bit with all the nose pulling and eye poking, and a healthy dose of the nyuck-nyuck-nyucking. Thanks!

I think Jennifer was right that this whole exchange was a textbook example of the dance of the blogosphere.

Perhaps we get too tangled up in what it means to be a practioner or “down in the trenches”. To my mind this is a lot like scientists debating whether colleagues working in applied roles have turned their backs on pure research of the field, or whether those working only on the theory have their heads pointlessly in clouds.

I was also able to share other parts of the article with Ella. Like where I told her how even adults still count to 3!

Always time spent well here David.

Thanks for letting us just enjoy it.

-David

Valid point, and I do agree with you. However, from the consumers perspective there is no difference between wanting feedback and acting on feedback. The assumption is that if a company is going to ask for info, that they are then going to do something with it. If you don’t act then don’t ask.

As one of the leaders of a large corporation, how do you deal with corporate social media/interactive marketing/comments from readers/etc? How restricted are you by corporate policy?

I’d love to create a list of a few (interview-like) questions for you (if you be so kind as to answer them) and then post the questions along with your responses on my blog.

In fact I would love to ask the same set of questions to a couple corporate leaders and then see how the answers vary. I would love to work with you to create a set of the “hairy” questions that nobody talks about or is willing to answer.

What say you?

Love the analogy of the Potemkin villages (parents are from Russia).

There is a huge distinction between the hollow promise of “tell us what you think” and “you asked, we listened, and we changed.”

This, I will assume based on my own experience, is the hardest part of being on the front lines of a corporate social media marketing/corporate blog/online customer satisfaction initiative: it’s easy to listen. Anyone can build an online suggestion engine. Anyone can build one of them there communities — but will it change the corporate returns policy? Extend your warranty? Put the knobs on the otherside of the dingbat?

Too many companies are erecting Potemkin villages for “feedback” and “conversations” that go no where. Like erecting suggestion boxes on top of trash cans.