Internet Marketing SERVICES
June 24, 2013
I just got off the phone with a client who was letting me know how satisfied she was with the work of the team here at SEOhaus. She was incredibly enthusiastic in her praise and it was wonderful to be on the receiving end of that. I have been thinking about what she has said, and I think it’s really says something about what people value about internet marketing services.
So what did she say?
She talked about how the team here went above and beyond their expectations. She used words like “attentive,” “caring,” and talked about how she really felt that we went the extra mile to “serve.”
I know, I know… Talking about ourselves like this is probably coming across as a bit self-serving, but bear with me because there is a point.
In all her talk of how pleased she has been with our internet marketing services, she never once used the terms “rankings,” “improved traffic” or “page 1.”
The more I think about this, the more this fact impacts on me.
Obviously, I don’t think she would have been as happy if we were not getting results for her. But the point is that although she is satisfied with the internet marketing services that we are providing, what she truly appreciates is the customer service.
This has also reminded me of an incident that happened when I went to a restaurant not too long ago. It was a big, chain restaurant where the food is pretty much the same no matter which branch you go to. There was a brief wait (5-10 minutes), so my husband and I decided to put our names down and shift about five feet to the left in order to watch the hockey game while we waited. Fifteen minutes later and we watch as they proceed to immediately seat a family of four who have just walked in.
Not cool.
I was quite reserved, considering how hungry I had been at the time. I simply said “Excuse me, we put our names down because we were told there was a wait. Why haven’t we been seated yet?” And do you know what her response was? “Well I didn’t know that.”
That was it. No apology. No solution. No customer service.
Now, would this shocking lack of good service have affected the quality of the food? Probably not. It would have been the same food I had many times before and I am sure I would have enjoyed it. Regardless, my husband and I left, and we haven’t been back to that restaurant since. Nor will we return.
Both of these situations have really made me think a lot about my role as an account manager. There are a lot of things that an account manager is responsible for (managing all of the SEO activities on each campaign; assessing the health and progress of each website; predicting, preparing and reacting to any search engine updates; keeping ahead of SEO news and changes in internet marketing services; being a clairvoyant, time-traveling, SEO Jedi; etc. etc.)
But probably the most important role is being the face and the heart of our internet marketing services. I mean, there is a reason it’s called “service” and it really is important that we don’t forget or neglect that. It is our job as account managers to communicate to our clients how important they are to us and to our business. It is our job to answer when our clients call, to respond to emails with a thoughtful reply, to listen to and understand the needs of our clients and do what we can (within reason) to accommodate them.