1 min. with Superheroes: Richard from getclosure and Nic from SA Rocks
This morning we’re kicking it with Rich, the Marketing & Sales Manager of getclosure, and Nic, the editor of our fave feelgood SA site, SA Rocks. Together they’re taking on a national pastime: complaining about bad service. Tell us a little about the Don’t Complain campaign?
Richard Wright: The Don’t Complain Campaign has been created to get South Africans involved. Loads of people spend loads of time talking about bad service and poor products but not many people actually ...
do anything about it. This campaign is calling on consumers to stop talking about bad service and start doing something about it. Bad service is simply inexcusable, but so is letting bad service slide – SPEAK UP SOUTH AFRICA.
Nic Haralambous: Don’t Complain plays perfectly in to the ethos of SA Rocks and I am incredibly proud to be associated with this campaign. At SA Rocks I push for people to take ownership of their country, province, suburb, town, house, restaurant and actually get involved. This campaign is about involvement. So do me a favour and don’t complain if you don’t want good service. But me? I’m going to speak up!
I sometimes hear rumours from my northern friends that our restaurants and hotels here have a terrible rep for bad service. Is this true? As a proudly SA blog, Ideate would love to know where we stand in terms of customer service worldwide?
R: This is certainly a curveball! Great service is about taking a consumer/supplier interaction and giving it a “WOW”. Restaurants and hotels tend to be the “cannon fodder” for service because essentially the consumer is paying for an experience as well as a product, and to be successful in the hospitality industry you need to get both right. So back to the question – is South Africa getting it right? The answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no. When we get it right we are world class, there is no doubt about that. There are “service gems” all over the country and SA Rocks is a poignant tribute to everything that South Africa does right. The trick is how do we get it right more often? A perfect place to start is by letting someone know when you have a complaint. It’s simple, stop talking – start complaining.
N: Wow that’s a tough question that I’m not sure I’m even qualified to answer. So I won’t. But what I will say is that I have eaten in many restaurants around the globe and I’ve had some shocking treatment as a paying customer almost everywhere at least once. So I think that bad service is so person-specific that it could happen anywhere.
We hear there is new legislation in terms of consumer rights? Can you tell us a little about what’s happening at the moment, and where do we, as disgruntled consumers, stand?
R: Unless you are a lawyer the chances are that you will find the topic of legislation slightly boring so I’m going to keep this short and simple. The Consumer Protection Act, which was passed into law in April 2009, effectively places South African consumers amongst the most protected consumers in the world. From October 2010 consumers will be protected from all sorts of dodgy business practices like “bait marketing” and “small print” contractual clause misunderstandings. [For more info on this, check out the articles that the getclosure team have written on the Consumer Protection Act by clicking here]. To all disgruntled consumers I have one message for you – you have a constitutional right to redress – please start using it.
Ok, test case scenario – I go to a restaurant and find a bug in my burger. The floor manager denies culpability, accusing me of placing it there. What do I do? a) scream like a girl b) punch the chef c) log a complaint with getclosure?
R: Punch the chef, make him scream like a girl and then submit a complaint on getclosure! I’m kidding, in instances of conflict the wisest thing to do is to use your rationality. Punching the chef, although sometimes tempting, won’t help anything. Speak to the floor manager, but when doing so remember humans sometimes get defensive, if the floor manager doesn’t play ball then use getclosure to submit your complaint.
N: Hahahahaha. Hmmm… I’d probably go with a combination of all three and possibly in that order! No, seriously though I go for a firm but respectable complaints approach. Be firm, state your case and stand up for what you believe in. Then, log a complaint with getclosure!
getclosure is a bona-fide entrepreneurial case-study, with some stellar talent behind it. You guys have grown quickly from a standing start. Has it been all plain sailing, and what one piece of advice can you give our budding entrepreneurs out there?
R: I hate to use clichés but it has been one serious roller coaster ride. As with any start up business it’s tough in the beginning and you have to have a stomach for daily/hourly challenges. Thankfully, at getclosure the ups have far outnumbered the downs. The only relevant advice I can give is plan properly, by that I mean plan for the downs and not just the ups. To survive you have to enough cash flow in the bank for the ‘down periods’. Try and secure seed capital as soon as possible, it will help you through the down days more than you know. If you believe you have an idea that will work then do exactly that – WORK. Stick to your guns. Securing the second client is easier than the first, the third easier than the second and so the snowball slowly gathers momentum until you have potential clients contacting you enquiring about your service. If you want to get close to “plain sailing” then hoist your sail as high as possible when the “ups” come around.
Nice advice, and great stuff with the campaign. Thanks guys, you’re doing some stellar work here. Ideate readers, get your asses over to the Don’t Complain campaign and start complaining! Check these other articles out:
SA Rocks: 10 Reasons to encourage your customers to complain
getclosure: DON’T COMPLAIN if you don’t want good service
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. He runs a web marketing company called World Wide Creative and loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. View more articles by Fred.
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