The Great Gulf Of Mexico Deep South Road Trip

It’s almost here. Our epic American road trip.  

We decided to fork out for the flights to America for a holiday this year - myself and Kirsty - but we didn’t just to want to go to one place. We wanted to do something really worthwhile, really memorable.  

So we’re not just visiting one place. We’ve visiting dozens. And we’re not just staying in one state, we’ll be seeing five.  

From Florida to Texas, by way of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  

We want to sample as much of the local culture as possible, try as many different foods as we can (we’re likely to return of few stones heavier) and see as many different cool and unusual sights as we can. And we’re probably going to be touristy as well of course- it’s kind of obligatory.  

I’m writing this blog not to rub it in - the weather is horrendous and summer is pretty much dead and gone yes - but I don’t want to gloat. (not much anyway!).  

No, this blog is so that you can follow our road trip, share our experiences, and hopefully, make some recommendations too! If you’ve been to this area before, or know anything about it, then please do share with us - tips, tricks, best places to visit - we want to know!  

And if you’re in the area, or know anyone in the area, then let us know too! We’d love to meet up with some locals and have them show us the sights.  

I’m also writing this blog so that any of my clients here know I’m not going to be around for a couple of weeks, so make the most of me while you can! And who knows, I might even pick up some new copywriting clients in the US too. That’d be, as they say over there, awesome.  

Our journey begins at Manchester Airport this coming Saturday - no doubt I’ll have some tales to tell and moaning to do about our experiences flying and with security there. Then, it’s down to Bradenton in Florida, before we drive all the way up the West Florida coast to Tallahassee. 

We stay overnight in Tallahassee, then it’s along the Panhandle coast through Panama City, and into Pensacola or Alabama Gulf Shores. We’re not sure whether to stay in Pensacola, or Orange Beach, AL. yet, so if you know anything about the area, do speak up! 

From there, it’s through Mobile, to Biloxi, and into the Big Easy - New Orleans. Or NOLA as the locals apparently call it. That would be an experience any time of the year, but we just so happen to be arriving in time for Southern Decadence - their big gay pride event! There will be some interesting sights to say the least.  

After New Orleans, it’s through the Cajun Swamps, up to Baton Rouge, and around to Houston, Texas. We’ll visit family there, do some sightseeing and travelling around, and then, it’s into Texas proper, to San Antonio and Austin. Back to Houston, and homeward bound.  

10 days. 1,603 miles. $275 in petrol. 1, hopefully incredible, trip.  

Wish us luck.  

And don’t forget to watch this space for regular blogs (though they may be after the fact) about our trip!  

Would A Smile Really Hurt? Good and Bad Customer Service

I hate bad customer service. Seriously. I detest it. 

I don’t see any reason for poor customer service. It’s your job. I am here to buy a service or a product from you, willing to part my cash with you. The chances are, you have lots of competitors, lots of other places I could go and spend my money.  

But I’ve chosen you. The least you can do is smile. 

For me, good customer service should be a given. It really doesn't take much to be polite and smile. To be honest, I tend to get those things from strangers in the street, so I don’t think it’s too much to expect that the staff assistant or service member I have to deal with when I want something does the same thing.  

Brands and companies should place good customer service at the forefront of their values. Without a doubt. It’s the largest amount of interaction your customers will have with you, and you need to make it count. It should be memorable for all the right reasons. Good customer service, means a happy customer. And a happy customer means lots of repeat business (regardless of price!) and lots of referrals. 

Bad customer service means poor relationships, and lots of negativity. In the social - “complain at the touch of button to millions of people” - world we live in, that isn’t a good thing.  

Good customer service isn’t hard. Not at all. Maybe you need to teach a few points to your staff, but if you’ve got the right people on your team, it should come naturally. You just have to remember that the customer wants to give you their money, so all you have to do is help and make it as easy as possible, remembering these simple tips:

• The customer is always right. Bitch and moan about us as much as you like when we’re gone, but when you’re dealing with us, 999/1000 we’re right.
  
  
• Smile at us and ask us a nice question. It goes a long way.
  
  
• Offer us a solution to any problem we have, or apologise and explain why you can’t. Explanations make a HUGE difference.
  
  
• Don’t try and give us something we don’t want. Don’t push your luck with us, we want to buy x, not y and z. Ask us nicely if we’re interested, because we might have missed it, but then don’t push anything else.
  
  
• Just make us feel welcomed, appreciated and like we’ve got a good deal. If we know you’ve genuinely wanted us there, and really tried to help, it makes us happy, and makes us want to come back.  

Thinking about customer service before profit margins, will actually increase your profit. If I want the expensive product, but you actually think the lower spec product would be better suited, tell me! I’ll be happy I’ve saved money and you’ve been honest, and trust you 100% in the future - so I will be back.  

Tell me I’ll be better off elsewhere, and the chances are I’ll value your honesty so much I’ll actually stay and buy something anyway.  

I went to the Halifax the other day, and the cashier was new. She either hadn't been trained well, or didn’t give a shit. Because it seemed like she didn’t give a shit about me, and almost despised the fact that I had given her some work to do. And it was just some basic tasks for a bank. All she had to do was smile.  

Then we went back another day, and had some really friendly advisors help us. They were pleasant, polite, and personal. And it made a big difference. The advisor had loads of technical problems with the computer, and messed things up, but, it didn’t matter, because we liked her.  

Today, I went shopping at a new Tesco store in Greenfield. Great experience. The staff couldn’t have been friendlier or more polite. And even though I had to wait in a queue for 5 minutes because I was overcharged on a item, the supervisor had prepared everything for me, and the staff member was cheerful and apologetic. They made an issue I had no longer exist. Perfect.  

This example from Argos shows how well good customer service works. 

 

I’m not saying you have to get “down with kids,” but identifying with the problems of your customers, and offering them meaningful help is all it takes to keep their business and generate more, instead of stirring up a social media storm. Argos wasn’t actually all that helpful here, but just the acknowledgement and the response made a massive difference.  

And then there’s United Airlines.  

Whatever you do when you set up your brand’s customer service procedure, don’t do this. Never ever do this. 

Generic letters are usually pretty obvious to spot no matter what, but here, well, there’s just no way out of it. There’s nothing to say really is there? Taking an extra 3 minutes to write a personal response can really be the difference between continued disgruntlement and rising anger, and the diffusing of a situation.  

This one though, you just have to laugh. 

Good customer service - it should be a given. And if your brand needs help and advice on the experience your customers, clients and guests have, well, this Manchester copywriter is always happy to help! 

Is Your Website Up To Scratch?

Whilst we might all say "don't judge a book by its cover," first impressions count. 

Sure, you might get a second and a third chance to make an impression, and people may come to love and trust you, your website, and your brand over time, but the fact is, they are going to judge you straight away. 

In a bad, in a good way, in just a 'way'. It's just what we do. It's human nature. 

So what do people think when they visit your website? Does it leap off the page at them? Does it look really sleek and natural? Does it impress?

Or does it make them think.... "erm....." and do that weird sideways thing with their mouth and a shifty glance into the sky? 

Your website is an extension of you. It should represent you, and impress your clients. Just like you do. If it doesn't, well, if someone didn't make a good first impression in an interview with you, what would you do? 

I recently came across a couple of websites whilst working for a digital marketing agency in Manchester, which I just had to mention as examples of something not being up to scratch. They're perhaps different extremes, but still, it's worth mentioning both. 

Now, I don't mean to be mean here. My Mother always taught me it wasn't nice to pick on people. But, we can learn from the mistakes of others. That was always a good teaching point. 

Ok, here's the first site, see if you can spot the issue:

http://www.carleasing.co.uk/

See it? You might not have done, in which case, it probably made an alright impression. But if you're a grammar freak like me, or someone who just understands English, then you probably got a little bit confused. 

How about now, if I tell you to read the text carefully? Have you ever listened a new car? 

A website which doesn't make any sense... would you trust them enough to lease a car from them?

And then there is this site. Just spend a few seconds taking it in. Serioulsy:

http://www.lingscars.com/

You have to give 'Ling' some credit. He deserves an award for cramming the most number of dazzingly, shiny, flashy, and downright weird features onto a single page. 

I mean really, why is there a chicken? And a stewardess in a life jacket? And a singing, female, Korean soldier? On a website about leasing cars.....

I imagine this is what going on a serious trip looks like! 

And if that's the first impression I get, would I trust this site? 

Well, at least it's memorable. 

But the point is, don't think about your website as an afterthought. It's the front face of your business. The first thing your customers will see. Make it count. 

Depression Is Not A Laughing Matter

It was really sad to hear about Robin Williams' death. Really sad. Normally celebrity deaths don't usually concern me that much. It's not that I don't care, it's just they don't really affect me - I don't know them. 

But for some reason Robin Williams is different. Not that I knew him either. 

I think maybe because he was a big part of my childhood, it now feels like something is missing. He might not have been revered as a great classic actor, but he was damn good at what he did.

And so many of my favourite childhood films were so good because of him: Aladdin, Jumanji, Hook, Mrs Doubtfire. (I cannot believe they were planning a sequel to this!)

Then there were the less well known films which showed a great side of Williams: Bicentennial Man, Patch Adams, Insomnia, and Jack.

And the classics: Dead Poets Society, which I've never seen but now must, and Good Will Hunting, which I need to rewatch. And where it all properly began...Mork and Mindy.

Was Miley Cyrus a bit over the top when she tweeted how she couldn't stop crying over someone she'd never met? Maybe a tad yes. But, it does go to show how much of an impact he had on people.

And that's the sad part.

Did he know? Did he know how he affected so many people? How much he meant to people around the world? How many tributes would come pouring in for him?

If he could have known, would it have changed anything?

Depression, in its truest, deepest form, is a terrible disease. But it's probably one of the diseases of which the least is known. And one of the most stigmatised. It's highly likely that knowing how much he was appreciated wouldnt have made any difference to Robin Williams. Because, from what I know about it, depression is hard to cure.

Because Williams did have help. He was open about his illnesses and his problems, he sought help and he spoke about it, and joked about it. He wanted to help others.

But sadly, he couldnt help himself, and the disease got the better of him.

Perhaps one good thing can come of this. Perhaps his death will draw more attention and focus to depression as an illnesses, and more research can be done to cure it.

Who knows, maybe laughter could be part of the cure?

The Hype Surrounding The Tour De France

I really don’t get it. I mean, I know it’s passed now - been and gone and I wasn’t quick enough in writing a blog post about it at the time (This is how not to blog ladies and gentlemen), but it still seemed worthy of discussing with you all. 

Why was there so much hype, anticipation and excitement surrounding The Tour de France coming through Yorkshire, Cambridge and London? I really didn’t get it.

 

The roads around where I live, on the edge of the Pennines with Yorkshire, were completely closed off when the Tour de France ventured over this way. It was absolutely havoc as two major cross country routes were shut, and just about every road in the surrounding villages was turned into one way streets or blocked off completely. I wouldn’t mind, but Glossop is a good 20 minutes from the furthest point the cyclists were getting too.  

There were signposts miles and miles away for the car park to go and watch when the tour come through Holmfirth. And people did travel from miles, battling traffic left, right, and centre in order to get a glimpse of the tour passing through.  

Because that’s all you get. A glimpse. A blur of hundreds of cyclists in bright coloured jerseys passing in front of you for all of 10 seconds, and then they’re gone. Was that really worth the journey and the wait? Unless you’re on a difficult corner where there might be crashes, I just don’t see the excitement.  

Now, I know what you’re thinking: he just doesn’t like cycling. But that’s not true. I’ve always quite enjoyed cycling, both on and off road, and in the gym. It’s a great form of exercise and it’s great to get out in the fresh air on your bike and go somewhere. I wish I did it more often to be honest, and got a decent bike too!

So that’s not my problem. And I don’t really mind if people want to go and watch a race for just a few seconds. It’s not what I’d want to do, but that’s their choice, fine.

No, what I really object to is the fact that everyone has gone to so much trouble for the Tour de France. Doesn’t its name kind of give away where it should be held? A tour of France. What’s it doing in Yorkshire, in England? 

I think it’s great that we have such a strong British presence in the race. It’s hardly insightful to say that we’re actually very good at cycling in Britain. And I fully support our British athletes. So why are we holding a French race in our country? 

We don’t like the French. I’m sorry, it’s just the way it is. There’s a long history, and a strange underlying ‘friendly/joking hatred’ of the French. So why are we welcoming their race here? Why did people decorate buildings and get all into French themed stuff in England? 

Shouldn’t we be putting our own on? 

Shouldn’t we have a tour of Yorkshire, or a Great British cycle race? Wouldn’t that be amazing, to show off all of our incredible countryside and scenery to the rest of the world in our own race? 

It would be perfect for tourism, welcoming the best cyclists from around the globe, the world’s media, and the supporters who come with it all. It would benefit the whole of England, not just certain areas. And it would be something to be truly proud of. I'd happily contribute some copywriting to that! 

Why are we trying to embrace a long established French race, when we could be creating our very own race, just for Britain, that we could build on year upon year.  

Surely that would be better, wouldn’t it?