How to Lose a Customer - Dumb Marketing Move

This week’s Dumb Marketing Award goes to GoToWebinar

Just when I think I have to find another example of a dumb marketing move, there it is happening to me. This week we are searching for a webinar software for a new webinar series, “Smart Marketing for Small Business”™. In our search, we decided to go with GoToWebinar (GoToMeeting's sister company).

I call and give my information to the person who answered, that’s a good move, a person answering the phone. Then she told me that she is going to transfer me to a sales person who can answer my questions about features. She transfers me and I get voicemail. Odd, but I thought, maybe this isn’t too bad. They called me back within 30 minutes.

I have a good talk with the rep, he answers all of my questions and he says that he’ll email his contact info and the set up instructions. Perfect! An hour later, there’s no email so I call back and the phone just rings and rings. Eventually, I get a recording to leave a message, so I did.

I waited another hour and half and still no email or no call back from our first call. So I called back and someone answered! I explained the situation, told them the reps name so he would get the sale, and I was put on hold for 15 minutes. The receptionist didn’t tell me why I was on hold for so long, or that the rep was on the other line with a customer. Nothing. So I just hung up.

So, we call back again since we were still waiting on the sign up email or a phone call back, and this time we left a very disappointed voicemail regarding their service, since no one answered again. We explained that their lack of attention to our phone calls and our interest in PURCHASING made us question their product.

All of this happened over two days ago, we never received a phone call or the promised email, so we don’t think this is just human error. We think it is lack of organization and management. This all boils down to that they lost a sale.

So now, we’re searching for another company.

Lesson Learned: Even though you have good rapport with a customer and they said they want to buy your product, follow through and attention to details is a very important quality. Just look at GoToWebinar. They lost a customer and now we’re telling others about it. “Take care of your customers or your competition will.” - Anonymous

Cashier's Customer Service is Important - Dumb Marketing Move

This week’s dumb marketing move goes to Wawa!


For those of you who don’t know what or who Wawa is, it is a convenience store located in PA and NJ. They do a lot of the right advertising and promotions to get the constant flow of people. They have definitely made a name for themselves in these neck of the woods. They also have a lot of die hard fans but there is one thing that has stuck out to me when I’m in line at Wawa.


Their customer service is lacking.


Convenience stores are just that, convenient and they get you in and out quickly with your goods in the bag. But is that the only thing we want?

Here is the scenario I’ve seen multiple times:

The cashier rings someone up, hands them their change and before that customer has their money back in a wallet or before they grab their purchase off of the counter the cashier is ringing up the next person. This not only makes it awkward for the two customers, it is just plain ol' bad customer service to do that. This customer is more than likely a repeat customer too.


This just disgusts me when I’m the next person in line. It makes ME feel like I’m being rude and pushy. I’ve said to a cashier before, “I can wait” and they look at me like I have two heads. Unfortunately, our society has made us think that we just want fast service, not good service. Well friends, society is dead wrong and it hasn’t been the first time. As customers, we will pay for good service because it’s rare to find.


Lesson Learned: As a CEO or manager, shop your store like your customers would. Pay attention to the little things in customer service. They add up quickly. If you see a problem over and over again that means that something must be done. It might be training; it might come down to saying something to just one employee. But you must must must pay attention to your customer service. Your bottom line will thank you.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Hey YOU! No matter how much you advertise and publicize in order to stay in front of a prospect or client every day there is an aspect of marketing you might not be doing and it can benefit you and fit into any budget you have.

Promotional products, previously caked ad specialties are imprinted with your name, logo and slogan. They are appreciated, in many cases desired, but also have multiple marketing applications. 

From a small gift to the assistant of a decision maker, driving traffic to your booth at a trade show to enhancing the response rate of a mailing piece. Look into developing some creative resources in this field and you can add valuable creative resource. It's a multi-billion dollar business because it works for businesses, big and small.

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