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You had me at hello – @GoDaddy reaches out

A couple of weeks ago, I had a domain that was set to auto-renew.  Due to a bank issue, a lack of process understanding on my end, and a bit of confusion on the @GoDaddy interface (which I do think needs a little improvement)… my domain expired.

I logged in a few times to make sure the domain would renew and noticed that I had it set to auto-renew and had updated payment information tied to my account.  I did not, however, tie my payment information with that specific domain.  That was on me and was the lack of process understanding I mentioned.

I called @GoDaddy support and after 10 minutes or so had a good discussion with a helpful support rep.  I was satisfied with his service, but a bit displeased with the end result.  The approximately $11 domain name that I wanted to renew ended up costing me $90 with a redemption fee.  I knew it was my fault and admitted as much, but still felt a little wronged.

As everyone is accustomed to doing, I tweeted my experience.  Granted, I couldn’t describe the whole situation in 140 characters AND I am used to fielding positive and negative feedback from social media at work, but I was still a bit surprised by the response.

Several minutes later I had a voicemail from The Office of the President at GoDaddy.  Not a tweet, not a DM, not an email, but a phone call.  I was immediately happy.

Yes I am a dork with that.  Todd Barr (@tbarr) and I love reaching out via the phone to respond to Twitter complaints or questions we receive at @Bandwidth… and it has a personal touch that is frequently lost.

I had a great conversation with Brian at GoDaddy.  I asked him some questions about how they reach out and deal with social media and his department isn’t responsible for the social media interaction… it was escalated to them.  I love that.  We do that and in my opinion… it matters to customers.

Brian explained in great detail (although not boring and overly extensive), what happened and that they would like to refund me $40.

I was happy.  I messed up, and admitted it.  @GoDaddy went above and beyond just to show that they were listening.  To me, that is what it is all about.

Honestly, it was the best $50 I’ve spent on web hosting and I even bought two additional domains at @GoDaddy last night after the call.

Kudos for listening.  It does matter…

Everyone Needs A Dumb Guy – please vote! Money Back Guarantee.

I feel like I have a killer presentation for Ignite Raleigh.  Too many times companies are made up of similar people with similar interests doing smart things in big conference rooms or dimly lit computer labs, but is that enough?  I say no.

To succeed you need a dumb guy.  As this post goes active, I’ll be sitting in jury duty (fun times) and I can’t actively promote and engage folks to show them why this would be a great presentation.  With that, I ask for a bit of your trust and votes so that I can unveil this to the world at Ignite Raleigh (vote here please).

Money Back Guarantee

If you vote for me and I don’t live up to or exceed your expectations, I encourage you to call me out on my blog or via Twitter.  Five minutes move quickly, but I’m convinced that I can entertain you and add value to your business decisions – especially as they relate to customers.

As a teaser, I’ve included the intro slide below. ;)

If you have any questions that I can answer without spoilers, let me know via comments or Twitter. :)

Again vote here please. :)

Want to improve your company, product, career or self? Be humble.

Chris Moody - HaitiIn 2001, I spent a week in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti helping to build a mission house to allow missionaries better access to the Afghan Village.  It was one of those life changing experiences that doesn’t really hit you until you get home.  The people, the heat, the hard work, the dire conditions, the supreme optimism by folks who don’t even have water to drink and genuine kindness are just a few of the things that I remember.

I’ve always been a bit sarcastic and one to make light of most situations (thanks Dad!) and wanted to describe my experience to my church once we were home.  As typical, I was prepared with a few funny stories (humor always works in presentations) and some very descriptive depictions of what it was like there.  I remembered one of my favorite quotes from the trip, “You don’t know what it is like in Haiti until you’ve seen it, smelt it and felt it.” More >

Avatar, Trust, Community, and Social Media

Have a blue Christmas?

James Cameron’s masterpiece, Avatar, has been garnering rave reviews and I recently had a chance to watch the movie with @waynesutton and @misskatiemo.  I’m not writing a movie review, but I think Avatar is definitely worth watching and there are several themes that led me to this blog post (much to Wayne’s initial laughter).

Trust and community are two common themes and buzz words in social media and there are tons of knowledgeable folks in each area (e.g. @chrisbrogan and @waynesutton).  Avatar’s story is guided by these two concepts.

Possible spoilers below, I recommend you watch the movie before reading this post. More >

Interacting with Social Media Rock Stars like @chrisbrogan from @bmcd67

Brian McDonald (@bmcd67) has a great take on engaging and interacting with influencers in the communities you’re involved in.  As he mentions in his article, we met in 2006 and probably have a better relationship now than when we worked closely together.  We’ve maintained communication, bounced great ideas or problems off of each other, and tried to maintain a good source of feedback in our networks.

In my opinion, that is how we should interact with “rockstars.”  I had a few minutes with Chris (@chrisbrogan duh) and we had a great dialogue and I plan to follow up with him as I advance the discussion further.  Ask good questions and you will find that most people will entertain a discussion.

Read the whole article at Brian’s blog.