But enough about them…and me. Check the piece below to see what they’re doing this week to help non-profits and other businesses in the Denver/Boulder area, and see what you can do to replicate this in your community. And a question for you: Where’s the best place for the economy to get spurred? Right at home. Read on:

Win a $100 dinner at Strings Restaurant & support your community with tuggl.com

There’s a new way to find good local businesses in Colorado while supporting important causes in our community at the same time. tuggl.com, based right in Denver at 30th & Larimer, helps you determine what mechanic, contractor, restaurant, or any other local business you should use based not only on the service they’ve provided our friends and neighbors, but also on what they’re doing to give back to the community.

tuggl has been hard at work for the last year creating a local business search site that helps people find trustworthy local businesses in an instant. For any business on tuggl, you can see how they rate in terms of service, price, and quality compared to others in the same industry, and additionally, how they rate in giving – volunteering, donating, providing pro bono support – to important community organizations, also compared to others in their industry.

Since launching to community organizations back in March of this year, tuggl has brought in over 100 important causes including community foundations, homeless shelters, food banks, and schools, and found more than 1,000 local businesses in every category who are doing something to give back. You can find your favorite local cause to search for businesses they recommend, connect with Facebook to find out who your friends use, or just go with the best business by their “tuggl rating,” tuggl’s index of a business’s service and giving rank compared to their industry.

tuggl.com ultimately hopes to prove that becoming a “tugglr” (Don’t use an “e” there!) will make your life easier and better while helping improve our community at the same time. They’re officially launching the service, and as part of that are running a “tuggl tastr” contest – an opportunity for you to try tuggl and perhaps one of Denver’s best restaurants at the same time! From now through Friday, September 4th at midnight, every tuggl business review that’s tweeted on Twitter including “#tuggl” is an entry for you to win a $100 gift card to Strings Restaurant. Additionally, tuggl and local web design firm HotPress Web have agreed to donate $1 combined for each of the first 500 reviews done to the Rocky Mountain Institute of International Education, Twitter or not. Either way, a great reason to try tuggl!

Josh Clauss, tuggl’s communications & communities guy, invites you to friend him on Facebook to see how tuggl works with your Facebook friends. He’s big on cafes, so look that up to get a good idea of what’s possible!

tuggl invites you to follow them on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook as well.

Denny’s tried this tack after the Super Bowl, and IHOP did it on “Fat Tuesday”, using a charity bent, so it’s no surprise the sandwich giants are giving it a similar shot. Subway launched their “Five Dollar Footlong” campaign, (not free, but certainly cheap) adding a clever jingle that goes along with it. Denny’s and IHOP took a little heat over the long lines and shortages (and an alleged Nicky Hilton skirmish), but the campaigns went relatively smoothly. Why not get on the cheap/free food bandwagon, right? Everybody’s talking about it and it’s free press…well kind of.

Enter Quizno’s: the Denver-based company decided they would hitch themselves to the “giveaway/charity” variety campaign, providing coupons online for a free sandwich, calling it the Million Sub Giveaway. In addition to the coupons, they have a nomination process for people helping in the community, winners getting a year’s worth of subs – it’s noble, right? Unfortunately, they didn’t work the particulars out with their franchisees, and the backlash is only just beginning.  (This is a situation when the language “at participating locations” really comes into play.)

So, some apparently got free sandwiches, because the “coupon” portion of the campaign is complete, a million subs supposedly given away. The trouble is countless people coast to coast didn’t get one, and they’re vocalizing this on blogs and Twitter. Some people state the coupon only being honored with the purchase of chips and a soda (even though the coupon doesn’t make this requisite) and other patrons say the stores flat-out refused to honor them at all, stating, “We’re a franchise, so we don’t have to.” One hungry commenter said, “We called 6 different stores and all said they wouldn’t honor the coupon.” Does the left hand know what the right is even doing?

So for you small business owners, heed this lesson: make sure any giveaway campaign you run is bullet-proof, otherwise the angry, starving mob could be feeding your business to the media. (photo credit Sakurako Kitsa)

——————————————————————————————————–
Did you get your sandwich or not? Share your story and your thoughts. @bizcoachdeb

An amazing thing happened around the world on February 12, 2009. People gathered in venues, grand and small, to partake in a fundraising effort, punctuated with the use of Twitter. Our local version got coverage in the mainstream press, and around the globe, other people have begun to see that Twitter is more than a spot for people to gather and gab; it’s actually a place for things like Twestival to take root and grow. If money can be raised to the tune of better than $250K, then what else can it be used for?

Not just another office water cooler or a place to update people on what I’m doing, I consider Twitter a place to:  laugh, help, vent, share, learn, support, cry, validate, disagree, inform, advise, and stand in awe.  That’s my short list and it grows daily. It’s not just for business, it’s not just for fun.

What uses do you see it providing? Share your purpose with Twitter.
(photo credit snaps photostream)

Using Your Noodle
The company? Noodles & Company, in Broomfield, Colorado, which by the way has an awesome website. One evening, my family was running from one hockey rink to the next, so Noodles & Company got the vote for our on-the-go dining experience. With only one customer ahead of us, we figured it would be a quick pit stop – definitely not the case. We gave our order and after 20 minutes of waiting, I checked in to see why there was such a delay. The clan of Noodles folk were gathered in a circle, yapping about nothing related to work. “Uh, hi, any idea when we can expect our food?”, I asked. “Ohhhh, we’re out of penne pasta, so we need to make this one dish with another kind of noodle. Which one would you like?” Imagine my delight.

Several things went wrong here, but the most important was the lack of communication with the customer. Here are some ways to get it back on track and possibly save the customer:

1. Take the heat for the oversight or error and move quickly to get things right.
2. When you are out of something required for an order, let the customer know immediately, so there is as little delay as possible.
3. Be proactive; it is YOUR responsibility to contact the customer about something you can’t fulfill, not the other way round.
4. If you don’t know the customer’s name, ask for it, and then be sincere in your apology and ask them to please give you another chance to keep their business.
5. Don’t just offer, but give your customer something of value (coupons and discounts suck!) that they will immediately appreciate or even be able to use on the spot.

How did Noodles keep me? While finishing up the preparation of our order, a manager came out, took full responsibility for the problem, apologized profusely, then presented me with a $25.00 gift card, nearly the price of my entire order. I didn’t use it right then; I decided to use it the next time I stop in their place.

—————————————————————————–

Do you have a similar situation to share, where a bad experience turned good and you came out feeling like an appreciated customer? Please, share it!

Recently, I caught up with always-on-the-move, @Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care; his unit is called, aptly, Comcast Cares. Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he and his team of 7 address service issues for customers across the U.S. He provided a revealing look at how Comcast is using Twitter to reach their customer base and shares five ways your business can use it to break the mold on customer service. As Frank puts it, “Being a customer advocate makes it an easy choice to use Twitter. It’s so instant.” The team he’s assembled view customer care the same way, putting the customer first and sometimes going against the company grain. “It’s more important to take care of the customer than to tow the company line.”

What is Twitter?
First, a little background for folks new to Twitter. You might have heard of it and have maybe even set up an account, but if you’re new to the little micro-blogging workhorse and not actively using it, you might still see it as a kiddy toy. Not so, and you might be surprised to learn that many high profile businesses are on it, including Home Depot, Southwest Airlines, and Starbucks. There are more than a few articles floating around about CEO’s using it, including this one by Douglas MacMillan in Business Week, so if you choose to get busy using it, you’ll be in good company. Millions are onboard and the numbers grow every day; reportedly over 1.3 Million people back in April 2008.

Simply put, Twitter is texting for the Internet, with only 140 characters per post; people can follow your messages and you can follow other’s messages. From the mundane to the useful, you’ll find people tweeting about a lot of things. For businesses, those tweets run the gamut and it can be a tool for your business to reach customers in a new and inexpensive way. Use it right and you’ll be loved and respected, but use it wrong and suffer the wrath of the community, or at least the Twitter spam police.

Do Your Homework
Twitter might not be for everyone, so before you start in and post one single “tweet”, do a little homework. Tweetscan and Twitter Search are two ways to see if your customers are even talking about you. If they are, see what they have to say, but say nothing just yet. Search for your competition, too. If either of you are being discussed, good or bad, it’s probably a strong indication you need to be there. Another way to find out if you’re being bashed or praised on the Internet? Blogs. The Comcast Care team reads more than 1500 over the course of a week. “When I started about a year ago in the customer service area, people kept bringing me blogs showing people talking about Comcast.” He goes on to say, “It was clear there was public discussion about us, and once we started to reach out to these bloggers, it’s just perpetuated itself.” Shortly after, one of his team told him about Twitter and the tweeting began. Their first tweet was to Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, read his story here.

Pay Attention First
Go ahead and set up your profile, but Frank points out that a common mistake for some businesses is to jump right on Twitter and start talking or even following customers who are talking about them. Customers can get turned off right away, so it’s important to just listen for awhile and understand the conversations before deciding to reply or comment. You’ll have a better idea of how the conversations are going, the general types of complaints or comments, so later, you’ll be better prepared to manage your replies and help. You never want to come off as a “stalker” or as my kid puts it, “a creeper.” Respect the consumers space and let them talk first and actively listen, you’ll learn much.

Personalize It
It’s true, when someone has an obscure or indistinguishable picture, I’m not sure what to make of it. When it’s a business and it’s just a logo, you really aren’t sure who you’re tweeting with. Frank recommends having a profile for each on your team and putting a picture of yourself and making your bio a little more personal, so it’s less “corporate”. Personalizing things doesn’t end with the profile, and needs to carry over to your messaging. “I came from a financial services background, so communications were always a little more stiff and formal. People on Twitter remarked that I should “loosen up” a bit, so I did, and I think it’s helped me reach people better.”That doesn’t mean you can start dropping f-bombs, it just means to write in a more casual way, adding a human element to your words.

Be Eager to Help
It seems like an obvious thing, but in customer service, you are there to help. Instead of viewing complaints as just that, look at instead as opportunity to fix something or change a way your company is handling something. “Don’t just say you’ll check things, actually offer a solution. If they’re mad, empathize and become their advocate and don’t get defensive.” Many times, Frank said customers would not even complain directly to Comcast about an issue with a program change or bad service, but would do so publicly. “This is a great opportunity to solve a problem maybe even more quickly than if they did call in.” His team has the ability to diagnose many things remotely, and some fixes are simple, but it’s an added touch of service the customer appreciates. “There’s a snowball effect when we help someone. They usually blog or post about it and others read about it, they share the story.” To date, they’ve helped more than 7,000 customers and he said they are typically overwhelmingly thrilled, while he could count on one hand those that weren’t. With numbers like this, it’s clear why Comcast is continuing to hire and develop this segment of their service area.

So how do they reach out? “We usually use Twitter Search and see if people are talking about us and see if there’s an opportunity to reach out.” He said a simple, “Let me help you” is a good place to start, and people are surprised, but willing to accept the help. “Wow, Comcast is on Twitter” is a pretty common reaction.

Make A Commitment
Sometimes curiosity is just not enough. If you put your toe in the water, be prepared to jump all the way in. Once you begin conversing and making a presence for your company, be committed to staying engaged. Frank comments, “You have to allow customers to be themselves and not allow negative people to drive you away from this. Stay focused on helping them and solving their problem, then they will become committed to you.” He adds that, “If you just post a couple messages then disappear, you won’t have credibility.” I would add that it’s just as bad to flood your posts with salesy pitches, similar to a circular in your local paper. People that come here are looking for two-way conversation, if they want you’re product or service, they’ll seek it out. Commit to helping others first.

So there you have it, five ways to put your own company on the Twitter path to great customer service. While Frank and his team say they use other social media tools like Facebook, MySpace, Plurk, LinkedIn, and Identica, they have their best results with Twitter, that’s where their customers seem to be right now. “The world of social media continues to grow and change, so we’re always keeping our eyes out for the next “Twitter” and I test stuff out all the time.” Good advice for the rest of us.