Diamonds Are Forever

Part III in Which Pin Stripes Take The Field

By Colleen Walsh Fong

I’ve been playing out a baseball analogy during the last two weeks to make a few points about good business practices, especially in the area of communications and professional writing.

Baseball is played on a diamond, and diamonds often symbolize the best. I named three nominees to receive my Brick & Ivy Awards. And I used the Cubs to explain why clients will stick with you through thick and thin when you have good two-way communications channels in place. Go back and refresh your memory by reading the first two articles, and then hurry back here to read about the Pin Stripe Awards.

The Cubs have broken fans’ hearts on a regular basis for more than a century. Yet they’ve retained possibly the most loyal fan base in major league baseball. Yeah, yeah, yeah, to quote Lennon and McCartney. St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Boston fans: We know you’re great too. But your teams have all won at least one World Series championship in the last century. Right? The Cubs haven’t won baseball’s highest distinction, in 107 years so their fans win the most loyal title.

But the New York Yankees have won the most World Series titles of all baseball franchises. So my Pin Stripe Award, designed to honor companies that provide the best user support for online experience, are named after them.

Cub Fans: We all know the Cubs wear pin stripes, too. And they’re true blue. If they can pull a World Series win out of the bag some day we’ll redo all of these awards.

Pin Stripe Nominees

Just because a company is all about online products and services doesn’t mean it can’t make human beings available to its users and customers. I know of three online giants who do just that. My nominations for the Pin Stripe Awards go to the following three winners.

Apple

The free genius bar available to Apple products users. Their 1-800-MYAPPLE help line. User friendly online help chats. Apple has hands down the best customer service available in the United States. And every option puts users in touch with an actual human being, so the help they give is interactive.

Being able to ask questions and expound upon my problem, especially when I don’t know all of the technical terms for every aspect of my Apple products, helps me use my devices to their fullest capacity. And that ability makes me more productive.

Are Apple products more expensive than others? Maybe. But when I factor in intangibles like the time saved by getting quick answers to my problems and the fullness with which I use their products, I feel like Apple saves me money. And using their products keeps me calm and on schedule.

Amazon

Amazon has a menu-driven online help function. But it doesn’t take long to get to an option screen that let’s you select telephone, online chat, or email communication methods for resolving your problem.

I have four ebooks published on Amazon. Most issues with my publications have been resolved via email. Response has been quick and thorough. I’ve used the chat function a couple of times, too and have had more immediate resolution.

But their telephone method seemed like the easiest way to deal with two products I ordered when only one was received. A quick phone call later, the second product was on its way to me and arrived the very next day.

NookPress

Yes they emanated from a brick and mortar business. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that NookPress, the ebook publishing arm of Barnes and Noble, is customer-centric. But I was. Their customer service rep quickly and pleasantly resolved my issues in an online chat.

NookPress has one of the simplest help systems around. Their support tab flows to a one-page linked help menu with large clickable buttons in the sidebar that say, “Send us an Email” and “Chat with a Representative.”

Do you have an online company to nominate for a Pin Stripe Award? Tell me about it in the comments section below.

Reader Takeaway

The personal touch from businesses has become a rare commodity. Especially among those that sell online products and services. But as the Yankees and the Cubs prove, making clients winners keeps them loyal.

Giving customers access to people in the problem resolution stage alleviates frustrations and builds client allegiance. Make sure your professional writing and communications are wearing pinstripes and watch your business grow.

Colleen produces custom copywriting and content for branding businesses of all sizes.