Correct me if I'm mistaken, but this is how I believe retail is supposed to work: you give the merchant your money - in the form of cash, for instance - and they give you the item you want. In the case you're about to read, that item is a Nook, Barnes & Noble's answer to Amazon's wildly-popular Kindle e-book.
Turns out I'm wrong, and not all retailers take cash anymore. Sound crazy? Read on...
I'm on Twitter just now (I know, what are the chances?), and something interesting flashes across my screen. Turns out thought-leader, graphic designer, and fellow blogger Ken Peters is having a ridiculously tough time making a simple purchase at Barnes & Noble.
* Here, let me insert one of my favorite business maxims: CONVENIENCE = PROFITS.
* And here's another I learned from my first multimillionaire-mentor: If someone offers you money, take it.
Back to Ken. He tweets about how B&N won't let him pay cash. Instead, they insist he buy a gift card to purchase his Nook. When he complains, the clerk gives him an 800-number which, rather than connecting him with customer service, brings him to a sex-line.
So at least he's got that going for him.
Now this is where the story gets compelling for all of us social media fans out there. For at the end of his second Tweet, Erin from Barnes & Noble tweets to Ken about his problem.
Yeah, social media saves the day, making enterprise-sized megacorporations seem small and responsive!! This is how business in late 2009 is supposed to work, isn't it?
...Except that Ken didn't like Erin's solution. And then Erin didn't get back to Ken very promptly. So I butt in and share this live saga with my Twitter followers as well. And I reach out to a fellow author and Twitter guru I follow with over 100,000 followers to see if we can engage him in this fascinating social experiment.
[Cool aside: I thought of this guru just then because he tweeted about buying 2 books at Borders. Coincidence, you say? Uncanny, says I!]
This will go one of two ways for Ken, and for Barnes & Noble.
1. It's going to be really hard for her, but with the right kind of customer service ethic plus the support of her company, Erin will come through for Ken, winning him back to the Barnes & Noble fold. In handling this complaint with aplomb, she will actually turn him from a casual customer to a raving fan. That's how these things work, when done right. Or...
2. Erin and her employer will not go the extra mile (or even a few extra yards) to fix Ken's wholly-legitimate complaint. And they'll have three bloggers spreading this story to their networks on Twitter, and... then Barnes & Noble may just regret its policy to not take cash for Nooks.
Stay tuned! Either way, there's a good lesson to be learned here.
Ken Peter's graphic design company: http://nocturnaldesign.com
Ken's blog: http://nocturnaldesign.com/cm/content/blog.asp
Follow Ken on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thinkBIG_blog/
Buy an Amazon Kindle: http://amazon.com
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ReplyDeleteIsn't it illegal to not accept cash in the USA?
ReplyDeleteNathan, I think this is how B&N gets around that law: They are taking cash from their customers, just not for the Nook. You give them cash, they give you a gift card, which you then use to buy the Nook. Why they need to insert this extra step is anyone's guess. Perhaps one of their competitors sent a mole into their ranks who is now in charge of setting this policy...
ReplyDeleteUgh. No fun at all.
ReplyDelete