My June Monthly Rant

Every month, there’s things that happen that irritate me. It wasn’t until earlier this year that someone called my post (like this one), a rant; when in fact, I wanted to impart some wisdom from what I was experiencing on a day to day basis (just in the wrong way). I always look at things through a marketing prism — and thus, the rant gets born when I see poor marketing, or branding, or customer service, or whatever — pretty much anything that affects the perception of a brand.

So, let’s begin.

1. Some months ago, I wrote about the mid-Atlantic company #FHFurr. They do plumbing, electric, HVAC, etc. Pretty much everything. I wrote how they were advertising a $59 deal to unclog your sink. When we called, they came out, did a great job, and then charged us hundreds of dollars. It was classic “bait and switch”. (Don’t worry, we got them to give us the correct advertised price, after calling every person in the company as well as blasting the “bait and switch” all over social media.) Well, since they first came out over a year ago, we have called them and had them come out for service on a few things (as well as install some stuff). They are good at what they do — let me be clear. That is why we keep asking them to service us. But, every time they come, they find “something” else wrong with whatever they are working on, servicing, inspecting, etc. And not like a $50 fix — these are all $1000 or more. Five times they have come out — three on regular service calls, and each time, they have found something wrong with our HVAC. Each time, something totally different. Each time, a different price — $1300, $1900, and $2800 respectively. The other two times were “You need a new electric panel, it’s only $10,000” and “You need to have a new water heater”. Even though those last two are only 8 years old. Obviously, the inspectors/repairmen who come out are given a commission if they can “sell” an upsell on something. I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it. And it’s sad. Like my wife says, if we were people who weren’t DIYers or really old, we would have been taken advantage of for so much. We would definitely refer people to FH Furr to have work done, but not to get inspections or even estimates. And if those people we referred FH Furr too did reach out for an estimate, we also pushed that they MUST get a second estimate, as in every case that #FHFurr has said we needed work, none of it was real. If you are young and reading this, always get at least three estimates on any work that you plan on having done. It’s so easy to take advantage of people who are more interested in the latest video then looking up references and costs.
2. #LAFitness. Yes, I wrote about them last year. And they’re back. They have fixed my #1 complaint of opening their doors in the morning and not tracking who and how many were coming in until 15 minutes later. They would lose about 30–50 names every morning. Think about this?! If you do any sort of analytics, it would look like there was no one in your gym until 30 minutes after opening, as well as you would have a list of 30–50 people who show they pay month to month but don’t ever attend the gym (but they do). Here’s my rant this month. They switched out all their paper towel dispensers (used to wipe down equipment) with handy wipes. Great. Must be cheaper. But, unfortunately, they are all empty when the gym opens each morning (again, what does the night crew do? Party?). It takes over an hour to fill the wipes. Yes, it’s one person, and it’s 8 dispensers. I can walk to each dispenser in under 5 minutes (and to fill them, after having watched how it’s done, I could do all of them in 10 minutes — that’s how easy it is). But it takes over an hour. It sucks — because I sweat when I’m on the elliptical, and I, along with everyone else, has to leave the equipment with sweat all over it. We have all talked about it and we all say something to the front desk, but, alas, nothing has changed. If you like laying in someone else’s sweat, go to #LAFitness. (Personally, I put down a towel on the equipment as well as use same towel to wipe up sweat).
3. #Teemu. Love their ads. Real catchy. Just sucks that you have to “register” to shop. Lost me. Won’t ever get me. Same with my wife. Same with my nieces and nephews. Everyone understands — once you give over your email and phone number, you are giving up too much to just “see” what’s on the site. Don’t know why companies do this. I would love to see the analytics on the abandon rates — because, it has to be huge. The question is how long will it take before they have to let people shop without giving over their personal information. Is it more important for me to get someone’s email address or to make money?

That’s it for this month. Remember, these are all written with “marketing” in mind. How to retain customers — attract them — love them — whatever.

Our society is really looking for some nicety, some love, some caring. Companies are moving away from this more and more — becoming cold social media influencers — meaning they post stories and video’s and stuff, hoping something sticks to the wall. Companies that appeal to me as a person (no, not sex, not gender, not identity, not whatever is in vogue or in need of virtue signaling this week) are the ones that become more successful. Talk to me as if I’m a human and I will treat you the same.

If you treat everyone as a human and equal, you will succeed in getting your message out there. Do the job you are hired to do and don’t try to upsell, provide the means to make the customer happy (like some wipes), and don’t force potential customers to give up their privacy when they first want to see what you provide.

It’s simple — but so hard for companies to do — for some reason.