Sir John Mayers the Spy Outed by Facebook

In the past few days, Sir John Mayers, the soon-to-be head of MI6, the British Secret Service ‘Spy’ Unit, was outed ‘big style’ by his wife, an avid Facebook user. 

Apparently, and I have to go on media reports here because his Facebook page was taken down, his wife listed private information on her Facebook page.  This included the address of their London residency, the address of her in-laws and photographs of their children. 

On Monday (6 July 2009), I was listening to LBC radio and the morning presenter Nick Ferrari.  Now, I really cannot repeat what he called Lady Mayers just in case I get sued, but he repeatedly questioned 1) whether she had used any common sense in having a Facebook page at all and 2) whether she had shown any judgement in putting so much personal information into the public domain. 

By publishing a holiday photograph of Sir John Mayers in his swim shorts along with a raft of other personal facts, Mrs Mayers made information that should have been private very public.  As the incoming spy chief, Sir John Mayers should have known better as his life, and that of his family, may have been put in danger. 

The Mayers family will now have to have extra security protection and possibly move house and change schools.  ‘So what!’ will probably be the common response of the general public but we will be left with a huge tax bill.   

Clearly in the media, the national security angle has generated much interest along with how a Facebook ‘faux pas’ can affect your personal and professional life. 

The Proper Way to Use Facebook for your business and career:

• Check your Facebook privacy settings so that you only show particular information to specific users.
• Consider setting up Groups and only a select few friends that can join with your permission. They are privy to specific information as you wish.
• If you do want to increase your profile, make sure your privacy settings allow search engine access.
• It is important to get the balance right between business and personal information on Facebook so that you do not appear to be a business robot. Remember, people buy from people so you have to be seen as human.
• If you are primarily using your account for business use, perhaps that shot of you drunk and disorderly at a party with your underwear on your head is not the best idea.
• If you want to have a personal profile, maybe set a separate one up with your real or nick name with your business account in your business or brand name.
• Unless you want to receive speculative sales calls or spam emails, it is probably best not to include your telephone number or email address.
• Create your profile so that it focuses on your business activities and includes your business web address to drive traffic to your website and your social media access points.

Excel at Customer Service

Arrrgghhh!  I hate being on the receiving end of bad customer services!   Why oh why would a company go to all the trouble, never mind cost, of getting a customer to sign on the dotted line and then treat them like an unwelcome surprise guest?

How Not To Do It

For the past two weeks, I have been trying to get my bank to return my calls and give me information that I need that will help me to grow my business.  Although I do not take this personally and see it indicative of a large business treating its customers badly, this has enraged me on so many fronts.

In a global recession, why would any business, especially a bank, not bother to get back to its customers?

My bank in particular has for many years, ran advertisements across all media, stating that they are not like other banks.  Business account holders instead have a personalised business manager.  In all honesty, I have no complaints about my business manager but the systems and procedures that the bank has. 

I spoke to the Banking Customer Services line and asked ‘what can I do to get my manager to return my calls’.  The Customer Services representative then proceeded to tell me what she could not do!  When I repeated my question, the only option left to me apart from leaving another message was to complain.  How ridiculous is that?

Customers Services as a Guerrilla Marketing Tool

So with my personal rant over, what has any of this got to do with marketing your business?  The most important point to remember, especially in the current challenging economy, is not to take your customers for granted. 

In any economy, customers/clients have the right to choose where to spend their money.  In a recession, your bottom line is just going to be affected so much more if you lose customers just because you have a hit and miss approach to customer services. 

If you are the only business offering a particular level of service, you can create a revenue generating niche for yourself.  Imagine a situation where you treat your customers well and their reward you by staying with you and spending more?

Manage Expectation About Your Level of Service

Make a commitment to your customers/clients and let them know what level of service they can expect from you regarding the products and services that you sell along with how you interact with them.  This can then become one of your marketing tools e.g. ‘next day service’, ‘we will get back to you in 24 hours’ etc. 

Get feedback from your customers - don’t just wait for a complaint before you respond to an issue.  Ask them what they want from you and then do everything that you can to make sure that you meet and exceed their expectations.