Let’s start from the very beginning… What is’ Dell Hell’? Is it a movie? A new game for the Play Station? What do David and Goliath have to do with it? I must admit that this morning I had no idea about what is the subject of today’s post so… Let me start by introducing you Jeff Jarvis, the man who, as he himself puts it, “unwittingly unleashing a blog storm around Dell”.
And it is where both David and Goliath come in, the main difference being that in this case he didn’t need to use slingshot to hit him at the forehead but just the headline ‘Dell sucks’ in his blog in June 2005. What actually happened is that Jarvis, “frustrated with a lemony laptop and torturous service”, got to get another frustrated consumers together and they made Dell to kneel down. From that time on, it was like hell for Dell, the computer retailer.
The case demonstrated that bloggers have certain power to affect corporate reputation and companies’ brand image. So today’s post is about measuring bloggers’ influence vs. conventional media and the role for business or rephrasing it… What to do if you happen to be in Dell’s shoes at some stage?
According to Dick Hunter, former head of manufacturing and now Dell’s head of customer service, Dell’s DNA of cost-cutting “got in the way. In order to become very efficient, we became ineffective”. For Jarvis things were a bit easier: “after returning the Dell and buying a Mac, he blogged an open letter to Michael Dell suggesting his company read blogs, write blogs, ask customers for guidance, and “join the conversation your customers are having without you.”
And that’s exactly what they did! Even if they were not exactly ‘fast’, Dell realized that something had to be done and created the blog Direct2Dell in July 2006. However, Dell didn’t stop there and in February 2007, Michael Dell launched IdeaStorm.com, an online community forum the company uses to get ideas from its customers. And, as Jarvis writes: “Dell is following their advice, selling Linux computers and reducing the promotional “bloatware” that clogs machines”.
It is at this point where the Biblical tale and our story differs because instead of a death giant we have a huge company which got to move from taking orders from its customers to listening and learning from them. Or, as Jarvis, put it: “Dell realized that engaging in the conversation wasn’t just a way to stop blogging customers like me from harming the brand. We, the customers, bring them great value besides our money: we share our knowledge about their products. We help fellow customers solve problems. We will sell their products. But this happens only if you have a decent product and service and only if you listen to us”.
Without a shadow of any doubt my recommendation is that not having a community manager and/or a blog-strategy is something that a company cannot afford, and not the other way round. Actually, every major company should be aware of what’s happening in the world of blogs and what they can get from it: relationship and customer collaboration. If you still think that this is not enough and you have any doubt about why to blog for business, just click in here.
And last but not the least, please spend some minutes with this amazing video: Michael Dell interviewed by Jeff Jarvis!
So… This is it!!!
C U soon!
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