Open Spirituality: Everyone is an agent... and a traitor?

The Power of mobile devices to drive change
Mobile phone imagery captured and shared with the world is the new weapon of terrorism. It strikes terror in the minds, wallets and powers of oppressors. From regimes to products and services. All of these "brands" are being exposed for the gaps that they have. The gaps between reality and claimed experience !!!

Negative service experiences will come back to bite you
Sometimes service and product experience is soooooooo awful that consumers are shaken to their core. Desired repeat custom becomes a crusade for the consumer. Rather than be encouraged to become a "brand evangelist", they become a "brand anarchist" !!!! Don't cut corners, unless you want to awaken to bad service when it is spilled all over the internet. Don't let it become one of your customer's personal Jihad. It can become funny in an extrem way. Here's two of my favorite and my own experience saved for last.

137,654 views: A bad apple may not rot the brand, but are you apple?
iPod Customer Service - the Dirty secret video on Youtube was done so well that it feels like a video by some funky new band or art project. Click image below to see on YouTube.

15,730 views: Don't P@#! off professional presenters: yours is a very bad hotel! This is a presentation of two professional pressenters who had an awful experience in a hotel.

Yours is a very bad hotel

View more presentations from whatidiscover

My own hotel mis-adventure
How could hotels in this day and age give revolting service given the power of peer testimonials on various opinion websites? - it's almost like science fiction - in a time machine - going back a century! What can you pick up as a community organisation delivering service? - have you got the basics right? I went on work tour to Sheffield. The experience was unforgetable, I can almost puke now.

Sheffield Slum Dog Hotel - take flip-flops, desinfectant and train your stomach!!!
I never new that Sheffield had "Slum Dog" Hotel(s)!!! -It was The Harley Hotel in Sheffiled's bustling city centre - near the university of sheffiled tram stop. These guys should go into merchandizing! - for sure. The T-shirt that would sell most would be "I survived the Harley shower cubicle !!!" The transition from the main room (which wasn't that good either) - was like opening a "star gate" from a developed country to some Nth-world country (way beyond 3rd !!!). Not even developing countries have hotels with shower rooms like that. I have been to Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and never saw anything like this. See photos below. The carpet looked like if it hadn't been vacuumed for years! - really! - and the tea & coffee facilities, well, I didn't believe in flying sourcers until I tried to make myself a drink. Enjoy the picutres & video via flickr.

Oh, it's under creative commons, so if you know any producers who want to use it for a "filthy song" - they can use it ;-)

I raised my concerns to a member of staff - and they looked like they couldn't give a(n) FCUK - pair of jeans, to say the least.

Breakfast after all that?
I had paid for my breakfast, but had second thoughts - after the tour of filth. Imagine, if they don't give a damn with what you can see for yourself as a customer! - with what you can verify with your very own eyes, do you think they will be more cautious or caring in the kitchen? If you can't see Jack what do you think you will get on your bap?...Shhhhhhh - shhhhh..shameful crud on a plate purporting to be edible for human beings. ;-)

No-brainer Service solutions (that we all know in our minds & hearts):

Respect those you serve. Humanity is a good start - what type of service would you give when you want to make a good impression?
Care about what you do. The lack of care on the hotel I stayed at reflected in staff's poor customer service.
Training & Morale may go hand in hand! - so train your staff properly. I guess the staff at the hotel were not trained with customer services in an adequate manner.
Basic Hygiene - minimum baseline! oh come on, staff with strong body odour? If that was the smell of some of the staff on the front-line what would the cooks smell like? (why do you think I skipped breakfast ?)
Perception is reality-king. Seeing is believing. Imagination does not need much stimulation to join the dots and make conclusions. When things are bad in your face, we think that bad practices lurk everywhere!