Frank Speaking Live

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Sony Electronics catastrophe

Catastrophe at Sony Electronics


Catastrophe at Sony Electronics is the only way I can describe the useless after sales service at Sony. I purchased a Sony top of the line laptop six months ago and it has already packed up.
When phoning support, I was told that the only support is now provided from a call centre in Egypt where I struggled to even understand the accents. Having phoned the 16th and being promised a pick up on the 17th and 5 days before I would get the laptop back, I had some hope.
This was short lived, the laptop was not collected. Seven phone calls later and having spoken to who I was told were the managers of the call centre in Egypt, Sherif and Mo, the laptop was finally collected on Thursdaythe 19th and I was promised that after 5 working days it would be returned repaired. 
Why was I not surprised when I received the call today saying that it would not be ready in five days, in fact it seemed that they had no idea that it would be ready.
On Wednesday next week I leave for a speaking tour of Australia where I will be presenting to 14 groups of CEO's who I will be sharing this story with.
Of course, not knowing when and if I will receive my laptop before I leave, I now have to go and purchase another, but believe me, it will certainly not be a Sony, but back to the tried and trusted Toshiba.
Isn't it funny that at one time Sony Electronics was a powerhouse with an incredible reputation. Unfortunately now with outsourcing, closing local offices, not keeping promises and having no clue about customer service, they probably rate as the worst of any electronic company. If you don't believe me, just type in 'bad customer service sony' into Google, you will find more than 10 pages of postings.
All I can say is: Catastrophe at Sony Electronics

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Sony Europe Hopeless at Customer Service

My Sony Vaio S series is still under guarantee and all of a sudden all power failed. As an International Technology speaker, I use this laptop all the time for presentations and urgently needed it repaired.
I called th only number on their site  which is 09050310006 and was put through to a call centre in Egypt. It seems that Sony Europe is not accessable in any form by phone except by going through to an Egyptian call centre, great customer service Sony......
After speaking to someone to arrange a collection today, I had to follow uo to get a tracking number for UPS. To my surprise, I was told that there was a problem and it had not been arranged.
Five calls later (Including one to the person who say's he heads up the call centre, Sherif Ebdelsolam) I am no further with my case.
On my last call, someone truthfully told me that all Sony's systems were down and this was the reason that no-one came back to me or Sherif was in meetings every time I phoned. They have no idea when their systems will be repaired, so all Sony customers are getting absolutely no support or feedback.
In the meantime I have paid out abot £30 in phone calls (.35 pence per minute for a call)
How can a company as large as Sony be so utterly useless at customer service, I'm sure that the service shines in Japan where the headquarters are based.
As all their calls are recorded for training, I informed them that mine was as well and they were not at all happy about that...it works both ways Sony....
In the meantime I am left in a quandry, do I now go and buy a new laptop (NOT SONY) while my Sony is still under guarantee, or hope that their systems will come back online in time for me to get my laptop repaired.
I am doing a speaking tour in 2 weeks of Australia where I will be speaking about technology and customer service to hundreds of CEOs and sharing this wonderful story with them.
I will keep you updated on the Blog and via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook as to the outcome of this case..

Thursday, May 24, 2012


Social Media Twitter Tips

Twitter is a fantastic source of traffic when you use it properly.

Here are 3 tips that bring your more traffic without ever sending a single “tweet.”

Twitter Tip #1 – In the upper right hand corner of your Twitter page is the profile area, or information about you. One choice you have is what website you want to include a link to after the space marked “web.” Most people just send folks to their main website. The problem is most people’s main website has no opt-in page so there is no way to capture the prospects email address.

So what you want to do is include a link to an opt-in page, or at least a page that has an opt-in box somewhere. While your followers on Twitter are a list, you also want to add them to your email list.

Also make sure you change the link every now and then to provide some variety.

Twitter Tip #2 – Also in the profile area in the upper right hand corner is a space to create your bio in 71 characters or less.

Most people include things like “mother, father, internet marketer, CSI fan, love buttered popcorn” or some other way in which to be cute or funny.

As is often the case, don’t do what most people do.

Instead, use the 71 characters in the bio to let your follower and prospect know what you can do for them. After all, your follower and prospect is looking at your Twitter page and asking “what’s in it for me?” So show them.

Twitter Tip #3 – Included in your profile section is a category called “favorites.” What most people do is link to their favorite tweets.

Again, don’t do what most people do.

Instead favorite the positive things people are saying about you. Then when someone comes to your Twitter page and clicks on your Favorites, they can see all these “mini-testimonials” about you!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Speakers Bootcamp | Learn to Present

YouTube Strategies for Business

What are you doing today that is better and different to your competitors? How do you find and attract new clients?

If you are not doing anything that differentiates you from the competition, you could be losing out on a huge amount of potential business.

One of the easiest methods to differentiate your company is to embrace technology and social media. It is easy and can save you time, money and headaches.

One of my favorite social media sites is YouTube and here are some tips, strategies and ideas that can help your business immediately:

• Have your own YouTube Channel and base the channel name on keywords e.g. Health and Fitness London – IT Security New York

• Make sure the sound on your videos is clear and mixed and edited well so users can clearly hear it. One of the best inexpensive cameras with great sound is the Zoom Q3 HD.

• Create well thought out, professional style videos that are edited properly.
o Use edit suites like Adobe VC3, Techsmith Camtasia and Sony Vegas for PCs and IMovie, Screenflow and Camtasia for Mac.

• Keep your content funny, engaging, and informative so that it will keep viewers watching until the end of the video.

• Embed your logo and website into the video. Take a look at http://youtube.com/salestips

• Keep the resolution of the video as high as possible, at a minimum 800 by 600.

• Be yourself. Don’t lose sight of the purpose and mission of the video. Think of yourself speaking to a friend in a pub or coffee shop and use the same tone and expressions.

• Practice before posting the final video. Do a few dry runs before taping and publishing and remember if you are boring, the video will be boring to viewers.

• Do more than just talk. People don’t want to sit and watch a person just talking to the camera. Make it exciting and interesting as well as fun.

• Limit your video length to two minutes maximum, most viewers lose interest after this. Take a look at any move, the scenes change around every minute.

• Use the ‘problem, solution and action’ method of filming. E.g. Have you been trying diets and still can’t move that fat (problem) – here are 3 exercises to help you right now (solution) and sign up for our free newsletter or call us to find out about our gym membership (solution)

• At the end of each video, ask your viewers to ‘like’ the video and comment, this helps with your rankings.

• If you are going to use music, use copyright free music, get some at www.frankfurnessresources.com/copyrightfreemusic

• Grab viewers by integrating important keywords into the title. This will help to boost the search engine results.

• Use keywords in the tags that will lead potential clients to your videos and make the first line of your description is your website address as that is what viewers will see immediately below the video.

• Choose the most relevant category

• Make the videos are viral, and spread them to as many websites as possible. Once you have uploaded the video, click on the ‘share’ button and then share the video with Twitter, Facebook your Blog and any other social media sites that your business uses.

Remember to use the videos in different ways
• Videos on the website
• Meet the team
• Video testimonials
• Staff training
• Expert advice
• Tip of the week




Frank Furness CSP CFP is a professional speaker specialising in sales and social media. He has educated, entertained and inspired audiences in 52 countries. Take a look at his latest resource, http://www.technologytoolsforbusiness.com or to book Frank to speak at your next conference email frank@frankfurness.com or telephone+ 44 (0) 1923 248200.
http://www.frankfurness.com

NOTE: You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to
frank@frankfurness.com

Tuesday, February 21, 2012