WHAT BIG BUSINESS LEARNED FROM A SMALL-TOWN MAYOR

Last week’s massive storms in the northeast left powerlines, cablelines and nerves frayed. But Mayor Swiderski from Hastings-on-Hudson, NY understands that empathy goes a long way. He wrote an email EVERY DAY for nearly two weeks with updates about utility companies’ restoration efforts, thanking residents and emergency responders for their resilience and patience.

Optimum customers had a difference experience. In some parts of Westchester County internet and cable service was disrupted for well over a week. Customers were tense and angry - no storm can match the fury of teenagers without WiFi - but Optimum was stone-silent during the crisis, and calls to their customer service line were answered with a recording saying they were aware of an outage. Then they hung up.

Optimum can’t control the weather, but they CAN control how they communicate with their customers. And done right, they can even control how their customers feel. We at TELL-IGNITE reached out to Optimum as experts on empathy strategy (and also as customers!) and explained how Mayor Swiderski’s empathetic emails earned him devotion from residents.

​Last night there was another interruption of Optimum service - and Optimum promptly sent e-mails with detailed explanations and empathy. Kudos to Optimum for quickly adopting a strategy that will make their customers feel better - about their tensions, and about Optimum.

​More of our Igniting Ideas: http://www.tell-ignite.com/igniting-ideas