Web 2.0 and Customer Service for Small Business - Meeting Saul Colt of Freshbooks

How web 2.0 tools are like a time machine – Presentation by Saul Colt of Freshbooks

Saul came over to Network Solutions this week to discuss the world of Web 2.0 and small business. Keeping his presentation light and humorous we found out that he is an avid collector of Nike Air Force One’s (cool Basketball shoes), he loves cupcakes and wears funny t-shirts.

He started the discussion with funny pictures of Doug Henning, people in his office and his shoe collection.

FreshBooks is a Web 2.0 success story

They have over 400,000 users worldwide and are sold completely in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.

The major functions of their product are time tracking and billing. Time tracking is the biggest part of the application and they allow you to send invoices to customers via e-mail and through the mail.

They allow clients to go directly to the web and pay their bill and they integrate with 13 - that’s right - 13 different payment gateways to allow customers the most flexibility in who they choose as their payment service. He is quick to state that they don’t handle any client payments nor do they take a cut of the payment.

Saul likes to say, and I have to agree, “we are not a technology but rather a service…and services need to listen to the people who use it!”. The company has an active blog called “Fresh Thinking” and a very active forum.
They stress in our marketing communications that they all pick up the phone and it is a toll free number. EVERYBODY in the company works the support line.

This product has been a boon to Web Workers, consultants, freelancers and everyone who has been looking for a billing and payment solution that doesn’t require lots of software and hardware to implement and manage.

Their model is based on a monthly subscription rate. They do have a free version that includes everything in the pay for product but it is limited to 1 person/3 clients and it doesn’t have the private branding option for your company.

Web 2.0 and Customer Service are the perfect partners

So what little nuggets of wisdom does the “Doug Henning of Marketing” have to share about Web 2.0 and customer service in general?

In the 50’s people knew their customer. In today’s business environment it would seem impossible to do the same thing but Web 2.0 tools let you go back to that. Using tools like Pownce, Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and YouTube make this possible.

He says that you should read the entire Internet everyday….huh?
You can use tools like Tweet scan, google alerts and Summize.com to do this by following keywords to see what is being said about your company and its products/services.

Create Powerful Word of Mouth

Saul is a big believer in Word of Mouth marketing. In fact, 50% of new customers are referrals and it is a primary way to gain customers in this “New Web World”. One innovative thing that they do is called Freshbooks Parties. FreshBooks parties are where you can get people together to discuss the wonders of their product and in Tupperware party fashion, Freshbooks sends a Tupperware container full of T-Shirts and other schwag including free trials of the full service to get more people to sign up and try out the service.

Three elements of FreshBooks customer interaction success:

- The result of these tools is not to sell people
- Karma marketing is the way to go
- We take our customers out to dinner in groups – even the ones who don’t pay for the service – getting them into a room to all meet each other is a great way to see how they use the service and help each other

Super customer service take away:

Bring the (genuine) love in everything you do because people notice. Also take the time to know your customers.

Q&A from the audience:

From Audience: What does Freshbooks have to do with an RV?
From Saul: We spoke at the Future of Web Apps and then SXSW. To get there we rented an RV and drove and met about 1800 customers along the way to Texas.

From Audience: When you have a company like Net Sol that is not a start-up and the upper management is just starting to grasp the newer stuff what would be your approach.
From Saul: You have to get your people feeling like they can try new things. Zappos and JetBlue are very much like this. People that like what they do are going to talk about it. Empower them to do it with confidence and good news will spread.

From Audience: How do you manage a larger corporate brand without straying from message?
From Saul: You should have some broad parameters and focus them on one site that has many contributors to create many voices.

From Audience: What do you know about Network Solutions?
From Saul: Not much. Bought a lot of expensive domains a while ago. I think you owned the Internet and you offer a lot more services now. You should not be intimidated by the size of your organization to try something new. Do what every Seth Godin book says to do – “Be Remarkable”.

Check out the whole presentation and Q&A in the video below: