Via Satellite Standard Group:

Oct 24, The New York Post

Sources say Combs, previously known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, threw a “diva fit” at Sirius studios last week while plugging his album at the satellite radio station.

“He was throwing a tantrum,” said our spy. “He had his team around him and he was cursing up a storm, dropping F-bombs and throwing around the N-word.”

The fit thrown by the rapper/fashion designer/impresario was aimed at his own management team. Combs had originally agreed to sit down with Sirius channel’s Hip-Hop Nation, Hot Jamz, and Eminem’s channel Shade 45. But he went ballistic on the managers after he was also asked to “tour the station” and give interviews to more channels, our insider reports.

Where’s the camera phone when you need it?

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SIRIUS has hyped their 2-day “World Event” far and wide. While it has received good coverage on the internet news scene, what will the real impact be?

SIRIUS is not new to the Internet Radio scene, but they certainly have a long way to come in terms of interface, ease of use and the added value. Users have higher expectations than when they are in the car.
Will 2 days be long enough for listeners to get hooked?

I have reservations as to why this isn’t the best approach.

• Rhapsody offers a 14 day trial, in which you have access to their full 2,000,000 song catalog on demand.
• Sonos just launched the version 2.0 software, which features Rhapsody for your whole home audio system, all accessible via the iPod-like controller, free for 30 days
• Napster offers a 7 day free trial
• Yahoo! Music offers a 7 days trial
• Many streaming services offer a much more mature interface, for less money than SIRIUS Internet Radio.

The SIRIUS service is something that gets sticky over time. It also works great in the car, the one place the other internet radio providers can’t go. Yet it still takes a few days to figure out the lineup, to understand the formats and to discover new favorites.

The free “2 Day Global Event” sounds like a gimmick. If SIRIUS believed in their Internet Radio product that much, they would offer a month free and give the potential subscribers a real reason to fall in love with the service. SIRIUS is the new kid on the block in the internet radio niche, and they are using old world logic as an incentive.

This isn’t HBO, it’s internet radio. Two days is too few.

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I first learned about the power of a great music venue after meeting with SIRIUS Disorder’s Meg Griffin.

The passion and respect shared by Meg about this place only adds to the emotion behind it’s closing. Surely fans will appreciate what CBGB’s founder and owner, Hilly Kristal, said:

“Although we mourn the closing of CBGB, we should remember CBGB, not merely as a place. It is a state of mind.”

SIRIUS will broadcast CBGB’s final concert, featuring artist Patti Smith, on SIRIUS Disorder (24), beginning at 9 pm ET on Sunday October 15.

In photo is CBGB’s Hilly Kristal and SIRIUS’ Meg Griffin; taken by rock photographer Bob Gruen.

It appears that yesterday’s blog entry about Customer Care has created quite a response.

Orbitcast even posted a nice piece about the importance of online community in customer relations.

If you’ve had a great customer experience with SIRIUS (or even if it didn’t go so well), there’s a few issues I’d like to drive home:

1. There are always ways to improve (when you stop creating meaningful customer experiences, the brand stops growing)
2. Empower knowledgeable agents and allow them to become experts (offer extra training and opportunities for advancement)
3. Allow agents to find the answers when they don’t know (don’t let the call centers become islands, where there’s no way to talk to the mothership when something goes wrong)
4. Establish a team of “SIRIUS Experts” as a go-to team for the call centers
5. Give the “SIRIUS Experts” team the power to post on online communities and blogs)

In essence, SIRIUS must make sure their employees are treated well, they will in turn treat the customer with respect and work harder to solve their problems.

Show the employees in the call center that they are number one, keep employee turnover low, and create a team of “SIRIUS Experts”. Think Best Buy’s “Geek Squad”.

Marketing guru Seth Godin raises an interesting question:

Do you spend time doing things to your customers or for your customers? When someone calls tech support, are you viewing it as a chance to do something for them, or to get rid of them to cut costs?

If you still don’t believe there’s room for improvement, then this quote is for you:

“Change before you have to” - Jack Welch

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A not so distant past…
October 23rd 2005: Sirius Satellite Radio Recognized for Call Center Customer Satisfaction Excellence by J.D. Power and Associates

Sirius is still one of JD Power and Associates certified call centers, but do they really deserve it? If you look around Backstage you’d begin to think the answer is a clear no. Problems with Sirius CS range from being hung up on to being provided a false answer (both happen more than you may think).

Personally, I’ve never had a problem with Sirius CS, then again the only reason I’ve ever called them was to transfer a radio and they could probably do that with their eyes closed. But it’s when you call to ask a programming question or for tech support things can get ugly. Yesterday, SI.com’s Monday Morning Quarterback even featured a piece on Sirius Customer Service. All he wanted to do was check on the status of a desktop radio (I’m assuming a Tivoli) he had ordered. After being transferred twice and after waiting AN HOUR on hold he finally got his answer. He ads the following: “Not a good way to run a business. Sirius. Aren’t you making millions off Howard Stern? Can’t you add a couple more operators?” The sad thing is, these types of stories are not rare, just do a search on Backstage. I think it’s going to take more than a couple of more operators to fix the Sirius call centers.

Steps To Fixing Sirius Call Centers:
1. COMMUNICATION- The supervisors need to tell the people working the phone what is new, meaning if something is announced by Sirius then they need to get the notice immediately. This also can mean if there is a new fix to something, etc.
2. Stop bad information- This goes back to communication, but it’s so important I thought I’d make it #2. If Backstage got a penny everytime someone came here and stated something they had learned from Sirius CS (be it info, or tech related) that was incorrect then ladies and gentlemen you would each receive a gold coin for each of your posts.
3. Educate- Edumacation goes a long way. Educate the people behind the phones and they’ll do their job better. AND CONTINUE EDUCATING THEM!
4. Get more people- It’s ridiculous to wait on hold an hour like the SI.com guy did. Like I said, these occurrences are not a rarity.

You may get lucky, there are some CSR’s that are very smart, some are even on Backstage (maybe that’s why they’re so smart? ).

I, like so many here love Sirius, and want to see it prosper. So, we can only hope they do something because who knows how many subscribers they loose just because CS is so poor. The first experience a subscriber gets with Sirius is customer service and Sirius must make a good first impression. And what about this Christmas? How will Sirius be able to handle the influx of new subscribers if they can’t handle the ones they have now?

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“Sirius announced that it ended the third quarter with 5,119,308 subscribers, 135% above third quarter 2005 ending subscribers of 2,173,920. SIRIUS added 441,101 net subscribers in the third quarter of 2006, a 23% increase over year-ago third quarter net subscriber additions. SIRIUS has led the satellite radio industry in net subscriber additions for four consecutive quarters, with 61% of total satellite radio net additions in the third quarter of 2006.”

Good job Sirius!

PR

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