Is Dell Hell Over?

Like everything that has an end, it definitely has a beginning.

It Started on 21st of June 2005, when the powerful blogger Jef Jarvis, started his article on buzzmachine with:

“ Dell lies. Dell sucks
: I just got a new Dell laptop and paid a fortune for the four-year, in-home service. The machine is a lemon and the service is a lie.” and launched an internet phenomenon with his Dell Hell blow by blow account, doubled by articles in FT. At that time ( 2005 ) it was announced “For 21 years, Dell has been the business media’s most dearly beloved company. Since Michael Dell founded the company in his University of Texas dorm room in 1984, the company has been hugged and kissed and fondled by crush-struck business journalists (and analysts and investors).”

This was the starting shout of the decline… Dell became a victim of its size. It is practically impossible to maintain an 18 percent growth in a market that is continually falling, unless you enter in new markets, cut cost, increase delivery times, engage into tens of millions of customer contracts and therefore be bound to errors. The problems which came are easily seen in numbers:

-24,000,000 hits on google when u search “dell” plus “problems”

-2,620,000 hits on google when u search “dell” plus “lawsuit”

-2,030,000 hits on google when u search “dell” plus “hell”

or when u compare the stock price with one of their competitor

Print Historical Price Chart for Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ) – MSN Money

But what Dell could have done:

- create immediately a “web-response strategy”, and understand the power of internet ( don’t stay silent)

- admit mistakes and construct on them ( listen)

- improve costumer service control, by paying more attention to the signaled problems, and especially improve communication with the opinion leaders, meaning bloggers ( as Jeff Jarvis said:”We, the customers, bring them great value besides our money: We alert them to problem.” “your customers are your best customer support agents and marketers”) (resolution)

- improve quality control for products as well as for services

After a struggling period Dell succeeded in “listening”,  ” improving” and “reaching” his customers and taught us, at the expense of their “money” the power of Social Media.