GoDaddy CEO Responds to LinkedIn Video Critiquing GoDaddy Call

An interesting video popped up on my LinkedIn feed today. A LinkedIn / Twitter user named Keenan (verified on Twitter) posted a video critiquing a telemarketing phone call he had with a GoDaddy representative. Apparently, the GoDaddy rep didn’t do his homework before making the sales call, and Keenan offered some critical feedback and advice about how the call should have gone.

Keenan posted a link to the video via this tweet:

In the comment section on LinkedIn, GoDaddy CEO Scott Wagner publicly responded to Keenan’s video, and I want to share his response with you:

“Keenan — Sorry for the lousy experience. Our aspiration is to have you delighted. Obviously this was a ways away from that. Lots of reasons/opinions below on why, but the punch line is that we failed in the moment….which is the only thing that matters. Sometimes we’re absolutely wonderful but we also leave people with experiences like yours too, which cause me and many others at the company to lose little parts of our soul. We will get better and we will create a system that trains and celebrates a great experience. We won’t ever make everyone happy in every moment (Apple creates a lot of frustrating points too….) but we can and will get better. If you’d do me the courtesy, please hit me directly via email or Twitter and we can use your experience as a learning moment.
Best, Scott Wagner”

It is pretty remarkable that the CEO of a publicly traded company worth more than $12 billion personally responded to a video like this. Some might say that it was a PR person who responded, but I would be willing to bet that it was the CEO himself who replied.

The type of negative interaction between a customer and a GoDaddy representative probably happens many times a day. It is certainly not good for the customer nor is it good for employee morale. I think having the CEO address a video like this is powerful because it sets the tone for other employees and it shows accountability. I also think Keenan is right and the representative should have been more prepared for the call.

I am sure these touch base calls can be annoying to recipients, but I am also pretty sure that if they add value to the recipient, these types of phone calls can benefit both the company and the customer.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

5 COMMENTS

  1. Good move by the CEO. That sends out a clear message.

    Jeff Bezos still takes customer complain eMails.

    Amazon managers live in fear of the dreaded “?” eMail from Bezos following a customer complaint.

  2. Yup, it was actually Scott. He hit me up in inmail, asked for my info and scheduled a call. He gave me his email and offered to help in anyway he could.

    Well played on his part.

  3. Company culture starts at the top. CEO’s outreach distinguishes GD from many other companies who treat customers to be ‘managed’ vs cherished.

    Enlightened self interest, really. How else will top mgt learn about what’s going on in the trenches other than taking trouble to respond to constructive comments. In this day of twitter activism smart brands monitor their repuational risks 24×7; and it something negative is posted they respond promptly. Reaching out like this provides GD oppty to pre-empt potentially negative postings which can damage reputation.

    I have sent 2 emails to jeff@amazon.com re 2 matters within last 2 months relating to substantive whole foods issues; and in both instances received prompt responses from top wfm mgt fixing them – within a day!

    My experience with GD, as a long time customer, is that the culture of the organization is heads and shoulders above many other companies I deal with. Whenever there is a hiccup w GD its always acknowledged and earnest efforts made to fix.

  4. I am surprised that Godaddy sales reps don’t use a script or don’t know how to handle “objections” ? šŸ™‚ I have no idea on their sales process, but getting in an argument with a client is plain wrong and unprofessional.
    Glad to see that the Jeff Bezos, Scott Wagner, etc – the 1%- take full responsibility for their employees/company and are in control.

    Keenan – Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to turn a negative into a positive and offer your sales consulting/products to Godaddy? šŸ™‚

  5. CEO Scott Wagner obviously believes in taking reputation management very seriously!

    Good move, but GD really needs to educate their sales team better and only hire reps that have a genuine passion for what they’re doing and selling!

    I have to say I have had my fair share of negative experiences with GD sales reps (too many calls as well), with quite a few of them seemingly looking to merely make their sales quotas like Keenan mentioned.

    Come on GD, you own a major % of the domain name industry, so you had better govern yourself accordingly.

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