Write a post on a forum, blog or social networking site griping about customer service from Adorama Camera and the odds are pretty good that Adorama Customer Service Ambassador Helen Oster will show up to address the issue. I have observed this many times on message boards and in Flickr groups, and it really is quite amazing.

In this comment on Thomas Hawk’s Digital Connection in response to the blogger’s post about difficulties getting a Canon 5D Mark II, Helen reveals that she has a presence on “something like 400 Internet forums, blogs, websites and photo-sharing sites“. 400 sites… that is quite amazing, and I would be curious to see what kind of workflow Helen uses to manage all of that information.

Brick & mortar business can learn a lot from Adorama’s proactive approach to online customer service. The Internet enables all sorts of conversations between people that would never have been possible outside the digital realm. Some see it as a threat and resist, but Adorama’s embrace of this new dimension added to customer service by the Internet as a way to care for and grow their customer base is very, very smart.

Photo by laffy4k used under a Creative Commons license.