In chapter five in "Real-Time Marketing and PR," David Meerman Scott asks if some companies are too big to succeed. He wonders if information can travel quickly enough in these companies. He decided to contact the top 100 companies in the United States online and ask them if communication has changed and adapted to the digital era.
Out of the 100 companies Scott attempted to contact, 28 responded to his email. 10 companies only provided telephone contacts, and one company's form did not work. The response times varied greatly. Five companies responded in under an hour. Four responded within one to two hours. Three answered in three to four hours. 11 companies responded the next day. Four companies responded between two and three days. Finally, one company responded over a week after Scott's initial contact.
Why does a small fraction of the top companies respond in real time? These companies have developed a real time mindset, and are leaders in more than just communicating in real time. Scott includes a comparison of the 2010 stock prices and shares that the companies that responded to his question typically did better than the S&P 500 stock index.
Scott's research confirmed two things. First, the biggest companies could respond to questions and comments in real time. Second, approximately 75% of the top companies were not contacted or did not reply. It is not good that most of these companies couldn't be contacted or replied to Scott's question. In today's world, we want to have the ability to contact a company. Also, if we contact a company, we want a response to our question or comment. Perhaps these companies and others can learn and make it easier for customers to contact them.
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