Dell Shows Other Companies How to Listen! DellCAP


Last week I was invited to Austin, Texas to attend the first DellCAP days event.  DellCAP stood for Dell Customer Advisory Panel.  It is where they invited about 30 people from all over the country on 2 different days to come to Dell Headquarters and discuss different aspects of the Dell brand, and how they can improve it.

This is where  Dell was completely brave.  The first day was for the people who felt negatively towards the brand.  It would be like Apple inviting me to their headquarters to get my thoughts.  The second day (which obviously was the group I was in) was for the people who felt positively about the brand.

One thing that I seriously felt was missing was an official introduction time.  I really wanted to hear something about the other people I was there with.  Although I ended up getting to meet each of them throughout the course of the day, I would have liked to had an official introduction to everyone.

We got started at Dell with breakfast and just kind of a chatting session where we mingled around with the Dell employees and each other.  Then we jumped right into the first panel, which was more just talking about the brand, and the marketing of it.  This really bled into the support panel where we discussed the customer support of Dell.

During our discussions the FANTASTICALLY BRILLIANT, TALENTED Sunni Brown took notes in the most creative way I’ve ever seen.  You can see her doing it in the image included with this post.  Seriously, if you are a corporation and you are having a meeting that you need recorded, HIRE HER!  It is really a work of art and she did it all just as we were all talking.  I was talking to some of the Dell employees who said they may even put the large note mural in a frame and hang it in the cafeteria.  This way all of the employees can see what we had to say.

After we ate lunch we got to travel over to the design center and check out some awesome new products coming out, and a discussion of Dell’s different product lines.  We went from there to an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) session that I’m not allowed to talk about (it’s very very cool though).  We then talked about Dell’s sustainability and recycling efforts, which are completely amazing!  From there we went out to dinner with the amazing folks at Dell, and had some really great Mexican food, with a twist.

So this week we are going to dig into what was discussed at DellCAP and I’d love to hear from my readers on whether or not we hit the nail on the head with what we were suggesting to Dell and it’s employees.  Tomorrow we are going to talk marketing so definitely stay tuned to hear why I hate Dell’s current commercials! (yes, apparently there is ONE thing about Dell that I don’t like… shocking, I know!)

*Disclosure – Dell paid for my trip out to Roundrock, but did not ask me to write any posts about my trip, I am writing my own opinions of the brand and my trip. (clearly I was in love with Dell before my trip anyway) Photo from Dell’s Official Flickr Stream.


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About the author

Sarah Werle Kimmel

Sarah Werle Kimmel is a digital parenting coach and family tech expert. She has spent the last 20 years of her career working as a Microsoft Certified IT Manager supporting over 100 small businesses. During that time she started Family Tech LLC to help families understand and manage the technology in their home. She has regularly appeared as a family tech expert on local NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX news affiliates, BYUtv and Studio 5, and has been invited all over the world from tech companies like Lenovo, Verizon, Microsoft, Dell, and Samsung. Find out more on her website SarahKimmel.com

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  • Hi Sarah!

    So great to meet you at Day 2 of #DellCAP Days! We sat across from each other, yet barely got to say “Hello!”, which just means we were super busy 🙂 I think introductions would have been nice, but then again that would probably chew up an hour.

    I just added a link to your blog post here to mine (I’m generating a list of Day 2 blog posts). Love to get your feedback on my post – http://Beebe.in/DellCAP_Day2

    Also, my photos are on Flickr here – http://Beebe.in/DellCAP

    @SusanBeebe

    • Oh My Gosh Shawn! Seriously?? You must not watch live TV very often, cause I swear they are on every commercial break for me. And it’s HORRIBLE! You’ll have to read tomorow though why I think it’s so awful!

  • Hi Susan,

    Excellent post about the DellCap experience. I totally agree that dell was very brave because I was in the first group of people.

    I was there and I was amazed at how they listened patiently to the many of the horror stories about customer service issues. After listening intently then truly tried to find out how they could change our perspective and discover where they had gone wrong.

    Cudos to them for such an innovative use of Social Media to improve their brand!

    I hope we helped and I would love to see them win back the respect they once had in the industry even though I jumped ship and bought a Mac (only because I wanted American based support). In the past I have purchased 4 different Dell computers so anything is possible

    I also LOVED Sunni Brown. She rocks and I can hardly wait to get the art work they promised to send.

    @laurenamcmullen

    • I’m actually Sarah, but thank you so much for your comment Lauren! I definitely would have loved to check out your day too, to see what you guys had to say.

      I also can’t wait to get that artwork. Sunni Brown is seriously talented.

  • Sarah it was so good to meet you at #dellCAP. And I am SO jealous because you got the most amazing pic of Sunni! I was kicking myself afterward that I didn’t get a shot of her drawing!

    What an amazing event this was, I’ll make sure to link to your post in my recap 😉

    • I can’t take credit for the pic. It’s from Dell’s Flickr stream. 🙂

      Completely enjoyed meeting you as well. I already have tomorrows post written, and you definitely have a link, being our wonderful moderator.

  • Hey all! Digital copies of Sunni’s artwork are posted in the CAP Group on the Dell Community. If you need me to send via e-mail as well, let me know.

    Thanks for all great feedback. We’re glad everyone was able to participate in the first ever Dell CAP Days, your feedback on the event will help us better it moving forward. Hope to continue the conversations!