Reputation

05/08/2015

The best time to survey is immediately after the service.

We've all hear the saying that "Timing is everything."  Surveys are no exception.

Never can be better than lateBack on January 11, I had a medical procedure done at local hospital.  This week (I'm writing this on May ), I received a survey in the mail from the company that administered the procedure.  There were two pages of questions about my experience; good questions for a survey, but the problem was that four months later, I can't recall the details of the experience accurately enough to answer the questions.   I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.
 
There are a three key reasons why untimely surveys can be a bad thing:
 
  1. Sending out a survey so late reduces the likelihood of receiving meaningful responses,  if any response at all.
  2. Sending out a survey so late says "We  didn't care enough to send this sooner; if we truly valued your opinion, we would have asked for it sooner."
  3. Sending out a survey so late indicates a poorly-managed organization.
 
The potential ill-will and potential damage to reputation that a late survey can cause, can exceed any advantage gained from stale feedback.  Sending a survey late can be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater! So if you're going to survey, deliver the survey within 48 hours of delivering  the service.  
 
Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater

Posted at 09:28 AM in Best Practices, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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12/24/2014

The Value of Asking Questions

Have you ever been to a party full of strangers?  Was it easier to have an enaging conversation with some people, and more awkward with others?  Who asked you more questions?  The easier people or the awkward people?  Asking questions - good, thought-provoking questions - trigger deeper, engaging conversations, even with total strangers.

Cocktail-party-_2502341bWhat works at a cocktail party also works in building customer relationships:

Asking people questions about them makes them more willing to spend time with you.

Asking people challenging questions causes them to think more deeply.  When people think more deeply, they become mentally stronger.

Asking questions leads to answers which lead to new ideas.

Asking questions leads to discussion which leads to new knowledge.

Be the person that builds better relationships, spends time wisely, causes people to think deeply, come up with new ideas, and creates knowledge.

Be the person that asks good questions.

  Students raising hands

Posted at 02:44 PM in Best Practices, Customer Knowledge, Reputation, Selling Skills | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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11/09/2014

The Difference between Truth and Trust in Marketing

As customers, we want the truth.
 
Duty free big messageThe big sign said, "Domestic Passengers are Welcome to Shop Here."
 
So, I went inside, selected a bottle of my favorite bourbon, and brought it to to cashier.
 
She told me that I couldn't buy it, because I'm a domestic passenger.
 
"But the sign says domestic passengers can," I said.
 
As if on cue, she responded, "You need to read the bottom of the sign."
 
She was right - way down at the bottom of the sign, in a much smaller print was the message:
 
"Only passengers holding international boarding passes are allowed to purchase liquor and tobacco."   
 
Never mind that 75% of their shelf space is dedicated to the stuff that the Welcomed Domestic Shopper can't buy.
 
Duty Free America  lured me into their store with a cleverly-deceptive sign.  Technically, the sign was truthful.  The asterisk that followed the BIG WELCOME MESSAGE is the author's way of saying, "What you just read isn't the entire truth; if you want to know the entire truth, then you have to find and read the footnotes.
 
The point is this: If your BIG MESSAGE requires footnotes to be true, then your BIG MESSAGE alone is not true.  Make it true; customers deserve straight talk; we deserve plain and simple truth.
 
When it comes to sales and marketing, there are three types of Truth:
  1. Plain and Simple Truth
  2. Technically True Truth
  3. Untruth and Lies
Customers are emotional beings, and therefore we only trust one kind of Truth, and that's Plain and Simple Truth.  Technically True Truth makes us suspicious.  And the third isn't type isn't worthy of discussion.
 
Is there any Technically True Truth embedded in your customer-facing messaging?  If there is, consider replacing it wiit Plain and Simple Truth.  While Plain and Simple Truth may not lure as many prospects into your pipeline, those of us that do come inside will more loyal, long-term profitable customers.  As for the prospects that are turned away by the truth?  They weren't going to buy from you, anyway.  So why invest the resources in unqualified prospects?
 
What type of truth does your marketing speak?
 
And on which type of Truth do you want to build your reputation?  
 
 
Duty free footnote
 

Posted at 10:46 AM in Communication, Marketing Best Practices, Reputation, Trust & Transparency | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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05/27/2014

Manage your reputation, by managing the customers' view.

If you're going to ignore your customers, don't let them see you do it.
 
The other day, I stopped by my favorite dry cleaner at 6:45pm, to drop off some shirts.  I thought they were open until 7pm.   When I drove up to the building, the lights were on, and there were two people behind the counter.  I parked, grabbed the pile of shirts, and walked up to the front door.

Sorry we're closed sign When I pulled on the door handle once, it didn't open.  I instinctively tugged at handle a few more times to try and open it, and realized that it was locked.   Meanwhile, the two people behind the counter, never looked up from their work.  Then I looked at the sign in the window, and saw that they'd actually closed 15 minutes ago.  Part frustrated by the inconvenience of arriving too late, and part insulted because I was clearly ignored by the employees inside, I drove away a disgruntled customer.
 
Now, I realize that if these employees unlocked the doors, and served every customer that arrived a few minutes late, they'd likely never get home to their families.  I get that, and fully support an employer's need to keep its employees happy.
 
But here's something that every  employer needs to consider (and act on):
 
When employees are visible to customers, those employees are "on stage."  The actions of the employees - regardless of weather or not those actions directly impact the customer - affect the customer's view and perception of the business and brand. 
 
So here's the point:
 
Close the curtain when employees are doing "back-stage" work.  
 
For the dry cleaner, this would mean moving the employees to a back office that's not visible to the customer, and turning off the lights in the lobby so that it's clear to the customer that the business is closed, so that frustration and insult never have a change to take root.
 
Or, if the facilities are such that the employees can't do the work out of view of the customer, then literally drape a curtain in front of the stage - draw shades over the windows so that the customers can't see inside.
 
Every time a customer comes in contact with your businesses, you're being judged for better of for worse.  Take control of the customers' view, and you'll gain greater control over their experience, and your reputation.
 
Stage curtain
 
 

Posted at 06:41 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Reputation, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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03/22/2014

McDonald's Secret to Growing a Brand and a Loyal Customer Base

Do you remember when the first McDonalds opened in your hometown?

In Yorktown Heights, NY, that  was in 1976.  The red neon sign out front said, "Over 6 Million Served."  I  just turned 16 and could legally apply work, so I landed my first coroporate job cooking hamburgers. 

Mcdonalds over a million servedOn a regular basis, the manager on duty removed unsold burgers were from the warming bin, and put them in the trash.  The procedure was called "Waste and Loss."  As a 16-year-old male with a voracious appetite for anything remotely edible, I couldn't understand why a company would routinely and religiously throw away food that was only cooked a couple hours earlier.  Sure, those burges didn't taste as fresh as the burgers that  just came off the grill, but in my mind, they was perfecty edible.  

Customer Loyalty and Reputations for Quality don't happen by accident; they happen and grow over time, by continually adhering to those short-term decisions that seem hard to make, and harder to live by.

(When I speak of "quality" here, I'm not talking about nutritional quality; I'm talking about quality of product and service delivery; the ability to set expecations with your customers, and rigorously stick to a certain process so that you can deliver on those expectations over and over and over; so much so, that trust in your ability to deliver become part of your brand.)

In this blog post by Seth Godin, he points to the difficult short-term decisions that a company needs to make, in order to produce consistent quality, reputation and branding. 

I recently drove past that same McDonalds where I worked 38 years ago.  The sign out front no longer says "Over 6 Million Served."  It now says "Billions and Billions Served."  Throwing away a perfectly-good hamburger may seem foolish in the short-term, but done for the right reasons for more than 38 years, it's built one of the most famous brands in the world.

What are the "hamburgers" in your business?

Do you have the guts to throw away your less-than perfect hamburgers in order to build a better reputation? 

Mcdonalds burger

Posted at 04:38 PM in Product, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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04/05/2013

The ONE QUESTION Every Business Must Ask, Before Making a Decision

Customers shop at Wal-mart because Wal-mart has low prices, and product in stock.  Wal-mart has earned this reputation by steadfastly managing logistics, and especially, costs.  
 
But even doing what you're very good at can hurt you, if you don't measure your decisions against one simple question.
 
We'll get to that question in a minute...
 
First, let's turn to an April 3 New York Times article that describes how recent workforce reductions  have prevented Wal-mart from getting fresh produce to its store shelves in a timely manner:
 
Empty shelves in Walmart"Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and grocer, has cut so many employees that it no longer has enough workers to stock its shelves properly, according to some employees and industry analysts. Internal notes from a March meeting of top Walmart managers show the company grappling with low customer confidence in its produce and poor quality. “Lose Trust,” reads one note, “Don’t have items they are looking for — can’t find it.”
 
The article further reports declining grocery sales at Wal-mart, and customers complaining about longer wait times at check-out, because fewer cashiers are available to staff all the registers.
 
Wal-mart has grown to become one of the greatest retail stories in the history of our planet by keeping costs low, and sharing those low costs with the customer through lower prices.  
 
In other words, Wal-mart cost management has enabled them to created a better customer experience.  That customer experience has driven customer loyalty, increased sales, company growth and profitability.
 
But according to Times report, when Wal-mart managed their costs by reducing the number of stocking clerks and cashiers, the customer experience was damaged in two ways:  
  1. Less-than-fresh, and absent produce inconvenienced and disappointed customers.
  2. Longer-than-normal wait times at check out further disappointed customers.
The bottom line result to Wal-mart has been lost customers, lost revenue, and lost reputation.
 
Before a business makes any decision, it must first ask itself one important question:
 
"How will this decision impact the customer experience?"
 
If the decision will improve the customer experience, it's probably a good decision to make.
If the decision will harm the customer experience, reconsider.  Short term-gains are usually eroded by long-term losses.
 
Had Wal-mart asked itself that question before making the decision to reduce staff, its a good bet that their tomatoes would be riper, and there'd be more customers buying them. 
 
Tomatoes
 

Posted at 08:00 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Reputation, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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03/22/2013

Remarkable products should be built from the inside out.

Every year on my birthday, my mother-in-law gives me a gift card to my favorite beer store.  Yes, I married well.  This year, I began my annual shopping spree at Portland, Maine's RSVP Discount Beverage.  
 
Down one of the micro-brew aisles, among the dozens of brown bottles on the top shelf, was a tall, pink ceramic bottle with a name every bit as remarkable as the bottle itself: Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale.
 
Voodoo 2The greatest minds in marketing have said that for a product to compete in a crowded market, it needs to stand out from the crowd; it needs to be visibly different; it needs to be remarkable. The Rogue Ale company - the maker of Voodoo Doughnut, absolutely nailed "remarkable" with the bottle.  
I'd never seen a painted pink beer bottle before - it stood out like a Purple Cow in a field of Holsteins - so much so, that I couldn't not buy it. 
 
My expectations were high - when I returned home, I put the bottle in the refrigerator to get it to the perfect drinking temperature.  When I tasted the beer, it was far less than remarkable.  Now, I realize that taste is a matter of taste, and I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that are big fans of Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale, but I'm not one of them.  There was nothing that I wanted to remember about the taste, and I surely wasn't going to sell others on buying the beer.
 
The point is this:
If you're going to make yourself remarkable; if you're going to shout louder than everyone else in the crowd, you need to be sure that you can back it up with substance.  If your product can't live up to the hype, you can be hurting your brand and reputation.  
 
When you make your product remarkable, do it from the  inside-out.  Focus on creating a great product and a great experience, before you build a great package.
 
What products have you bought,  that were remarkable inside as well as outside?   
 
Iphone box
 

Posted at 08:00 AM in Branding, Product, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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02/07/2013

How Marriott's use of Twitter will make me a Loyal Customer

When I checked into a Marriott hotel in early December, I inadertently gave the receptionist my debit card for  indicentals.  When I checked out of the hotel four days later, I paid for my stay with a  company credit card. 

Unfortunately, the debit card number was still  in their billing system.

Three weeks later - the Saturday before before New Years, to be exact - a large charge suddenly appeared against my checking account - and the charge came from that same Marriott.

I called the hotel, and explained the situation.  The hotel staff listened, and politely informed me that nothing could be done until at least Monday, when the bookkeeping staff returned. 

That was a problem - my wife and I had big plans for the weekend, and a billing error by the hotel had virtually drained our checking account!

Without expecting any results, I sent out the following Tweet:

Marriott Tweet 1

Within 5 minutes, I  received the following text on  my cell phone  -  at first, I assumed it was just another marketing text, until I read what it said:

Marriott Tweet 2

 

 

 

 

After sending my reservation number, I received the following:

  Marritott Tweet 3

 And resolve it they did.  Within an hour, a Social Media contact at Marriott was on the phone with my bank to be sure that I would have funds available for  the weekend.  I didn't expect this level of personalized service, but I  was absolutely pleased to receive it!

I  learned that at that time, Marriott's entire social media team consisted of three people.  But that staff was plenty big to resolve my issue, and resolve it quickly.  So I wondered: How could such a large company have such a small yet effective social media group, particularly when they're marketing and selling into such a large global customer base?

 As far as I can see, there are at least two factors at Marriott that make this possible:

1. They have a Clearly-Defined Process for using Social Media:

They're tasked with "listening" to Twitter, and the other Social Media for  mentions of Marriott.  Any mention that in their judgement, requires follow-up, is assigned to individuals inside or outside the Social  Media group, for resolution. 

2. Their Social Media agents are Empowered:

These social media people are granted authority to make customer-focused deicsions without consulting a manager.  And they are empowered to assign issues to other people outside of their reporting structure, to "make somethign right" for the customer.

For this particular customer, a small social media staff can have a big impact on the customer experience, and cumulatively, on the brand and reputation of a company.  Like any other business tool, success is all a matter of how you use it.

I've re-told this story many times, and remain impressed with the way a large company can leverage a small social media staff to drive huge results.  As my travel begins to pick up in the new year, guess what hotel brand I'll be choosing more often?

  Twitter leverage

Posted at 04:29 PM in Customer Loyalty, Customer Service, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

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10/18/2012

Customer Experience Branding means living up to the expecations you set 100% of the time.

Bwi paper towelCustomer Experience  branding means consistently living up to the expectations that you set  with your customers.

In the restrooms at (BWI), there are signs on the wall that say, "We take pride in the appearance of our facitilities..."

On the wall opposite that sign, was a broken paper towel dispenser. 

When publicly  setting expectations, don't ever not deliver on them.

In my prior visits to BWI's restrooms, they indeed displayed their pride in appearance.  Perhaps this time was just an anomoly.  But an anomoly for me may have been the first impression for another customer, and therefore, one that painted an entirely different picture about the BWI brand and reputation.

The point is this:

When you publicly set expectations with your customers, do whatever it takes to live up to them.  Do whatever it takes, to prevent the anomolies from happening.  Be reliable, and be consistent.

Sign at bwi restroom

 

Posted at 12:09 PM in Branding, Customer Experience, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

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07/18/2012

The secret to a great customer experience is really pretty simple.

As customers, we love it when our lives are made easy.  And the opposite is also true:

We absolutely hate it when you make our lives difficult, especially when we think our request is pretty darn simple...

Like terminating my service with Direct TV.

Complex process cartoonMy family and I recently moved to a new home in a nearby town.  As part of the move,  we decided to simplify our lives by combining telephone, TV and Internet access into a single account, with a single service provider.

When I called the customer service center  at Direct TV to ask that  my service be terminated as of July 1, I thought that the entire call would take no more than five minutes.

I was wrong - way wrong.

First, the representative asked me a series of questions to lead me down a path to reconsider my decision, and install Direct TV at my new home.  I politely repeated my decision to terminate the service, and he then moved on to the next stage of his process - explaining the steps I'd need to go through, to  return the equipment, finalize billing and the time frame involved for each.  The call exceeded 28 minutes.  And I thought that my request was a simple one.

I've never been through a divorce, but I suspect the process is similarly  long and grueling.

Here's the  point:

When you design your customer-facing business processes, design them with the customer in mind.  Remember that customers like fast.  We like easy.  We like simple. 

Test any proposed process from the customer's perspective.  If it's not fast, easy and simple, change it until  it is. 

Now, you may be thinking, "Why does it matter?  The customer who is leaving me no longer matters."

Not so.  Customers come and go, and could come back again in the future, especially if they have good memories of you; memories of how easy you were to work with the first time.  Not to mention the what they may tell  their friends about you in the interim.

Develop a reputation for being easy.  Customers appreciate that.

Keep it simple sign


Posted at 07:25 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Reputation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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