In light of all the recent economic woes, consumers have a very good reason to be cautious, to cut their non essential spending, save their money and in short wait and see how it all continues to unfold. For many businesses this could be the forerunner to eventual failure.
Businesses everywhere will now be looking for every competitive edge available to them. There is no doubt that one available to all businesses remains differentiating themselves on the basis of unparalleled levels of customer service.
Service that carries tangible benefits and a level of emotional engagement that helps to convert uncommitted customers to staunch advocates.
In recent days against all logic and against this backdrop, I have personally witnessed several unbelievably poor examples of customer service.
In one case a lady was letting the sales clerk at an optometrist know that the lens in her new glasses were making her feel dizzy and needed to be adjusted. A reasonable request I would have thought. The clerk on the other hand obviously did not agree. She rolled her eyes and moaned “surely you can put up with that?”
The next day I was again present at a supermarket and watched in disbelief as a customer waited patiently to be served at a deli counter as two servers talked to each other happily ignoring him. After a minute or two, he politely asked for one of the two if he could be served. One eventually asked for his order while the other annoyed that he had the audacity to interrupt such a witty dialogue, (yes you guessed it) rolled her eyes as she sighed her disapproval.
The tragedy of this is that these types of anecdotes are becoming so common today that many reading this would be thinking “yeah it happens all the time”.
No doubting this truth, but what it really is, is a great opportunity for your business to stand out from the crowd and differentiate itself by offering customer service that is equally remarkable. Remarkably good that is.
So what does this customer service look like and where does it start. Clearly for any high level of customer service to exist it needs to reside firstly in the culture of the firm. A belief that is unequivocal, that customers are the lifeblood of the business and must be respected each and every time.
What does your business do to make its customers feel extraordinary? Quickly list three things. If you can’t, be scared. Be very, very scared.
Then again you do have the opportunity to make yourself indispensable after coming up with some innovative customer service strategy to make your customers experience unforgettable.
Simply put, your aim is create a set of customer service protocols, as part of you total product offering, that is so noteworthy that your target market will actively seek you out.
Smart marketers will work to create value added dimensions of customer service all designed to increase customer satisfaction and ultimately, customer loyalty.
Here are a few aspects you may want to consider adapting for your business.
• Personalising your product or service
o Sport shoe retailer Active Feet have special tread mills and video cameras set up to be able to analyse the gait of every person buying shoes to ensure that they are being sold a shoe that is perfectly suited to their specific needs. AS well the process is overseen by a podiatrist with additional insight into foot related problems and solutions. In short, meaningful differentiation.
• Making your delivery of service quicker
o Aussie Home Loans added real value when they offered their customers a one hour turnaround time on home loan approval time. This had traditionally been several days.
• Adding additional, sought after services
o From the large to the small. My own gardener Mark recently did my garden and noticed some leaves in the gutters and my lemon tree which was badly in need of pruning. When I can out to pay him, I noticed firstly that he had done his usual first rate job, but also that he had also cleaned the gutters and pruned the tree.
He smiled warmly and said “My pleasure Dan, no charge”.
Bottom line, he is my gardener for life.
Exactly how do you make your customers feel this way? This type of value adding customer service is available to all small business in particular. No budget needed only a desire to serve.
• Offering customers greater flexibility and convenience in how they
can buy from you and deal with your business
o The key to this point is that you need to better understand what how you can make it easier for your market to deal with you with key implications for your: trading hours, location, staff training & availability and effective use of the internet.
• Make more robust, easier training and ongoing support available for longer which allows customers to:
o Better utilise the features and benefits your product has, leading to greater levels of satisfaction
o Act as an advocate to others as to why they too should use this product.
• Peace of mind guarantees
o Most customers have a high level of risk aversion therefore you need to incorporate ways that remove the worry.
o Mont Blanc pens offer lifetime guarantees for example. They are not cheap but continue to sell well. Why? Because people now that they are covered should anything ever go wrong. How safe do your customers feel about your products or doing business with you? How can you make them feel safer?
• Loyalty programs focused around rewards that are genuinely sought after not routinely applied to all.
o Perhaps more than any other this is an aspect of customer service that is the most under utilised. The potential to form joint ventures and be able to apply creative solutions here is unlimited. In the end, people want more than just frequent flyer points. How do you reward your key customers for their ongoing loyalty?
By creatively adapting customer service elements such as these discussed here as part of your marketing mix, any business has the potential to occupy that most revered of market space. The customer service leader. The business that is known universally to always make a positive first impression with new customers, to be generous in how they deal with all customers ensuring a positive experience with all who deal with them, and a commitment to offering superior solutions, that ultimately better meet the customers unmet needs.
This includes the perennial need of being treated with respect, dignity and in a professional manner.
At the end of the day, there is no value dwelling on the fact that there may still be some difficult times ahead. Some businesses may in fact not survive, while many others will not only survive but thrive through this same period.
Perhaps these businesses will have one simple common denominator that distinguishes them from other less successful businesses and that is unwavering and extraordinary customer service.
Customer service that will prove to be a panacea for some but at this time,
let this also serve as a cautionary tale for many others.
Thanks for reading and please share with others who may be interested. Many thanks.
Daniele Lima
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Real Customer Service Before Social Media Every Time
I have just finished a meeting with a client who is the umpteenth person I've spoken to, to give me the,” if we can get the social media marketing in place, we'll be OK despite our recent problems."
I think everyone knows I love marketing and Social Media is an inexorable and valuable part of the marketers weaponry moving forward, but please don't forget one important fact.
And that is that it's one thing to have a great brand or product offering that your advocates can 'go viral on' and share with the world, but first you need to be deserving of it, and then maybe it will happen.
This particular client had a person answering phones who if they felt they were not being respected, would put clients on hold for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Sadly on one occasion, she pressed the wrong button and whilst telling her associate she had another loser on hold, was also letting the individual know. Yes I'm sure that word of mouth and social media will give this firm what they deserve.
However as I write this I can also remember the story of a lady I worked with a few years ago in the pharmaceutical industry, Frances Walls who has subsequently gone on to become founder and CEO of renowned strategic consultancy, FAW Consultants based in California in the US.
Today her reputation for developing and implementing innovative and break through strategies is well established but the reason I think she comes to mind is because during her time at Bristol-Myers it was her role to oversee the design, implementation and strategy for the electronic portal that was being developed for the firm.
As you could imagine, the difference between the most knowledgably person and the majority who at the time had virtually no understanding of anything IT was immense.
Her success I believe was based not purely on her extraordinary knowledge or strategic capabilities, but also on the fact that she worked with each individual product manager and tailored the message and the approach perfectly not only to their needs, but importantly also their level of knowledge, behavioural style and departmental constraints.
In the end the organisation gained more than an industry leading customer portal. It had in fact been given a template that outlined how to approach, work with and support the needs of any customer.
So for us the song remains the same. Ensure that real customer service is in place before social media every time.
I think everyone knows I love marketing and Social Media is an inexorable and valuable part of the marketers weaponry moving forward, but please don't forget one important fact.
And that is that it's one thing to have a great brand or product offering that your advocates can 'go viral on' and share with the world, but first you need to be deserving of it, and then maybe it will happen.
This particular client had a person answering phones who if they felt they were not being respected, would put clients on hold for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Sadly on one occasion, she pressed the wrong button and whilst telling her associate she had another loser on hold, was also letting the individual know. Yes I'm sure that word of mouth and social media will give this firm what they deserve.
However as I write this I can also remember the story of a lady I worked with a few years ago in the pharmaceutical industry, Frances Walls who has subsequently gone on to become founder and CEO of renowned strategic consultancy, FAW Consultants based in California in the US.
Today her reputation for developing and implementing innovative and break through strategies is well established but the reason I think she comes to mind is because during her time at Bristol-Myers it was her role to oversee the design, implementation and strategy for the electronic portal that was being developed for the firm.
As you could imagine, the difference between the most knowledgably person and the majority who at the time had virtually no understanding of anything IT was immense.
Her success I believe was based not purely on her extraordinary knowledge or strategic capabilities, but also on the fact that she worked with each individual product manager and tailored the message and the approach perfectly not only to their needs, but importantly also their level of knowledge, behavioural style and departmental constraints.
In the end the organisation gained more than an industry leading customer portal. It had in fact been given a template that outlined how to approach, work with and support the needs of any customer.
So for us the song remains the same. Ensure that real customer service is in place before social media every time.
Friday, March 19, 2010
The Answer to Why Should You Engage Customers Through Social Media Marketing Is Simple. They Buy More and They Recommend More.
In a recent study of social media, it has been shown that both Facebook fans and Twitter followers of different brands, are much more more likely to not only recommend those brands to others, but also to buy them, compared to before they become fans suggesting that it is the engagement with the brand that drives added use and advocacy.
The study conducted by market researchs Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies which looked at 1500+ users (aged 18+) by online survey, and demonstrated that 60% of Facebook fans and 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a fan or follower.
Equally significant is the fact that 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy the brands they follow.
These findings undoubtedly further strengthen the already impressive case for social media marketing and raise the question around what are the long term consequences for you any brand not actively trying to participate in the social media arena assuming that their closest rivals are?
The answer I suspect is partially answered by feedback from the study that consumers believe that those brands who are not participating social media are perceived as being out of touch.
The study conducted by market researchs Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies which looked at 1500+ users (aged 18+) by online survey, and demonstrated that 60% of Facebook fans and 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend those brands since becoming a fan or follower.
Equally significant is the fact that 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy the brands they follow.
These findings undoubtedly further strengthen the already impressive case for social media marketing and raise the question around what are the long term consequences for you any brand not actively trying to participate in the social media arena assuming that their closest rivals are?
The answer I suspect is partially answered by feedback from the study that consumers believe that those brands who are not participating social media are perceived as being out of touch.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Facebook Continues to Go From Strength to Strength
In a recent posting by Amy Porterfield I saw more unequivocal proof that Facebook has become so much more than a way to keep in contact with frieds.
Of the 5 key studies cited the 2 that I found to be particularly powerful were a s follows.
1. Facebook is by far and away the site that people are spending the most time on each month. As the table below from the Nielsen Company shows, people are spend upwards of seven hours making it almost 3 times as much time spent on second place getter Yahoo and over 3 times the amount of time spent on average on Google.
2. And the second powerful reminder of Facebook's huge potential to positively influence business outcomes form the recent data, showing that a staggering 44% of all shared links are from Facebook.
The botom line for businesses is simple. Avoid Facebook at your own peril. With over 400 million usersorld wide it seems to have few if any defined limits and is a must as part of a balanced and well thought out e-marketing campaign.
Of the 5 key studies cited the 2 that I found to be particularly powerful were a s follows.
1. Facebook is by far and away the site that people are spending the most time on each month. As the table below from the Nielsen Company shows, people are spend upwards of seven hours making it almost 3 times as much time spent on second place getter Yahoo and over 3 times the amount of time spent on average on Google.
The botom line for businesses is simple. Avoid Facebook at your own peril. With over 400 million usersorld wide it seems to have few if any defined limits and is a must as part of a balanced and well thought out e-marketing campaign.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The Seven Simple Steps to Achieving Social Media Excellence
As we continues to transitioning from the 4P’s of Outbound Marketing World to the 6C’s of the Evolving World of Inbound Marketing, these 7 simple steps are vital in positioning yourself within your ideal community and consistently delivering on your brand promise.
Step 1. Commit
I’m sure I speak for many consultants when I say how frustrating it is that our clients want to share in the success that social media promises, but often resent and resist the commitment required to make that happen.
Social media is not a quick fix. Quite the opposite unlike more traditional forms of marketing such as advertising and sales promotions, its effects are built slowly and with great purpose. It is not a realm for the impatient.
Suffice to say if you wish to partake in it, you need to commit time, resources and personnel to drive the mechanics of the process. If you can’t or don’t want to, walk away now before a half baked attempt actually hurts your brand.
Step 2. Connect
The next step must always be to find and connect to your ideal, target client, customer or consumer. Who are they, where do they live, what distinguishes them from other non targeted individuals and most importantly what platforms do they use to: communicate, learn, ask, laugh, cry, complain and share?
Within all of the major networking sites there are powerful search facilities that will allow you to find those groups, communities and enthusiasts that you seek.
Examples of these include: Twitter Search (search.twitter.com), Technorati Search and SocialMention.com search.
When you find these preferred platforms, you will also have found the podium from which your marketing efforts will eventually flow.
Step 3. Comprehend
You can surely make a strong argument that this third stage is the most important in the entire process, because through active listening we hopefully gain real insight into peoples’ true and often undelivered needs, the reasons why they have these needs, the costs they incur by not having these needs met and ultimately how their lives and situation would benefit if for instance these issues, problems, concerns and desires were adequately met.
In medicine doctors typically ask their patients, “where does it hurt?”
The in the modern age, social media is how marketers ask and answer that question.
Step 4. Care
This is not rhetoric or the ravings of a sensitive new age guy gone mad. People who care for their clients and customers stand out like a beacon in the dark. Genuine, deep felt and sustained caring for the people and businesses you want to serve.
Ask yourself one question at this point, do I really care about my customers’ outcomes or is it all just about a sale. If it’s just business, rethink your position.
Marketing and ultimately selling is all about serving people and their needs. As a by product of this quality, sustained and caring service, good businesses make money.
Don’t think you can put the cart before the horse. Social media will highlight and hurt businesses who continue to make this mistake.
Step 5. Communicate
Once you have listened to and fully understood the landscape and what your audience faces in terms of challenges, fears, concerns, existing issues, up coming concerns, etc. then and only then, you can start to communicate with authority.
The first golden rule here is: Start low and go slow.
Earn the right to advance gradually with time and ongoing engagement of people within the various close knit communities. Wherever possible contribute your expertise to help solve problems and answer questions as they arise.
The second golden rule: Give first to get.
So many businesses foolishly in the past 2 years, unfamiliar with the etiquette and expectations of this medium have gone in with both guns blazing with a strategy of little more than carpet bombing the community members with a plethora of product information, broken up with only special pricing offers.
Step 5 is Communicate. Put more specifically, Communicate intelligently and generously.
Step 6. Control
As you begin to connect, interact and contribute to the discussion, it becomes very important to be able to monitor (as a means of controlling) how your brand, business and messages are being perceived by your audience.
With the ongoing growth of social media technology we also see a naturally occurring growth in the number and sophistication in the tools available to social media marketers to measure and monitor all activity and campaign effectiveness.
These products allow you to easily and effectively measure everything from traffic and activity on your website and blogs utilising products such as Google Analytics, as well as the positioning, reputation and effectiveness of your brand and its message with monitoring tools such as Trackur and Radian 6.
You can also use a link shortener like bit.ly which has a built in link tracker which will monitor how each link performs in terms of clicks. As well tools such as bit.ly and TweetMeme (for Twitter) can also measure link sharing with others (or retweets for twitter) as another important marker of link effectiveness.
Step 7. Conquer
Selling your firm, its brand and its various happens gradually. When you reach this stage, it is self evident to say that you need to provide solutions that deliver a memorable and very satisfying experience that will likely be freely shared amongst the community.
Although few things are guaranteed in fiercely competitive markets, following this process will strategically align your approach and help optimise your ability to listen, learn and deliver in a meaningful way to your target market.
By Daniele Lima
Director Road Scholars
Strategic Marketing & Training Consultancy
Recognised authority in SME strategic planning, social media marketing and nationally accredited business coaching.
Course designer and Presenter of:
Social Media Marketing Courses for VECCI.
http://www.vecci.org.au/Training/Pages/Customer_Service_Sales_Marketing.aspx
Contact details for Daniele:
Phone: (03) 9576 8486 or 0413297617
Email: gotham@netlink.com.au
Website: www.roadscholarstraining.com.au
Step 1. Commit
I’m sure I speak for many consultants when I say how frustrating it is that our clients want to share in the success that social media promises, but often resent and resist the commitment required to make that happen.
Social media is not a quick fix. Quite the opposite unlike more traditional forms of marketing such as advertising and sales promotions, its effects are built slowly and with great purpose. It is not a realm for the impatient.
Suffice to say if you wish to partake in it, you need to commit time, resources and personnel to drive the mechanics of the process. If you can’t or don’t want to, walk away now before a half baked attempt actually hurts your brand.
Step 2. Connect
The next step must always be to find and connect to your ideal, target client, customer or consumer. Who are they, where do they live, what distinguishes them from other non targeted individuals and most importantly what platforms do they use to: communicate, learn, ask, laugh, cry, complain and share?
Within all of the major networking sites there are powerful search facilities that will allow you to find those groups, communities and enthusiasts that you seek.
Examples of these include: Twitter Search (search.twitter.com), Technorati Search and SocialMention.com search.
When you find these preferred platforms, you will also have found the podium from which your marketing efforts will eventually flow.
Step 3. Comprehend
You can surely make a strong argument that this third stage is the most important in the entire process, because through active listening we hopefully gain real insight into peoples’ true and often undelivered needs, the reasons why they have these needs, the costs they incur by not having these needs met and ultimately how their lives and situation would benefit if for instance these issues, problems, concerns and desires were adequately met.
In medicine doctors typically ask their patients, “where does it hurt?”
The in the modern age, social media is how marketers ask and answer that question.
Step 4. Care
This is not rhetoric or the ravings of a sensitive new age guy gone mad. People who care for their clients and customers stand out like a beacon in the dark. Genuine, deep felt and sustained caring for the people and businesses you want to serve.
Ask yourself one question at this point, do I really care about my customers’ outcomes or is it all just about a sale. If it’s just business, rethink your position.
Marketing and ultimately selling is all about serving people and their needs. As a by product of this quality, sustained and caring service, good businesses make money.
Don’t think you can put the cart before the horse. Social media will highlight and hurt businesses who continue to make this mistake.
Step 5. Communicate
Once you have listened to and fully understood the landscape and what your audience faces in terms of challenges, fears, concerns, existing issues, up coming concerns, etc. then and only then, you can start to communicate with authority.
The first golden rule here is: Start low and go slow.
Earn the right to advance gradually with time and ongoing engagement of people within the various close knit communities. Wherever possible contribute your expertise to help solve problems and answer questions as they arise.
The second golden rule: Give first to get.
So many businesses foolishly in the past 2 years, unfamiliar with the etiquette and expectations of this medium have gone in with both guns blazing with a strategy of little more than carpet bombing the community members with a plethora of product information, broken up with only special pricing offers.
Step 5 is Communicate. Put more specifically, Communicate intelligently and generously.
Step 6. Control
As you begin to connect, interact and contribute to the discussion, it becomes very important to be able to monitor (as a means of controlling) how your brand, business and messages are being perceived by your audience.
With the ongoing growth of social media technology we also see a naturally occurring growth in the number and sophistication in the tools available to social media marketers to measure and monitor all activity and campaign effectiveness.
These products allow you to easily and effectively measure everything from traffic and activity on your website and blogs utilising products such as Google Analytics, as well as the positioning, reputation and effectiveness of your brand and its message with monitoring tools such as Trackur and Radian 6.
You can also use a link shortener like bit.ly which has a built in link tracker which will monitor how each link performs in terms of clicks. As well tools such as bit.ly and TweetMeme (for Twitter) can also measure link sharing with others (or retweets for twitter) as another important marker of link effectiveness.
Step 7. Conquer
Selling your firm, its brand and its various happens gradually. When you reach this stage, it is self evident to say that you need to provide solutions that deliver a memorable and very satisfying experience that will likely be freely shared amongst the community.
Although few things are guaranteed in fiercely competitive markets, following this process will strategically align your approach and help optimise your ability to listen, learn and deliver in a meaningful way to your target market.
By Daniele Lima
Director Road Scholars
Strategic Marketing & Training Consultancy
Recognised authority in SME strategic planning, social media marketing and nationally accredited business coaching.
Course designer and Presenter of:
Social Media Marketing Courses for VECCI.
http://www.vecci.org.au/Training/Pages/Customer_Service_Sales_Marketing.aspx
Contact details for Daniele:
Phone: (03) 9576 8486 or 0413297617
Email: gotham@netlink.com.au
Website: www.roadscholarstraining.com.au
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