At the NACCM Customers 1st Conference today, we had the opportunity to listen to some fabulous keynotes as well as start to dig-in to the sessions. Along the way, we may have even gotten a little Goofy! Lots of nuggets, video, and photos, including Keith Ferrazzi, Joe Torre, and Peter Guber. Keep reading!

Inspiring Employees
The theme across all of the keynotes today was one of community, relationship building, and emotions.  (Customers Rock! note - many of these themes work very well with the social media tools that are available to connect with customers, and with each other.)

JoAnna Brandi kicked off the day with an energetic discussion of being leaders that inspire customers to be more engaged at work, which, in turn, leads to better customer engagement. As leaders, we need to use more positive emotion; this will affect our employees and our customers. Keep your employees out of the fear we are seeing, and start focusing on the positive. What is right? What is possible? What is the next solution we can find?

She also challenged attendees to stop focusing exclusively on customer satisfaction, as customers don’t want things that are just “satisfactory”. They want something better than that! While important, satisfaction is not the end game. The pot of gold at the other side of the rainbow is joy, happiness, Wow, and Magic.  We have to start creating emotional relationships with our customers. This is done by showing up at work with emotion, not checking it at the door!  It is the leader’s job to make sure everyone around them uses Magic – Make a Great Impression on the Customer.

Never Eat Alone

The first keynote was Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone.He turned this into a working session to give people a personal relationship action plan for the upcoming year. Who do you need to work with to get you where you want to go?  People are critical to your success, and relationships are the core. We discussed which words describe business relationships: Trust, human, feedback, fun, candor, collaborative. Which words add for most personal relationships? Laughter, love, listening, intimacy, reliable, trust, passion.

The shift – a business relationship is a personal relationship in a business environment.  Make it purposeful; strategically guide your relationships. It is not about waiting for someone else to start the relationship; it is about you being proactive with others.

If you have strong personal relationships, you will be more easily forgiven when you mess it up!

Video of Keith: you can’t get there alone.

Keith had the group go through a series of exercises to help crystallize thinking around this. Our job in this world is to create an environment around ourselves that invites people in to have a better relationship with us. It is all about what we do – it is our responsibility. Lower our guard, invite people in. As we talk to people, we ought to be having the following internal conversation:

-    Is there something I can care about with this person? A way to connect and remember?
-    Is there a way I can help? “How can I help you? Who can I introduce you to?” How powerful is that?!

Keith also discussed the “Fluffy” factor. This was referring to a phone conversation where the service rep could hear a dog barking in the background – ‘Fluffy’. “What is the name of your dog,” this rep might ask, as a way to connect with the other person and see them as a human being (not just an irritating caller). We need to show up as the human and empathetic individual they want to see. If all call center folks projected a wonderful positive outcome, in their own minds, it would begin to manifest itself.

How are your customer service people seeing your customers? As a pain, or as a real person with real issues?

Keith also shared about the importance of being real, authentic, and human to others. He stated that others can tell right away if we are not being truthful or transparent with them, even over the phone!  We need to have the following mindset, with customers or with those we want to build relationships with: We really care. We want to hear you (people need to be heard).  When we have this mindset, we begin to empathize.

I will wrap up this section on Keith with a video of him telling the story about someone who cared about another human being and how it changed lives.

Teamwork

We then had the pleasure of listening to Joe Torre, manager of the LA Dodgers, share nuggets from his many years in baseball. Here are some highlights:

• You only get better (at whatever you do) when you have to deal with setbacks. Tough times don’t last; tough people do.
• It’s the little things in a game that help you win. Concentrate on the little things; big things will happen.
• Be loyal to each other on the team, and have respect for that other guy who is out there, perhaps where you want to be.
• You can’t assume your customers are yours forever.
• What can I help us do to win today?
• Whatever line of work you are in, it is all about the people.

Making Connections Through Storytelling

The morning ended with a fascinating speech by Peter Guber, Chairman and Founder, Mandalay Entertainment. Peter has quite a line of Hollywood successes, including his role as producer for such films as Gorillas in the Mist, The Deep, The Color Purple, and Rain Man, to name a few.
Per Peter:

“Coping with failure in uncertain times is a necessity; it has always been a partner in my journey.”

He shared three navigational states for these times and how to get through them - fear, uncertainty, and change. Peter also shared that the game changer, the secret sauce, is the story we tell ourselves and the story we tell our customers and clients.

Oral storytelling. It is in all of us. We need to connect our story to the emotions of our customers and employees to help them propel themselves through all of this. We are all wired to do oral storytelling.  When we do it, it changes the word from “customer/client/patron” to “audience”. One thing to keep in mind about an audience: they expect experiences and to be engaged emotionally. They want to be moved.

Here is a video of Peter talking about how human beings are “wired” to tell oral stories.

Peter encouraged us to unleash our story for our benefit, and do it by MAGIC.

MAGIC – like a hand, each of the following concepts works independently, but they work better together.

Motivating your Audience to your Goal Interactively with great Content

Are you motivated about your story? Yes – you can craft a powerful story. You can tell, before someone says a word, whether they are authentic. Be calm; be coherent with it. Then tell it. Demonstrate you are authentic with your story. This engages people.

Audience – everybody you talk with (not to) is an audience. How do I get their attention? If it’s not a good time to do it, don’t tell your story! Know what is interesting. Try to be interested in them, create an emotional connection. The context makes the story different for everyone. What are they interested in? Find out then connect it to that. Aim for the heart, not the head. Feelings.  Often times a story, elegantly presented, can change the results.

Here is another video of Peter discussing how he convinced the head of the studio to let him make the film Gorillas in the Mist. In this video, Peter was just talking about how he had come to realize that he was not connecting with his audience (the studio head). So, he became a wounded gorilla in order to help explain why it was important to tell the story of saving gorillas:

Goal – specifically direct someone to a call to action.  We have to have authentic goals that are generous; then, we both win. Virally-advocated stories are authentic; they have to be real.

Interactively – it has to be a conversation. The more senses you engage in your story, the more likely you are to own it. They feel they are participating in the story – let your audience own it so they can tell it for you. It’s the way we are wired. Interactivity – think about it before you start. You have to surrender control. Why do you think you control the customer or your brand? When you relinquish control, it allows them to come forward and own the information in a unique way.

Content – The actual story is the Holy Grail. Look to your own experience – true story, inspired by story. Use observation – retell other people’s stories. Use them for emotional transportation. Look at history and use artifacts; make emotional connections today from it. Use metaphor and analogy; he became a gorilla for the studio head to get him to connect with the story and make the movie.

Think of your customers as an audience, interact with them with really great content, and enjoy the front row seat to your success.

Other Goodies

The afternoon consisted of 4 main tracks of sessions. I attended the session on Disney presented by Maritz and The Disney Institute. Bruce Kimbrell was again the presenter, along with Kathy Oughton from Maritz.

Bruce told a great story about how serious Disney is about surveying customers in the theme park. He shared that some days, the survey at the entrance gate to the park might only ask for your zip code. On other days, the conversation might go like this:

Disney: “Hi, do you have a some time to take our guest survey? We would need about 2 hours of your time.”

Guest: “Uh, no, that would take up a big chunk of my time here.”

Disney: “Well, how about if we take care of you for tomorrow?”

Guest: “No, I would have to change my flights, my hotel…”

Disney: “What if we took care of that? Would you be willing to give us your time?”

Now that is serious focus on getting the voice of the customer!

I also had the opportunity to sit in on JoAnna Brandi’s session/discussion about what makes people feel good at work. Here were some of the attendee responses -

- Liking the people I work with

- Harmony

- Making a difference

- Being recognized by others, especially when you find out about it later

JoAnna is trying to understand these motivators so she can help coach others on how to improve employee retention and loyalty.

There’s More!

Go check out the conference blog, flickr group, and my Tweets to see/hear more about the day. Last day - tomorrow!

Today was my second day here at the NACCM Customers 1st Conference, and it was filled with pre-conference summits and the official kick-off to the event by Kevin Carroll, author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball.  Here is an overview and some nuggets from Disney Institute, nGenera, JetBlue, and of course, Kevin. (Note - if you follow me on Twitter, you already have a taste of what went on at the summit!)

Disney Loyalty

The day started with Bruce Kimbrell from The Disney Institute who keynoted with a great speech on Disney and their keys to customer loyalty. Bruce asked a great question: Who are you loyal to and why? Some of the answers included the following:

• Nordstrom - they treat you like you matter
• Keen shoes - high quality product, and solid customer service if there is a problem
• Sports team - get a sense of community
• State Farm Insurance - they are there before the police!
• Kroger Foods - great customer service experience

Each responder had their own reason for being loyal. Bruce shared that at Disney, they believe the greater the connection, the greater the loyalty!  Relationships are built when two things happen:

1. Customers want to associate with your brand beyond the transaction
2. Your customers and employees interact positively with each other

Disney gets 80,000 people at their parks in one day. How do you positively interact with all of them? On average, each guest (Disney speak for customer) has 60 interactions with Disney cast members (employees) per day. This is 60 opportunities to make or break the experience; they are the face of Disney! If 59 are great, but number 60 is a jerk, what do I go home and talk about?  Disney uses experience mapping to identify all points of contact with customers, look at the experience through the customers’ eyes, and then align Disney strengths to “moments of magic”.  Key takeaway: plan it out! Identify and prioritize key opportunties in the customer experience, match specific tools to each opportunity, select partners to involve, then go make it happen!  Thank you, Bruce, for all of your Disney insight.

Swarming the Magic Kingdom

I spent most of my day in this highly interactive activity, led by Frank Capek of nGenera (Don Tapscott’s company). He laid the foundation for the day by discussing the next generation customer experience. In other words, with the potential for collaboration found in social media (such as blogs, wikis, social networks, YouTube, etc), how can we enable customers to actively co-create their own experiences?  This isn’t experience by intent (improving service levels) or experience by design (creating based on customer needs and priorities) but experience on demand (engage and co-create).

After talking about this for awhile, Frank set us loose in Disneyland to take a closer look at what customer experiences are taking place there - down to the smallest detail.  We rode rides, analyzed Main Street USA, and listened to Christmas music being aired in the park. We observed what it felt like to be a first-timer, what it felt like to stand in line, and how easy/difficult it was to get around the park. At the end of the day, we came back together and used our collective thinking to brainstorm ideas around not just improved customer experiences, but specifically how customer experiences could be different for those who are “digitally connected” (especially young people who live on social networks). Ideas included the following:

• “Log in” at the park to learn about wait times in lines, get a personalized experience
• Have Disney “follow you” around the park (opt-in, of course) via your mobile phone or simply your park ticket (inserted at various attractions) to log your activities and create a “storybook” of your day that could be emailed/link sent to you. You could even opt to have your log update your Facebook or MySpace status throughout the day, sharing your experience with your friends.
• Using texting/Twitter to share issues with Disney in real-time

It was a great session to get out in the sunshine, look at things from a different perspective, then take and apply it back to our own companies: Walk in your customers’ shoes. Innovate the customer experience. Don’t forget social media!

JetBlue and “Jetitude”

Rob Maruster, Senior VP of Customer Service at JetBlue held a great session to share how they are bringing humanity back to air travel through servant leadership. Here are some tidbits:

• JetBlue administers 35 customer surveys each flight (regardless of how full they are); 8% of customers give their feedback (a decent response rate)
• They use Net Promoter Score (NPS), rather than just customer satisfaction, to gauge how well they are performing and look for opportunities for improvement.  It seems to be directly correlated to whether they are running flights on time in a particular month!
• If something doesn’t go as planned, JetBlue invokes their Customer Bill of Rights and, within 7 days of the flight, they send out flight vouchers to help make up for the inconvenience. “Please, let us try again!”
• You have to be relevant to customers in order to drive customer loyalty.

I liked the way Rob shared about JetBlue’s customer-focused thinking as he discussed one of the key inputs to their Balanced Scorecard: Drive a Low Cost Culture. He was quick to point out that it is important to be smart about costs, but not to be cheap! “Don’t touch the things that touch the customer.” Great motto, Rob!

Rob also talked about their JetBlue attitude, or “jetitude”. They have five “Be’s”:

1. Be in Blue always (you are always on stage - see my related post!)
2. Be personal
3. Be the answer (don’t pass the buck; execs, please walk the talk)
4. Be engaging (reach out to customers; don’t wait for them to come to you)
5. Be thankful to every customer (actually thank them for their business)

Finally, Rob talked about the importance of “servant leadership”. Leadership brings all of the above together to serve the employee and, in turn, the customer. They need total transparency, and they need to be willing to get their hands dirty in order to help make it happen.  Great talk, Rob!

Oh, by the way, JetBlue collected business cards from everyone in the summit and gave away 2 JetBlue travel vouchers! Wow!  Great way to show appreciation.

The Red Rubber Ball

Kevin Carroll opened the official conference at day’s end with his inspiring speech on the importance of play. Per Kevin,

“Play is serious business!”

Kevin started out his talk by sharing his experiences as a 6 year old boy trying to find his way out of a bad family situation.  In this video clip, he talks about the power of belonging and community. Have a listen:

Kevin encouraged all of us to harness the power of sport and play in everything we do - including our jobs. What inspires you? For Kevin, a simple red, rubber ball (like a playground ball) inspired him to live differently, with purpose, passion, and intention. In fact, he has an amazing life story that took him from a difficult childhood to the military, the NBA, to Nike, and ultimately to being a speaker/author who helps others reach for their dreams. He is a life-long learner, and he shared his “lessons from the playground”:

1. Commit to it (find what you are passionate about and commit to it)
2. Seek out encouragers (surround yourself with people who give you permission to dream big)
3. Work out your creative muscle (need to reawaken our creative side)
4. Prepare to shine (create your vision, make it clear)
5. Speak up (stand up for something, what you believe in)
6. Expect the unexpected (be forever curious, you never know where you will end up!)
7. Maximize the day (live each day to the fullest - don’t try to get to tomorrow too soon)

Kevin was inspiring, entertaining, and unpredictable. He even tossed out balls into the audience and shared a video of playing “tag” at Nike - with 4,000 coworkers! He challenged us to get the most we can out of each day, as well as out of this conference.

After his talk, Yemil Martinez (Director of New Media for the conference) and I had the opportunity to video Kevin’s discussion with Joanna Brandi, conference co-chair, as they discussed the future of this country and how play can help. I will upload that video later this week.  Kevin then freely gave me a nice gift for my older son to encourage him to find his passion in life. Thank you, Kevin!

Kevin was also nice enough to give me two minutes of his time to share with you, my readers, his thoughts on the importance of building community with customers and with each other. Also listen through to the end for his thoughts on the Carroll connection!

Thank you so much for your time and energy, Kevin! We will be following you.

(Photo credit: nruboc)

Last year, I participated in a project to create a book authored by over 100 bloggers.  The book was designed to discuss why this is the age of conversation, and all proceeds (and I mean ALL) went to Variety, the children’s charity.  Over $10,000 was raised for this worthy cause!  You can still purchase the book through Amazon (see my sidebar - Book Recommendations - for the link).

This year, the project was expanded - greatly - to 237 authors from around the world!   The title of the new book is Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It? The topic was chosen through a vote of the contributing authors.  Companies are only beginning to understand social media and its impact on business, hence the topic chosen by these smart bloggers (a veritable Who’s Who of marketing and social media).  There are also eight sub-topics underneath that main area.  My chapter is on the topic “Conversation to Action”.  It is entitled “Building Walls Against Competitors” and discusses how to take conversations between companies and customers and start to take action on them to build ongoing relationships, as well as barriers to exit.  I can’t discuss further details of my chapter here; you will have to get the book to see what it is all about.  And you can feel good doing that, as the proceeds from this year’s book again go to Variety Children’s Charity.

Here is the link to buy Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It?. Get a copy for yourself, and get some extras for client gifts, a gift for your boss, or just because you want to support a good cause.

Update: It has already gotten press!  Here is the link to a Media Post article on the new book.

Here is the list of all the authors of AOC2.  Many thanks to all of them for contributing not only to this great book but to a great cause.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G. Kofi Annan, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter,  James G. Lindberg, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

“In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.” — Walt Disney

I am very excited to be live-blogging the Customers 1st Conference, taking place at the Disneyland Resort from November 16-19!  This event will help companies figure out how to keep their aim constantly focused on the future - and how to keep their business growing based on a firm foundation of solid customer focus. I am looking forward to live-blogging the Customers 1st Conference for several reasons:

• There will be speakers from many customer-focused companies all in one place, including Disney Institute (of course), Cisco, FedEx, JetBlue, Xerox, the NBA, Hyatt Hotels, eBay, and Bath & Body Works (to name a few), as well as keynotes from gurus and luminaries (ex: Joe Torre, manager, LA Dodgers baseball team, and Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time.
• I love the title of Monday’s keynote by Rob Maruster, SVP Customer Service, JetBlue Airways: “Bringing Humanity Back to Air Travel through Servant Leadership & Internal Championship”. Wow!  Bring it on!
• There will be experiential learning activities - I can go to Disney and still be part of the conference!  We can get outside of a conference room and learn.  This includes the Disney Service Challenge inside of California Adventure park and the Customer Experience Immersion Event in Disneyland park (called “Swarming the Magic Kingdom”).  I can’t wait to get my hands dirty!!
• There are opportunities to for intact teams to celebrate at select events, such as the Connections Block Party and Disney’s Service Challenge Scavenger Hunt on Sunday.
• There are tracks on people (employees are a key to customer focus), customer experience (what my blog is all about!), front line faces (about customer service), numbers talk (the all-important measures and metrics), as well as opportunities to just network (such as the Slackers Happy Hour - can’t wait to see that one!).
• The event organizers are providing each attendee with a journal, not just a program, to really keep track of business cards, notes, as well as the agenda.  Sounds intriguing.
• The event organizers also promise to “surprise and delight” attendees, a familiar rallying cry for those who are customer-focused.  I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with!

Want to join me at this innovative event?  Learn more about the NACCM Customers 1st Conference here.  If you are ready to register, click here to get a 15% discount on registration (it should take you to a page with my discount code already entered, which is XM2100BCKCRL). 

“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” -Walt Disney

In one month, the 2008 BlogWorld conference will be taking place in Las Vegas, NV, and I was chosen to moderate a panel this year!  In case you aren’t familiar with it, BlogWorld is billed as the world’s largest blogging conference and tradeshow.  The way I look at it, it is a great place to come and learn about social media, as many of the sessions go beyond blogging into video, social networking, Twitter, and podcasting.

As for my panel, the title is Creating Customer Loyalty with Social Media.  Here is the abstract:

One of the keys to rockin’ customer retention and loyalty is customer engagement. This session shares some of the best practices in combining social media with customer retention programs, an area relatively unexplored by many companies and social media discussions. Social media provides the ideal channel from which to learn about and interact with customers, both commercial and consumer. It is also a great mechanism for deepening customer relationships and empowering customers to become a company’s best advocates. These two areas are especially important to businesses that want to break-through the noise and grow in spite of difficult economic times. Through the use of blogs, video, social networks, and wikis, executing customer retention programs can be cool again!

My Fabulous Panelists

I am so excited to have some great people on my panel.  I have two outstanding bloggers, Toby Bloomberg and Brian Solis, who will be sharing their perspectives on how companies are using social media to better serve their customers and build relationships.  I also have two brilliant minds from the corporate world, Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com (based in Las Vegas) and Frank Eliason of Comcast.  Both of them are leading their companies with new ways of using social media to get closer to their customers, including use of Twitter.  Expect to see a lively conversation taking place!

Learn About Social Media

Come and meet us in Las Vegas for BlogWorld.  You can use the link in my right sidebar or at the end of my post to save 20% off the price of registration with a special discount code BCYV1PLL (be sure to type this exactly; it is case sensitive) for the first 50 of my readers who sign up before September 1. (And yes, that is an affiliate link - my first foray into this area!)  If you are planning to come, or if you are already signed up, leave me a comment.  Maybe we can do a Customers Rock! meet-up!

Sign up now for BlogWorldExpo 2008

Part 7 of the ongoing ReExperiencing Starbucks project with Jay Ehret from The Marketing Spot.  Survey at the end of the post - please tell us what you think about the changes at Starbucks!

Slowly but surely, Starbucks seems to be listening.  I blogged about MyStarbucksIdea when it first came out, and there were a lot of improvements to make.  I believe Starbucks has made a real effort over the past few months that they have been up and running with MyStarbucksIdea.   I have seen improvements on both the IdeaSite (new term?) as well as in person.  Read on…

IdeaSite Improvements

MyStarbucksIdea was heavily criticized when it first came out.  The Customers Rock! perspective on it was this - it is good to see Starbucks out there engaging their customers this way.  And boy, have they been engaged!  Thousands of customer ideas have gone on the site, with the majority of the ideas being about the coffee drinks themselves (no surprise here) and then the atmosphere and locations.  What should these ideas tell Starbucks?  First, it should tell them that customers are coming for the coffee, so make sure to get that right.  Second, customers are still in search of what they used to have at Starbucks, that “3rd place” to hang out and relax with friends.

Maybe customers don’t come up with a lot of new or innovative ideas, but the dialogue is a great way for Starbucks to get inside their customers’ heads and see how they think. 

In addition, I am glad to see Starbucks beginning to participate more in the conversation on the site, as well as soliciting direct feedback on how to improve the site.  Be sure to click into that post and read the comments; you can watch a little mini-community forming as you go. 
Interaction with Corporate - In Person!

I also had the good fortune of interacting with two gentlemen from Starbucks Corporate recently.  Apparently, part of their role is to go out and visit the Starbucks in their area to see how things are going.  They stopped me on my way out of the line to ask me about “my experience”.  I was happy to share my thoughts with them - about bathroom cleanliness (spotty), about the atmosphere (I like it), about my favorite drink (Passion Iced Tea, sweetened), about how the service seems on weekdays vs the weekends (better when they are busy, I think).  I then revealed that I blog here at Customers Rock! and shared about this ongoing Starbucks Project with them.  They asked me a few more questions before moving on to their meeting with the local supervisory team.

After they left, the employees there thanked me for my kind words and gave me a free drink.  Thanks, guys!

Although I would have loved to see the visitors from Corporate commenting here on my blog, I am pleased to see a team out inspecting the stores and asking customers about their experience.  Kudos to you, Starbucks, for getting out there and interacting face to face with customers.  It is more valuable than you think!

Please Fill Out Our Starbucks Survey!

Jay and I have put together a short survey to see what you, our readers, think about Starbucks and its “re-Experience” project.  Please take just a minute to click on this survey link and fill it out.  You could even win, what else, a gift card to Starbucks!  We will be sure to report the results here soon.

Also see Jay Ehret’s blog The Marketing Spotfor more Starbucks insight on “The Perfect Frappuccino”, as well as Meikah Delid who is keeping her related Starbucks series going with The Sixth Step for Starbucks.  Thanks, Meikah!

Related Customers Rock! posts in the Re-Experiencing Starbucks project series:

Re-Experiencing Starbucks

Part 2: Transformation Starting

Part 3: The Training

Part 4: Little Things

Part 5: MyStarbucksIdea

Part 6: The Card

 Part 5 of the Re-Experiencing Starbucks project with Jay Ehret.  Read Jay’s latest post chronicling his recent trip to Brazil and the contrast between Brazilian coffee houses and Starbucks (what a contrast!).   Obrigada, Jay!  (Thank you, in Portuguese.)

Shortly after my last Starbucks update, Starbucks announced “…new strategic initiatives to transform and innovate the customer experience” at their shareholder meeting.  For a quick run-down of those ideas, see Jay Ehret’s post on the announcement.  For a more in-depth analysis of those ideas, and whether they will really impact the customer, see John Moore’s post.

Controversy

The most controversial initiative is Starbucks foray into the world of social media: MyStarbucksIdea.  Launched about 10 days ago, it is a website where customers can go to share ideas for improving Starbucks, vote on ideas from other customers, and then hear back from Starbucks on which ideas they are considering and/or taking on board.  There are a group of Starbucks partners (employees) who are responding to and interacting with these ideas on the site. 

Is It the Right Thing?

From reading several blog posts on this subject since the launch of MyStarbucksIdea, many bloggers seem to feel this is merely a PR move for Starbucks.  To get a feel for who is griping about it and who likes it, see the AdAge article citing references to MyStarbucksIdea from both camps.  Mack Collier of The Viral Garden wrote a great post comparing MyStarbucksIdeas to Dell’s IdeaStorm.  Mack writes,

“The name is different, but Starbucks has unveiled a new suggestion site that looks an awful lot like Dell’s Ideastorm community. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

I agree, Mack!  Dell’s community has been very good at getting their customers to engage and present new lines of thinking.  Dell has been very good at listening to them and responding quickly.

We can spend a lot of time debating whether this was a good idea for Starbucks or whether they went about it the right way.  It may even have been better for them to engage with customers by doing more listening and commenting through other mechanisms that already exist.  Mack goes on to say something similar in his next post on the subject of Starbucks and customer engagement:

“What would be more effective for Starbucks, to start the MyStarbucksIdea where 48 Starbucks employees attempt to engage Starbucks customers via the site, or to have those same 48 employees attempt to engage SBUX customers OFF the site, a la Richard Binhammer? I would lean toward having 48 employees reach out to customers online in THEIR space if those 48 did even half as well in engaging and responding to customers as Richard does.”

What is the Goal?

Perhaps it depends on the goal of this new online community for Starbucks.  Lately, I have been reading my advance copy of Charlene Li and Josh Bernhoff’s fabulous new book Groundswell(review coming soon here on Customers Rock!), and in it they discuss five goals for companies that want to engage with customers via social media: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing.  I have assumed Starbucks created MyStarbucksIdea for some combination of listening to customers as well as for co-creating (embracing in Groundswell terminology) with customers.  

Starbucks can easily listen in to customer conversations many places online (and offline) to understand what customers want.  They can also engage in many places online to continue a conversation.  By creating the MyStarbucksIdea site, Starbucks sets the expectation that they want to enable a conversation, join in, and connect customers with each other.  Charlene makes a suggestion on her blog that Starbucks should better close the loop on these interactions.  She says,

“Close the loop, and you’ve not only got me hooked, but I’ll walk the extra block in NYC or drive the extra mile to go to you rather than another coffee house.”  

When I started this “Re-experiencing Starbucks” project with Jay Ehret, I sent feedback to Starbucks via their website, some good and some not.  They responded to the good but ignored the rest.  Hopefully on “their turf”, they will be open to all ideas and close the loop on the feedback they are receiving.

Customers are being very active on the site, adding quite a few ideas and doing a lot of voting on others.  The main ideas on the site right now are dominated with requests for free “loyalty” drinks as well as free WiFi.  These are consistent with some of the pain points expressed by customersin a recent global survey, highlighted by Meikah over at Customer Relations, where price was the number one pain point.  Perhaps once Starbucks gets past these long-desired customer concerns, the conversation will blossom into other areas as yet unexplored. 

What do you think?

Go check out the site and let me know what you think.  Is this site a good way for Starbucks to keep an ear open to customer requests?  Will it be effective for co-creating with customers?  Do you think it will succeed?

Starbucks - are you listening?

Related Customers Rock! posts in the Re-Experiencing Starbuc