As we step into a very, very busy time of year for a lot of people, we have a great opportunity to re-double our focus on customers. We get so distracted around the holidays, it is easy to look only to year-end numbers rather than taking care of customers. Also, our customers are so over-loaded, they often forget to follow up on little details.
I have a great story about a business that did something small for me, but it made a big difference in my mind.
I often shop at our local Rite Aid, a pharmacy whose tagline is “With us, it’s personal”. I never thought much about this tagline until I recently received an email from them. I had purchased a few items recently which were eligible for rebates. Having done rebates with Rite Aid before, I was familiar with their nice and neat process where receipts can easily be processed online (thank you!). This has always gone very smoothly for me.
Back to the story about the email I received from them. Here is the email in its entirety:
Dear Becky Carroll,
Thank you for shopping at RiteAid and participating in the Single Check Rebates program. Our records indicate you have valid receipt(s) but forgot to request a rebate check prior to the expiration date of 11/24/2008.
As a courtesy to you for being a loyal RiteAid member, we have requested your check for you.
You will receive your check within 2 to 3 weeks.
You are receiving this email as a result of your participation in the RiteAid Single Check Rebates program. Note: Please do not reply to this message. Because this message has been automatically generated, your reply will not receive attention.
RiteAid Corporation, 30 Hunter Lane, Camp Hill, PA 17011, 1-800-RITE-AID
Wow! I hadn’t realized I had forgotten the deadline for this rebate. I was absolutely impressed with this email for several reasons.
- Rite Aid knew that I had missed the deadline and took care of it for me.
- The email addressed me by name so I knew that it was most likely not a mistake.
- Rite Aid acknowledged that I am a “loyal Rite Aid member”, something which makes shoppers feel good this time of year (or any time of year, for that matter!).
- All contact information was clearly laid out in the email.
Thank you, Rite Aid, for taking care of your customers at a time when some of us are too busy to do some of the “little things”. I would love to see more companies looking out for their customers this way. Come on, you all have the same information that Rite Aid has on your customers. What can you do to make life easier for them?
A suggestion for Rite Aid (we can always make things better, right?): Now that I know you can do this for me, why don’t you just take care of it for me every time so I never have to enter my receipts for rebates? This would be a great incentive for joining a loyalty program! Especially in this economy, where people are looking to save every dollar they can, it could really drive an increase in participation. You then have an opening to dialogue with your customers. What a great Christmas gift for customers and brands alike.
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.
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:
Customers want to associate with your brand beyond the transaction
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”:
Be in Blue always (you are always on stage - see my related post!)
Be personal
Be the answer (don’t pass the buck; execs, please walk the talk)
Be engaging (reach out to customers; don’t wait for them to come to you)
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”:
Commit to it (find what you are passionate about and commit to it)
Seek out encouragers (surround yourself with people who give you permission to dream big)
Work out your creative muscle (need to reawaken our creative side)
Prepare to shine (create your vision, make it clear)
Speak up (stand up for something, what you believe in)
Expect the unexpected (be forever curious, you never know where you will end up!)
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.
Looking to learn more about what it takes to give great customer service? Look no further than Disney! I am here at the NACCM Customers 1st Conference being held at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, and today the event kicked-off in style. I chose the “Disney’s Service Challenge” pre-conference workshop, led by Bruce Kimbrell of The Disney Institute. This workshop focused on teamwork and taking care of employees (a critical part of taking care of customers is to take care of employees!). Bruce is also the keynote speaker tomorrow at the Pre-Conference Summit talking about “Loyalty Disney Style”. Today, Bruce invited us to spend several hours discovering the service opportunities that Disney gives to their guests in “Pluto’s Pursuit”. I took the challenge, along with about 30 other attendees.
Bruce started us off with a great ice-breaker activity, with the promise of a PPR (positive plastic reinforcer - in this case, a small plastic statuette of Pluto). He had seven of us get into a circle and toss a ball back and forth in a set pattern. He then kept adding balls to the mix until we finally fell apart, balls flying all over the room! It was a great way to start talking about teamwork as well as multitasking (something we obviously didn’t do well). We then talked about what the necessary ingredients are for a team; they included sharing a common goal, cooperation, and interdependence. (Customers Rock!note: great customer service organizations have highly efficient teams that operate on trust and work well together.)
He also introduced the notion of different personal goals for different types of people one might find on a team, contrasting those who are motivated by achievement (goals - wanting to get to a “destination” with the team) vs. those who are motivated by affiliation (friends and enjoying the journey to the goal). More on this later. We were then split up into teams and given a common goal to achieve in a 90-minute time period, a sort of “scavenger hunt”. We had to go into Disneyland Park and find answers to a long list of questions. Some of the questions had to do with cast member (Disney employee) behaviors; other questions were about signs it the park or park attractions. We also had 2 challenges we could attempt as a team (of the puzzle variety).
Into the Park
Off we went on our hunt, where we relied on each other to look for the details in everything from the cast members and their on-stage behaviors (no sitting or smoking while on-stage!), their uniforms (name badge, please, and be well groomed), as well as trivia questions (do you know how much the piece of petrified wood in Frontierland weighs?). We covered the entire theme park, from Fantasyland to Adventureland to New Orleans Square to Frontierland - and beyond! Interesting observation - we were so busy looking for our scavenger hunt items, we didn’t get to stop and enjoy the park.
A few notes. All of the attendees at this conference are customer-focused, so when some of my teammates saw a woman at the park trying to navigate a curb with her stroller, four of them went over and helped her! That’s customer service. Also, Bruce is a veteran Disney guy; he has worked for them for nearly 30 years. As we were walking back to the conference from the theme park, he stopped and picked up every piece of trash he saw on the ground, throwing it away when he got the next trash can. He didn’t make a big deal of it; it just came naturally. I could see real pride in working at Disney.
Team Success Factors
When we returned, Bruce discussed more about the differences between the Destination teams and the Journey teams. We discovered that 3 of the 4 teams were “Destination” teams and were all vying for the fabulous prizes offered. The fourth team was a “Journey” team - they took their time, ate some food, did some shopping, and enjoyed their activity. One of the key areas we went over was employee rewards and recognitions. Bruce told a story about a long-time employee who had 32 years of perfect attendance. They decided to throw a big party for him to celebrate. He didn’t show up! Turns out he wasn’t comfortable with that kind of attention being showered on him, so he stayed home. The team had forgotten to find out what kind of recognition he might like; they just assumed he would want a party.
Taking Care of Employees
At Disney, they foster a culture of reward and recognition because that fosters other good things (like employee loyalty, which leads to great customer service). We need a little bit of that “destination” mentality to get things done, but we need to balance it with the “journey” mentality to make the job more fun!
Whether we are focused on social or traditional media, one of the most important things I tell my students (and which I shared last week at the San Diego Social Media Breakfast) is to listen to customers before doing anything. Sometimes, we all need to take a step back and hear what our customers are telling us, and each other, before proceeding.
I will help you, my readers, do that over this next week. I am blogging at the NACCM Customers 1st Conference, being held at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. You can follow me daily via live Twitter updates, this blog, or on the Customers 1st blog. I will be attending both the conference as well as the “outside the walls” sessions which take place in the Disney theme parks, and I will share with you the best nuggets from the conference and its speakers. One of the sessions focuses on creating the “next generation customer experience” for consumers who are spending a lot of time on social networks and with social media. Stay tuned!
I will also be spending time with some of the guest speakers in one-on-one interviews, so let me know if you have any questions for any of them. You can find the list of speakers here. They include dignitaries from the customer service industry, authors, as well as customer-focused executives from many large corporations across a variety of industries.
Come follow me around the Magic Kingdom this week and learn about putting customers first!
I am sitting in my local coffee shop (a big brand, not Sbux) and wondering what I want to blog about. I am the only customer sitting in here on a Saturday afternoon, so perhaps the employees forgot about me. What disturbs me is the LOUD conversation I am hearing behind the counter.
“Wow, can you believe three limos of high school students pulled up the other night after their dance and we had to make a whole bunch of lattes, iced teas, and frozen drinks? It took forever to close!”
“Some huge PTA group came in the other day at 8:30 pm and promised they would help put the chairs back when they were done. They finally left at 9 pm, and the place was a mess. We didn’t get out of there for ages that night. How rude.”
“Julie was in here and was so drunk, we closed the doors early and put chairs in front of them so no one would come in.”
I am very tempted to stand up and say, “Hey, guys and gals, I write a blog on the customer experience, and I am not too impressed right now!”
I don’t think they realize that every word they are saying reflects on the business. They don’t seem to want to put in a little extra effort to service large orders late at night because it inconveniences them. They don’t seem to be glad that I am here at all; they are too busy with their own “social hour” behind the counter.
You’re On Stage
You can spend a lot of money building up your brand and creating a cool logo. You can market the latest coffee drinks and specials to all your local customers. You can build a fabulous customer loyalty program to reward your best customers. However, if your employess are not doing their part to support the business, it is all a waste of money.
Great customer service happens every minute, even when no one seems to be looking. At Disneyland, they call their employees Cast Members (CMs) and tell them they are “on stage” whenever they go into any area where their customers (guests) can see or hear them. A customer’s perception is a critical part of whether their experience is positive or negative. Every employee contributes to that perception, every minute, regardless of whether they are behind the counter, a rep on the phone, or a member of the cleaning staff. On that last item, even the janitorial staff at Disney participates in one of the park’s most popular activities, Pin Trading; check out this post from a Disney discussion forum:
At WDW (Walt Disney World) even the janitor CMs had pin lanyards on. The best places we found for pins was at Crystal Palace and Cosmic Ray’s. The manager at Cosmic Ray’s actually got on his radio and requested that all CMs that had lanyards and were available to please come over so a young man could trade with them. Talk about some pixie dust!
Customers Rock! take: Treat your employees like gold, and they will take care of your customers. Hire customer service employees who are people with a passion for serving others. And remind them all that anytime they are potentially visible or within earshot of customers, they are still “on stage”!
As mentioned earlier this week, I am once again participating in the annual Bathroom Blogfest - Cleaning Up Forgotten Spaces Around Us. What, you might wonder, is that all about? As you know, here at Customers Rock! there is a strong focus on looking at your business from the customer’s perspective. Sometimes, that perspective takes place in the restroom, and this blogfest focuses on exactly that.
The customer experience travels everywhere with your customers, even into those forgotten spaces! Some of my fellow Bathroom Blogfesters have included other forgotten spaces in this year’s festival photos; I have chosen to stick with the main event, the restroom.
Hawaiian:
Last year, I spent time blogging about restroom signs. Some can be very confusing, and some can be amusing. These signs on the restrooms at the Kahului Airport on Maui make it very clear which room is for which people. I love it.
Customers Rock! tip: Having clear signs at your business makes for a simplified customer experience. Don’t try to be too “cute”, especially when it comes to signs on restroom doors! Customers don’t want to be embarassed if they can’t figure them out.
Venetian Restroom
I was recently in the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas during my time at BlogWorld; it is very upscale. I was impressed by my surroundings, and the ambiance carried over to the public ladies room as well (this one was by the Blue Man Group’s theater). Having my Flip Mino video camera in my purse (you never know when you might need it!), I took this tasteful video in the restroom to show off the beautiful fixtures. (Note: Don’t blink when you watch the video. I did it rather quickly so as not to be taping when another customer came in. It might have been difficult to explain!)
Customers Rock! tip: Try and keep your “forgotten spaces” consistent with the rest of your customer experience. Every interaction with your brand counts, even the bathroom!
Bathroom Blogfest ‘08
If you would like to see more perspectives on the bathroom experience and other forgotten spaces, be sure to check out the posts from this past week at these other Blogfest participants below! You can see all my posts from last year’s Bathroom Blogfest regarding: DisneyBathrooms as well as Door Signs.
Just a short post to let you know about a few great things that are going on around here at Customers Rock! More posts on customer experience, social media, and a few videos coming soon.
First things first: I have been a busy lately with my new job. I just accepted and started in my role as Director of Social Media at Brickfish. Brickfish is a social media advertising network, and they focus on helping brands reach their customers via the social web and viral marketing. This is a great position for me as it marries my two key areas of interest: social media and customer loyalty (you couldn’t have guessed that, could you?). I will definitely report back more on this company and role as I get my feet firmly planted there! I will still be writing my Customers Rock! blog and will also continue my gig at UCSD Extension teaching the Marketing via New Media class. Consulting projects are being put on the back burner at the moment, but do let me know if I can help you via my great network!
In other news…
I just returned from the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer, and I had a great time speaking, learning a lot, and connecting with bloggers I had met online but not yet in person. Write-ups, video, and photos to come soon!
Bathroom Blogfest ‘08 is happening now! I participated in this last year with my blog posts on the customer experience and the restroom, highlighting bathrooms at Disney theme parks. I will post my bathroom customer experiences later this week, towards the end of the blogfest, but I wanted to highlight the other bloggers who are taking part in this annual event. Here they are:
As we step into a very, very busy time of year for a lot of people, we have a great opportunity to re-double our focus on customers. We get so distracted around the holidays, it is easy to look only to year-end numbers rather than taking care of customers. Also, our customers are so over-loaded, they often forget to follow up on little details.
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.
. Here is an overview and some nuggets from 
in my purse (you never know when you might need it!), I took this tasteful video in the restroom to show off the beautiful fixtures. (Note: Don’t blink when you watch the video. I did it rather quickly so as not to be taping when another customer came in. It might have been difficult to explain!)
