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Putting Customers First: Inspiring Relationships

October 14, 2008 By 6 Comments

“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

Filed Under: Community, Customer experience, Customer loyalty, Customer service, Customer strategy Tagged With: , , , , , ,

It’s Not About the Money – Guest Post by Eric Brown

October 6, 2008 By 11 Comments

Today we have a guest blogger, Eric Brown, Founder and Owner of Urbane Apartments.  His unique approach to Underground Marketing and Property Management, focusing on the Residents Experience, has helped Urbane Apartments achieve some of the highest rents per square foot and per unit in the Royal Oak, Michigan area where they are located.  In this guest post, he shares some of his fascinating perspectives on brand and customer experience, as well as some of his company’s innovative ideas.

 

Does Money, Luxury, or Value Create a Remarkable Customer Experience?  What are the key ingredients of a Remarkable Customer Experience?

Remarkable, as defined by the legend Seth Godin:

  • Remarkable doesn’t mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it?
  • Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won’t accomplish much. It’s easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.

Is the experience you are creating for your customer remarkable, and does your customer find value in the experience created? Are you matching your Brand to a Targeted Experience? As posted by one of Becky’s readers,

“Service excellence, just as with beauty, is in the eye of the beholder”

This is spot on. Take some time to evaluate what will Engage and Delight your customer based on your Brand. We were at the local Mini Cooper dealership and they openly invite customers to bring in their beloved pets to the dealership, which some folks get really excited about. It works for Mini Cooper, but you likely would not find that at the Jaguar showroom. Mini Cooper is matching a Customer Experience to their Brand; this example has no correlation to Luxury and doesn’t get better by adding more Money.  Southwest Airlines, you either love them or hate them with the cattle call lines, no assigned seats, no frills. Yet true Southwest Customers like, enjoy, laugh with, and  have a favorable experience with, Southwest. Herb Kelleher somehow figured out how to deliver a consistent, value driven experience and permitted his employees to fix it when it wasn’t.

We own and manage a small boutique apartment management company Urbane Apartments in Royal Oak, MI and have used some innovative ideas to create Remarkable Experiences for our Residents that align to our Brand. Here are some Case Studies:

  • We do not send out paper leases. The lease, a floor plan, emergency numbers and some unit pictures are given to the resident at Move In on a thumb drive, which is also a key chain with our logo on it. Being able to walk away with all of the lease information on a tiny thumb drive that fits in their pocket and that they can also use to store additional information has created a “Cool Factor”, something worth talking about. This idea may not bode well if we were in the senior housing business, but it does resonate well with our target demographic.
  • We have embraced Urbane Loves Pets, no extra fees, no breed restrictions, no size requirements. Our theory is that if we have great residents, they likely have great pets. And while there are certainly problems that occur from time to time, we own the segment pet market locally by creating a favorable experience for our “Pet Lover Residents”.
  • Urbane created the “Freedom Lease” which affords maximum flexibility on lease terms for our residents. Lots of folks out there are consultants today, and the standard year lease did not fit this paradigm shift. We have fostered a living arrangement that works to address the residents’ needs, our needs, and allows flexibility, which evokes a better experience than figuring out how to break a lease when circumstances change.

What experience you are creating for your customer? Let us know your thoughts and stories here at Customers Rock!

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty, Customer strategy, Customers Rock!, Guest bloggers Tagged With: , , , ,

Using Social Media for Customer Loyalty, Part 2

September 29, 2008 By 9 Comments

Part 1 of this series discussed two of the top reasons for using social media to build stronger customer relationships.  Part 2a today discusses another reason to use social media for customer loyalty: customer service. Part 3 will discuss steps to take in order to get started.

Recently at my panel Creating Customer Loyalty with Social Media at BlogWorld, much of our conversation revolved around the topic of customer service.  Two of our panelists, Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com and Frank Eliason from Comcast, talked in depth about using Twitter to reach out to existing customers in various ways. Twitter allows for real-time, ongoing two-way conversations, and both of these companies are creating those with their customers. (To learn more about Twitter, check out this quick overview, Twitter in Plain English, from the CommonCraft Show.)

Zappos.com

The culture at Zappos.com is very people-focused and empowers employees.  Zappos.com has many of their employees Twittering; 448 to be exact!  You can track their tweets via this microsite, where you can also track mentions of Zappos.com and some of the brands they carry.  Using Twitter is encouraged as a great way to stay transparent and authentic with customers.  Tony is their CEO, and he leads the way by tweeting about his travels, tours he gives of the Zappos.com headquarters, requests for feedback from customers, and contests he runs.  Customers even make suggestions via Twitter, the most recent of which was to list a short url on each product page that can be easily cut and pasted into blogs, email, Twitter, etc. so they can be shared with others (it is called zapp.me).  Tony has over 13,000 people following his Tweets to get this kind of information.

Customers Rock! take on Zappos.com and Twitter: Zappos customers are extremely loyal to the company for several reasons: great customer service, an easy return policy (free shipping on returns!), and employees that care.  Social Media at Zappos.com, including Twitter and their blogs, has been a great way to put a face on the company, make them feel approachable, get instant customer feedback, and create a two-way dialog that builds customer relationships.  Zappos is truly a Customers Rock! company.

Come back for Part 2b of this series to hear Comcast’s story!

Filed Under: Customer loyalty, Customer service, Customers Rock!, social media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Expert’s Corner at Customers Rock! with Martha Rogers

September 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

(Note: I will continue my series on Social Media and Customer Loyalty later this week.)

Today, I am introducing a new feature here at Customers Rock! called Expert’s Corner. Once a month, I will be sharing recorded interviews with experts in the field of customer strategy and loyalty.

I am very pleased to kick-off this feature with an interview of renowned expert Martha Rogers, Ph.D., founding partner of Peppers and Rogers Group. Martha was named by Business 2.0 Magazineas one of the nineteen most important business gurus of the past century. The World Technology Network named her as “an innovator most likely to create visionary ripple effects.” In addition to her work at Peppers and Rogers Group, Martha is an Adjunct Professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and co-director of the Duke Center for Customer Relationship Management. She is widely published in academic and trade journals, including Harvard Business Review, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and Journal of Applied Psychology.

She is also a friend of mine and was more than happy to spend time talking to me about her answers to the following questions:

1. There is a lot of talk today about being “laser focused” on customers. How would you define “customer focus”?

2. We are obviously in a challenging economy right now. Do you believe that a renewed emphasis on existing customers will make a difference to a company’s growth in this environment? Why or why not?

3. Where should the use of social media fit into today’s marketing plans?

Click here for the podcast interview: Experts Corner with Martha Rogers.  Note: this will take you to a white page where the audio interview will stream.  Click the back button to come back to this post.  You can also right-click the link above to download it to your computer and play it offline.  (PS – If anyone knows a more elegant solution to play the podcast, please let me know!  I am a podcasting newbie.)

Are you an expert who would like to be part of Expert’s Corner here at Customers Rock!, or do you have one in mind you would like me to interview? Drop me a note in the comments or send me an email, and let’s make it happen

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Filed Under: Customer loyalty, Customer strategy, Expert's Corner Tagged With: , , , ,

Using Social Media for Customer Loyalty, Part 1

September 21, 2008 By 9 Comments

This post is Part 1 in a series on using social media to build strong customer relationships.  Parts 1 and 2 discuss some of the top reasons to use social media for customer retention.  Part 3 discusses how to get started.

If you have customers that are actively using social media, there is a potential to use that communication channel to deepen customer relationships.  Social media tools are especially effective at building two-way conversations with customers, either consumers or businesses.  There is certainly a lot of talk about marketing with social media!

I teach a class at UC San Diego called Marketing via New Media, and we just kicked off a new quarter this week.  We discussed the top reasons that businesses should consider using social media; I have summarized two of them for you here. 

  • Social media marketing strengthens customer relationships.  Customers don’t want a relationship with a company or organization.  They have relationships with the people that work for that company or organization.  Social media tools such as blogs and Twitterallow customers to get to know the people inside the company.  They get to see real people with real personalities.  Tara de Nicolas from the Washington Humane Society shared with me that the most popular part of their website is the link to their Flickr photo stream!  Their clients and donors love to see the faces behind the operations, and they seek them out when given a chance to attend a face-to-face event with them (such as a fundraising dinner).  Friendships are formed online and brought into the offline arena!  Customers that have positive interactions with the people in the company feel a stronger sense of trust with that organization, a key factor in building customer loyalty.

 

  • Social media marketing is great at keeping customers informed and involved.  While traditional media is also good at keeping customers informed, social media excels at getting customers involved.  Nearly one year ago, we had devastating wildfires here in San Diego.  One of my students this quarter works for the San Diego Zoo, and she shared that zoo members and other San Diegans greatly appreciated the zoo blog updates on how the fire had impacted the park.  It allowed them a “look inside” to see how animals had been affected, and people’s passion for the animals drove additional public involvement to support the zoo’s efforts in caring for the wildlife.  Customers that are more involved and engaged tend to have longer and stronger relationships with organizations.

There are many other reasons as well, which will be covered in this series.  My panel this weekend at BlogWorld Expo addressed the above reasons and some issues, including customer retention programs, customer service, and changes in customer expectations.  There was great information on how to do it, as well as some areas to consider, from my expert panelists Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com, Frank Eliason from Comcast, Brian Solisfrom FutureWorks, and Toby Bloomberg from Diva Marketing.  Part 2 of this series (to be posted later this week) will review the implications we discussed with respect to customer service expectations resulting from tools such as Twitter.  Be sure to come back to hear their answers, as well as answers to the questions you, my readers, asked before the conference!

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty, social media Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Where are Your Sales and Marketing Efforts Focused?

September 8, 2008 By 4 Comments

I was recently reading an annual report for a successful company, and, as always, I looked at the words used about customers.  Some reports are only about a company’s internal products, services, and processes.  They may even include awards the company has won in the past year, in addition to all the necessary financial information.

A Customer Focus

In this report, I looked for more.  Specifically, I looked to see how much customer focus there was in the report.  As a company providing services, their business depends on building strong client relationships.  This is reflected throughout their report!  

On each page where they showcased big wins or achievements in certain industries, there was also a story about rapport with clients and trusted advisor relationships.  These relationships, as it is told, were key to cementing ongoing business with existing clients.  The proactive nature of the client managers was apparent in other stories shared about resolving problems before they became big issues.  On another page, they shared a client success about one who moved on to another job but was anxious to keep the relationships going by doing business with the same people they had been working with for years. 

Strong Relationships

These strong client-company relationships are the foundation of the success of this business.  The annual report is written in such a way as to bring out this focus and showcase it as a competitive differentiator.   These types of client relationships definitely help to create a barrier to exit for the company.  The only improvement I would love to see in these reports is to start indicating the existing customer base as an asset to be measured!  (For more on this concept, see the book Return on Customerby Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, PhD.)

So Where are Your Sales and Marketing Efforts Focused?

When I do speaking events, I have quite a number of people come up afterwards to say they realized they have left the nurture of their existing customers to chance.  They have been so busy going after new customers, they have left the “old” ones to their own devices!  Unfortunately, in this difficult economy, this is often the case.  I just saw a Tweet (that is the term Twitter uses for a message) from Eric Brown, founder of Urbane Apartments (who is also a frequent commenter here at Customers Rock! – thanks, Eric!!).  Here is what he indicated in his 140 characters:

“Six of our eight stabilized properties are 100% leased! We are NOT participating in a poor economy”

I Tweeted back that I was not surprised by this as Eric and his company have a very strong customer focus!  You can see for yourself here on his website and blog; additionally, Eric will be guest posting for us soon and will share his story.  For Eric and Urbane Apartments, Customers Rock!

4 Key Questions to Improve Your Focus

You can bolster business by expanding sales and marketing focus to include existing customers.  In order to do so, there are some critical questions that each business should ask themselves.  I have listed the top 4 as follows:

  1. How many customers did we keep from last year?  Do you know?  Many businesses find that they are good at tracking new customers but lose track of those that slip out the back.
  2. Why did we lose customers?  Ideally, this analysis is done each time a customer leaves.  At that very moment, you need to reach out to them and find out what went wrong.  If you do this religiously, it is possible to salvage some of these valuable relationships.
  3. Why do our best customers keep doing business with us?  Ask them!  Find out whether it is your offerings, your service, your people, or all of the above.  It will help you prioritize where to focus for improvement, as well as understand which things to keep on doing.  It may also highlight potential areas of concern for certain clients.
  4. How many of our retained customers can help us sell more?  Customers can do this for us in many ways: buying additional products or services themselves, specifically referring us to others, and sharing great testimonials about us.  When is the last time you asked a customer for a testimonial?  Make it a regular part of the way you do business!

Do you have other key questions that you use to evaluate and grow your repeat business?  What have I left out?

Winning the Game

Your existing customers want to be loyal to you.  They want to be recognized and thanked for their business.  When a business creates a proactive customer strategy to retain and grow their current customers, everyone wins.  Customers feel appreciated and, in turn, buy more and refer you to others.  The company grows their business with fewer resources.  Sounds like a great way to beat the current economic woes!

(Image credit: olivier26)

Filed Under: Customer loyalty, Customer service, Customers Rock!, Marketing Blogs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Re-Experience Starbucks, Update 9: Customer Loyalty

July 29, 2008 By 6 Comments

Part 9 of the ongoing ReExperience Starbucks project with Jay Ehret from The Marketing Spot.  Don’t forget our survey, which is still open, at the end of the post. Please tell us what you think about the changes at Starbucks!

How does Starbucks create customer loyalty?  John Moore at BrandAutopsy said this a few years back:

“For years, Starbucks Coffee has used high-touch methods to build and maintain a loyal customer base. In his book, “Pour Your Heart in It,” Howard Schultz, in supremely succinct fashion said, “If we greet customers, exchange a few words with them and then custom-make a drink exactly to their taste, they will be eager to come back.” That is the true description of a high-touch way retailers can connect with customers to build enduring loyalty. “

John was writing this post to contrast the approach of high-tech methods of building loyalty with high-touch methods of building loyalty.  Which approach is Starbucks using today?  Let’s look at what they have been doing lately to improve customer loyalty and the customer experience.

Customer Service

Starbucks closed all of their US-based stores for a few hours earlier this year to conduct partner (employee) training.  Right after the training, it was observed that Starbucks partners were making it a point of asking for customer names again (something they had moved away from) when taking drink orders. They also seemed pretty cheerful and upbeat.

Fast-forward to July 2008.  At my most recent experience in a Starbucks I regularly frequent, there was no recognition or asking for names.  My mother-in-law was with me, and she pointed out how “grumpy” one of the partners seemed to be.  I had noticed this before with the same person.  I did notice signs on the wall, directed at partners, which pointed out how to manage fresh bananas (a key ingredient in their new Vivanno smoothies).  

I have also noticed a quieter, more subdued attitude from employees at other Starbucks I have been to lately (including my most commonly visited store near my house).  I wonder if a combination of store closing news and the introduction of new, time-consuming drinks has weighed-down our barista friends.

Customers Rock! Take: Keep focusing on your employees, especially when things are difficult.  They are your brand ambassadors to the outside world.  Customers will notice the change in customer service right away!

New outside seating!

New outside seating!

Customer Experience

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure if this is happening at other Starbucks, but one of our local stores has put in nice, comfy seating – outdoors!  Now if they can just 1) keep the tables cleared of trash and 2) put some more cushioned chairs inside, we might have a winner.  (Note – that is my Passion Iced Tea on the arm of the chair…)

 

Introducing… New Products

Starbucks has really been focusing on the introduction of new products in their stores these past few months.  First came Pike’s Place Roast, a new blend of coffee meant to hearken back to early days when Starbucks was a true coffee experience.  Although it has had mixed reviews, the idea of grinding in the store has helped boost the coffee aroma (which was sorely missing before).

Most recently has come Vivanno smoothies (mentioned earlier), the Orange-Mango Banana and the Banana Chocolate.  These two new smoothies are high in protein and fiber, and not horrible with respect to calories (compared to the Frappuccino).   Reviews of the Vivanno so far have been mixed.  One interesting thing I noticed in the comments to the blog post Starbucks’ Vivanno vs Jamba Juice was how customers felt like it was out of place to order “smoothies” at a coffee store!  Others who are comfortable with the use of protein powders really seemed to like these drinks (see comments in this BusinessWeek post on Vivanno).  Personally, I would rather stick with my iced tea and get smoothies somewhere else.

Customers Rock! Take: The Pike’s Place Roast has been a good way to try and re-focus on being a coffee store.  It still needs some work, but they are on the right track.  The smoothies are a good option for someone coming to Starbucks looking for something nutritious to drink.  However, is this really why people come to Starbucks? 

Does It Make a Difference?

Here are the real questions to be answered.  Do these new smoothies help Starbucks get back to the “third place” experience?  Does the Pikes Place Roast bring in new customers?  Does the Starbucks Loyalty Card bring back loyal customers?  So far, the reviews are conflicting.  It takes more than new drinks, free WiFi, and comfy chairs to retain customers.  It is not just about high-tech vs high-touch approaches.  It takes building relationships, one customer at a time. 

Starbucks has the opportunity to do so through many channels, both high-tech and high-touch: the daily interactions with customers, the registered Starbucks Reward cards (they have yet to try to interact with me, and I have three cards registered), and their site MyStarbucksIdea (which is heading in the right direction but lacks a true dialogue between customers and partners).   However, it just hasn’t really happened yet.

Starbucks, I would like to see you be successful in re-inventing yourselves through the customer experience.  It would set new standards for other companies who know they should be more customer-focused.  It would make your existing customers happier.  It would help insulate you from your competition, and they are charging up fast. 

There is just one thing you still need to do: look at your stores truly from the customers’ perspective.

What do you think?  Fill Out Our 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 report results on our blogs shortly.

(Photo credit: TAlex)

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty, Customer service, Starbucks Project Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is Retail Customer-Focused?

July 24, 2008 By 7 Comments

I heard a very interesting observation from a 14 year old young man the other day.

“Why don’t they sell swim trunks in July?  That’s when I need them.  Seems like stores aren’t very focused on what their customers need!”

Now, I know all you folks out there in retail-land have your reasons for why this occurs.  Seasons for the industry are not the same as the seasons for consumers.  Inventory needs to be cleared out for next season’s merchandise.  I am sure you can share more.

However, let’s look at this from a customer’s perspective.  It took driving to 6 stores and over 50 miles (total) to find a pair of swim trunks that fit.  This is due to the fact that most swim trunks are no longer in stock.  If we had wanted to find a winter outfit, or something for back-to-school, we would have been set!

Putting Customers First

There needs to be some type of balance between the needs of the business and the needs of the customer.  Sure, it is difficult when a whole industry is set up to operate on a certain schedule.  However, our next generation is looking for a new, practical approach to business.  They want to feel important, like they matter to companies.  This will be key in building relationships with them.

We can build all the cool social media sites we want, connect with our customers on Facebook and MySpace, and even get them to spread our message virally.  But if they come into our shops and retail spaces and we don’t have what they need, that creates shaky ground for any relationship already built. 

Organizations need to stay in tune with what their customers need, want, and desire.  One of the best ways to do this is with ongoing customer conversation.  Keep in touch, remind them you are there, and meet their needs.  These steps will help strengthen any shaky foundations that may have developed due to thinking more about ourselves than our customers.

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty, Marketing Blogs Tagged With: , ,

Tell 3000: The Voice of the Customer

July 9, 2008 By 3 Comments

I always encourage my clients to listen to their customers using a variety of mechanisms.  One of the best ways, however, is to listen to or read customer verbatims.  In other words, listen to customers tell stories about your company in their own words.

So of course, I am very interested in this new project put together by Pete Blackshaw.  He is doing it to help promote his new book, ”Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000″.  Over at his book’s blog, you can find a series he is starting up showcasing consumer interviews .  These feature various consumers talking about both good and bad experiences from companies.  I listened in on a few, and here is a line I liked from a recent consumer interview about Southwest Airlines.  Mike, the consumer, said this about one of the reasons he likes Southwest:  I feel as though they see me as a person, not just as a ticket and a way to make cash.  Prompted by the interviewer, Mike then goes on to share a story about a Southwest employee that went out of her way to help him feel better about a certain situation at the airport.

Pete, this is a great idea!  I would love to see this sorted by good vs bad experiences, as you are doing with your feedback.  We all need to hear more good experiences -that’s why this blog was started over 1.5 years ago!

Check it out, and let Pete know what you think (and tell him I sent ‘ya).  Readers, talk to me, too.  How do you best listen to your customer’s pure, unfiltered voice?  Monitoring the internet?  Social media?  Reviewing feedback letters?  Surveys?  Focus groups?  Tell us how you do it either via comments or by sending me email to becky at petraconsultinggroup dot com.

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty, Voice of the customer Tagged With: , ,

Mighty Fine Customer Experience

July 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Here is a tasty tidbit for a Monday.  John Moore at BrandAutopsy Twittered me about a store with a great customer experience, Mighty Fine Burgers in Austin, Texas.  Here were some of John’s comments about them: ”…friendly front-line faces, all food prep in full-sight (incl. grinding/hand-forming patties), simple decor, upbeat vibe.”

Here is what I like about them, in addition to their simplicity and their friendliness: FISH.  No, not the seafood, but the customer service philosophy of Mighty Fine Burgers.  They have taken advice from the book called Fish! (if you have never read it, you should check it out), which suggests that the way the Pike’s Place fishmongers deal with customers is a good lesson in how to have the right attitude at work (and in life):

  • Make Their Day – Look for ways to create memories for guests and co-workers.
  • Be Present – Make every guest feel they are the most important person when you talk to them.
  • Choose Your Attitude – Learn to love what you do, even if you aren’t doing what you love.

Living in California, I can’t easily experience this attitude at Mighty Fine for myself, but I will take John’s word for it!

This reminds me of another burger joint out here in the West, IN-N-OUT Burger, which, according to their website, created California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand in 1948.  The menu at Mighty Fine is very similar (simple, meaning basically fries, hamburgers, and shakes), and Mighty Fine has the same “everything is fresh, and you can even watch us making it” behind-the-scenes window to watch food prep that they have at IN-N-OUT.  Let’s hope Mighty Fine are as wildly successful as their Western counterparts have been!  My guess is they will be if they keep up the simply good food and service.

Drop a comment if you have been to either one of these establishments here in the USA, and let us know what you thought about the experience!

Update: I just found a great blog post on Doug Meacham’s NextUp about Five Guys Burgers and Fries; check out the Thank You Customers sign he included.  You rock, Doug!

(Photo credit: khz)

Filed Under: Customer experience, Customer loyalty
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