With so much focus on the economy, the stimulus package, and corporations, it is prudent to spend some time re-focusing on what can make a difference to every organization: customer service.  Whether you have clients, customers, donors, constituents, readers, viewers, or subscribers, it is critical to let customers know they are important to you each step of the way – especially when times are tough.  Social media can help make that even easier!

One of the students in the UCSD class I teach, Marketing via New Media, works for a company that sells flowers, Dos Gringos/Sunflower Guy. They sell flowers to businesses as well as to consumers. In my class, we talk about using social media to market your business, including blogs, social networks, communities, even Twitter. After class one night, my student Joan asked me what to do with a new-found raving fan. I suggested that Joan’s company should reach out to that fan and thank them for their support. Well, they did so via Twitter, among other things, with great results! I found out about this via this email from Joan:

“Hi Becky,
Please see below.  You will recall I asked you in class what to do with
a new-found raving fan.  We tweeted back to her and sent her flowers.  I
thought you would be pleased to see what she wrote.  You helped make
this possible.

Sincerely, Joan”

Sending Smiles

It all started when this recipient of the flowers/new raving fan was so pleased with her sunflower bouquet, she tweeted about it (her Twitter handle is @thatspeaker). SunflowerGuy was listening for customer input via social media and saw her Tweet. Via their own Twitter handle (@sunflowerguy), they responded, saying ,”@thatspeaker so glad you liked your Valentines Day sunshine!!!”

Sunflower Guy then proceeded to thank her by sending a surprise bouquet!

This was indeed a surprise, and their new raving fan decided to blog about her experience via her own blog. Her post, Great Customer Service – Using Twitter! shared the story of the receipt of her bouquet from her husband, the great customer service from Sunflower Guy when they called her husband to make sure the delivery went well, then the surprise bouquet arriving a little while later.

Sunshine – and Results

As a result of the post and the tweets from this happy customer, SunflowerGuy has gained at least two new customers (see comments on above post) as well as new followers on Twitter. In fact, SunflowerGuy has only posted 22 tweets but already has over 900 followers (great job to Internet Marketing Inc., their partner on this). Clearly, their new service is striking a chord with consumers who want to do business with a company that cares about people.

Dos Gringos/Sunflower Guy is doing a great job listening to customer conversations via social media, then responding to them via social media as well as via offline methods (sending the bouquet). You guys rock!

I will share more about this company soon with a summary of an interview I held with the company’s CEO, Jason Levin, and their focus on the customer.

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I was asked to spend a few minutes recently on the Big Biz Show (a nationally-syndicated radio program) discussing my thoughts about business in 2008 with a look ahead to 2009. I thought I would share some of those insights here at Customers Rock! to inspire you for the upcoming year.

A Rockin’ Year with Some Great Companies

This past year, I highlighted several companies where “Customers Rock!” for them. These companies have great customer focus, operate in a way that is customer-centric, or just did something really, really cool for their customers.  Before I get to the Top 3 Customer Rock Stars, below are some of the runners-up:

• Urbane Apartments – remarkable customer experience with Urbane Loves Pets and Freedom Lease
• Ikea – focus on the customer buying experience
• Comcast – social media listening turns complainers into fans
• Coldwater Creek – making customers feel like royalty
• TurboTax – customer engagement via social media
• Wells Fargo – WOW customer experience and corporate focus
• Hometown Buffet – personal attention makes the difference
• Starbucks – customer-focused coffee specials
• Musician’s Friend – above and beyond customer service

Check out the links above for their stories – all of them inspiring. And now, with no further ado…

Rock Star Number 3: FreshBooks

Freshbooks is an online invoicing and time tracking service.  They are a Customer Rock Star because they do everything with the customer in mind. More importantly, they spend time with their customers – lots of it.  In my post “Freshbooks Rocks: Getting Personal with Customers”, I described how the Freshbooks team, including their CEO, spends time having meals with customers whenever they travel. In fact, last year when they went to SxSW to speak, they rented an RV and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with customers along the way! The best thing about these customer meals (I would know, they invited me to one, as I am a Freshbooks customer), is they are NOT about Freshbooks pitching their products and what they do. Rather, they are about their customers getting to know each other better, as these people all live and work in the same city.  Along the way, Freshbooks employees get the chance to hear some great customer insights.

Customer listening is a focus for Freshbooks, and it is what gets them into my Top 3 Customer Rock Stars for 2008. Congrats, Mike, Saul, and team. Freshbooks Rocks!

Rock Star Number 2: Zappos.com

If you aren’t familiar with Zappos.com and you buy shoes, you should get to know them. Zappos.com is an online retailer that started by selling shoes over the web; they now also sell many other things such as clothing, accessories, and jewelry. Their main focus, however, is not the products they sell – it is customer service. In fact, their tagline is “Powered by Service”. I met Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, this past February when I spoke at the Customer Service is the New Marketing event. Tony shared with me that they don’t want to be known as a shoe company with great customer service; Zappos.com is a customer service company that happens to sell shoes. I like his focus.

One can find many, many stories on Tony and Zappos.com, as they have become fairly well known for this customer service. I have my own story from Christmas this year. I was looking to find my husband a new pair of Keen sandals, and I couldn’t find his size at Zappos.com. I gave them a call to see if they might be getting some in, and they told me they wouldn’t have any in time for Christmas. However, what happened next really impressed me! The call center rep looked up the sandals on the web and recommended a competitor’s website to me!!  She told me they had the size and color I was seeking, and they also had free shipping both ways (just like Zappos.com does). After thanking her profusely, I asked her why she recommended a competitor to me.  She said, “We want you to be happy, and we want you to come back to Zappos.”  I was, and I will!

Customer service is more than just a focus for Zappos.com; it is their company’s culture and what gets them into my Top 3 Customer Rock Stars for 2008. Congrats, Tony and team! Zappos rocks!!

Rock Star Number 1: Bungie Studios

Who? Bungie. Bungie Studios is the maker of the popular video game series Halo. They are known for treating their customers very well, but the reason they are my number one Customer Rock Star is that they take care of other people’s customers, too!

This past March, a video gamer who is a big fan of Halo had a problem with his gaming console/hardware. It was a special console because he had collected original Halo artwork and autographs on it from the team that developed the game. Unfortunately, when he sent in his console for repair, the artwork and autographs were accidentally erased.  Result: one very sad video gamer.

Bungie Studios heard about this through some blogs and decided that, although it had not been their mistake, they wanted to do something to help make it better. So they gathered up a HUGE amount of Halo-3 goodies and sent them off to this depressed gamer even though they had nothing to do with the problem. As you can imagine, he was thrilled to get this fabulous box of “swag”, as it was completely unexpected. (You can see photos of some of his gifts on my previous post about Bungie.)

In my opinion, what was even more cool was that the blog post describing his “swag bag” received over 600 comments from fans of the Halo video game, all glowing about Bungie Studios. What a great way to touch your customer community!

How did Bungie Studios do it?

- They were listening to their customers, using social media.

- They had previously built up a strong community (see their website for forums, insider information, and an open and honest attitude including Bungie podcasts, photos, and webcams!)

- They decided to “do the right thing”, even though they were not the ones in the wrong

- Bungie has prioritized customers as a critical success factor for their business – and has acted on it.

Clearly, Customers Rock! for Bungie Studios.  Way to go, Bungie Studios, on being the Number One Customer Rock Star for 2008!

Looking Ahead to 2009

This year, a focus on customers will become more important than ever as companies struggle with the economy worldwide while consumers and businesses alike become more conservative with their spending. Customer retention will be critical, as will encouraging customer advocates to share their great experiences with others.  Stay tuned to Customers Rock! for more great ideas and stories of how companies are doing it right, all throughout 2009.

(Photo credit: ussr)

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In the spirit of Customers Rock!, I want to take a moment and say THANK YOU to all of you who have contributed in some way over the past 2 years. I am very excited to be celebrating this milestone with all of you!  This past year has been an exciting one for me and for the blog.  Let’s take a quick look at what has been going on before we start the party!

Customers Rock! Blog Year in Review

- To date, I have written 270 blog posts (including this one) with 1565 comments – woo hoo!

- I moved my blog to my own domain, CustomersRock.net (with the help of Joel – thanks!)

- I did quite a bit of speaking, both locally as well as at great events such at BlogWorld and Marketing Profs Digital Mixer. I got a chance to meet (and video) quite a few wonderful bloggers as well, so thank you to all!

- Jay Ehret and I started the Re-Experiencing Starbucks project to chronicle the change agenda from Howard Schultz to see how it impacted the customer experience. (Note – while those postings have slowed down, at least on my end, expect to see a nice year-end wrap on this soon.)

- I once again participated in the infamous Bathroom Blogfest to discuss how the customer experience extends even into forgotten places!

- I had four marvelous guest bloggers this year: Brian Solis, Esteban Kolsky, Colin Shaw, and Eric Brown. Thank you all for the time you gave my readers.

- I started teaching the UC San Diego class Marketing via New Media; this has been really fun! I also started a blog to chronicle my journey there Teaching Social Media. The blogs of the students are there, too.

- I joined Brickfish as their Director of Social Media. Brickfish helps major brands connect with their customers via the social web and turbo-charges word of mouth from brand evangelists. Plus, you can watch it all live on their Viral Map (this is an example from a current campaign with Microsoft “I’m a PC”). Very cool!

The Biggest News

The biggest news of all is YOU, my Customers Rock! readers.  I have enjoyed talking with you over the past two years, and I am looking forward to many more conversations in the years to come!  I really want to thank each and every one of you, but I only really know who you are when you leave me a comment.

So – I created a list of my commenters, in chronological order, from the first day of my blog up until now. I have linked to your blog/website if you left me one. It was great fun to look back at all of those who have turned Customers Rock! into a two-way conversation and to see how many I am still active with two years later!

This list of commenters also makes for a great read for the upcoming holidays of some very worthy blogs (those in my feed reader are marked with an asterisk *)!  This is my gift to all of you this year.

Thank you again for your continued support. You all rock!

(Photo credit: antony84)

Commenters on Customers Rock! (and also a great blog reading list!!)

* Mack Collier (Thank you for being my first commenter, Mack!)

* Gavin Heaton (Thank you for being my first international commenter, Gavin!)

* Kevin Hillstrom

* C.B. Whittemore

Anne Simons

Marc Rapp

* Doug Karr

* Roberta Rosenberg

Sue Crocker

* Maria Palma

Tammy Vitale

* Lewis Green

* Meikah Delid

Steve Miller

Luis de Paiva

Rich G.

* KG

* Tim Jackson

KSAdams

* Jordan Behan

* Laurence-Helene

Bob Glaza

* Tom Vander Well

* Glenn Ross

* Ron Shevlin

* Douglas Hanna

* Maki

* Dale Wolf

* Mike Wagner

* Phil Gerbyshak

* Chris Brown

Robyn McMaster

* Drew McLellan

Troy Worman

Ugyen

Louiss Lim

Maryam in Marrakesh

Adnan

Chris Cree

Kermitfan

Marc Gregory

* Valeria Maltoni

* Steve Woodruff

* Sandy Renshaw

Jeff Brooks

* Lolly

* Roger von Oech

Paul McEnany

* Amy Jussel

Robbie Wright

Ryan Karpeles

* Doug Meacham

Ron E

* Robert Hruzek

* Joe Rawlinson

Threethan

* Jim Kukral

* Toby Bloomberg

Stacy Madison

* CK

Janet Green

Andrew

Bob

Natalie Ferguson

* Geoff Livingston

* Roger Anderson

Chris Clarke

* Christy Brewer

Delaney Kirk

James Taylor

Adam Kayce

David Koopmans

Laura

* Ann Handley

Jake McKee

Rachelle Lacroix

* Patrick Schaber

* Kevin Dugan

Martin Jelsema

* Paul Schwartz

Bill Bluel

Sylvia Martinez

Chad

* Katie Konrath

Nancy Heifferon

* Stephanie Weaver

Enrique Burgos

* David Armano

* Daksh

Anders Rask

Jeffrey Jackson

Uwe Hook

Jill Konrath

Daniel Sitter

Cord Silverstein

* Suzanne Obermire

Carolyn Manning

* Jay Ehret

* Mark Hurst

Mark E

* Terry Starbucker

* Rosa Say

NAJ

Crafty Bernie

Matt Havercamp

Dan Neely

Teri Isner

Ben Thompson

Jack Jia

* Anita Bruzzese

Maureen Valdes Marsh

Hajar

Anne Libby

* Connie Reece

The Knitting Bee

* Peter Kim

Andrew

Jonathan Treiber

Hank Brigman

Pat Fisher

Scott

* Dan Schwabel

Karin H.

Frank Phelan

* Doug Fleener

Darcy Moen

Brent Applegate

Sabine

Hari Vasilev

L.P.

Dan NessDarren Patrick

Joe Provenzano

German Parra

Jon Burg

* David Morse

Scott

* Bradon Caudle

Bill Gammell

Jeff Vincent

Richard Binhammer

Amber

Lissa Bergen-Boles

Brandon M

Wes

Mark

typestries

bsilvia

Jeronimo

Jeffrey Long

* Andy Nulman

* Kami Huyse

Rachel

David Reich

* Anna Farmery

Jeanne Dininni

Albert F A Matthews

Marc Karasu

Brit

* Olivier Blanchard

* Esteban Kolsky

Jen

* Chelle Parmele

Rebecca Caroe

Chris Wilson

Peter Fankhaenel

* Matt Dickman

* David Brazeal

Ahndunk

Boring Market

Justin

Marc

Gordon Whitehead

Julie

Erin Cavallo

Aaron Kahlow

Elaine Fogel

Dawn Hobbs

Micha

* Mike McDerment

* Tsufit

Kelvin Leung

* Todd Andrlik

Jack Shipley

Scott Howard

* Nancy Arter

Campbell Moore

Bhuwan

Jack

* Charlene Li

Ron Weber

* Josh Bernoff

Eric BrownJohn Gillett

Vicki Flaugher

Graham Hill

* BJ Cook

Ravi Kiran

Beth

Lee Jordan

* Sybil Stershic

Bonnie Larner

Leo Bottary

Curt

* Stephanie Gulley

Chuck

James Shields

Alison Terrell

GL Hoffman

Joseph Young

Paul

Kamal Kumar

Chris

Jimmy Hendricks

John Maver

* Pam Brown

Kathleen

John

Christine Morrison

Priyanka

Stephen Hampshire

Bernhard

Nathan Poling

ascanlar

Liz Walker

Kenny Lauer

Kristina Evey

Jody Reale

Paul Blunden

Elizabeth

* Colin Shaw

Chuck Van Court

Jeff Whitton

Matt Wilson

Mark Krupinski

David Tinney

naranjadude

Mark David

* Nicoletta Staccioli (one of my students!)

* Marji Chimes

Ryan Graves

Sarah Hughes

* Susan Abbott

Faris

Graham Brown

Sandeep Arora

Chad Horenfeldt

Shahar Boyayan

Maria Elena Duron

Allan Young

Robert

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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!

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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!

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Today’s post has my first video with my new, fun video camera the Flip Minoin addition to some news to share and a question for my smart readers (that’s you!).  Speaking of Flip, welcome to new readers who have come over from Jim Kukral’s blog (he does a show called The Daily Flip), where he did a podcast interview with me called Do You Have Happy Customers?  If you like what you read here at Customers Rock!, please subscribe to my blog.  Thanks!  Now, on with today’s post.

 

Customer Engagement at FreshBooks

A while back, I wrote about how FreshBooks was engaging customers by taking a roadtrip to a conference in an RV. Along the way, they stopped and had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with their customers.  Very cool.  I was thrilled to be invited to one of their customer dinners when they made a recent stop here in San Diego, CA.  Saul sent me an email and asked if I could join them (I am a FreshBooks customer, too!).  We had a wonderful meal at Buca di Beppo, which serves Italian food family-style on big platters for sharing.  A perfect venue for customers to come together, break bread, and get to know each other.  We swapped stories about our business, about the San Diego economy, and about our new friends at FreshBooks.

The dinner attendees were kind enough to let me take a very short video with my cool new tiny camera (it is smaller than my Blackberry!) around the table, just so you, my readers, could get a feel for this group.  One customer, a friend of mine, was a little shy with the first pass, but he was willing to show his face moments later (see photo above). 

It was a very fun dinner, and I left with both an appreciation for what FreshBooks is doing to engage customers as well as some new friends.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think about the video!  The Flip Minois really easy to use, and I think the resolution is pretty good (I promise, my videography skills will improve…).

News: Cool Customer Engagement Event

If you live on the East Coast, or want to head out there in November, you should check out the upcoming Customer Engagement and Loyalty Summit in Miami.  It is taking place November 17-19 and is focused on taking you beyond creating customer loyalty programs to helping you build customer strategies.  Sessions include looking at customer experience in a low-cost environment (Alaska Airlines), learning how Word of Mouth and WOW service go together (Zappos.com), and a panel on quantifying the benefits of customer loyalty to your CFO (lead by Best Buy).  It looks to be a great event.  Readers of my blog can get a 2 for 1 discount if they mention this code: IUS_CR_001.  If you go, let me know what you think of the event.  It sounds great!

Question: Blogging and Customer Service

My good friend Mack Collier asked a great question on Twitter the other day, and I told him I would re-post it here (as so many of you are focused on customer service). Mack is looking for examples of companies that are using their blog for customer service.  I can think of companies that try to share best practices about using their product in their blog, such as ConstantContact, and also companies that answer frequently asked questions via their blog, such as Sony Playstation’s blog.  If your company is doing this, or if you have seen a good example, please send me email to becky at petraconsultinggroup dot com or leave a comment here at Customers Rock!  I will share all the responses I get and link to you, too!  Thanks for your help!

(Photo credits: B. Carroll, piksel)

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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)

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In the current economy, consumers are holding on to their money more tightly and making hard choices about if, and where, to spend it. Having a great customer experience greatly increases the chances that a) customers will come back to shop there again and b) they will tell their friends and family about how great it was! Word of mouth is very powerful marketing; studies show that consumers trust friend recommendations more than information from vendors.

Ikea is one of those stores with a great shopping experience that evokes word of mouth. In addition to the fun one can have by sitting on all those couches or envisioning how that bedroom would look in your own house, Ikea does things to make a difference even to the smallest customers.

Ikea has a play area for the littlest ones, where they can romp while their parents are enjoying the shopping. However, Ikea actually encourages families to bring their children with them through the showroom experience, starting right from the entrance. At our local Ikea store, a staircase leads shoppers up to the showroom floor. I was very impressed when I noticed they had put in a hand rail at kid-level, just right for those youngsters to hold onto while navigating the steps (see photo). The sign on the hand rail says the following:

“We care about the little ones, too. Look for the hand rails mounted lower, specially for your children.”

This does two things for the customer. One, the rail itself helps the kiddos feel like grown-ups (look, Mom, I can reach the hand rail!). Two, it specifically tells customers that Ikea has thought about their experience in advance and has done something to make it better.

Understanding Customers

Whether your customers are consumers or businesses, having a solid understanding of them makes all the difference in the sales and marketing process. How do your customers shop your business? What would make it easier to buy from you? Craft your own customer buying experience around the answers to those questions, and you will find an increase in not only sales, but also in new customers as the word spreads that you are a fabulous place to meet their needs.

For more great insight into the retail customer experience, see the these smart blogs: Doug Fleener’s Retail Contrarian, CB Whittemore’s Flooring the Consumer, Stephanie Weaver’s Experienceology.

(Photo credit top: rmarmion; photo credit bottom: bcarroll)

Popularity: 38% [?]

 My blogging friend Glenn Ross has put forth the following challenge to some of his fellow Customer Service bloggers (including me): How do you define “Customer-Focused Strategy?”  Great question, Glenn!  Glenn has posted his definition of a customer-focused strategy, and has included ideas and definitions from other excellent customer service bloggers, including ServiceUntitled, CustomersAreAlways, and CustServ.  There are many good ideas there, and I encourage you to check them out.

Customer strategy is the main focus of this blog as well as what I do (and have been doing) for a living.  I still like the paragraph I wrote on customer strategy last year at about this time; here is the excerpt from the post Rockin’ Our Customer’s Experience Online:

Customer Strategy

Does your organization have a customer strategy?  Most companies have a product strategy and a marketing strategy.  Customer-centric organizations also have a customer strategy.  Put simply, a customer strategy is a proactive plan for how we want to acquire, retain, and grow our customers!  Too many organizations leave it to chance when it comes to retention and growth of customers, focusing most of their resources on customer acquisition.  Why would we want to leave the management of our most valuable asset, our customers, to chance?

In order to align our customer experience with our customer strategy, we need to consider how we have created that strategy.  A strong customer strategy is built around the interactions we have with our customers, and we are able to maximize the value of every customer touch.  In other words,  we make each impression with the customer count.  Customer service and support may have several opportunities to make customer impressions, and it is often where the rubber meets the road.  How do we handle our customers when there is a problem or a question?  The goal of all these interactions is to increase customer retention and loyalty, which ultimately leads to repeat business and referrals.  Done right, a customer strategy will also build customer trust, strengthen the relationship, and add value to both the customer and the company.

In other words, a customer-focused strategy is a planned approach to how we handle our customers at every touch point.  It is more than just giving great customer service.  It is more than marketing with certain customer buzzwords.  It is more than a great customer experience.  It requires a strategic plan to be put in place to address all of those areas, plus the metrics to ensure the success of the strategy. 

I have been part of creating a customer-focused strategy for several clients, and this is no small undertaking.  It requires agreement and consistency across all functional areas in order to be most effective.  No silos allowed!  The customer doesn’t look at a company as individual departments, so we need to be “one brand” to the customer.  The customer-focused strategy helps make that happen.

Great Examples

Glenn also asked for examples of companies who do this well.  There are a few competitions out there for this type of award; a great one is coming up from the team at Peppers and Rogers Group and Gartner.  Called the Gartner and 1to1 Customer Excellence Awards, it will be showcasing those companies that “get” customer strategy – and how to execute it.  (By the way, the contest is open until May 23, so if you are reading this and want to submit your company, you can go here and enter.)

At this blog, I have listed several examples of companies that are doing customer strategy well.  They include FreshBooks and their customer roadtrip, Bungie and the way they are fans of their customers, Element Fusion and their web concierge, Disney and customer delight, and Xerox and their dedication to customer experience, among others.  I don’t think any one of them is perfect, but each of them do many things well across several areas. 

OK, out to you, readers!  How would you define “customer-focused strategy”?  Do you agree with me or am I missing something?  Who is doing it well?

(Photo credit: redbaron)

Popularity: 26% [?]

 I love the way Coldwater Creek keeps their customers engaged through their marketing.  Of course, there are the regular catalog and emails that come out; nothing too special about those.  However, I just got an offer from them to be treated like royalty, and it made me smile.

I received a note card from Coldwater Creek with this on the front:

“Fashion and relaxation fit for a queen.  Without those annoying hats.”

The graphic shows pictures of crowns and tiaras, along with their brand.  Inside, I find that my friends and I are invited to Coldwater Creek’s version of High Tea, along with a product demo and drawings.  This particular store is well suited to this, as they also have a Coldwater Creek – The Spa at the same location.  The copy inside the card is “royal”, talking about “courtly prizes” for you and “your entourage”.  Very nicely done.

Of course, I called the store to find out more.  Between the hours of 4 and 7 pm, they are basically holding an open house for customers with lots of goodies to eat (pastries, cakes) and drink (tea mostly!), along with the chance to show-off both clothing and spa products.  It is not just for those who received the invitation; anyone shopping that evening can also partake.  But only existing local customers received the invitation.

Royal Treatment

This particular mailing was refreshingly different.  It made me feel special.  It made me feel noticed.  Too many direct mailings are to push products or send invoices.  Coldwater Creek did a great job of standing out with a fun direct mail piece that caters to their customers.  Yes, “old school” techniques still work in this social media world!

You rock, Coldwater Creek.  Cheers!

(Photo credit: Scanty)

Popularity: 16% [?]