Today we have a guest blogger with us here on Customers Rock!, Nate Bagley. Nate is the Social Media Expert at Mindshare Technologies. Mindshare is a leader in the Voice of the Customer industry, helping companies foster consumer satisfaction, build customer loyalty, and support employee retention. Click here to learn more about Mindshare.

Is Your “Lack of Remarkable” Preventing Customer Loyalty? by Nate Bagley

The most important aspect of any customer-driven business is consistency. If you cannot provide a consistent experience, it is impossible to generate loyalty within your customers. Without loyal customers, a business is just a whole lot of wasting assets.

The businesses that thrive despite a struggling economy, intense competition, or market saturation are those who have built intense customer and employee loyalty.

The best way to create loyal relationships is rather simple: You must measure the customer experience continuously. Measuring your customers’ feedback and acting on any inconsistencies (both good and bad) should be how you approach your business every day!

Recently, I attended a sports themed restaurant to watch the World Cup match between England and the United States. By the middle of the first half, the restaurant was packed with crazed fans… standing room only. I kept an eye on our server as she tended to dozens of guests within her section. She remained pleasant, yet incredibly busy.

Somehow, through all of the tumult, she managed to check on our table every few minutes. When she noticed our cups were running low on water, she brought us a pitcher, knowing she wouldn’t have time to fill them individually. She kept us happy, assessed our needs, and did it with a smile, despite having to work a section that was far over capacity.

Will we be returning? You bet we will, especially if every subsequent experience is of the same caliber as this one.

How can this restaurant chain ensure that every location provides the same level of service consistently to every customer? How can they make sure every staff member within the organization is consistently hitting customer service home runs like this? They must set a standard and then measure as many transactions as possible against it until they are consistently hitting the mark. The easiest way to identify irregularities in customer experience is through customer feedback. You must consistently listen to what customers are saying! Keep doing the things they love, and improve the things they don’t.

“When we measure satisfaction, what we’re really measuring is the difference between what a customer expects, and what a customer perceives he gets.” (“The Experience Economy,” Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore)

What are you doing to provide a consistently remarkable experience for every transaction in your business?

(Flickr Photo Credit: ogimogi)

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Today’s guest blogger is Michael Sansolo, author of The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies. Michael Sansolo is a consultant and frequent speaker for the food retail industry, and is a contributing editor and weekly columnist for MorningNewsBeat.com, a daily newsletter on the retail industry.

The Ultimate Customer Compliment

There is one simple line of praise that every business should seek when it comes to gauging the customer experience. It happens when one customer gladly recommends a store, product or service to someone else.

In our new book, The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies, my co-author Kevin Coupe and I argue that we can use popular films to tell highly descriptive stories to drive our businesses. And there is one movie scene on customer service that stands out for all time when it comes to winning customer recommendations.

Recall the most famous scene from the movie When Harry Met Sally. It takes place in a restaurant, and Harry, played by Billy Crystal, boasts about his prowess as a lover. Sally, played by Meg Ryan, asks how he can be so certain. Harry says he can tell, but Sally is skeptical.

In a scene of hilarity rivaled by few moments in movie making, Sally proceeds to experience what appears to be physical ecstasy despite the face she is sitting in a restaurant. Her movements, moans and groans draw the attention of everyone sitting around her as Sally presses on until she concludes with what can only be described as a sexual climax. And then she calmly returns to eating, having made her point that Harry doesn’t really know if his lovers are satisfied.

But that’s only the set up. Within seconds, the camera focuses on a much older woman sitting behind Sally, who was interrupted in the middle of ordering her meal. Asked what she wants, the woman points to Sally and says, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

It’s hilarious. And it’s a great statement on customer service.

Great customer service makes other shoppers want to get involved. Great customer service generates word of mouth, new clients, and a reputation that can’t be beat.  Great customer service makes others say, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Every business should seek to build that moment. They should seek to provide an explosion of customer delight that draw attention and raves. In fact, we should crave the “I’ll have what she’s having” compliment from trading partners, employees, and more.  We all want our business to be the admired business and the one that others want to work with or for.

On screen it’s an easy moment. Inside a business it is anything but. One premise of The Big Picture is that businesspeople can use film moments to build success stories.  Consider showing the restaurant scene to your employees and ask them what it would take to win that moment of envy.

The simple truth is that great customer service is so easily achieved, but also easily ignored because being average is usually good enough. However, an extra smile, courtesy or show of personality can go a long way.

A few weeks back I was in an Aldi Supermarket in Illinois watching customers. Aldi is known for extremely low prices. The stores have few items and few employees, so service is non-existent. But on this day, the young woman at the cash register was making magic happen.

As customers came through her lane she could have handled them quickly and accurately, and that would have been acceptable. But she did more, complimenting them on their product choices. With one simple move, she elevated the checkout experience and made each shopper feel special. It cost nothing and took almost no time.

Now imagine an Aldi shopper sharing that moment with a friend who had an ordinary shopping trip somewhere else the same day. In short, that cashier made others say, “I’ll have what she’s having.” That’s going to lead to new shoppers, new sales, and new success.

And just like that, an ordinary day becomes a happy story about customer service.  The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies is loaded with lessons like that.  We hope you’ll like it. More importantly, we hope those around you will see you enjoy it and will say to themselves, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Photo credit:

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Today I am pleased to feature another guest post by Chip Bell. If you have seen the movie Ramen Girl (and even if you haven’t!), you will relate to this post. The parallels he draws between passionate cooking and customer service will be something you will noodle on for awhile.

Chip is the author, with John R. Patterson, of the book Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers. He can be reached through www.taketheirbreathaway.com.

Unconditional Customer Service by Chip Bell

Ramen is a traditional Japanese noodle dish that, well prepared, is a highly desired delicacy.  That’s the back story for the movie, The Ramen Girl.  A young woman finds herself in Tokyo and wants to understudy a master ramen chef who speaks no English; she speaks no Japanese.  He is impatient and demanding; she works hard to be perfect.  The climax of the movie (without giving too much away) happens when the frustrated chef takes the equally frustrated protégé to visit his mother, the person who taught him to be a great ramen chef.

Creating ramen, the mother tells the young women, is not about mixing ingredients in the proper proportion and cooking the broth at the right temperature.  In order to make a dish that connects your heart to your customer’s heart, you must put your soul into the preparation and presentation, not just your smarts and sweat.  It was a turning point.  The woman let go of her pursuit of precision and embraced the “from the heart” expression of her spirit.  Great customer service is like preparing ramen.

Step One:  Learn to Cook

There has always been a major difference “being a cook” and “being a chef.”  Cooks follow food recipes; chefs fashion cuisine creations.  We spent an evening with Tim Love, a world famous Southwest chef.  He had defeated the “Iron Chef” on the popular TV program.  “Before you can become a chef,” he described to us over roasted portabella mushrooms he had prepared, “you must first learn to cook.”  A good cook makes sure they have the right ingredients, the proper utensils, and have the oven set on the correct temperature.

Great service starts with the fundamentals of your quality service.  Bank customers want accuracy; hospital patients desire cleanliness, and airline passengers expect safety.  I call it service air.  We pay little attention to the air we breathe until it is removed or threatened.  Think we can think of nothing else.  Think about all the wasted energy creating a great service experience only to have it erased from the customer’s mind because something fundamental is mishandled.  Think of them as service condiments.  No salt and pepper on the perfectly set banquet table can remove the gourmet from the experience.

Step Two:  Remember the Goal

Then, without losing sight of “the right ingredients in the broth,” put your energy into your customer’s needs and hopes.  Service is not about you, it is about assisting another in a way that makes a difference while making an impression.  Great service is all about thinking of fashioning a delightful outcome by serving through the customer’s eyes.  It is not ever about what is easiest for the service provider; it is always about crafting processes and procedures that enable the service provider to make it great for the customer.

Who benefits from bills sent at the end of the month, opening and closing hours, paperwork of any sort, phone trees (punch 2 if you want…) and hold times.  If the customer could be in charge of designing “service their way,” how would it change.  Granted, no organization can turn service process design completely over to customers.  And, some of those forms are required by regulators who can pull a license or close a business if there is an absence of compliance.  Yet, our quest for efficiency sometimes entices us to forget to wear the “customer hat” when designing how service will occur.

Step Three:  Lose Yourself

Francis Coppola is one of this century’s best film directors.   Even folks who cannot recall his name, know his films—The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, American Graffiti, etc.  While making the movie Apocalypse Now, he ran into a challenge with highly independent actor, Dennis Hopper (remember Easy Rider?).  The encounter was chronicled in the documentary, Hearts of Darkness.  Dennis was spending too much time in the bar and not enough time exercising the boring but necessary discipline to learn his lines.  “You learn your lines so you can forget them,” coached Coppola.  “I need you to go past your lines and come from who you are, not what you recall.”  Great service comes from going beyond the basics to “come from who you are.”

The Good Samaritan story is well known.  But, a few facts about the story are known largely by students of the bible, not just casual readers.  The main character was a Samaritan and the target of his kindness was a Jew.  Samaritans were hated by Jews and vice versa.  The Samaritan went beyond self-held views of aversion to help his “neighbor”–the enemy.   When the scripture says, “A Jew went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves” one might think he was going South.  Jericho was actually North of Jerusalem.  But, it was 3500 lower and the route was physically taxing.  Stated differently, the Samaritan had just traveled uphill along a challenging journey to help Jewish man who was starting downhill.  The Samaritan’s compassion was not clouded by his fatigue.  Great service is not borne of duty, responsibility or contract, but delivered from the heart with little regard for gain, advantage or reciprocity.

Step Four:  Fill the Bowl

“Fill the bowl” in the Ramen world means giving customers more than they expect.  I grew in a small South Georgia town.  I made all my spending money mowing yards, especially during the summer—my parents were not fans of the concept of an allowance!  I got a $1.00 for a small yard and $2.00 for a large yard.  My grandmother had a two dollar yard.  One summer we had a major draught.  Yards barely grew at all and I was looking at a bleak year financially.  Toward the end of the summer, my grandmother asked me to mow her yard.  I was thrilled.  After doing a perfect job I met her at her back door to get my two dollars.  She handed me a $5 bill with the most wonderful words a ten-year old could hear:  “Keep the change.”  And, it did change my relationship with my grandmother.  A relationship I kept until she died at age 84.

There is an expression in golf of “playing over your head.” It means that a golfer is playing at an unexplained level of excellence in which serendipity and the extraordinary seem the momentary norm.  Customer loyalty soars when customers experience someone “serving over their head.”   Take the governors and conditions off your service and enjoy the difference your efforts can make.  Service that emanates from places in the heart touches the soul of the customer in a fashion they are left enriched as they are served.

(Photo: wootang01)

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1.     Listen and determine what is Relevant – What are the customers discussing today? (packaging, rude retail employees, return policy, friendly environmental practices, etc). Note: Not  all conversations are negative.

2.     Engage – Pick one topic that is relevant, find that passionate employee that is savvy on the topic and unleash the passionate employee to join and create online conversations. Not sure how to create online conversations, 3 easy ways to get started.

3.     Wash, Rinse, Repeat with steps 1 and 2. You will evaluate success on your first topic. What should be your second topic? (again, listen to determine relevance).

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Welcome to another edition of Expert’s Corner here at Customers Rock! This time our guest blogger has a technology focus. We are happy to have Lori Wizdo, VP Marketing from Knoa Software, as our author today. Lori will share with us ways for organizations to get a handle on a major customer experience roadblock.

Enjoy the post, and let us know what you think!

Improving Customer Service From the Ground Up

In need of a new laptop, you spend hours walking around your local Best Buy comparing prices and features of endless devices each claiming to be the thinnest, sharpest and fastest on the market.  You select a winner, bring it home and it immediately begins to malfunction.  Figures.  After a dozen fruitless attempts to unfreeze the screen or retrieve your very important lost document, you finally give in and call the manufacturer’s support center.  The agent on the end of the line proceeds to put you on hold for 5 minutes, and then connects you to sales rather than support.  The following transfer takes another 5 minutes.  You explain the situation (again) to the appropriate agent, slightly annoyed but overall maintaining your cool.  The agent, furiously typing, apologizes for her system being slow today.  “I don’t know why it isn’t letting me do this today? It let me yesterday…” she mutters.  After 30 minutes on the phone, your computer is running smoothly but you hang up frustrated with the service, bitter towards the company, and just plain angry at your new computer. 

Invisible Problem

I am sure that you have felt this frustration before, if not during support calls, then paying your mobile phone bill, or waiting in a long line at a Macy’s counter.  Customers are constantly frustrated with the services they receive.  Many businesses don’t realize however, that a negative customer experience is often a direct result of the sales rep or agent’s inability to correctly execute customer service technology.  Due to the complexity of systems such as CRM, agents are frequently misusing applications or experiencing system errors which result in slow response times and inaccurate support for the customer.  

If a customer service agent does not make the experience seamless, it causes irritation and possible loss of business.  Despite the recognized importance in delivering an exceptional customer experience in this economy, companies have relatively little insight into how customer service agents are using, or misusing the technology they are given to interact with the customer. Managers have relatively little visibility into agent behavior and performance during each and every customer interaction.  This presents a major business dilemma: how can you fix a problem that you can’t see?

Taking a Closer Look

There is a new breed of optimization technology, Experience and Performance Management (EPM), which is helping to remedy these problems. This set of solutions provides a window into agent interactions with corporate customer service technology.  The software monitors the agent’s execution of processes and provides comprehensive metrics in two dimensions.  First, EPM monitors the agent experience to highlight problems with the technology itself. Then it analyzes agent behaviors and workflows to pinpoint issues with the agent’s performance. These metrics are used to identify and eliminate impediments that the technology is presenting to the agent and gives managers insight into problems with agent performance that are impacting customer experience.  With these metrics business managers are able to answer the following questions and create logical, direct solutions:

•          Are the transactions/response times slow?
•          Is the agent being presented with incomprehensible system errors?
•          Are agents using the correct transactions for the process?
•          Are they following the correct processes or creating workarounds? 
•          Are they using the applications effectively or making errors?
•          Are they utilizing all the tools available, such as the knowledge base?  

With these issues identified, managers can ensure that an appropriate solution, such as one-on-one training or a technology upgrade, is implemented.

Experience and Performance Management technology fills the need for a comprehensive, systematic approach for measuring agent experience and behavior with customer service technology.  These solutions can help identify the root of application problems, and improve the agent’s productivity.  Overall, the more efficiently agents are interacting with customer service technology, the better the customer service.  With a positive and productive relationship between the agent and technology, customers can receive fast, accurate service, ensuring long-term customer satisfaction. 

 

About Lori Wizdo

Lori Wizdo is a software industry veteran who, over the past 25 years, has helped launch several new technologies in emerging markets.  She has held senior positions with global companies such as BMC, Xerox, NCR and Unisys, as well as a number of smaller software innovators.  Lori was an early pioneer, championing the role of the individual in enterprise business applications. That belief inspired the launch of communities of practice and employee networking solutions at Unisys.  In her present role, she continues to evangelize the cause of the end-users as a key stakeholder of enterprise applications.  

About Knoa Software

Knoa Software was recently selected as a Gartner “Cool Vendor,” for its capabilities in end-user experience and performance management and was listed as a Leader in the “Forrester Wave: Passive Agent End-user Experience Monitoring.”

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I love to bring in outside experts for you to share other perspectives on the Customers Rock! attitude. Today I am pleased to introduce you to Chip Bell. Chip is the founder of The Chip Bell Group and works from the Dallas, Texas area. His consulting practice focuses on helping organizations build a culture that supports long-term customer loyalty.

Chip R. Bell is the author, with John R. Patterson, of the newly-released book Take Their Breath Away: How Imaginative Service Creates Devoted Customers. He can be reached through www.taketheirbreathaway.com.

Service with a Grin by Chip Bell

We have an economy to which customers are reacting with despair.  What if the features of customer service could follow the same principles that make humor work?  Let’s example the construction of these simple jokes:

From comedian Joe Weinstein:  “My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can.  That’s about $7.00 in dog money!”

From comedian Larry the Cable Guy:  “Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.”

Both comedians create a mental pattern and unexpectedly break that pattern in the last one or two words.  The construction of the humor is simple and easy to get.  Finally, the lines have a “tongue-in-check” levity that is joyful.  What if customer service could be unexpected, simple and joyful?  It could bring comic relief to gloomy customers.

Create an Unexpected Experience

Customer service with an unexpected twist can take a customer’s breath away.  Magic tricks and rainbows have the same effect.  What are ways to take an everyday service pattern and turn it on its ear for the unexpected enjoyment of customers?   What if the forms were in fun colors?  What if the server wore a funny hat?  What if the server had a fun signature greeting?

Keep it Simple

It was not the caramelized popcorn that made Cracker Jack a snack food hit for over a hundred years.  It was the practically worthless free prize inside.  You know you have hit a service home-run with customers when you hear them warmly say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Simplicity trumps complicated.

And, Make it Joyful

Service is joyful if it is grin-qualified.  There will always be a few sour pusses that would never reveal their pleasure no matter how lively the deed.  Don’t let these “hearts of darkness” undermine your resolve to make the other 99.9% enjoy a service surprise.  Today’s customers are gloomier than ever.  They deserve your commitment to deliver your creative best.

(Image credit: Clivia)

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My good friend (and fellow wine enthusiast) Steve Woodruff asked me to join in his community activity “Five in the Morning” – five posts that I find interesting – so here is my contribution! Grab a cup of coffee and a bagel, find a quiet five minutes, and let’s dig in!

Are Companies Looking for Customer Feedback?

One of the first blogs I read after starting my Customers Rock! blog was Church of the Customer. This easy-to-digest post from Jackie Huba shares the results of a recent survey by conducted by the CMO Council on whether companies are tracking customer conversations about their brand, along with whether they have employee incentives around customer satisfaction. Interesting that not many are focusing on these areas! Especially in this economy, Customers Rock! companies view customer feedback (including word of mouth) as a critical part of their business and create customer listening post in several venues (including but not limited to social media). What are you doing in regards to listening to your customers?

Kill ‘em With Kindness

Tom Vander Well of QA QnA writes an inspiring post on how to treat your customers, even if you think they are going to be somewhat nasty to you! It might sound easy, but this type of treatment strategy requires a plan as well as a certain fortitude to carry it out when a call center rep is “in the thick of it”. Check out the post for tips on “staying chill”.

Handling Negative Reviews

Linda Bustos at GetElastic has a thought-provoking post on how to handle negative reviews. Ignore them? No. Delete them? Definitely not! How about embrace them? Linda highlights one company that has embraced both the positive and the negative; check out her post to see how they do it.

Social Media: Music to my Ears

I met someone new this week (virtually, as many introductions are these days) who works for Heavybag Media. There was a fascinating post on their blog about the use of social media and web strategies in the musical instrument business. Contained in the post are lists of who is using what, as well as who is currently best-in-class using these new tools in the industry.

A Little Self-Promotion (sort-of)

As many of you know, I teach a class at University of California San Diego called Marketing via New Media. One of my long-time blogging friends, Tim Jackson, was kind enough to come and be a guest speaker. Tim shared about his MasiGuy blog and how it has really helped re-invigorate the brand. His stories were riveting, and the students really enjoyed his talk. Here is the post where Tim shares his experience talking to my class, along with some photos, so if you ever wanted to see what my class looks like, here it is! Thanks again, Tim, for sharing your knowledge and passion about Masi Bikes. You rock!

Liked Five in the Morning? Get more where this came from at Steve Woodruff’s Sticky Figure blog, subscribe to Steve’s blog, or follow him on Twitter. Like Customers Rock!? Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog.

(Photo credit: bberry)

Popularity: 79% [?]

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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Today I am happy to present to you a guest blogger, Colin Shaw.  Colin is founder of Beyond Philosophy, a consultancy, research, and training company recognized as thought leaders in the Customer Experience. They are located in London, England and Atlanta, GA, USA. Colin is an international best selling author and widely acclaimed public speaker.  Colin also writes a blog called Experience Clinic, which can be found at his company’s website www.beyondphilosophy.com.  I spoke to Colin over the summer while he was traveling in the States, and I think you will find his post thought-provoking.  Let us know what you think!

The DNA of Customer Experience

“We can’t do that…”….  ”you’ll have to go over there….”   ” you’ll have to phone a different department”

We have all heard these phrases in too many Customer Experiences. I am sure, like you, it makes my blood boil! But when I say “it makes my blood boil” what am I really expressing? I am referring to how I feel; my emotions. Just read the many postings in this blog and you sense the emotions the writers are feeling. Having dealt in the subject of the Customer Experience for the last 10 years it never ceases to amaze me that organizations fail to realise that over 50% of a Customer Experience is about emotions.

So let me ask you one of my favourite questions we pose to organizations every day of the week. “What is the customer experience you are trying to deliver”? Most organizations can not answer that question in a consistent manner. In addition, as emotions account for over 50% of an experience, here is a follow on question, “What are the emotions you are trying to evoke in your Customers”?

Again, most organizations can not answer this simple question and as such I believe they are not in control of their experience. The challenge becomes ‘as there is such an array of emotions which should an organization choose? Which emotions drive and destroy value?’

Following 2 years of research with London Business School, one of the worlds leading business schools, we have discovered there are four clusters of emotions that drive or destroy value. These are further outlined in our latest book The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value.

The Destroying Cluster

This is the first area an organization needs to focus on. These emotions are evoked in Customers typically because their experience is “inside out”. This means the organization looks at what is good for them and imposes that experience on the customer. Our belief is organizations should be “outside in” looking at what the customer wants and deliberately trying to evoke positive emotions.

It’s impossible to eradicate destroying emotions entirely, but wise organizations take steps to mitigate them. It’s important to recognize that this cluster not only destroys value, but taxes resources and imposes other costs on an organization. Suppose, for example, delivery of a complex IT system is poorly coordinated and a few items are missing. In addition to feelings of frustration, this misstep wastes the valuable time and money of the personnel involved with installation.

The Attention Cluster

The Attention Cluster contains emotions used by organizations to attract customers. Our research has shown that these emotions encourage customers to explore your offers and experience, and boost customers’ short-term spend.

However, this cluster contains an inherent danger. Once they have attracted a customer, can they retain them? We’ve discovered that what attracts a customer in the first place may not turn them into long-term customers. As a simple example, imagine a theme park. Your first visit is likely to be interesting, stimulating and energetic — all characteristics of the attention cluster. But what happens after your tenth visit? The “interesting or stimulated” emotions fade. The experience becomes bland. To retain customers you need to evoke the Recommendation Cluster. 

The Recommendation Cluster

Here is where you really begin to build loyalty. The Recommendation Cluster includes basic human emotions like valued, cared for and trusted. Consider the last time you felt someone “valued” you; at home or at work. Why did you feel valued? What did the person do? They spent time with you, they understood you. They listened to you. It was personalised. Now flip this to your own Customer Experience, what could you do that included these traits and thus evoked valued in your experience.

The Advocacy Cluster

The Advocacy cluster is at the top of the pyramid, and contains only two emotions, reflecting their statistical importance. Happiness is a primary goal for everyone. People want to be happy, thus we seek out experiences which please us. Obviously, organizations should strive to make their customers happy. Happy customers become advocates, proactively telling people about your organization without prompting, and are among the most loyal. Word of mouth, after all, is the best form of marketing.

A Company’s Emotional Signature®

We also discovered all organizations have an Emotional Signature®. This is the level of emotional engagement an organizations have with its customers.

In our experience most organizations measure only the physical/rational aspects of the Customer Experience — price, product availability, range and so on. They ignore the other 50% of an experience; customer’s emotions.

In understanding the level of emotional engagement you can then determine what you need to do to change. I always liken this to a sound system graphic equalizer; your company’s Emotional Signature can be altered to produce a better sound, a better experience. Because they are not consciously and deliberately thought-out in advance, most experiences are “out of tune”. All organizations unwittingly evoke unintentional emotions.

For example, customers become frustrated when their actions trigger the wrong behaviours, and organizations should take action to reverse this. To persuade your customers to feel you “care for” them — a powerful differentiator — you may need to change your recruitment process and hire people who are naturally caring. It’s important to understand the level of emotional engagement to be able to take action to improve it.

(Top image credit: bonathos; article image credit: BeyondPhilosophy)

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