However, I believe that participation applies to much more than just social media!  If we get our customers to participate with us on an ongoing basis, we learn so much more about them than we could in any other arena.  This will lead to (on the customer’s part) trust, better engagement, preference, word of mouth, and ultimately brand loyalty. 

I also had the opportunity to talk about this subject to Chris Brogan at the MarketingProfs event. We discussed why those who want to build a relationship with their customers should consider using social media. And not using it just to talk; using it to finally, truly listen to customers. Chris recently wrote about the difference between having an audience and having a community on his blog. I think an audience is something that you talk at; a community is something that you talk with and participate in.  Chris was nice enough to put his thoughts on video for me as I asked him to talk about social media and customer loyalty. (Note: the conference was in Arizona, hence the cacti – and the slight wind noise)

Here at Customers Rock!, I endeavor to have a place where we talk together about taking care of customers. I realize I have not been carrying on my side of the conversation a lot lately as I have been heads-down working on my new book. I will hold up my side of the bargain and be here to talk with you more frequently – now it is your turn to join in! Thank you all so much for being part of this, and many thanks to you, Chris, for your valuable time. 

(Image credit: Paha_L)

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)

First things first: I have been a busy lately with my new job. I just accepted and started in my role as Director of Social Media at Brickfish.  Brickfish is a social media advertising network, and they focus on helping brands reach their customers via the social web and viral marketing.  This is a great position for me as it marries my two key areas of interest: social media and customer loyalty (you couldn’t have guessed that, could you?). I will definitely report back more on this company and role as I get my feet firmly planted there!  I will still be writing my Customers Rock! blog and will also continue my gig at UCSD Extension teaching the Marketing via New Media class.  Consulting projects are being put on the back burner at the moment, but do let me know if I can help you via my great network!

In other news…

• I just returned from the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer, and I had a great time speaking, learning a lot, and connecting with bloggers I had met online but not yet in person.  Write-ups, video, and photos to come soon!

• Bathroom Blogfest ’08 is happening now!  I participated in this last year with my blog posts on the customer experience and the restroom, highlighting bathrooms at Disney theme parks. I will post my bathroom customer experiences later this week, towards the end of the blogfest, but I wanted to highlight the other bloggers who are taking part in this annual event.  Here they are:

Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads
Katia Adams at Transcultural Marketing
Shannon Bilby at Floor Talk!
Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop
Jo Brown and the blogging team at Kohler Talk
Lisbeth Calandrino at Lisbeth Calandrino
Sara Cantor at The Curious Shopper
Becky Carroll at Customers Rock!
Katie Clark at Practical Katie
Iris Shreve Garrott at Circulating
Ann Handley at Annarchy
Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution
Elizabeth Hise and C.B. Whittemore at The Carpetology Blog
Maria Palma at Customers Are Always
Sandra Renshaw at Purple Wren
Kate Rutter at Adaptive Path
Claudia Schiepers at Life and its little pleasures
Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose
Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology
C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer

• Last year, I participated in a great project to write a book with over 100 other bloggers, the Age of Conversation.  This year, we are doing it again with the Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It? It launches shortly (tomorrow); stay tuned for details!

(Photo credit: Tinka)

“The way in which a customer is handled has much to do with results obtained.”

How true that is!  It goes on to discuss how a customer cannot be “up-sold” unless that customer is thoroughly understood.

“The worst evil in selling is the action of the man who merely gives the customer what he asks for.  The man who does this is not a salesman, he is just a clerk.”

This article, by the way, is from the New York Times and was printed June 18, 1922!  It still rings true today. 

We need to understand not just who our customers are and what they say they want, but we also need to understand how they are currently using our products and services.  Yesterday, I spoke with Nancy Arter and Suzanne Obermire at RRW Consulting (their blog here) about the marketing basic of “right selling” customers.  We agreed that the most-satisfied customers tend to be those who are using the products and services which are a best fit for their needs.

For example, when I was at HP, I worked in the division where we marketed service subscriptions for HP’s mainframe computers to businesses.  Part of the service subscription included software updates and the ability to contact the call center (this was before eSupport was prevalent!).  At the end of the year, a customer could decide whether to renew their subscription.  If they never called in with a problem, they might have felt that they didn’t get value from their investment.  The most successful subscription services salespeople (say that three times fast!) were those that helped a business find the right level of service for the next year, rather than trying to renew them on the same (under-utilized) level of service.

Some of you may be thinking, hey, they left money on the table!  You should just try and get the most from the customer.  This, readers, is short-term thinking – trying to maximize the amount of revenues this quarter or year.  This type of thinking backfires when a customer realizes they have been over-paying for services they don’t use, and they then get upset that they weren’t told they could have switched to a subscription which was a better fit. (Does this sound familiar – cell phone plans come to mind…)

The long-term viewpoint says we want our customers to have the right level of service.  That may mean that they reduce the level of service they have with us.  However, if it is the right level of service, the customer will ultimately be more satisfied.  Customer satisfaction equates to long-term loyalty, which equates to increased positive word of mouth.

And that is what right-selling is all about!

(Flickr photo credit: TimParkinson)