May 16, 2012

Expert’s Corner: Chip Bell on Service with a Grin

smileyI 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)

Does Social Media Help or Hurt?

smile-keyJason Baer authored a thought-provoking blog post over at MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. It puts forward the question of whether customers who are using social media are getting preferential treatment. Jason is a really smart guy, and he asks it this way:

“Are we inadvertently creating a Customer Chasm, where those who are socially media active are receiving preferential treatment compared to those who are not? And not just in customer service, but in customer acquisition too?”

 

He describes great customer service being given over Twitter as an example; if the customer experience in other channels isn’t as good as the Twitter channel, then there could be preferential treatment taking place (which could ultimately drive changes in behavior).  He suggests we should be thinking through how we use social media and whether we are intentionally giving this “better treatment” to customers. I highly suggest you go and read Jason’s entire post, as well as the discussion in the comments.

The Real Question

This conversation is right up my alley. Of course, I had to respond. Here is what I have put forward:

What we really should be asking is how we want to treat our customers overall. What is the customer strategy? Most companies don’t have one, so they use whatever is easiest and cheapest (read: most convenient for them) to interact with customers. Treating different customers differently is a great strategy, and one which we used with our clients when I worked for Peppers and Rogers Group (1 to 1 Marketing approach).

I applaud the customer interaction opportunities that social media brings to an organization. However, as I have said both in my blog and to my social media students, it is only one channel of interaction. Encouraging and rewarding customers to use a channel that is more cost efficient is a fine strategy – if that is indeed the strategy. If we are interacting with customers via social media just because it is the new, cool, hip thing to do, what will happen when something else comes along? Will we continue to keep up the social media interactions?

The real question to ask is where our customers want to interact with us. Listen, then use those channels to reward them for their business and for referrals. Thank them for being a part of your organization. Intentionally create a rockin’ customer experience. When we do this, whether those interactions were by phone, mail, or online, the word of mouth will spread!

Help or Harm?

Now to you, my readers. What do you think? Is social media indeed creating a “customer chasm” as Jason suggests? Should customers interacting via social media channels get a different experience?  Please tell us your thoughts, as well as your experiences, by leaving a comment below.

(Image credit: photoauris)

Recession-Proof Marketing

new-lifeWhen I was speaking at the SXSW Interactive conference last week, I had the chance to catch up with one of my good friends, Saul Colt from FreshBooks. Saul is the Head of Magic there, and he is the one who is responsible for the fabulous customer dinners that they do with their customers. These dinners are focused completely on the customers and providing them networking opportunities with each other; they are NOT about pushing FreshBooks! In fact, these customer dinners are part of the reason FreshBooks was named one of the Top 3 Customer Rock Stars for 2008!

Saul has honored me back by interviewing me on what it means to market in a recession.  Take a listen, then go listen to Saul’s complementary video on his blog. Thank you, Saul, for the opportunity!


Becky Carroll (CustomersRock.net) shares thoughts on Customer Service! from saulcolt on Vimeo.

Re-Focus on Customer Service

sunflowerguy-3With 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.

Five in the Morning: Customers Rock! Edition

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)

Disney Service Discovery at NACCM Conference

Pluto's Pursuit Pin

Looking to learn more about what it takes to give great customer service?  Look no further than Disney!  I am here at the NACCM Customers 1st Conference being held at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, and today the event kicked-off in style. I chose the “Disney’s Service Challenge” pre-conference workshop, led by Bruce Kimbrell of The Disney Institute. This workshop focused on teamwork and taking care of employees (a critical part of taking care of customers is to take care of employees!).  Bruce is also the keynote speaker tomorrow at the Pre-Conference Summit talking about “Loyalty Disney Style”. Today, Bruce invited us to spend several hours discovering the service opportunities that Disney gives to their guests in “Pluto’s Pursuit”. I took the challenge, along with about 30 other attendees.

Bruce started us off with a great ice-breaker activity, with the promise of a PPR (positive plastic reinforcer – in this case, a small plastic statuette of Pluto). He had seven of us get into a circle and toss a ball back and forth in a set pattern. He then kept adding balls to the mix until we finally fell apart, balls flying all over the room!  It was a great way to start talking about teamwork as well as multitasking (something we obviously didn’t do well).  We then talked about what the necessary ingredients are for a team; they included sharing a common goal, cooperation, and interdependence. (Customers Rock! note: great customer service organizations have highly efficient teams that operate on trust and work well together.)

He also introduced the notion of different personal goals for different types of people one might find on a team, contrasting those who are motivated by achievement (goals – wanting to get to a “destination” with the team) vs. those who are motivated by affiliation (friends and enjoying the journey to the goal). More on this later.  We were then split up into teams and given a common goal to achieve in a 90-minute time period, a sort of “scavenger hunt”. We had to go into Disneyland Park and find answers to a long list of questions. Some of the questions had to do with cast member (Disney employee) behaviors; other questions were about signs it the park or park attractions. We also had 2 challenges we could attempt as a team (of the puzzle variety).

Into the Park

Off we went on our hunt, where we relied on each other to look for the details in everything from the cast members and their on-stage behaviors (no sitting or smoking while on-stage!), their uniforms (name badge, please, and be well groomed), as well as trivia questions (do you know how much the piece of petrified wood in Frontierland weighs?). We covered the entire theme park, from Fantasyland to Adventureland to New Orleans Square to Frontierland – and beyond!  Interesting observation – we were so busy looking for our scavenger hunt items, we didn’t get to stop and enjoy the park.

A few notes. All of the attendees at this conference are customer-focused, so when some of my teammates saw a woman at the park trying to navigate a curb with her stroller, four of them went over and helped her! That’s customer service. Also, Bruce is a veteran Disney guy; he has worked for them for nearly 30 years.  As we were walking back to the conference from the theme park, he stopped and picked up every piece of trash he saw on the ground, throwing it away when he got the next trash can. He didn’t make a big deal of it; it just came naturally. I could see real pride in working at Disney.

Team Success Factors

When we returned, Bruce discussed more about the differences between the Destination teams and the Journey teams. We discovered that 3 of the 4 teams were “Destination” teams and were all vying for the fabulous prizes offered.  The fourth team was a “Journey” team – they took their time, ate some food, did some shopping, and enjoyed their activity.  One of the key areas we went over was employee rewards and recognitions. Bruce told a story about a long-time employee who had 32 years of perfect attendance. They decided to throw a big party for him to celebrate. He didn’t show up! Turns out he wasn’t comfortable with that kind of attention being showered on him, so he stayed home. The team had forgotten to find out what kind of recognition he might like; they just assumed he would want a party.

Taking Care of Employees

At Disney, they foster a culture of reward and recognition because that fosters other good things (like employee loyalty, which leads to great customer service). We need a little bit of that “destination” mentality to get things done, but we need to balance it with the “journey” mentality to make the job more fun!

The Conference Nuggets Are Just Starting!

I am blogging this conference, both on my blog as well as on the Customers 1st Conference blog. During the sessions, I am not able to blog but will be updating you via Twitter; I am @bcarroll7, and the conference tag is #naccm. I am also posting any photos I take on the NACCM conference flickr group.

Looking forward to “Swarming the Magic Kingdom” tomorrow!

In Customer Service, You Are Always On Stage

I am sitting in my local coffee shop (a big brand, not Sbux) and wondering what I want to blog about. I am the only customer sitting in here on a Saturday afternoon, so perhaps the employees forgot about me.  What disturbs me is the LOUD conversation I am hearing behind the counter.

“Wow, can you believe three limos of high school students pulled up the other night after their dance and we had to make a whole bunch of lattes, iced teas, and frozen drinks? It took forever to close!”

“Some huge PTA group came in the other day at 8:30 pm and promised they would help put the chairs back when they were done. They finally left at 9 pm, and the place was a mess.  We didn’t get out of there for ages that night. How rude.”

“Julie was in here and was so drunk, we closed the doors early and put chairs in front of them so no one would come in.”

I am very tempted to stand up and say, “Hey, guys and gals, I write a blog on the customer experience, and I am not too impressed right now!”

I don’t think they realize that every word they are saying reflects on the business. They don’t seem to want to put in a little extra effort to service large orders late at night because it inconveniences them. They don’t seem to be glad that I am here at all; they are too busy with their own “social hour” behind the counter.

You’re On Stage

You can spend a lot of money building up your brand and creating a cool logo. You can market the latest coffee drinks and specials to all your local customers. You can build a fabulous customer loyalty program to reward your best customers.  However, if your employess are not doing their part to support the business, it is all a waste of money.

Great customer service happens every minute, even when no one seems to be looking. At Disneyland, they call their employees Cast Members (CMs) and tell them they are “on stage” whenever they go into any area where their customers (guests) can see or hear them.  A customer’s perception is a critical part of whether their experience is positive or negative.  Every employee contributes to that perception, every minute, regardless of whether they are behind the counter, a rep on the phone, or a member of the cleaning staff.  On that last item, even the janitorial staff at Disney participates in one of the park’s most popular activities, Pin Trading; check out this post from a Disney discussion forum:

At WDW (Walt Disney World) even the janitor CMs had pin lanyards on. The best places we found for pins was at Crystal Palace and Cosmic Ray’s. The manager at Cosmic Ray’s actually got on his radio and requested that all CMs that had lanyards and were available to please come over so a young man could trade with them. Talk about some pixie dust!

Customers Rock! take: Treat your employees like gold, and they will take care of your customers. Hire customer service employees who are people with a passion for serving others.  And remind them all that anytime they are potentially visible or within earshot of customers, they are still “on stage”!

(Photo credit: argus456)

Putting Customers First: Inspiring Relationships

“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

Using Social Media for Customer Loyalty, Part 2

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!

Monday Musings: Video, News, and a Question

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)