Through the Eyes of the Customer

Positive Word-of-Mouth is the Most Sure-Fire Way to "Go Viral."

Earlier this week, the Kony 2012 video became the most viral video of all time, viewed over 100 million times in 6 days.  That’s an enormous amount of exposure in a very short time.

Jackie Huba, in her insightful blog, The Church of the Customer, expressed a valid concern:

“I'm wondering if it has renewed demands by the C-suite that their team get them a viral video ASAP.  Smart marketers know that producing a video that spreads like Kony 2012 is like catching lightening in a bottle. You can try it, but the odds are stacked against you.”

In other words, trying to grow your business by banking on going viral is a lot like planning to get rich by winning the lottery – those odds are equally stacked against you.   Your chances of success are a LOT higher, if you focus your efforts on delivering a rock-solid product or service through a superior customer experience.

Sure, your message is important, and you need to get it out there.  But don’t invest too much thought into making the message go viral.  Instead, invest your thinking into how you can delight the customer by anticipating their needs, solving their problems, and delivering the kind of experience that will cause them to want to tell everyone they know about you.  After all, that’s the kind of viral that you probably really want, isn’t it?

 
Thanks to Tom Fishburne's humor, we're warned of the folly of banking on the improbable.

Tie a story to your product to build your brand & enhance the customer experience.

There’s nothing like a good story.  And there’s nothing like great food and drink.  Unless it’s food or drink with a good story behind it.

Like Dogfish Head Midas Touch, a craft brew that’s made from the recipe for the beer consumed by King Midas himself.  Every sip is steeped in history and archeological wonder which give the beer a special emotional element.  In fact, sometimes I’ll serve the beer to friends, just so that I can re-tell the story.  As humans and as customers, we love a good story, especially with food and drink.   

So how about swordfish?  How can a grocer make a pound of swordfish emotional?  According to Hannaford Supermarkets, that’s pretty easy… just reveal the true story behind the fish.  Especially is the story has already been made famous.

 If you ever read the book, or watched the movie, “The Perfect Storm,” you have a sense of the adventure and dangers inherent in the livelihood of commercial fishing.   

The book prominently mentioned a fishing boat captain by the name of Linda Greenlaw.  Greenlaw is the only female sword fishing boat captain on the East Coast of the United States.   And she and her crew regularly endures the fears, dangers and life-risking tactics to catch those same swordfish that you and I can buy on any calm day in the neighborhood supermarket.

Hannaford buys the swordfish caught by the crew of the Hannah Boden, the boat captained by Linda Greenlaw herself.  And they sell that swordfish, branded “LINDA GREENLAW SELECT SWORDFISH.”

So suddenly, swordfish has become more than swordfish – it’s an emotional experience, now that the story has been revealed.  According to the Portland Press Herald, Hannaford Supermarkets sold its first purchase, 34,000 pounds of “LINDA GREENLAW SELECT SWORDFISH” in just a week – which the chain considered a very brisk pace.

While there may be other differences between the swordfish caught by Linda Greenlaw’s crew and the stock caught by other crews, the difference that the customer is buying is the story that’s been tied to Linda’s fish.  The story has always been there – the seas have always been rough, and commercial fishing has always been dangerous.  But taking the initiative to tell that story, and tie it to the product through branding, is the difference between an emotional product that captures the imagination of the customer, and one that can sit on the shelf, and well, become old fish.

Here’s the point:

What’s the story behind your product?  And how can you present that story in a way that will resonate with the people you’d like to buy it?

Everybody has a story.  What’s yours?

Put a story behind the product that you sell - an emotional story - not a fish story!

The Power of Authenticity in Growing a Business

Authenticity matters.

Companies that believe in something, and stay true to those beliefs over time, tend to attract like-minded customers.  And as the company stays loyal to those beliefs, the customers stay loyal to the company.  The result is growth – growth in trust, growth of the brand, and growth of the company – a growth fueled by authenticity. 

In Portland, Maine, a city of 64,000 people, there’s a coffee roaster called “Coffee By Design.”  Founded in 1994, it grew during a time when Starbucks was building its current 10 stores and Dunkin Donuts its 22 stores in the same small city.  Many small businesses find it a challenge to survive when a large national player moves in next door.  But Coffee By Design has been able to grow despite the challenge from these two industry goliaths.  And authenticity has clearly been a factor in that growth.

Coffee By Design was founded by two people that decided they were going to build a business around their passions – coffee and community.   As they grew, they retained that culture by being selective in hiring employees and choosing business partners.

“We believe that being selective is better, and therefore only choose to work with businesses who share our same standards and beliefs in environmental and economic sustainability.”

When companies grow and need to hire additional employees and vendors, their selection criteria are often limited to those elements which are easy to measure and compare:  differences like costs, logistics and other operational elements.  But those objective elements can easily obfuscate what’s beneath the surface:  the values, beliefs and passions of the people and partners that will become the face of the company within their new markets and neighborhoods.

Employees bring their values to the workplace.  And like it or not, their values become your brand by way of the customer experience.  Therefore, selecting employees and partners whose personal passions and values align with those of the company’s founders, the experience will remain consistent with the founders’ vision, and the result is authenticity.

Coffee by Design was designed around values.  But with each subsequent employee hired, and each business partner and supplier, they’ve included those same values in the selection process.  This has enabled the culture to stay consistent, and not become diluted by growth.

As a result, the brand has managed to stay rich and authentic over time, just like the coffee it serves. 

Nearly two decades later, the owners continue to be active in socially-focused causes through the local community, and those of their suppliers. The business has been an extension of core beliefs.  And this authenticity has produced a thriving brand that has enabled a coffee shop to distinguish itself from larger competitors, and grow a loyal customer base of like-minded coffee consumers.

People appreciate a great cup of coffee.  Especially when it’s served with authenticity.

Are Tray-Table Advertisements on US Air Hurting the Customer Experience?

I’ve always considered the tray table to be personal space on an airplane. I wouldn't place my pen, or my coffee on the tray table of the person next to me, and they wouldn't put theirs on mine.  The tray table is my space; it’s private, personal space that belongs to me, for the duration of the flight.

That’s why I felt bothered when I lowered the tray table on US Airways Flight 1845 last Friday.  What I expected to be a clean white surface was covered with an ungodly life-sized photograph of the hot breakfast that you can get if you stay at a Hampton Inn.  Waffles, bright yellow scrambled eggs that don’t look like they contain an ounce of real food, and a couple of line-your-artery sausage patties.

“What’s up with this??!!, I thought.  “Neither US Air, nor Hampton Inn has the right to stick this in my face; It’s a violation of my personal space!”

US Air has disregarded the customer experience in two  places:

First, they interrupted me with old-school, in-your-face advertising in an age when we should expect more relevant messaging, especially in a channel that has been virtually devoid of advertising in the past.  I understand that US Air has been putting these advertisements on tray  tables for a few years now, but this was my first exposure to them.

I’ve been flying commercially for a couple of decades, and the closest that I’ve seen to billboard-style advertising inside an airplane has been the name of the airline neatly printed on a coffee cup or a napkin.  Oh, and there was the clever pretzel bag on AirTran, before Southwest bought AirTran, and replaced the creative bag with a more generic, lower-cost version.  with something that I didn’t care about; they’re more interested in advertising revenue than giving me a peaceful customer experience.

Second, if US Airways insists using the tray tables to promote a brand, why not promote their own?   And why not make it more engaging for the customer?

US Air is in a business that brings people together for some emotional and meaningful human-to-human interaction; grandparents meeting grandchildren for the first time; soldiers coming home from war, and a parent returning to his or her family after a long business trip.  I realize that creative self-promotion in a way that engages the customer does not produce short-term revenue the way that advertising will.  But if an airline has the customer as a captive audience for a few hours, isn't that an opportunity to engage the customer in more thoughtful ways?

If you’re going to invade my personal space, do it with something that will contribute to my experience as your customer, or something that will strike a positive emotional chord. 

Besides - I don't even like scrambled eggs.

Your Customers Want to See Your Human Side. Don't Let Technology Hide it!

There’s something about the neighborhood bank, where friendly tellers know your name, give lollipops to your well-behaved children, and dog biscuits to your dog at the drive-up window.   Retail bank branches do things to build personal relationships with their customers, and to bring out the human side of banking.

But not all is human at the neighborhood bank.   When I called my local branch this morning, I was surprised to hear a very non-human automaton greet me with in a contrived tone that didn’t sound anything like those nice people inside the bank.

Here’s what I heard:

“Thank you for calling Key bank’s Millcreek branch, where we strive for excellent customer service, and appreciate your business.  To insure that your call is properly directed, please listen to the following menu.”

That's definitely not the voice of anyone at my branch. They're so much more genuine than that voice!

Now, this isn’t a rant about not getting a real person when I call.  I understand that a recorded voice is far more efficient and cost effective for everyone.   But it is a rant about the voice on the other end of the phone, and the way that voice speaks to me. 

When the bank goes out of its way to be human in so many other ways, why not incorporate that same humanity into the out-going message that every customer hears, when he or she calls the branch?

Your phone greeting is a very big touch point.  If you have real people that work at the branch, why not have one of those real people record the greeting in their own voice, with their own demeanor?  Extend that same personality that’s inside the branch, to the outside of the branch.

Think about JetBlue and Southwest Airlines for a minute.  Those are very big, very regulated companies in a very regulated industry.   But when it comes time for the pre-flight safety information speech before takeoff, their flight attendants don’t just recite it in an institutional-sounding manner get through it.  Instead, they do it in their own, down-to earth human style, and often incorporate a little bit of humor.    It extends the personality of the airlines.

This approach makes the flight attendants real.  It makes them human, just like their customers.  And that’s the subtle stuff that helps to build a loyal relationship.   How are your customers greeted when they call?  Is the greeting an extension of your company’s personality, of an antiseptic-sounding voice that at best, leaves no impression at all?

 

3 Restaurant Practices that build a better Customer Experience in any Industry

This past Saturday night, my wife and I had dinner at a popular local restaurant.  When I first made the reservation, I was told they could seat us at 8pm, in "the chef's corner."

I didn't know what the "chef's corner" was, but being desperate for a last minute reservation at a popular restaurant on a Saturday night, I agreed to sit there.

"The chef's corner at eight sounds great.  We'll see you then."

The chef's corner turned out to be four stools at a granite counter-top, overlooking the grill and the food prep area, just a few feet from the chefs.   These seats gavie us a fascinating perspective on the live creation of a dining experience.   If you're a baseball fan, this was the dining-out equivalent of watching a game from inside the home team's dugout.  From where you're sitting, you can learn a lot about the details that make the entire event successful.

Throughout our meal, we were able to listen in on the short but highly communicative conversations between servers and chefs about customer preferences.  Everyone had a job to do, everyone worked at a fast pace, but nobody worked in a silo - all jobs were tightly-connected through constant communication.

Point #1:  Remove the walls between your functional employees to facilitate more open communication between different functions.  This will increase the alignment between what you deliver, and your customers' preferences.

As we dined, we were able to watch several different entres from the menu be prepared by the chefs. During a rare lull in the action, I asked a chef how often the menu changes, and if it's a challenge to learn each new recipe.   His response was very telling:

"One of the great things about working here is that we have a lot of say in what makes it onto the menu, and also how we can prepare it.  Basically, the owner gives us a lot of flexibility to do it the way we think the customers will like it."

Point #2: Empower employees to make more decisions, and use their own judgement.
This formula appears to work for David's 388.  They have loyal customers, and it's often difficult to get a reservation.  The servers have personalities, and they're not afraid to use them.  The kitchen staff is creative,  and they're free to apply use their creativity to please their customers.  Management recognizes this, and they leverage it quite well.  We enjoyed how our meal was prepared and served, and we plan to return.

As the mood became more subdued later in the evening, one of the chefs asked a server to change the music that was playing.  "Go to play-list 17,"  he said, as he glazed a creme brule.

I asked him what that was about; he explained that they'll change playlists a lot throughout the evening, to suit and create a mood in the restaurant.  "It's kind of a balance thing, and we always try and figure out what works best as the crowds change each night."

Point #3: There are a lot of touchpoints that exist between your business and your customers.  Know each touchpoint, how they impact the customer, and continually adjust them to optimize the experience.

Dining in the chef's corner gave my wife and me a deeper understanding of the elements that contribute to a wonderful dining experience.  Many of those, including open communications between functional departments, empowered employees to exercise judgement and decision-making, and continual refinement of customer touch-points can be applied in virtually any industry.  

Do these things consistently, and your customers are bound to return for seconds.  

Sitting in the Chef's Corner allowed us learn the recipe for a better customer experience.

When does aggressive marketing hurt your brand?

Bangor Savings Bank recently opened a retail branch on Middle Street in Portland Maine’s Old Port.  The "Old Port" is a charming 18th-century seaport, with its brick storefronts, cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks.  There's nothing "big boxy" about it.

Whenever a new business opens in the Old Port neighborhood, it takes great care to tailor its appearance to retain the charm of the Old Port.

Bangor Savings did a great job of adapting their Middle Street storefront to the style of the Old Port.  An understated wooden sign above the door, tasteful décor all around, and event a creative tie-in to Maine tradition by offering free Whoopie Pies to patrons and passers-by. 

Bangor Savings clearly made an effort to be a good neighbor, by modifying its appearance to  the tasteful  style of the Old Port.  And they did a very good job.

But walk around the block to Fore Street, and you’ll see an entirely different view of Bangor Savings Bank.  There on the sidewalk, between the entrance to a parking garage and more retail storefronts, sits an an ATM station whose style is better suited to a suburban mall parking lot, than Portland's Old Port.  Just when you thought the bank was being a good steward of the neighborhood, it dropped an eyesore on Forestreet.  Based on the size and style of this ATM building, it's clear that Bangor Savings was more focused on shouting out its name, and standing out in a crowded retail banking market, than retaining Old Port charm.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive, and too emotional.  But when I see a company promote themselves at the expense of something that I hold near and dear, I suddenly don't like that company.  I don't like their brand.  And I probably won't  like their Whoopie Pies.

This begets some questions about style, branding and image...

Can a company put too much emphasis on "in-your-face" branding, at the expense of other factors that impact their image and reputation in the market?

When should you cut back on branding, to enhance your image?

And where do you draw the line between standing out, and becoming an outcast?

What do you think?

 

"Customer Service is about Creating Memories."

A few years ago, I attended a Customer Relationship Management conference in New York.  Over the course of three days, there were dozens of speakers ranging from a Keynote by Malcom Gladwell, to  other thought leaders of varying noteriety.

During one session at the conference, I remember Lior Arussy of the Strativity Group saying “Customer Service is about creating memories.”  The quote made a lot of sense when I first heard it, and it has made a lot more sense many times since.

Great customer service triggers our emotions, and causes us to remember what was said or done, to make us feel a certain way.  We don’t easily forget it.  And we re-live those feelings  by sharing those memories with friends, family, business associates, and virtually anyone who’ll listen.  But if customer service is about creating memories, and positive memories bolster the Brand, any positive memory can help to build a brand, and generate the kinds of emotions that create customer loyalty. 

But here’s the great thing about memories – they can be created anywhere, with or without human intervention, through simple creativity.  Memories can be made to happen at any customer touch point; memories can be created in the most subtle ways in the most mundane places.  I realized this on an AirTran flight from Atlanta to Portland, Maine a few months after that CRM conference.

Some 30,000 feet over New Jersey, I noticed something written on the pretzel bag – “Instructions” for eating the pretzels:

1. Think about our wonderful low fares at airtran.com as you open packet.
2. Place a pretzel in mouth. With each crunch, be reminded of our low fares.
3. As you swallow, remember again just how low the fares are.
4. Repeat until pretzel packet is empty.
5. Keep empty packet to remind yourself to book at airtran.com, where you’ll always find our lowest fares.”

Have you ever found yourself smiling at an empty pretzel bag?  If an when you do, it’s not something that you’ll easily forget.  To this day, that bag continues to rest between the pages of the book that I finished on that flight.

Memories can be created in small and subtle ways, in the most mundane places.  And all those memories add up to the customer experience, and the brand you create.

How well do you take advantage of the silent touch points in your business?

 
Fill your customers' brains with  memories, by planting memories everywhere!

The Importance of Consistency in Customer Experience

In May of 2010, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express for the first time.  That was in Los Angeles.  For a long time, that was my last time at a Holiday Inn Express. 

The hotel wasn’t particularly clean (stained carpets in the hall, dust behind the bed, and a coffee maker in the room that I wouldn’t have used if it was the last coffee maker on the planet (and I’m a guy considers coffee a staple of  life  – especially while travelling).  And the service at the front desk wasn’t any more impressive than that coffee maker.

Suffice to stay, I wasn’t impressed.    

This past week, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express for the second time.  That was outside of Detroit. I stayed there, because it was recommended by my client.  This time, the carpets were clean – in fact they were new.  This time, there was no dust to be found anywhere.  This time, the coffee maker in the room would make any barista proud.  And the service at the front desk? They really seemed to care about making my stay a pleasant and productive one. 

Same brand of hotel, but experiences as different as night and day.

As customers,  we crave consistency.  We like to know what to expect going into a transaction, and have  our expectations met, or exceeded every time.

One of the big reasons for the success of McDonalds has been their consistency.  Back in the 1970’s, when a McDonalds seemed to  pop on every street corner, you could virtually predict the experience you’d receive in Detroit, if you’d  been to a McDonalds in Los Angeles.  It didn’t matter where  the McDonalds was; the experience was virtually identical.  Same food quality. Same ordering process.  Same level of  cleanliness in every location.  Consistency became a hallmark of McDonalds, and customers went back again and again because they knew what to expect, and those expectations were fulfilled, virtually every time

Consistency became a big part of the McDonalds brand.

Consistency can manifest in many ways, throughout the service experience.  Consistency in product quality.  Consistency in delivery.  Consistency in appearance.   And consistency in service. 

Customers love consistency, and they’ll reward those companies that deliver it.

 

My Shrunken Pants, and How Industry Averages Can Send You Down the Road to Mediocrity.

A few years ago, I brought a pair of cotton trousers to the dry cleaner.  Upon dropping them off, I explained that the trousers had to be dry cleaned; not washed and dried.

Later that week, I returned home with the trousers, and tried them on.  They were tighter and shorter than even Pee Wee Herman would wear; the dry cleaner did the unthinkable - they laundered my favorite cotton khaki's!!!

I called the dry cleaner, and explained what I thought happened.  They agreed; they shrunk my trousers, and promised to reimburse me for them.  I told them how long ago I bought them, and how much I paid.

A week later, I received a check from the dry cleaner – a check for exactly half of what I said I originally paid for the khaki's a year ago.  Figuring that this was an honest mistake, I called the dry cleaner to find out why the check was for only half the cost.  I was transferred to the general manager, and he explained their policy:

Him: "We applied an industry standard policy - and that's paying you half the cost, since the pants weren't new.  If they were brand new, we'd have paid you the full amount - that's an industry-wide policy."

Me: “But I can’t replace the pants for what you refunded me.  I’ll have to pay out of my own pocket, to fix your mistake.”

Him: “I understand what you’re saying, but we’re going by the industry standard – providing 50% of the full price is what all other dry cleaners do.”

Me: “Do you want your customers to think of you as just another dry cleaner like all the others, or do you want me to think you're more customer-friendly than the rest?”

Him: “Well, tell me what you think would be a fair resolution.”

Me: “I'll buy another pair of the same pants.  I'll send you the receipt, and you can send me a check for that amount.  Is that fair?”

He reluctantly agreed.

The point here is not that I wrangled a few dollars, or a new pair of khaki's from the local dry cleaner; the point is that if a company uses industry standards as their business guidelines , they'll eventually become just another industry standard company.  Customers don't go out of their way to buy from just another industry standard company; customers will go out of their way for the thrill of buying from a company that stands apart from the crowd. 

Rather than benchmarking your service against what the competition offers, think of what else; what better level of service is possible.  It’s OK to consider the industry norm, but only if you use it as a sign for when to  turn onto the road less travelled; when and how to differentiate yourself from the competitiion. 

Industry standards should't tell you what you should do; you should read them as signs of what NOT to do, if you want to be better than the industry. 
 Thanks to Yuri Artibise for this morbidly normal sign to nowhere.