The Bathroom Blogfest 2009 has been taking place all week this week, with a variety of bloggers providing insight. While this is the fourth year of the Blogfest, I have participated in it since 2007 (see the end of my post for links to my previous posts as well as links to other Bathroom Blogfest bloggers). My previous posts have featured interesting bathrooms from Disney (both Disneyland and Disneyworld) as well as from the airport in Maui, HI, and Las Vegas.  This year’s Bathroom Blogfest post looks at bathroom theming in the guest rooms at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. (Note: I took these pictures last year when I was at the Disneyland Resort for the NACCM Customers 1st Conference, where I am giving a keynote speech this year at the event in Phoenix, AZ. My speech will be about using social media for customer loyalty.)

Special thanks go to CB Whittemore for pulling together the Bathroom Blogfest this year and for our first ever Bathroom Blogfest sponsor Kaboom! (Disclosure: Kaboom! sent me a Bathroom Cleaning Kit to trial.)

Find the Hidden Mickeys

A popular game for Disney enthusiasts is to find the “Hidden Mickeys” throughout the theme parks (images of Mickey Mouse’s ears). This bathroom had Mickeys everywhere, including his hands. Take a closer look at these lights around the bathroom vanity. Mickey Mouse’s hands are holding the lamps – thanks, Mickey!

Check out that wallpaper; nice pattern, huh? Now take a closer look. The pattern actually incorporates Mickey’s entire image – welcoming us into the water closet.

The vanity itself is decorated with the Mickey ears as well as Sneezy, one of the Seven Dwarves, above the tissue container. Clever!

My favorite part, however, are the toiletries. Mickey ears adorn the top of the shampoo, conditioner, and hand lotion containers. These little beauties definitely came home with me!

These are just a few examples of the way branding can be carried through in even the smallest details of the guest experience, all the way down to the toiletries in the bathrooms. As a Disney fan, I was completely delighted with the entire hotel experience, but having these surprises in the bathroom told me a few things. One, Disney is very focused on making sure their brand continues to stand behind Mickey Mouse and his unique ears – and they should be. Second, Disney likes to pay attention to details, so I can feel confident that I will be taken care of throughout my entire Disney vacation experience. Third, these little touches are very clever, and they had me looking forward to my visit in the theme park so I could be surprised even more!

What Does Your Bathroom Say?

Whether you are a retail establishment, a restaurant, a service (such as a doctor’s office) or a corporate business, every aspect of your customer experience speaks volumes about your brand, your organization’s culture, and the way you conduct your business. While you certainly don’t need to “decorate” your bathroom with as many details as they did at the Disneyland Hotel, you do need to ensure at least the basics are met:

• Bathroom is neat and clean
• Bathroom has all the necessary supplies refilled on a regular basis
• Bathroom has the appropriate services to help meet your patron’s needs (purse hook for ladies, for example)

Ideally, your bathroom can also go a bit further and be a clear reflection of your brand or business. Carry through the color or decorative theming from the rest of your facility. Add a small something to “surprise and delight” your customer – could be a sign, a nicely framed photo or picture, or a fun color theme. (A note on fun – Macaroni Grill, a casual-dining Italian restaurant, has “learn to speak Italian” lessons playing over the bathroom speakers instead of music!)  Whatever you decide to do, don’t let your bathroom be an after-thought, or your customers may decide they don’t want to think about you anymore, either.

Bathroom Blogfest Resources

Here is a list of the other Bathroom Blogfest bloggers; go and check out their varied perspectives on bathrooms. You can also find them via tag #ladiesrooms09 on Twitter. Below the list are my links to Customers Rock! Bathroom Blogfest posts from previous years.

• Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroadshttp://www.customercrossroads.com
• Reshma Anand at Qualitative Research Blog http://onqualitativeresearch.blogspot.com/ 
• Shannon Bilby at From the Floors Up http://fromthefloorsup.com/ 
• Shannon Bilby and Brad Millner at My Big Bob’s Blog http://blog.mybigbobs.com/ 
• Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop http://www.laurenceborel.com/
• Jeanne Byington at The Importance of Earnest Service http://blog.jmbyington.com/
• Becky Carroll at Customers Rock! http://www.customersrock.net
• Leslie Clagett at KB Culture www.kbculture.blogspot.com
• Katie Clark at Practical Katie http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/
• Iris Shreve Garrott at Checking In and Checking Out http://circulating.wordpress.com/
• Julie at Julie’s Cleaning Secrets Blog http://cleaningsecrets.greatcleaners.com/
• Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution http://www.resultsrevolution.com 
• Maria Palma at People To People Service http://www.people2peopleservice.com/ 
• Professor Toilet at Professor Toilet’s Blog http://www.professortoilet.com/ 
• David Reich at My 2 Cents http://reichcomm.typepad.com/ 
• Bethany Richmond at The Carpet and Rug Institute Blog http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com 
• Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com 
• Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology http://experienceology.blogspot.com
• C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com and Simple Marketing Blog http://www.SimpleMarketingBlog.com
• Linda Wright at Lindaloo.com: Build Better Business with Better Bathrooms http://lindaloo.com/

Customers Rock! Bathroom Blogfest Posts

The Disney Experience

Luxury Disney

Door Signs

Hawaiian and Venetian (Sort of)

As many of you know, I teach a popular class at UC San Diego Extension on Marketing via New Media. I help my students understand how to look at social media as an opportunity to build relationships with customers rather than just as a campaign or tactic to “increase buzz”. This summer, I had Joel Price from the San Diego Chargers as a guest speaker. He shared with my class how the football team has been using social media to get closer to its fans and create a “virtual tailgate party”. Joel took us on a historical journey of fan interaction during his presentation.

Die hard fans – 300,000 of them.

Facebook Comes In
The Chargers next started a Facebook Fan Page. These 75,000+ fans tend to be people who like to be affiliated with the team but are not as deeply into Charger knowledge as the fans interacting on the forums. Interestingly, these also seem to be people that were not being previously reached online. Demographically, they are about 60% male and 40% female.
These fans are more likely to come to games, and they are quick to react to new information. For example, just before coming to speak to my class, Joel posted on the Chargers Wall about the throwback uniforms the team would be wearing at a few games this season. Within the hour, there were already hundreds of people who indicated they “liked” this information, with over 100 comments as well.


Tweet, Tweet
The most recent addition to the Chargers social media efforts is their Twitter feed, @chargers. With over 15,000 followers (and counting), the Chargers were the first NFL team to be on Twitter. In addition to the main account, there are several players that Tweet including @shawnemerriman and @kassimosgood. The latest Tweets were around items such as EA’s latest Madden Football 2010 video game (who is in it, what are their ratings, etc), open practices, and the upcoming Chargers FanFest.

Social Media Goals
According to Joel, it is rare for an NFL team to communicate well with its fans. The San Diego Chargers want to break through that barrier and do their marketing by communicating closely with fans – and not in a “hard sell” mode, but in a fan appreciation mode. When asked how social media is currently being measured in the organization, Joel described it this way:

“How do we measure social media? How can you measure a hug? We are giving back to our fans.”

Thank you, Joel, for giving back to us and speaking to our class. It was extremely interesting. Go Chargers!

(Professor’s note: The alert student will notice this blog post was taken from the class blog Teaching Social Media. There one will find some of the student blogs as well as posts from previous class sessions.) 

Photo credit: San Diego Chargers Facebook Fan Page

As you can probably surmise, I have had a very busy summer and haven’t been able to blog as much as I would like! (Note: You can find me fairly frequently updating on Twitter at twitter.com/bcarroll7). As the summer wraps up, I am scheduling some new posts for you, my loyal readers, which focus on customer service, marketing, customer experience, and social media.

Today I have a guest blogger for you. Sean McDonald was formerly the director of Global Online Activities at Dell and is now a principal at Ant’s Eye View. I love these guys because they are cut from the same cloth as me with a passion for customers. Enjoy Sean’s post on who owns the customer.

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).

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.”

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)

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)

Social media is the big buzz right now. Everyone wants to get their business on Twitter or Facebook without really thinking about why. Usually, it is because their manager or client read an article in the Wall Street Journal about who is using Twitter/Facebook/fill-in-the-blank and how cool it is. And indeed, there are a lot of great reasons to use social media to market a business. I believe one of the most powerful reasons to market with social media is to build and strengthen customer relationships.

Part of the Customer Experience

How customers perceive your company online is part of their experience with your organization. Whether your customers are consumers or businesses, many of them are spending time on social media regularly in order to keep up with friends, make connections, or learn new information. According to a recent study by Cone Research in September 2008, Americans using social media also want to engage with their favorite organizations and brands in that space (emphasis is mine):

• 93% believe a company should have a social media presence
• 85% believe a company should interact via social media
• 56% feel they have a stronger connection with and are better served by companies where they can interact via social media

The study goes on to state this:

“…Americans are eager to deepen their brand relationships through social media.”

Customers definitely view their experience with a brand/organization via social media as an integral part of their relationship with that brand.

Connecting with Your Advocates

While many organizations are currently using social media as a way to increase awareness and do online PR, the sweet spot is in connecting with your customers and empowering them to interact with you. Per the book Groundswell (which I use as my class textbook), companies can use social media to listen to customers, talk with (not AT) customers, energize customers (especially evangelists), support customers, and embrace customers (co-create with them). These uses can all be applied to improving customer relationships.

Anyone who has heard me speak about using social media for marketing knows that I first encourage organizations to listen to what is being said about them online. Unless you first listen to the discussion, you will look a little silly jumping in to the conversation with your own agenda. It’s similar to going to a party and interjecting yourself into groups which are already talking amongst themselves. Your words will be out of context, and you may be seen as rude! However, if you listen first, you will be able to add value to the discussion by being relevant, and you will probably be a lot more interesting.

Once some listening has taken place, the stage is set for planned interaction. You can do this by having your own “party”, and inviting your customers to come and join you OR you can find out where your customers are already “partying” and go meet them there. In other words, you can invite your customers to come to your site or social media property and interact with you, or you can go and engage with them wherever they are already interacting around your brand. Either way can work, depending on your business and your customer relationships.

Companies that have well-established relationships with their customers will discover that social media is a great tool which complements their existing interactions. Companies that have only been using one-way communication with customers will have a little work to do to get them to engage, not just once in a social media campaign, but on an ongoing basis. They should find their customers are eager and ready as long as the conversation is relevant to their needs!

Social Media and Customer Loyalty

Over the past 6 months, I have had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with a number of well-respected people in business about social media marketing. I asked them each the same question:

“How do you think social media can help with customer loyalty?”

I captured their responses with my Flip video camera, and I will be featuring different videos over the next few weeks here on Customers Rock! Please let me know what you think about social media and customer loyalty, as well as about the videos in the comments below, on my Facebook page, or via my Twitter page.

Here is one of the videos, which I have previously posted on Customers Rock!, to get you started.

Frank Eliason, Comcast (@comcastcares on Twitter)

(Opening image credit: Matt Hamm on flickr)

How NOT to Reach Out to Prospects

This winery was slightly off the main thoroughfare at the end of a dusty road. The building looked quaint, and we were hopeful we would find something more down-to-earth (and reasonably priced). We walked around the building on the wooden porch and came to this sign: “START Your Tasting Adventure at The Register. Thank You!”

We almost turned around and left! We knew that we needed to pay for the tastings, but to have that sign as the first thing we saw was a little off-putting. How about “We are glad you are here; come on in!” Or “Start your tasting adventure through this door”. Hitting us over the head with a request for money was NOT welcoming.

Why would they use signage like this? Well, the winery also had a restaurant on the property, so perhaps they were trying to let foodies know they needed to go across the parking lot to eat. Or perhaps they have had prospective wine tasters skip the register and go straight to the tasting bar, only to have to send them back to the till to pay up. Either way, there are several other ways they could have handled this to leave a better first impression with visitors. (Ideas for improvement? Share them below in the comments.)

Welcoming Customers

Many businesses have started to understand that the customer welcome is important. We had a favorite sushi place where we used to live, and as we would come in the door, the sushi chefs would shout out a welcome to us in Japanese. This was fun, as we were regulars and they knew us. I am also a regular at my local bank, and the entire branch, it seems, shouts out a hello when a customer comes in the door.  For some reason, this doesn’t feel as sincere; it feels like they are checking off a box on their list of “how to greet a customer.” Retail clothing stores such as Coldwater Creek and White House Black Market have someone near the door to welcome customers and help point them in the right direction (so does Walmart).

If at first you don’t succeed…

… you might not get a second chance. Customers ROCK! companies look closely at how prospects first see their business.

- For a retailer, the first impression might be as they walk by or in the door. Is the person there truly happy to see them? Or are they just checking off their tasks and biding their time until the lunch break?

- For an online business, the first impression is the website, which could also be a social media site or blog. Is it clear what a prospect should do first? Or does a first-timer have to slice through a jungle of words and pictures to make headway towards their task?

- For a commercial business, first impressions are often a rep making a sales call. Does the sales rep seem to understand the burning issues for their business? Or are they just interested in pushing their products and services?

(Although I like to be positive here on this blog, I just need to share a tiny rant about Twitter and first impressions. There is a feature where you can “follow”, or subscribe to someone, and they can decide whether to follow you back. Some people and businesses have set up an automatic reply to a new follower, and most times it is a sales message (try our mattresses, check out our store, please join my Facebook page, etc). I firmly believe this is the wrong approach! A new prospect/follower has not had the chance to get to know you yet; don’t try to go for the close. Allow a relationship to develop first. OK, end of rant.

Take the Customer’s Perspective

If you aren’t sure what your organizations “first impression” looks like, go get a mirror and find out. It is hard to do this when you see the front door everyday, so many companies use someone new to their organization, or hire an outside “mystery shopper” to review the customer experience for them. Here are the areas to review:

- Your “front door”, whether it be a physical door/entry or a website. What does it say to visitors? What does it say to those who have been there before?

- Your “greeter” (usually a physical person, although some web sites have these). 

- Your “action” – what do you want them to do next? Make it clear, and give guidance if needed.

Your Turn!

In addition to sharing ideas for the winery in the comments, please share either great or terrible “welcome” experiences with a business, B2B or B2C. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Jason Baer

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)

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.