Through the Eyes of the Customer

How a Third Party Offer under the Delta name can Damage Delta's Reputation

2013-04-22T05:00:00-04:00

Third party promotions can be risky - even when your only investment is your name and your customer list. Last week, my wife and I each received a postcard from Delta Airlines. (I say the postcard came from Delta, because the Delta name and the Delta logo were the only names an logos on either side of the cards.)

The following message appeared on the back of the card:

"In celebration of our new year packages we've selected you to received 2 round trip airfares to anywhere in the contiguos United States - good for the next 12 months!

Call within 48 hours and receive a 3 day 2 night stay at major brands."

Hey Delta, you violated my trust!

I've done a lot of business with Delta over the past few years, and have noticed a steady improvement in the service and experience that I receive. As a result, my trust in Delta and their brand has increased. That's why this recent event seems so out of character, and causes me to wonder if I'm starting to trust them too much.

When a company partners with a third party, and especially when that company initiates the partnership under its own brand, there are at least three important points to consider:

Know your partner.
Is it a company that shares and practices your cultural values? Is transparency one of those?
Know how your name will be used.
Understand the full message and process that will surround the use of your name. And be sure to view it with customer empathy.
Their experience will be your experience.
Understand that your customer may see the experience delivered by the third party as another experience delivered by you.

In business, your reputation is like your soul. Would you sell or rent it to a third party?

One Simple Secret for Winning more Loyal Customers

2013-04-19T05:00:00-04:00

It shouldn't be hard to be a customer. But too often, it is.

Think of the last time you signed up for cell phone service. Or a credit card. Or assembled a child's toy.

As customers, we've been subject to 27-page contracts in 6 point font that may as well have been written in Latin. Or multi-page assembly instructions written by an engineer. Too many companies make it too hard to be a customer, and that's unfortunate. Unfortunate for the customer, and the company.

When things are complex, decisions are harder, and take more time. That's stressful for the customer, and expensive for the company. Longer sales cycles and support calls mean a higher costs, and lower profit margins. When things are complex, nobody wins.

But when things are easy, customers find it easier to make buying decisions. That's less stressful for the customer, and more profitable for the company.

So, what are three things a company can do, to make life simpler for the customer?

1) Clarify your value proposition.

The simpler your value proposition sounds, the easier it is for your customers to understand, remember and repeat. If you can't express what you can do for the customer in two or three simple sentences that a child can understand, your value proposition is probably too complex. (And it's probably too hard for most of your sales people to remember!)

To simplify and clarify it, try the following: Eliminate jargon, and express it in shorter sentences. Revise your marketing literature so that it's simpler, and shorter too. The easier it is for customers to read and understand, the easier it is for them to make a buying decision.

2) Simplify the paperwork.

How simple are your forms and contracts? Can a customer complete an order in few quick keystrokes, or does it require scrolling through multiple pages? Does the contract read like it was written by an attorney, or an articulate, plain-spoken person?

Alan Siegel, co-author of "Simple - Conquering the crisis of complexity" tells how he once re-wrote a client's bank loan agreement from several pages, to three sentences (and it was ultimately approved by the bank's legal department!). Yes, even legal documents can be simplified!

How about users' documentation? Is it written in plain english with clear visuals to guide the customer? Does it use other tools like QR codes to link the customer directly to engaging video content? What can you do to simplify your user documentation, to create a simpler and experience for the customer?

3) Simplify personal communication.

A big part of any customer experience is the in-person, telephone and email conversations that customers have with your sales, product delivery and service & support teams. Do your customer-facing employees speak in plain English, or do they use "company terminology" when speaking with customers?

Just as it's important to eliminate jargon from published documents, it's equally (if not more) important to eliminate it from one-to-one communication with customers. Customers should not have to invest mental energy to undestand what you're saying. They should be able to simply understand and act.

Somebody once said, "I'd have written you a shorter letter if I had more time."

It may take more time to simplify communication with customers, but the time you invest in making it easier for the customer, is more capital that the customer will invest to do business with you.

3 Ways to Make your Satisfaction Suveys more Customer-Centric

2013-04-17T05:00:00-04:00

Last week, I received seven customer satisifactoin surveys from companies that I did business with the previous week. Those surveys ranged from the Dunkin Donuts Satisfaction Survey from a $2.21 coffee purchase, to a Delta Airlines Satisfaction Survey for a $721 flight.

The Problem with Most Surveys

There's something that I've noticed about most of these surveys: they're more about the product, than about the customer.

In a customer-centric world, this isn't right, is it?

Of last week's seven surveys, most contaied a lot of detailed questions about things I didn't even notice during my use of the product or service.

The survey I received after a two-night hotel stay asked me to rate my satisfaction with the following:

The friendliness of the receptionist at the front desk
The availability of towels at the pool
The variety of food in the restaurant

Those questions are more about the product, than they are about the customer. Here's why I say that:

When I stay at a hotel, especially for business, the friendliness of the receptionist at the front desk isn't that important to me. What matters is how fast and how efficient they are in getting me checked in.

When I stay at a hotel, the variety of the food in the restaurant isn't that important to me. If I go to the hotel restaurant, I do it for more for the convenience, and less for the menu.

The best surveys that I've seen - the most customer-centric surveys that I've seen, are the ones that ask me what's important to me.

Here are three characteristics of satisfaction surveys, that make them customer-centric:

They ask me what's important to me. Each question that asks me to rate a feature (on a scale of 1 to 5, or 1 - 10) will also ask me to rate how important that feature is to me (on that same scale). You don't want to invest in improving features that are not important to the customer!

They contain open-ended questions. No survey can cover every possible question (Don't even try it, because as the number of questions increases, the number of quality responses decreases.). So, ask an open-ended questions, to allow the customer to you what's important to them, and how well you executed on it. After all, that's the stuff to focus on.

They ask the "Ultimate Question." And remember to ask the Ultimate Question: would I recommend you? if yes, why. If no, why not. Because when all is said an done, knowing what you need to improve upon (or continuing doing well), in order to generate word-of-mouth marketing, is what surveys should be all about.

What's the most "customer-centric" satisfaction survey that you've received, and what made it that customer-centric?

How do you know if you have a "Service Mentality?"

2013-04-15T05:00:00-04:00

(This post is an updated version of a post from Repos November, 2010)

This past weekend, I traveled to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY to watch a soccer match between Lehigh University and Army. While the twelve hours of driving generated enough content for a dozen blog posts, one particular incident stands out. It exemplifies the absolute devotion to service – a Service Mentality – that’s ingrained within the Cadet Corps.

Before the game, we parked on the side of a road overlooking the majestic Hudson River to set up a tailgate picnic. We wanted to text our location to some friends who’d be meeting us, but we didn’t know the name of the road we were on.

At that same time, a lone cadet was on his morning run, coming down the hill in our direction. As he approached, I asked the cadet:

Me: "Excuse me – can you tell me the name of this road?"

Cadet: "I don’t know, sir, but I will find out. I’ll be right back."

He ran 300 yards up the hill to read the name off of a street sign, then doubled back to tell me the name of the street:

“Sir, you’re on Callum Road.”

He literally went out of his way to be of service to a complete stranger. This Service Mentality that’s ingrained in the minds and spirits of the Cadets at West Point is the same Service Mentality that creates Customer Experiences which make companies great.

What can you do in your world, to exhibit that Service Mentality?

Here's a list of 12 specific tips to get you started.

The Secret to Sustainable Business Growth

2013-04-12T08:20:28-04:00

If you’re running a company, and frustrated with the effects of slow economic growth on your bottom line, which of the three initiatives would you select, to improve your situation?

Work with legislators to create a more “business-friendly” environment.

Implement more aggressive sales and marketing programs.

Takes steps to improve employee engagement.

Let’s look at each one separately:

Improving business through legislation

Working with legislators may appear to be the smart move, because it can remove barriers that make it difficult to grow a business. But here’s the problem: an improved business climate doesn’t make your business inherently better; it only creates the illusion that you’re better.

When the business climate improves, it makes things better for your competitors, too. A rising tide lifts all boats, but when the tide goes out again (as tides inevitably do!), you’ll feel the pain again.

Improving business through sales & marketing

Implementing more aggressive sales and marketing programs will likely bring in new customers and new revenue. In fact, it may mean that you’re performing your competition, which is an improvement over option 1. However, the increase in customer count, new orders and service requirements can strain other functional areas of the business, and drive new costs that can consume much of the new revenue.

Improving through Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement offers the unique advantage of getting greater contribution from all functional areas of the business: Marketing, sales, support, operations, finance & administration, and more. In fact, a more engage sales team will likely give you the same new sales generation that would otherwise require a hefty expense.

But here’s the real advantage of Employee Engagement: You’re strengthening your foundation. When all employees are more engaged in their work, you have alignment; the entire organization functions more efficiently, producing better results;your organization becomes stronger. When the economic tide goes out again, you’ll find your organization floating higher than your competitors, because you’ve made your organization stronger, from the inside out.

How engaged are employees throughout your organization? Can it be improved? What specific changes can be made to improve the level of engagement?

What is Customer Delight?

2013-04-10T05:00:00-04:00

The other day, I wanted to print a newspaper article that I was reading from the screen of my iPhone. I have a wireless printer in my office, but I'd never tried to print to it from my phone. Until now...

I tapped the print command on my phone, and crossed my fingers...

The name of my HP8600 appeared on the screen, as a wireless printer within range. So far, so good.

Now the big test: I tapped the printer name, and held my breath...

Within seconds, I heard the printer loading the first page, and commence printing - SUCCESS!!! The product worked, as advertised.

But then something else happened, that I really didn't expect: My phone told me that my printer ink was running low. This was good information, because I was headed out to an office supply store.

Was it my phone's job to monitor the ink levels in my printer? No.

Was the information useful to me? Absolutely!!!

In fact, I was delighted that my phone gave me some timely and valuable information that I would never expect it to give me.

That's what customer delight is - it's getting something good that you didn't expect to get; customer delight is when you're pleasantly surprised by receiving unexpected value while using a product, receiving a service or participating in a process. Customer delight is about pleasant surprise.

How have you experienced customer delight? How are you and your company surprising your customers, with moments of delight?

3 Reasons Why We Should All Send More Handwritten Notes

2013-04-08T05:00:00-04:00

Three years ago, my wife placed an on-line order for a gift for our daughter, from a company we'd never heard of. A day after receiving the gift, my wife received a handwritten note from the employee who processed her order, thanking her for the business.

Before placing that first order, we'd never heard of the company.

After receiving their hand-written note, we never forgot them.

There's something about a handwritten note that captures our attention and stokes our emotions in a very subtle, genuine and powerful way. There are three particular reasons why hand-written notes can be such a powerful way to connect:

Handwritten Notes stand out; they're remarkable.
The more email and text messages we receive, the more rare, by comparison, the handwritten note becomes. That which is rare, is remarkable.
Handwritten Notes convey caring.
It takes a lot more time and effort to draft and deliver a handwritten note, than it does to send an email or text, or make a phone call. Nothing communicates like caring.
Handwritten Notes endure.
Many years ago, when I was visiting with a large customer, I stopped by the cubicle of the purchasing agent who was responsible for placing orders for my products. Several months earlier, I'd sent him a note thanking him for a particularly large order that he placed on the last day of my quota year. That note card was tacked to his cubicle wall, next to his son's little-league baseball card. Handwritten notes stick around as reminders.

A lot has been written (pun intentional) about the power of the handwritten note, including this post by John Coleman on the HBR Blog Network.

Another testimonial to the note is one that I remember from reading "Straight from the Gut," by Jack Welch in 2003. One of the things that impressed me most about Welch (arguably the most powerful executive on the planet at that time) was the frequency with which he drafted hand-written notes to his managers throughout this 300,000 person enterprise. In fact, the book contains many images of these notes, including those written to Jeff Immelt, when Immelt was being groomed as a successor.

Here's the good news: You don't have to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 to use this technique. If you have access to pen, paper and postage stamps, you can start today. Granted, Welch probably did not have to go out to buy stamps.

Do you have a story about handwritten notes that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear it!

The ONE QUESTION Every Business Must Ask, Before Making a Decision

2013-04-05T08:00:00-04:00

Customers shop at Wal-mart because Wal-mart has low prices, and product in stock. Wal-mart has earned this reputation by steadfastly managing logistics, and especially, costs.

But even doing what you're very good at can hurt you, if you don't measure your decisions against one simple question.

We'll get to that question in a minute...

First, let's turn to an April 3 New York Times article that describes how recent workforce reductions have prevented Wal-mart from getting fresh produce to its store shelves in a timely manner:

"Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and grocer, has cut so many employees that it no longer has enough workers to stock its shelves properly, according to some employees and industry analysts. Internal notes from a March meeting of top Walmart managers show the company grappling with low customer confidence in its produce and poor quality. “Lose Trust,” reads one note, “Don’t have items they are looking for — can’t find it.”

The article further reports declining grocery sales at Wal-mart, and customers complaining about longer wait times at check-out, because fewer cashiers are available to staff all the registers.

Wal-mart has grown to become one of the greatest retail stories in the history of our planet by keeping costs low, and sharing those low costs with the customer through lower prices.

In other words, Wal-mart cost management has enabled them to created a better customer experience. That customer experience has driven customer loyalty, increased sales, company growth and profitability.

But according to Times report, when Wal-mart managed their costs by reducing the number of stocking clerks and cashiers, the customer experience was damaged in two ways:

Less-than-fresh, and absent produce inconvenienced and disappointed customers.
Longer-than-normal wait times at check out further disappointed customers.

The bottom line result to Wal-mart has been lost customers, lost revenue, and lost reputation.

Before a business makes any decision, it must first ask itself one important question:

"How will this decision impact the customer experience?"

If the decision will improve the customer experience, it's probably a good decision to make.

If the decision will harm the customer experience, reconsider. Short term-gains are usually eroded by long-term losses.

Had Wal-mart asked itself that question before making the decision to reduce staff, its a good bet that their tomatoes would be riper, and there'd be more customers buying them.

3 Steps to Designing the Best Customer Experience in Your Industry

2013-04-03T07:59:00-04:00

I had an appointment with an optometrist the other day. I've had my share of Doctor appointments over the years, but this was my first with this particular practice.

My expectations as a patient were those that the health care industry taught me to have throughout my many years as a customer of their industry:

Check in upon arrival, complete insurance paperwork, take a seat, and wait.
After the appointment, collect my paperwork, maybe pick up a prescription on the way home.
The only communication between the Dr.'s office and me would be the reminder call the day before the appointment.
If I have a question for the doctor after I've returned home, I'd have to contact the office by telephone, and have one of the doctor's staff relay my question. (Docs are very good at being inaccessible,)

In my experience, our options for communication with our health-care providers has not changed much in the past 30 years. That's low-hanging fruit for any doc who's willing to step out; an easy way to impress the patient!

By the time I returned home and checked my email, I had a welcome email from Dr. Cedrone's office.

The email gave me access to schedule appointments on-line, email the doctor, and get additional information about my visit. Maybe I've been in the dark, but this caught me by surprise - a Doctor who was thanking me for my business, and welcoming me to his practice! Am I easily impressed, or is this as remarkable as I think it is?!

The next morning, I received a text message, asking me if I'd like to receive reminders of my upcoming appointments, via text. A doctor's office, using customer-friendly communication techniques, to make the patient's life easier? Am I easily impressed, or is this doctor doing something differently that his peers?

If you want to create a customer experience that your customers will find remarkable, follow these simple steps:

Identify the one thing that the other providers in your industry don't do particularly well.
Make that one thing part of your standard practice.
Do that one thing as early in the process as you can, when engaging with a new customer.

Sometimes, the key to being outstanding is simply doing the one thing that others fail to do.

Personalization vs. Standardization - How the Most Successful Companies Achieve Both

2013-04-01T08:00:00-04:00

Have you ever thought about what causes you to buy so much from one company, when there are plenty of others to choose from?

I buy a LOT of books from Amazon. So the other day, I looked at my purchase history of books, and found something interesting:

I bought about 30 books last year. 20 of the books were titles that I planned to purchase, before I logged onto Amazon.com. The other 10 books were recommended to me by Amazon's recommendation engine, which combines my order history with those of other customers who've made similar purchases.

In other words, Amazon was able to increase sales to me by 50%, because they use technology to build personalization into their standard sales process.

Standardization and Personalization are two competing forces for most businesses. Businesses want to personalize, but they have to standardize. Standardization is the engine for rapid growth. When you standardize a process, you can repeat that process, and repeat it at a lower cost. Modern manufacturing has been built on the principles of standardization.

But standardization, by definition, precludes differentiation. And Differentiation is at the heart of personalization. Amazon recommends different books to me than to my wife, because it understands our unique prefereces; it understands our preferential differences, and it builds those differences into their standard processes of presenting, and ordering books, and it does this through technology.

In the majority of businesses, technology is used primarily to automate standardized processes; ordering, manufacturing and billing.

The more successful business also use technology to understand their customers's preferences, but do so in separate "siloed" systems.

The most successful companies will build customer understanding and personalization into the same business processes accross systems.

Where does your company fall along the Standardization vs. Personalization spectrum? What companies can you identify, that have figured out how to combine both?