Raising the Bar on Customer Service
What do you do to keep customers coming back? According to Seth Godin, what was once conidered incredible, is now run of the mill. The challenge to small business owners in a comptitive market is finding new ways to surprise and delight your customers.
Nick Carter of AddressTwo does that on a regular basis. Continually working on new features for the software, Nick has added a WishList feature to the user screen. Now, any user can suggest improvements, and vote on the suggestions of others. New features with the most votes, get attention first. Nick is truly creating customer focused software.
My favorite eye doctor, Dr. Jeremy Ciano at Revolution-Eyes always has fresh coffee and Godiva Chocolate while you wait. Makes stopping by lots of fun.
What do you do that is exceptional or surprising? If you can’t think of anything, it is time to work on your unique selling proposition. Remember customers have choices, and they rarely choose on just price.
Mistakes are Unimportant, Handling Them Well is All That Counts!
Mistakes happen! What defines your business is what you do as a result. Do you quote policy, apologize, or act? Jackie Huba has some interesting suggestions for Best Buy when they ran out of a popular promotion item. She says:
Turning bad buzz into good takes fast, creative thinking, a sense of humor, and a willingness to happily eat virtual crow. Best Buy could put everyone who ordered the TV into a drawing then give away 10 of them. Or 100. Then they could even deliver the sets, with TV cameras rolling, and have their Geek Squad members install them for free.
How much would Jackie’s suggestions really cost Best Buy? The cost of surprising and delighting customers is nothing in comparison to what the negative publicity will cost. The difference, the positive, proactive expense is controllable, the negative cost isn’t.
When things don’t go as planned, how do you react?
Sometimes, You Need To Fire a Customer
With small businesses still being buffeted by a sluggish economy, we need to keep every customer we have, right? However, recently I have seen a number of articles making a valid case for doing just the opposite, getting rid of, or stopping to pay attention to customers who are a drain on your systems, and worse yet annoying your good customers.
Here a few examples I have seen recently:
Jackie Huba writes about the The Alamo Drafthouse in Texas. They will ask noisy patrons to leave because they destroy the experience for others. If they allowed it to continue, the other patrons would chose not to return. She says:
If you stand with your best customers at the expense of the bad ones, you’ll win bigger. The customer is always right — if it’s the right customer.
The same day I read Jackie’s column, I found one by Erik Deckers about another Texas company, Southwest Airlines. They are known for doing everything possible to make the flights comfortable and fun, but a screaming child just isn’t fun. So, on a recent flight, they booted Pamela Root and her 2-year-old son Adam off their flight in Amarillo, Texas, after he continually screams “Go! Plane! Go!” and “I want Daddy!”
And before you begin believing this trend is just a “Texas” thing, check out the case Seth Godin makes for focusing on your best cusomters. He says:
Every industry has people who are worth more, buzz more, care more and buy more than other people. Don’t treat people the same, find the ones that matter more to you, and hug them.
So have you hugged your best customers lately?
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PROMOTION: Have you structured your marketing budget to focus on your best clients and referral sources? Learn how in our 90 minute workshop: Marketing by the Numbers Tuesday, November 10
Work While You Sleep
As a small business owner, there are always so many things on my to do list. Running the business, delivering projects to clients, working with my staff, meeting with prospects, sending proposals, networking, etc. Sometimes I wish I could clone myself, or work while I sleep.
This week, Barb Jones, of Stellar Infusionsoft Coaching explains how CRM tools allow a small business to do just that!
Barb explains that contact management software lets you keep track of prospects and clients, but a CRM system allows you to automate the process. Now you can stay in touch with clients while you are sleeping or working on other projects. It also allows you to send relevant content to a small group with common interests.
At Roundpeg, we are experimenting with CRM tools and have found the results to be very positive. Our How to Write a Business Plan in Ten Weeks program is fueled by a CRM tool. We have several people a week enrolling in the program and each person enjoys the benefits of the entire program regardless of when they start.
We are going to look at other applications as well. What about you? Do you use a CRM tool today?
How to Lose a Customer
by Erica Gardner
There are several ways to keep your customers on board with you for a very long time. There are also several ways for you to lose customers.
Recently, we were working with a client to rebuild his website on a Wordpress platform. He was tired of the unresponsive service he was getting from his current web support team and wanted greater control over his web updates.
We make these conversions for existing websites on a regular basis, and have worked with a number of companies on the transition. Most of my peers both locally, and around the country understand websites move on a regular basis, and make the transition as easy as possible.
Obviously, The Computer Shop in Brownsburg, hasn’t learned this. What should have taken an hour took several weeks to complete. While we were annoyed, we began to understand why their client wanted to leave them as quickly as possible.
Here are just a few of the reasons why they lost a valuable customer:
- Never answering the phone
- Never calling us back when a message was left
- Screening their calls so they wouldn’t have to talk to us
- Not giving us the correct information we needed
In the end, they lost a very client because of their poor customer service. While they may not miss one client, when he, and the team at Roundpeg share our experiences, it is likely they will miss opportunities for other clients.
Seth Godin had an interesting post on a related topic, entitled, Win the Fight, Lose the Customer. In it he explains
“The customer is always right” doesn’t mean that they’d win in court or a debate. It means, “If you want the customer to remain a customer, you need to permit him to believe he’s right.”
I think this behavior should extend, when possible, even if you think you are going to lose the customer. You never know, if down the road they may want to return or talk to a prospect about you.
Clearly, the Computer Shop in Brownsburg is so busy digging trenches, they will lose both the fight and the war.
Customer Service Begins With Your Front Line
Are the people who touch your customers most often empowered to make good service decisions on your behalf?
The other day I was in a parking garage, attached to a hotel, which had an automated payment machine. I put in my ticket and my credit card, and should have been charged $8.00
When my receipt came out, I was charged $23 for two hours of parking. And while this may be the going rate in cities like New York, Chicago or LA, this is quite a bit more than we typically pay for a parking spot in Indianapolis, Indiana. And so, knowing I had been overcharged, I took my ticket and my receipt and walked inside the hotel to secure a refund.
I approached the registration desk and explained what had happened to the woman behind the counter. She looked at me as if I had landed from another planet. Clearly she was unaware there was a parking garage attached to the hotel in which she worked and was absolutely clueless as to what she should do about my problem.
After a few moments, I asked if there was someone else who could help me. She went off, and found someone who was aware of the parking garage. The second woman took my credit card, and wandered off again. Despite the fact that they had several credit card terminals at the desk, and a cash drawer, my $15 refund had to be processed elsewhere.
At this point, I had invested more than 20 minutes for a $15 refund, and I was beginning to wonder if it was really worth the continued wait, but she had my credit card, so I stayed.
She returned, with lots of paper work, my credit card, and a new ticket I could use to exit the garage. While I should have been grateful for her efforts, under this incredibly stupid system, I was just annoyed. With lots of downtown parking, it is unlikely I will choose this garage again.
What about you? Are your systems designed to allow your front line to respond to customer requests quickly? Do they know how to handle unusual situations and keep customers coming back?
Thicken the Lines of Your Circle
How many followers do you have on Twitter? How many friends on Facebook? Does it matter? When it comes to marketing, we often spend most of our time expanding our circles, growing our “fans” and increasing the number of people who have heard of our brand.
While it is important to grow the outer circle, it is important to take time to strengthen the circles you have. In a recent blog post Seth Godin suggests we should spend more time taking care of our custoemrs, and letting them spread the word. Talking about this switch in emphasis he says:
Great marketers don’t spend their time making the first circle bigger. They spend all their time crafting services, products and stories that don’t drop off.
So as you look at your marketing budget, be sure to set aside funds to take care of the clients you already have.
Business Plan Lesson 2: History and Position to Date
This is week two of our Ten Week Business Plan course. If you would like to get reminders about all ten weeks, simply sign up for our eCourse and get a free business plan outline at the same time!
Introduction to Your Plan – The History and Position to Date
This section introduces the reader to you and your company; it outlines the competitive environment and states how your business fits into the market. Why did you start the business? How did you arrive at your business idea? Why will your business be successful? What have you done so far?
Vision, Mission, Value and Goals
Vision - This is a long-term view of your business. It is an optimistic description of what your company will look like in three to five years.
Mission - Why do you exist? What business are you really in, and whom do you serve?
Values - In this age of corporate and political scandals, it is hard to believe values matter anymore — but they do! What are the lines you will not cross?
Goals - What are the short-term and long-term goals of your company? Your answers to this question are some of the most important in the entire plan. Goals must be specific and measurable, and may include: sales volume in dollars or units, number of customers, size of company, and number of employees.
Business Structure and Management Team
The balance of this section is dedicated to the people who make up the company. The purpose is to give the reader confidence that the leadership has the talent, background, and necessary skills to lead the business to success.
Product/Service Description
Use simple, jargon-free language that will give the reader a strong picture of what you do. If you must use technical terms, be sure to explain them.
Find this interesting? Sign-up for the Business Plan in 10 Weeks newsletter or purchase “Business Map: A Practical Guide to Business Planning” by Lorraine Ball.
Your Assigment:
Start answering the questions in your outline. Share a piece of your company background, what you do or why you think your idea will work in the comment section below.
Be Generous With Your Best Customers
One of the first really great marketers I ever worked with was Matt Michele. And although it has been almost twenty years since we worked together, from time to time our paths still cross.
Although he writes primarily for an audience of contractors, his opinions and insights on marketing are relevant for all small business owners.
In a recent post about a trip to Starbucks he talks about the free cup of coffee he received when they were out of his favorite brand. He suggest that other small business owners should adopt a similar strategy, and to do so, their regular price must be high enough to create a margin for customer service. He asks:
Do you charge enough that you can afford to make a generous gesture from time to time?
He was using a Starbucks mug and the clerk clearly knew he was a “regular”. Josh Bernoff argues passionately that you should go out of your way for “regular” customers. He says:
If you’re seeking word of mouth, you should know who your best customers are . . . by name. You should be feeding them previews of new products, asking their opinion of features you’re considering, and finding out how they think to build marketing copy. You should get testimonials from them.
And you should provide places where can submit their own opinions, and others can see it — ratings and reviews, Facebook pages, community forums, or whatever it takes.
When was the last time you called a regular customer to check in, say thank you or send them a referral? Take care of your customers with more than good service, and they will take care of you .
Who’s Your Travel Agent & Other Leadership Problems by Dale Collie
My friend Dale Collie, left Indy for the warm of N. Carolina years ago. But we stay in touch electronically and I love reading his newsletters and updates. I enjoy smart, no nonsense approach. I hope you will too!
Leadership Edge: Savvy leaders provide the right tools to do the job right.
Is anyone still using a travel agent to book air travel? I just booked tickets to Rome for an Eastern Mediterranean cruise and spent an inordinate amount of time searching the various on-line booking sites. After way too much research, I found that some on-line sites cannot be trusted (duh!) and that no matter what the displayed price per ticket, they all pretty much wind up in the same range once taxes and fees are added.
Finally, I went to the airline site and booked the ticket. Sounds easy. Right? Well, not so fast there … when I entered my credit card info (as I’ve done many times with this airline), an alert screen came up saying I needed to enter my credit card data (which was also shown on the screen just as I entered it). So … now we have to call the number shown and work through the Mash One for English (that’s NC talk for Touch One), answer yes and no a few times, Mash other numbers followed by the pound sign and finally get a live person.
Oh … we’re not done yet … so he takes all the info (I wish he could have Mashed One), then he tells me, “Oh, I must transfer you for international flights.” And we go through the Mashing and Pounding thing again.
Just as the international customer service assistant (very nice southern voice with no Mashing) started to help me, the confirmation email arrived – while the alert thingy was still on the screen.
We’re almost finished … now we need to select seats because the seat thing “wasn’t available at this time.” So I request bulkhead seats (for a real reason), and I’m told she can only assign bulkhead for domestic flights, I’ll have to wait until I’m at the airport and request for the international flights …
How do you spell that word … Sheeessh!
The point of all this is — give your team the right tools for the job. Saving pennies by booking my own flights is counterproductive when there are many more important things I could be doing.
- Ask your team members what new or old technology you could provide to help them be more productive.
- Review your own routine to see where you’re wasting time and effort 3. Put the changes in the budget if you can’t afford them right now
And if you work with a travel agent, I’d sure like to have the contact info.
