Looking for a non-intrusive touch points through which information about customer demographics, preferences, and lifestyles can be directly observed? Communities are a great way to do this and a very valuable resource for your customer marketing efforts. Here are some ways that I have used our support community site for reference activities:
- I spent some time looking for positive comments by customers. Some customers gave their companies and location so it was easy to contact them about becoming customer references.
- Once we needed a press quote and so we posted an article about feedback for a new feature. We didn't end up finding a customer but we got some leads that could have easily panned out if we would have had more time.
- I get Google Alerts for all things LANDesk and one time a customer posted a question on the community site. I immediately knew it was him and emailed him an answer versus posting it on the site. He was quite pleased that I proactively emailed him the answer.
- Use the community to find leads for your customer reference program. I looked at the biggest contributors to see who was already in my reference program and a few that were passionate about LANDesk that I invited them to become part of it!
One caution here - Most customers will not post too much on your support site if you are going to use it for a marketing tool so proceed carefully and wisely!
Read more about about using communities to build your brand online:
http://prashant-onlinemedia.blogspot.com/2008/10/brand-building-online.html
Monday, October 13, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Ice Cream Maker - Highly Recommended!!!
I came across a fantastic book that I highly recommend for anyone who works in marketing, sales or is a manager. It's called The Ice Cream Maker by Subir Chowdhury. In the book he shares a parable about making quality in everything you do and how the first rule of business is first and foremost the customer. It's a must read for all 'students' of business. Here are some key points:
- There are two types of customers (internal and external) and we need to take care of both
- Innovation is part of America's DNA
- We must listen to customers, it's not about what we think needs to be done but what is the customer asking for!
- "Listen, Enrich, and Optimize (LEO)" concept
- Quality is defined by the customer
- The surest path to improved quality is getting your front-line employees involved
- Take care of the employees and they'll do the right things for your customers
- "But, quality, I realized, starts with strong leadership. It starts with me listening more closely to our workers, and to our customers."
- There's a great story here about an airline flight attendant blindly following policy and not getting a drink of water, before a flight, for an old man in the front of coach because water was for "first class only." It's a great example of making sure that people aren't hampered by policy -- they need to be engaged to use their brains and to do the right thing for customers.
THE ICE CREAM MAKER tells the intriguing story of Peter Delvecchio, the beleaguered Plant Manager of Dairy Cream, an ice cream manufacturing company with stagnant sales that is on the verge of closure. Desperate to save his company and his own job, Peter reaches out to his former neighbor Mike McMaster of Natural Foods, who has a talismanic influence on him. Peter learns from Mike that satisfied employees who are passionate about their work are more likely to produce quality work and meet the needs of customers, generating a self-fulfilling cycle of success.
Through an engaging dialogue between Peter and Mike, Chowdhury reveals how Mike guides Peter to enable Dairy Cream to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, using the concept of “LEO,” an acronym that stands for Listen, Enrich, and Optimize. This concept drives home the point that by focusing on quality, listening to what customers want, and meeting their needs, companies will reap the benefits of increased profits—the natural outgrowth of prioritizing customer satisfaction.
Visit The Ice Cream Maker web site or order your copy today from Amazon
- There are two types of customers (internal and external) and we need to take care of both
- Innovation is part of America's DNA
- We must listen to customers, it's not about what we think needs to be done but what is the customer asking for!
- "Listen, Enrich, and Optimize (LEO)" concept
- Quality is defined by the customer
- The surest path to improved quality is getting your front-line employees involved
- Take care of the employees and they'll do the right things for your customers
- "But, quality, I realized, starts with strong leadership. It starts with me listening more closely to our workers, and to our customers."
- There's a great story here about an airline flight attendant blindly following policy and not getting a drink of water, before a flight, for an old man in the front of coach because water was for "first class only." It's a great example of making sure that people aren't hampered by policy -- they need to be engaged to use their brains and to do the right thing for customers.
THE ICE CREAM MAKER tells the intriguing story of Peter Delvecchio, the beleaguered Plant Manager of Dairy Cream, an ice cream manufacturing company with stagnant sales that is on the verge of closure. Desperate to save his company and his own job, Peter reaches out to his former neighbor Mike McMaster of Natural Foods, who has a talismanic influence on him. Peter learns from Mike that satisfied employees who are passionate about their work are more likely to produce quality work and meet the needs of customers, generating a self-fulfilling cycle of success.
Through an engaging dialogue between Peter and Mike, Chowdhury reveals how Mike guides Peter to enable Dairy Cream to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, using the concept of “LEO,” an acronym that stands for Listen, Enrich, and Optimize. This concept drives home the point that by focusing on quality, listening to what customers want, and meeting their needs, companies will reap the benefits of increased profits—the natural outgrowth of prioritizing customer satisfaction.
Visit The Ice Cream Maker web site or order your copy today from Amazon
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
How much Time Should a CEO spend with Customers?
I came across a GREAT article today I just had to share. Read on to see what Harvard Business School professor John Quelch has to say on this topic.
Every corporate mission statement pays lip service to respecting customer needs, but actual customer expertise is typically a mile wide and an inch deep, says Harvard Business School professor John Quelch. Here's why every CEO should spend at least 10 percent of his or her time thinking about, talking to, and steering the organization to the customer. Key concepts include:
* To be customer-oriented, executives must get out and meet customers on their home turf—in their homes, on job sites, in their offices.
* How much of a CEO's time should be spent interacting with customers depends on at least two things: the nature of the business and the company's strategy.
* CEOs should be cautious about overdoing the percentage of time interfacing with customers.
Read the article
Every corporate mission statement pays lip service to respecting customer needs, but actual customer expertise is typically a mile wide and an inch deep, says Harvard Business School professor John Quelch. Here's why every CEO should spend at least 10 percent of his or her time thinking about, talking to, and steering the organization to the customer. Key concepts include:
* To be customer-oriented, executives must get out and meet customers on their home turf—in their homes, on job sites, in their offices.
* How much of a CEO's time should be spent interacting with customers depends on at least two things: the nature of the business and the company's strategy.
* CEOs should be cautious about overdoing the percentage of time interfacing with customers.
Read the article
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The Little Touches
Last night on TV I saw a commercial for free Walgreens Health Screenings. In the commercial they say how they are spending $35 million dollars to travel around the United States to do free health screenings. The Take Care Health Tour provides free health screenings to the public nationwide, with a focus in areas in need of discounted health care. The screenings include a bone density test, body mass index evaluation, blood pressure check and a glucose and cholesterol test. That amounts to about $115 in health care screenings, but at the tour bus, it's all free. Tour Manager of the Take Care Health screenings Jeff Smith says, "We are aware that there are people who don't have access to this type of health program and that's why we're giving the service to these people entirely free, so they can know what to work on for the future." Learn more
What a great example how a company can build customer loyalty, build relationships with prospects and get their name and brand out there!
Another example of this is a few months ago I was at my parents' house and they had this card standing up on their dining room table. Being the curious cat that I am, I looked to see what it was. On the front of the card was a birthday cake graphic with Zions Bank as part of the graphic. When you open the card, there's a note that says:
"Happy Birthday. All of us at Zions Bank would like to wish you a very happy birthday and success in all your endeavors this year." And its singed by the President and CEO of the bank. It even has a cool quote by Christopher Morley "There is only one success-to be able to spend life in your own way."
What does your company do to build relationships with their customers?
What a great example how a company can build customer loyalty, build relationships with prospects and get their name and brand out there!
Another example of this is a few months ago I was at my parents' house and they had this card standing up on their dining room table. Being the curious cat that I am, I looked to see what it was. On the front of the card was a birthday cake graphic with Zions Bank as part of the graphic. When you open the card, there's a note that says:
"Happy Birthday. All of us at Zions Bank would like to wish you a very happy birthday and success in all your endeavors this year." And its singed by the President and CEO of the bank. It even has a cool quote by Christopher Morley "There is only one success-to be able to spend life in your own way."
What does your company do to build relationships with their customers?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Customer Loyalty - Why it Matters
One of my favorite topics hands down is the topic of customer loyalty! I have read many books on this topic but my favorite author on this topic is Frederick F. Reichheld. Most people might be familiar with his newer book "The Ultimate Question" but my favorite is "The Loyalty Effect". You know it's a good book when you find tons of nuggets in the preface to the book. On page xi, there's my favorite nugget "The fact across a wide range of industries is that a 5 percent improvement in customer retention rates will yield a 25 to 100 percent increase in profits".
Let me say that again, this time read slowly and let this amazing statement sink in:
"The fact across a wide range of industries is that a 5 percent improvement in customer retention rates will yield a 25 to 100 percent increase in profits".
Wow, just a 5% percent improvement can impact your profits that much? That is an amazing fact. Think about that. Every day in companies, we hear about people saying "how can we grow the bottom line" and other such comments but how often do you hear someone say "How can we we increase our customer retention rates?"
Let me say that again, this time read slowly and let this amazing statement sink in:
"The fact across a wide range of industries is that a 5 percent improvement in customer retention rates will yield a 25 to 100 percent increase in profits".
Wow, just a 5% percent improvement can impact your profits that much? That is an amazing fact. Think about that. Every day in companies, we hear about people saying "how can we grow the bottom line" and other such comments but how often do you hear someone say "How can we we increase our customer retention rates?"
Commitment from the Top Down
Today Forrester Research Names their new CMO, Dwight Griesman, a 25-year marketing veteran. A press release went out where Mr. Griesman talks about his commitment to the customer. Here's one of his quotes: "As Forrester's new CMO, I am committed to ensuring that the voice of the customer continues to be central to how Forrester enhances its products and services across the 19 IT, marketing, and technology industry roles we serve."
Call me crazy, but that's the kind of commitment from the top down that makes a difference in a company. I have been doing some research on Forrester and their various customer research. I came across one document called "The Customer Experience Journey". Learn more. I've read the report and it's really insightful into not just one piece of the customer picture, but the whole picture. This guy has a fabulous blog and I'm wondering how much of the Forrester customer focus is driven by him. His name is Bruce Temkin and he is the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research focusing on customer experience. Its seems like a month ago that I saw that Forrester did a report on the value of customer reference programs. I am getting a copy of that report soon, this stuff is so good!
Stay tuned for more from Forrester! I'm loving it!
Call me crazy, but that's the kind of commitment from the top down that makes a difference in a company. I have been doing some research on Forrester and their various customer research. I came across one document called "The Customer Experience Journey". Learn more. I've read the report and it's really insightful into not just one piece of the customer picture, but the whole picture. This guy has a fabulous blog and I'm wondering how much of the Forrester customer focus is driven by him. His name is Bruce Temkin and he is the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research focusing on customer experience. Its seems like a month ago that I saw that Forrester did a report on the value of customer reference programs. I am getting a copy of that report soon, this stuff is so good!
Stay tuned for more from Forrester! I'm loving it!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
You Worked in Call Centers for How Long?
When I first started working in the business world, my first job was in a call center. It quickly became apparent that not only did I like it, but I was really good at it. It's funny how that works. Within a few months of being hired at Nice Corporation, and yes that was the name, I was promoted to a 'special' team. The special team was a team of five of us who worked on the most strategic projects. I realized then that I liked this type of work and stayed in it for more than twelve years.
That's right! I worked in call centers for more than twelve years. I worked in call centers at Novell, Nice Corporation, Matrixx Marketing, US Hotline and Sears and I seem to get grief about that a lot. Some people wanted to know how I 'stood' it for so long and others wanted to know how I kept from going 'crazy' working in that type of job so long.
There's only one reason and that's because I got to work with customers! For many of those twelve years, I was a manager but either way whether I was on the phones directly with the customers or coaching employees how to be better at customer service, I loved it!
One of my favorite things about that job was difficult customers. That's right. I said difficult customers! I loved to get a customer who was upset about something and I turned them around and made them happy customers! I made it a personal goal to turn customers around. Here are some tips how I did it:
- Stay calm. No matter how upset a customer gets you do not have to get upset, in fact the calmer you stay the shorter the call with be and the more you can help the customer.
- Listen. Put your 100% attention on to the customer and try to find out what they really want. Honestly, one of life's most important lessons is to learn that it's not WHAT the person is saying but what they are 'really' saying. For example, if your kid came home from school and said she hates everyone at school, would you think that's what she really meant? No, it probably means someone was mean to her at school and it hurt her feelings and now she's upset or maybe she doesn't have a lot of friends lately. The same principle applies to customers, try to find out what they are 'really' saying and you both will win.
- Next, take notes. There is no way you can remember everything the customer is saying so you can follow-up. Plus sometimes I could even make a map of what the customer was saying and figure out where the problems started.
- Own the call. Sometimes people hide behind the phone literally. They use fake names, they won't give out their phone number and they don't want to transfer you to their boss. Imagine the customer's surprise when I got on, gave them my full name, my direct line and told them if they got cut off somehow to please call me back.
- Go the extra mile. This little principle can turn the most upset customer into your biggest advocate! Maybe it's following-up on the concern yourself, or calling them back personally or whatever. There's always an opportunity to go the extra mile for a customer.
- Remember everyone deserves respect. If your sister, brother, mother, dad, uncle, grandpa etc called a company for some help, how would you want them treated? Honestly here folks, do unto others as you want them to do unto you.
- Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Please for the love of customers, follow-up on the issue until the customer is happy. This world would be such a happier place if more companies did that.
Well that's it for tonight. Have you helped a difficult customer today?
That's right! I worked in call centers for more than twelve years. I worked in call centers at Novell, Nice Corporation, Matrixx Marketing, US Hotline and Sears and I seem to get grief about that a lot. Some people wanted to know how I 'stood' it for so long and others wanted to know how I kept from going 'crazy' working in that type of job so long.
There's only one reason and that's because I got to work with customers! For many of those twelve years, I was a manager but either way whether I was on the phones directly with the customers or coaching employees how to be better at customer service, I loved it!
One of my favorite things about that job was difficult customers. That's right. I said difficult customers! I loved to get a customer who was upset about something and I turned them around and made them happy customers! I made it a personal goal to turn customers around. Here are some tips how I did it:
- Stay calm. No matter how upset a customer gets you do not have to get upset, in fact the calmer you stay the shorter the call with be and the more you can help the customer.
- Listen. Put your 100% attention on to the customer and try to find out what they really want. Honestly, one of life's most important lessons is to learn that it's not WHAT the person is saying but what they are 'really' saying. For example, if your kid came home from school and said she hates everyone at school, would you think that's what she really meant? No, it probably means someone was mean to her at school and it hurt her feelings and now she's upset or maybe she doesn't have a lot of friends lately. The same principle applies to customers, try to find out what they are 'really' saying and you both will win.
- Next, take notes. There is no way you can remember everything the customer is saying so you can follow-up. Plus sometimes I could even make a map of what the customer was saying and figure out where the problems started.
- Own the call. Sometimes people hide behind the phone literally. They use fake names, they won't give out their phone number and they don't want to transfer you to their boss. Imagine the customer's surprise when I got on, gave them my full name, my direct line and told them if they got cut off somehow to please call me back.
- Go the extra mile. This little principle can turn the most upset customer into your biggest advocate! Maybe it's following-up on the concern yourself, or calling them back personally or whatever. There's always an opportunity to go the extra mile for a customer.
- Remember everyone deserves respect. If your sister, brother, mother, dad, uncle, grandpa etc called a company for some help, how would you want them treated? Honestly here folks, do unto others as you want them to do unto you.
- Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Please for the love of customers, follow-up on the issue until the customer is happy. This world would be such a happier place if more companies did that.
Well that's it for tonight. Have you helped a difficult customer today?
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