As long as they keep surprising and delighting us….and becoming the poster child for exceptional customer service…you're going to keep hearing about them.
What's so memorable and talk-worthy about Jay's story is that one employee, not a corporate policy or CEO but one customer service rep who had clearly drank the brand's kool-aid took an extra five minutes and did something remarkable.
I think it's noteworthy that Eric's (the customer service rep) gesture was remarkable because it was personal.
After reading Jay's post, as a business owner, I found myself wondering these three questions. I'm thinking you should be asking them too.
Would every one of my employees recognize an opportunity to deliver a remarkable and personal moment?
Would every one of my employees choose to seize that opportunity?
If I can't answer yes to the first two questions…what am I doing wrong…or do I have the wrong employee?
When television was first introduced, there were 3 black and white channels. Today, 500+. Many in my baby boomer (I would like to point out that I am on the very tail end of that demographic!) demo grew up reveling in the idea of many choices because it was new territory.
But fast forward to today and you see those same baby boomers being overwhelmed at the array of decisions (based on choices) they have to make every day.
Walk into any mobile phone store and just count the number of phones available. It's staggering. Then, you have to figure out what each one does…and why it matters to you.
No wonder it is often easier for us to check out, than to check all the options.
Consumer research shows that the American consumer is suffering from choice fatigue. A study (by Sheena S. Iyengar from Columbia University and Mark R. Lepper from Stanford called "When Choice is Demotivating") found too many choices actually frustrated shoppers. People were offered either 30 choices or 6 choices of jam and then given coupons to purchase what they sampled.
Of those that had the opportunity to sample 30 only 3% made a purchase, while of those given 6 choices ten times as many or 30% made a purchase. That's a huge difference.
It means that there is power in simple. Our customers are time-starved and information-saturated. Make it easy. If you have to give your customers a lot of choices — group or organize them in a way that allows their brain to sift through the options more logically and quicker.
It also means that we need to recognize that having more choices doesn't necessarily give us an edge over the competition.
If you are going to offer lots of variety — be sure you have a good reason for doing so, and be sure you help your consumers navigate through those choices.
Last week, we looked at how fear can paralyze. As promised, let's now take a peek at fear’s evil counterpart, comfort.
While fear paralyzes, comfort just makes us lazy. When things are going okay and business is good are you out there working it? Are you staying in touch with existing clients? Reaching out to former ones? Looking for that new business prospect? Probably not.
That’s why marketing efforts cannot be effective without being a part of a schedule. It’s just too easy when things are going well to just let things slide. But, if part of your week’s schedule, week in and week out, is to make 5 cold calls or schedule lunch with a former client – then it will get done. It’s habit. And if it isn't habit — it is scheduled.
If you don’t get into the habit, that comfy place you’re in now is going to shift sooner or later. And then you’re going to gear up a marketing effort – and be frustrated when it doesn’t work instantaneously.
Marketing isn’t something you start when the ship is leaking. Effective marketing is consistently and regularly talking to your key audiences. Just like the ground absorbs the rain water better when it comes in a light, all-day rain, your potential customers will hear you much better if you talk to them regularly, rather than shouting at them when you need their business right away.
Don’t let fear or comfort control your marketing. You take control. Put a simple written plan in place. Build it into your workweek, your planner and your habits. Feeling a little less comfy? Good.
The Economist magazine just launched a new campaign in the UK.
Through research, they determined that because of the rise in the number of people going on to university, there are now over 3 million people in the UK whose interest in world affairs, travel, news and politics suggests an unconscious affinity with what The Economist reports on every week. The Economist describes these people as the “intellectually curious.”
So their new "Red Wires" campaign uses the image of a wire-jumper walking through a city on a series of red wires and the tagline “Let your mind wander” as a metaphor for the inherent pleasure in connecting different ideas, and how this is reflected in the wide-range news and analysis available in a copy of The Economist.
Watch the video below (e-mail subscribers click here) and then tell me….do you think they successfully delivered their message or did they get their wires crossed?
The ad began showing in movie theatres on July 1 and will also be used on broadcast TV.
Want to know what sabotages most marketing efforts? It’s not the competition, the small budget or too much work, so you can’t be proactive. So what is?
Fear.
There is a sweeping attitude (although many who have it won’t even see that they’ve been infected.) that it’s better to be safe, bland and expected when marketing. Many marketing execs and even some agencies are just not willing to stick their proverbial neck out and risk being bold or different.
What is there to be afraid of? You might get noticed? You might inspire reaction from your consumers? You might get someone’s attention?
You don’t have to do it the way you’ve always done it or how your industry does it. I’m not advocating being wild just for the sake of it. Do it in your voice. Have a good strategy. Just deliver the message in a way that is a surprise.
Take a look at your recent marketing efforts. Are they staid? Expected? Would you notice them if you were the audience? Do you make a bold statement? A startling promise? Do you say something that you haven’t seen someone else say this month?
If not, the fear bug might have bitten you. Want the antidote?
Resolve to stick your toe in the waters of bold. Come on in, the water’s fine! You’ll love being heard for a change.
Next post we’ll talk about Fear’s partner in crime – comfort.
As Facebook and other social networking sites continue to grow by leaps and bounds… many privacy issues are also cropping up. Most of us end up blending our personal and professional lives on Facebook and sometimes that can get a bit uncomfortable.
We've talked about the issue of whether or not you get to have a private life anymore, if you're active in social networking. But, there are some things you can do to protect your own privacy and also, the privacy of the people you are linked to/friended.
This has been a growing concern of mine, so those of you who are my Facebook friends (link to the right if you are not) might notice a few changes in my own settings after researching and writing this post.
Ten Privacy Setting You Should Consider:
Use your friends lists — everyone doesn't have to see everything.
Remove yourself from the Facebook Search results — if you only want to be found by people you reach out to — this is an easy fix for eliminating most of the unwanted friend invites.
Remove yourself from the Google search — Facebook listing seem to grab great Google juice. So if you want to be found, leave it be. But if you'd prefer more privacy, you can remove yourself from the listings.
The dreaded photo/video tag — this one has cost people jobs, relationships and their own dignity. With a simple change in privacy settings, you can make it so that no one (or just those you choose — think friend lists) can see those tell all photos and videos.
Not everyone needs to see every picture — this holds true of your photo albums as well. You can set privacy settings for each one separately.
Prevent "stories" from showing up on your friends news feed — is there anything more awkward than when your friend goes from in a relationship to it's complicated or single? Avoid that embarrassment with a few simple settings.
Keep your application updates from being published — do you really want people to know you're looking for a tommy gun in Mafia Wars or that you've wasted yet another hour hitting a new high on Bejeweled?
Make you contact information private — for some people, their cell phone number is public information. But for others who might have arms lengths relationships at best with many of their Facebook friends…a bit less shared would be good.
Censor your friends…keep their thoughts off your wall! — I think this is one of the most critical on the list. You can control who sees your wall and who can write on your wall. Do you really need your frat buddies sharing stories with your boss? I'm guessing not.
Keep your friends private — this isn't just about your privacy, it's about your friends' privacy as well. Remember, anyone who is a friend of yours can pop onto your friends list and cherry pick them for whatever reason they'd want.
The beauty of most of these privacy moves is that no one will ever know you've even implemented them. But you will…because you'll feel a whole lot safer and less exposed.
You know those cheesy air fresheners that people hang off their rear view mirror in the shape of a pine tree or a piece of fruit?
Why not let people personalize them with family photos like they do with credit cards? Maybe someone like Snapfish could work on this idea a bit?
Who wouldn't be happier with a picture of the grandbaby dangling from the mirror and smelling piney fresh?
That's it. Just that random idea. If you make a million, you owe me a cup of coffee or something.
I feel a little like Bill Blazejowski from the movie Night Shift. "This is Bill. Idea to eliminate garbage: edible paper. You see, you eat it, it's gone. Eat it, it's out of there!"
I've often said social media isn't for everyone. Not every company should have a blog. No one on Twitter really cares what you had for dinner (unless you ate chocolate grasshoppers) and you don't have to possess a single friend on Facebook.
Social media is a collection of great tools that hopefully bring out the best in us as people and companies. It gives us the ability to connect, collaborate and create communities.
But that doesn't mean it's all that. (pretty sure that's the hip phrase these days!)
It's well worth the read and maybe even print it off, so that on those days when you worried that you might not be Linked to enough Facebook Tweeters who blog…you can re-read it.
I drink a lot of water. This can be directly linked to 30+ kidney stones. The more water, the fewer stones.
I like water cold. Really cold. I'm talking seriously ice cold water, please. When I am at home, I almost always have a huge insulated glass nearby, filled to the brim with ice water. Because I prefer the water to be frigid cold, I don't let the level in the glass get too low before I re-fill it.
(I can hear you…what in the heck does this have to do with marketing?? Stay with me….)
I've discovered if I keep topping off the glass, the water I am adding gets colder faster (or the flip side, does not warm up the water already in the glass.) I am sure this ties to some scientific theorem that I should know…but I am just telling you from experience that this is true.
If I get really engrossed in something and absently drink the water until there's almost nothing but ice left in the glass….it takes a long time for the newly added water to reach the optimum temperature.
To recap….topping off means the water is always very cold (consistent temperature) as opposed to if I have to re-fill almost the whole glass, it takes a long time to get the water cold (inconsistent temperature).
And the marketing point is…..(shame on you if you jumped right down here!)
The same is true of our marketing efforts. Some organizations go hot and cold on their marketing. They're aggressive or at least active one month or one quarter and then are dormant. Or other companies market like crazy when sales are down and when they get busy, marketing falls off the radar.
Or maybe you're particular version is that you only deliver the first half of the one/two punch. You drop the direct mail piece but you never follow up with the phone call.
Regardless of how or why — the inconsistency of your marketing hurts you. It turns a warm prospect into a cold one, by the time you get back around to marketing again.
When you are consistently present and either creating or participating in dialogue — the "water level" of your prospect's awareness and interest in you stays consistent, so you can build on it over time.
How are you keeping your marketing consistent and then just topping it off? Or if you're not…why not?
I promise, this is the last blog post squeezed out of the recent DC trip. I can't help it…it was a fruitful couple of days.
I'm in O'Hare, waiting to board the flight to DC. It's about 5 minutes before boarding and the first officer (or co-captain — whichever is correct) came up from the jetway. He spoke to the gate agent and she handed him the mic.
Speaking very clearly and with great enthusiasm, he introduced himself, told us who our Captain was going to be and that they were all very excited about welcoming us on board flight XYZ. It was their pleasure to get us safely and comfortably to DC.
With that, he handed the mic back and headed down the jetway. He was genuine, having fun and everyone seemed to perk up a bit at his welcome.
I was impressed.
When we boarded the plane, the flight attendants didn't just keep repeating the same old "welcome on board" to each passenger. They went out of their way to have mini conversations or compliment someone's jewelry or crack a joke. I was one of the first on board, so I sat and watched them connect with just about every person who stepped on board.
Again, I was impressed.
When we were about 30 minutes from touching down in DC, the flight attendant came by and handed me a business card. (As she did with all the others) I looked…and it was the Captain's business card. He had hand-written me a note that said "Thank you for flying on United! How can we earn more of your business?" On the flip side of his card were his direct dial office phone number and his e-mail address. Holy cow!
Again, I was impressed.
Any one of these gestures would have caught my attention. And each one, independent of the others, would have made me feel valued as a customer and reinforced my loyalty to United. But look at the incredible impact this Captain and his entire crew had on the passengers of that flight by having the entire team focus on a single goal.
I can't imagine a single passenger got off that flight without feeling like the crew truly appreciated their business and was happy to have them on board.
In an age where the airlines are all fighting to survive, I would want to have Captain John McFadden and his crew flying for me! Wouldn't you?
How could your team be like Capt McFadden's? What would it take for you to get them all focused on the same goal and working in concert like they did?
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As long as they keep surprising and delighting us….and becoming the poster child for exceptional customer service…you're going to keep hearing about them.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f7e0e9e6-a7ad-4f22-a72d-7e91afc80b7e)
. In this talk, he explains how and why the too many choices are paralyzing us.![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d248db0a-38e4-451f-821f-512e61fefc4e)
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