Customer service Archives - Page 2 of 2 - McLellan Marketing Group

Your customers are afraid to spend

August 23, 2011

…Customers are afraid of the coming tides

Building a sandcastle (with our without the pre-form buckets) is a childhood ritual that brings with it a sobering life lesson.

Unless you are uber cautious about location — the tide is going to come in and wipe out that sandcastle sooner or later. And if the tide doesn’t get it, beach walkers, dogs or 4 wheelers will do the job.

Young or old, there’s something haunting about watching the waves creep up on your masterpiece, knowing you can’t alter its fate.

I think that’s exactly how our customers are feeling today. They’re leery of investing too deeply or buying into new long-term programs because they have this nagging fear that the waves are heading back in.

The world economy’s continuing struggle, the US debt ceiling debacle and credit rating slap on the wrist and in general, a sense that it’s tougher to make a buck these days does not bode well for us as marketers.

How do we function in an environment of nervous trepidation?

Acknowledge it: Don’t hide from it. Don’t pretend it isn’t there. Be up front about it. Recognize that your sales cycles are going to be longer. Build your projections accordingly. The only way to weather the storm is to be well prepared for it.

Make the most of it: If your customers are less likely to sign long term agreements or are going to want to stretch out their payments — price accordingly. Create a new, shorter term choice but price it at a premium. That’s not taking advantage — that’s upselling.

Don’t cut your prices: This is one of the biggest mistakes business people make during tough economic times. It may make short term sense but it’s a killer long term. If you reduce your prices — you will never be able to raise them back to where they belong again.

Manage your costs by managing your customers: Not all customers are created equal. Customers who are not a good fit, demand too much of your time and don’t reward you with their dollars in equal measure are actually draining your company’s resources. Perhaps it’s time to fire some of them?

Re-think your business model: It may be that how/what you’ve sold in the past simply isn’t going to work in 2011 and beyond. Just because you want to sell it doesn’t mean there’s still a market for it. Or maybe it needs to be re-packaged or re-tooled. If you were starting a new business from scratch in your industry — what would it look like? Should you move in that direction?

You can’t work in marketing or own a business for very long without running into shifts in the economy. And we’re not going to love every shift. So you have to be willing and ready to adapt.

How are you/have you accommodated this current economic climate?

You need a smaller net

August 15, 2011

…are you fishing with too big a net?

Fear can make us take our eye off the ball and lose focus on what really matters. In marketing, that often translates to these sorts of mistakes:

I’m afraid this is the only ad/website/sales letter they’ll ever see so I need to cram everything I can into it.
I’m afraid they’ll choose someone else so I’ll lower our price, even though my price is fair.
I’m afraid we won’t have enough customers, so I’ll chase everyone that breathes.

I must admit, I get on my soapbox about this one. One of the best things about smart branding is that it repels the wrong customers. People who are not a good fit.

Every business has a “right fit” customer and those are the only people you should be actively pursuing. Why would you want to win a new customer only to deliver at a so so level.

You can rock the socks off the “right fit” customers. They’ll brag about you to their friends. And you’ll love working with them. Stop being content with anything you can catch in that big net of yours. Go get a smaller net and chase after just the right fits.

Need more convincing? I got this note on Facebook the other day from Sherry Borzo, a business woman I know here in Des Moines.

“Must tell you, because I’m pretty sure you were the one who said it so often in my presence a few years ago, but I truly GET the idea of working only with your ideal customer. It makes for a much happier environment for both business person and customer. It is like you’re building your own little community. So important. Always think of you saying that when I’m working with a customer that fits well with what I do.”

Amen to that! Toss that big old net in the garbage and begin catching your right fit customers.

You’ve got a bird in your hand. Now what?

August 8, 2011

… Do you value what you already have?

Like the old idiom goes…a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I’d argue, when the bird is a customer, the ratio is even greater.

For years, at the risk of preaching, I have been banging on the idea that we spend way too much time and energy chasing after potential customers and way too little time and energy romancing (and creating a love affair) our current customers.

I’ve pushed on the idea that our math is all backwards. It’s cheaper and easier to get more (and more profitable) business from our existing clients — and yet, our “new business” efforts are always aimed at strangers, rather than those friendly, pre-disposed to love us customers.

Which is why I’ve always enjoyed and respected Becky Carroll and her blog Customers Rock. Becky is an Age of Conversation author and a huge believer in the power of treating customers like gold.

So when Becky emailed me and asked if I would read her new book The Hidden Power of Your Customers (click here to buy*) I have to admit — I already knew I would like it. Because I knew it would tout the importance of creating love affairs with your customers.

I just finished it — and wanted to share it with you. As I suspected, Becky spends time making the points that I’ve made above. But the lion’s share of the book is spent showing readers HOW to cultivate and celebrate their current customers. Becky teaches us the how using the acronym ROCK.

R = relevant marketing. This is all about talking to your customers how and when and where they want it. Which, of course, means you need to listen/ask them.

O = orchestrated customer experiences. Brilliant companies are very purposeful in crafting customer experiences that deliver delight and marvel their most valuable clients. It doesn’t happen by accident.

C = customer focused culture. I don’t care how smart or insightful a leader you are — if honoring your customer isn’t baked into your organization’s culture… it won’t happen.

K = killer customer service. This is all about consistency. (as you know, one of the cornerstones to good marketing) When your brand and values are woven into your organization’s culture…. your entire team is able to deliver incredible customer-centric service, regardless of circumstance.

One of the best aspects of this book is the collection of case studies. Becky went beyond the usual suspects and tells tales of customer loving companies like Nicor National, Salon Radius and Sanuk. (Nope, I’d never heard of any of them either!) The fresh stories add a depth that other books are missing. However, no book on treating customers can leave out stories from Disney and you’ll enjoy those as well!

If you want to build an organization that truly treats its current customers as a precious commodity — this book will serve as a valuable guide to making it so.

Check it out and let me know what changes the book inspired.

*Yup, it’s an affiliate link and I was sent a copy of the book by Wiley. However…as you know, I get 4 or 5 books a week. I only recommend the ones I genuinely believe you’ll value and enjoy.

You can’t sleep through your own social media efforts

August 3, 2011

…no effort, no real gain

I will admit right off the bat, this is a bit of a rant, which you know I don’t do very often.

I was on the phone with a prospect (an organization who is just contemplating how/if they should begin to participate in social media) and I was talking about the process we’ve developed to help clients create a social media strategy that actually defines why they’d invest resources into the effort and then measures against those goals.

Just like any marketing strategy — we identify audiences, key messages, the right channels etc.

We end up creating a very robust strategy with our clients and then we teach them how to implement it. For the next several months, we walk along side them as they get their sea legs. We help them test drive different tools and schedules until they really feel confident that they can generate, conduct, find and participate in the kinds of conversations where they can add value and get value in return.

After that, we help them tweak the strategy and we might help with some content editing or repurposing some existing content for a blog or e-newsletter — but for the most part, they’re doing it on their own. Because it is their conversation to have.

At this point in the phone call the prospect stopped the conversation and said “wait a second, are you saying that you don’t believe you should do it all for us? I’ve talked to four other firms/consultants and no one’s ever suggested that we would do some of it ourselves. They said it would be much easier on us if we just paid them a monthly fee and they took care of it all.”

What??? Are you freaking kidding me?

I’m not going to get into the “social media expert” discussion because it’s been done to death. But, it infuriates me when people hold themselves out as any sort of expert and then purposefully give their clients bad advice because it puts more money into their own pocket. It’s not only a crappy way to do business and dishonest — but it has the potential to do some serious damage to the client’s business.

Of course hiring someone else to do it all for you would be easier. But that doesn’t make it better or even right. It would be easier if you sat on the couch rather than going to the gym — but you don’t actually build any muscles that way.

Now don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with hiring someone to help you. People hire MMG all the time for that very purpose.

But you have to do some of the driving yourself. Think about it.

Can a paid consultant respond to a customer complaint on a Facebook page wall or add to a conversation about your area of expertise in your blog’s comment section? They can probably fake it. But it certainly is a lost opportunity if you let them “handle” it rather than you digging in and really either starting or enhancing a relationship — all in front of hundreds (or thousands) of potential buyers.

Don’t let any social media agency, company or consultant own your social media activity any more than you’d let a stranger answer your customer service line.

If you do, it may be the most expensive buying decision you ever make.

How CustomInk.com creates a love affair with me

July 19, 2011

...they even send love notes!

There’s no valuable and ROI focused marketing goal greater or more effective than to create a love affair with your customer. Remember the perks:

It feels good
It’s easier to sell more to a current customer than something to a new one
It’s more profitable
It generates word of mouth
It’s incredible for employee retention

And here’s a little case study to prove my point.

We’re an agency, I sit on the boards of several not-for-profits and I was very active in my daughter’s high school. All of that adds up to a ton of t-shirt purchases throughout the year. A few years ago, we stumbled upon CustomInk. I was shopping for cheap, t-shirts for a fundraising event for one of the boards I’m on and couldn’t find the right quality for the right price locally.

The experience I had with CustomInk that first go around made me a customer for life. And every interaction I have with them since that first one just reinforces my buying decision.

Here’s how they create a love affair with their customers.

They are accessible: Live chat on their website, a phone number to a real person, very fast e-mail support — I’m pretty sure I could even send them a carrier pigeon and they’d get back to me.

They give me the tools to be successful: Whether you’re a novice and need clip art and suggestions to a pro who wants to upload print ready files — they have easy to use tools to let you do business with them the way you want to do business.

Their store (website) is well organized, has lots of help prompts and let’s me get to it: God love them for organizing their site in a way that lets me search by price or by color or by quality. I never have to wonder “where would I go to do XYZ” because I always know.

When things go wrong (on our end)– they bend over backwards: If they think your shirts (or whatever you print) aren’t going to turn out well due to a design issue or if they just think your logo needs to be cleaned up — they do it. They’re helpful and they don’t make you feel like a dope.

They support what I support: Every time I do t-shirts for a fundraising type event — they call the organization and make a donation. It’s not a huge dollar amount ($20 or so) but the gesture means a great deal.

I get a person: Once my t-hsirts are in production, the work is assigned a staff person who oversees the order until it is shipped. When I e-mail or call – I am connecting directly to that person. When I have an art question — I’m assigned an art person who helps me get it right. Follow up question — go back to your person.

They’re grateful: They go out of their way to let me know they appreciate my business. I’m sure I am a small fish in their pond but they always check to make sure we were happy once the t-shirts get delivered and as you can see, every once in awhile, I get a hand written note.

None of what they do is rocket science but all of what they do is a sincere effort to connect with, support and thank their customers. They’re an online company that understand the importance and power of creating real relationships.

I feel the love…and love them in return!

How about you — is there a brand that’s created a love affair with you? How’d they do it?

If you really walked a mile in their shoes…

July 16, 2011

…have you really walked a mile in their shoes?

We give lip service to wanting to serve our customers better, but I see so many examples where people clearly didn’t bother to even consider their customer, that I wonder.

I’m betting we could walk into any business today and point to things that make life better or more enjoyable for the employees but make the customer feel less important or considered.

Here’s what it might look like if you genuinely walked a mile in your customer’s shoes if you owned/worked at…

A take out food establishment: I’d put all the cold food in one bag and all the hot items in another.

A oil change shop: I’d have more than just car magazines in the lobby.

A CPA/business banker: I’d take the forms I make you fill out every year and put them into excel so you could easily update them rather than re-writing pages and pages of numbers.

A pest control company: I’d show up at your house in an unmarked van so all your neighbors wouldn’t know you had a bug problem.

A movie theatre: I’d have a “in your seat 5 minutes before the show” rule like they do in live theatres.

A lawyer: I’d provide you with a cheat sheet of all the important legal documents you need, have and where they’re stored.

Your financial planner: I’d give you a template that captured all of your financial data (investments, bank accounts, credit cards etc.) to put with your will in case something happened to you.

A clothing store: I’d have a room you could enter and have a store employee take a picture of you (with your phone) so you could get other opinions on the potential new outfit.

Did you notice that none of these changes are a big or expensive deal?

If I can do this with 8 types of businesses — I’m pretty sure we could do it with yours too. Your turn — tell us your organization’s core business and what you’d do differently if you truly walked a mile in your customer’s shoes.

How does a seasonal business sell year round?

May 26, 2011

A guest post by Isabella York

Within most any business, there is a peak and a slow season. The truth is that there are times when a customer wants to buy all of our stock, and a time when we just want to move units out of our storage space. When seasons and trends come to pass, so does the flow of customers.

If you have a business that is expected to make the lion’s share of sales over two months of every year, it is a constant marketing strategy game, getting creative with concepts and ways to use your products, and coming up with methods to stimulate profit for the whole year.

Here are a few things we need to note to keep our seasonal business thriving all year round:

Plan ahead: Kevin Fraley of Printworks talked to the Wells Fargo Business Insights Series about planning months, even years, in advance when it comes to business. Anticipation of the inflow of income during the season highs and the strategy to keep moving units in the slow seasons will ensure that the business stays active year round. Like the Boy Scouts, preparation in a seasonal business is the key to success.

Slash prices in the off season in a creative way: Offer a sale they can’t refuse, and make it interesting. Off season sales at unexpected times, like Christmas in July, when people are craving the chill and comfort of the holiday season, or Halloween costumes to celebrate an iconic horror movie’s redistribution in a digitally re-mastered version, are consistently popular and strike a happy image in the customer’s mind. Use popular television shows, movies or albums to tie in your stock, and hear the cash register ringing all year long

Manage your online reputation: These days, the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to market your company is to do it online. Create, manage and take care of your online reputation for an easy way to connect to the customer on a 24/7 basis. Create a fan page on Facebook and offer deals and steals on the page; connect with past and potential customers while on the site. Check online review sites and offer explanations to customer complaints on these review sites, as most of them give the merchant the option to do so.

Offer your business in a new light: Michael Jones of Chicago’s In Bloom Floral & Events knew his summer was going to be a hard one due to the seasonality of his flower shop, so he created another way of getting his customers inside his store during the off peak season. He opened up an art gallery in his store space, creating more interest in his other offerings by getting people inside to see his items. He drew them in using art, and showcased his flowers as well.

Ride the highs and the lows of your seasonal business by working the unexpected, and planning ahead. Creativity with a lot of planning will get you ahead, and thriving year round, all the whilekeeping your business in tune with the trends.

Isabella York has been in the business world her entire life. Having seen business cycles ebb and flow, she knows a thing or two about developing strategies for changing demands, however her job with a purveyor of Artificial Christmas Trees and Christmas Trees has catapulted this skill set to a new level.

Stop guessing what your customers are thinking

April 25, 2011

… Want to tap into your customers’ minds?

We spend way too much time in “I think I know” land especially when it comes to customers. We make huge decisions based on “my best guess is” or “it seems like…”

There’s absolutely no reason for you to not know what your customers are thinking. Here are a few ways (short of the brain probes in the photo) to ferret out exactly what’s going on in there.

Secret Shopping with a Twist: Invite your customers to sign up to be secret shoppers. Let them sign up on your website and pick a good blend of them. Then, after every experience (or in a given time interval) give them a little form to fill out, rating performance,, quality, or whatever else you want to know. Every time they send in their form (or submit it, if you put it online) they get some reward.

Bonus: Even those you don’t select will now know you want their feedback. So they’ll speak up more often.

Create a customer survey: Just ask them already! Afraid of what they’ll say? Steve Olenski’s tells us in a recent post that we shouldn’t worry about that. In fact, according to the study he cites — most customers who participate in surveys (even if they have a tough message to deliver) care about the company and want it to be successful. That’s why they invest the time in answering your questions. We do these for clients all the time and it’s remarkable what we learn and how tiny tweaks (that you learned about in the survey) can change the customer experience.

Bonus: They feel important and valued because you asked.

Create a customer board of advisors: If you are going to be making some big decisions, why not create an elite group of your best customers (the ones you’d like many more of) and bring them together monthly or quarterly for a couple hours. This requires you being willing to bare it all — they can’t give you good advice if they don’t know the whole picture. But their insights, questions and counsel will amaze you.

Bonus: They shift from customers to full on evangelists for your organization.

There are, of course, more ways to check in with your customers. Some may be better suited for your industry than others. But… guessing is never the best choice.

What say you? How do you stay in touch with your consumers?

5 ways to build a sticky Facebook fan page

April 22, 2011

… The McLellan Marketing Group’s page

With well over 600 million people on Facebook, it’s no wonder that businesses are flocking there to create a fan page for their organization. But what should that page contain? How should you use it to connect with your customers?

Here are 5 tips for creating a Facebook page that people won’t ignore.

Connected: Be sure you use your Facebook page as a launching point for learning more about your product or service. Link it to your website, a testimonials page or a third-party site that sells your product.

Good example: Ace Hardware offers us special FB discounts, links to their retail locations and you can even view your own local ad flier.

Be the resource: Know your audience well enough to anticipate what else they might want to know. If you sell business training, link to other HR and employee related sites or tools. Think beyond what you specifically sell and build a more well rounded resource center.

Good example: Arbor Springs shares their expertise in dementia by offering a free ebook and other links to resources valuable to families facing this disease. (disclosure — they’re a client and we built the page)

Let them talk: Don’t make the mistake of treating your Facebook page like a one way broadcast tool. One of the best elements of Facebook is that you can actually talk to your customers and prospects. Don’t turn off their ability to comment on your page.

Good example: Check out the questions we get asked on our FB fan page. We might start the question/discussion but sometimes people pop on and ask us something out of the blue. We love that. (disclosure…duh, it’s us)

Let the games begin: No matter how old we are chronologically, we like to play games. One great way to get Facebook page fans or to get them to keep coming back is to create contests and games that hook your audience and keep them coming back for more. Or, have a regular contest –like a weekly trivia game.

Good example: Northwest Savings Bank offers contests and giveaways to their customers.

Serve with a smile: Use your Facebook page as your customer service portal. Let customers ask questions, post problems or give you feedback about your product or service.

Good example: Check out how Scrapbooking for Less customers ask questions about products and classes.

Facebook is a very powerful tool. But just jumping on board and slapping up a page without a strategy will leave you and your page getting chilled from a lack of attention.

Who do you think is doing it better than most? Post the URL so we can check it out.

Marketing tip #56: Walk a mile in their moccasins

February 8, 2011

I believe this is one of those marketing tips that we all nod our heads at and think, “gosh, I should do that one of these days” but really rarely get around to doing.

We get so caught up in our processes and getting the job done that we forget that we’re doing it “to” and “with” a human being. And those pesky human beings sometimes need a little hand holding or explanation — especially if they’re new to the task.

It’s so easy to get frustrated with yet another question or request that takes you off “the path of the plan.” But honestly — if you find yourself reacting that way — then shame on you. Yes…shame on you.

If a customer is pushing back, or asking more questions or seems unable to pull the trigger it’s because you left something unexplained. The more firmly you dig in your heels and hold them to the process, the more unsure they feel. Which just leads to…yup, more questions and concern. It’s an ugly cycle.

I’m reminded of this truth as we work with a new vendor to McLellan Marketing Group. While they’re quite good at what they do, they have the customer service skills of a grumpy drunk. I have often found myself wondering if they have any concept of what it’s like to work with them. My guess is… no.

Our experience with them has me very mindful of how we’re treating our own clients. Are we taking the time to really walk out the next steps with them? Are we in tune with their hesitations or worries? Do we dismiss their concerns or ideas because “we know” what’s right? And do we even bother to explain the why?

I find myself wanting to be able to experience us… as a new client. What do they see and hear? Do they feel welcome and important? Or do they feel rushed and confused? Are our procedures confusing? Our bills clear? Our gratitude evident?

We can’t step into their shoes, but we can ask for their feedback. We can be more mindful of how it must feel from their position. In our quest to create love affairs with our customers — this would seem to me to be pivotal.

How about you? How do you balance conducting business in a way that is efficient and effective with customer care? How do you stay in touch with what it’s like to do business with you?

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