6 customer service clichés deconstructed.

6 customer service clichés deconstructed.

Apr 11, 2018 | Customers, Marketing

It seems that every time I pony up for another insurance bill, I get one of those customer satisfaction surveys emailed within 24 hours, asking a few inane questions about my ‘experience’ and the level of service I received.

There is no room to say it was at best nondescript, often crap, that insurance is a cost I resent, am  suspicious of, and just hope that I never have to find out (again) if the after the disaster facts are actually as the advertising blurb promises.

Customer satisfaction indeed.

Normally I just ignore them, as responding only seems to encourage. (a bit like voting)

However, a recent emailed questionnaire got me thinking about what customer satisfaction really is, and how we go about creating and retaining such an ephemeral and personal idea.

Is it enough that we ‘satisfy’ our customers, and if so, what does that actually mean?

‘Delight our customers’ is a phrase that seems to have made it onto a few mission statements over the recent past. Is that one better than ‘satisfy’ or just more hyperbole?

Jeff Bezos famously demands that there be an empty chair in every meeting, a reminder that everything Amazon does is aimed at customer satisfaction. Reed Hastings has built Netflix from a minor irritation to Blockbuster into a digital entertainment behemoth by being ‘customer obsessed.’

If we are to be truly customer focussed, what should all  the common clichés really mean?

‘We listen to what our customers tell us’

Really? I listen to what my aging mother tells me, but do I follow the advice? Rarely these days. It should mean that we understand not just the words, but  the intent, and we use the information to test, and retest the delivery of our value proposition.

‘We obsess about customer satisfaction’

Most obsessions I have seen are all about the obsessor, rather than the obsessee. (are they really words?). It makes some feel better to tell ourselves we are obsessed with customer satisfaction, it justifies those long workshop sessions in a nice location. Most times when I go out and ask customers what they think of the level of service they receive, it falls short of satisfactory, let alone obsessional, and is markedly lower than the score businesses give themselves when asked the same question. It is easy to pass this off as delusional, but the reality is that customers rarely think about service until they experience it, and then only when it fails them. By contrast, companies are genuinely thinking about service consistently because it is important to them, but in an abstract way.

‘We understand what the customer expects of us’.

That is great, but also a bit unusual, as different customers almost always are looking for different things. In B2B businesses, it is essential that you understand the detail of a customer, and potential customers business processes so that you can really tailor your offering. A bit harder in B2C, but it is still true that individuals are seeking a range of different things that add up to ‘satisfaction’ in their minds. The real task is to create a situation where the customer sticks with you through thick and thin, simply because they believe you are better than any alternative.

‘We put customers in front of profits’

This gets trotted out regularly, without any understanding of the implications. The reason we have customers is ultimately, to make profits, and without profits, there will be no customer service at all. There has to be a balance, but it is true that satisfied customers lead to higher profits, it is a hard balance to get right.

‘The customer is always right’

The old perennial, and it has always been nonsense. However, treating customers with respect, humility and giving them the opportunity to be right is a great strategy. The most common example used is the retail  chain Nordstroms in the US. As the story goes, take a car tyre into Nordstroms and demand your money back because it was not up to expectations, and they will give it to you, despite not selling tyres. Perhaps it should be ‘The right customer is always right,’ to reflect the reality that there are some customers who are more trouble than they are worth, and you hope they go to your opposition.

‘The quality of our products speaks for itself’

No it does not! You need to speak for it. The base expectation of any customer is that the product you provide will deliver the outcome you promise. That is quality. A Hyundai will get you reliably from point A to Point B, does that mean it is the same quality as a Bentley, which will also get you reliably from A to B?. The answer to that question will most often be ‘No’  but then defining the ‘Value’ delivered by the extra few hundred grand to buy the Bentley becomes a different conversation entirely, with different customers.

Creating great experiences for customers brings them back for more, delivering revenue at much a reduced cost  than if you had to find a new customer. Share of Wallet and Lifetime Customer Value are the most undervalued measures of sales effectiveness, and also the most effective.

8 habits to generate a return on your investment  attending network meetings

8 habits to generate a return on your investment  attending network meetings

Mar 14, 2018 | Customers, Marketing, Strategy

 

As small business owners, most of us go to network meetings of some sort. BNI, Rotary, your industry association, the local SME network, whatever it is, with the idea that we will make connections with people who may, at some point be useful to us, and to whom we may be useful.

Going to these meetings usually costs a bit of money, but more importantly to time poor entrepreneurs and grinders, it costs us our time.

So how do we make the most of the investment?

It really is pretty simple, all it needs is to be genuinely interested in others, genuinely prepared to help, without necessarily asking for anything in return. This builds trust, and trust is reciprocated.

However, there are some simple things you can do to communicate your value without having to blab it.

Eye contact.

Maintaining eye contact signals sincerity and warmth, weather you are speaking to an individual, or a group. Either way, maintain eye contact. When speaking to more than one, do not  just gaze off into the ether, maintain eye contact with individuals in the audience, move it around, to engage with numbers. Few things annoy me more than meeting someone who is then looking over my shoulder for someone more interesting

Use their name.

Using someones name generates some level of intimacy, especially when we have just met. We are all told that we should repeat back the name of someone to whom we have just been introduced, but many of us do not, so the name goes as we are introduced to the next person. Do whatever is necessary for you to remember peoples names and fall back on the old excuse of ‘I am hopeless with names‘ as sparingly as possible, as it communicates ‘you are not worth knowing‘

Listen actively.

This really just means you give your full attention to the other person when they are speaking. Listen to them, repeat back what they have said as confirmation and perhaps clarification, and ask relevant questions that demonstrates you have been listening thoughtfully, giving their ideas and words your full attention.

Know who you are talking to.

Often this may not be possible, but if you can, know a bit about the person you are talking to by doing a bit of research beforehand. This enables you to ask questions, and make observations to those you meet that will tweak the emotions and motivations of their favourite person, themselves. Often this is impossible, but these days using LinkedIn and the various notifications sent around of who is attending, enables some level of research to be done prior to the meeting. This research always pays off.

Mirroring.

Body language 101 teaches us that people who are interested tend to mirror in very automatic and  subtle ways, the mannerisms and body language of those we are communicating with. There is considerable research that demonstrates conclusively this is not just learned behaviour, but an evolutionary biological process that enables us to distinguish between friends and enemies. It is not creepy to  set out to reflect body language, it is simply empathising.

Be respectful and grateful.

When someone has given you their time and attention, be grateful, and respectful for both.  When you communicate that sense of gratitude, most recipients will return the favour in spades. Wandering through the chairman’s lounge in an airport nearly 20 years ago, I walked past Pat Rafter, at the height of his career, just sitting by himself. By chance, I  caught his eye, slowed down without any intention of stopping, and thanked him for  the pleasure he had given me watching him play over many years. He responded by inviting me to sit, and we had a terrific conversation for 20 minutes until the flight was called. He would not remember, but I do!

Follow up.

This is so obvious it is often missed. Following up a casual meeting at a network group is the first step to be taken in the building of a relationship that might deliver a transaction at some point.  It is also the case that those you meet are often a window into their networks, so even if they are not in your ‘ideal customer’ profile, it is fairly certain that they know someone who is.

Do  not expect an immediate return.

Business is still largely done between people, despite the B2B label much of it goes by. As people, we prefer to do business with those we know,  like and trust, and that implies a relationship into which some investment of time, energy and sometimes a lot of caffeine has been made.

 

Despite all the digital tools, there is nothing like looking into the whites of someones eyes to decide if you want to have more to do with them or not.

Photo credit: Andre Luis via Flikr

Your ‘Values’ should not be table stakes.

Your ‘Values’ should not be table stakes.

Feb 27, 2018 | Customers, Marketing, Social Media

 

Consultants have delivered a lot of value to many over the years, but in some areas, have screwed the pooch.

One is the confusion that presides over the differences in meaning between ‘Vision’, ‘Mission’, and ‘Values’, and more recently, ‘Purpose’.

The result has been a huge number of well meaning but generic sounding statements adorning many reception areas.

You know  the sort of fluffy meaningless stuff I refer to:

‘XYZ company works as a team applying rigorous standards of integrity and authenticity to everything we do. We are focussed on delivering value to our customers, while having fun at work, and respecting the needs of our diverse workforce and supplier partners’

Bollocks.

Each element of that fluffy nonsense is table stakes if you want to stay in business, and in addition, that statement could apply to any business from the multinational supplier of coal to the local massage therapy franchise.

Building a brand, a position, a purpose, however you wish to define it for your business is a hard, long term job. It requires deep consideration of what it is you do, how you add value, and  what makes you sufficiently different to be  noticed and engaged by customers. Having a set of core beliefs that delivers on those three elements is what gives your brand the power and presence to stand out.

If you run a delivery service, speed of delivery is a given, as would be reliability. Having those two words on a board  in your reception will do little to differentiate you from your competition.

It is not easy to come up with the words that reflect the persona of your business, the way you would like others to see you.

It is however, worth the effort.

Good examples are few and far between, perhaps I am just being an old curmudgeon again. Ask Dr Google to give you some examples, and there are millions of responses, all with similar words.  Passion, integrity, respect, innovative, accountability, and so on all feature, largely it is just so much undifferentiated mush.

However, there are a few do stand out, beyond the few like Apple and Google that we all know:

Patagonia: ‘Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.’

Warby Parker: ‘To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price. While leading the way for socially conscious businesses’

Both these businesses have been standout performers over the recent past. Obviously it is more than their values statements that delivered that  outcome, but it helps.

My local mechanic, to demonstrate you do not need to be a cashed up multinational to have a great statement that defines you, has as his positioning statement on the wall for all to see ‘Our deep experience and attention to the detail ensures that your car stays reliably, safely and comfortably on the road longer.’

This always struck me as a useful expression of why I should be taking my precious old Merc to him.

 

 

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How to build a super effective customer ‘Persona’

How to build a super effective customer ‘Persona’

Feb 19, 2018 | Customers, Marketing

 

Who is your ideal customer, the one who will not haggle the price, who loves the product you sell, and proselytises for you? Knowing that person in great detail would be marketing and commercial gold.

Like all gold, it is hard to find, subject to all sorts of distractions and false starts, but immensely valuable when discovered, and discovery is usually incremental, rather than a ‘eureka’ moment. This means it is also a demanding challenge.

What is often also forgotten in the effort to define that ideal customer, is that every customer also has an ideal supplier, one who meets all their needs, delivering value in excess of the cost to them. It is a two way street, and a relationship only prospers where there is value being delivered to both parties.

It is always worth remembering that customers will buy when they are ready to buy, and that is not necessarily when you are ready to sell.  The name of the game is to be around when they are ready, with the credibility and value proposition that is compelling to them, which means that the better you understand them, the more effective your revenue generation efforts will be.

How do you define your ideal customers?

I have used the ‘Who, What, Where, When, Why & How’ model extensively to define the ideal customer with my clients. It is an iterative process, deceptively demanding, as it requires decisions about who is not an ideal customer, and therefore excluded from primary consideration. Choices like this are challenging, but necessary, particularly for small and medium businesses which do not have the luxury of a big pot of marketing money, you have to get it right or waste limited resources.

Following is a quick explanation that will enable you to at least start the process

Who: Is the demographics they may exhibit. Where they live, age, sex, education, job,  and all the other quantitative characteristics that are available. These parameters are pretty much all that  was easily available in any detail until digital tools came along.

What: are their behaviours. Do they go to the opera or rock concerts, perhaps both, do  they travel overseas for holidays, what sort of causes, if any, do they support, are they likely to demonstrate their beliefs publicly, or are they just internal. All the sorts of things that offer a picture of how they think, feel, and behave in all sorts of situations.

Where: will you find them digitally, as well as in the analogue (perhaps real) world, and what means can you use to make a connection. Are they likely to be avid users of Facebook, Linkedin or other social platforms, are they comfortable buying on line, do they ‘showroom’ digitally then visit the physical retailer, do they get their news from Facebook and Reddit, or more focused news sites, or even, surprise, surprise, newspapers and magazines.

When: will they be ready to buy? In some markets this is not a big issue, but in many, it is a huge one. For example, if you want to sell to government, the best time to be on the doorstep with an offer is towards the end of the financial year when departments have unspent money left in their budgets. Normally there is a Strong ‘use it or lose it’ mindset in government departments, and they are loathe to lose it, as that will reduce their bargaining power at the next budget round. In private enterprise, the two items that require watching are the budget cycles, getting a major purchase into the budget is often a part of the game, and being aware of changes in the customer and markets that often acts as a catalyst is the second. Takeovers, personnel movements, large contracts being let, are all situations where change is occurring, and the enterprise is normally more receptive to new ideas, and new suppliers.

Why: should they respond to your entreaties, to do whatever it is you are asking of them. What is your value proposition to them? What promise of a new and better tomorrow can you deliver? What can you deliver that is different and more valuable to them than any alternative? If you cannot answer these questions, it will come down to price, and winning a price war is a great way to go broke.

How: will you service the transaction, and the subsequent relationship that may emerge. This is usually down to questions about your business model and the ‘fit’ that has with the customer.

An essential adjunct to the creation of a persona is to create a customer journey map. This is the process that your ideal customer will go through from the initial itch, to awareness, consideration, preference, then to the transaction. This will enable you to use the persona to inject yourself into the decision making and buying process a customer is going through to optimise your chances of success.

I would be delighted to assist you to work through the process, it will deliver significant rewards when done well and implemented effectively.

‘Organic’ investment should be the saviour of (some) retail.

‘Organic’ investment should be the saviour of (some) retail.

Feb 16, 2018 | Customers, Marketing, retail

I went into a retail store last week with a problem, not really expecting to find anyone or anything that remotely met the immediate need I faced.

My web search had revealed many solutions, none of which gave me much confidence for one reason or another, but it had sparked a few ideas.

Lo and behold, the store I went to, (after a bit of web research) an independent store that clearly understood the niche it was servicing, had made a significant ‘organic’ investment.

They had several people who understood my problem, and were able to offer several sensible alternative solutions, one of which was perfect.

When faced with the same or similar challenge again, guess where I am going!

It may not be for a while, but inevitably it will happen again. Meanwhile, guess which store I am touting to my friends and colleagues.

Ironically, it seems that the most successful retailer on the planet, when measured by the standard retail sales/sq foot, and margin/square foot metric is one of the tech disrupters: Apple. They have redefined bricks and mortar retail by adding ‘organic’ sales staff to the best long term branding job ever seen, except perhaps for a couple of the major religions. At the end of 2017. Apple had 499 stores worldwide, and not content to leave well enough alone, are continuously investing and experimenting with formats, layout, branding, and the important ‘organic’ part of this hugely successful bricks and mortar puzzle.

On Wednesday (Feb 14, how appropriate) the Myer CEO was dumped by the board for failing to turn the ship around. The last time I was in a Myer store, admittedly some time ago, as I have no wish to repeat the experience,  there was no staff anywhere to be seen. My intention had been to buy a suit that had been advertised as part of a sale. Good price, good brand, I was in the store to buy, but no sale for Myer, although I did buy a similar suit elsewhere. Firing the CEO will have little impact on my future purchase intentions, without the long term investment in one of the the foundations of successful retail, good people at the customer coal-face, and a management culture that recognises and nurtures those people.

Digital is great, the convenience, price, and range are seductive, but there is no substitute for a person who has deep domain knowledge, has seen the problem before, and who is happy to help, and clearly gets a kick out of doing so. After all that, price does not matter so much, it just needs to be in the ball-park.

Just ask Apple.

Photo credit: Harry Pappas via Flikr

8 clichés every entrepreneur should consider

8 clichés every entrepreneur should consider

Feb 5, 2018 | Customers, Management, Small business

Clichés become clichés because they make sense, and are widely used, so they pass into the language. Unfortunately, common usage often makes them appear flippant, a throw-away line that means nothing.

That they take on that label does not make them any less valid, in fact, becoming a cliché is almost like getting an endorsement for wisdom.

Following are 8 that entrepreneurs embarking on an enterprise, whether it is the next Uber,  starting a cleaning business in your local area, taking on a franchise or a multi-level selling ‘opportunity’, that you should consider.

 

Cliché 1. Know where, and who, you are.

Irrespective of the starting point, starting a business is a journey. If you are going to start a business, recognise  that it will consume you if it is to be successful. It is not like being an employee, irrespective of results, at least for a while, you get paid to turn up.

Not so now.

Starting a business takes a heavy toll on not just your financial resources, but your resilience and personal relationships as well. Being prepared for the long hours, stress and uncertainty is a good start, you must know yourself well.

Cliché 2. Know where you want to go.

Many become tangled up in visions, missions, values, business purpose, their Why, and all the other ways that have become ‘popular’. All are valid, all have their place, but I ask my clients a simpler question; What does success look like? When you can answer that question, you have at least enough of an idea to start, but if the answer is purely financial, you need to do some more thinking.

Cliché 3. Have a plan.

There are lots of clichés about plans. Prominent amongst them are: ‘no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy‘, and  ‘failing to plan, is planning to fail‘ and both are right. Point is that unless you have a plan, you have no chance of understanding and managing your progress towards the goal, which tactics worked, and which ones did not. All crucial pieces of information. There are many planning models, each with their own emphasis, and I always recommend that you use several in the thinking part of the planning process as a way to ensure that things do not get missed.

Cliché 4. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Planning is the easy part, the hard bit is to take action. Without action, nothing happens, nothing!

Taking the steps, getting outside your comfort zone is why you are going into business for yourself.  Curiosity, an idea, recognition of a need you can fill, a problem you can solve, all are great reasons to go into business. All it takes is the first step, and it is always the hardest.

To add another cliché to the list: ‘hope is not a strategy’

Cliché 5. To succeed, you must have something others want.

Success in business is dependent on being able to deliver superior value to customers, at a cost that delivers you a margin. If you cannot deliver value, almost always the solution to a problem, which can be anything from a more efficient power station, to a better tasting tub of yoghurt, to on time delivery, or something no-one else can do, at a price the customer is happy to pay, you will  not survive.

Tough but simple.

Cliché 6. People have to know you are there.

Even if you do have the next greatest thing, you cannot sell it without  others who may need or benefit from your gizmo knowing about it. Marketing is essential. The process of gaining understanding how you will deliver value to whom, while making a profit on the way is make or break for every business, particularly a new one as generally you cannot afford to make mistakes. Selling skills are as important. Not only do you need to sell to your potential customers, but to the banks, your suppliers, and often even your partner. If you cannot sell, and do not want to learn how, do not go into business for yourself.

Cliché 7. Watch the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.

There are two aspects to this cliché. Cash is the lifeblood of every business, and you need to watch your cash the way a mother bear looks after her litter.

The first is to do a regular, I strongly recommend weekly, cash flow forecast. Make it a part of the way things are done in your business. At first it may seem strange, but it pays off, as you will always know your cash position, which will be a huge stress reliever. As a side benefit, trading while insolvent is illegal, and the simplest measure of solvency is can you pay your bills as they fall due.

The second is the behaviours you are setting out to build. Results come from the way things are done, as well as ensuring the right things are done, and if you want your staff to be as frugal with your money as you are, you have to  build, that behaviour deliberately. A weekly cash flow forecast with the appropriate level of staff engagement and contribution is a very good way to start.

Cliché 8. Work on your business, not just in it.

The ability to see your business as others  see it, customers, potential customers, and competitors, is essential to success. To have that external perspective, you must be able to extricate yourself from the day to day pressures of getting stuff done. It leads on to what could have been an addition the list, ‘do what is important, but not necessarily urgent’. Knowing what is important to the long term health and prosperity of the business is more about how others see you than it is about responding to those unimportant but seemingly urgent  things that pop up every day.

So, remember, all that glitters is not gold, but good advice can be.