Why was I there?  They were interested, like many other CEO’s in the area, in learning more about the Social Media Revolution and how his new phenomena of communications could impact their businesses.  They were eager to hear my message about what the “tools of Social Media” are and how they fit together to become this powerful business communications force.

I shared the concepts and advantages of blogging, social networking (myspace, facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter) and the other elements that make up this powerful suite we call Social Media.  By sharing a number of examples about how companies are using these today, they were able to understand how Social Media will be changing the landscape of how we communicate, build relationships, improve the customer experience and achieve business goals faster and cheaper than ever before.  The group responded very favorably and asked some excellent questions.

The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, led by Betty Nokes, CEO and President, is really looking ahead to how they can personally use Social Media to build even more value for their members and the businesses in the Bellevue community.  I commend Betty for her willingness to allow us to share a somtimes shocking message about how dramatically this landscape is changing.  I also want to personally thank Jim Frank of Human Capital Resources, a human capital solutions company, for introducing me to Betty and the Chamber.  Jim attended one of our early seminars and became “enlightened” and felt this was an important message to share with his fellow EBRT members – thanks Jim, the members are all a little better off today because of your willingness to share our message.

I also wanted to recognize a few of the members of EBRT that I had the opportunity to talk with at the event.  Donna Shirey of Shirey Contracting, sponsors of the Zero Energy Idea House  (check this out – way cool), Nancy Cho, President and CEO of Oki Golf, Dave Ferguson, CEO of Click Engineering, Jim Hebert, Hebert Research, John Parkey, and George Bartell of Bartell Drugs - just to name a few.  What a great group of people.  I would encourage anyone to join the Chamber and in particular the EBRT group.  Definitely call Betty if you are interested.  This group will definitely make things happen in our area…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

This is an executive networking group that has been around for 90 years and has a very rich history and heritage for helping the members build new relationships in the community and help each other out in growing their businesses by sharing opportunities.  The executive Director, Glenna Thomas, was really looking out for her members by allowing us to come in and talk about a very leading edge and yet at times controversial topic – Social Media and Social Networking.  My hat goes off to her and Dennis Tyler of DialPro Northwest, for taking the chance on having us speak to their members and introduce some leading edge information. 

The group seemed to really enjoy being exposed to how Social Media is the next REVOLUTION in communications and how it can be used to help them in their businesses.  This was our 7th seminar on the topic of “Social Media for CEO’s” in the past few months and as usual, much of the information was very new to the audience.  I was very encouraged at how receptive the owners and executives were to how this could transform their businesses.

If you are in the Seattle area, I would strongly encourage you to contact Glenna and get more information about the group.  While we didn’t get a chance to meet everyone, we did meet a few great people afterwards, some of which were: Peter Frix of Frix Technology Group, John Kane from Kane Environmental Inc., Jim Conway from The Farwest Group, Diana Ehli, Dexter Barnes from Seattle Dental Associates and Linda Bianchi from both Windemere and the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce - just to name a few. 

Again, THANK YOU Glenna, Dennis and The Seattle Executives Association for allowing us to crash your luncheon – much appreciated and very enjoyable.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

In this article, Tom said, “If you can’t get people to pay for what they love, we’re all out of business.” WOW – this was a great statement not just for Newsweek magazine but for the world of business.  Think about it.  If you don’t create a customer experience where your customer doesn’t “love dealing with you” how long, in this competitive climate called a recession are you going to last?  This is something i have espoused for years and years that is you don’t have a customer experience that customers love and they don’t absolutely love dealing with you, Trust and Loyalty are always going to an elusive goal. 

If you take anything away from Tom’s message it is this.  Get someone to honestly evaluate your current cusotmer experience from an objective perspective.  NO, ididn’t say do another lame survey.  I said understanding the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and the PROMISES that go along with being able to deliver on this experience.  Get help in understanding the Promises your customers want from you and figure out how far off you are in being able to deliver on these promises and FIX IT or you run the risk of going the direction of the print media – extinction.

Understand what it takes for your customers to LOVE dealing with you and what PROMISES they want you to keep every day and you will have LOYAL customers that TRUST you and wouldn’t go anywhere else.  And in these difficult times, isn’t that what everyone wants?  Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

I was reading an article in the Harvard Business Publishing Blog on Warren Buffet and his views of this whole economic mess when I came across a great comment at the bottom of the article.  The article was titled, “The Wisdom of Warren Buffet,” by Bill Taylor.  Bill writes about a variety of topics and this one was spot on in the way we should think about “leading” and “innovation” and our “competition.”

Bill pulled some comments from a speech Warren Buffet gave where he said,

At one point, his interviewer asked the question that is on all our minds: “Should wise people have known better?” Of course, they should have, Buffett replied, but there’s a “natural progression” to how good new ideas go wrong. He called this progression the “three Is.” First come the innovators, who see opportunities that others don’t. Then come the imitators, who copy what the innovators have done. And then come theidiots, whose avarice undoes the very innovations they are trying to use to get rich.

The beauty of his down to earth logic was spot on in my opinion – innovation should never be stopped but watching great innovation be turned into worthless riches because of idiots is not what we should support.  Lehman Brothers and many others have shown us how this can happen and how great ideas can be turned into garbage when irresponsible idiots get a hold of it – thanks Dick Fuld.  Ok, now you know how I feel about that situation.

But there is one other point I want to offer to you to consider that was hidden at the very bottom of Bill’s article.  This, to me, was the point we should all consider when it comes to our customers.  Customer Innovation should be top of mind all the time for everyone in the company, especially any “C-Level” executives.  After all, they are the only ones that still write us checks.  But beyond customer innovation, one needs to consider “leading” with how they can create a better customer experience and by doing that is rewarded by greater Loyalty and greater Riches.  This is the way true customer innovation should occur.  There are others out there that are the Imitators and want to copy the leaders, nothing wrong with this at all – it helps the customers and raises the bar for everyone.  What we want to see weeded out are the “idiots” that enter the game and screw it up for those doing the right things.  Hopefully some of the economic challenges will purge these from the system – one can only hope.

OK, so what is the great quote I was referring to?  It was,

“The curse of humanity is that people feel compelled to look over their shoulders,” Professor Warwick told my colleague Polly LaBarre a while back. “Happiness and self-esteem depend on rank and relative income. We are consumed by relativism. If your neighbor drives up in a new Lexus, and you’re still driving the Toyota that you were perfectly satisfied with yesterday, you start to become dissatisfied.  So don’t use the financial crisis as an excuse to stop taking chances or downsize your ambitions. But do use the crisis as an opportunity to take stock of what really matters–and to stop looking over your shoulder.”

 

My thinking – STAY THE COURSE, remain a LEADER and INNOVATOR in the way you support and serve your customers and don’t look over your shoulder and drive by the rear view mirror.  

Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

John states in the article that when times are tough and the economy is either weakening, is already weak or is headed downward, don’t try and cover it up with “things are going well” type comments to employees – be straight with them and be TRANSPARENT.  Everyone knows this is happening, so why are we making excuses that it isn’t or it isn’t as bad over here or over there – just be straight.  There is too much information easily obtainable today that would warrant this type of behavior.  Yet, many if not most organizations today continue to play this pathetic game of cat and mouse with employees.

OK, let’s turn the tables a bit on this same subject.  What about your CUSTOMERS?  Don’t you think they deserve the same treatment?  Absolutely YES!!  Why would an organization try to paint a different picture for their customers when they, in most likelihood, realize things are tough and as such you should be straight with them as well.  It is really pathetic when a company tells their customers “hey, things are going well for us” and then they lay off 20% of their employees – duh?  Customers aren’t stupid and when you treat them like they are, guess what happens – they DEFECT and buy from your competitors. 

The goal of any organization should be to be as transparent as possible to their customers and form greater partnering opportunities and situations where they share more information with their customers.  Customers realize you need to make a profit so why hide it – be up front with it.  Customers know you have to operate in certain ways to make their life as easy as possible, don’t hide that either.  And most certainly customers figure out when you are in trouble as a company or not – don’t hide that either.  Instead, adopt a philosophy of TRANSARENCY with both your customers and employees and you will benefit greatly.

Remember, Loyalty, whether it be employee loyalty or customer loyalty, is an end state.  It is built on a foundation of trust.  Trust is built on a foundation of making and keeping your promises and being transparent with your customers and employees.  Don’t think you can get to loyalty and skip trust – hasn’t ever worked and never will.  Spend the time, invest in your people and your customers and above all, be transperant and straight with both of them.  The rewards will far outweigh any additional costs or hardships you might endure. 

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Strategy is something that should be done when times are good – modify during weaker times but fully executed the way it was designed.  The problem with developing an all encompassing strategy in bad times is that companies tend to build “reaction strategies” instead of “proactive strategies” – there is a difference.  Companies generally aren’t thinking as clearly when they are in react mode than when they have time to create a “blank sheet of paper” to work from.  This can compromise your true intent as a business and cause you to forget what will differentiate you in the future.

However, one thing I would encourage you to consider during bad times is that you might have to change the way you “execute” your strategy or the “priority” of some of the goals/objectives.  Some areas may need more emphasis during weaker times and others might need to be put on hold for a few months to focus in certain areas.  This is NOT changing your strategy but merely modifying it to the current conditions.  There is a big difference between modifying it and changing it completely.  What you wanted to accomplish in good times shouldn’t change – HOW you get there should.

Bottom line – definitely build a strategy for where you truly want to get and what you stand for as an organization.  Get outside help to work with you so you can see the forest AND the trees.  After you have created the core strategy, goals and objectives, now do an “overlay” of today’s conditions and see what you  might need to modify in its “execution” based on current economic conditions.  Stay in “proactive” mode with the focus that your customers will see through your antics if you switch to “react” mode.  Customers are still the driver and as long as you incorporate their input and contributions to help make a “Customer-Centric” Strategy you can’t be too far off target.

Remember, customers are still the primary group that writes you checks every month.  To stay in sync with them during weaker economic times, you need to be even closer to them so you are more in tune than your competitors.  Take the lead, bring them into the fold and get them involved more than ever – it will pay big dividends both today and tomorrow.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

As you all know well by now, I spend a lot of time working with top executives in the areas of customers, sales and business development, strategy, marketing and other business consulting venues.  I say this to support the fact that I have seen a lot of very successful organizations and some very unsuccessful organizations. 

One thing for certain in all my travels is that if you aren’t moving forward you are going backward.  There is no more “neutral” position in the market as far as I can tell.  “Holding your ground” just means waiting for the enemy to attack – and on their terms, not yours.  The comparison to the shark is so accurate – keep moving or you will die.  However, I have also been preaching the benefits of “consistency” and “predictability” and “repeatability” in every interaction you have with your customer, partners, shareholders, employees, suppliers, etc.  So how does one balance this “constant state” with that of a “changing state” in today’s fast moving and challenging environment?  How does one actually create innovation without crisis?  These are some of the questions I was asking myself this weekend and thought i would share my results with our readers.

Let me first begin by saying I don’t find these mutually exclusive in any way.  In fact, I think they are completely supportive of each other in many ways.  Second, I believe there are ways you can offer this up to your “internal” and “external” constituents in a way that benefits everyone.  What is innovation anyway?  Many definitions out there today as the word is used extensively.  My simple one is, “coming up with something ‘different’ that allows you to stay in the lead.”  This might not pass the Webster scrutiny but if you think about it, isn’t that why we want to innovate – to stay on top and in a leading position in whatever we are doing?  Now let me throw a different perspective at you.

Why wait?  Why wait for a crisis to force you to innovate?  Why be pressed into the corner and have to come up with something in order to create new and innovative ideas?  I don’t believe you have to.

I prescribe to the belief that proactive is generally better than reactive.  True, while you have the luxury of obtaining market and other information ahead of your response, you certainly won’t be viewed as the “innovator” or “creator” of new products or services.  This may work in certain situations but there are a lot of other benefits to also participating occasionally as the “innovator.”  So how can you do both – simple.

Create a “Mock Crisis” to simulate what you believe could occur in the market.  Do this on a regular basis, not just once a year when you do planning.  Train your teams to think in “Mock Crisis” mode and you will find people are much more creative and innovative in a less stressful time and can come up with more ideas than you could possibly imagine.  Are all of them good ones – absolutely not.  But all of them are ways to think about the crisis BEFORE it actually occurs so if it does occur, you find yourself in a much less stressful situation and thinking much clearer – and with better information. Mock Crisis simulation lets you live the future today.  Experience the fear and pressure when there isn’t any and learn how to react to this in advance.  Know how you will respond quickly and the process you will go through before you have to go through it. 

So yes, crisis does force innovation and always will.  Just take control and put the leverage and timing on your side and not that of your competitors or other outside influences.  Keep moving forward, even when things are running along smoothly.  Innovate continuously and proactively – not reactively.  At least not all the time…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

I actually have used this title a number of times and have received quite interesting and positive feedback from all sorts of people. Why?  Here are some of the excerpts from their comments.

• “The customer experience should start with the top officer of the company – they know what should be delivered and how better than anyone – or should know”
• “Experience, Branding and Messaging should all be part of the traditional CEO’s job so why not make it more blatant – everyone knows they are at the top so make the title more descriptive”
• “Without a great experience, we have nothing”
• “This is great – puts the customer in the “executive suite” – where they should be”
• “We all pay “lip service” to our customer experience – saying we are doing all these great things but when it gets pushed too far down the organization and lower level managers are in charge, who “really” gets excited about it – top guy must drive the ship with respect to customers”
• “Maybe this needs to be a separate position that is a direct report to the traditional CEO and is included in the “inner circle” of executives – bet something different would happen in respect to how we treat our customers”

I want to thank all the people who have offered me their comments and suggestions.

Also, on Seth’s Blog (if you don’t know Seth you don’t know blogging) he had a comment from a relatively new author, Ted Matthews, who wrote a book called, “Brand, It ain’t the logo“.  In essence, one of the key messages is, “Branding is too important to be left to the marketing team. If branding is everything a company does, and the marketing folks persist in acting like advertising people, then put the CEO or their surrogate directly and totally in charge of what a brand means.”  Wow, couldn’t agree more – great insight.  It goes right along the theme of today, if customers are the primary channel that pays you money, why wouldn’t you want to put your CEO or surrogate in charge of it to really make it blatantly obvious to your employees and customers.

Food for thought for sure…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Kevin is not our normal CEO and not your normal individual – only it would be great if he was.  He is a dynamic, no holds barred, free thinking and free speaking executive that is trying to ignite and change the way people think and act – I admire that and it inspires me.  He made a great quote in one of his speeches, saying, “The option to change is irrelevance.”  I love that line and will use it regularly because it is so true.

In a world where the barriers to entry are virtually gone, commoditization is at an all time high, companies are playing the “me – too” game and differentiation is a thing of the past, we need this to bring the spark back into American business.  I applaud his efforts, whether you agree with everything he does or not, at least he is out there doing something different. 

In a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture, titled, “Aiming for Blue, not Green,” he said “Passion is what matters most in business. Don’t hide your emotions. Emotions lead to action. Emotion is how you win.”  Being a “customer experience evangelist” and trying to get organizations to not just embrace and include their customers in their strategy, I want to see them passionate about their customers and doing something different.  Until an organization ”changes the game,” they will simply line up with all the others in their space and slug it out to try and not be the last one on the totem pole – what a way to live.

We need more CEO’s like Kevin that “demand” this type of change in the way we treat and interact with our customers.  This is electrifying and exhilarating and something every organization should at a minimum incorporate into their thinking when it comes to designing their customer experience.  Kevin coined a new term called “Lovemarks” in which he uses Apple as the example.  He says, “Apple is a company that has transcended being a brand, becoming a “lovemark” – a product or service that consumers revere.”  Whether you like the term or not, the intent is solid – take something you have or do and transcend your current brand or that of your competitors and make a difference.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Let me start by saying I LOVE Southwest Airlines – not just as an airline but for who they are and what they stand for.  I am very passionate about customer experiences and I don’t understand why customers have to put up with bad ones.  One of my key missions is to help organizations figure out how to deliver them consistently and repeatedly and earn the customers TRUST and LOYALTY.  Because of this passion, Southwest Airlines is one of those rare companies that does this day in and day out and as such delivers consistent and repeated profitability to their shareholders – you just have to flat out respect that.

They don’t do it with smoke and mirrors either – they do it with plain old transparency and putting all their cards on the table for the customer.  Their Mission Statement is SIMPLE and one that everyone gets, its to ”Follow the Golden Rule — to treat people the way that you want to be treated, and pretty much everything will fall into place.”  Don’t you love it – simple and easy yet extremely powerful and executable.  This is the way every organization should function in my opinion – keep things simple so everyone, from the board room to the factory floor gets what you are about and what their job is in serving the customer.

Customer Service is Colleen’s passion.  She goes on to say that 85% of her job is “dealing with worker issues – what she called “pro-active customer service to our employees”.  She states that “the underlying idea that a happy and motivated workforce will essentially extend that goodwill to Southwest’s customers. When we have employees who have a problem, or have employees who see a passenger having a problem, we adopt them, and we really work hard to try to make something optimistic come out of whatever the situation is, to try to make people feel good whatever the dilemma is that they’re dealing with.” Simple and straightforward and everyone gets it.

The article and online interview are something in would encourage you to read and view – it is inspiring and emotionally uplifting to any business of any size.  Colleen isn’t a Harvard MBA, she is a down home, speak and act from the heart type of person that can instill Herb Keller’s passion from when he started Southwest to all their employees and customers.  Truly a case study any university should analyze.  Way to go Colleen and Southwest Airlines – keep up the great work!!  Sometimes Simple really is Better.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.