Loyalty is not built overnight, but it can start with a single event. This past week I was in Nashville celebrating my wife’s birthday and had some great experiences. I thought you might enjoy hearing about them as you think about “customer experiences” and how they can create “customer loyalty.”

Consistency is still KING. One particular experience we had in Nashville was to sample some of the local cuisine – very different from the Pacific Northwest to be sure. I never knew you could deep fry so many things! I wonder if new homes come with built in Deep Fryers in addition to the stove and cooktops. One restaurant we experienced was called Caney Fork Fish Camp, just outside of Opryland. We went there to try the local delicacy of “fried pickles” – which we heard were one of a kind. They were.

The fried pickles were, in my humble opinion, excellent! I’m not sure I could make a steady diet of them but they were certainly an unusual treat. I’m ahead of myself a bit so let me back up. When we got to the restaurant, the hostess was actually quite rude and seated us in the bar – away from the ambience and action. I asked to be moved and it seemed like a big imposition. First impression – not good. However, when the waitress came to great us she was totally opposite – super wound up and friendly. Happy to help, she immediately put things on a better course. By the end of the meal we met the manager and she was super friendly and very willing to talk to us “outsiders” about their restaurant, cuisine and culture.

So in the end, we had a great experience and left willing to recommend the restaurant to others. But it could have gone the other direction. I am still puzzled how they allowed the hostess to treat us like she did and set the “inconsistent” tone to be one I could have walked away from. If she had been consistent, they would have captured me from the start and I would have been beaming. As it is, I would warn everyone to ignore the hostess and focus on the waitress and manager. That is unnecessary and certainly wasn’t the impression they wanted to leave.

So if you want to capture the hearts, minds and feelings of your audience from the beginning, make sure your first impression is your strongest. It can carry the day and certainly allow you to jump start your way to building unsurpassed loyalty. Do a “self-audit” of your own organization – is the first impression ALWAYS consistent with the impression you want everyone to leave with? If not, time to start over.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

In the customer world, it is, and should be, what can you do to help make your customers life easier, better, more efficient, more productive, more profitable, etc.  This is the way it should be – helping your customer be better at what they do by using your products or services.  If you stay focused on this, you will win out above your competitors that don’t play by this same rule.

However, if you are engaged in Social Media at all, you realize it is about “what am I doing right now”, or “what is on your mind” or “saying something about yourself” type of questions and comments.  Thus the dichotomy.  We are in the “ME” generation which makes it all about me.  But that doesn’t translate well at all to the customers world very well.

I believe you can in fact make the translation.  I believe you can take a world that focuses on you and focus it on your customers.  I will talk more about this in my next several posts.  The Social Media Revolution is upon us (visit my Social Media Blog to learn more) and I believe those that can make this connection between the customer (all about me) world and the individual (all about me) will be the magic that sets companies and organizations apart from each other.  Stay tuned…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

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

Too often a business tells its existing customers that they are the MOST important people to them and that they are the KEY to their success and all sorts of other accolades.  However, what ends up getting exhibited is exactly the opposite.  The business actually REWARDS the new customers more than their existing customers.  For example, when my contract ran out for DSL service through Verizon, I received a notice in the mail that they would be willing to sign me up for another year at the current rate of $32.95 a month – sounded like a good deal, right?  Not exactly. 

When a did just a bit of research I found out that they were offering NEW customers a year of service for $19.99 a month to get them to subscribe to their DSL service.  I have been a customer with them for over 10 years now and I am getting this really super special deal and getting the privelage of paying over $10 more per month – WOW do I feel special.  Of course when I called and complained and threatened to terminate my service they magically matched the intro pricing for new customers and reluctantly gave me the lower pricing.

How many times have you treated your own customers this same way?  I hope none.  Customers are not stupid for the most part.  In a world of transparency, they figure things out – just like I did.  They will eventually (probably sooner than you like) figure out that you are treating new customers better than your loyal or existing customers.  If you want to build LOYALTY, start with treating them at least as good (if not hopefully better) than new customers.  They have proven they will consistently spend money with you, why put this in jeopardy by only rewarding your new customers. 

Acquisition is important for sure – but NOT at the expense of LOYAL customers.  Loyal customers have been shown to spend more and give companies greater margin – why risk this to bring on a new set that may or may not stick with you and lose your existing ones in the process.  In these difficult times, put your money into solidifying your LOYAL customers first, anything left over should go to acquisition.  Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The key message from their study, “Giving Customer Voice more Volume,” was summarized perfectly, “Customer experience is one of the most critical determinants of brand strength and business growth. Yet most organizations and senior marketers suffer from major blind spots and gaps in the way they interact, handle and respond to customer issues or problems,” says council executive director Donovan Neale-May.

The truth be told, it is far easier than companies believe it is to actually understand the customer experience their customers want.  At least 8 out of 10 companies I talk with make this process far more complicated than it should be.  And as such, either delay the process or make it so difficult that their customers choose not to participate or contribute since they know it won’t do any good.  Are you one of those organizations?  If so, my free advice is STOP making it so complicated and your customers will reward you for your simplicity.  Hope this helps.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

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.

By way of background, we had this issue several years ago in the Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction discussions.  What I would do is get a room of people together (not more than 25) and I would ask them all to write down the definitions of “Loyalty” and “satisfaction” and a few other terms.  You guessed it – what came back were a whole host of definitions that were all over the map.  So then, what “is” the right definition?  The only answer was, it depends.

Fast forward to today and ask the same question about the word “Authenticity” and I’ll bet you a venti Starbucks latte that I would get the same results as I did with the words Loyalty and Satisfaction.  Big problem.  If you have one definition and your audience has another one, you will NEVER see eye-to-eye and thus won’t be able to deliver the “experience” they are desiring from you.  It is absolutely critical that you are on the same page with your definitions so you can deliver on these.

OK, so what’s the answer you ask?  Find a word or words that aren’t as ambiguous and that you don’t have to spend a lot of time and resources to make sure you are on the same page.  We came up with the word “PROMISES” to do just that.  No, we didn’t invent the word, we just decided to use it in the context of customers to make life simpler and more straight forward.  When I asked the same question of the group above and used “Promises” they virtually all got it right.  Why?  Because it is a simple and powerful word that everyone understands.  Is it dangerous?  Absolutely.  Anything powerful has the potential of being dangerous.  I will talk more about this in another post.

I just read Seth Godin’s latest blog titled, “Authenticity.”  Interesting discussion on this exact topic.  Why?  Because Seth uses the two words, “Authenticity” and “Promises” interchangeably!  He believes the definition of Authenticity is keeping your promises and “acting” a certain way rather than “being” a certain way.  Very interesting argument.  But if I asked all of you if you would have equated these two terms, I doubt I would have gotten much agreement – thus my initial point – definitions that are ambiguous NEVER, NEVER, NEVER result in easy to deliver experiences. 

When you use a word, make sure you feel it has the strength to be consistent among your audiences, especially customers and employees.  Otherwise, you run the risk of misunderstanding and delivering the “wrong” experience to your audience.  That is the reason we settle on the word “PROMISES” and live by the belief that if you understand what these are and can keep them with our audience (personal or professional) you will build TRUST which ultimately builds LOYALTY - it’s that simple.  Comments welcome…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

With that in mind, I had to comment on a couple of his most recent entries.  Why?  Because I really liked where he was coming from and because I think he left a couple of things out along the way.  Let me explain.

On January 23rd, he wrote in his blog the following:

Easiest cheap way to dramatically increase sales

Call your customers. Or write to them.

“I know that times might be tough for you. Is there anything I can do to pitch in and help?”

You’ll end up doing a lot for your customers. Which is a wonderful privilege. Even for those that don’t reciprocate.

 

 

Seth, couldn’t agree more – almost.  I absolutely positively agree, as a customer experience evangelist, that you should be doing everything at this point in time to be communicating with your customers/clients.  BUT, rather than just leave it open ended of asking how you can help, be direct.  Ask your customers, “How can I help you be more successful in your business today?”  Now THAT will get their attention and elicit some responses that may offer you more specific ways you could help.  This usually is followed by questions and discussion – which is what your goal should be anyway.  The goal is to help “brainstorm” new ideas and new ways of thinking about the current environment we are in.  What you usually won’t get is “cut your prices” – that is what they will tell your competitors that didn’t ask the question.  Seth had the right idea for sure, just needed to push it a little further along. 

Seth also wrote on January 22nd, the following:

The five pillars of success

1. See (really see) what’s possible
2. Know specifically what you want to achieve
3. Make good decisions
4. Understand the tactics to get things done and to change minds
5. Earn the trust and respect of the people around you

It sure seems like we spend all our time on #4.

 

 

Again, couldn’t agree more – almost.  I would suggest another one – say 4.5 in the list.  I would suggest adding, “Keep your Promises – not matter what.”  Everything on the list is correct but it won’t lead to trust and loyalty and respect.  Keeping your promises, over and over and over and over again will do that.  So again, love the list – just with one minor addition. 

Thanks Seth – once again you are on target with relevant topics.  Keep them coming.  In the meantime, I hope you all have an awesome day!

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

I have been reading a number of blogs over the past several weeks and I have to admit, I am very disappointed.  The majority are focusing on the last several months when the “R” word entered everybody’s vocabulary.  What happened to the first half of the year when life was moving along quite well?  Did we all of a sudden forget about all the great things that happened then?

I would like everyone to think about the “entire year” when they look back at 2008 and realize that there were some great things that happened (or didn’t happen).  It is called “a year” because it is filled with 12 months, not 6 months.  

I am really looking forward to 2009 myself.  Yes, like most people, I was impacted by the economic news as well as grieving the loss of my mother.  However, the new year signals great times ahead and I am very encouraged that this will be a fantastic year.  I have also launched some new products as part of the Social Media (Customer Experience 2.0) platform that have gotten some rave reviews already so I am encouraged from multiple fronts.

But the basics are still there – health and family.  Above all, at the end of the day, these are things that really matter in one’s life.  I know it is over stated, but I am so thankful for both of these that everything else pares by comparison.  I just hope each of you takes stock in what happened throughout all fo 2008 and what you have as  you go into 2009 and take the time to celebrate the good things instead of dwell on the negative.

I hope all of my readers have the most wonderful and best year ever in 2009.  If you agree with me and you are excited about what you bring into 2009, let me know.  I love to share good news with others!  For now, have a great (and safe) New Year.

Cheers,

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Let’s look at Differentiation. Customer Experience 2.0 focuses on helping companies understand the promises their customers want them to make and using the tools of social media to help deliver these promises.  We see over and over again that companies simply don’t understand the promises their customers want.  If they don’t understand the promises they want then they can’t deliver the experience they want either.  Those organizations that understand this can deliver a truly unique and exceptional experience, leading to Differentiation from their competitors.  This is a significant step in building a sustainable competitive advantage.

Now let’s look at Sales.  This is simply being able to increase the sales of your organization.  It’s one thing to have some really cool, leading edge tools to offer your customers and others.  However, if they don’t help you increase your sales, what value do they really have at the end of the day?  We believe all the social media tools are terrific, but it’s only when they are combined with delivering a better customer experience do they allow companies to increase sales.  This is about increasing sales while delivering a differentiated customer experience.

There you have it – the two key ingredients that makes Customer Experience 2.0 an approach and framework we believe can help companies create a great competitive advantage.  More to come in this area…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.