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.

Let me give you a very simple answer.  It is NEVER too late to do planning.  It is ALWAYS better to start than to think you missed the window and wait.  So the rule to never forget – when in doubt, PLAN!!

I just read an article by Gladys Edmunds in USA Today about planning and it made me want to share it with you with one addition to what she is saying.  Her article, “Here’s a Mission for you – Make a Great Statement,” talks about the importance of having a crisp and clear Mission Statement.  She gives a couple of good examples and shares some experiences on companies that don’t even have one, whether it is a good one or not.  I completely agree – a Mission Statement is important for any organization.  

However, it is only one piece to the puzzle.  The Mission is simply your statement of what you are going to do over XXX years to help you achieve your Vision, guided by your Values.  In essence, it falls out of your Vision.  The key to a Mission statement is that it helps put some framework around your ability to create Strategic Goals and subsequently Actions to achieve these goals.  So is a Mission Statement important? Absolutely, but just as important as the other components of planning.

OK, now here is where I extend the conversation.  Planning WITHOUT ACTION is a waste of time.  The best developed plan isn’t worth the paper it is written on if there isn’t a steady, consistent focus by top management (yes, the CEO and President) to make sure it gets implemented and action occurs.  I know, this sounds pretty basic.  But I have to tell you that in my 15 years of doing strategic planning for companies, I see a number of them never get implemented – how sad.  There is such great thinking and great ideas developed by some incredibly bright people that never see the light of day because they don’t move beyond the planning stage.

So my piece of advice for the new year is simple. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN – just make sure you IMPLEMENT the plan so you can celebrate all your hard work and efforts.  And remember, “celebrate the little things because they always add up to something great when you do.”

Happy New Year,

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

What we ARE going to do is EXPAND upon what we have been talking about over the past year by adding one of the HOTTEST and most TALKED ABOUT aspect of the market – SOCIAL MEDIA.  We have been working in this area for a while now and there is such a natural connection between Customer Loyalty, Customer Experience, Employee Retention and building a dominating competitive advantage we decided it was time to bring you, our readers, kicking and screaming into this world.  You might ask  yourself, “Why are we doing this now?” 

Simple, we have always tried to be on the leading edge in helping our customers and readers – give them tools that help them be “first to market” and leaders rather than simply following their competitors.  This is one of those areas where one of three things will happen.  The train has left the station and you get to choose whether you jump on it, watch it go by or get run over by it – your choice.  For our loyal readers and all the new ones, we want you to not only be on the train but driving the train in the direction you choose and not in the direction your competitors choose – make sense?

So what does all this mean to you?  It means we will now share with you our thinking, our experience and insights into what the latest thinking and developments are in this area.  Our goal is to help move you along both the “learning curve” and the “execution curve” so you can come on board at whatever pace you choose and become part of the social media revolution at the level you can absorb.  Regardless of what you choose to do, you will be more educated and knowledgeable and understand the benefits of moving more into this new direction.  Suffice it to say, it is here and it is going to be staying around for quite a while.

So stay tuned, hold on and fasten your seat belts – its going to be a fun and profitable ride for you and your organization.  As we begin to launch into this, please let me know what you think and where we can focus our education as we begin to bring you leading edge content.  You can either leave a comment on this blog or shoot me an e-mail at bmillet@ceinc.info.  Either way, I would love to hear from you.  Thanks.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Our research shows they are not in alignment - in more than 75% of the organizations today.  OK, so you are probably saying to yourself, “that seems high, especially since our company knows exactly what the customer wants and deliver it every day.”  This is the most common response to this type of question – of course we know our customers or we wouldn’t be in business.  This is where the “best companies” challenge themselves and say, “maybe we aren’t as good as we thing – let’s test it and check it out.”

Those are the companies that truly rule in the market and have the greatest competitive advantage, greatest margins, highest degree of customer loyalty and are able to dominate their competition.  You decide – which side of the fence do you want to be on in this discussion?  As a leader, take the challenge.  Challenge yourself and your company to test this on a regular basis.  And test it with someone outside the company that is objective and can get you the accurate answer.  Don’t ask your sales people to check it out for you or any other group – the answers will be biased and it will be a waste of time.

Here is your recipe to make this happen.  Determine your customer segments (based on the experiences you provide – not the products/services).  Then pick a random sample of 10 customers from each segment.  Hire an outside firm to design the right customer experience information collection process (usually interviews, focus groups, something face-to-face – NOT surveys).  Take the same questions you would ask and survey, yes I said survey, your employees (you can survey employees but not customers in this manner).  Do this in parallel, at the same time.  Collect the results and do a “gap analysis” to see how much in alignment you are or aren’t – be honest with yourself – being dishonest only exacerbates the problem.  There you have it – grass roots way to see how close you are to “truly understanding your customers.”

Take the challenge.  We do this every day for our clients and they are shocked by the results.  They can’t believe how far out of alignment they are in some areas and how close they are in others – but overall, they now understand WHY they win and WHY they lose and WHY they and leading or WHY they are following their competitors.  Let me know if you have ever done this and if so, how in alignment were you?  It will add to our existing research and will be something other readers will benefit from.  Thank you in advance for any contribution of information you make.

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.

First, Step One – Decide you will invest in your customers.  When the economy is down, NOW is the time to invest in your customers.  I just read a report that gave some interesting numbers.  For example, a 20% increase in loyalty can yield up to 70% increase in profitability.  Cut it in half, cut it in a quarter or some fraction, it still generates higher profitability – that is the key message.

Step Two, understand your customers true loyalty triggers and drivers.  Take the time, invest in your customers and find out EXACTLY what it is that they want from you in these difficult times.  This is the time when most companies simply cut prices and feel this is being “customer-centric” – WRONG.  All this tells your customers is that you were over priced before and now you are trying to be more realistic.  What they really want is better service and more focus on their needs in their difficult times – that is the bond they want.  Trust me, they are waiting to tell you but you have to know WHAT TO ASK to get the right information.

Step Three – TELL THEM what you are going to do different.  The key is to make sure they know what you are doing BEFORE you do it.  Don’t just surprise them and test it out, tell them what you are going to do so they know what to expect.  They will be excited to see what happens and how you are going to deliver on these promises and services.  Don’t be afraid to tell them what you are capable of doing – just don’t tell them something you can’t deliver on. That will backfire and be worse than doing nothing.

Step Four – DELIVER, DELIVER, DELIVER.  Do what ever you have to do to deliver on these loyalty triggers and promises you make to your customer and what you are telling them you are going to do.  If you really want to do the best job, link to your business processes (this is what we talk about in our book, “Creating and Delivering Totally Awesome Custome Experiences“) so you can deliver “consistent” and “repeatable” awesome customer experiences to delight your customers.

Step Five – TELL THEM AGAIN what you are delivering and then ask them how you are doing – measure what you just told them and delivered to them.  Think about it – you now have three touchpoints with the customer – you told them twice and you delivered once.  What other program do you have that allows you to touch your customer with information they want to give you and get from you anyway – none that I have found.

I hope this helps a bit more and gives you a bit of additional insight.  The key to remember is make a concerted and active decision that you are going to focus on your customer more than ever in these difficult times – and don’t do it with price.  Do it with what they really want and what will last far longer than a quick price cut – delivering the experience they want and that will differentiate you and give you a competitive advantage.  Best of luck…

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.

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.

They start off by saying, “Thanks to the onset of Web 2.0, customers are increasingly able to shape the market. This is transformational. New technologies not only inform customers’ decisions about purchases, they enable a participatory role in everything from design and development to the point of sale.”  Then they move on to list 6 key areas they believe organizations (specifically retailers and CPG companies) will need to have to compete in the future.  These six key areas are:

1. Creating customer trust and preserving reputations
2. Involving customers to co-create trust and value
3. Competing on responsiveness
4. Competing on design
5. Competing on brand
6. Strategically and proactively using information to define demand

Is it any wonder that the TOP 2 areas of focus are around the customer and building Trust and ultimately Loyalty?  I don’t think so.  They stated (and used a quote) in describing the how to create customer trust that said, “When the goods and services that a company offers are easily duplicated by competitors, real differentiation and competitive advantage will only occur when a company improves its relationship and builds trust with its customer base.⁵ Trusted reputations and positive relationships are built through repeated high-integrity interactions with customers and the careful cultivation of a corporate image.”  WOW, maybe people are finally getting it.  We stated in our book several years ago that unless you can build a “consistent” and “repeatable” customer experience, you don’t have the chance to really build Trust and Loyalty.  I guess it means more coming from one of the Big 4 today (I feel I can take some liberties with them since I worked for one of the Big 5 for many years).

They go on to say, “As customers publish on MySpace and other venues, they become referents for other customers. If companies permit them, customers are also empowered to “virtually touch” nearly all parts of the company value chain, from insights for product design to co-creating ad copy in the marketing and sales cycles.  Companies are harnessing the collaborative power of their customer bases to create word-of-mouth marketing and collect consumer input on their product offerings.”  We are only beginning to see the impact of social marketing and the power of the customer in many new areas that organizations have not yet experienced.

Our advice, if you can’t “get in the game” today with Web2.0 and some of the social media, at least be aware that it is out there and understand the potential power it has to work “for you” or “against you” in the marketplace.  For those that are a bit more venturesome, take the bull by the horns and start doing something – even if it is baby steps so you can start to understand it better.  If you don’t have a blog, get one.  If you don’t have some presence on social networking sites, set one up.  These are relatively easy to do but will take some care and feeding.  Like with any good customer focused activity, plan it out well so you don’t have to retract or do major repairs on it later.

We completely support the comments made in the Deloitte Review and believe they are spot on target with their assessments and insights.  Building Trust and Loyalty takes time and takes a concerted effort on everyone’s part.  But when your customer finally receives a “consistent” and “repeatable” experience and you are able to keep your PROMISES to them, you will be the winner in the end.  Thanks for reading…

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.