Rather than repeat what Seth said in “Winning on the Uphills” post, I just wanted to share this with you and add my 2 cents.  The key in this to me is hat we all have the “moments of truth” many call them where things are in a shambles and look like there is no light at the end of the tunnel (except the oncoming train) and we don’t know what to do.  The key here is to “rally the resources” and demonstrate what you are really made of – delivering a great customer experience.

It reminds me of my days back at IBM when something would go wrong with a system or an installation (I was in sales and sold their big iron to big companies).  They didn’t sit around and blame or point fingers or try to convince the customer it was their problem, NO, they put “people in planes” and flew them in to solve the problem.  The customers LOVED it and we earned more LOYALTY that day than all the other days where we just kept them happy.

Morale of the story – use the worst of times and the crisis to demonstrate what it is your customer wants – focus on their issue and resolving it in the heat of battle.  And you don’t have to do this very many times – only once in a while and you earn a lot of Loyalty Points in their eyes.  So “man up” and show them what you’ve got…

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 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.

What we need is for the media to point out all the things that are RIGHT and GOOD for a change – where are those journalists and media people when you need them.  Well, I found one and I wanted to dedicate this post to him and his publications/media.  His name is JOE KENNEDY, publisher of EastsideBusiness.  I just read his column, “Words from the Publisher” and I was so pleased and excited I wanted to CONGRATULATE him and HONOR him for taking a stand and leadership in this area – WAY TO GO JOE!!

Allow me to quote some of what he says directly from this column.

Despite the type of news you may be getting from other media outlets, Eastside Business and Eastside Life newspapers are choosing to stay positive – it sure beats the alternative!  in fact after almost 4 years in print, I finally made my first company policy – we will not use the “E” or “R” words in our publications.  We will stay positive and want you to as well.

Joe, I can’t compliment you enough – this is AWESOME. Does this mean everything is fine and all the bad will go away – certainly not, nor is he saying it will.  But while we are sitting in all the muck, why not look up at the sunshine and the sky and enjoy the beauty around us – that is what I believe Joe is saying.  None of us will be better off for continuing to talk about the problems – only the solutions.  I, for one, will be the first one to walk behind Joe.  Attitude is everything and we have shown that as a nation we don’t let this kind of thinking and talking take us down.  So to ALL the other media sources out there – GET A LIFE AND GET THE MESSAGE – we don’t want to hear about it any longer.  Thanks Joe.

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.

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.

However, if you are looking to capture “competitive” or “nuances” or “deep” information about your customer, ABSOLUTELY NOT!  Customers have been and still are being constantly bombarded by surveys by everyone – from their recent oil change to purchasing flowers.  But they just keep sending them.  I am convinced the more I talk with companies that this isn’t something they actually expect to give the good information, they just don’t know (or don’t want to expend the effort) to do something else.  To most, it is the “path of least resistance” and it gives them at least some metrics to work from. 

I try to ask a very thought provoking question when I am in the discussion over survey’s.  You might try this one in some of your conversations as well.  It goes like this, “Would you rather have “metrics” of mediocre information that doesn’t give you much insight or no metrics on information that is deep and different than what your competitors are getting?”  You be be the judge.  I think you already know my answer.

Too often companies are so anxious to report they have a 4.2 in customer satisfaction that they forget why they are “really” talking to their customers.  Isn’t the reason you survey them to understand more about them so you can continually improve the relationship, hoping to build more trust and loyalty?  I thought so, but I am constantly surprised that this is not the intent at all.  It is to get a SCORE so they can report how wonderful they are doing and how much they think the customer likes them.

I talk to customers all the time.  I am here to tell you this is NOT what they are really saying.  Most of the time they give you pretty good marks because they don’t really care.  What?  Yes, you heard me right, they give you good marks because they don’t care.  If they gave you what they really thought, you would call them and harrass them until you gave them higher marks and then you would leave them alone again.  In reality, they are giving you good marks because they want you to leave them alone because for whatever reason they don’t think you can deliver what they really want.  Change your perspective a bit?  I hope so because i really want you to see that the final marks you get might not really be the way your customer really feels.

Contrast this to the company that doesn’t send them these lame survey’s and actually TALKS to their customers and uses tools the CUSTOMER really wants to use to communicate back to you.  If you actually asked the customer what they truly wanted, what promises they want you to keep, how they want to be treated, how they want to interact with your company, what customer experience they want to have, you wuld hear completely different information than anything you get from your survey.  If you also make it easy to provide “realtime” feedback that is icing on the cake.  Do you have a blog?  Can they interact with you via your blog?  Make it easy for them to work with you and you will see a change in both the relationship and the quality of information.

So, moral of the story is don’t survey them to death and expect anything of value – except unhappy customers.  Talk to them (preferably using outsiders since they generally get more information than you will get) and make it easy to build a dialog when it is important to THEM.  The differences will be dramatic.  Trust me on this one – it will change the way you interact with your customers forever – and they will love you for it!!

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

I left a comment on their site that basically said, good idea, but not something that will build loyalty longer term.  Why?  Simple.  This, as many other articles and ideas out there focus on what to do immediately and uniquely to change the customer experience so your customer will go, “Wow, this is pretty interesting maybe I will be loyal to them now.”  I hate to say it but that just isn’t how it works with customer experiences and loyalty.

What builds Loyalty is TRUST.  And Trust can only be “earned” by “consistent” repetition of events.  We use the word “Promises” as one way to describe these events.  If someone understands the “Promises” a customer (or employee or shareholder or supplier or partner – you get the point) wants you to make, and you have a way to consistently keep that promise, your constituent will begin to build up trust with you.  Without consistency you have no trust.  And without trust you have no loyalty.

So, when someone starts talking about having a new way to deliver a customer experience that sets them apart, it is important to remember that it is the “basics” that create loyalty.  Customers, based on our experience and research, have shown the one PARAMOUNT component they would like is to have a “consistent” and “predictable” experinece that can be repeated over and over again – customers DON’T like SURPRISES. 

We have found that the only true way to actually build a “consistent” and “repeatable” experience is to link the desired experience to the processes of the organization.  Without this linkage you can’t have everyone on the same page delivering the same experience.  When the experience isn’t connected to the processes, you run the risk of getting “happy Harry” or “sad Sally” instead of what they want, which is “mediocre Mike.”  Customers would rather have a mediocre experience that is consistent than an exceptional experience once in a while and not know what they are getting.

So when you read all the articles, blogs, comments, etc. out there that talk about the “latest and greatest” way to WOW your customers – don’t listen.  Go back to what you know is what the customer really wants – CONSISTENCY and REPETITIVE experiences they can count on each and every day and not guess which experience they are going to get.  Don’t give in – resist the temptation to continually confuse your customer – that will only lead to defection, not LOYALTY. 

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

But really folks, think about your own lives and those of your businesses.  Isn’t it refreshing when something you are working on or involved in or managing is so simple everyone gets it right away?  Isn’t every one’s life easier (other than possibly the consultant that is trying to make it too complex) when something is simple?  I am reminded of this every day in the work we do and in my own personal life.  Think of Apple and the Ipod – can’t get any simpler than that – one button and a wheel does it all.  Every time, and I mean every time I either make something more complex than it should be or communicate my thoughts in a way that is too complex to understand, everyone loses – especially me. 

I built Customer Experiences Inc. using the mantra, “Simple Solutions – Powerful Results” and I try to live by that every day for the sake of my clients.  We do a lot of things, one of which is helping companies better understand the promises their customers want them to keep.  As part of that work we are constantly reminded by our clients customers how complex they have made the relationship.  They don’t fully understand what they are being promised and they aren’t really sure if they are delivering on these promises that they don’t fully understand – whew – that is is complex and confusing. 

Another example is when we look inside our clients own “house” to see what is happening internally.  Invariably, we see new solutions and programs being implemented (or I should say trying to be implemented) that have no chance in you know what of succeeding.  Why?  Because they are so complex that the majority of employees don’t even understand the program or their role in helping to make it happen.  It doesn’t work if only top management and the creator of the program gets it – it has to reach the “lowest common denominator” in the company.  If they don’t get it, it won’t work.  But when companies introduce programs that are so simple the lowest level employee “gets it” and understands their role in it – it is generally wildly successful. 

A great example of this, and I keep going back to this company, is Southwest Airlines.  Their missions statement is so simple everyone gets it and knows their role in it.  It is simply, “The Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Simple – everyone gets it and can do their best to make sure they are living by this rule.  We could all learn a bit more and be a bit more effective at everything we do if we constantly keep the word SIMPLE in front of us every step of the way – and when things start to spiral out of control, remember the Golden Rule and get back to something that is simply simple.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.