Turning Frowns Upside Down Zappos Style
Admit it…at one point in time we’ve all not met our customers needs.
A change in the way we do business, a product we just can’t offer anymore, or a delivery time that is less than stellar has left them with a frown on their face.
Can You Turn a Negative to a Positive?
But what if we could take these negatives, and turn them in to long term positives for our customers, essentially turning their frown upside down?
Let me give you a story to illustrate a point, I’ll leave it to you to decide if you can do something similar in your own business.
The Story
A couple weeks ago was my birthday and my mother in law sends me a Zappos gift card – score one for mom in law! I’m not a big shoe shopper, but when I do I use Zappos.
So, I’m looking for a pair of “dress sandals” since summer’s coming (guys, you know what I’m talking about – those are the sandals we wear for nice occasions, weddings and such. Ladies – you’d still just call them sandals). Anyway, I find a pair I like, click “buy” and all is well.
Later that night I get an email from Zappos saying “Congratulations, your order has been upgraded to overnight shipping for FREE!”
Yahoo! I’m excited I’ll be getting my sandals quick, and I feel rather special my order was upgraded for FREE!
…then it dawned on me.
Not that long ago, free overnight shipping, both ways, was standard at Zappos. And here I am a short while later getting excited over something they took away from me, and now selectively give back once in a while.
Anybody else see the brilliance in this?
They had to change the way they did business, and no longer could guarantee me overnight shipping both ways unless I paid a little more for it. Think about that, that is a HUGE negative for the customer. That free overnight shipping is the reason why many people shopped with them, and (along with stellar service) was the “thing” they were known for.
I don’t know how many orders get upgraded, 50% maybe? But what Zappos did was brilliant. They took a service that was once standard, eliminated it, then selectively gave it back to customers and made them feel special.
Possibly Value Adding In Process
When something becomes “standard”, it is then the new normal. So while Zappos built a brand around customer service and overnight shipping, after a while that was the normal for them – it was expected. What they’ve done now is brought back the value in overnight shipping, while increasing customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Business is still booming some two years after the free overnight shipping went away. Customers still rave about the service. And now people talk about how cool they feel when they win the overnight shipping lottery and get their dress sandals 3 days quicker than they bargained for.
Think it was a coincidence that a company built around customer service figured this out and turned their biggest negative into a positive? I’m betting my new pair of dress sandals it’s not.
Photo Credit: Phil W Shirley
Do You Know How Your Customers Secretly Perceive You Online?
Managing your reputation is not always easy. You work really hard to build a respectable brand and then someone comes in and tries to tear it down. Luckily for you though, here are some great online reputation management tips and tools that can help you stay on top of the game.
Think Domain
The first thing you have to do is buy domain names. Yes, multiple ones. Buy .com, .org, .net, and almost every other domain extension associated with your brand so that no one else can use it against you. If you use an exact match keyword domain name, then it may be hard to get the .net and .org versions, which is fine. But if you are a VA mortgage lender, you best be sure that you own every exact match domain name for your brand. And thanks to Google suggest, things like ‘reviews’, ‘sucks’, and ‘scam’ along with your brand keyword are a lot more prevalent, so buying domains with these keywords in them (ex. brandsucks.com) can help manage your reputation.
Choose Your Tool and Start Monitoring
My favorite tool for monitoring your brand on the web and blogosphere by far is Google Alerts. It’s simple, free, and sent straight to your email. You can have it set up to send an email once-a-week, once-a-day, or whenever something comes up. And since most people use Google to find businesses online, knowing what Google is keeping track of is very important. Set up a Google alert for your brand name and you can even use it to keep track of other keywords (and competitors if you really want).
Content Builds Brands
The biggest thing you can do is be a content creator. The real-time web is now in the search engine results. And the pervasiveness of Facebook and Twitter mean that people will seek you out on these platforms for good or bad. You must participate in them. It would be foolish not to. Set up an account (personal and/or company) and start engaging and creating content. Also, make sure to have a blog that is consistently being updated. Use it to post news, industry trends or whatever fits for your company/brand. This will become valuable if you ever need to respond to a situation.
Manage Your Social Web
Use a program such as HootSuite that allows you to manage all three social networks with one easy to use interface. It allows you to schedule tweets, status updates, and even integrates with Ping.fm. Plus, by keeping your search column open, you can monitor your brand at all times allowing prompt response. And you can post to your WordPress blog through the application. Having an application like this can greatly increase your productivity regarding online reputation management. If you don’t like HootSuite, try CoTweet or something similar but managing a company’s social media platforms cannot be done on twitter.com itself.
Proactive Not Passive
By actively managing your reputation online now, it will make it a lot easier when something bad actually does happen and you need to do damage control, so it’s good to be proactive and not passive about this. If you have a voice, you’re much better positioned against attacks, and will gain credence with the online generation.
About the Author: Kevin Kaiser is a entrepreneur who deals with online marketing and reputation management for start-ups he’s involved in and can be found writing at Startup Biz Blog.
Photo Credit: nicasaurusrex
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
4 Tips for Practicing Proper Videoconferencing Etiquette
Small business owners don’t always have the luxury of having an exorbitant budget to spend on travel and lodging expenses related to client presentations.
Luckily, videoconferencing technology has brought the presentation to their front door step.
While videoconferencing has become a fairly standard practice, many small business owners still lack the basic knowledge of proper videoconferencing etiquette. I hope this post can help shed some light on the proper considerations when preparing and engaging in a web conference.
Test, Test, Test
As the old business adage goes, time is money. The last impression you need to be making to your client is that you don’t value their time and by simple deduction, don’t care that you are costing them money.
Significant time should be allocated to setup and testing of all systems prior to the start of the videoconference. Inattention to these details sends the wrong signal and can potentially ruin the possibility of a successful business relationship before it’s had a chance to blossom. Discovering all issues and resolving them in advance to the meeting ensures that the conference starts on the right foot.
Details to consider when setting up include:
- Camera placement – When placing the camera, try and fill the frame as much as possible with people, rather than extraneous room objects such as tables, chairs, etc.
- Camera and TV presets – Check and make sure that your TV’s brightness and contrast is optimally set. This ensures that you can see the client and more importantly, their gestures and reactions to your presentation. Additionally, make sure that your camera is optimally set to make certain that those on the other end of the meeting can properly see you.
- Lighting – Lighting is one of the few variable factors in a videoconference and needs to be considered when setting up. Sunlight from windows can throw off the camera’s exposure, making it difficult for the client to see you. Having drapes or shutters drawn will help mediate this problem.
- Microphone volume – Unless your client is accomplished at reading lips, problems with your microphone could render the videoconference meaningless. Not only should you check and see if the mic is working, but you should verify that the volume is at a sufficient volume.
- Computer Applications – Collaborate with your client’s IT specialist beforehand and make sure that all software applications such as PowerPoint or Word will work successfully.
Dress in Your Sunday’s Best
On the day of the presentation, set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier than normal to make certain that you will allow an adequate amount of time to look your best.
Men should certainly shave/trim all facial hair. Dress attire should be professional, but busy patterns should be avoided.
Cameras seem to have difficulties interpreting these detailed patterns and may create unwanted artifacts in image quality. Believe it or not, pastel or muted colors tend to do best on screen.
Extend Greetings
Once the conference begins, treat it as any other meeting. Just because it’s broadcasted over an Ethernet cable does not mean that introductory formalities should be forgotten.
First, ask if they can hear you. Once sound is confirmed, introduce yourself. Speak in a normal voice and avoid shouting.
Microphones are fragile pieces of equipment and loud sounds can lead to uncomfortable feedback or echo for those on the other end of the call.
Try not to interrupt and/or “double talk”. Not only is it rude, but “double talking” is another source of unwanted feedback/echo. Lastly, when listening or passing the microphone, verify that it is muted.
Consider Learning Styles
All people learn differently. For every person who considers themselves an audible learner, there is another who considers themselves a visual learner.
Best practices would tell us to use both audible and visual sources in our messaging. In fact, studies have shown that hearing AND seeing a message has been shown to increase message recall and message understanding.
I can’t verifiably show that using these steps will help improve your web conference communication, but I’d like to extend it as a challenge. Follow these few tips in your next videoconference and I’ll let you come to your own conclusions. I think you’ll be surprised with the results.
Guest post by DBS>Interactive, a Full-Service Web Design and Internet Marketing company located in Louisville, KY. Pay them a visit at http://dbswebsite.com for more information on how DBS>Interactive can help you with your Internet marketing needs.
Want to be our next guest author? click here for details
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zapthedingbat/
3 Examples of Awful Customer Service Your Biz Won’t Want to Imitate
What constitutes really great customer service? What constitutes really awful customer service? While conducting research on this subject for budget hosting company 34SP.com, I came across a few examples that really stretched some boundaries.
Some Truly Awful Service
Although these are stories of big brands, the lessons learned can be applied to small business customer service as well. Here are a few brief examples – all of them pretty bad.
Verizon’s Callousness
Let’s say that someone in your family dies. It’s a bad time, lots of stress and details to be sorted out. What if you tried to cancel the dead person’s phone service, but the phone company wouldn’t let you? What if you even produced the official death certificate and they still refused to shut the account off? That is precisely what happened to Cynthia Lacy according to a published report at the St. Petersburg Times eEdition.
Ms. Lacy’s father passed away in June of 2009, but since Ms. Lacy didn’t have her father’s PIN number to access the account – Verizon didn’t discontinue the service until March 2010. This is despite the fact that Ms. Lacy sent the company a copy of her father’s death certificate. It took the intervention of the media shining the spotlight on her case to get it resolved. You can read the whole story here.
Kevin Smith “Too Fat to Fly”
Then there is the recent dust up involving Hollywood direct Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. Mr. Smith is known for directing such films as Clerks, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and the recently released Cop Out.
During a recent flight, Mr. Smith was asked to leave the plane prior to takeoff for ”being too fat”. Being a media savvy promoter, Mr. Smith proceeded to live-Tweet and fully publicize his ordeal. According to published reports (this story was picked up by numerous large national media outlets including Wall Street Journal, USA Today, ABC, and the Los Angeles Times) Mr. Smith said he was already seated on the flight with armrests down and seatbelt fastened.
The Southwest captain deemed him a ”safety risk” due to his weight and he was ejected from the flight. The ensuing backlash abated somewhat when Southwest issued apologies on Twitter and on the Southwest website.
From the apology post, ”First and foremost, to Mr. Smith; we would like to echo our Tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you. We are sincerely sorry for your travel experience on Southwest Airlines.” So good job by Southwest to admit a mistake and take responsibility. If you’d like to hear a lengthy description of the incident as told by Kevin Smith himself, you’ll find it here.
Toyota’s Fall From Grace
Automobile manufacturer Toyota recently demonstrated that even a firm known for high quality and service can quickly fall from grace.
The short story here is: Toyota began to receive complaints regarding ”sticking accelerator pedals”. Since the problems were first revealed, the company has continued a slow-motion service and communication debacle. In late January the company issued this statement, ”Toyota announced it would recall approximately 2.3 million vehicles to correct sticking accelerator pedals on specific Toyota Division models.
Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats. There is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.”
Subsequent quality issues arose with the brakes on the Prius as well. Although the company has now taken more aggressive steps to correct these issues, rival car manufacturers have eroded the company’s market share in new car sales. You can follow all of the details via Toyota’s news pages.
So What’s the Key to Great Customer Service?
If there is a common thread of learning that connects these incidents it is: proper communication is key. First, properly communicating and adhering to strict operational rules regarding how the business is run to employees. This means that everyone in the organization knows and understands policies and proper procedures. Second, communicating with the customers and being as transparent as possible in the face of any problems. Companies that excel in communicating often excel in service as well.
Recommended Reading
So how to deliver truly great customer service as a small business? The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service outlines some salient points in this regard. I suggest that the company’s mentioned above should focus on number 7: ”Know how to apologize”.
Derek Vaughan is a web hosting industry veteran, marketing consultant and writer. Mr. Vaughan has architected the marketing growth of several prominent web hosting success stories leading to acquisition including Affinity Internet, Inc., Aplus.Net and HostMySite.com. Prior to his entry into the web hosting industry, Mr. Vaughan was responsible for online marketing at The Walt Disney Company where he marketed ecommerce for the ESPN.com and NASCAR.com brands. Mr. Vaughan received his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and currently serves on the HostingCon Advisory Board.
Photo Credit: B Rosen
Want to be our next guest author? Click here for details…
Great Service, Good Business, or Just Annoying? You Make the Call
Around this time of year I start doing a lot of online ordering of custom printed merchandise for spring events my business manages. This means I am searching numerous supplier websites trying to find the right items, at the right prices, from companies I know can deliver on time.
It also means I see first hand how some small business (and larger businesses for that matter) integrate their online stores, customer service, and product delivery.
One merchant I deal with has a procedure that I can’t figure out if I like or not…
A Little Background
This supplier I’ve been dealing with for a couple years now. They have a quality product, for a good price, and they deliver on time…overall I am very satisfied using them for some of my branded merchandise needs.
But, they have me flummoxed when it comes to one of there practices.
On their site I will choose the items I want printed, make numerous choices on the printing options, and finally see a final product and cost for my order once I’ve added the items into the shopping cart. Until my items go into the cart I don’t fully know what my costs are (there’s the item costs, setup fees based on printing options, and miscellaneous charges for extra services).
So I get everything into the cart, look at my costs, and then decide if I want to purchase as is or make some changes to the order to get back on budget. Sometimes I make changes and complete the order, other times I go a completely different route altogether and abandon the cart to start another search on their site.
My Question for You
Which leads me to my question for you all. Every time a cart is abandoned they follow up with a phone call to me to inquire about why I abandoned the cart (they have my info on file since I order from them regularly). They usually say “we notice you were looking at custom printed pink flamingos but did not complete your order, can we help you finalize it?”
Okay, I get it – shopping cart abandonment is a real thorn in online retailers sides, but really, a phone call every time I leave a cart – even if during the same session on their site I place an order?
I’ve suggested that if I could see total costs before placing items into a cart I wouldn’t be abandoning the cart as often, but I don’t think there is much energy around changing that since then they wouldn’t be able to see uncompleted orders.
This must work on some level or they wouldn’t commit the resources to make the calls all the time, but it has me wanting not to check things out on their site because I don’t want the phone calls if I change my mind.
The whole thing has me confused. Is this the best way to go about dealing with abandoned carts? Is it good service, or just annoying? I don’t know…so I need your help figuring it out.
You Make the Call
So which is it….great service, good business, or just annoying? Let me know in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Divine in the Daily
Would Your Customers Do This For You?
Story Time
There are two, nearly identical, Mexican food places from which to get a fully loaded vegetarian burrito at lunch, within walking distance to my home office.
Both are “fast food” restaurants, lunch counter types, not a typical sit down with a waiter and what not.
Which One Would You Go To?
Burrito Place A is about 3 blocks away and takes me maybe 5 minutes to walk there.
Burrito Place B is roughly 13 blocks away and takes me 15 minutes walking commute time.
Burrito Place A is 10% across the board cheaper than Burrito Place B.
Both use top quality ingredients, and both make an excellent burrito that leaves me satisfied.
Which One Do I Choose?
I go to Burrito Place B every time, all the time, without even thinking about going to Burrito Place A.
I walk farther (30 minutes round trip vs. 10 minutes), and pay more, for a burrito that is nearly identical in every way to Burrito Place A. And here’s why…
My first trip into Burrito Place A was a sterile, faceless, nameless, cookie cutter experience. Great burrito, great price, but that was it. I was a number, $5 more bucks in the register.
My first trip to Burrito Place B couldn’t have been more different.
I was greeted when I walked in, asked how my day was going as they made my burrito by hand behind the counter. In general the staff were affable, friendly people, who looked like they enjoyed the interaction with the customers, as much as working with each other.
As I was eating, one of the staff members came by to see how every thing was, and then get this…said “Good to hear everything was made to your liking. I just wanted to tell you we appreciate your business, if you need anything let me know”. This guy didn’t own the place, heck he wasn’t even the manager, he just took pride in making a great burrito, and wanted to be sure I enjoyed it – wanted me to know he appreciated my business – how cool is that?
When I walked out I heard ”Thanks a lot, have a good one and come see us again”. Like a friend telling me they’d see me later.
And come see them again I do, over and over again anytime I need a burrito for lunch. I walk farther and pay more for the same product I could get elsewhere. But why would I go anywhere else?
How Far Would Your Customers Walk?
There’s a lesson in there for any business – would your customers walk farther and pay more for you?
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
13 Ways to Win Customers for Free
If you’re like me you’ve spent many a day and night racking your brain on ways to attract new customers and keep the customers you have buying from you.
This acquisition/retention model is the foundation of what it takes to grow, reinforce our brands in the minds of our customers and bring us new customers for years to come.
Problem is we aren’t always flush with cash or time to work on ways to attract and retain.
Luckily Matt Heinz, of Heinz Marketing, released a new report called:
13 Ways to Win Customers for Free – Proven Best Practices for Increasing Current Customer Frequency and Driving New Customers to Buy
What’s in the Report?
In his report Matt identifies 13 ideas that will apply to nearly every reader, and they represent the mere tip of the iceberg for other opportunities across your business to organically grow revenue.
Use these first ideas as a starter pack, a launching pad to brainstorm more opportunities across your unique business to grow your customer base, and keep them coming back for more.
What Are the 13 Ways?
- Better Voicemails
- Your Email Address
- Freebies
- Newsletters
- Open Houses
- Testimonials
- Seminars and How-To Workshops
- Trivia
- Name Tags
- Tell-a-Friend Incentives
- Charities
- Thank You Notes
- Business Cards
Want the Details?
Download this report for free: 13 Ways to Win Customers for Free (.pdf – 16 pages)
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
How a Bad Salad Leads to Happy Customers and What Your Business Can Learn From It
My unbelievably exquisite, lovely, and beautiful wife (she may be reading this) came home from work yesterday and was bubbling over with excitement.
I first thought she was just excited to see me after a long day, but in her hand she held a 5 berry milkshake that was ¾ of the way empty and I immediateley identified that as the source of her good mood.
“What’s up?” I ask, “Why so cheery?”
“Not much”, she says all perky like, “Just enjoying my FREE 5 berry milkshake is all”
It was completely obvious she was not only enjoying her sweet delight, but couldn’t wait to tell me about the fact that it was free.
“Free…how’d you manage that?”
They Messed Up My Salad – It Was Great!
And from there she launches into a story about how she went to a local burger chain for lunch, and they totally screwed up her salad order, had to remake it, and it took an extra 10 minutes before she got her food.
The story doesn’t end there. Recognizing they maybe needed to do some service recovery with my wife, they gave her a $10 coupon for her troubles, and the salad was free (notice the free salad didn’t carry the same weight with her as the free milkshake).
So with her new found riches she had stopped off and got a milkshake on the way home, thus the good mood.
She had been telling everyone she knew, myself, the people at work, probably even the gas station attendant about her “good fortune”.
In her mind, the burger joint that completely botched her salad and cost her 10 minutes out of her day, walked on water and could do no wrong, and she was even recommending them to anyone who’d listen.
What’s Can We Learn
I think this story is a good illustration of the power righting a wrong. Had my wife’s salad been perfectly made I don’t know that she’d be extolling the virtues of this place as much as when they needed to do some service recovery.
It’s almost as if she was happier that they screwed up, and made it right, than if they had of done it right the first time! They turned their mistake into a positive “word of mouth” worthy event.
How to Apply This to Your Business
1. You have to be doing things right most of the time for this to work.
2. Correct all wrongs immediately, and take ownership of them (the wrong salad could have been blamed on the new cook, but instead the establishment took responsibility and didn’t place blame)
3. Sometimes, take responsibility for miniscule mistakes. Once, Starbucks gave me a free drink because it took them 1 minute to make my mocha instead of 30 seconds. This reinforces in your customers mind your high standards, and service expectations.
Why It Works
1. You’re taking ownership, and in the customers mind acknowledging they did not get something from you they should have. Too often businesses try to sweep mistakes under the rug, fearing customers will be upset, only to upset customers more by skirting the issue.
2. You give your customer a reason to come back and try you out again. Once they see you normally get it right, you’ll have won them over. They’ll know it’s a rare occurrence you aren’t perfect.
3. You give them something very easy to talk about. They’ll be singing your praises for righting a wrong, just like my wife did. And a good story like that spreads.
Try it with your own business. The next time you don’t meet a customers expectations, do some service recovery. Or better yet, use the Starbuck’s method once in a while to reinforce your extremely high standards for quality and service. See if you can get them to talk about how great you are for screwing up!
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
Want Free Business Advice? Listen to Your Customers!
How well do you listen to what your customers have to say?
It’s easy to hang on every positive word a customer utters, and quietly dismiss any negative criticisms, but as Richard Branson points out in this short interview segment with Seth Godin, listening to all customer feedback should be part of your business strategy.
Listening is Free
In the past week we’ve featured many ways for you to save your business money, but listening may be one of the best uses of your energy. And the best part of it is, listening is free!
Mr. Branson points out that when you really listen to what your customers have to say you’re opening yourself up to a world of innovative ideas. Think about it, customers tell us:
- What we’re doing well
- What we can do better
- What they’d like to see us do
- What they have no interest in
- What’s important to them
- What’s not
- What they’d pay more for
- What they think should be cheaper
Customers give us all the information we need to get better for free.
Put More Smart People on Your Team
A concept that struck me during this clip was that some of your customers, my customers, our customers – are smarter than we are. They may be better at business, have more skills, or just plain brilliant, and that’s a good thing.
When we listen to their ideas we are effectively adding more smart people to our team to make us better. Usually in order to get smart people on your team you have to pay them – sometimes a lot – but that’s not the case with customers.
They willing share their thoughts and ideas with us for free, and then we can pick and choose the best ideas to implement. It doesn’t get better than having a perpetual think tank giving us fresh ideas about our business from people smarter than we are.
Granted not all feedback or ideas will be good ones, and our job will be to know the difference. But it begins with listening, and when something that doesn’t cost a dime and only takes a small amount of my time, can radically change my business, I’m on board.
Are you listening?
Photo Credit: striatic
Can’t visit Small Biz Bee on a regular basis? You can stay up to date by having the latest Small Biz Bee news delivered to you for free via RSS or Email.
For exclusive Small Biz Bee content and offers, sign up for our free newsletter:
They Said What?
As business owners most of us would like to think we have a good idea what our customers think of us, our products, and our services. But do we?
How well do we really know what our customers think of what we are doing? Sure, some will verbally tell us if we are doing a great job, and others may tell us just exactly what we are doing wrong, but unless we have a systematic way to capture feedback we could be letting opportunity slip through our hands.
The Need for Anonymous Feedback
For most people telling someone what they are doing right comes fairly easily. We are naturally quick with praise, and if someone has met or exceeded our needs it’s satisfying to tell them so.
However, when the feedback is critical, or improvement focused, that conversation becomes a little more uncomfortable face to face. Don’t think you’re doing everything right just because your customers aren’t complaining. The ones who are dissatisfied are probably “keeping mum” and just not coming back, and never say anything because it is uncomfortable. Thus the need for a way to capture their feedback anonymously.
Why Solicit Customer Feedback
Customer feedback plays an integral role in filling holes in your service model. It not only reinforces what you are doing well, but if collected and used appropriately can help you identify areas of opportunity that you may be missing. Many of our interactions with customers can come across as noise, and if we get feedback on an ad-hoc basis can get lost in the shuffle. We aren’t able to spot trends this way. Having a systematic way to collect the feedback, and cut through the noise is the best way to spot trends in what our customers are saying and then address those trends.
Four Types of Customer Feedback
1. Middle of the Roaders – Most of your customers will be generally happy with your service, they will give you a “B” so to speak.
2. The Evangels - A smaller percentage will think you walk on water, and it will be “A+” all the way with them.
3. We’re all Going to Hell – A very small percentage will use the opportunity to unload pent up aggression they have against the world and will damn you to a life in purgatory, think “F-“ here.
4. The Magical Few - This is where the magic happens. Think of these folks as giving you anywhere from a “D” to a “B-“. Nowhere in the customer feedback spectrum can you make more headway than with this group. They generally like your products and services. They want to shop with you more. They want to give you more money, and they are telling you exactly what you need to do in order to get it.
Focus on the Magical Few
These customers are the absolutely key to growing your business. Spend the majority of your time analyzingwhat they are saying and taking to heart their feedback. They are giving you a gift, don’t let it get away. Do your best to spot trends in their comments, and address those issues in your processes or procedures. You can very easily move somebody whose given you a “C-“ in the “B+” category just by making some small changes, and those changes could result in years of revenue from those customers who may have given up on you if you couldn’t get it together.
How to Get Feedback
If you want good feedback, and lots of it, the mechanism you use to get it will be important. The more automated you can make it, the quicker for the customer to give it, and the more relevant what you are surveying the better. There are numerous ways to get feedback. Not the least of which are online surveys, in store questionnaires, mailed surveys, website voting/surveying, etc.
The survey choice you choose should be the one that fits your business model the best while adhering these four keys the closest
Four Keys to Successfully Getting Customer Feedback
1. Anonymous
For feedback to get from the customer to you, an anonymous system needs to be in place. As stated above, many people will not feel comfortable telling you face to face what you need to improve on. Have a system that captures feedback, without being confrontational for the customer.
2. Easy
The easier the mechanism is to get the feedback, the more you will get. To get the most feedback possible from your customers you’ll need it to be quick and easy on their end. Anything that takes them longer than 5 minutes to complete will lower your collected responses considerably.
3. Timely
Feedback needs to be collected from your customer in a timely fashion. Don’t send them a survey in the mail three months after they made a purchase. The closer to the time of service the more accurate the responses will be.
4. Relevant
You want your survey questions to be as short and relevant as possible. Spend time thinking about what you want to know from your customers. How you will craft the questions will play a part in the responses you get. Seek consultation in the writing of the survey if need be, it’s important that your phrasing and format be suitable to your customer base and what you are trying to query them on.
Final Words
Feedback is imperative for business owners to receive. Sometimes you’ll get face to face feedback, but that is the tip of the iceberg compared to what you will find out by giving your customers an avenue to tell you what they think in an anonymous fashion. Knowing what feedback to pay the most attention too, and then addressing those issues can be a huge revenue booster for your business for years to come. However as you build your own format of collecting customer feedback, keep in mind you need to be ready to hear what they have to say and then act on it.
Photo Credits:bfelice
Just Give Them The Pickle!
A couple days ago I found myself in a situation where I was forced to watch one of those cheesy, poorly lit, low budget videos on customer service.
The “star” was a guy who appeared to be in his 70’s and needless to say I was not looking forward to the presentation.
Only one thing surprised me, the video was great!
If you ever get a chance to watch the film featuring Bob Farrell called “Give’em the Pickle”, it will get you thinking about how you are giving customer service. Last I looked the DVD sold for $895, but you’re in luck that you can get the Cliff Note version here, absolutely free.
Pre-Pickle
Bob is an entrepreneur who started a chain of ice cream parlors in the 1960’s, the first of which being in Portland, OR and was a raving success. Customers were lining up for Bob’s ice cream and hamburgers. He was
becoming known as the place for a great meal, and word quickly spread and Bob’s empire grew.
Within five years Bob had six stores, all going great guns, and he began to franchise operations, eventually selling out to the Marriot Corporation in 1973 when he had 55 ice cream parlors total.
The Pickle Incident
As a young entrepreneur, with only one store open at the time, something happened to Bob that forever changed the way he approached customer service, and became the bedrock to all of his success.
He received a letter from a customer that went something like this:
Dear Mr. Farrell
I love your restaurant and have eaten there many times. Your hamburgers are the best, the ice cream is top notch, and the fact that you sang Happy Birthday to my kid made a memory he won’t forget. However, I have to tell you of an incident that happened last time we were in your restaurant. I asked for an extra pickle on my hamburger, which I’ve gotten many times before, and was told there would an additional fee of .50 for another pickle. I was shocked an appalled that you could no longer just put an extra slice of pickle on my sandwich, and you were going to nickel and dime me. I hate to say it, but if this is how you are going to treat your loyal customers I will not be back!!
Mr. Unhappy Customer
The Aftermath
It didn’t take Bob but a second to figure out that he may have lost a customer for life because a waitress wanted to charge .50 for a pickle that cost Bob next to nothing.
He quickly trained the staff to not quibble over things as trivial as a pickle, that making the customer happy was the priority. And soon thereafter whenever a worker at Bob’s restaurant was not wanting to do something a customer requested the mantra became “Just give them the pickle!”
Not only that, but this incident shaped the way Bob approached customer service, adding value, and crafting an experience that stayed with him throughout his career.
He learned his customer’s names. He sang to kids on their birthday and gave them free sundaes. He righted every wrong immediately. He treated every customer like his first customer.
And most importantly:
He didn’t treat people how he would like to be treated, he treated people how they liked to be treated.
Who Are Your Customers, Really?
Bob’s opinion on who a customer is struck me as well. Your customer is your boss!
They pay your mortgage, buy the boat in your driveway, put your kids through college, and ensure you have a comfortable retirement. Your customers pay for all of those niceties in your life. They are in charge, not you. You are there to serve them, they are not there to serve you.
The Takeaway
We all have “pickles” we can give our customers. Some of the things we can give them to make them feel valued may not cost a dime. Other “pickles” may cost the business owner something, but as Bob found out he would rather have the customer come back over and over again by giving them a .50 pickle than never coming back at all.
Take a few minutes to think about what pickles you can give your customers. And do you think of your customers as a means to your end, or as the person you are reporting too? For the sake of your future business success I hope you start giving out pickles, and keeping the boss happy.
Have you given out any pickles recently?
Photo credits: StormySleep, KB35
