Tag: rants & raves

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Organizational Culture: What Matters (Part 1)

I just finished reading the July issue of Presentations magazine and its feature an article on workplace etiquette … very timely given the recent “flip-flop flap” at the White House.

This post isn’t meant to bemoan a lack of manners in general or get into any fashion dispute. I just want to reinforce the importance of common courtesy and respect for others in the workplace.

Respect is a fundamental element of internal marketing. It includes treating people cordially, with civility and sincerity – not the drone scripted recitation of “Thank you for doing business with us … have a nice day” that you hear from some service providers.

But for many employees who truly care about their customers, sometimes the issue of professional courtesy can be a stretch. It’s hard to show respect for customers when workers don’t feel respected in their own organizations.

How employees (and customers, in turn) are treated is a reflection of corporate culture. What’s it like in your workplace?

More on this in my next post, including how to assess your organization’s culture …

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Customer service Marketing

Customer Discrimination is Risky Business

A recent posting on Adrants featured a bank promotion that’s getting some bad press in the blogosphere.  It’s one of those promotions that offers a great premium to (attract) new customers, while offering ‘bupkis’ to existing customers.  A great lesson in How to Alienate Current Customers 101.

It’s a business development dilemma for most companies — how to recruit new customers and not alienate current customers in the process.   The challenge is current customers are likely to notice ads from companies they deal with, and when they see a promotion for new customers, they’re likely to ask the company “So what have you done for me lately?”

Delivering customer value on an ongoing basis is key.  The smart companies are driven to continually ask: “How do our loyal customers know we value their relationship?” and they focus on delivering that value.

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Engagement

Down with Fast Track Management!

Outdoor professional track cycling starts soon at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome, and I can’t wait!

I love watching bike racing … it’s a great sport but a lousy metaphor for management. Let me explain.

I once worked for a boss who had a bike racing poster in his office.  Over time I realized this represented his management style: wheel spinning.  He would give direction for a project, and once everything was put into place he would shift gears and change his mind.

So while the staff never seemed to have sufficient time or budget to do things right, we always had to find the time and money to do things over.  What a frustrating waste of energy and resources!

When it comes to wheel spinning, I prefer mine at the Velodrome, thank you very much.

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Customer service

On-line or In-store Shopping? It’s the Experience That Still Matters

Do you prefer to shop on-line or in a store?  While the factors affecting your choice may vary (depending on store location, access, time, convenience, etc.), the outcome is still the same — a satisfactory shopping experience

So who’s more likely to be satisfied with their customer service experience — on-line or in-store shoppers?  According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation’s NRF Foundation and American Express (reported in a recent Marketing Management magazine article), it’s on-line consumers.

Interesting? Yes.  Surprising? Not really … especially given my recent in-store experience.

Who Are They Kidding?

I went to return a purchase I had made earlier in the week.  Since I was a fairly new customer at the store’s location, I approached a sales clerk at one of the registers located in the front of the store.  (If I lament about the old days when sales registers and sales staff were located throughout the store, I’d be giving away my age.)

Me: Where can I return this?

Clerk:  You have to go back to customer service.

Me: Thank you. (Feigning politeness while thinking I’m the customer and I don’t “have to” do anything.  If you were trained properly, you would have told me: “Some one can help you in Customer Service” while pointing the way.)

So I walked back the length of the store to where Customer Service was located … under a sign proclaiming “Customer Convenience Center.”  (Yeah, right … if it were “convenient,” it would have been located in the front of the store!)

Maybe next time, I’ll shop on-line.

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Musings

Baseball Fever

I decided to take a break from my internal marketing postings and get personal … to stop & smell the ballpark.

It’s that glorious time of year — spring & baseball season.  Understand I wasn’t always a baseball fan.  It came about gradually, spurred over time by my favorite baseball movies: Field of Dreams … Major League … Bull Durham … and now, Fever Pitch.

When my son was younger, we made several trips to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  What a fabulous place! Filled with great baseball memorabilia shops (“we have the baseball cards your mother threw out”) … posters of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First” routine …

Another major contributor to my love of the game came from watching minor league baseball when I lived in Northeast PA — the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.  (I’m hoping my husband & I can get back there this season to catch a game.)

My family roots for the Orioles — my husband’s a Baltimore native, and our son Jason was born in 1983, the last time they won the Series.  I’m also a Cubs fan since I spent a lot of time in Chicago over the past 20 years.  And with the curse of the Bambino finally broken, hope springs eternal for the same to happen to the curse of the Billy Goat.

It’s the stadium experience that I really enjoy. I rarely watch baseball on TV because you only get to see what’s on camera … but in the stadium, you get to see anything and everything you want to.

To really appreciate how special baseball is to me, you need to understand that I have little patience when it comes to most other sports.  Football?  I never understood it and still don’t get it.  (How many times my father, then my husband, and then my son tired to explain a first down to me!)  It’s not just that I fall asleep when football is on TV, I once nodded off in a football stadium DURING a game!  Unfortunately, football season will be here before you know it … which is why I gotta get to a baseball game soon.

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Customer service Engagement Marketing

Customer Service for Nonprofits: Can You Hear Me Now?

To membership-based nonprofits, listen up: the concept of the customer experience also applies to you!

 

Here’s the situation: about a year ago I joined an organization that serves leaders in the nonprofit field with offerings that include information & idea-exchange, e-newsletter, discounted publications, annual conference, etc. But I decided not to renew my membership since I hadn’t gotten much out of it. It was only when working on my budget for memberships that I even realized they never sent me a renewal notice.) I also realized I never received the quarterly journal promised in their new member material, and they were unresponsive when I e-mailed them with a question about one of their events.

                                                                                                                                           

Welcome Back!?
                                                                                                                         

So I was surprised when I got a letter telling me my membership was extended for one year. I e-mailed them asking why — given my service to the nonprofit field as a professional advisor/facilitator as well as a volunteer leader, I was just a bit curious. Was it a matter of member service recovery? Or did the organization have such a great year they decided to “share the wealth” with their members?

Guess what? No response (surprise, surprise). So I sent a letter with a copy of my earlier e-mail to the organization’s Board Chair, a well-known & highly respected leader. This time I got a response (while it wasn’t directly from the Chair, at least I got through to someone). I received a phone call and letter from the staff apologizing for the situation (which was acceptable) and offering an explanation based on insufficient staffing, mis-communication with the members, etc. (which I found lame).

There’s no excuse for this treatment of members, especially given the prestigious founders & supporters of this particular organization. (Sorry, I know the power that dissatisfied customers have in spreading negative word-of-mouth and the more current “word-of-mouse,” but I’m reluctant to divulge the name of this group).

Acquisition Without Retention = Leaky Bucket

Membership-based organizations, no matter how well-intentioned their missions, won’t survive without members. They have to pay attention to the “customer” experience, and I’m not talking about anything complicated here — just the basics of being responsive to members, answering their concerns in a timely manner, communicating effectively to manage member expectations, and delivering what was promised. 

When it comes to member/customer satisfaction, this is Customer Service 101. My friend Mike McDermott and his colleague, Arlene Farber Sirkin, wrote a great book on this entitled “Keeping Members”, published by the ASAE (American Society of Association Executives (Foundation).

What’s surprising and disappointing is that there are member-based organizations out there who still don’t get it. Trust me, they won’t get my membership either.

Categories
Customer service Engagement Marketing

It’s the Experience, Stupid!

I used these very words (in the title) in response to a recent post by a colleague Dana (Feb. 21, 2005) ranting about the lack of customer service. Customers have lots of choices these days, sometimes too much. It’s one of the reasons the “customer experience” has become a critical differentiator – treat customers right if you want to keep them coming back.

Too bad more companies don’t get it. I’m seeing this more & more as a business traveler. Wading through airport security … being herded on planes like cattle … and without the amenities we used to get (a small package of pretzels just isn’t enough on a cross country flight). Fellow passengers share the same frustrations, complaining about a particular airline or the industry in general.

On my last trip I heard a traveler comment about some surly airline staff. A few passengers tried to empathize with the staff given the instability of the industry and the fact that their jobs are in jeopardy. (In my experience, it’s only a handful of staff who have poor attitudes. But if they continue to to alienate passengers, their companies may not last much longer.)

My concern is for those airline staff trying to stay positive while taking care of customers. It truly is a delicate balance: as a result of cost-cutting reductions in staff & operations (needed to remain viable), airline staff have less resources at their disposal. (The good news was the last leg of my flight arrived on time; the bad news was we had to wait for baggage handling staff to unload the carry-on luggage.)

Remember, we’re also talking about employees who have taken pay-cuts, given back benefits, or haven’t had salary increases in a while. So yes, we passengers may need to be more understanding & perhaps lower our expectations a bit. At the same time, airline management needs to know it’s not a good experience – for either passengers or employees.

There’s no magic bullet for this. I just hope airline executives & managers are doing their best to be supportive of their employees — recognizing those who continue to take care of customers (despite the situation), while providing remedial attention to those don’t.

(Hint to those employees with a negative attitude: customers aren’t the only ones who have the option to leave!)