I've been working on a story for the Summer issue of 1to1 Magazine about companies that offer online chat as a sales or service channel. Some of the research I've come across suggests that while customer adoption of chat is growing (especially among younger generations). However, everyone I've talked to says phone will remain the dominant communications channel indefinitely.
Some days it seems like we're in meeting hell, with meetings consuming our days and leaving us with the feeling that we've accomplished little or nothing.
Meetings should be productive, increase enthusiasm, and motivate employees to higher performance levels.
Continue reading "Delta CEO Shares Tips for Effective Meetings" »
If you sent in your shoes for repair lately to Allen Edmonds Recrafting, you'd shortly get an email with the subject heading "Remember These?"
In Port Washington, Wisconsin, you'll find a shop of contradictions. It's a big/little shoe repair shop, very high touch and high tech, with old and new ideas about how to serve customers best.
Whenever I have lectured on the most advanced technologies in developing marketing relationships, I like to tell a story.
Once, my wife and I had cappuccino in Mr. Coffee, an outlet of a Japanese chain close to Shanghai's famous "food street." After the waitress took our order, she left as quietly as she had arrived. After a while, my wife shivered slightly. It was an instinctive reaction; she was barely conscious of it. In a second the waitress was behind her and closed the window behind her back.
"I thought I felt a draft," my wife said a moment later. "But actually, it's very pleasant here." She hadn't even noticed the waitress.
What does this have to do with advanced technologies? Nothing much, but the lesson is conceptual, not technological. It has everything to do with thoughtful dialogue that makes service so unassuming and natural that one does not even notice it, yet feels delighted by it.
The point is not the current mode of technology; only what it enables.
Continue reading "Guest Blogger Dan Steinbock: Service as Thoughtful Dialogue" »
In 2007 1to1 Media honored Laree Daniel as one of its 1to1 Customer Champions. The Customer Champions program recognizes executives who promote customer centricity within their organizations, creating a culture that's focused on the customer. We reunited with Daniel in this week's 1to1 Weekly article about Aflac's customer and employee strategy. Her approach to customers and employees hasn't changed even though she has changed companies.
Continue reading "Laree Daniel Brings Customer Champion Approach to Aflac" »
As I write--and post--this blog, I'm in an airplane, 32,000 feet above the Eastern Seaboard. It's a great ending to a two-day trip to Orlando to attend Forrester's Marketing Forum 2009, which, cooincidentally, focused heavily on innovation.
As a tech-loving business traveler, I appreciate any amenity that makes staying productive and connected easier. This includes something as simple as the selection of outlet types (U.S., UK, and European) that the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London provides in the wall above the desk in their rooms. And the outlets that Amtrak provides on its trains so you can work without running your battery down, or out. Or, pervasive wireless Internet access throughout some hotel properties, so you can work wherever you feel like, instead of just at the desk in your room. But the best so far is what I'm using right now: onboard Internet access on my Delta flight from Orlando to New York.
Are you risk averse? Consider whether you would have done this: Chevrolet entered the Great Depression not by hunkering down, but by increasing its marketing spending - including inventing billboard advertising. The result was an increase in sales that catapulted the Chevy 6 to the number one seller for several years running.
During her keynote presentation this morning at Forrester's Marketing Forum 2009, Vice President and Principal Analyst Shar VanBoskirk told that story to make a point: Don't think that it's too risky a time to innovate. Innovation can pay off in a big way. "Now is the time to innovate," she said, "despite the perceived risk."
Think it's time to cut back on that ad budget? Think again. According to the soon-to-be released Forrester Research Interactive Advertising Forecast, there's growth ahead for five key areas of online advertising: display, email, mobile, search, and social media.
Recognizing that it operates in an industry known more for complaints received than compliments earned, JetBlue Airways continually looks for ways to differentiate itself.
You've likely read a great deal about JetBlue's Customer Bill of Rights, onboard amenities, and friendly service. At the Forrester Marketing Forum earlier today JetBlue's senior vice president of marketing, Marty St. George, talked in detail about the airline's secret weapon: its employees, known as crewmembers.
When I began planning this blog entry last week, the ending looked very different. I was in the middle of a horrific customer service experience with Stubhub, not my favorite company in the world but one that sports fans must live with (especially if they live in the Northeast). I'd bought tickets for a Red Sox game a few weeks in advance, and with the game just a few days away the tracking system showed the seller hadn't shipped them yet.
Continue reading "Fine Line Between Satisfied and Dissatisfied" »
Who would want to work at a company with centralized power?
That's a question that Clark Winter, the newly appointed Chief Investment Officer at SK Capital Partner, asked me when I spoke to him last week about company mandated policies that inhibit employees from acting in the best interest of the customer.
Even at what I consider to be an early stage, social media has penetrated so many niches that it is beginning to feel like, if not an old technology, a mature one. This was brought home to me recently when I realized that we now have technologies leveraging social networking concepts that play both offense and defense.
I was intrigued by two ideas from opposite ends of the spectrum recently. The first, a study by Sector Intelligence on Passenger, a company that supports online brand communities, and the other my own digging into social media monitoring.
Continue reading "Guest Blogger Denis Pombriant: Social Media Plays Offense and Defense" »
Today is the first day of Frost & Sullivan's Customer Contact East conference, where contact center executives and customer relationship experts converge. This morning, Lynn Holmgren, national director of Whirlpool's customer care operations, shared some of her experiences. Her theme was to know your customers and understand their satisfaction threshold. She called it the "customer pissometer."
Continue reading "Whirlpool's Customer Service Strategy: Know What Makes Your Customers Mad" »
We recently asked our 2009 1to1 Customer Champions that age-old question: What keeps you up at night? The 15 Champions (whom you'll "meet" in the summer issue of 1to1 Magazine) cited both unique and common concerns. I've summarized a few here:
During the recent retail bankruptcies, merchandise (and even the shelving, counters, and cash registers) was sold at huge discounts because "Everything Must Go!" However, one thing that couldn't be put on clearance under a bright yellow sign is the years of brand equity these stores had built. Even though the brand names weren't on sale, they transferred to the liquidation companies along with whatever knickknacks and display models couldn't be unloaded. So what's happening to the names Linens 'n Things, Circuit City, and the rest?
I'll admit it. I'm addicted to American Idol. Ever since Kelly Clarkson won seven years ago, I still regularly tune in to see who Simon will offend or to catch Paula in a drunken stupor. Mostly I watch because I enjoy the performances of the young talent.
Millions of viewers like me tune in year after year to watch for the same reasons. But Idol's appeal also stems from its ever-changing, adapting business model that listens to its customers.
Continue reading "American Idol Gets in Tune With Viewers" »
Finding adjacent market spaces is an attractive way to grow. Adjacent markets are not too far away from your core business in terms of channels, technology, price point, brand, etc. Adjacent means: lying near, neighboring, having a common border, touchable. Although chasing adjacencies can be distracting, it is a much easier to sell internally. Adjacencies seem more achievable than far out, ethereal white-space opportunities.
Adjacent markets are even more appealing when you apply a systematic innovation method to it. Giving yourself the gift of novelty in a new market space right next to your own seems like the best of both worlds. The trick is finding the right adjacencies.
Continue reading "Guest Blogger Drew Boyd: Adjacent Market Opportunities" »
This recession has hit almost every part of the business world. White collar jobs as well as part-timers are seeing their hours cut or disappear altogether. Even last week's episode of 30 Rock highlighted the desperation of people trying to save their jobs (and straws). As companies cut across the board, how will it affect customer service? After all, the way companies can get through this mess is by strengthening their current customer relationships. But does that concept make it past the budget review?
Continue reading "Will Cost-Cutting Result in Customer Service Decline?" »
Ah, sales and marketing. Two teams, one goal: Inspire customers to buy. The stories are endless of how sales and marketing can't seem to get along, even though they share an objective so important it means the life or death of an organization. No customers, no company.
The many tales of sales and marketing woes focus on their vast differences; salespeople are from Mars, marketers are from Venus, and all that. So I decided to take a closer look to determine if sales and marketing are so different after all. Here's what I've come up with:
Filling out time-wasting surveys, quizzes, and questionnaires on sites like Facebook and MySpace might not be as innocent as you think. The little ads pop up everywhere, sometimes even "recommended" by friends, saying things like "how smart are you?" or "what's your real age?" Some are harmless, some are outright scams trying to sign people up for text alerts or spam email, and at least one is walking a fine line in-between.
It seems like a no-brainer: When people feel good about their jobs and are happy at work, their happiness is reflected in the quality of their work, resulting in greater productivity and ultimately happy customers.
Having front-line employees engaged with a caring attitude throughout all interactions with customers is vital not only to the success of an organization, but is also critical to the overall experience that customers so desperately want. Passion for what you do goes a long way to satisfy even the most disgruntled customer.
Below are three recent examples of how important displaying a caring attitude and being engaged in the total customer care process is to the success of eHarmony.
Continue reading "Guest Blogger Scott Ackerman: Three Views on Enhancing Customer Experience " »
There's no denying it's tough out there for America's workforce. Every week more layoff numbers are announced. It seems like everyone is in jeopardy, no matter what field your in or how well you do your job. In the corporate world, marketing departments are one of the high-profile areas that unfortunately seem to get unwanted attention during cost-cutting times. So what can marketers do?
Continue reading "What Can Marketers Do to Keep Their Jobs?" »
The greatest cost to our economy in the present recession may not be the evaporation of wealth in the stock market or real estate deeds. It may be the shrinkage, violet-like, of any willingness to take a risk - any risk - even a good one. No venture in love, intellect, or business carries a guarantee. The difference between occasional smart, calculated failures and the kind we've seen lately in the headlines is the difference between doing one's homework, exercising good judgment based on data, expertise, diverse input, and experience versus jumping into a short-term payoff that simply holds no one accountable for the long run.
There are all sorts of unique promotions that make light of the economic downturn. Car companies are offering to make payments or take back vehicles if customers lose their job, home builders are offering similar deals, and cruises are offering free "layoff insurance." JetBlue is offering similar guarantees on ticket purchases, but it's the company's ad campaign making light of the economic turmoil that is getting more attention.
Continue reading "You are Now Free to Move About Coach (and Mingle With the Peasants)" »
Customers are scarce and getting scarcer. This sounds familiar, but now more than ever does it hold true. And now more than ever do we need to stay focused on the customer.
At IQPC's Customer Experience Summit yesterday in Chicago, audience members heard this message again and again. Another message was companies can't commit to delivering a good customer experience without investing in customer and employee engagement. Customer engagement is a part of the customer experience and a promising approach to understanding customers and prospects. If done right, it leads to customer loyalty.
Continue reading "Is Your Customer Experience Creating Loyalty?" »
