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One Small Change…..

 

I came across a video that made me think about the customer experience…..how can you take the mundane, make one small change, and completely change the way people think about it?

 

As you’ll see in the video below, the goal was to encourage people to take the stairs more often than the escalator. One simple change piqued curiosity and made that goal happen.

 

 

I recall Zappos making the online chat experience a bit more fun. While this dates  back a couple of years, I think it’s a good example of making the customer experience a little more fun. This in turn will make it memorable – people will talk about it, and they will certainly be back.

In this case, you can see a snippet of the chat between a Zappos rep and a customer. The customer, trying to have a little fun, was talking in the third person. The rep, without missing a beat, mirrored the customer’s “talk” and they continued the conversation in that manner, all the while serving the customer and getting his needs met.

 

As we go into the new year, think about your customers’ experience when they’re interacting with your staff or shopping. Think a little outside the box to decide what one small change you can make that may make a difference.

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What Message Do Your Actions Give Employees?

 

Actions speak louder than words, and in business, this is no exception. I’ve read many news articles since the election that revolve around companies putting layoffs into place since Obama was re-elected. The main reason cited in these articles surrounds “Obamacare” – simply put, these companies are stating that they will have to layoff employees or cut work hours of current employees so as not to have to cover insurance, stating that it will cost more than they can afford.

 

I can understand their frustration in this regard, if it is true. If companies are faced with additional cost, they may have to make some tough decisions. However, what caught my attention is that I read an article on Friday about a larger company who stated these exact sentiments, yet over the weekend I viewed several commercials with high profile spokespeople for the very same company. I know advertising isn’t cheap, and it is necessary, BUT…..

 

What message are you sending to your employees? We need to make cuts, but we’re not going to change our advertising spend. In fact, we’re going to cut your hours or completely eliminate your job. That sends a message that bringing customers in is more important than the employees a company hires.

 

It may not be that simple, or that cut and dried, but it does send a message.

 

In another newsworthy item this weekend, I came across an article that talked about a drug store chain that spent several thousand dollars on advertising to bring customers in to their stores. While it worked well, and people came in to redeem the sales in the ad, there were issues with redemption of the offer, and employees (and managers) were not able to honor the offer because of a simple glitch that no one had the authority to fix. From what I understand, it made many customers unhappy, some vowing never to return to the store.  While all of this money was spent getting people into the store, not enough funds were focused on employees and providing them training and tools necessary to fully assist customers. I’m sure it was not their intent, but they set up the employees to fail. That sent a message too, intended or not; the company was focused on increased sales without making sure their front line employees were able to be successful and provide the service customers expect.

 

The economy has been rough, to say the least, for the last several years, but your employees are the face of your business. While it’s true that they are valued, and you could not run your business without them, it’s wise to make decisions focused on thinking through what message you may be sending to your employees. Empowered employees with strong morale will help you meet your goals. After all, you can bring in thousands of customers a day, but if your front line isn’t able or willing to provide great customer service, everyone loses.

 

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Don’t Sell To Unhappy Customers

Timing can be everything in sales sometimes…knowing when to sell and when not to can make a big difference.

I recently had an experience that made me think about this idea. We all know that it’s easier to sell to existing customers than it is to new or potential customers; however, selling to your customers needs to be well timed to be effective.

Last week I was having trouble with my phone and internet services. I had a frustrating morning of dropped calls and the internet randomly going down. I tried all the things I could on my end before turning to the company that handles both of our services. I opted for the chat feature, since I have historically been able to resolve any issues that way and could talk with them while continuing to get some stuff done.

When I chatted with the representative, things were going okay – she was working to troubleshoot for me to find the source of the problem. After a few false starts and me expressing my frustration over the situation, she mentioned that she could do a system refresh, which would take a few minutes. I would lose phone and internet access during that time. That was fine, because I needed to get this resolved and would do anything to make that happen, though I was getting increasingly frustrated by my looming pile of work that was stacking up.

She nicely explained that she would be starting soon and to wait until she returned to the chat to indicate that everything was reset. A few minutes later, I noticed a new message from the representative…..it was a sales pitch for a new service they are offering!

I was a bit taken aback by this, and I’m certain it was some type of automated sales chat, similar to what you would hear if you were on the phone and put on hold. It surprised me that they would use this messaging with a customer that was not really happy with the service they are already getting. That was not the time to try to sell additional services to me, a currently dissatisfied customer.

Timing is everything – you want to sell additional services when the time is right, and when the customer is happy. Otherwise, you may not only not get the additional sale, but it could be the one thing that pushes a customer from dissatisfaction to leaving you all together.

Just some food for thought.

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