Creative Mind Consulting

Don't Ask My Opinion If You Don't Want It!

Customer service 101 story ~~ cranky customer alert!

On the recommendation of a trusted online colleague, I went to a web site yesterday and signed up for their free membership. The site has a track record of success at what they do, and they seem to offer a good value in exchange for my contact information. 

One problem - the site is dense, full of links, and while very well organized...I was left with 2 key questions:

• "How does your process work?" 

• "Where do I start?"

The first question is a central failing of many software tools and web sites. I think developers get so involved with their product, they tend to forget that customers don't have the same level of awareness of their site's capabilities...or intended purpose. 

You often find sites with lots of "how to's" or the mechanics of what the site does. The best comparison I can think of? Picture someone who's never seen a car. Now, hand them the owner's manual and let them figure out exactly what it does. At no point does anyone explain that the purpose of the car is to transport people, getting them from point A to point B quickly and efficiently. How useful is the owner's manual at that point?

The next question your web site visitors, or business customers, will ask is "where do I start?"

In the middle of all your links, lists, white papers, ads, titles, etc...how do I figure out the starting point? What do you want me to do first? Second? Third? 

In order for me to feel comfortable with your site (or membership, or social media profile, etc) right out of the box, hold my hand. Give me that clear starting point, and a roadmap of next steps. What is the typical progression of a new customer, or new member? What are the things that need to happen in order for me to successfully use your site and keep coming back?

This is even more critical when you have multiple entry points for your main site. Facebook Fan Pages offer small businesses great portals to direct customer traffic to their main web pages...as is the case with the site I joined last night. 

But - when neither the main web site or the Facebook Fan Page tells me the purpose, or where to start, then what?

Now - the customer service part....

At the bottom of every page on the site was a submission box asking me what I thought, how the site could help me and did I need any support. Cool - handy and easy to find...and I had those two burning questions I mentioned above. 

So, I typed in each question separately and submitted. I was very polite and helpful - when I've taught customer service classes before, I make a point of telling students that it's often the new employee or new customer who offers a company the best insights into their processes and how they can be improved. 

Today I received two nice emails in response to my questions...yet neither one really took the time to answer my concerns (more owners manual instructions). To top it off, one of them politely informed me that the appropriate way to contact them was a button in the top right corner of the screen, not the support form that I had used at the bottom of the page. 

Ooops - guess my "customer ESP" just wasn't working very well last night!

Sorry to sound a bit cranky, but it makes me wonder. This site is very successful at what it does (so, perhaps I'm the only one who's confused...wouldn't be the first time!)

But - what if this site could be even more successful than it is? Wouldn't the site/business owner like that?

Wonder how many folks sign up to join the site, but never really take advantage of what is being offered...and how many dollars are being lost....

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge

The start of a new year is such a great time to review your files and clean out old items. In doing so, I discovered two customer service articles that I wrote for an international moving industry magazine a few years ago.

They are just as relevant today, so I post them for your reading pleasure.

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge - Part 1:

Download Mobility customer service article 1

How Exceptional Customer Service Can Be Your Competitive Edge - Part 2:

Download Mobility customer service article 2

"Brainstorming for Business" ideas...Cooking School in a Box

This innovative business idea popped into my head on the way home last night...as I was contemplating what to make for dinner (I'm feeding 4, 2 of them teens).

I'm not bad at the basics (casseroles, skillet dinners, broiled chicken, crock potc, etc.), and I'm very comfortable looking in the fridge or pantry and whipping up dinner with what I find there. I like spices and know a bit about how to use salt, sugar, sour, etc. to pump up the flavor of the food.

But - I would love to someday take a cooking course, and learn from the pros. How to chop, how to prepare more basics (steak eludes me), how to season, etc. Yes, I've been watching too many episodes of Top Chef and Chopped!

As a busy wife, mother and business person...finding the time (and the money) to step aside and go off to cooking fantasy school isn't in the near future.

However...why couldn't the cooking school come to me? And to my friends?

It's time for some enterprising young (well, age doesn't really matter, does it?) classically trained chef to step up to the plate and offer:

• Cooking School in a Box...group cooking classes at home

Some of my friends have wonderful gourmet kitchens with lots of room to chop, prep, mix and cook. I'd love to see a series of classes that they host, taught by the enterprising chef. The chef can buy all the ingredients, show up that night, teach us a new technique or two, let us practice, and then we all prepare and eat a meal/appetizer together. Repeat the following week, or two, or three, etc.

By meeting as a group, we can share the cost, receive relatively personal instruction, learn from the chef and each other, and have a great night out. Wine should be involved.

Churches could host such an event in their kitchens (wine probably optional in that case)...businesses could use this as a team building event...it's a great girls night out activity...restaurants could offer their kitchen on a slow night...etc. Many creative ways to play this one idea.

In a day and age when cooking at home is becoming increasingly important, lots of people need to prepare economical, nutritious, interesting, tasty dishes. I'm sure someone is doing this somewhere, but I haven't seen this idea in any of the groups I frequent.

Who's ready to run a small business teaching others to cook?

Service with a Smile, Airline-Style

Courtesy of Southwest Airlines via Twitter - here's a great video clip from the Dallas NBC affiliate on the future of customer service via technology.

If you've flown at all in the last decade or so (my husband hasn't, so I know there are some car-people out there), you're aware that current airline travel is far from the 'friendly skies' most of the time. However, the effective use of technology can help airlines make up some of that lost ground.

The video story briefly outlines what Southwest and other airlines are doing to use the customer data they have now (and will have in the future) to create better experiences for their frequent fliers.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a ramp agent identify you by name and encourage you to take advantage of early boarding opportunities? How about if they served you your favorite beverage in flight for no charge (Diet Coke, not Diet Pepsi, thank you)? What if the airline Twitter'd you before you knew about an impeding flight delay...and booked you on the best alternative before you could say "what else can go wrong, today"?

The story also highlights the work a company called Sabre is doing on the technology side, to capture and retain customer preferences. This information will allow Southwest and other airline's employees to cater to the needs of frequent fliers (special boarding, upgrades, etc.) and address problems before they escalate into customer loss (free use of the airlines' lounge when unexpected weather delays a flight).

What customer data do you have? What does it tell you? Are there low-tech ways to gather more useful information? Would a technology investment pay for itself with an increase in the amount of knowledge you might gain? Many great questions for you and your team to ponder....

Innovation trickling up?

Now here's an interesting idea....

We typically think of "innovation" in product development as a "first world" tool or strategy used by big companies...which may in time trickle down to smaller populations or countries.

This article published recently in Business Week online (March 11, 2009) highlights a different phenomena - companies pioneering innovative efforts in smaller markets or emerging nations, and then moving those innovations to the larger, richer nations.

There is a great advantage to such a process - consumers and companies in the "first world" are hungry for bargains as the recession grinds on. Instead of starting development in an advanced nation and passing along "yesterday's models" to second and third world nations...this model turns that process on it's head.

Companies are turning product development upside down, and customers across the developmental spectrum benefit greatly by such an approach. Newer, lower cost products (and services, for that matter) with just the essential features - not all the bells and whistles.    

How can you apply such an approach to your company? What are the essentials your customers need, and how you can you provide it without the bells and whistles? What if you spin off the bells and whistles into individual products or services? If you as the question "what's the ONE thing my customer needs today?"...what is the answer?

What's a "customer-focused culture," anyway?

If a key part of my business is to help organizations develop "customer-focused cultures"...it seems logical to take a look at what that phrase might mean.

Is it "customer service"?

Is it a customer service training program?

Is it operating hours, websites, or endless posts on Twitter talking about the greatness of your company?

Is it the newest technology, or the latest fashions?

Or is it a way of life, a set of values held by the leaders of the organization that flows through the rest of the people in the organization?

Um, I vote for item #5.

Let's break it down a bit -

"Customers" are the people we are in business to serve. We provide them with a product or service and that they need (or want...we have few true "needs"...people want the latest iPhone, they don't "need" one for survival) and in exchange, they provide us with money. Dollars, here in the USA.

Money is just a medium of exchange, a convenience. It keeps us from having to haul around baskets of corn, or a group of pigs to trade.

Customers "vote" with their dollars, and we want them to "vote" for us. Even better, we want them to tell their friends to vote for us as well.

"Focus" is the sole aim of our business, our organization. What are we focused on? Our stuff, our widgets, our technology...or are we obsessed with knowing how our customers will use that tool to improve their lives, their businesses?

If you're saying "that's obvious", or "that's simple"...if it's so simple, why have thousands and thousands of smart, talented, educated, capable business leaders driven their businesses right into the ground for a lack of customers?

The pages of business textbooks are littered with the carcasses of business that went out of business because they forgot that one overriding principle.

Great customer-focused organizations have an obsessive orientation to others, to finding out more and more about the people they serve. While we now have access to an ever widening range of technical tools that will help us learn about our customers, it's not about technology.

• Great restaurants stay in business because they cook great food and serve it in a way that keeps people coming back for more.

• The mom and pop corner store 's been in business for 3 generations doesn't use web analytics to know what their customers want - they ask questions and listen carefully to the answers.

• Customers choose one heating and cooling repair company over another because of the little things, the way they are treated, the way you keep a few extra parts for their vintage system in stock...not particularly on price.

Dictionary.com defines "culture" as the the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group.

The values held by the leaders of an organization directly influence the culture of that group. If they don't value the customer, that mindset will eventually trickle down and impact the rest of the whole company.

As a leader in your organization, do you understand the role of "service", of "serving" others and how critical that understanding is for creating the kind of culture that attracts and retains customers?

Now that's a great topic, so we'll save it for another day....

I don't need a website...do I?

In his recent column for U.S. News and World Report, titled "Business Websites: Do You Really Need One?" reporter Matt Bandyk poses a great question: Do small businesses really need a web site?    

Matt notes that his research shows only about 40% of all small businesses have a web site, so there is plenty of room for growth in the market. But, he also poses (and answers) the question regarding the utility of having such a site.

As we move toward "all online, all the time" more and more consumers - as well as business managers - are performing basic web searches for businesses, organizations, services, etc. If your name, or your company's name doesn't pop up in Google, or in an online directory of some kind...how do they know you exist?

If a prospective employer performs a Google search on 3 promising candidates, who may get the "psychological nod" - the candidate with even a brief couple of links...or the two others with no mention at all?

Of course, the final hiring decision will come down to many factors, but having even a simple online presence could tip the scales slightly in your favor.

For solo-preneurs, a basic web site or blog becomes a form of both business card and billboard. It allows your prospective clients to learn more about you before you meet - something we all like to do as consumers. It gives us a positive feeling to be able to learn something about a potential vendor before we meet face to face. (You should of course do the same before meeting with a potential client)

This is one of the driving factors behind the development of my "boxes" approach to web site development. By using simple cost-effective online tools, I can help a small business, solo-preneur, job seeker, or employed professional quickly create a cohesive web presence - for a very reasonable cost. I teach you to use the tools effectively, and you can control the message that you are sending out to the world.

So, in answer to Matt's question - a resounding "yes!" Your small business does need a web site :-)

Thinking Outside the Leadership Box...We're All in This Together

Millions of words have been devoted to the recession, tough business climate, stimulus, layoffs, etc. It's easy to see the articles announcing thousands of layoffs a day - depressing to just read the headlines.

The people behind the headlines have been crunching the numbers, and making the difficult decisions to make the cuts - I feel for them, I really do. That's not an easy job, and I know many of those managers and leaders have agonized over these decisions.

But inquiring minds want to know...I wonder how many of those organizations making layoffs ran the numbers to determine what would happen if everyone took pay cuts, rather than letting people go entirely?

What would happen in your organization if everyone took a 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% pay cut? For 6 months, 12 months, 18 months? Would those savings let your organization get by without layoffs - or with fewer layoffs?

What if the company's leaders took the first steps and cut their salaries to the bone ahead of everyone else? (Uh, no...I didn't mean changing the compensation structure to offset the salary decrease with other non-cash related benefits...I mean CUT).

This would not be an easy situation for anyone - family budgets all across the company would be affected, for one thing...and that can make employees cranky. It could drive some good employees into looking for new opportunities.

Many HR departments know what to do in case of layoffs - but getting HR and Finance to make the changes to databases, salary schedules, recruiting strategies, etc. can be tough. Companies don't "think outside the box" easily, and figuring out wholesale changes to entrenched systems can be paralyzing.

BUT - think about the upside. Leaders who make the effort to keep everyone on board can generate tremendous loyalty from the majority of employees who remain. This loyalty and sense of camaraderie *can* translate into better attitudes towards customers...and organizations need all the customers they can get right now.

Steady On, Americans....

Count me among those who have decided to really limit their t.v. news consumption these days (to my husband's irritation at times)...and coming from a news junkie, that's a big switch. Maybe it beats yelling at the box, which I have a tendency to do - depending on the political persuasion of the person talking on screen.

The doom and gloom of the networks, both nationally and locally, is suffocating. Times are tough...I totally get it, but you'd think that we as a nation had never experienced suffering or sorrow at any point in our past. I've yet to hear a reporter or talking head remind us that as Americans we are capable of facing and overcoming a wide range of difficulties.

Ask your parents or grandparents what life was like in a REAL depression. Not that we couldn't head in that direction (a possibility that is more likely with all the nonsense in the "stimulus" package...like "Buy American" provisions that could touch off a global trade crash), but for the most part we need to grit our teeth and ride it out for another year or so.

Much good will come from this time, if we are open to learning from this experience.

Capitalistic economies are inherently subject to booms and busts. While painful, the busts in particular help to reallocate capital, resources and talent. Some of the companies that have failed (Circuit City, Linens and Things) were indistinguishable from their competitors, and coldly enough...did not deserve to stay in business. They created no particular positive memories for their customers, and failed to offer a unique shopping experience.

Painful, yes - but the people who worked for those companies can go on to use their talents and experiences to benefit other organizations, and other customer groups. *They* are the treasures hidden from view behind the corporate labels.

When I look at people on LinkedIn for example, I'm struck by the incredible diversity of backgrounds, experiences, certifications, projects, living locations, etc. What an amazing pool of talent (both employed and unemployed), waiting to be discovered and put to use through the capitalistic system of business creation.

As large businesses are destroyed, smaller businesses rise up to fill the gaps. Many people looking for work will end up with small to medium size organizations...rather than go back to the giants. This move can offer increased flexibility, creativity and responsiveness to customers - as well as the ability to use a wider range of an individual's gifts and talents.

As Americans, we have a long heritage of facing adversity and overcoming big challenges. Our current situation is no different. We dig in and stand strong when times get tough. This too shall pass.