Bell said one of the areas holding most organisations back when trying to improve their service is they lack the knowledge and experience to put a long-term strategy in place. The result is a short-term hit and miss approach and continued inconsistent service at the front counter.

Bell said that the companies that are delivering consistently high quality experiences, have a long-term strategy in place that is very much a part of their DNA, it’s their culture “the way they do things”

These businesses understand it’s the service they are not obliged to give, that customers value the most.

Bell’s advice to business is-

1) Make a long-term commitment to improving the quality of experience delivered to both employees and customers.

2) Gain the knowledge and advice required to develop and implement a strategic approach

3) Clearly define the experience you will deliver and involve as many staff as possible in that process, especially those that have the direct contact with customers.

Bell has just launched a programme designed to give customer experience managers the skills to develop their own customer experience strategy, a first in New Zealand and is linked closely with Customer Experience Tracker, an effective customer experience measurement resource.

For further information chris@customerexperiences.co.nz www.customerexperiences.co.nz mb 0272792360

I’m talking about word of mouth. That’s it – customers talking about your business and products. I started thinking differently about this powerful (and free!) marketing channel a while ago after reading Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz.

I applaud this book because it shows why customer service (or customer satisfaction as I call it) and marketing must go hand-in-hand. And explains that deceptive marketing is a very bad policy and that listening and talking to your customers are the best practices you can follow.

We have all heard of B-to-C (business-to-consumer) marketing. And we have all heard of B-to-B (business-to-business) marketing. We have even (more recently) heard of C-to-C (consumer-to-consumer) marketing. But what Word of Mouth Marketing explores is the new world of B-to-C-to-C marketing – business-to-consumer-to-consumer! It’s all about the second hop, the third hop, the fourth hop, and so on.

You may be thinking, “Word of mouth isn’t a new concept. It’s been going on forever. So what’s the big deal?”

What’s new is that with the popularity of social media, word of mouth has evolved from anecdotal to actionable, from something that “just happens” to something you can influence. In fact, because we now have the tools and knowledge to work with it, word of mouth marketing has become the fastest growing form of marketing.

Word of mouth is about authentic consumer conversation. That means marketers join in a conversation with their customers, participating in it but never manipulating, faking, or degrading its fundamental honesty in any way.

The Five T’s to Word of Mouth Marketing

1. Talkers: Finding people who will talk about you

Talkers are any group of people who have enthusiasm and the connections to relay your message. Talkers are regular people, your best customers.

A while back, I attended a seminar in Atlanta – along with about 2,500 other people. Jim, the very first person I met, asked me what I did. When I told him about the company I was running at the time, he said, “Oh, I know them. The only publication I read is their flagship newsletter.” We spoke at length about how that newsletter has helped him grow his business, how he has told friends and industry colleagues about it, and how many of those folks are now fans.

Jim is a great example of a talker.

You just don’t find talkers … you cultivate them. People talk about you for two reasons: They either had a very good experience with your company or they had a very bad experience. Either way, by responding to their comments you can turn them into big marketers for your company. Here’s how to do it:

• Acknowledge your mistakes. If you screw up, you should never try to sweep it under the rug. Instead, apologize to the customers it affected, correct the problem, and thank your customers for staying with you. You’ll find that your customers will thank YOU for correcting the mistake. And they may even go on to recommend your company to people they know.

• Acknowledge compliments. Many people think that if someone pays you a compliment, a response is not necessary. This could not be further from the truth. That person took the first step by making a comment. Now you need to seize the opportunity to turn her into a talker. You do this by replying to your customers’ letters, e-mails, and forum postings.

• Acknowledge your fans. Sometimes you can turn a person into a talker just by talking to them first. Look for signs of extreme enthusiasm. Look for customers who frequently attend the events you sponsor or know the names of your employees or wear your logo.

For example, while visiting my husband’s family in Long Island a few summers ago, I saw a man on the beach wearing an ETR hat with the company’s logo. I was so excited that I went over to him and introduced myself. Noticing the confusion on his face, I pointed to his hat and said, “I run that company!” Well, he told me it was his buddy’s hat, and he just liked the color.

I apologized for bothering him, and went back to building sand castles with my kids. An hour later, a different man came up to me and told me it was his hat … and that he had been a client of ours for years.

“Steve” and I talked for a while about his Internet business. And when I got back to the office, I asked our customer service manager to look up his address – and I sent him a personal note and a new hat. I’m pretty sure Steve is now a talker.

2. Topics: Giving people a reason to talk

All word of mouth starts with creating a message that spreads. In other words, with a good, clear idea that’s easy to repeat.

I ran a company that adhered to a philosophy called Ready, Fire, Aim. The company’s experts write about Ready, Fire, Aim and speak about it at the events they sponsor, so all of their customers can benefit from it. If you take a look at videos of the people who attend this company’s events, video after video shows them repeating this mantra.

The reason Ready, Fire, Aim works is because it is short and sweet. It was developed around a single idea that is easy to repeat. And it’s a concept that not only resonates with entrepreneurs but has been proven to work time after time.

Good topics are organic. They are based on the exceptional qualities that make your products stand out. They flow naturally from the products’ attributes, without needing to be pushed by marketing.

3. Tools: Helping the message spread faster and further

Non info-publishing, info-marketing companies have been doing this for years. Dining establishments spread the word by handing out 2 for 1 coupons. Cosmetics companies give away free samples. Apartment complexes offer one month’s free rent. Phone companies give you a $50 credit for referring a friend. And so on.

But with the Internet, it has never been faster, easier, or cheaper. Just think about it. How many times have you read something online and forwarded it to not just one or two friends, colleagues, or relatives but five or 10? And that’s without any marketing push. If you have a “Forward to a Friend” or “Tell a Friend” button at the bottom of your e-mailed publication, you’re adding exponential marketing power to it.

I have always been a big fan of forums and message boards. They encourage like-minded people to share ideas, problems, and solutions. Plus, they allow you to “listen in on” and participate in their conversations.

I love to find out what my customers are saying, because it helps me better understand their needs. If you ask me, any company that believes in their products and employees will have forums. Forums not only facilitate communication, they increase accountability.

4. Taking Part: Joining the conversation

Once you have reached out to real people and encouraged them to talk, there is no turning back. You must join the conversation. You must reply to e-mails, accept comments on your blog, participate in the discussion board, answer the phone.

Joining the conversation is even more powerful when it is public. For instance, you can publish readers’ comments and questions in your newsletter or other marketing publications. If one of your customers is struggling and takes the time to ask for help, you need to (1) acknowledge that, and (2) share your advice with others who may be in the same situation.

Again, if your customers are complimenting you, thank them. If customers are saying negative things, find out why and fix the problem.

There is no better focus group than your customers. Yes, you will get crazies every once in a while – and you may need to hire outside resources to communicate with them on your company’s behalf. But, at the same time, you are earning the respect and recommendations of your customers and building long-term lasting relationships with them … as long as you are helpful, truthful, thankful, and nice.

5. Tracking: Measuring and understanding what people are saying

Because of the popularity of blogs and online communities, people are writing down nearly every thought they have about your company. And because these B-to-C-to-C conversations are written down, they are easy to find and easy to track. You can find every comment about you and your company moments after it is written. And monitoring that online communication allows you to understand what your customers really think about you, your marketing, and your products.

There are wonderful online tools – such as Google Alert and Technorati – that can help you monitor your word of mouth. They are at your fingertips, and they are instant and free.

Start right now. Don’t make any marketing decisions without considering the potential for word of mouth. Ad agencies, media executives, and reporters no longer control the message. Real consumers with real communication power have added their voices to the mix. And their voices are drowning out traditional media. A single consumer voice, in the end, has a huge impact on your company’s future.

Word of mouth will become more and more important as the Internet continues to expand. But I am still a firm believer in the importance of direct-response marketing. The best thing you can do for your company is to successfully incorporate multiple methods into your overall marketing strategy. You’ll maximize your efforts, build your customer base, and reap the profits.

The item was reporting the comments from a former manager of a Glasson’s branch saying that staff felt pressured to wear the firm’s latest fashions.

Glasson Managing Director was quoted as saying, “Glasson’s had not stipulated that it was mandatory for staff to wear new seasons Glasson’s clothing at all times.

Employees of Glasson’s are always encouraged to wear their products and are offered a substantial staff discount.”

This is yet another case of the wrong culture and poor recruitment resulting in the wrong people in the wrong positions.

It really is a no brainer and the first rule in the recruitment of any front-line people. Create a culture that attracts people who are passionate about your products, give them all the resources and development opportunities possible and let them deliver the magic at the front counter.

My question to Glasson’s is this – “Why would you want to employ anyone in a sales position that was not over the moon with the products you stock and be thrilled to wear them at every opportunity? “

Glasson’s- I would like to suggest that before you experience any further negative media from former employees, or experience difficulty attracting the right people for these key front line positions, you take a look at your employee experience.

A great customer experience is a direct result of a great employee experience.

Your employees are your greatest competitive advantage.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/3701280/Glassons-staff-expected-to-wear-latest

From time to time I come across a super star and in many cases they are the least likely who take on this role

In this case the persons name is Toby and he is the groundsman at the resort we stayed at.

Toby’s job is to clean the pool, rake the leaves and maintain the grounds, however, Toby has taken it upon himself to adopt another role, one he enjoys and one he is extremely good at.

Toby’s other role is children’s entertainment and education officer and he carries this role out while cleaning the pool and raking leaves and the kids love it.

From showing them how to catch crabs for fish bait and then how to catch a fish, to how to get the milk from a coconut, to making a yacht complete with sails from the shell, Toby always has time for any request.

I’m not sure how he does it, with all these interruption the grounds always looked immaculate and nothing was too much trouble for Toby who always has a smile.

The disappointing thing for me is that in most cases the Toby’s of business are rarely recognised for the value they add to the business and the customer experience.

One of the important components of a consistently great customer experience is having the right people in the right positions. In this case the resort has gained a double whammy, a great groundsman and a gentleman with a fantastic outgoing personality who is committed to ensuring all guest really enjoy their stay at the resort.

There are any number of resorts we could have stayed at, however I’m not sure they would have had a Toby, I’m please we picked the one we did not for the room or the pool and other facilities but for the fact that I got to witness a super star in action, thanks Toby.

“The choice your people make every day regarding the quality of customer experience they deliver”

Then the next questions is –why aren’t more organisations putting more effort into ensuring their people are making the right choices, choices that result in you and me having many more great customer experiences that we are more than happy to rave about and recommend to others.

I think there are two answers to that question-

1) We think our people are making the right choices at present so we don’t need to focus on this area of our business.

2) We don’t know how to ensure that our people consistently make the right choices

We think the latter reason is closer to the mark and I don’t blame businesses for that because there is no magic bullet.

So, let me make a couple of suggestions that will start you on your way to creating a sustainable competitive advantage for your business.

Suggestion number one – Make a commitment to be a totally employee and customer focused organisation.

That means your people will be your number one priority and your customers will be your number two priority.

No, that’s not a mistake. The days of paying lip service to your customers being number one are over.

Let’s go back to the single most important factor – you don’t stand a chance of your people making the right choices if they are, not only your number one priority but the know it and feel it everyday based on how you lead them and the culture you create that allows them to work their magic.

Suggestion number two – Involve your people in the development of your customer experience

Everyone within your organisation will be playing some role that will impact on the quality of the customer experience you are currently delivering.

Involvement equals engagement and the greater the engagement the greater the chance of the right choices being made at your front counter.

Don’t forget 67 percent of employees go to work disengaged. Not only is that having a huge impact on productivity, disengaged employees don’t deliver great customer experiences.

Chris Bell

Many organisations proudly show me their recent customer satisfaction survey results.

Yet despite all the surveys, the countless workshops and seminars, the thousands of books and research that has been done on improving customer service and the quality of the customer experience…

WHY are we still not receiving better customer service and having more high quality customer experiences?

Well, believe me its not due to the vast collection statistical analysis, pie charts and graphs that apparently show what the customer wants.

Most organisations have a clear understanding that they are not living up to their customer’s expectations and yet no improvement has been made following the analysis.

Some recent research in the US has found that the root cause is the disconnect between employee and customer perceptions of what it is the customer is expecting.

The “Experience Gap Analysis (EGA) study of both employees and customers found that employees consistently overestimated their level of service performance, believing they had delivered greater value than their customers on the receiving end were willing to give them credit for.

This is a clear case of employees applying one set of criteria to judge the quality of their service and customers rating the experience based on entirely different standards.

This gap has little to do with employee attitudes or motivation levels and everything to do with a lack of clear definitions and insufficient knowledge of the customer, leaving employees to their own definitions.

Also contributing to the gap is an organisations focus. While paying lip service to the importance of the customer, the focus is clearly more on the organisation resulting in a lack of customer focus including support processes and systems geared to the delivery of high quality experiences.

Another big contributor to the problem is the persistence’s of some organisations to continually advertise their commitment to the customer and proceed to tell them all the wonderful things they are going to do for them.

All this customer focused advertising does not actually create a better experience and today after being let down so many times doesn’t even gain attention anymore. All it does is continue to create higher expectations on the part of the customer.

Great customer experiences require an emotionally engaging performance. Processes and systems can’t do that nor can machines, only people can and in an increasingly web based economy great people contact is becoming a real point of difference.

Let me share with you the single most important factor for business success.

It’s not your products or services

It’s not your management

It’s not your rules & regulations

It’s not your processes & systems

It’s not defined job responsibilities

Its not financial rewards

It’s the choice your people make every day regarding the quality of customer experience they deliver.

Everyday your people make choices that determine the experience your customers have with your organisation.

You can’t make your people smile

You can’t make your people care

You can’t make your people be more helpful

You can’t make your people be more welcoming

You can’t make your people go the extra mile

Only your people can make that choice.

What you can do is provide quality leadership, a people and customer focused culture, and ensure you have the right people onboard……

Then let them deliver the magic!

Chris Bell

Customer Experience Creator

The best part is its very simple and even better still not many organisations are doing it or even thinking about doing it.

Can’t handle the suspense any longer? Here it is….

“It’s the ability to capitalise on the creativity of your team”

See I told you it was simple, most of the best ideas usually are and further more there are a number of advantages over and above the obvious, including

Greater employee engagement

Greater employee loyalty

Increased employee word of mouth

But by far the greatest benefit has to be seeing the smile on a customers face when they click that you have been really thinking about them and the value you can add to their experience.

It has to be the fastest way to get customers coming back and recommending you to others.

How to get a creative culture going in your organisation-

• Start small. A few easily implemented ideas will boost confidence and motivation and your people will start to take you seriously.

• Ensure the idea originator is recognised and where appropriate rewarded, recognition is more powerful than money

Follow the rules-

1) There is no such thing as a bad idea

2) Everyone’s ideas matter, especially those people that have direct contact with your customers.

3) The best ideas come from a focus on your customers

4) Make it fun and keep people motivated

5) Listen to your customers and suppliers, they also have great ideas

6) Take the blinkers off, look at other industries there creative ideas could be adapted to your business

7) Using all that creativity, most ideas can be developed at little or no cost.

Don’t ignore wild and whacky. I have found that some of the most wild and whacky ideas have, with some refinement turned out to be the most successful.

Early 2008 we started a programme evaluating the customer experience performance of organisations within the visitor industry.

We started this process by asking those close to the industry to suggest businesses they thought were delivering a consistently high quality experience, so we could start our evaluation programme on a positive note. One organisation that that was mentioned more often that any other, was a South Island tourist operator, Real Journeys. We knew very little of this company, so we started our evaluation programme with Real Journeys.

Back Ground

Real Journeys is a Te Anau based business that was founded back in the early fifties by Les & Olive Hutchins. A couple that were passionate about the Fiordland area, its conservation and the opportunity to share this with visitors to the area. Their passion lives on today through the leadership, culture and the team involved in Real Journeys.

I could write pages on our experiences during our evaluation of Real Journeys. Our trip across Lake Wakatipu on the 100 year old TSS Earnslaw to the magnificent Walter Peak station and the high country farm excursion that followed and our overnight trip onboard the Fiordland Navigator. I will be writing and talking about this organisation more as it’s the first company to join our exclusive 1% Club. It’s also the only company in the visitor industry that we have scored a perfect 10 in our evaluation process.

For more info visit www.realjourneys.co.nz/aboutus

This is as powerful as it gets…….
The team at Customer Experiences highly recommend Real Journeys and their trips. Please don’t go to this incredible part of the planet without experiencing it with the Real Journeys “super stars” they will not only look after you incredibly well, they’ll bring the area alive for you through their extensive knowledge and passion.

Customer Experiences is proud to welcome Computer Food to the exclusive 1% Club. Click here to find out about more 1% Club members.

 Answer – We will be able to give an accurate answer once we have completed our evaluation.

2)     Why don’t we just provide training for our front-line people

 Answer – We launched Customer Experiences after our research found that when customer service training is carried out without a proper Customer Experience foundation, the training itself has very little impact on changing employee behaviour and ultimately little impact on improving customer service.

 3)     How do we gain total commitment from our people to ensure the success of a Customer Experience Strategy?

  Answer – Commitment comes from engagement. The Customer Experience approach must involve everyone. The fact is that everyone plays a role in your Customer Experience, not just those people directly interacting with your customers.

 4)     Why is a Customer Experience strategy difficult for your competitors to copy?

Answer – Leadership, culture and your people are vital parts of your Customer Experience strategy and the great news is, they are all difficult to copy. Everything else you do is relevantly easy to copy.

 5)     Why is creativity such an important part of a Customer Experience strategy.

Answer – The key to on-going customer loyalty is the ability to continually “add value” to what you provide your customers other than reduced prices. This requires a steady flow of ideas from your people, the more creative the ideas the greater the impact on your Customer Experience

6)     How does a Customer Experience strategy help us to attract the right people.

.Answer – Great people want to work with organisations that are totally focused on their customers. They know that these businesses take time to build real relationships with their customers and it’s these relationships that lead to loyalty. The fact is that your working life is so much more enjoyable when your customers are smiling.

 7)     Why is a vision sooo important to a Customer Experience Strategy?

   Answer – A good vision keeps everyone focused, on track, inspired and motivated and that vital to a long-term strategic business approach.

8)     Why is word of mouth so much more powerful today? Answer – Word of mouth has always been powerful. Today its even more powerful due to the fact that customers have been let down so many times by organisations not delivering on their marketing promise.

9)     How does a Customer Experience strategy take away the focus on price?

 Answer – We do business today in a world we call “the world of sameness” the only way most businesses can come up with to get customers in the door is to reduce prices. The result is reduced margins and a struggling business. Customer focused businesses look for ways to add value, this is why it’s so important to understand your business from the customer’s perspective and foster creative thinking.

 10)                        Why does business have difficulty relating to customers    emotions

   Answer – I’m not sure, we are all human and emotions drive our lives. Thankfully understanding customer’s emotions is a major part of a Customer Experience strategy.

1) It costs more time, energy and money to gain a new customer—look after the ones you have

2) Your best customers are your competitor’s best prospects – look after them otherwise your competitors will.

3) They are your best source of referrals

4) You understand their expectations

5) They bring you steady revenue

6) They give you valuable feedback

7) They save you marketing dollars

They give you opportunities to strengthen the relationship

9) They trust you

10) They give you chances to sort out problems

11) They keep raising the bar

12) The sale cycle is sped up

13) They provide powerful testimonials

14) They allow you to be more selective

15) They are more profitable

16) Your people enjoy doing business with them

“Wow” that’s got to be worth the effort.

Contact Chris to find out how you can reap these rewards

027 2792360