April 26, 2009
06:58 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
Ask
Dave Taylor, as his site says, Dave is an industry guru who is willing to answer questions about a wide variety of technical topics. He’s not the only professional who is giving service away.
As the
New York Times reports, volunteers from a company’s community are helping Verizon wireless customers for free. By the looks of it, it seems that many companies, from startup to VCs and large are taking this new tactic all the way to the bank.
People love being helpful and there isn’t always time to meet new people by going to networking events. The businesses that can help lower the barriers to entry to make conversations among customers happen, win. This is especially true and relatively easy to do online.
What if customers were the service? seems to be playing into the reality of business today - fewer company resources allocated to helping customers and those resources being stretched and sometimes showing a bad attitude.
It looks like recovering from a bad attitude involves people other than company employees to take care of business. It may come down to flexibility.
Taylor himself asks the question of American cellphone carriers in one of his posts “If the cell phone world is so perfect in Japan, why is it so fundamentally flawed here in the States? Why is it so rigid, straight forward and uncompromising? Why as consumers haven't we demanded the flexibility that the Japanese cell phone industry exudes?”
Volunteers may help companies bridge to new models but they’re not off the hook quite yet. To recover from a bad attitude in customer service, companies will need to actually relearn to embrace their customers.
Valeria Maltoni |
Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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April 19, 2009
06:56 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Movies are so compelling. There’s a reason for that. They’re distilled stories we can identify with and feel something about - the hero, the villain, even the lover. It’s all so simple in a movie. They tell us something about the human condition, but not the whole thing.
It’s no surprise that videos have taken such a hold online. People want to express themselves, capture their moment in the lime light. And with digital media, it’s easier than ever to do that. Andy Warhol called it the 15' of fame. To be sure, it’s a fleeting condition, and it comes with special responsibility.
Henry J. Waternoose: James, this company has been in my family for three generations. I would do anything to keep it from going under.
Sulley: So would I, sir.
Henry J. Waternoose: Say, I could use your help with something.
Sulley: Anything, sir.
Henry J. Waternoose: You see, we've recently hired some new recruits, and frankly, they're... um...
Sulley: Inexperienced?
Henry J. Waternoose: Oh, they stink!
Sulley: Uh-huh.
Henry J. Waternoose: I thought you could drop by the simulator tomorrow and give them a little scare demonstration, show them what it takes to be our top scarer.
Sulley: I'll start with the old Waternoose Jump-and-Growl.
[Jumps and growls]
Henry J. Waternoose: [Startled] Oh! Ha ha! That's my boy.
This is part of a conversation in Monsters, Inc. I bring it up because last week, a careless act by two employees - the jury i still out on how inexperienced - of the Domino’s Pizza franchise business thought of doing something clever.
They posted a “prank” (as they defined it) video on YouTube and unleashed a storm against their employer - who was identified by a reader of the popular online publication the Consumerist - and the franchise brand it mocked, Domino’s Pizza.
Did they think of the impact of such act on other franchisees?
It’s scary how just a person (or two like in this case) could almost take down the reputation of a brand and make things difficult for many other franchisees who share the same brand name. There is no putting this “kid” or game back. But there is a lesson for all businesses in this.
The best way to respond to these kinds of situations is to have a regular conversation with your customers, so that there are no scary monsters behind doors. You do that by:
1. Training employees - you should know who you hire. Use references, get to know them, take extra time. Then once they’re in, train them on your business practices. Part of those should be having honest and respectful conversations with customers. Yes, we can be difficult at times - all of us are customers, agreed? Yet, if we uphold the Gold Standard on this one, we will come out on top.
2. Developing relationships - the transaction mindset is losing ground. We like to do business with people we like - and know. There may be so many businesses that do the job your business does for your customers. Why should they choose you? This may seem like common sense, yet it is still not that common.
3. Building community - anonymity is not the opposite of minding one’s own business. It’s a slippery slope. It means that nobody is taking the time to get to know each other. It certainly makes it easier to think you can get away with scary things. I would venture to guess that you feel more comfortable when you enter a store or any environment you know. Employees and customers can make community happen.
Randall: Shh. Shh. Shh. Shh. Do you hear that? It's the winds of change. (from Monsters, Inc.)
It is indeed the winds of change, and your business can win by embracing it.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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April 12, 2009
07:07 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
If you think about the fact that many of us need reminding to stay in touch even with family and friends, it could be an interesting proposition - add the button or function to the system and you’re ready to go.
However, there might be a bit more to it than meets the eye. New media is not just channels, or the ability to (potentially) reach anyone in the world within seconds, although if you’re connected, it does.
New media marketing is a new way of thinking about business. Marketers now need to be in content creation, not just campaigns. Leads are now conversations, which instead of converting into accounts, opportunities, and contact, lead to making friends, creating partnerships, and facilitating collaboration.
The ultimate outcome of these activities then is not a mere forecast, as in the old models, it’s meaningful relationships. This is especially important, but not exclusively of course, for Gen Y. It’s their hot button.
The authority in Social CRM within my network is Brent Leary. He’s been writing about and working with CRM for a number of years - since 2003, in fact.
The focus should shift from technology to people. We should have gotten over the phase when we were enamored of the systems, and gotten into being of service to customers a long time ago.
This is traditional CRM (components):
- marketing automation,
- sales automation, and
- customer service.
This is CRM going social:
- marketing content creation,
- sales collaboration, and
- customer conversation.
What do you think? Have I persuaded you?
Valeria Maltoni |
Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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April 5, 2009
11:15 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
After my phone conversation with Register.com this past
weekend, I have a renewed sense of what it takes to show good listening skills.
It may seem like common sense to many, but it is really an art to get to the
right balance of talking and listening in communications.
The results will either build your brand, or contribute to
its demise. There are a few techniques you can use to show your customers
you’re listening, even as they might not be giving you the impression they are:
- Ask questions – you’re in charge of
“why” and “how”, so you’ll need to focus on “what” as in what happened,
and “when” it happened.
- Restate what they said – it’s always a
good idea to repeat or restate what you heard, to play it back for the
other party.
- Say it differently – in some cases,
it’s also helpful to find another way to saying it. Perhaps you have a
better handle on why and how already, so it may be a good idea to share
that.
- Reach agreement, one step at a time –
especially if this is a complicated matter, don’t try to make the whole
issue go away with one answer. Keep asking probing questions and reaching
agreement to move onto the next question. This is the same technique we
use in solving extensive or pervasive problems – break it down into
smaller steps and tackle each one separately before moving onto the next.
- Be pleasant and professional – your
demeanor will speak volumes. Keep your tone of voice and inflection at a
pleasant and professional level. I was pleasantly surprised on my call
because the rep was friendly yet still professional (meeting the rules and
requirements) while clearly not reading off a manual.
- Communicate what you need to do to
help – if you need to put someone on hold, set expectations. Let them know
how long they’ll need to be on hold and why. For example, for this I will
need to speak with a supervisor, it will be approximately two minutes
works.
- Finish when they’re done – I was
surprised to be on the phone for longer than the time it took to take care
of my questions. In fact, the rep was astutely sprinkling pauses in our
conversation and earned the company a renewal on another set of services.
If you learn to do one thing well, start
with listening. Everything else will follow.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation
Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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March 29, 2009
10:10 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Twitter culture rules these days. There are many conversations going on at the same time and that seems to be part of the attraction. People tend to want to be where things are happening. In the culture prevalent in the medium and in the Western culture for that matter, a question warrants a reply.
In fact, often it is tempting to reply with a question to a statement. That’s how we figure things out, learn about what’s going on, and develop relationships with each other.
If you have several followers on Twitter, you probably appreciate the dilemma many companies face: how do you scale personalized @reply functions once the number of people who follows you grows?
In the beginning, when you’re building the business, you pay attention to and welcome every new customer as if they were the only one in the whole world. They are. As you scale your business from small to medium, you start implementing processes and procedures to streamline and provide consistency.
Then you get to the tipping point, when your company is becoming large. Following best practices, you build layers in the organization, more policies are put in place. In many cases you also look at incentives for certain kinds of positions - sales staff and customer service especially.
How does the incentive work to balance volume? It depends.
If we are to learn from the behavior observed on Twitter, people @reply when they feel directly impacted by a question or a comment, or something in the conversation touches their experiences. But the conversation happens in plain sight and someone else may jump in to help.
Would you be open to having the community help with the @reply? Yes, I know many businesses, especially in technology, have used online forums for quite a while. But here we’re talking about a community out in the open:
- Seeing the issues
- Having a chance to respond
- and to propose something
And if your reply is too long, you can always write it on your Twitwall and invite people to join the discussion.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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March 22, 2009
07:22 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
“Markets that don't exist don't care how smart you are.” - Mark Andreessen
You can be as good and tested as you want, in a tight market you’ll need to really figure out if there is a market for your product or service. The product/market fit is not cast in stone, it’s not going to be the same and last forever. It depends on market conditions, your product, and what customers want and need.
Generally what happens is that companies develop products, refine them, then bring them to market. There are three types of markets and you might want to identify which one you are entering or are already in:
1. Existing market - this is the high end where you need to be faster/better. Ask yourself if the current customers would need the best performance, for example.
Then from the company’s standpoint you’d want to vet if the business model is scalable and defensible. What happens if only a handful of customers will buy what you developed is that you have a very high cost and no profit. The question on competition depends on you being perceived as different - you provide value unlike any other company.
2. Resegmented market - this is where you find a niche play and make it through marketing and branding or go low end to be cheaper.
Test the low end on the price/performance ratio. Can you make money that way? Who else is doing that? Is there enough for all or both of you? Or you could make a niche play - narrow either the type of customer you intend to serve, or the type of service/product and what it does. You might even be able to charge the same or more once you determine that. Can you defend this business model?
3. New market - this never existed before and you want to be cheaper or good enough to crate a new class of both product and customer.
Here you figure out if there is a large enough base of people who need to fulfill a need. What can you help them do that they could not do before your product or service?
Companies are so focused on their products and services that they often forget to test market fit. That could prove lethal in a contracted marketplace.
Most product/market fit situations may be in a combination of one of the above and may change in a terrible market. As Eric Ries writes in his post on customer development, you don't get a memo that tells you that things have changed. If you did, it would read something like this:
"Dear Eric, thank you for your service to this company. Unfortunately, the job you have been doing is no longer available, and the company you used to work for no longer exists. However, we are pleased to offer you a new job at an entirely new company, that happens to contain all the same people as before. This new job began months ago, and you are already failing at it. Luckily, all the strategies you've developed that made you successful at the old company are entirely obsolete. Best of luck!"
You need to build customer conversation right into each interaction.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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March 15, 2009
06:51 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
I’ve been thinking about the recent announcement that Robert Scoble is joining Rackspace to run building 43, a place for people fanatical about the Internet. If you’re not familiar with the name, Rackspace is the hosting company that is fanatical about customer support.
In the same way as there is a difference between talking about the news and being the news, as Louis Gray writes in his post about the announcement, there is a difference between saying you care about customers, and actually doing something about it.
What’s that difference? It’s called making fans of your customers. Here’s how you do it:
- Develop or build on the strong emotional connection you have with those customers who get your business, and what you stand for. It’s quite alright if not everyone likes you.
- Allow your organization to show it has a personality. If there is one thing that both Robert Scoble and Rackspace have, is a personality. It will be interesting to se if they mash or collide.
- Target your effort to the right people - those who are already in your court, they’re your fans. In traditional marketing, we call this customer segmentation.
- Understand the culture you’re appealing to and make sure that your brans understands and is relevant to that culture.
In the end, turning customers into fans is a matter of deciding what you’re business is about, and how you’re going to express that in all your interactions.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.coversationagent.com
@ConversationAge
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March 8, 2009
10:26 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
The problem with customer conversations is that they are often not seen as instrumental to customer conversions, which are the bread and butter of a business. Instead, they are considered intangibles, in the same way as relationships are, until you need something from someone.
Then they become crucial. We build relationships when we start building tangible activities around customer contact. Some suggestions:
Over-deliver. It’s not even a matter of promises anymore. Conduct a realistic assessment of where your organization and its products are, and deliver against that. First impressions matter, but more importantly knowing that every contact is a chance to make an impression - make it positive.
Support your employees. If you have rules and incentives that discourage customer interaction, revisit them. You should bear the responsibility for failure when you don’t address these issues. This also means paying attention to what they need to make your business stand out.
Know how to prioritize. While it would be ideal to attend to everything right away, some things need attention immediately, others can be handled over time. Do you know the difference? It’s not a guessing game, you learn what’s key by listening and observing.
Translate your story into action. Way too often, the ad or the script fails because there is no substance to animate it. What are the three things you need to do today to make that happen?
Use speed and collaboration to your advantage. Speed is when an organization is “on it”, when it manages to make important changes happen fast. Speed can also be about responding to situational conditions - for example those of social media conversations. Collaboration is about getting the whole organization to work in concert to realize efficiencies and leverage.
These last two can be crucial for a business that has high customer interaction - like retail, hospitality, and travel. When you build tangible activities to support customer contact you achieve stronger brand unity and greater customer satisfaction.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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March 2, 2009
12:21 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
In my professional role, virtually all of the people I come in contact with could be considered customers. Given everyone’s work load and internal demands these days, the easiest people to deal with are by far the company’s customers.
Here’s why:
- They are the ones who are paying the bills, I am mindful of that every day
- Their requests are often not that unreasonable, when I think about it
- There is goodness in disguise with a request - contact with a customer
How do skilled customer service representatives deal with difficult customers? The overall answer is that they do it gracefully. Some tips:
- Demonstrate your interest by asking probing questions - this is what I call active listening. Sometimes the problem may be below the surface or the reason for the call. You won’t find out unless you probe.
- Stay positive, constructive, and helpful until you figure out what the next steps are - if you’re not in the conversation with your customer, they will be in conversations about how unhappy they are elsewhere. You want them to speak with you and your want to speak with them.
- Do what you can do - there must be something you can do right away. In some instances it’s also a matter of communicating next steps. For example, you can acknowledge your customer’s discomfort or experience with your product, apologize for it, and inform him of the one or two things you will do immediately.
- Honor your word - if you promised you’d call back with a status, even if the status is that the issue has not been resolved, call back and provide that information. Don’t get into excuses, just take the step of communicating clearly and honestly. If you said you’d look into it, communicate about the fact that you did.
What else? What has worked for you as a customer? How about from the other side of the fence?
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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February 23, 2009
05:41 am | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
Customer loyalty should not be just a program, it should be part of the DNA of your business to earn as reward. There continues to be a gap between the percentage of people who say they are satisfied with a company and those who consider themselves loyal to it.
How do you upgrade your customer loyalty?
-
Make it personal - it is. Especially with Web tools, today it is easier than ever to personalize and customize an experience.
- Make it valuable - work on understanding what your customers value and build on that personalization.
- Make it special - all that data you collect, can help you identify who values what and then deliver it to them.
- Make it easy - why ask your customers to jump through hoops to get what they supposedly already earned?
- Make it fun - you do want your customers to talk tot heir friends, family and colleagues about your brand.
- Make it relevant - don’t give away what nobody wants, quite the opposite, in fact. The more it matters, the more will continue to buy from you.
- Make it open - as in an open invitation to shape the conversation together. What better way to incorporate feedback into your company DNA?
Don’t underestimate the value of trying different things to see what works. In a world where peer to peer recommendation often weigh more than your company Web site and marketing programs, a smart conversation with your customers begins with an upgrade on the rewards for being loyal.
It goes without saying that being courteous, prompt and effective in your customer interactions is an asset every step of the way.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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