December 8, 2008
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We live in uncertain times. Open a newspaper, turn on the TV or listen to what people are talking about and you will hear concern, preoccupation, and worry. Many of the things we had taken for granted in recent times - making major purchases on credit being one of them - are now not so certain.
Many things that are outside our control. There are also some things we *can* control. How we handle the environment and context in which our customers enter the conversation with us is one of them. Many an innovation has been generated from working collaboratively.
Delivering something of value goes beyond the tangible assets that populate a transaction. True connections are formed in times of distress. If you were to want to change the world for your customers, you could consider one or more of these ideas:
(1) Ask them to share what they see and discover with you - as businesses, the more time we spend seeing the world through the lens of our customers, the better.
(2) Educate them not just on your little piece, but on the whole business of making and delivering what you make - wouldn’t you want to know how your house or car are built?
(3) Encourage your team to spend time with your customers, which in turn may inspire your customers to spend time with your product - a great example of this is the staff at the Apple store.
(4) Deliver what is within your control - courtesy, kindness, and service may be taken for granted until they are missed, but the difference they make when they’re there is remarkable.
(5) Be curious and observant - it’s amazing how much one can learn just by watching and listening.
We now have more tools to generate more connections and value from our interactions. Technology can make these connections faster, but it does not replace our timeless equipment of eyes, ears, and hands. Watch, listen and roll up your sleeves and experience more innovation for your business while you change the world for your customers.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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December 1, 2008
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Customers can be the service for your organization, if you let them. Are you open to treating your interactions with them that way?
I posed the question to people on Twitter - a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers in 140 characters on a public timeline.
The answers I received are a good indication of how we are now thinking from both perspectives.
As companies, we can be innovative by:
- giving customers a-ah moments
Aruni (enterprise Muse) where the customer comes away with an 'a ha' moment whether it hits then or the seed is planed to hit T minus X days
Adam Needles I'm impressed with 'anticipatory' offers ... when they get it right. When it's off-base, though, just turns me off.
- being efficient on behalf of customers
Aaron Bramley a call center that I only have to tell my account information to once! Also service reps that can actually solve problems!
We can also be innovative by applying what our customers tell us. Some examples:
Bert Dumars a customer conversation that re-categorizes a brand or product the product manager never envisioned - Sharpie Shoe Repair.
Connie Bensen if they (customers) shared how they were using your product in a unique way it wasn't intended for :) ideas for new market share.
In what are ways have companies delighted you by being innovative?
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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November 24, 2008
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Almost a year ago, I wrote about how Best Buy handled a situation that could have snowballed in much more than an embarrassment - it could have become a PR nightmare.
Yes, customers today have a wider reach than they ever had. The experience they have of your company or store will have repercussions. The best way to make sure that experience is positive, is to have a culture that rewards and encourages those who provide one for your customers.
Best Buy got it when it started to focus more on employee engagement. Brad Anderson, the company CEO said as much in an interview with Fast Company Jena McGregor a couple of years ago. Asked why focus on (employee) development, he replied:
I've found that times of great turmoil and change are actually the places where opportunity is created for people who might not otherwise be able to see it. I just have this overall theory that there's a lot of folks who have an enormous contribution to make who either don't know how or can't find a way to get into the right place to be able to make the contribution. Change helps from an organizational standpoint. It helps you reevaluate what you're doing so that normal organizational lethargy doesn't stop people from making that contribution. I'm a real zealot about that.
He nailed it when he said that what we’re often missing are the things that connect us to other individuals. Talking with your customers differently begins with talking with your employees differently, giving them the encouragement and support they need to reinvent their job every day - as every day there is a shift in how people buy and behave.
Nordstrom did it with a very uncomplicated handbook that spelled out the company’s number one goal “to provide outstanding customer service.” To do that, the company put in place and communicated one rule “use good judgement on all situations.” The behavior this encourages is very much situational - it depends on context.
Best Buy’s Anderson calls it a “cultural edge that regenerates.” I call it sustained listening. What would you call it?
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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November 17, 2008
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It seems that not a day or an hour goes by without a company thinking about asking customers to help design and define not just the marketing tactics for their product, but the product itself.
Are we taking co-creating too far? Are we asking too much of our customers?
Running a business in today’s consumer-driven world may be a challenge. On one hand you have the opinions of customers to listen to and take into consideration. On the other, you have a real need to reinvent your business, to make innovation part of your cycle, or your customers will go where their ideas gain traction.
In "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000,” Peter Blackshaw outlines six drivers of credibility that every organization interested in customer conversations should uphold. When it comes to customer service, many companies continue to fall short.
Most companies still measure customer service by the wrong metrics. Numbers instead of quality and resolution of a customer call. Until you have put things right by customers, do you have the right to ask them to help you create your new product?
There is indeed a sequence of events and corrections a company may need to put in place before earning the right to ask "how would you change our product" in a way that comes across as credible, authentic.
As Blackshaw writes in the book, there needs to be a fundamental realization that there is a gap between the corporate “faster/better/cheaper” and the authenticity necessary to earn customer ideas with a straight face.
Before asking "how would you change our product" some organizations will indeed need to understand what drives the conversation about their products and services and address their credibility in the marketplace.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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November 10, 2008
06:32 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
It works because it’s customer-made. Can anyone tell me how to stretch a pair of boots? This is a question I could have easily asked. A life-long athlete and runner, my calves never seem to fit in the fashionable styles. Instead, it was asked by a customer of Zappos.com to other customers in the Daily Shoe Digest - Zappos.com e-mail discussion list, sent three times per week.
It works just like an online bulletin board, except it is moderated to ensure relevant, quality discussions and eliminate the flames and off-topic banter common in unmoderated forums. This is not is a company newsletter in the classic term, it’s a user-generated thread created to provide a forum for relevant, interesting, and helpful discussions covering shoe wear. After all, we go to Zappos.com to buy shoes.
You may think that email is not such a big deal, after all it’s been around for a long time now. Think again. Email can be a 2.0 tactic when its connective power is harnessed for the benefit of the community it serves - instead of being a one-way, push technique to sell more.
Here are three ways in which email used this way is direct, relevant, and memorable:
- The questions are asked and answered by customers in the community, Zappos.com enables the conversation, they do not run it (just moderate).
- You expect and in fact want tips and tricks about shoe-wearing, maintenance and buying.
- Chances are the advice comes from people who have tried it first.
I have seen evidence of a selection of responses you can choose from as well. If you want to receive the newsletter, all you need to do is subscribe to it, just like a feed for your email address - so you don’t need to have a feed reader to do so. This allows anyone with an email account to participate.
Do you have suggestions on how to stretch boots? Zappos.com provides a way to email your comment in mailto:digest-submit@zappos.com?Subject=Stretch. I found that putting either a moist newspaper or a rigid piece of cardboard made for stretching the width of the boot inside will loosen the leather.
Valeria Maltoni | Conversation Agent
www.conversationagent.com
http://Twitter.com/ConversationAge
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November 3, 2008
01:13 pm | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Companies need to give their customers a voice and a way for them to engage in order to create valuable relationships with them over time. How does a business do that?
A recent Consumer Experience Report by Razorfish highlights three ways: (1) bringing utility; (2) enhancing sociability; (3) making a meaningful connection. Let's take a look at a couple of examples to extrapolate some ideas that could be applicable to your business.
Find a Way to Bring Utility
The Visa Business Network created a program that can help small business owners. Historically, this is a fragmented group to reach for financial services companies because they have diverse needs - and thus a lead generation campaign or a broad customer loyalty program are not scalable.
What they did instead was to give new registered users of their application on Facebook $100 to create targeted advertising for themselves. The company's Resource Center also aggregates content for small business owners.
How about discovering what your network is reading or sharing files and collaborating with your network on LinkedIn? How about letting people download a widget from your site that aggregate news of interest for their customer base? Or how about proving location-based services? Urban Spoon has created such an application for the iPhone GPS.
Enhance People's Natural Sociability
You probably know about Nike+, which is both a product, and a community. I have participated in the Broad Street Run, a 10-miler in Philadelphia, for four years in a row. I know that training and signing up can be a lonely experience.
Nike came up with the Human Race - an event that allows people to train for the race with a virtual coach, challenge other runners and run the Nike+ Human Race anywhere in the world. Connection as a service.
If you are in the business of providing services or advice, how can you help your customers log in continuing education points, for example? Or find other people who have the same value-based approach to investing?
Make a Connection that is Meaningful
The report documents what Toyota is doing with Scion Speak to help users get creative with their cars. Go ahead and develop your own crest. This reminds me a lot of what Fiat did with the relaunch of the 500. Here's the entry that won the sticker contest called "Please do not disturb" - so Italian!
As customers continue to connect with things that are useful and meaningful to them, they enhance their ability to connect with others. By hosting these spaces, you and your brand increase the possibility that your customers will make a meaningful connection with your product or service.
What kinds of experiences can you design for your customers that are meaningful to them? Give your customers the answers they are searching for. How can you craft stories and answers in a way that helps them make a connection meaningful?
There you have it - find a way to bring utility, enhance your customers natural sociability and make a connection that is meaningful. That's how you connect with the connected customer.
Valeria Maltoni . Conversation Agent
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October 27, 2008
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In a comment to my last post on how to own your customer service experience, Dave Alston states:
Many brands are going to be pressured to reduce the amount of money they are investing in marketing and PR. So will they see social media listening and engagement as a "marketing experiment" or will they see this as a natural extension of their customer relationship building (support, sales, partnerships etc...)?
Will customers be any less likely to be sharing opinions/likes/dislikes/issues/needs online during a recession or more?
When things are not going so well, when we feel pressure, as in uncertain economic times like we are experiencing in the current down cycle, we become even more argumentative. I do expect customer service to really take center stage. Given that, and the fact that companies are using social media more to serve customers, how can employees and companies avoid social media burnout?
While there may also be the physical stress of trying to keep up with the 24/7 social media schedule, burnout is as worrisome, as it leads to emotional damage. Signs of burnout tend to be more mental. Feelings of powerlessness, frustration, being taped, cynicism, irritability and emotional exhaustion.
Jobs in customer service can be emotionally taxing. Adding the social media component escalates the magnitude of exposure to burnout - when caring about work seems like a total waste of energy. That transfers over to dealings with customers, who will in turn probably be more prone to sharing their opinions, frustrations, and issues online - especially during hard economic cycles.
Social media can provide a way for your employees to deal with burnout, if you’ll let them. By allowing them to take time to cultivate relationships with other people online and face to face - and not just dealing with customer issues - your employees can become more effective in their work and care for your customers better. Some ideas:
- Provide ways for employees to develop casual relationships with colleagues, on and off site. There is a reason why with the tech boom, many start-ups bought fussball and tennis tables. People need a break and we are social animals. Yes, that can also mean hanging out on social networks. Consider the benefit that using some form of social networking tools internally can give you.
- Allow employees to connect with the communities they care about. Many companies have some centralized version of cause joining opportunities, like United Way, Companies that Care, etc. This goes beyond that to include professional associations, and other groups that may be personally meaningful for employees. If you have a whole group of customer care people on Twitter or on Facebook, do you allow them to select social media conferences and events they’d like to attend?
- Keep them in the loop and stay in the loop yourself. These professionals who are helping you in digital environments are outposts for your brand. Do you keep them informed of what’s going on? This will avid embarrassing and stressful situations where they will learn what’s going on from your customers. As well, you should make sure you are accessible to them on the fly to help them be productive and responsive fast.
With social media, you may be tempted to stretch your people and budgets much thinner. It’s also tempting to have more virtual workers - they are online, but isolated physically. Resist the temptation. Give employees more ways to personalize their own schedule and participation, shift the control more towards them, and allow them to take breaks and be with others.
Even though the work is not physically hard, dealing with customer issues online is as intense mentally as mining is for the body. Support your employees so they can avoid social media burnout.
Valeria Maltoni . Conversation Agent
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October 20, 2008
05:26 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments
It’s the secret of every wildly successful business, and the keystone to profitable growth. Those who have it, thrive. Those who don’t, have a very hard time keeping up with competition. Wouldn’t you want to have it, too?
How you fulfill an experience in customer service is the other side of the authenticity coin in the digital age. It is a better spent dollar with a higher return than some traditional ad buys. It has higher value to your business than a bland lead generation campaign. It does more to keep you top of mind than a succession of press releases.
Where do you get started?
Put your customers first, just do it, not merely say it. Digital media is an opportunity to bring back the human side of your business. The opportunity for innovation here is tremendous, and it can benefit your bottom line directly. It is not a straight line. Innovation by definition is disruptive.
The demand for conversation with and by brands and organizations is being initiated by consumers. 85% of Americans believe that in addition to being present, companies should interact with customers via social media (Cone Consulting, 2008 Business Social Media Study). It is those brands that react, activate and engage that will benefit, especially in tough times.
But it’s not only about being reactive. Innovation is awaiting you in the proactive arena. The opportunity comes to those businesses that are willing to transform customer service and customer experience from cost center to stardom. Don’t just do what the masses tell you, though. Do more.
Think about adding soft-service value to everything that touches your customers. Work on how you can connect the dots for your customers to make them successful, not just even. Wrap solid content (information) and/or fun (entertainment) around every customer interaction. Own your customer service experience.
But, there is more. To stretch your business, you want to embrace those customers who have unusual ideas. The masses seldom anticipate the next big thing - that is your job. Thanks to social media, you now have the opportunity to uncover those 2-3% of your customers who could really help push weird ideas into the realm of possibility.
Your most upset customers could be your number one source of innovative ideas. Their challenge means that there might be a different way. They take the time to be upset and to tell the world because they care. Are you listening? Are you getting upset? Good! Now go ahead and innovate. That is how you own your customer service experience. It’s not a matter of just checking the box. There is no box anymore.
Valeria Maltoni • Conversation Agent
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October 13, 2008
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Since last week was national customer service week (hat tip to Toby Bloomberg), I thought of writing a top ten list of customer service success factors.
You are successful in customer service when:
1. You’re doing all the listening - you acknowledge when something needs fixing or help early on in the conversation and save time, yours and your customer’s.
2. You are fixing the problem - you connect your customer with someone who can help.
3. You know the value of each customer - and you are aware that positive word of mouth has tremendous value as well.
4. You see customer service as an investment, not a cost - you put the best people in customer-facing positions.
5. You empower your customer service reps - you trust that they will make the decision that is best for your customers.
6. Your whole company is in customer service - you realize that just like everyone is in PR, so are they vested in the customer experience.
7. You keep your brand promises - you know that customer service is one of the few direct ways in which customers experience your brand.
8. Your product is improved on the basis of customer feedback.
9. You are on top of any problems that may arise - you are proactive, open and honest with your customers about products and services.
10. You listen to your customer service reps - they are the customer advocates, the voice of the public inside your organization.
Customer service is your business best bet. It is a critical success factor for long term growth.
Valeria Maltoni • Conversation Agent
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October 6, 2008
05:28 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
Many of the tried and true metrics adopted by call centers for customer support center around customer avoidance. They reward those reps who can get off the phone quickly, for example, but there is no metric built around the customer receiving the support they needed. The fact that “this call may be recorded” seems to offer little respite - given that it is the company itself to listen to the call.
Social media can help you move into customer conversation by allowing the customer service reps themselves to take matters into their own hands. First off, the cost per interaction is incredibly lower with social media as compared to calls. Secondly, everyone now sees how you’re doing, not just the company. It’s recorded digitally.
That is good for several reasons.
- Other customers and prospects now have the opportunity to evaluate whether they’d do business with you on the basis of your behavior;
- You can establish a credible channel to begin to address the areas in which you have come up short, according to your customers;
- Customer service reps on the front lines can address issues in real time and become company and brand stewards, thus creating good will;
- You can learn a great deal about what works.
In fact, given the results of the 2008 Business Social Media study by Boston Consulting firm Cone, it is apparent that how you respond to customers online affects many more customers and prospects than just those who are interacting with you directly in the medium.
The online survey was conducted September 11-12, 2008, by Opinion Research Corporation. Among 1,092 adults comprising 525 men and 567 women 18 years of age and older:
- 60% said they interact with companies using social media
- 93% said a company should have a presence in social media
- 85% stated that a company should not only be present but also interact with its customers via social media
- 56% said they feel a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment
- 43% stated companies should use social networks to solve customers' problems
- 41% said companies should use social media to solicit feedback about products and services
Those of us who are more involved with social media know that in order for companies to gain confidence in using these tools, they need to become comfortable with metrics - as in return on investment (ROI). Fair enough, after all, sometimes there is a disconnect between what we say we do and what we actually do.
Many companies are working on establishing solid social media metrics on a number of fronts. As the case studies begin to create a baseline, consider this - what is the cost of not participating to you? Would you rather be exactly right (and measurably so) in customer avoidance, or approximately there (especially in positive word of mouth) in customer conversation?
Valeria Maltoni • Conversation Agent
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