Old News is Bad News

I often suggest people ‘stand in their own queues’ meaning have a look at what your customers see, hear, experience when they get in touch with you. It means ‘ringing up your own business’, ‘standing in the reception or shop front’ or ‘visiting your own website’.

One of the things I see (quite often) on websites is ‘old news’. What I mean by that is, I visit the ‘news’ section of the website to find out what the company (a prospective supplier perhaps?) has been up to, and to get a feel for their businesses successes and developments before I ‘engage’ with them. It never fails to amaze me that the ‘latest news’ is months, even years old!

I visited a PR agency’s site recently and their ‘latest news’ was from January 2008!!

If they can’t do their own PR, what hope they got in doing mine? What does that say about the business – nothing’s happened in 18 months?

Of course, you don’t have to have a ‘latest news’ section, but it can show you’re moving forwards, you’re progressive, and can help highlight your successes, innovations, new ideas, developments and achievements. 

They say ‘No news is good news’, I say ‘Old News is Bad News’!

If all you’ve got is ‘old news’, I’d be tempted to get rid of the page.

Don’t Let Your Service Go ‘Off The Boyle’

I’m no ‘raving fan’ of Britain’s Got Talent, but even the most ‘high brow’ of us have to admit that there are lessons in there for us all in this ever more ‘competitive age’. The phenomonen that is Susan Boyle absolutely ‘wowed’ the audience first time and then created a global hit thanks to the wonders of You Tube.

The initial ‘wow’ was due to the audience having very low expectations. She gave them a ‘great experience’ and as a result they became ‘delighted customers’ which is a wonderful thing to do. (Confused? See my expectations / experience model here).

She appeared on the TV again this weekend for the semi final. This time, however, her ‘customers’ had much higher expectations based on previous knowledge and all the ‘buzz’ (word of mouth).

She got off to a shaky start and with ‘customers’ having a ‘poor experience’ there was a real danger of ‘disappointment’. She turned them round with a great performance resulting in those ‘customers’ having ‘high expectations’ and getting a ‘great experience’. the result?  ’Devoted’ customers and another standing ovation.

The meaning for us in business? A one off  ‘wow’ for customers isn’t enough. It’s a good start, but it has to be built on. The key is about constantly ‘delivering’ great experiences. You have to keep working at it. Keep the consistency, raise your customers’ expectations and don’t ever let your customer service go ‘off the Boyle’. (and you thought I only ever watched ‘serious’ television!)

A Birthday ‘Engagement’!

My friends at branding experts Purple Circle are celebrating their 18th birthday!

It’s about time they became grown ups!

They’ve come up with a great way to ‘enage’ with their clients and celebrate the anniversary.

The Purple Circle ethos has always been about having ‘shed loads of ideas, and their red shed has played prominently in their branding and promotional work over the years.

As Director John Lyle explains in his blog, to ‘reverse’ the normal creative process, they’ve asked their clients to get creative this time and interpret the ‘shed’ in the best way they see fit.

They’ll be posting the client ideas on shedloadsofideas.com. I think it’s a lovely way of getting clients involved, demonstrates their ‘values’ and way of doing business, and it’s a bit of fun too!

For what it’s worth, here’s my idea – Never one to miss an opportunity, it’s a shed made out of my ‘Thinking in 3D’ books!

The Negative ‘Myths’ About Business Should Be Fired!

I’m no fan of  The Apprentice. Jill watches it, so it is on in our house (even when there’s a big match on Sky!). I know it’s only TV, and it’s ‘entertainment’, but my frustration is that everything is so ’simplified’.

In last night’s episode they had to ’rebrand’ Margate. This in effect simply meant producing a poster. Branding is NOT about posters. All The Apprentice does is reinforces the myth that branding is advertising.

It might not mean much to a lot of people, but I do think  that The Apprentice reinforces a lot of  ‘old fashioned’ and ‘negative’ myths about business and leadership. Here are just a few of them:

1. selling has to be aggressive
2. leadership is about telling people what to do
3. getting on is about shafting others
4. long term relationships don’t seem to count for much
5. to be a boss, you have to be a b*Xtard

Of course business is about ‘winning’ and making money, and maybe I’m naive, but I feel it’s about long term relationships, it’s about win-win, it’s about creating a culture of forward thinking, constructive challenge and innovation. It’s also about helping those people around you excel.

I’m not knocking Sir Alan Sugar, he’s obviously been very successful and I suspect that maybe my ‘nicey nicey’ way of doing things doesn’t make great TV!

I just don’t like the messages The Apprentice sends out to people about business.

Each to their own, of course, and I’m sure if Sir Alan met me, he’d tell me ‘Andy, Your Fired!

Finally, for those who did see the programme and saw one team trying to ‘sell’ Margate to the gay community, they missed a big trick – they should have renamed it Mar’gay’te (Sorry, couldn’t resist!).

I’ve Become A ‘Management Issue’!

I’ve been asked to contribute to the great business website Management Issues website along with some amazing business thinkers like Edward be Bono, Robert Heller , Charles Helliwell and brilliant writer Max McKeown. What esteemed company! 

Here’s my most recent article on  the power of Word of Mouth and Word of Mouse.

Don’t Get No Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is not the same as customer loyalty – too many businesses think it is.

Let me explain: I buy a sandwich from a shop – the sandwich is ok, so I might go back. I might even tick the ‘satisfied’ box on the customer feedback card. That still doesn’t mean I’ve become ‘loyal’. I’m ‘satisfied’ as it did the job, but so would lots of other sandwich shops. Loyalty is about ‘wanting’ to go back, it means walking past lots of other sandwich shops to get there, it means me creating some sort of ‘attachment’ to that sandwich shop.

What can the sandwich shop to do to develop my loyalty? Consistency in terms of quality and service are a starter, but it’s more than that (in fact you could argue that they just get you to the ‘start line’). These form the base of a relationship – you do what you say you are going to do, and that produces ‘satisfaction’. That’s good, but it’s loyalty you’re after and there’s a big difference. Satisfaction isn’t loyalty (Incidentally if my sandwich wasn’t good, I definitely wouldn’t go back – customer dissatisfaction definitely does mean customer disloyalty!)

Loyalty comes from making me feel ‘special’, engaging with me, recognising me as a customer, making a difference, doing things I couldn’t get anywhere else (things that I want, by the way) – It’s very little to do with the actual ‘core’ product, and these are the things that differentiate businesses in increasingly crowded markets. The best businesses develop loyalty in a proactive way and focus their people on this.

So forget talking about customer satisfaction, start talking about customer loyalty. What does that look like in your business? What do you need to do to build more? Here’s an interesting paper on this from Brookeside, experts in customer loyalty, that explains some of this stuff in a bit more detail.

And by the way, this wasn’t just a bit of advice for sandwich shops, it applies to all businesses! Anyway, off for lunch!

20 Tactics For Building Trust

The best businesses build trust with their customers. Here’s some simple tactics that could help you build trust with me as a customer:

1. A handwritten personal note
2. A phone line direct to you (or your mobile)
3. When your people say ‘Good morning Andy, we were expecting your call’
4. A postcard or letter that acknowledges the specifics of the ‘customer comments’ card I took the time to fill in for you
5. Frontline people who can make a decision ‘on the spot’
6. Asking my opinion on a proposed new product / service / idea
7. Saying ‘No, we can’t do that, but here’s who can…’
8. Follow up calls to check that everything is ok
9. Receiving only relevant, value adding post and emails from you
10.  Transparent pricing – no hidden costs (budget airlines please take note!)
11.  Real signatures with PS’s, not printed, pp’d or anonymous squiggles
12.  Personal stuff about the people who’ll be working with me / looking after me
13.  Acknowledging when you get it wrong, saying sorry and sorting the problem quickly
14.  Support / help / customer care lines that don’t ‘cost me’
15.  People who ‘know their stuff’, ‘speak my language’ and give me advice
16.  Ensuring that your number is displayed when you call me
17.  Giving me the same deal as the new customers you’re trying to attract
18.  Making it easy to ‘unsubscribe’, ‘opt out’, say ‘no’
19.  No ‘small print’
20.  ‘Conversations’ rather than ‘talking at’ in your calls, emails and letters

Let’s be clear. Taking these steps also provides plenty of opportunities to get things wrong, so it’s vital that this is no cosmetic exercise. I can’t guarantee they’ll work, but have a go. They could seriously help you develop more trusting relationships with your customers.

How do I know? Trust me, I’m a consultant!

 

 

‘Espressing’ My Disgust

I went into a well known coffee shop yesterday and ordered an espresso.

The lady serving me explained that espresso is the short concentrated coffee, was that ok?

I’ve been told that a few times now. Do they also explain that tea is a thing that’s in a bag mixed with hot water? Maybe I look thick, I don’t know, I’m sure it’s ‘policy’, but I do feel insulted.