Dial A Human!

Just a quick one – a follow up to the ‘how easy are you to buy from?’ post below.  There’s always a way! Well, people will always find one!

I love this website: Dial A Human! is a simple list of companies and highlights the steps you need to take to cut through the automated phone response and talk to a real human being! Anyone can (and does) add their tips to help others. Brilliant!

Quick update…….Further investigation has identified one here in the UK too – Get Human does the same thing! Fantastic.

Thanks For Calling!

I often say you can judge an organisation’s attitude to customers by looking at ‘how easy it is to buy from’. What I mean by that is, is it ‘user friendly’? I encourage people to eliminate things in their business that send off ‘negative’ vibes to customers. You know, things like ’Parking For Directors Only’ signs in the car park, receptions that are secured like Fort Knox, people that don’t return calls, or don’t even pick them up in the first place.

I read in the Yorkshire Post today that Humberside Police’s number for non  – emergency calls is an 0845 number which means many people would have to pay extra to call it – as the correspondent says ‘that’s daylight robbery’ by the Police!

What sort of messages do you send to your ‘customers’ and ‘potential customers’?

Is it ‘Thanks for ringing, your call is important to us’ or ‘Thank you for paying extra to ring – your call is a revenue generator for us!’

Right Up Amie Street

Here’s an interesting business model and great evidence of the financial benefits of ‘word of mouth / mouse’. Amie Street is a website for aspiring bands who can upload their material and it’s available cheap (or even free) to customers and potential customers. The price of the material then increases as people buy them and recommend them.

It gives smaller artists with limited marketing capabilities a chance to be heard at a price that people feel they can risk for an unknown artist. Conversley, if you do pay more you know its because it has been bought and recommended by lots of people. That strikes me as being win – win! You get rewarded for being good at what you do – provided others recognise that, obviously.

Is this the way things are going? Could this be coming up your ‘street’? 

Vitally, what would happen to your business if it did?

United Breaks Guitars – They’ve Even Got Hitler Mad!

And so it continues……. ‘United Breaks Guitars’ has sparked so much negative ‘word of mouse’, that I can’t think of United Airlines without thinking of Dave Carroll’s videos. Now I’m thinking of Hitler!!!

I use ’United Breaks Guitars’ in my seminars as a great example of the cost of getting things wrong with your customers and was very kindly sent this by Graham Bryan of  Twisted Studio who came to one of my seminars in the North East.

A word of warning, it’s not as tasteful as Dave’s videos and it’s a bit rude (there’s swearing in it – you have been warned!).

If you’ve not seen Dave’s video (which has had well over 5 million viewings on You Tube), I’d watch that first, and then this….

Creating And Keeping Customers in The North East!

A great morning in Newcastle today with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum - I love presenting at their events as there’s always a great mix of ‘up for it’ people. Here are my slides from the session on ‘Creating and Keeping Customers in Tougher Times’. Feel free to download and, importantly, use them! Looking forward to hearing about all those ‘delighted’ and ‘devoted’ customers1

I’ve also put together a thing called 40 Little Steps which is available to anyone interested in ‘Thinking in 3D’ . It’s certainly not ‘rocket science’ - just a list of simple ‘doable’ things that you might find helps you in developing a ‘Dramatic and Demonstrable Difference’ in your business. And finally, another little paper called The Ties That Bind which looks at some of the issues of ‘engagement’ we discussed in the session.

Don’t hesitate to let me know of any successes you have in implementing things and, importantly, any ideas you might have to add to the 40 Little Steps list – I’m always happy to develop and rewrite it as 50 Little Steps!

Seth Recommends…….

I work on the theory that if Seth Godin thinks it’s worth reading, then it probably is! So here’s a list of recommended books that he’s put together. Can’t guarantee any of them, but when he’s recommended books in the past, he’s usually been ‘spot on’.

Do let me know if you read any of them and what you thought. Equally, don’t hesitate to let me know of any other books worth a read – we can all learn from each other.

Happy Reading!

The ‘Ties That Bind’

Just got a very nice letter from the bank Egg headed ‘Let’s Keep In Touch’. It’s very simple and says:

“In the past you’ve told us that you’re happy to get the occasional communication from Egg about our products and services. We’re just getting in touch now to make sure that it’s still the case.  As you know, we don’t bombard you with emails or mailshots. Instead we try to make sure we only contact you when we think we’ve got something relevant to share”

They then explain how I can ‘opt out’ if I want to on their website. It’s simple stuff, and shows ‘respect’ for me as a past customer. I know it might seem a bit odd that I am highlighting a business that is making it easy for me to ‘walk away’, but the very style of the letter actually means that I won’t!

So many businesses try to ‘hang on’ to their customers at any cost by bombarding them with emails, letters and mailshots that they just don’t want. They work on the theory that it’s about the size of the database, rather than the quality. Just because you send me something it doesn’t mean I read it.

Successful businesses allow (even encourage!) customers to walk away if they want to. I’m not suggesting that you should be getting rid of your customers. I’m saying do stuff that means they keep coming back and don’t want to walk away from you. However, if they do want to go or ‘opt out’, make it painless.  

I’ve written a paper called ‘The Ties That Bind’ which reiterates this point and highlights how businesses ‘engage’ with their customers in a ‘positive’ way.

You can download it here (if you want to!).

They Can See Right Through You!

It’s not about advertising, it’s not about brochures, it’s not even about websites. It’s about what people are saying about you. That’s what counts! A recent survey by Neilson identified that 90% of online consumers worldwide trust recommendations from people they know and 70% trust consumer opinions posted online.

What’s clear is that it is getting easier to view and post these opinions. In an enlightening Trendwatching report, ‘The Transparency Triumph’, there are some brilliant examples of businesses who are utilising this, and it reinforces the point that ‘reviewing is the new advertising’.

The danger is that we see this as a ‘passive’ thing and there’s not much we can do about it. I disagree – it’s about taking a ‘proactive approach’ to helping positive ‘word of mouth’ and ‘word of mouse’ work for you. Do you encourage, help your customers ‘spread the word’ about you? Vitally, do you actually do stuff that’s worth talking about?

(And by the way, by all means, feel free to ‘spread this’ to others you know who would be interested or would benefit from it!!!)

Entrepreneurs Forum, Teesside: ‘Tees Pride’

Andy has been asked to facilitate what promises to be a fabulous ‘from the horse’s mouth’ panel evening event. Participants will be able to question and hear from a panel of highly successful Teesside based entrepreneurs explaining how they are surviving and thriving in today’s competitive world.

Click here for more details

Entrepreneurs Forum, Gateshead: Creating and Keeping Customers in Tougher Times

Andy is facilitating a half day workshop aimed at helping you develop a proactive approach to developing and maximising customer relationships in a world of ever increasing competition, customer expectations and choice.

Click here for more details.

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