January 13, 2011

Customer Service Dumb Rules: They Continue to Track Me Down

Three Elements of BE DiFFERENT Marketing
What to do in 2011
Hire for Goosebumps

You may recall my past diatribes on what I call Customer Service Dumb Rules; the Rules, Policies and Procedures organizations put in place for some good reason. But they have the opposite effect and annoy their customers ALL THE TIME.

Case in point:
- my Daughter-in-Law goes into Aritzia, a women’s clothing retailer in Whistler to purchase a T-Shirt;
- she selects one (a $20 item) she likes and goes to the fitting room to try it on;
- she is advised by one of the staff that she cannot take her handbag into the change room. Company Policy!
- however, she is welcome to leave it in a locker until she has made her selection.
- she questions the Rule but is told in no uncertain terms that she must comply if she wants the article;
- she refuses and leaves the store;
- she tells me her story;
- I, in turn, am more than pleased to pass it on to you.
- and I hope you pass it on to others.

Aritzia has lost a customer for life. An honest consumer who likes to shop. And for what? A Rule that meant to prevent theft. But all it does is make an honest person feel guilty. You are presumed Guilty for a crime you haven’t committed. WOW! What a great way to establish trusted relationships with your customers in a tough economy where competition is intense and everyone is chasing the illusive loyal customer. Dumb and Stupid way to run a business. But lots of opportunity for other Retailers to get an advantage over them.

This Rule is out-of-touch on so many levels:
- theft is your problem, Aritzia. Figure out how to deal with it and not assume that everyone that walks into your store is going to steal from you;
- the Rule is applied to everyone and yet the theft is the result of the Few. Really? Punish everyone because of the actions of a few people who choose to commit the crime. Dumb.
- it does nothing to enhance your brand, Aritzia. Brands are controlled by the conversations of people about you. This conversation is not going well for you. I see you as an internally-focused organization with rigid Rues that punishe people. Not true? Then you need to change your ways.
- no discretion is given to the serving employee who just MAY believe someone poses a low theft risk and decide NOT to impose the Rule.
- empower your people, Aritzia, to bend the Rule when they feel it is necessary to do so.

Got a Dumb Rule to share? Send it along to me

Cheers,
Roy


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Posted 1.13.11 at 06:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 10, 2011

The Three Pilars of BE DiFFERENT Marketing

BONDING is in; Flogging is out 
Hire for Goosebumps 
The House of YES

Here are the strategic drivers that should be guiding how we market in today’s world:
- Remarkability
- Indispensability
- Gaspworthiness
- Unforgettability
- Uniqueness
- Distinction

We won’t get there if you continue to practice Marketing in the traditional way. Product push is ignored. A focus on what we produce makes us invisible. Catering to the mass market makes us irrelevant. Mass market media purchases defines us as a member of the faceless herd.

Here are the three essentials to create the change we need in our marketing strategy if we really want to make a difference in people’s lives and stand-out and apart from the competitive herd:

Number One, we need to be concerned about creating VALUE as opposed to continuing to push our products and services down people’s throats. Its about defining the value that we deliver to people rather than the fancy gadget with lots of cool capabilities. It’s about the Problems that we solve for people The Experiences we create. The Happiness we generate. The Memories we produce.

Number Two, we need to focus on our FANS, the people who really care about what we do. Who are they? What are they all about? What do they need, want and desire? Who are the “Sneezers” who have enough social power to spread our word around and expand our tribe? How do they communicate among themselves? How can we be unique and distinctive in the VALUE we create for them? Growth occurs when we provide more value to our fans and expand our fan base, not by trying to attract new customers through mass market advertising.

Number Three, we need to create packages of Value . Emotional memories, mind-blowing experiences and happiness usually happens when we experience a number of elements rather than a single one. For example, a “Mountain Adventure” is more likely to delight us with a combination of a hotel room, a daily breakfast, a spa and a guided horseback ride tan if a horseback ride were provided on its own. Interesting that a Value Pak can be provided by anyone. You don’t have to be in the horseback riding business to offer this Pak.

Define the Experience. Assemble the Pak components. Integrate them seamlessly into a Value Proposition that will resonate with our Fans. That’s the process. And it will make us DiFFERENT.

Cheers,
Roy



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Posted 1.10.11 at 06:10 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 6, 2011

What to Do in 2011?

Marketing is in the VALUE CREATION Business
Customerize your Marketing
Sell Relationships NOT Products
The Four Steps to Dazzle Customers
Serve Customers Don’t Service Them
Roy’s Rule of 3

There is much talk these days about Year’s Resolutions: what should you be doing to make your business more successful in the coming year? What are the key changes you need to make to vault your organization to the next level?

To decide on an effective resolution, I suggest that you first paint a picture of what you want the decade to look like. I don’t mean in a detailed way; but in a way that creates a meaningful context for the specifics of what you resolve to do in the current year. With the decade journey in mind, the year’s work can then be plotted,executed and measured as you go.

So, what should the next Decade Resolution be?

Consider this: ‘We will Customerize our business to more intimately serve them’.

Marketing - Resolve to be in the VALUE Creation business. Rather than continue to be product focused, create experiences for your target customers. Look at their holistic needs and build Offers to reflect them.

Sales - Resolve to build a sales team that is driven to build deep relationships with customers rather than to flog products at them. Make discovering customer secrets a vital component of their performance and compensation plan and use secrets to inspire relationship-building activities.

Service - Resolve to implement a serving customers value system where the customer is in the control position and the organization’s ultimate purpose is to create dazzling experiences for them. Recruit frontline people that love humans and allow them to bend your internal rules when they get in the way of dazzling them, kill the dumb rules that annoy customers and learn how to recover from your service blunders - fix your mistake and surprise your customer with the unexpected.

For each of these three disciplines, develop three action plans - Roy’s Rule of 3 - and then break each down into a more detailed execution plan.

Use the Practices in my book as your Guide; measure your progress and adjust on the run.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 1.6.11 at 06:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 3, 2011

Customer Service - Hire for Goosebumps

The House of YES 
Choose Wierd Fans to BE DiFFERENT 
VP Experience Marketing

Dazzle your Fans. Blow ‘em away. Leave them breathless. Mesmerise them; a key strategy to Distinguish your organization from the faceless competitive herd. SERVE them don’t SERVICE them. You SERVICE automobiles but you SERVE people.

THE most important way of achieving the Dazzle Dream is to recruit people that love human beings! People that have the instinctive desire to serve their fellow homo-sapiens. To take care of them. To satisfy them regardless of what they want. A person can’t be trained to love people; they are either borne with the nurturing attribute or they are not.

The real issue then becomes how to find these invaluable folks. How to discover people this natural desire to serve.

Here’s a rather simple but so effective way of separating the Human Lovers from the Fish (or the Grinners who have been through some type of Customer Service Training program).

First, ask the prospective employee this question: “Do you love human beings?”. They will realize that this a bit of a trick question but will not know where you are going with it. Fun as the interviewer to say the least. Most people will say “yes” in varying ways, ranging from the declaration “Absolutely” to the positive inference “Sure”. You need to dig deeper.

Next, pose this: “Tell me a story that will show me that you love your fellow humans”. The responses you get from this request will be of two types: One, “The Intellectualizer” or two, “The People Lover”. The Intelectualizer has figured out what you are up to and will conjure up a story that quite frankly will leave you COLD.

The natural-born People Lover, on the other hand will thrill you with a story that will leave you warm all over. Their story will paint a vivid picture of someone who cares about people and who is creative at finding ways to create unforgettable memories for them.

The People Lover will leave you with Goosebumps. Hire for Goosebumps and you will never go wrong. Do it. Your fans deserve them.

Cheers,
Roy


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Posted 1.3.11 at 06:00 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)