April 23, 2012

Customers are way to much Trouble!

3 Ways to Protect Your Endangered Species
The 15 Faces of the YOU Marketer
Just Because He’s Dressed Up Doesn’t Mean He’s Pretty

They are annoying.

They come late and expect us to stay open.

They come early and expect us to open.

They don’t like some of our staff.

They have attitude.

They change their mind.

They are too sensitive about getting their needs met.

They tell their friends how bad we are when we make a mistake or break a promise.

They are always looking for a deal.

They are inflexible; always want to get exactly what they asked for.

They always criticize but rarely praise what we do.

They complain about our prices.

They expect to be served by friendly staff regardless of the crumby day we are having.

They never seem to be satisfied.

They think they are the only ones we have to take care of. It’s all about them.

They stress-out our staff.

They shop around; their loyalty is inconsistent. They don’t seem to appreciate what we do for them.

Some days it makes you think another line of work would be preferable. Problem is you can’t avoid customers. Gotta figure out how to live with these unpredictable and demanding folks since we can’t live without ‘em.

What’s your “gotta live with ‘em” Strategy?

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 4.23.12 at 05:19 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2012

You Service Cars; You SERVE People

The Four Steps to Dazzle Customers

Organizations today are challenged to create strong customer loyalty. In the face of empowered and knowledgeable customers (thanks to search engines and the internet), fickle customers (who will leave you in a heartbeat for better treatment) and hyper-competition( the rate of new business formation has increased like never before) there is a struggle to get the right formula to both attract new customers and keep the ones you’ve got.

What’s the answer? You need to look at your Serving Business as having two components.

The first component, Core Service, represents the basic foundation of your business. It is your basic product or service without which you simply don’t have a business. In the telecom world Core Service could be defined as dial tone (although today it is probably an Internet Protocol data stream). In finance it could be ‘financial advice’. And in software development it could be an ‘operating system’.

Your customers expect your Core Service to work according to specifications. They EXPECT 24X7 dial tone; EXPECT the financial plan to deliver the benefits promised: EXPECT a working O/S. As a result when you provide working Core Service you get a ‘C’ on your Serving Customers Report Card and no more. However, when your Core Service is NOT working as promised you get an ‘F’ on your Report Card; they leave you and they don’t go quietly, telling everyone how bad your organization is at serving customers!

Bottom line: your Core Service has to work ALL the time as promised.

But don’t expect loyal customers when you do.

Loyalty comes from the second component of Serving Customers - The Service Experience. Whereas Core Service is WHAT you GET from an organization, the Service Experience is HOW you FEEL when you get it. Or is the way you are treated by the organization when you do business with them. If the service experience you provide is ‘memorable’; if it ‘takes their breath away’ (thanks to Author Chip Bell!); if it ‘blows people away’; if it ‘WOW’s’ them; if it ‘DAZZLE’s’ them, you get a ‘A’ on your Report Card.

And you are rewarded with customers telling others how great you are; they stay with you at least until you deliver a de-dazzling event which puts everything in jeopardy.

So, how to create customer loyalty? Provide Core Service in a satisfactory manner ALL THE TIME - consistency is key here. Once you have risen to this challenge you have earned the right to move on to loyalty building by providing DAZZLING Service Experiences every time a customer touches you.

Cheers,
Roy

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Posted 4.7.12 at 05:38 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 5, 2012

Hyatt Maui BE Your Brand

I love the Hyatt. But our recent trip to Maui left me disappointed.

Always go there. Traditional Hawaiian Ambiance with music. Great Servers and Service.

What happened? They transformed a large part of the round-the-pool eating area into SELF SERVE.

What? The things that reinforced the Hyatt brand have been removed.

The reason? Cost cutting I am told.

Servers are pissed but are making up for management’s short sightedness by bending the Rules and taking care of people. Long live the Frontline!

Hyatt: get your thinking straight and keep the stuff that makes your Brand special.

Cheers,
Roy

Posted 4.5.12 at 05:10 pm by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 31, 2012

“My Passion”

Interesting innovation at the Westin Maui. Employees wear a “My Passion” Button that describes what the person is interested in.

Juan, a Server, is passionate about “Building and Fixing Things”. I noticed the Button and of course asked him about it.

We connected instantly and launched into a conversation. 

The difference was that the contact was Initiated by ME as a response to his Passion Button. He did nothing to try and begin a conversation with me.

A clever way to invite a conversation with a customer. 

Not too many approaches make it about THEM first.

“Hi, I’m Roy. My passion is helping people discover their uniqueness.”

Cheers and Aloha,
Roy

Posted 3.31.12 at 05:50 pm by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)