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Category: Word of Mouth

A Reason to Belong

For those of you who have read the new book Pendulum about the shifting outlook of society, you will remember that we are ten years into a “We” cycle. We still have another 30 years to go.

For those who haven’t read the book (and I believe it may be the single most important book you can read for business), the general concept is that there is a 80 year swing in society between two prevailing outlooks – Me and We – each taking about 40 years of that swing.

A “We” cycle has “community” and “collaboration” as two of the main themes. People want to belong and be a part of something.

One way to use this understanding is to help people feel like they belong to your store. You probably already have a FB page and have a bunch of “likes”. But how do you transfer that into a “community”? How do you turn those casual likers into loyal insiders?

Make them feel special.

Two ways you can do this…

  1. Insider information
  2. Shared unique experiences

Insider Information

People love little secrets. Men, especially, love secrets because men speak vertically – did what I say make you think higher of me or lower of me? Knowing little tidbits of information that most people don’t know gives men a chance to say something that will make you think higher of them (at least that’s how we perceive it, ladies, bear with us on this).

Ladies also like secrets. Unlike men, ladies speak more horizontally – did what I say draw me in closer or push me away? Ladies want to be in the inner circle. They feel special when they know the secret handshake. Little tidbits of information make them feel like they belong and also give them something to share with others and draw others into their inner circle.

Sharing personal stories, fun facts, and insider information with your fan base builds a level of loyalty among those who are in the know. Just keep it positive and interesting (i.e. did you know that the same man – Tom Murdough Jr – invented both Little Tikes and Step2? Yes, he went into business a second time just to compete with the first business he created!) Two examples of entities that have created a loyal band of followers… Lady Gaga & her Little Monsters and Jimmy Buffet & his Parrotheads. When your fans give themselves a name, you’ve done your job well.

Shared Unique Experiences

We have a special kindred spirit when we share a unique experience with other people. Those strangers become less strange. There is a nod of understanding between the people who have had those moments, a nod of “I-know-you-know-exactly-what-I’m-thinking”.

When you do something completely and uniquely different than any other retailer out there, you’ll get your customers giving those nods to other customers.  They will feel like they belong to something special. The best thing is that they will want to bring their friends into this inner circle.

The key is that the experience has to be unique and special and unadvertised. For example, when I was in the world of rock climbing, there was a gal in Colorado who was the best at resoling rock climbing shoes. Many climbers I knew sent their shoes to her. And she sent them back, resoled. The unique experience, simple as it may sound, was that in the box she included a Jolly Rancher candy. If you saw a guy with newly resoled shoes, all you had to do was ask, “What flavor?” If he had sent his shoes to Jules, he knew exactly what you meant and responded right away.

In a “We” cycle people want to belong to something special. Give them something special with your business and they’ll be naming themselves soon enough.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Once you get your fans to become so loyal they name themselves, you can stop spending money on regular advertising. They’ll do all the advertising for you.

Why You Should Go to Austin in January

You should go to Austin, Texas at the end of January. Really, you should. It will be more than worth your while.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, January 29th and 30th, I’m teaching a new class about Shareworthy Customer Service at the 21st Century Business School known as Wizard Academy with a fellow named Tim Miles. It’s a magical place in the hill country just southwest of Austin, Texas. This week, Vice Chancellor Michele Miller asked me three questions about the class so she could promote it in the newsletter that goes out to thousands of alumni. Here are my answers. (Tomorrow, I’ll share Tim’s answers.)

Michele: How did you come up with the idea of teaching this class?
Me: Tim asked me:-)

(I believe Tim asked me because Tim reads this blog, follows the work I have been doing to teach multiple aspects of customer service to retail businesses, knows that I know what Wizard Academy is all about, and because Tim’s expertise, while far greater than mine, leans more heavily on service-based businesses. Remind me, and I’ll ask him when we get there if this is true.)

Michele: We see lots of workshops on creating good customer service. Your course description looks intriguing – what is one thing that sets this course apart from others out there?
Phil: I see two problems with most customer service training programs…

First, there is no standard definition for what is Great Customer Service. Everyone seems to have their own opinion ranging from “slightly better than what my competitors do” at the low end to “WOW-ing my customers beyond their wildest expectations” at the upper end. And most businesses have an unrealistic idea of their own level of customer service.  Without a definition, it is hard to objectively see where you stand. Without a definition it is hard to measure results. Without a definition it is hard to create consistency. What drew me to Tim’s teachings and made me want to partner with him is that he and I share the same definition of great customer service – so good, the customer has to share it with others. We both teach from that upper end and show businesses how that level of service is within their grasp once they identify it.

The second problem with most customer service training programs is that they often focus solely on the interaction between employee and customer, creating scripted interactions that eliminate the worst elements of customer service but don’t really delight customers in a Shareworthy way. Although employee/customer interaction is one of the most important elements of customer service, it is not the only one. You can improve your employee/customer interactions exponentially and still be undone by a poor website, a confusing policy, a complicated form, or even a dirty restroom. Tim and I both recognize that to reach the pinnacle of customer service, it takes more than just employee/customer interactions, and it takes more than just scripted role plays. We’ll address all of those elements and show businesses how to make sure everything is aimed at delighting the customer.

What sets our program apart is that we break down the whole concept of customer service – every single element – into understandable and measurable parts. We help each business create a definition by which success can be measured. Then we teach those attending how to create a culture that reaches that level of success consistently and in every aspect of their business.

Michele: What is the most important thing students will walk away with?
Me: There are so many walk-aways that it would be hard to name just one. The segments I will be teaching include four topics that stand alone on their own merit. Add in what Tim will teach and there will be more walk-aways than most people can fit in their luggage. The cool thing is that much of what the attendees will learn can be implemented right away and will start showing a return right away. Instant ROI!

At the end of the two days, what will really take place is an understanding of this whole new definition of customer service, of where the bar can and should be raised. After that, the businesses will have a tool box full of ways to consistently hit and exceed those standards.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS I forgot to add… Not only will you make back your investment many times over, you’ll make new friends, eat great food, and have more fun learning than you ever thought possible!

Take a Stand For Something

Want to get some FREE publicity? Take a stand for something. Draw your line in the sand and make it known on which side you stand. The press loves stories like that.

Want to get some Word-of-Mouth publicity? Take a stand for something. Be adamant about what you will, and sometimes more importantly, what you won’t do. Customers love to share that kind of information.

Want to grow your brand faster and get better known? Take a stand for something. Share your strong point of view with the world, knowing that some will hate it and some will love it, and soon you will be known for it.

I know what you’re thinking right now. The weasel or lizard in your brain is saying, but won’t I alienate some of my customers? 

Yes, you will. The stronger your stand, the more you will alienate part of the potential customer base. But the same is true of those you ignite. The more powerful your stance, the more you fan the flames of passion in those who share your point of view, and the more loyal they become.

I know another thing you’re thinking right now. I can’t afford to anger any customers. I need them all.

Hate to burst your bubble but you don’t have them all. At best you have one in ten. More likely you have one in twenty – five percent of your market. Nineteen people have decided not to shop with you. Why? Either because they already know you or they don’t already know you. Those are the only two reasons. Well, there is a third reason, kinda. They think they know you.

When you take a stand you eliminate all doubt as to who you are. You may convert a few people who thought they knew you. More likely, though, you’ll get a better chance at converting the large percentage of customers who don’t know you.

How? Through the media, through word-of-mouth, through building a reputation.

Don’t be wishy washy. Be yourself, be yourself openly, be yourself all the way. Pretty soon you will own your corner of the market.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Don’t know really who you are (in a business sense)? Follow the directions on this worksheet. It will help.

The Coolest Store in Town

I was walking out of the grocery store a couple nights ago and caught my reflection in the window. I had on my Toy House jacket and saw our distinctive logo staring back. At that moment it dawned on me.

I own the coolest store in Jackson.

Oh sure, there may be a few people who would argue that point. But there would be just as many who would argue for us. Of course, we have some distinct advantages.

First, we sell toys. Second, we’ve been in business a long time so there is a lot of nostalgia built up. Third, we have a lot of inclusive fun here. And fourth, we’re fairly unique to the toy industry. There just aren’t a lot of stores quite like us around the country.

But that got me thinking…

Are you the coolest store in your town?
Are you even in the discussion?
What can you do if you don’t have toys or time on your side?

There is an easy way to get into the discussion. Treat your customers better than even they expect to be treated. That’s cool enough to get you a seat at the table. Then do some truly unique things that no one else has even considered doing. You’ll be the coolest store in your town to everyone who knows you.

Best of all, they’ll tell everyone else.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Want some ideas on how to do the unexpected? Download my free eBook Customer Service: From Weak to WOW.

PPS Want more ideas? Sign up for the 2-day Shareworthy Customer Service class I’m helping teach at Wizard Academy. You’ll know about how to exceed customer expectations because Tim Miles and I are going to exceed yours.

Two Days to Take Your Customer Service to Shareworthy Levels

I’ve written about Wizard of Ads partner – the incomparable Professor Tim Miles.

He wrote the e-book on Shareworthy Customer Service. He also wrote a book called Good Company. He’s tall. He’s smart. He makes up (really cool) words. And he knows more about how to improve your Customer Service than most people walking this planet.

In fact, he is teaching it to businesses all around this planet right now and they are posting growth numbers that would make you blush.

I’ve done my own writing about Customer Service. Most of you have already downloaded my free e-book Customer Service: From Weak to WOW! Some of you have seen the live presentation. Many of you have found new ways to raise the bar in your business because of it.

Tim likes what I’m doing to raise the bar.  I like what Tim’s doing to take the bar galactic.  So we are combining forces and taking what we know to Wizard Academy!

Announcing a new class!

January 29-30, 2013
Austin, Texas

Two full days of instruction from two likable guys who have been transforming businesses through better customer service for years.  (Click the link above to read a full course description.)
Two full days of a true Wizard Academy experience (which in its own right is more than worth the price of admission.)
Two full days of learning what, why, where, who and how to make your customers’ experience so memorable they write books about you and your company (and you don’t have to give either of us the credit!)

Go sign up.  The investment is deep.  The return is deeper.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  If you’re one of the first people to sign up for the class, you get FREE LODGING on campus at Wizard Academy.  That is soooo worth it! Soooooooo worth it!! Soooooooooooo worth it!!!

What to Do About Showrooming

We all have been showroomed.  The customer comes in, looks at your stuff, then leaves the store only to order the same items online.  Heck, maybe you have done some showrooming yourself.

I had a customer who came in, asked our opinion about car seats, had us show her how they all fit in her car, talked through options, how to install, how to keep the kid buckled in properly, and even how to clean up after a spill.  After several trips out to her car with car seats, she told us she would be back to purchase.  One week later she stopped in to ask if we could help install her car seat.  It was still in the box with the shipping label from the online site where she ordered it still attached!

Some of you are already hopping mad.  I understand your reaction.  I was telling this story to a friend who said her initial response would have been to refuse to install the seat, telling the customer to ask the online website where she ordered it to install the seat.

Here is what we did.

We gladly installed the seat.  We talked through all the options of where to place the seat, what is the safest way to travel with a baby, how to install the seat, how to adjust the straps, and then helped her get it properly installed in her car.  Then we invited her back if she ever needed help with that seat or any other seat.

Some of you might think I’m crazy.  We gained nothing from that customer, yet we spent valuable resources on her (our time, our expertise, etc).  She showroomed us.

The way I see it, she showed up.  She took the time to come to my store – twice!  Now it is my responsibility to make sure she has an awesome time at my store.  It is my responsibility that she gets phenomenal customer service whether or not she makes a purchase at that time.

Why?

Because I sell far more than car seats and she will need to buy far more than just that one car seat.  I may have lost the opportunity to sell that one car seat, but since she came back to the store, she has given me an opportunity to sell her other things she might need either today or down the road.

Because I treasure Word-of-Mouth advertising.  She may not have given me the sale, but if I treat her just as rudely as she treated me, she’ll bad mouth me to everyone she knows (conveniently leaving out her own behavior).  If I treat her well, at the very least she has nothing bad to say, but more likely she will say something positive about us.

Because I like the challenge a customer like this presents to us.  You have heard the phrase,

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  

One of my staff told me the other day,

“You can lead a horse to water, and if you can get him to float on his back, then you really have something.”  

Customers like these are a great training ground for the staff.  If we can turn them from showroomers into customers, then we really have something.  If we don’t, at least we got valuable training on what doesn’t get work.

Don’t look at showrooming as a problem.  Look at it as an opportunity.  Get those customers to float on their backs, and then you really have something.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  If you don’t feel you have the resources to help them or if your resources need to be spent on other customers, then do what you have to do.  But never ever stoop to the rudeness of your rudest customers.  That’s a competition you can never win.

A Customer Service Story You Gotta Read…

My friend, Cynthia Compton, owns 4 Kids Books and Toys near Indianapolis.  Her store, as many toy stores do, offers to host birthday parties.  The kids come in, do crafts and activities, have fun and (hopefully) spend some money in the store.  Yes, there is a fee the birthday family must pay.  But the true hope in a service like this is to get the kids (and their parents) into the store, a chance for them to try out the store’s products, and to make the kids and their families feel good about the store.

In another word – Branding.

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.” -James D. Miles

But what do you do when the customer wants a birthday party not at your store, without all those benefits?

In Cynthia’s own words…

 Just got back from a “remote” birthday party. We offer on-site parties to our customers if they want us to do them. This family has two autistic kids, and the noise and stress level of our store is too much. So I did a party in their living room for the boys and 2 friends. I whispered for two hours. It was a very nice time…

…we had a rabbit party. I borrowed some rabbits from a kid who raises them for 4H. We spread a tarp on the floor, and I brought a bunch of cardboard boxes to make tunnels. I had two big fat white rabbits that were used to handling, and then a hutch full of little grey babies. The boys made salads for the bunnies, we rolled balls for them to chase, and we ate carrot cake cupcakes. Oh, and I had short white lab coats with their names embroidered over the pocket, and I borrowed some stethescopes so we listened for rabbit heartbeats. It was really fun. Something I couldn’t have done with a lot of kids, but 4 was perfect. One of the birthday guys is pretty hard to reach, but he let us put a rabbit in his lap, and hold one of the babies up to his cheek. Mom was pleased, the bunnies were good, and no one got bitten (which was my nightmare on Friday night.)

When Cynthia was asked how she came up with this idea, she replied…

I met the kid with the rabbits at the farmers market this summer, and so the bunnies have been on my mind. She brings them every week to her family’s stand (we get eggs from them) and usually has a different hutch of babies. I’ve been wanting to do something with them, and this opportunity just presented itself. The birthday boys don’t have any pets, and bunnies are quiet….. It just kind of came together. It was probably a huge business risk from a liability standpoint, but we all survived the day.

She didn’t get the kids into her store.  She didn’t get the kids’ friends and their families into her store.  She didn’t get to show off any of her products.  But tell me… Do you think that family will sing her praises and promote her store to everyone they know?  You bet!

That, my friends, is WOW Customer Service.  How far are you willing to go to make a customer’s day?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  I know Cynthia and, yes, she is simply that nice and helpful.

Return on Investment

In June 2011 we launched a generous Birthday Club.  We offered our customers a $10 gift certificate on their birthday and a chance to ring the Birthday Bell – a thirty-two pound brass bell hanging on a pole in the middle of our store.

We were looking for three things from this promotion.  Traffic, Smiles, and Word of Mouth.

Traffic
Prior to the launch of the Birthday Club we had been in a traffic decline due to the economics of this region and severe decline in youth population in our area (almost 10% drop in children under 18 since 2000).  Since the Birthday Club we have had five months with increased traffic, even as our population base continues to decline.  

Smiles
We take a picture of each kid after ringing the bell.  The current month gets posted on the wall.  The previous months are cataloged in a posterboard-sized book that customers are always looking through.  Those smiles are evident.  Some of the most telling smiles, though, are the comments on my Facebook page.  We asked how the Birthday Club was doing and had a dozen comments in a couple minutes all raving about it.

Word of Mouth
Some of that is happening right now on Facebook.  Some of that is happening as people take pictures with their own cameras and send them to loved ones and friends.  Some of that is happening when people talk about their plans… “Oh. we’re going to the Toy House today to spend our Birthday Gift Certificate.”

So far so good.

But at What Cost? 
So far year-to-date we have redeemed over 53% of the coupons we sent out.  The average ticket has been much higher than projected.  Our profit margin on those sales even after the costs of printing/mailing/redeeming the gift certificate is 32% compared to 48% on non-birthday gift certificate sales.  

So the big question is… Is the 16%  in lost revenue on those sales worth it?  

The Birthday Club generates Traffic, Smiles, and Word-of-Mouth, oh yeah, and Sales.  Would a 16% off coupon generate the same?   

Yeah, some might say there is a better way for me to spend those dollars to increase my sales.  And they would be right… if sales were the goal.  

The most important element for me is the long-term investment in the Smiles. 

Since I am in toys, my customer base is always shifting.  The kids shopping today will take a short break until they have kids of their own.  The parents shopping today will take a short break until they become grandparents.  The Birthday Club is one way I invest in their return, first by giving them an incentive to return even in the “non-toy” years and second, by creating long-lasting memories that will bring them back when the time is right (and still generate that WOM as they talk about me to their friends, even when they aren’t in a buying phase.)

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  The key to any promotion is to know exactly what you hope to accomplish.  Then measure your results based on your goal.  That is the only way to really know the Return on Investment of any advertising campaign.  The best method I have for determining your goal for anything is to finish the following statement…
“This will be a success if…”

It’s Good for Morale, Too!

Do you have a way for your customers to tell you what they think?  Most of them won’t say it to your face.  Only a small handful will pick up the phone and call.  A few will post it on Facebook.  But wouldn’t it be better to capture their joy and excitement of visiting your store at the moment it happens?

Not only does a Guest Book like this allow your customers to sing your praises at the moment they are feeling overjoyed by their visit, it gives you some incredible feedback.  There are clues hidden in the messages they write.  (If no one praises you at all, that’s a really big clue that they aren’t having the kind of fun they should be having.)

One of the benefits most people miss is that when a customer takes the time to write something down, it helps her brain store that thought more permanently.  Therefore, she will think more highly of you just from the simple act of writing it down, and she will be more likely to sing your praises to others because the memory is so much stronger.

Plus, your staff gets a big boost when they read the flowery praises you are most likely to get.  It reinforces all you have been teaching them about the power of WOW Customer Service.  It gets them fired up to continue raising the bar.

My staff will sometimes call me out of the office just to read what another customer wrote.

Set up a Guest Book in your store.  See how it increase both your word-of-mouth referrals and the morale of your staff.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  And those aren’t even the best things said about us in our book!

No One Else Does It That Way

Here is a phrase you need to tune your ears to hear.

“But no one else does it that way…”

That phrase is money.  Gold.  Pure platinum.

To do something remarkable, you have to do something worth remarking.  Nobody remarks on the stuff everyone is doing.  They only remark on the stuff no one else is doing.

So keep listening for that phrase.  When you hear it, that is your opportunity to be remarkable.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Word of Mouth is simply People telling other People what You did.  Do something Shareworthy.