customer delight

Certain businesses deal with products that perish or become useless if not used by a certain date/time.  This is often seen as a problem – a problem of generating demand to drive sales, and a problem of inventory management. I have yet to see this viewed, by Tops, as an opportunity to delight customers, and cultivate gratitude / loyalty between the customer and the business.

What am I talking about? Allow me to illustrate using a recent experience.

I enjoyed reading Richard Shapiro’s first book: The Welcomer’s Edge. In this book Richard, set out a 3 step model (the greet, the assist, the leave-behind) for making a human connection with customers through every customer interaction.

Based on recent experiences I find myself moved to create a ‘Hall of Fame’. And a ‘Hall of Shame’ for well known brands based on how these businesses treat their customers. My commitment is to share the great practices of the ‘givers’ as well as the deceitful-manipulative practices of the ‘takers’.

Does Amazon deserve the label of ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company’? Before I answer that question, allow me to tell you a little story about a well-known telecommunications company, one whose official strategy was to become customer-centric.

Do you know what Amazement is?

A couple months ago, Shep Hyken sent me his latest book, Amaze Every Customer Every Time: 52 Tools for Delivering the Most Amazing Customer Service on the Planet. I'm making my way through some great books on my bookshelf, and today I'll share some amazing tools and learnings from Shep's book.

Something caught my attention in the results of two automotive service studies we just completed. It was the substantial impact of perceived extra effort in the service process on customer satisfaction & loyalty. In a study on getting a vehicle serviced, whether the service centre “went the extra mile” was the third most important driver of customer satisfaction and loyalty – out of more than 60 specific needs, mind you.

It doesn’t work if you fill up the tank with petrol when your car runs on diesel.  It doesn’t work to turn up at a nightclub and expect to get peace-quiet.  It doesn’t work to drive down the wrong side of the road at a busy time when there are lots of cars on the road and expect no problems.  It doesn’t work to turn up in your bikini for work or to turn up with your business suit to sunbathe on the beach.  And almost all of us get that.

Occasionally I come across a brand, an organisation, a bunch of people who get it, who practice it as opposed to talk about it. Who am I talking about? I am talking about giffgaff – a mobile virtual network operator that works off / is tied to the O2 network in the UK. giffgaff is unusual/innovative as a brand/organisation and I have written about giffgaff here and here. You should know that my family and I are members/customers of giffgaff.

The holiday season is upon us and retailers are gearing up for the increased sales volume.  One way they’re doing so is hiring more salespeople. In a piece in the Wall Street Journal, Karen Talley reported the retail industry added 28,000 positions in October, according to figures from the Labor Department. Macy’s Inc. is reportedly adding 65,000 seasonal employees nationwide to stores, call centers and distribution centers, while Kohl’s Corp. will hire over 40,000 seasonal staffers.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

If brands are a promise, then the rules of chance, tactics of politics, and the uncertainty of human behavior all suggest that we should promise as little as possible.