Could one of several things, right? In this article, we will tell you how to make customer service this critical factor. But before we begin we want to tell you an important story. Let’s get started.
One of the things about the modern world is instantly recognized brands. For people who travel a lot, these brands make the world a much smaller and more convenient place.
In most of my career, I traveled to Washington DC a lot, as my company’s headquarters was located there. The last year before my retirement, I was in suburban Washington DC. I needed to accomplish two tasks that I could have easily done at home. However, the businesses I needed were not located in my area.
Without two large, well-known brands I might have spent a lot of time running around Rockville, Md. Instead, I stopped at the local branches of two companies I’ve used many times during my visits.
Both visits needed to be completed that evening for my briefing at headquarters the next day.
My two experiences could not have been more different.
The first was a clothing store, the Men’s Wearhouse. This was a quick errand because all I needed were two collar stays.
When I arrived at the store, I noted all the staff was busy in what appeared to be a meeting. Before I could say anything, two people flew out of their chairs simultaneously asking how they could help me.
It was almost scary how fast and naturally they responded. It was not at all what I expected.
One of the salespeople hurried to get some collar stays. The other chatted with me. Not once did any of them act like I had interrupted their meeting.
Instead, they made me feel welcome and comfortable like I was a lifelong customer or a good friend.
I never told them I was a Men’s Wearhouse customer. They had no idea, and they didn’t seem to care. Their entire focus was on helping me any way they could. I entered the store needing two collars stays.
I left with a handful of collar stays and one more great reason to remain a loyal and enthusiastic customer of this company.
My next task at the local FedEx Kinko’s store didn’t go nearly as smoothly.I had a 30-page briefing, and I needed eight copies.
At the counter, there were no other customers were waiting. After a couple of minutes, an employee approached and asked what I needed. I told him, and he replied “no problem: tomorrow morning okay?”
I explained that my job could not wait and I said I was hoping to get it done tonight, while I waited.
“No problem,” he said. “You can print it yourself on our laser printer over there.” He pointed toward some cubicles. “Just put your CD in one of the computers. You can do it yourself in a couple of minutes.”
After a few minutes on the task, I realized the price per page was 49 cents if I printed it myself. For 240 pages, that would be close to $120. That seemed high, even for Washington DC.
So I went back to the same employee and asked him about the pricing. He confirmed the 49 cents rate per page. He also confirmed that it would cost about $10 total if I had them print it.
“That’s a big difference in cost” I suggested to him. No response. Nothing.
“Tell you what,” I said. “That’s a little more than I wanted to pay. How about if you go ahead and print the document? I need it tonight.”
Instead of responding, he walked away to talk to another employee. When he came back, he said: “the best we can do is 8:00.”
Wanting to be 100% clear, I asked “8:00 tonight?” “Yep,” he said.
It was 6:30 so I said that’d be fine. I could kill an hour or so by grabbing dinner and a newspaper.
By 7:40, I was back at the FedEx Kinko’s store. After waiting at the customer service counter for a couple of minutes, someone asked what they could help me with.
I explained my situation, and he went to look for my print job.
“It’s not here” he yelled to no one in particular.
I got his attention, and I pointed to the employee who helped me earlier. They convened a quick meeting and determined that the job was not done. In fact, it had not yet been started. It was 7:50 pm.
I asked if there was anything I could do to help. The one who wrote up my print job 90 minutes ago, grunted in reply. He went to work on it. It took less than five minutes to print.
By 8:00 I left the store with my printed document and with a new opinion of FedEx Kinko’s. And it was not a new and improved opinion either. It was vastly inferior to my previous perception.
Two simple tasks with two major brands. And two vastly different experiences. Experiences that created two lasting memories to influence my future buying decisions.
Don’t stand by while your competitors beat you to the best brand loyalty. Brand loyalty depends on a remarkable brand experience every time.
What are you doing to make their first 30 seconds on your platform extraordinary? If you can’t answer this question, you need to start here. First impressions are everything.
Show customers that you care
Make them feel something. If you want to grab my attention on social media, make me laugh. Make me cry. Make me feel something, anything.
When I have a super busy day, and I am engaging customers, I have no choice. No choice due to the amount of them and time constraints choosing where and when I am going to respond.
It is an easy choice for me. I respond to the people who grab my attention.
The people who are nice, who make me feel good. The people who are genuine. The people who make me laugh. Pull an emotional chord.
Don’t send snarky tweets trying to get attention. Most people can see right thru the snark and won’t respond.
I ignore the trolls and the folks looking only for attention. Be genuine and offer something of emotional value.
Defines brand identity … go the extra mile
Consumers always enjoy good stories and helpful information that educates.
Use social media primarily to educate fans about your products and services. Watch the engagement you receive to see what their followers want.
When you publish something that’s educational, you should expect an average of three to seven responses.
The bottom line
No one has all the answers. A company where only management makes decisions is a surefire way to send A and B players away to other companies.
As some companies get bigger, they tend to limit employee freedom. The employees are less and less involved in key decisions and their impact on the business is drowned out. It becomes a part of the culture. Employees go to work, do what they’re told, and just help someone else achieve their dream. The worker’s impact on the business is minimal and they become “just another employee at just another company.” And for some people, it’s all they want: go into work, take orders, do the job, and wait for the clock to hit 5:00 P.M.
But this is not what the best employees want.
Listen more than you talk. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about your audience when you shut up. Shut up, listen, and then flawlessly execute. Try it, and you will be amazed by the results.
Do you have a lesson about making your customer experience better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add to the section below?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
More reading on brands and branding from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
Could one of several things, right? In this article, we will tell you how to make customer service this critical factor. But before we begin we want to tell you an important story. Let’s get started.
One of the things about the modern world is instantly recognized brands. For people who travel a lot, these brands make the world a much smaller and more convenient place.
In most of my career, I traveled to Washington DC a lot, as my company’s headquarters was located there. The last year before my retirement, I was in suburban Washington DC.
I needed to accomplish two tasks that I could have easily done at home, but the businesses I needed were not located in my area.
Without two large, well-known brands I might have spent a lot of time running around Rockville, Md.
Instead, I stopped at the local branches of two companies I’ve used many times during my visits. Both visits needed to be completed that evening for my briefing at headquarters the next day.
My two experiences could not have been more different.
The first was a clothing store, the Men’s Wearhouse. This was a quick errand because all I needed were two collar stays.
When I arrived at the store, I noted all the staff was busy with what appeared to be a meeting. Before I could say anything, two people flew out of their chairs simultaneously asking how they could help me.
It was almost scary how fast and naturally they responded. It was not at all what I expected.
One of the salespeople hurried to get some collar stays. The other chatted with me. Not once did any of them act like I had interrupted their meeting.
Instead, they made me feel welcome and comfortable like I was a lifelong customer or a good friend.
I never told them I was a Men’s Wearhouse customer. They had no idea, and they didn’t seem to care. Their entire focus was on helping me any way they could.
I entered the store needing two collars stays. I left with a handful of collar stays and one more great reason to remain a loyal and enthusiastic customer of this company.
My next task at the local FedEx Kinko’s store didn’t go nearly as smoothly.I had a 30-page briefing, and I needed eight copies.
At the counter, there were no other customers were waiting. After a couple of minutes, an employee approached and asked what I needed. I told him, and he replied “no problem: tomorrow morning okay?”
I explained that my job could not wait. I said I was hoping to get it done tonight, while I waited.
“No problem,” he said. “You can print it yourself on our laser printer over there.” He pointed toward some cubicles.
“Just put your CD in one of the computers, and you can do it yourself in a couple of minutes.”
After a few minutes on the task, I realized the price per page was 49 cents if I printed it myself. For 240 pages, that would be close to $120 (plus the charges for the computer time). That seemed high, even for Washington DC.
So I went back to the same employee and asked him about the pricing. He confirmed the 49 cents rate per page. He also confirmed that it would cost about $10 total if I had them print it.
“That’s a big difference in cost” I suggested to him. No response. Nothing.
“Tell you what,” I said. “That’s a little more than I wanted to pay. How about if you go ahead and print the document? I need it tonight.”
Instead of responding, he walked away to talk to another employee. When he came back, he said: “the best we can do is 8:00.”
Wanting to be 100% clear, I asked “8:00 tonight?” “Yep,” he said.
It was 6:30 so I said that’d be fine. I could kill an hour or so by grabbing dinner and a newspaper.
By 7:40, I was back at the FedEx Kinko’s store. After waiting at the customer service counter for a couple of minutes, someone asked what they could help me with. I explained my situation, and he went to look for my print job.
“It’s not here” he yelled to no one in particular.
I got his attention, and I pointed to the employee who helped me earlier. They convened a quick meeting and determined that the job was not done. In fact, it had not yet been started. It was 7:50 pm.
I asked if there was anything I could do to help. The one who wrote up my print job (almost 90 minutes ago) grunted in reply and went to work on it. It took less than five minutes to print.
By 8:00 I left the store with my printed document and with a new opinion of FedEx Kinko’s. And it was not a new and improved opinion either. It was vastly inferior to my previous perception.
Two simple tasks with two major brands. And two vastly different experiences and two lasting memories to influence my future buying decisions.
Don’t stand by while your competitors beat you to the best brand loyalty. Brand identity and loyalty depend on a remarkable brand experience every time.
What are you doing to make their first 30 seconds on your platform extraordinary? If you can’t answer this question, you need to start here.
First impressions are everything.
Show customers you care
Make them feel something. If you want to grab my attention on social media, make me laugh. Make me cry. Make me feel something, anything.
When I have a super busy day, and I am engaging customers, I have no choice due to the time constraints. I must include choosing where and when I am going to respond. It is an easy choice for me. I respond to the people who grab my attention.
The people who are nice, who make me feel good. The people who are genuine. The people who make me laugh. Pull an emotional chord.
Don’t send snarky tweets trying to get attention. Most people can see right thru the snark and won’t respond.
I ignore the trolls and the folks looking only for attention. Be genuine and offer something of emotional value.
Define brand identity … go the extra mile
Go the extra mile.
Consumers always enjoy good stories and helpful information that educates.
Use social media primarily to educate fans about your products and services. Watch the engagement you receive to see what their followers want.
When you publish something that’s educational, you should expect an average of three to seven responses.
The bottom line
Always listen more than you talk. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn about your audience when you shut up and listen and then flawlessly execute.
The role of a great publisher is not to predict what readers may want to read, but to help them form their opinions through strong, authoritative journalism. You win in the marketplace not by chasing readers with algorithms, but by attracting them with a superior product. Great journalism can’t be automated, because it is among the most human of endeavors.
Try it, and you will be amazed by the results.
Looking to create a smashing brand image?
Do you have a lesson about making your customer experience better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add to the section below?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to innovating your social media strategy?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on brands and branding from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
The customer never buys what you think you sell. Great quote from Peter Drucker. Have you ever stayed at a Ritz Carlton hotel? Attracted by the Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy?
Do you agree with Peter Drucker in thinking that the Ritz-Carlton doesn’t know what its difference-maker is? More importantly did you decide to stay with this hotel chain because of its difference maker? Not sure? Maybe you will be more certain after you read this article.
Marketing strategy and the Ritz Carlton?
When choosing to learn from other companies’ marketing strategies, it is always helpful to choose one of the unique approaches to marketing.
It’s been nearly half a century since Philip Kotler first published his Principles of Marketing, which has defined the practice of millions of professionals worldwide ever since. It’s no stretch to say that before Kotler, there were no true marketing professionals.
What made Kotler different than what came before is that he took insights from other fields, such as economics, social science, and analytics, and applied them to the marketing arena. Although that may seem basic now, it was groundbreaking then.
Today technology is transforming marketing once again. Although up to this point, most of the impact has been tactical, over the next decade or so there will be a major strategic transformation. This, of course, will be a much harder task because we will not only have to change what we do but how we think.
Marketing, at its best, is about the future. Unfortunately, we spend most of our time stuck in the past. We research what already happened and extrapolate forward to produce a plan. It’s not that we’re lazy, we simply know a whole lot more about the past than the present or the future.
We already know that marketing is becoming more social, local, and mobile, just as we know that big data and new interfaces such as touch, voice, and gesture are becoming increasingly more important. What comes next?
Meet Ritz-Carlton. They have been successfully executing their marketing plan since the early days of their existence. Their strategies have played a significant role in their growth.
An introduction to Ritz-Carlton is perhaps unnecessary. But we’ll give a little refresher just in case. The Ritz is a big brand name for luxury hotels and resorts all over the world.
With 77 locations in major cities and 25 resorts in countries worldwide, they are featured on Zagat Top Survey Lists for dining, hotel, and services. They represent the top brand in the Marriott International list of brands.
What are their secrets to marketing strategy success? It’s pretty simple. It is it’s exceptional customer service and unparalleled hotel experiences. Their goal is to create customers for life.
Here’s how they strive to achieve this lofty goal, with some great examples.
Brand identity at marketing core
The heart of the Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy is their brand. The brand is built into and reflected by its tag line. It is ‘memories by the Ritz-Carlton’. The brand image is the number one factor that drives business.
Since brand image is so important, it’s crucial for you to cut through the clutter and differentiate your brand. Make a difference as an organization that is truly relevant to consumer needs.
If you want to improve the public image of your brand, then what better way is there to do so than by defining it yourself? The Ritz-Carlton does this by telling stories about the hotel through its online content strategy.
Their Stories that Stay with You page elaborates on ways in which their employees and the greater hotel have gone out of their way to ensure a great stay for guests.
The Ritz-Carlton is excellent at not only framing their stories, but in behaving in such a way. That is by providing great customer service at every level. That is where their that great stories happen.
Ritz-Carlton marketing strategy … understand the value of every employee
If you’ve ever held a job where you didn’t feel appreciated, you understand how frustrating it can be. Well, the Ritz-Carlton avoids this pitfall by valuing every employee.
By empowering the employee, the hotel creates a staff that is passionate about the hotel, its services, and its success. Furthermore, happier employees mean happier guests.
In fact, the Ritz-Carlton has empowered employees so much that they have the ability to spend up to $2,000 to ensure guests have an enjoyable stay without seeking permission from management. Wow, now that is impressive, isn’t it?
In Robert Cialdini’s famous book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, he notes that:
The impressive aspect of reciprocation with its accompanying sense of obligation is its pervasiveness in human culture.
It is so widespread that, after intensive study, Alvin Gouldner (1960), along with other sociologists, reported that all human societies subscribe to the rule.
The point is straight forward: Reciprocity is likely something that has evolved in the human brain in order to keep a majority of transactions “fair”.
We often feel obligated to return favors, even if they are unasked for.
This is the ultimate reason why great customer service has such a fantastic value to the marketing objectives.
The research points to this being a universal truth in social interaction and reciprocity.
Small surprises that feel like they were “just for you” can spawn some incredibly strong goodwill from the receiver.
Go the extra mile
Here is a great example of how this hotel staff goes the extra mile for its customers.
A family with three young children arrived at the hotel for a business/leisure weekend. On the last night of their stay, they dined in the hotel’s signature restaurant.
Upon closing of the restaurant, the server attendant found a small stuffed animal tucked underneath a seat cushion. The server immediately recognized that the stuffed animal belonged to one of the young children who had dined at the restaurant earlier that evening.
It was too late to return the stuffed animal then, so they planned a fun way to present the toy the next day. They grabbed the community camera behind the front desk and positioned the stuffed animal to look like it was dining in the restaurant, playing the piano and cooking in the kitchen.
At each location, they captured the moment on camera, and then made a storyline to go with each photo. They then printed all the photos and created a book of “animal adventures” for the young guest.
The picture book and stuffed animal made its way to the guest’s door at 9 a.m. the next morning. The young boy was jumping out of his skin with excitement when he saw his lost companion.
His mother responded, “The Ritz-Carlton always goes that extra mile. This is exactly why my family will only travel to your hotels.”
Ritz-Carlton employees are trained to anticipate the unexpressed wishes of their guests. Frequently the receptionist called early departing quests to ask, ‘We see that you are scheduled to leave very early tomorrow. Can we leave a pot of fresh, hot coffee outside your door?’”
This sort of planning helps employees remember key touch-points with customers. This will in turn aids their ability to provide exceptional service more consistently.
Related post: Social Media Campaigns to Stimulate Learning
Be prepared
One lesson that you might not expect to find, however, is how proactive Ritz-Carlton employees are in planning for mistakes and accidents. Since complaining customers are unavoidable in totality, Ritz-Carlton always focuses on being prepare and ‘planning ahead’.
One of my favorite examples is their practice of “resetting a customer’s internal clock” when the service is taking too long in delivering food orders.
Here is an example. A customer and his wife were staying at the Ritz-Carlton and having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Just when they were about to ask about their order, the waiter appeared and gave them a tomato and mozzarella appetizer.
Notice how this tactic works: With a relatively small gift, the staff can reset the internal clock with a customer by establishing a new time reference point.
While it’s not as the entrée early delivery, it’s certainly better than a waiter returning to a table multiple times to say ‘I’m sorry’.
Perform the unexpected
Here is a great example of doing the totally unexpected. In this case well beyond what was anticipated.
Because of their son’s food allergies, a family vacationing at the Ritz-Carlton, in Bali, was always careful to bring their own supply of specialized eggs and milk.
In this particular instance, however, the food was ruined en route. The Ritz-Carlton manager couldn’t find any of the special items in town, but his executive chef recalled that a store in Singapore sold them.
The chef contacted his mother-in-law, who lived there, and had her purchase the items, then fly to Bali (about 2.5 hours) to deliver them.
The bottom line
Marketing always has been and always will be about telling stories… stories that influence behavior and convince people to act.
Make sure your content tells a story and that your story is compelling and relevant–especially your headlines.
“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”
Do you have an idea that will change the world? Well, it’s not worth anything unless you can turn that idea into a reality. So take the plunge and see just how far that idea can take you. Or, you can sit around trading advice over the internet.
Wow, talk about unexpected service. Have you ever received an unexpected service from a business that you would share? Do you have any comments or questions to add below?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to you. But believe in the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing created by remarkable customer service. And put it to good use.
It’s up to you to keep improving your creative marketing strategies. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
