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April 12, 2009

Are you a good marketer? 17 questions to ask yourself every day.

Filed under: social media, customer experience, Innovation, customer service, branding/differentiation, internet marketing, marketing strategy —

BY TODD SCHNICK

We at Intrepid want you to be an intrepid marketer. And whether you are the CEO, the Marketing Director, or the janitor - we believe we are ALL in the company marketing department, and have a critical role to play.

So, we present this series of questions you should ask yourself - EVERY DAY - to see if you are doing the things necessary to be intrepid:

1. What have I done to destroy the status quo?

2. What actions have I taken to make a customer say “wow!”?

3. Have I reviewed and held myself accountable towards my written long-term plans?

4. Have I spent time trying to innovate and make my product or service - or customer experience - better?

5. Have I made the effort to meet someone new, and expand my network?

6. Have I done even a little something to Give Back?

7. Have I considered my customer when making any and all business decisions?

8. Have I helped anyone connect with someone of value?

9. Have I spent even a few minutes learning something new and continuing my education?

10. Have I identified the thing I least want to do - but most need to do - and just done it?

11. Have I refined and improved my ability to convey the value of my product or service?

12. Have I focused our sales process on solving problems or fulfilling needs - instead of pushing products and services our prospect might not need?

13. Have I brushed up on my ability as a storyteller - using this skill to make our prospects feel more emotionally attached to our company and brand?

14. Have I reminded EVERYONE in the organization they have a role in our marketing? And have I encouraged them to see themselves that way?

15. Have I realized that we are not really in the business of producing a product or service - we are in the business of marketing that product or service?

16. Have I refined my ability to differentiate my company in the marketplace?

17. Again, have I thought about ways I can destroy the status quo?

What are some other questions one should ask - each day - to become a better marketer?

BE INTREPID.

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April 7, 2009

Don’t follow rules just to follow rules. Solve the customer’s problem.

Filed under: customer experience, customer service —

BY STEVEN WINOKUR

My wife’s birthday was last week so we decided to go out for dinner as a family. I have two young boys and as any parent of young boys will tell you, they don’t sit still for long. Anyway, she wanted to go to a particular restaurant in Roswell that was known for their friend chicken. Problem was, it takes 30 minutes to cook and they do not take order over the phone. So over my best judgment we went anyway. Want to guess what happened?

By the time the food came, the kids were bouncing off the walls. My wife and I left the restaurant exasperated and certainly not in a celebrating mood. Now, it is not the restaurant’s fault we didn’t have a good experience, it was our kids. However, I have no desire to ever go back to that restaurant because of the overall experience was so bad.

How could they have helped make the experience better? Well, when my wife explained about the kids, the restaurant could have taken our credit card information (in case we didn’t show up at all) and started cooking the chicken. Is that against their rules? Certainly. But it would have solved our problem and created an overall better experience.

What are you doing in your business today that hinders your customer’s experience with your company? What can you do differently to ensure that you’re solving customer issues, not following internal rules?

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April 5, 2009

14 Ways To Improve The Customer Experience

Filed under: social media, customer experience, Innovation, customer service, internet marketing, sales team development, branding/differentiation —

BY TODD SCHNICK

Over the past several months, I have done a lot of thinking about how to better assist my clients with their business. One thing we are doing is focusing on the customer experience.

Here are a few things you can do to improve your customer’s experience:

1. Get your customer’s FEEDBACK. While you may not want to hear negative complaints from customers, trust me - you do. This is the only way you can solve problems - and actually it is the best way to build loyal customers. They will appreciate when you bend over backwards to handle their concerns, thereby building a stronger relationship. Here are ten questions you can ask your customer.

2. OBSERVE your customer. What they say, and what they actually do, are sometimes different. Point is, you should always monitor the behavior of your customers, and see how they go through your company experience. It won’t be a smooth as you might expect…

3. Be sure they understand the VALUE you bring. Tell them that story. Often. Be sure they understand what value you bring to their business - how you are making them better. This enables them to better spread your story to their network.

4. EMPOWER your employees. It is critical that you give your employees the freedom to handle customer complaints and needs - on a moment’s notice. If you do not empower your employees to make decisions on their own - then you are seriously limiting your ability to satisfy and serve your customer.

5. Make yourself ACCESSIBLE. Make it easy for your customers to find you when they need you. In this day and age of easy communication - there is no excuse not to be easily found.

6. BE your brand. You must always live your brand. If you position yourself as a green company, you better always live that brand. If at any time you deviate from your brand, you will injure that reputation, and business will suffer. People will pay a premium to live the brand with you.

7. Never stop INNOVATING. Looking for ways to improve your service, product offerings, and customer experience - never stops. The minute you stop seeking improvements is the minute your business begins to fade away. As soon as you bring a new innovation to market isn’t the time to start looking for the next one - you should already be on that path.

8. Make your website EASY. Sometimes you, the business owner, may like the look and feel of your company website, but what does your customers and prospects think? Your site won’t always make the same sense to a new user as it does to you.

9. Make the experience UNIQUE. A person makes lots of transactions and decisions each day. They buy goods from the grocery, pay a utility bill, buy songs from iTunes, etc. What you should strive for is a unique business experience - one that stands out and is memorable. And what happens when your customer experiences this? They come back. And they tell others!

10. COMMUNICATE. Reach out to your customers. Often. Use social media tools. Blog. Send newsletters. E-newsletters. Progress reports. Keep them in the loop about what is going on.

11. TRAIN. If you want your employees to behave a certain way, and learn habits that will serve customers well, you need to establish good training programs. But also know that training never stops. The best athletes never stop practicing.

12. Install SYSTEMS. Establishing set processes and systems that are meticulously followed by you and your employees can create a standard that customers will come to trust and expect. Don’t get trapped into never changing (always be looking for improvements), but a system allows your company to perform consistently, and systems bring comfort to customers.

13. Have FUN. If you aren’t enjoying yourself and having fun running your business, you are not providing an environment suitable for you and your employees to give a good customer experience. Make working your business fun - and the customer will certainly benefit.

14. Think Customer FIRST. It is a mistake we all make. When we make decisions, we sometimes don’t think about how those decisions will impact the overall customer experience. You should not do ONE thing (however remote) in your business where you don’t question how it will impact the customer.

What are other ways to improve the customer experience?

Be Intrepid.

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