Showing posts with label grant lemahieu business consulting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grant lemahieu business consulting. Show all posts

Monday, January 10, 2011

Think "Alignment" As You Approach Social Media

Quite often in Customer Experience discussions, Social Media and Strategy comes up. When you begin developing your strategy, think in terms of "Alignment". This chart by John Scott Hayden may get the discussion off to a good start.

Social Strategy Alignment

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Holiday Customer Experience Tips for Businesses and Their Customers, not just for the season..


Lynne Jarman-Johnson, Speaker/Consultant/Radio Host
http://www.thejjway.com/
"LJJ Speaks" Mondays 2-3pm, WJRW 1340 am,
Grand Rapids,MI
Bonus Tips that didn't get on-air, during LJJ Speaks on WJRW...Relax, think Bing Crosby music and a crackling fire...

Tuesday, November 30:
I just had an opportunity to be a guest, yesterday, on Lynne Jarman-Johnson's ( @LJJspeaks ) radio show, LJJ Speaks on WRJW 1340 -Grand Rapids, and chat about Customer Experience opportunities and challenges facing businesses and customers for the holiday season (and I content, year-round).

This discussion, geared mostly towards the retail experience, does provide value to other entities as well...anywhere there is a "client/customer interaction is fair game".

The following are questions posed by Lynne, along with my caffeine inspired responses, that did not make it on-air, but are still very key aspects of our business environment we now find ourselves in.

So, warm some Java, or Hot Cocoa, and enjoy these Sipping Points.

LJJ:“As a Customer Service Specialist, and being that it’s the holiday season...How can businesses become more effective at learning customer needs?”

GL: Well, keeping in the “holiday theme” I will assume a retail experience. Here are 5, low-hanging Candy Canes to grab:

1. Data, Data, Data!
○ What is your internal sales data saying? Do you have customer segments with unique needs you can solve? What Products are hot, what are not?
○ Mash-up your qualitative experience and quantitative data to seek actionable insights.

○ What is your web site analytics telling you? (you do have a web presence, right? and Google Analytics is free!) What products are people continuing to visit? Certain colors getting most views? Where is the traffic coming from? Are you still featuring “About US” as your main landing page for prospective and current customers? It’s all about them and what you can do for them...they may not care that you were established in 1880!

2. READ!
○ In retail, read everything by Paco Underhill. Also Martin Lindstrom’s “Buy-Ology”, Joseph Jaffe’s “Flip the Funnel”, and Tony Hsieh’s new book, “Delivering Happiness”. Anything by Seth Godin, including his blog..it tends to slap you upside the face when you need it...

3. Seek Input From your Front line Folks!
○ Just because you pay them peanuts, doesn’t mean they have one for a brain...Executive leadership should LISTEN to the people on the front lines. You will get an added benefit of increased morale.

4. Think LEAN manufacturing principles:
○ In LEAN, an overarching principle is “Go See It For Yourself, get out on the floor”

○ Think, “Under Cover Boss” TV show. Find ways were Executive (and/or owners that have may become removed from the front lines) to intimately engage with your customers on a somewhat regular basis.

○ I just experienced an author/CEO respond to a general inquiry I made to their website! Then, he asked me who referred me to his book and firm. Then, he even responded, acknowledged that he knew my acquaintance and his firm, then asked me to say hi to him and that he was looking forward to an upcoming conference to catch up. This guy, “gets customer evangelism”...his business is personal to him and he wants his passion to resonate.

LJJ: “What Frustrates Customers Most?”:

GL: “Well, I just so happened to have updated this research and polled more people this morning, using my very expensive and sophisticated techniques, at my local Starbucks...Good mix of men and women too (that actually all experienced Thanksgiving weekend shopping)...Here are the findings:

● Items out-of-stock, or sizes out.

● Pushy Sales Floor Staff that don’t listen...

● Uneducated Staff...Do not know the products, or similar, to make a trusted recommendation

● Lines...

● Lack of selection

● Their own children causing distractions from the experience.

LJJ: “What are some tips for businesses that sell to customers in order to make transactions smooth and positive?”:

GL: “Being an avid reader, and student, of “thought leaders in stuff like this”, I find that Frank Luntz’s latest book, “What Americans Really Want, Really..” summarizes what the American Consumer (and even b2b) market want. Here are 5 Gingerbread Goodies, adapted from Luntz’s findings about our desired lifestyle goals in the U.S.":

1. More Money,Save Money,Less financial anxiety. Remember Hyundai and the job-loss protection? How about showing them how you are “saving them money” (more on that another time about my recent tire purchase)

2.Fewer Hassles: How can you reduce “The friction” in all of your customer touchpoints?
○ Can customers find you using the web?

○ Are you linked to your Manufacturer/Brand sites as a “local store”?

○ How can you assure buyers that you are offering the “fair market price” ? Consider Price Matching to minimize any “price resistance”.

○ Can buyers find Customer Reviews of products you offer, or of your business easily?

○ Can customers verify inventory is available prior to traveling to your business?

○ Use the Mother (or Mother-in-Law, depending on who you get along with better) Rule. That is, Would you treat your own Mother the same way as you treat customers? If not, you will have troubles in the long-term.

○ Finally, say a genuine, “THANK YOU FOR LETTING US EARN YOUR BUSINESS”!

3. More Time:
○ Respect customers time, save them time.

○ Look for other ways to respect their time, perhaps consierge service for repeat cutomers?

4. Choice/Selection:
○ this varies by product and demographics, but “Choice” is the American way.

○ Can you offer various pricing models, or product versions?

5. No Worries:
○ What assurances can you give customers?

○ Think more about potential Customer Lifetime Value, versus a single transactional opportunity.

LJJ: “What tips do you give customers entering the holiday shopping season to make transactions smooth and positive?”

GL: "Assuming someone is starting from a shopping list of some type, I recommend a little technology assistance prior to heading out to the stores."

1. Check the manufacturer, or Brand, websites for the items you are seeking to look for Local Stores, Online Vendors and any possible coupons, rebates, etc.

2. Look at the various Local Stores' web sites, or Online Store sites, options to check for inventory availability, total cost comparison and any store level incentives.

3. If you decide on a Local Store, call ahead to secure any items you feel are in high demand. Some will simply “Hold” for a specified time, others will have you pay over phone, then hold your item until pickup.

4. Now, however, if you are more impulsive (like me) and are already in your local store, without advance planning advantages I just described, grab your smart-phone device equipped with a free UPC Barcode/QR Code app(scanlife) and Google’s “Goggles” app. These will allow you to Scan the package code labels, or take an actual picture (as in Goggles), and open price comparison sites, product detail sheets, or even show other retailers that may offer the item. You may even find that special information that will allow you to easily justify that purchase to your significant other!

Happy Holidays to All, and a special thanks again to Lynne Jarman-Johnson @LJJSpeaks !

Cheers & Blessings to All!...Grant LeMahieu

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Simple Way for Executive Leadership to create Customer Evangelists...

Verne Harnish, CEO, Gazelles Inc.
@thegrowthguy
As this blog is about "all things Customer Experience" and the wins associated with having a Customer-Centric Focus, I needed to share my recent , personal interaction with Verne Harnish @thegrowthguy, author of "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits" and CEO of Gazelles,Inc a firm that provides strategic planning and execution methodologies to growth oriented organizations.

My "Customer Experience" began with a referral to Harnish's Rockefeller Habits book by another CEO acquaintance of mine.  After reading the introduction and first chapter, I knew I had hit some great pay-dirt and became giddy about the potential of this information being implemented in firms and teams in which I am familiar.

With my giddy enthusiasm, I went to Harnish's corporate website at Gazelles. Once there, I investigated the content and related resources and decided to make an inquiry via the "contact us" link feature.

Wait for it!.....The "Lesson" emerges...

Once I placed my inquiry via the "contact us" link, I received an email reply within 10 minutes (this was a Monday morning around 9am).  Now, rather than the canned, auto-reply speak, I received a brief, personal email note directly from Verne Harnish himself!  He made specific references to my request and even asked for the name of the individual that was "so kind to refer my book to you".

I gladly replied with the name of my contact in a reply email, for which Verne then replied and gave me a little overview of his relationship with my friend and his company and asked that I pass along a greeting to him.  Here is a guy who has people for this "mundane stuff", yet Harnish gets it...by showing he is passionate enough to respond to inquiries, he sees what the client base is looking for himself, without various layers of filtration.

I mean I was blown away!  Heck, I read(and purchase) a ton of business type content and this is the first time I felt "Engaged" in any type of recent purchase I made.

So, Three Tactics to Implement to Create Customer Evangelists! Oh, and Improve R.O.I, based on my free lesson by Verne Harnish...

1. Seek ways for your Executive Team to find opportunities to have intimate engagements with your customers.
2. Have Upper level leadership answer a "customer service" phone line on a somewhat frequent basis.
3. Have Leadership take opportunties to respond to the "contact us" inquiries from your websites.

More on The Rockefeller Habits in upcomming posts...

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

"Stop thinking "Launch", Start thinking "Lifecycle" for your online communications

Kristina Halvorson
A perfect companion read to Steve Krug's, "Dont Make Me Think" , Kristina Halvorson's, "Content Strategy for the Web", restates the importance of strategic planning for your online efforts and hammers home the point that content is indeed king, but it must be relevant to your target users, and really no one else.

However, we continue to see a mad rush to "launch" a site, without much pre-launch planning, including accountability assignments for who is responsible for content management.

I think the most important take-away here is the @Halvorson statement, "Stop thinking "Launch", Start thinking "Lifecycle".

Halvorson blogs at: http://blog.braintraffic.com/



Thursday, September 30, 2010

Do Your Web Visitors "Get It" ?

Steve Krug's @skrug seminal work on web usability is very approachable material on a very important discipline in Integrated Marketing and Communications today.

As the subtitle, "A Common Sense Approach", and Krug's consultancy's name, "Advanced Common Sense" (http://www.sensible.com/) convey, many great design considerations today involve some simple approaches to dramatically improve your web user experiences.

"Don't Make Me Think" is the mantra here. If I cannot figure out what your site is when I land on it...I (your prospect,customer,stakeholder,etc) will move on..Can you say bounce rate? or, No Conversions for You!

Krug also points out the increasing needs for Accessibility and the advantages that CSS sheets provide for web design pros. Many book suggestions and resource links provided as well. Should be a desk reference

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Are "Ratings and Reviews" Important to your prospects and customers?

http://polls.linkedin.com/poll-results/102515/cvght



Recent LinkedIn poll showing the key factors people are looking for online to help make purchase decisions in the IT space.

How does this insight correlate to your world? Can you incorporate "ratings/reviews/testimonials/samples/case studies" into your messaging platforms?

Friday, September 24, 2010

Create Fans Through Follow-Up...

"Not following up...is the same as filling up your bathtub without first putting the stopper in the drain." - David Frey


How many times have you heard colleagues, prospects, clients talk about the lack of follow-up by many of their current, or prospective vendors, or even some of their own team members?

Nothing more frustrating than when I am establishing connections for my own network of competencies, or recommending vendors for projects that I consult, as the lack of follow-up from their business development reps, or principals! These folks rub elbows at association meetings, Rotary Clubs, Country Clubs, etc, and prospects ask for more information, yet there is no intentional follow-up. Why Not?

Every expert commands that you do some type of reply back to a prospect by the end of the next business day...we are so connected Today, that there really is no excuse not to have someone on your team make a contact within this timeframe. Remember, prospects or clients, are not asking for a detailed proposal by the next day, but they do want to know you are interested in their business or not.

Here's a recent example, I am doing some consulting and facilitating on a web site usability and redesign for a client. When evaluating prospective technical and creative resources for the project, I was amazed at the Hubris, and lack of follow-up, that some of these "web services/marketing" firms display...Must be a huge market out there,uh??? Again, I know their "people" are attending all the proper business networking events, yet I still here on the street that "Firm XYZ" never calls back!

In closing, I suggest that your "marketing effort" needs to dial into the "customer experience" aspect of your business now. Nothing is more cost effective in marketing your business than having a bunch of @ravingfans spreading the good word about your business...

Monday, September 20, 2010

How do you create and enable "HEROs" in your teams, firms and organizations?

"HERO's, those "Highly Empowered Resourceful Operatives" that are often the leading sources of innovation and problem solving in dealing with key Customer Experience aspects of our organizations today, need enough flexibility to actively engage customers and other influencers,in order to create Empowered Customers and Evangelists of our products and services.

However, traditionally, IT departments and Management, have wanted to keep all technology "locked down" for a variety of reasons such as "security" and "brand stewardship". Yet, in today's transparent online world, our HEROs need to be able to use Groundswell technologies and practices to be able to reachout to the exact people that can serve as our "Brand Evangelists"...the communication with these people needs to be genuine, not always high polished, canned, robo generated engagement.

Therefore, the authors, have developed the "HEROs Compact"; a set of understandings that the HERO, their managers and the IT departments can agree to, thereby creating a more open, "Empowered" environment for which our firms can operate.

Also, the authors provide a free, online tool to evaluate projects that HEROs uncover, called an "Effort Value Analysis" which helps score projects to help managers come to go/no-go decisions much quicker...
Bernoff and Schadler hit on a topic that is very relevant in organizations today...Use this book for Learning and Development for sure. "

Friday, September 10, 2010

Physical Office Arrangements Can Reveal Much About "Customer Focus"

Does your physical office space reflect "Customer Focus" or not? I ask that due to a revelation I had recently, but would love your unofficial, field research on this one:

My theory is that businesses and organizations that truely live the "Customer Centric" lifestyle, will intentionally design their workplaces and all other touchpoints so the people that should be most involved with "Customer Experience" are located closest to the potential touchpoint interactions with customers.

Car dealerships are a great example. The sales reps cubicles/offices are right on the sales floor, by the main entrances of the store. Bookkeepers, HR, Mechanics in the back, right?

Now, In one of my past roles, the reverse was true. By the way, this was a firm that did "talk" about being "Customer Centric" however, here is how the home office of this firm was arranged (see if this applies to any you know):

Main Entrance Experience:

Nice, warm feeling colors, furnishings, Digital Displays representing examples of firm's work. Good Job on this touchpoint! Emotionally engaging space...

Inconsistent switchboard/front desk personalities, which run the risk of a bad impression...an example, would be replacing friendly receptionist with good phone and people skills with a grumpier one, just because they can type memos 5 WPM faster...

Finally, the 5 offices surrounding the Customer Entrance are as follows:
1. General Operations Manager
2. Accounts Payable/Receivable
3. CFO/HR
4. CEO
5. VP of Finance and Estimating

Okay everyone, did I list any Sales or Marketing offices within the proximity of where the customer enters this office?

No! The actual offices for these functions are several feet down a long hallway, well beyond ear shot of any Insightful discussions that the Receptionist may be having with a customer on the phone, or in the reception area. Shouldn't the Sales and Marketing functions be the closest to frontline interactions so they have a chance to glean some Customer Insights? Or, is it best for the bookkeepers and financial folks to share those Insights?

Sure, this whole situation may have evolved inadvertantly, yet it remains uncorrected...

So, your homework is to "walkthrough" your customer touchpoints to see how you are maximizing the Customer Experience and how you are setting up your team in charge of product development and business development to succeed.

Remember, your clients don't need, nor care, to see your accounting, HR, and other operations areas...They want what you sell...That's it...