Church of the Customer: April 2004 archives
« March 2004 | Main | May 2004 »
April 30, 2004
The delivery person's shoes
UPS has been heavily promoting itself not only as a delivery sevice but now as a consultant on supply chain integration.
"A successful supply chain strategy is built on our Demand Responsive Model -- a more successful approach in which your supply chain is pulled by customer demand," the company says on its website.
Yet, I discover that UPS customer service cannot resolve an overcharge on a statement; I must hang up with customer service and dial another number to speak with customer billing.
Makes me wonder: whose chain is being pulled by customer demand?
April 29, 2004
When bite-size chunks work as the sales person
A member of the Specialty Coffee Association asks on her organization's bulletin board, "How do you train your front-line people to up-sell or cross-sell?" (Thanks to Damon at Regular Joe Coffee in Atlanta for recommending our blog as a resource to his association colleagues.)
Retail operations with varying low-cost products sell more by giving them away. It's the bite-size chunk strategy that has helped create armies of evangelists for Krispy Kreme. In research for our book, the company told us that the more doughnuts they give away, the more they sell.
Here's the strategy: As an experiment, turn your coffeehouse into a bite-size chunk factory over the course of two weeks. Instead of just one sample of the day, make it several samples of the day. For your staff, the pitch to each customer is simple: "Would you like to try a sample of our new brew?" If the customer trys it and their reaction is positive, closing the sale is equally easy: "Would you like a pound of it?"
After measuring sales for two weeks, come back here and share your results.
April 28, 2004
A product I love: Lookout
My Microsoft Outlook inbox is where most records of my professional history reside.
Thanks to a tip from software savant Marc Orchant, I've come to love Lookout, an incredibly handy tool that plugs in to Outlook and helps me find within seconds any obscure piece of data buried deep within my multitudinous email folders.
Compared to Outlook's built-in search engine, Lookout is the Google of email inboxes.
Chuck D on Line 1
Years and years ago when I was a radio DJ, a colleague and I who had Too Much Time On Our Hands spent hours in the studio recording outgoing messages for our answering machines.
For a few months back in the early 1980s, I had hundreds of calls to my phone from people wanting to hear an imitation of a drunk and disorderly Paul Harvey. I had good phone buzz back then.
The smart marketing wizards at Virgin Mobile have built a buzzworthy campaign of outgoing cellphone messages; unlike my colleague and I back in the '80s, Virgin is employing real celebrities.
Anna Nicole Smith can leave a somewhat breathy message on your Virgin cellphone. Or William Shatner delivers Trek-ish fun. My favorite is Public Enemy's Chuck D: "Calm down y'all, ain't nothing but a phone machine."
Colleen Barrett on opening the jetway to TV cameras
The A&E network television series "Airline" recently wrapped its first season of documenting life in the customer trenches of Southwest Airlines. (A second season is in the works.)
Southwest's risky bet to let unblinking television cameras document the good (articulate employees), the bad (deceptive customers) and the ugly (drunk customers) has few, if any, precedents among Fortune 500 companies.
For a future article we're writing about marketing and reality television, Southwest president and chief operating officer Colleen Barrett recently told us about the decision to greenlight the project, dealing with turbulent customers, and the impact "Airline" is having on this precedent-setting airline.
"Airline" is a bold move to Napsterize, or make more transparent, Southwest's operational knowledge and customer service. Give us a peek inside the executive suite during discussions to participate in the show. Who was the biggest proponent for giving it the green light? How much skepticism was there?
We deliberated long and hard about whether to do this project. I had complete faith in our people to do the right thing for our customers. I knew there would be bad days, but I knew that the cameras would show our employees doing the right things. It was an intelligent risk for us to take. I was most concerned that the film crews not encroach on our employees' work space, but they have fit in just fine.
Other than the obvious airport security considerations, is anything off-limits for the show's producers?
We sought approval for this project from both the Transportation Security Administration and the airport authorities at LAX and Chicago Midway. Other than not filming any security measures, the film crews have open access to our operation.
The biggest question among many marketing people is, "How does this show affect Southwest's reputation?" What's the answer so far?
The number of online resumes submitted by job candidates to www.southwest.com has tripled since the show began airing, so there are thousands of people out there who want to be a part of our winning team. We have received many positive letters complimenting Southwest on opening its doors to let the cameras in. I've even received letters from employees of other airlines congratulating me on having such faith in our people to let the world take a peek behind the scenes.
What has the company learned about its processes and policies based the show? Is it doing anything differently as a result?
There are always "teachable moments," and our training departments have been using episodes of "Airline" to discuss how best to work with a customer in an unusual operational situation. I've been proud to watch our employees in action; they are my heroes!
Are the shows being used for internal communications or training? Are outside companies asking you to package your customer service training and take it on the road?
Yes! We are using the episodes to discuss specific situations with our employees in training. Southwest has long been a subject of case studies, and the "Airline" project has piqued the interest of companies to learn more about our customer service package. It's not really complicated; it's all predicated on the Golden Rule, but you'd be surprised at how perplexed some executives are when you tell them it's as simple as treating people as you would like to be treated!
What are customers saying about the show?
We have received many positive letters since the show began applauding us for letting the cameras in. The biggest question we get is why there are so many operational issues. We have to explain that 99 percent of the time the 82 million people we fly each year get to where they are going and nothing unusual happens operationally. The film crews have taken nearly six months of filming and condensed it into nine hours of programming, and, certainly that is going to create a compressed look at the issues -- a sense of drama if you will. I would not say that the ratio of our customer complaints, commendations, and/or general inquiries has changed since "Airline" started, but the number of online resumes submitted to us has tripled since the show began.
Each week, we're treated to an especially, how shall we put this diplomatically, out-of-touch-with-reality customer. They're drunk. They're irate about a scuff in their extremely expensive luggage. They're nasty, arrogant or clueless, or a combination of all three, and we on the other side of the TV screen yell at them. (OK, one of us does.) How badly do you wince when the show features the travails of air travel?
Again, you are seeing the drama the show's producers have compressed into 30-minute shows. I am looking forward in our second season to seeing a more balanced look at the travel experience we offer our customers. We reunite loved ones; we make business deals possible; and we allow divorced parents to both raise their children in different cities.
What's the biggest benefit for Southwest, marketing-wise? Do you see any direct correlation between each broadcast and ticket sales? How does the show fit into the company's marketing strategy?
On A&E, the show exposes Southwest to potential customers we might not otherwise reach. We also allow viewers to see the extraordinary lengths our employees will go to to help a customer in an unusual situation. It adds a dimension to our awareness efforts we couldn't afford to buy.
What are the financial arrangements? Do the producers pay Southwest a fee?
No. This isn't a commercial or advertising. It's a real-life documentary series. We are paid no fees to participate, and we do no paid advertising during this program.
With the growing ranks of reality shows, other businesses are likely to become the subjects for reality TV. What advice would you give a peer if a TV producer wants to feature their company on the front lines of a series? Should a company actively campaign to become reality subject matter?
A company has to have enormous confidence in its product and faith in its workers to allow such an unfettered view of its operations. Be sure you can live with what the cameras will show. I can't really say if it would make sense for another company to get involved in such a show -- only that company would know if it fits into its communication plan.
"Airline" was picked up for a second season, and Southwest is its airline of choice. You must like what you've seen so far. What would cause you to say "show's over"?
Our employees are proud of the show. We might not want to continue our involvement if it had a negative impact on our business, but that hasn't happened.
Bonus question: I love Yolanda. Can you see about transferring her to Chicago?
Isn't she terrific? I'll pass along your compliment!
April 27, 2004
They said it: George Orwell
"Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket."
-- George Orwell
One sale gained, one lost
I paid $300 last week for a new TiVo box. Now I feel less like an executioner when it comes to keeping programs stored on my TiVo for more than a few days. Perhaps I will add several more MTV marathons like my new favorite, Pimp My Ride, to my to-do list (not that I need to watch more TV).
Now my older-yet-trusty TiVo goes into another room, where it will become rather inert. The issue: TiVo does not provide incentive for ownership of multiple units. TiVo's monthly $12.95 fee for access to its monthly television programming schedules is one of the product's chief value propositions. That's $12.95 per month for each unit, whether I own two boxes or, if I owned a big mansion with multiple TV rooms, 20.
When I called TiVo to cancel my previous monthly service, I crossed my fingers hoping the customer service agent would ask why. Sure enough, with a hint of sadness in her voice, an otherwise cheery agent wanted to know why. True to TiVo's pattern of ignoring its loyal customers, the agent had no response, no cathartic sharing of acknowledgement, in my explanation that the company's incentive deficiency means a longer-term revenue loss for the company.
Nor did the agent care to consider any suggestion that TiVo structure a sliding scale of monthly service charges based on number of units owned. (The ticking clock of calls-fielded-per-hour must have loomed large, for it was a race to get me off the phone.) With more units owned and economies of scale built in to the TiVo's monthly subscription model, that should mean more short-term and long-term top-line and bottom-line revenue, right?
Apparently, not in TiVoWorld. TiVo has more of my money, but less of it.
April 26, 2004
Design Eye for the Startup Guy
Guy Kawasaki, legendary entrepreneur and technology evangelist, "open-sourced" part of his new book. A few weeks back, he launched a contest for people to design the cover of the book, The Art of the Start.
While Guy in still deciding the winner, he's posted all the 264 entries online here.
Having people participate in the creation of the book generated some nice buzz in the press and blogosphere. But what would have even been more fun would have been a voting mechanism to let us all vote for our favorite design entries.
Like this one....which should win an award for most irrelevant use of finger puppets.
Voting is an ultimate cause
Declare Yourself is one of the better websites out there for generating buzz and a sense of community around one of freedom's most important aspects: voting.
Great tagline on the site, too: "Apathy is not sexy."
April 22, 2004
This is a test, this is only a test
audio post powered by audblog
Audio blogging:
- innovative new technology that makes blogs more personal? OR
- passing fad for bloggers who like to hear the sound of their own voice ? : )
