Archive for Customer Engagement
Delta Needs a New Brand Name for “Economy Comfort” Class
Posted by: | CommentsImagine my surprise as I was about to take my seat on a Delta flight yesterday and walked by “Economy Comfort” seats in the first couple of rows in the economy section. The words were spelled out in large letters on the front of each seat back.
My first thought was, is my seat in the “Economy Uncomfortable” section of the plane?
Delta Has a Branding Problem
What about my comfort?!
Who on earth thought up this name for seats that give you 4 inches more leg room and 50 percent more recline? Over the years airlines have developed various seat configurations and classes of travel — first class, business and economy — to satisfy customers and rake in more money.
But it sends the wrong signal to the passengers in regular economy that they are headed to a seat for a cramped and uncomfortable ride.
Reader reviews are generally positive about these seats (on Delta and partner KLM), but passengers have an expectation of comfort, without having to pay extra for it.
Employee “Welcomers” are Key to Good Customer Service and Repeat Business
Posted by: | CommentsCompanies know through research and personal experience that good customer service is the secret to retaining and attracting new customers. Yet many companies don’t do it well, as Richard Shapiro, a client retention expert, says in his new book The Welcomer Edge: Unlocking the Secrets to Repeat Business.
Richard Shapiro
They haven’t identified those employees — whom he calls “welcomers” — who are especially adept at engaging with customers so they buy over and over again.
Welcomers are essential to bricks-and-mortar retailers and to providing online customer service where it can be more difficult to provide that personal touch.
Secrets to Repeat Business
Shapiro shares his own experience as a teenager in his father’s haberdashery store. His father had the gift of being interested in customers as people. As Shapiro says in his book, “What I learned then is…customers are people first and customers second.” The Welcomer Edge describes how to make first time customers into repeat customers. Read More→
Giants Win Super Bowl of Social Media and Team Leadership
Posted by: | CommentsHurray, my hometown New York Giants won the Super Bowl. Yet another fourth quarter comeback for the Big Blue. They also won big with a record-breaking number of mentions on Twitter and Facebook.
The team’s owners scored big time with the leadership and enduring commitment to a philosophy that produces winners. It’s a lesson that other CEOs could emulate that I’ll discuss later in this post.
Super Bowl Site Traffic
Twitter tweeted that in the final three minutes of the Super Bowl there were an average of 10,000 tweets per second. That is mind-boggling, really – 10,000 x 60 x 3 = 1.8 million tweets.
The Washington Post reported that sports fans sent about 11.5 million comments during last night’s game over social media networks (quoting All Things Digital), about six times higher than last year’s game. The Giants were interacting with fans on Twitter and Facebook before, during and after the game. Read More→
Bloomingdale’s is Writing a New Script for Winning Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction
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Richard J. Mast
A few weeks ago I was in Bloomingdale’s when a friendly young store employee approached me to ask if he could help. I wasn’t obviously shopping at the moment so I asked him who he was and learned he was Bloomingdale’s Director of Customer Loyalty, a new position in New York. This led to the following personal interview about the store’s robust customer loyalty program with Richard J. Mast, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Bloomingdale’s 59th Street in Manhattan. Mr. Mast discusses how understanding and responding to customer needs engenders customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Why did Bloomingdale’s create the Director of Customer Loyalty position? Is it part of a corporate branding program?
If you’re in the retail business you know that satisfied customers will continue to shop with you. So it’s our responsibility to enhance the customer experience. We’ve had employees assigned full-time to customer loyalty for several years. There are four Managers of Customer Loyalty in the Manhattan store but we decided to strengthen the structure by appointing a Director of Customer Loyalty with the other MCL’s reporting to him.
What are the responsibilities of this position and who does the Director report to?
The role of the Director of Customer Loyalty is to interface with the senior executives in charge of ready-to-wear, Men’s Young World, the Home Store, Fine Jewelry and other departments. They tell the Director what they need and what customers want, and then these needs are translated to the MCLs assigned to these departments who then implement the actions to be taken. Read More→
