Archive for Customer Engagement
Coca-Cola Tampers With its Brand Again — in a Good Cause
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Coke has done it again – tampered with its brand by changing the color of it famous red cans to white for a holiday promotion with the World Wildlife Fund.
The promotion was to raise funds to bring awareness to the plight of polar bears, an endangered species. It caused a huge kerfuffle among consumers.
Many confused the holiday Coke can with the silver Diet Coke can — horrors. Coke was forced to recall more than a billion of the white cans and restock their shelves with the familiar red ones. Read More→
10 Tips to Build Your Business and Improve Customer Satisfaction
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Richard Shapiro, President, The Center for Client Retention
National Customer Service Week is being celebrated from October 3-7. I have a question: are you delivering the best customer service you can? That is the key ingredient to generating repeat business, increasing customer satisfaction, and building your company.
A company’s front line employees can be an organization’s “secret” competitive advantage to securing repeat business.
Too many companies don’t understand that while delivering excellent customer service is the key ingredient for repeat business, it’s that special personal relationship between customer and employee that provides the link between customer satisfaction and customer retention.
The service delivered by front line employees must be viewed as the first step in the journey of loyalty. Your employees can be your most effective brand advocates.
10 Tips for Generating Repeat Business
1. Make sure that every one of your front line associates is capable of making a good first impression. Positive or negative opinions are formed within the first 10 seconds. You never have a second opportunity to make a warm and welcoming first impression. Read More→
Blame Our Leaders for Incivility in Politics and a Hostile Workplace
Posted by: | CommentsThat’s the conclusion of a new report Civility in America 2011. The 2011 online survey* was conducted in May among 1,000 American adults to assess attitudes towards civility online, in the workforce, in the classroom and in politics.
I was particularly struck by the statistics on workplace civility: 65% of the respondents blame corporate leadership for making the workplace more uncivil.
More than 70% of Americans consider political campaigns, pop culture, the media, government and the music industry hubs of incivility. Not surprisingly, Congressional Democrats, Congressional Republicans and Tea Party supporters are all viewed as more uncivil than civil.
According to the study, “while more than one-third (39%) expected things to turn less civil when surveyed in 2010, now more than one out of two Americans — 55% — expect a lack of civility to become the norm. Only nine percent in this year’s survey expect civility to get better compared to 26% who expected some relief last year. Incivility seems to be here to stay.”
Workplace Incivility Hurts Sales
Approximately seven in 10 Americans (69%) have either stopped buying from a company or have re-evaluated their opinions of a company because someone from that company was uncivil in their interaction, says the study. Not good for sales or a company’s brand. In another disturbing finding, over four in 10 Americans — 43% — have experienced incivility at work.
Respondents blame workplace leadership and other employees for the growing incivility problem. As I wrote in an earlier post, Treating Fired Employees Like Criminals, losing a job can be devastating. But when companies mistreat employees they are letting go, it poisons the workplace and, now we learn, can add to incivility.
With the 2012 Presidential campaign heating up, I guess we need to be resigned to even more incivility as the battle lines are drawn by politicians and we’re subjected to mud slinging in commercials. How sad.
*Study sponsored by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate and conducted by KRC Research
Customer Service Starts at the Front Desk
Posted by: | CommentsA company can make the best products, but if customer service is bad, there goes the company’s reputation – and sales. I was reminded of this the other day when doing a few errands.
Service with a Smile From TD Bank
TD Bank's Penny Arcade
I started at TD Bank, well known for its “Penny Arcade.” It’s an automatic coin counting machine in each branch that saves you the trouble of rolling all your coins. I save all my change in a plastic container and when it’s full I bring it to the bank – it’s usually around $100 (today it was $105.35) and treat it as sort of a present to myself.
Immediately on entering the branch on Third Avenue, a receptionist greeted me with a smile and asked, “Can I help you today?” She offered to help deposit the coins and then asked if I would like to open an account.
After the machine issued a receipt, I brought it to a teller who welcomed me and asked how I wanted my money. That was a nice touch – so I said in $20 bills. Then she also asked me to open an account. Not this time, but maybe next time? I left as a happy non-customer.
Too Busy for a Greeting at Ethan Allen
I walked a couple of blocks and entered the Ethan Allen store where I had bought an ottoman, which needs a minor repair. Two people at the reception desk. No greeting. Just bored expressions. Finally I told them what I wanted and one of them said in an unfriendly tone of voice, “we don’t do that here – you have to call customer service.”
Then she went back to reading messages on her iPhone while her colleague looked up the phone number and handed it to me on a slip of paper. I thanked them and said goodbye. No response. I like Ethan Allen products, but this kind of service doesn’t make me feel good about the brand.
A Helping Hand at Bloomingdale’s
Bloomingdale's little brown bag
My last stop was Bloomingdale’s to shop for a housewarming gift. As I wandered around the gift department seeking inspiration, a sales person came up to me with a big smile and asked if I needed help. Score a point. I found a very nice tray, a pitcher and some bowls and as I struggled to carry them, she immediately took them from me and brought them to the cash register while I continued to look. Two points.
I was happy with my choices, so she rang up the sale and packed them up. I left with a good feeling about Bloomingdale’s. (I also love the yogurt at the store’s 40 Carrots restaurant).
Burnish Your Brand
Companies spend millions of dollars on advertising campaigns to build their brands. But often the first contact a customer has is with a receptionist or a sales person. These employees need to be trained in proper customer service. Don’t think of this as just another below-the-line expense. Consider it an investment in your brand, which is your most precious asset.
