But even with talking about Customer Obsession for more than an hour, there were still lots of questions to follow and many people asking me for more insights into this new way of running a business…putting the customer at the center of it and obsessing over making them incredibly happy to do business with you. So as a follow-up to the event, I wanted to share a few more insights that people were asking about in hopes it will answer some of your questions. But if you still have more, ask away…you can click on some links at the bottom where you can ask me whatever you want.

• Can you just “tweak” a few things and be more Customer Obsessed? A Word of Caution: You can’t just “tweak” a few things and expect big results. Often times companies decide to do a few things to make their customers happier. The problem is it is usually “not enough” and is “inconsistent.” Both of these will cost you money and deliver minimal (if any) results. For example, telling your employees we have to smile more and go out of our way to try and make our customers happy sounds really great…but it won’t deliver any meaningful results. It is a “tweak” or a “spot fix” and as such lacks two critical components…longevity and impact. If you want to make a difference, do something that causes your customers to be in “awe and shock” with how different you are acting and treating them…and do it every day. This requires a strategy and detailed plan to make this happen consistently…every day.
• What’s the single biggest thing a company can do to create immediate impact with their customers? Tough question because to really make an impact you have to have “commitment” from leadership and a “strategy” to execute. These aside for now, it is critically important to identify “who is your ideal customer” and then figure out what would “blow them away” if you provided it in a customer experience. Knowledge and understanding is the first place to start. Without having this deep knowledge and understanding as a foundation, it is guesswork. Invest some time to get these figured out and you will have much greater insight into next steps.
• What can you do to start increasing revenues and getting more customers? This is a two part answer in my opinion. One involves changing your “customer experience” so it is dramatically positive…so much so that your customers are willing to pay you more for it. The numbers from the research that say up to 89% of the people surveyed would pay you more for a much better customer experience. And the latest report from Price Waterhouse says your customers will pay you almost 20% more revenue for this experience…that’s pure profit! An awesome customer experience has to be the place to start to get these gains. The second part is more about “word-of-mouth” marketing. STOP MARKETING…at least in the traditional ways companies market today. When you are dialed into the right audience and can talk to them in ways that can truly help them, they tell others. They literally will help you market your business…for free!! Having a strategy to get more of this (and leverage it) is where companies really find a gold mine of new customers.
• How hard or easy is it to move a company from “product/service centric” to Customer Obsessed? This is probably the question I get asked more than any other from business owners…along with how much will it cost J. The simple answer is it that it is a process to change the way your company operates today to operating with a different core objective tomorrow…and revenue isn’t ever the objective, it is a result. Unfortunately, if it was super easy, everyone, including your competitors, would be doing it tomorrow and there still wouldn’t be any differentiation between you and your competitors. It takes work, focus, consistent execution, different processes, and unwavering leadership to stay the course. Those that have these elements and stay committed win…they reach the other side of the mountain where they stand alone from their competition. It isn’t an easy, take a pill today and fill better tomorrow…it is a steady climb up the mountain without giving up…and you reap innumerable rewards by being alone on the other side of the mountain.
• You talked about how businesses should “Stop Marketing” which sounds very counterproductive to being Customer focused…can you elaborate more on what this really means? Again, always a question people ask when I introduce this approach. Stop Marketing means to stop marketing the way you think it should be done or using traditional approaches and start focusing on helping your customer…an approach that is “customer friendly” and they want to receive content from you. I referenced Seth Godin and his book Permission Marketing in one of my comments at the event. Seth’s approach is spot on with the approach of stopping the way you market. In a nutshell, he says companies spend most of their marketing time and money trying to find new ways to “interrupt” their audiences…which causes them to “turn you off” because it’s annoying. But when you “earn their permission” to market to them where they actually want your information because it is highly relevant and helpful, they reward you with loyalty and word-of-mouth. The goal of “Stop Marketing” is to be so Customer Obsessed that you not only provide them with an incredibly awesome experience but you provide them with incredibly awesome content that they find very useful in helping to improve their lives or their business. When you combine these two key elements, customers market for you and you don’t need to waste the time and money on all the low return marketing most companies do today.
• I get how wonderful it would be to be Customer Obsessed now, so how does a business go about making this become a reality, or change their DNA as you call it? The process is straightforward but requires changes. Because these are companywide changes, it starts with revisions to the companies Vision, Mission, possibly Values, and adopting a Customer Obsessed Strategy. The Strategy breaks down into very tactical components that become part of the plan and get executed over time. For example, in the strategy, we identify your ideal customers, discover what is really important to them and would create a WOW factor (customer success) with them, and which areas of the business would impact them the most if we changed the experience in this area first, second, and so on. This gives us prioritization with both customer personas and areas that will have the greatest impact. These get mapped out (process and experientially) in great detail so all the employees can deliver this incredible experience. This continues throughout the company and just gets more awesome every day. Changing up your marketing approach to support this new experience can happen in parallel once we have the initial strategy and the plan in place. Without this structured approach, your changes become random and unpredictable…this is worse than if you did nothing. I coined a phrase early on that is more relevant today than ever, “Random Acts of Excellence and Chaos lead to Customer Confusion…which ultimately leads to Customer Defection (leaving).”

I know there are lots more questions out there…but these were some that most people were wondering about so I hope this helps answer a few more things. However, if you any QUESTIONS going forward, simply click on the GOT A QUESTION tab on the top navigation bar and you can ask me anything you want…I will get back to you with an answer usually within the same day! I would also encourage you to read through my BLOG since I have written a lot about many aspects of Customer Obsession. Finally, if you want to know how we make it happen for our clients at WOM¹⁰, you can visit THE SOLUTION page on the site to learn more about the four components necessary to be a Customer Obsessed Company. I hope this has been helpful…

The post An Evening with Cantillon…some Follow-up Answers and Insights first appeared on WOM10.

You might think a company with this age and with the products/services they provide (insulation, fabrication, refraction, manufacturing, etc.) would just find a way to “hang in there.”  Not so – in fact they are contrary to what you might think.  Many would consider them in one of the “laggard” industries as far as innovation and especially in the area of “New Media/Social Media”.  I was there on the second day of their meeting and in time to hear the CEO, Rick Smith, deliver a brief, yet impactful speech.  It wasn’t the usual CEO speech I have heard a thousand times of thanking the team for how great they have done all year and keep up the good work and we are going to have the best year ever, blah blah blah speech.  Nope…something different.

While he certainly recognized them for their incredible successes in a down economy, he was focused on something else – INNOVATION.  As he said, “It isn’t business as usual – it is about how can we innovate in ways to improve both our own operations and processes and what we can pass along to help our customers run their own business better.”  This is “Customer Focused Innovation” at it’s finest!  What a concept and coming from what many might think of as a “business as usual” type of industry.  This is what true leadership is about and what allows great leaders to lead.  He is also flanked by Brian Farnsworth, who is equally as passionate and committed to this focus and mission – which makes them a pretty powerful dynamic duo in their industry.

Their mantra going forward is simple – find more innovative ways to help our customers serve their customers better.  This could be internally focused, coming up with better processes in any department, or could be in creating more innovative solutions using the same materials to make life easier for their customers.  It also means putting muscle behind the words.  The words are easy to say, difficult to execute.  They are establishing innovation teams, creating an “innovation culture”, allowing people to fail on the road to discovering new ideas, and even blogging about all this in a new blog, SIMPLIVATIVE.

My hat goes off to Rick, Brian, and the team.  This is HUGE in this industry and without a doubt will give them a leadership position – one that many others will follow.  Will they succeed or fail?  They will fail many times on their way to breaking incredibly new ground and establishing this leadership position that others will watch with envy.  Not easy – but extremely satisfying and rewarding knowing you have the machete in hand and are carving new trails for your industry.  Congrats…can’t wait to follow your SUCCESS!

The post EJ Bartells – Leading the “laggards” with Innovation and Social Media first appeared on WOM10.

When I first met Kelly, I knew she was the one, if anyone, to breathe life back into a fledgling Rotary chapter.  They were on their last leg and down to only 4 members.  Rotary requires about 10 active members to keep a chapter open.  This had once been a thriving chapter, but due to a variety of factors, had lost the majority of its members.  And with a growing community like Redmond, the heart of Microsoft country, there was no reason there shouldn’t be another chapter of Rotary in the area.  Kelly agreed and took, no, more like grabbed and wrestled the bull by the horns down to the ground to pull this off.

You can read their remarkable story of comeback and literally feel her emotions as she “transparently” tells her story and the the story of the the little engine that could, the Redmond Rousers.  Her blog post, “Kelly’s story of our Redmond Rousers Rotary Club Comeback,” tells it all and should motivate any n0n-profit or for profit organization to never give up and stay the course. And to cap off Kelly’s story of the comeback, she was named “Rotarian of the Year for a small Rotary” – what a great recognition for her and the club!

Why am I sharing this wonderful story with you?  Two reasons.  First, it is an incredible story of how someone who has the passion, drive, vision, and guts can make something happen in an economy and world fraught with negativity.  It is a story of success and there aren’t as many as there used to be so it is worth sharing.  Second, Social Media and Word-of-Mouth were the drivers and catalysts that allowed Kelly to do what she does best – get people involved.  The combination of the two is what made this a true success story.  My hope is you read it and take away from it how PASSION, combined with the power of SOCIAL MEDIA, creates significant, and positive, WORD-OF-MOUTH that can help just about anyone accomplish just about anything.  I would love to hear your thoughts and comments and also encourage you to share them with Kelly on their blog site as well.  It’s inspiring…way to go Kelly and Redmond Rousers!!

The post A story of SUCCESS – Redmond Rousers Rotary…THANK YOU! first appeared on WOM10.

Last week was my wife’s birthday and we wanted to do something fun and special – of course, where have you heard that before.  Since we live in Woodinville Wine Country, Woodinville Washington, we decided having a party at a winery would be a fun experience.  But which one – there are tons of great wineries 10 minutes from our house.  We didn’t have much time so unfortunately we didn’t’ get to try them all (dang) so we narrowed it down and picked J.Bookwalter Winery.

They were very accommodating and we liked their wines.  Now came the test – the evening of the party. What were they going to be like?  After all, it was a special occassion so you don’t want it to be a bad memory.  Well, Nick and Erin came through big time and did an absolutely awesome job of serving the guests and making everyone feel at home.  They poured samples and glasses of wine, made sure everything came off smoothly and helped in every way possible to clean up.  Now THAT made it a memorable experience.

They did everything they should have to make it a memorable customer experience.  I knew what to expect from the beginning, they worked with me on the selection, made sure the guests were treated like kings and queens and in the end allowed us to do our thing and make the evening special.  My hat’s off to Erin and Nick – they get what a great customer experience is all about.  I would encourage anyone in the area to give them a call – use my name and tell them you want the same experience Blaine got – they’ll know what you mean.  Enjoy!!

Blaine

The post A great experience at a winery… first appeared on WOM10.

Why was I there?  They were interested, like many other CEO’s in the area, in learning more about the Social Media Revolution and how his new phenomena of communications could impact their businesses.  They were eager to hear my message about what the “tools of Social Media” are and how they fit together to become this powerful business communications force.

I shared the concepts and advantages of blogging, social networking (myspace, facebook, LinkedIn, and twitter) and the other elements that make up this powerful suite we call Social Media.  By sharing a number of examples about how companies are using these today, they were able to understand how Social Media will be changing the landscape of how we communicate, build relationships, improve the customer experience and achieve business goals faster and cheaper than ever before.  The group responded very favorably and asked some excellent questions.

The Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, led by Betty Nokes, CEO and President, is really looking ahead to how they can personally use Social Media to build even more value for their members and the businesses in the Bellevue community.  I commend Betty for her willingness to allow us to share a somtimes shocking message about how dramatically this landscape is changing.  I also want to personally thank Jim Frank of Human Capital Resources, a human capital solutions company, for introducing me to Betty and the Chamber.  Jim attended one of our early seminars and became “enlightened” and felt this was an important message to share with his fellow EBRT members – thanks Jim, the members are all a little better off today because of your willingness to share our message.

I also wanted to recognize a few of the members of EBRT that I had the opportunity to talk with at the event.  Donna Shirey of Shirey Contracting, sponsors of the Zero Energy Idea House  (check this out – way cool), Nancy Cho, President and CEO of Oki Golf, Dave Ferguson, CEO of Click Engineering, Jim Hebert, Hebert Research, John Parkey, and George Bartell of Bartell Drugs – just to name a few.  What a great group of people.  I would encourage anyone to join the Chamber and in particular the EBRT group.  Definitely call Betty if you are interested.  This group will definitely make things happen in our area…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

The post EBRT embraces Social Media… first appeared on WOM10.

This is an executive networking group that has been around for 90 years and has a very rich history and heritage for helping the members build new relationships in the community and help each other out in growing their businesses by sharing opportunities.  The executive Director, Glenna Thomas, was really looking out for her members by allowing us to come in and talk about a very leading edge and yet at times controversial topic – Social Media and Social Networking.  My hat goes off to her and Dennis Tyler of DialPro Northwest, for taking the chance on having us speak to their members and introduce some leading edge information. 

The group seemed to really enjoy being exposed to how Social Media is the next REVOLUTION in communications and how it can be used to help them in their businesses.  This was our 7th seminar on the topic of “Social Media for CEO’s” in the past few months and as usual, much of the information was very new to the audience.  I was very encouraged at how receptive the owners and executives were to how this could transform their businesses.

If you are in the Seattle area, I would strongly encourage you to contact Glenna and get more information about the group.  While we didn’t get a chance to meet everyone, we did meet a few great people afterwards, some of which were: Peter Frix of Frix Technology Group, John Kane from Kane Environmental Inc., Jim Conway from The Farwest Group, Diana Ehli, Dexter Barnes from Seattle Dental Associates and Linda Bianchi from both Windemere and the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce – just to name a few. 

Again, THANK YOU Glenna, Dennis and The Seattle Executives Association for allowing us to crash your luncheon – much appreciated and very enjoyable.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

twitter: @BlaineMillet

The post Seattle Executives Association first appeared on WOM10.

What we need is for the media to point out all the things that are RIGHT and GOOD for a change – where are those journalists and media people when you need them.  Well, I found one and I wanted to dedicate this post to him and his publications/media.  His name is JOE KENNEDY, publisher of EastsideBusiness.  I just read his column, “Words from the Publisher” and I was so pleased and excited I wanted to CONGRATULATE him and HONOR him for taking a stand and leadership in this area – WAY TO GO JOE!!

Allow me to quote some of what he says directly from this column.

Despite the type of news you may be getting from other media outlets, Eastside Business and Eastside Life newspapers are choosing to stay positive – it sure beats the alternative!  in fact after almost 4 years in print, I finally made my first company policy – we will not use the “E” or “R” words in our publications.  We will stay positive and want you to as well.

Joe, I can’t compliment you enough – this is AWESOME. Does this mean everything is fine and all the bad will go away – certainly not, nor is he saying it will.  But while we are sitting in all the muck, why not look up at the sunshine and the sky and enjoy the beauty around us – that is what I believe Joe is saying.  None of us will be better off for continuing to talk about the problems – only the solutions.  I, for one, will be the first one to walk behind Joe.  Attitude is everything and we have shown that as a nation we don’t let this kind of thinking and talking take us down.  So to ALL the other media sources out there – GET A LIFE AND GET THE MESSAGE – we don’t want to hear about it any longer.  Thanks Joe.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The post Joe, way to go – you ‘da man… first appeared on WOM10.

With that being the case, now is the time NOT to forget about your customers and clients.  While you may think everyone is focused on their own business and doesn’t care as much about others, i would challenge that level of thinking.  This is EXACTLY the time when your customers are watching you closely to see how you react to such negative news.  All eyes are upon you and your employees.  

Now is the time for calmness and focus on your customer.  Why?  Because they are getting beat up as much or potentially more than you are and worrying as much or more than you are.  This is the time when you can build some real credibility with them.  If you act in an irrational and panic mode like the rest of the people out there they will see you in that light.  However, if you act in a calm and constructive manner, who do you think they will ALWAYS want to turn to in times of crisis?  You’re right, its YOU.

This is where you reach out to them and see if you can be of even more assistance than you probably are already.  This is where you contact as many of them as possible, starting with your best and most loyal customers, and work your way down the list.  You want to see how they are doing, see how you can help, see how you can work closer together to figure this whole mess out.  Yes, I make it sound so simple and we all know it isn’t.  But even if you can’t work things out or do certain things, the point is you ASKED.  Asking is more than half the battle at showing people you care.  Asking is what separates you from the pack.

I always remember when I worked at IBM and had lots of tickets to events.  I would invite 3 times more people than I had tickets for. Why?  Because i knew that many customers wouldn’t be able to attend the event and if by chance (which rarely happened) I got more people saying yes than I had tickets, no problem, someone else always had extras.  But the real value is that I asked 3 times as many customers and just by asking they felt as good about it as if  they had gone with me.  

So the moral of this message is simple.  Go against the herd – lead.  Be the one that is out there showing you CARE and ASKING what you can do to help each other out and working TOGETHER to solve some of these short-term issues every business is going to be facing.  This is one of the best times to build loyalty and create an advantage over your competitors.  Don’t sit back, get out there and talk to your customers and come up with a plan of how you could potentially help each other.  Crisis brings out one of the best times to build relationships.  So don’t just mope around and complain – that won’t help anyone.  Instead, avoid the panic and take the lead and build some LOYALTY with your customers.

Hope this helps…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The post They’re all watching you… first appeared on WOM10.

The answer is pretty simple in my opinion – they simply forgot what business they were in and who they were.  They aren’t a coffee shop, they aren’t a retailer, they aren’t a supplier – they are “AN EXPERIENCE” that people pay 3 – 5 times as much to enjoy.  However, when the experience goes away or changes for the worse, competition is looming in the wings (i.e. McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts and others) to snap up your “satisfied” customers – not your “loyal” customers.  I have always had a saying, “A satisfied customer is one that is simply looking for the next best deal to come along.”  This means that as long as you have the “best deal” then they stay with you but as soon as someone offers them something a little better or different, they defect – because they aren’t “LOYAL” they are merely satisfied.  I hate it when companies say they have all these “satisfied customers” – all I hear is that they have all these “customers waiting to defect” when something changes or something new comes along.

Back to Starbucks.  If you frequent many of these establishments, you realize that it was originally all about the experience.  It was the way they treated you, the ambiance, the environment, the Batista’s, the way you felt when you went in there.  What it has morphed into is a coffee house – a place to go get a cup of coffee.  What happened to the customer – when did they lose sight of the one person that pays them for what they do?  Not sure when, but it has happened.  Not all locations are like this but more and more of them seem to be moving this direction.  I read an interesting article in Inc. Magazine, “How Hard Could It Be?” by Joel Spolsky.  He started by saying, “Starbucks’ meticulous policy manual shows employees how to optimize profits.  Too bad it undercuts basic customer service.”  He is spot on – read the article.

To me this is sad.  Not because I love coffee but because I am disappointed when I see companies that start out focusing on the customer somehow get to the point where they feel they are “too good” or “above” having to worry about them any longer.  I don’t know of many examples in history where this doesn’t come back to bite them in the you know where and they have to spend all this money and fire all these people because they lost sight of what they were really all about and the customer.  It is very disappointing to see this happen over and over and especially to an icon like Starbucks. 

I want Starbucks to succeed and be a star in the business world.  I hope they get this and figure it out sooner than later.  I can’t tell you how many people, knowing I spend a lot of time working with companies on strategy, customer experiences and customer loyalty, come up and say, “why can’t you help them understand what they seem to have forgotten – the customer experience is what we are paying for, we can get “coffee” anywhere.”  If it ends up being a “convenience issue” where people see Starbucks as being all over so they will go there because they are convenient, this would be devastating.  How many drive through windows does McDonald’s have in the country – they would kill Starbucks if it came down to that issue.  No, I think Starbucks needs to rethink this and make a major statement in the market that they once again care about their customers. 

I hope they get it sooner than later.  Let me know what you think – are you a Starbucks fan or not?  Do you think they have lost sight of what they were all about in your area or are they doing great in your opinion?  It would be interesting to hear what you have to say about this since they are everywhere.  Thanks in advance for any comments…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The post Starbucks – a lesson we can all learn from… first appeared on WOM10.

I just recently released an article, “Marry Your Customer – Creating Trusted, Loyal Relationships,” on our website, www.customerexperiencesinc.com, to share some thinking I have had for quite a while.  It also supports what I have been seeing in various client situations and since it is so “simple yet powerful,” I wanted to share my thinking and some additional insights in this area.

What I absolutely find amazing and appalling in organizations is how leadership tells their people to act one way toward their customer that goes against all the principles of building trusted relationships – all for the almighty dollar.  This is just plain wrong!  The organizations we see that have the greatest success, create linkage between what the leadership stands for and the employees and this is then demonstrated to their customers through their actions.

Let me give you an example.  When employees go to work, they bring with them their own set of “ethics” or what I call “Employee Character.”  Included in this Employee Character is an underlying component of wanting to build trusted relationships with co-workers, leadership, customers, suppliers, partners, etc.  And they know how to do it.  They understand how important it is to a successful personal relationship to make and keep your Promises – they do it every day when building their own relationships outside of work.  So now, they enter the workplace and one of the first things that happens is they are asked (directly or indirectly) to make Promises that they know they can’t keep – at least not consistently. 

For most employees, this doesn’t work.  They are at odds with this and whether they recognize it outwardly or not, they are violating their own character to act this way.  This conflict between the employer and the organization is one of the greatest frustrations in employees and one of the key reasons for employee defection – or leaving the organization.  But when there is great alignment between “Leadership Character” and “Employee Character” and the Promises they are asked to keep are actually supported by leadership – great things happen.  The organization has become both “customer-focused” and “employee-focused” instead of “operationally focused.”  This is a huge distinction and one that separates the best organizations from all the others.

So I won’t steal the thunder of the article and allow you to read how all this comes together but let me leave you with one parting thought.  Promises Made = Promises Kept is one of the most basic concepts an organization can embrace and one that has some of the most profound impacts on short and long-term profitability, Loyalty and ongoing sustainability.  It is just interesting so few understand it or have implemented it today.

Take a minute and let me know what you think?  Are you seeing the same thing in your organization?  Does this make sense to you or not?  Do you think this is off base and isn’t the way it works and you have other ideas?  Do you agree and would like to see your organization operate like this?  Any and all comments are welcome – as we continue to explore this area and write about it, we would love to incorporate others experiences and thoughts.  Thanks.

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

The post “Marry Your Customer” – Well, sort of… first appeared on WOM10.