On a recent shopping excursion with my friend Mary she told me about a phenomenal service experience she recently had while on a trip with her mother. They had stopped at McDonald’s and Mary, who prefers Coke products, found that Coke was temporarily unavailable. So, she decided to walk across the parking lot to a nearby gas station – Road Ranger.
She got her Diet Coke and then found that there were long lines at the counter so (more…)
There is research to suggest that companies that fail to meet customer expectations, but perform service recovery effectively, can achieve higher satisfaction levels than companies that never failed to meet expectations in the first place.
It’s known as the service recovery paradox and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that (more…)
How do you effectively develop rapport with customers? How do you connect and compel those who have “raised their hands” and said “yes, I want to connect with your company” to continue coming back for more and, better yet, to spread the word about how great you are to others?
In a world marked by increasingly sophisticated technology, it may seem trite but it’s true that developing rapport with customers is not rocket science. In fact, my advice which, initially, may sound very general, is simple: (more…)
I’ve recently encountered situations with clients in two very diverse industries, with two very different marketing challenges, that were both embarking on major marketing initiatives in the absence of some very important information. They hadn’t clearly identified the specific results they were looking for.
They thought they knew. In fact, when I asked them they both provided me with a lengthy explanation of what they were hoping to achieve. The trouble is that (more…)
For those communicators who work with — or who are! — professionals who required multiple, high-level degrees to practice in their careers, there can be a tendency to “speak in lofty language.” They forget that those who are *not* members of their profession *don’t* speak in their language. They fail to realize that, rather than being impressed by their advanced knowledge, their intended audience is simply confused and disinterested. Worse, when their intended audience doesn’t “get” the message they don’t *get* the message. (more…)
As I work with companies on their marketing communication efforts most are understandably concerned about measuring the effectiveness of their marketing efforts whether those efforts involve multi-media campaigns or social media. And, personally, I’m a strong proponent of measurement in any business endeavor – you must be able to show a return on your efforts to prove your worth whether you’re an employee or a consultant/contractor.
But, if you’re responsible for marketing communications, you also need to make sure that you’re measuring those things that your efforts can realistically impact. (more…)
Recently I’ve received a series of email notices from a cloud-based software provider that offers a service I use. (I’m not going to mention their name, because I don’t want to suddenly begin receiving even *more* difficult-to-interpret messages from them.) Suffice it to say they’re a good company, a big company and one that has become a leader in their area of service. (more…)
Look up the phrase “new customers only” on Google and you’ll turn up more than 38,000,000 results. Look up “existing customer deals” and you’ll find 19,000. It comes as no surprise that companies often turn to special incentives when trying to lure new customers to their fold. Chances are, most of us have even taken advantage of those deals from time to time. But, when you’re an *existing* customer (more…)
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