Who Is Calling You?

In 2010, 8% of the users visiting my website came via a mobile device.

In 2011, that increased to 11%. In the past six months, that number is 13%.

In the past month? That number jumps to 18%. Safe to say the era of mobile is here. And oh, of that final number, 47% of them visited me on an iPhone.

And tracking my podcasts, the numbers of people listening and downloading them via a smart phone are growing fast.

So…what to do?

Well, if your website is WordPress based, it is time to do something about it. (Well, even if you aren’t WordPress based, it is time to do something about it. You had better ask your webmaster about it).

As of last week, I have uploaded WPTouch to ALL my client’s WordPress blogs.

Said simply, WPTouch makes it easy for people to view your website on their smartphone. Gone are the days when a full-sized website appears in your little window, and you need Superman-ish vision to read the content.

WPTouch solves that problem. In fact, I waited too long to make this move. According to Google Analytics, the bounce rate is higher for iPhones than for iPads, because it was obviously hard to view my website on a small iPhone than a larger iPad.

WPTouch is a simple plug-in that you can install on your WordPress for FREE. Learn more about it here.

So, if you’ve ever gone to a website on your smartphone, and gave up because the text was too small, or you couldn’t find what you were looking for, WPTouch might be just for you…

Remember, please keep your customer in mind when deciding whether installing this plug-in is for you. Imagine, for a moment, the customer driving to find your retail location, and pulling off the side of the road to pull up your website to get a phone number or directions… Don’t you want them to easily find what they are looking for?

I thought so…

And if you have other tools, plug-ins and apps that enhance the mobile experience of your WordPress website, please share in the comments!

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[time get get intrepiddy with me!]

[photo from flickr]

[disclaimer: there is such a thing as WPTouch Pro, which is the next level tool. I have not used it, and cannot tell you anything about it.]

Look hard...you'll see me in the herd somewhere.

You’ve no doubt heard this yourself…many times.

I have a growing appreciation for the complexity – and cost – of running a call center, as I have a client that serves that business, and I have interviewed several executives who run companies that service that sector.

But still…

That line just says to me “we could give a flying [BEEEP] about you.”

What about you? Tell me honestly in the comments. How do you interpret that statement when you hear it?

Do you have heavy call volume because your products stinks? Do you have heavy call volume because you are too cheap to invest in the appropriate amount of customer service teams?

What this says to me is that you don’t care enough about the customer. That their experience, their interaction with your company really isn’t that important to you. Slapping up that recording is you just dialing it in…

Look…perhaps you cannot afford to hire an extra team of personnel to man the phones. Perhaps you are smart enough not to invest in those awful automated processes where I have to “hit one for this, hit two for that…”

But maybe you do this: Maybe while people have to wait for technical assitance, you drive them to a special landing page on the website where you present a series of EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND videos with friendly people walking you through solutions to common problems. Make these videos easy to watch, easy to understand, viewable on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets…

[Oh! Make the domain easy to remember, since I will be jotting it down whilst on hold with you!]

But do something more than what EVERYONE else does. Do something that demonstrates you care. That I am not just another pain-in-the-ass-caller waiting in a long line…

“The next available customer may go the other direction. Thank you. Have a nice day.”

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[pic from flickr]

Do You Know Who Your Fans Are?

The gist of it is, if you have 1,000 true fans, you can achieve virtually anything: win an election, start a massive movement, become profitable, sell enough albums to matter, sell enough paintings to matter, become a bestseller, etc…

So, the question becomes: do you have true fans?

My answer: yes I do. Although I certainly don’t have 1,000. In fact, under my definition of what I think a true fan is, I have less than 100.

Under my definition, if I published an e-book and charged for it, I believe my true fans would pay. And then they would share the product with their network. My true fans actively engage on my content. My true fans tell others about me. My true fans send me notes telling me that I matter and that my message resonates with them. [This makes doing what I do worth it...]

So, therein lies my challenge. To grow this list. And as you correctly surmise, this task doesn’t happen overnight. So, here is a simple checklist on how to begin:

1. Create list of your current TRUE FANS. Be discerning. This list only matters if you are honest with yourself. Even if you have less than ten, this matters. You can build from there. Getting the first true fan is the hardest part…

2. Figure out some short-term, and long-term steps, to keep them fans. To thank them. To show them appreciation.

2.5. For me? I am writing an e-book just for them. At no charge, just to thank them for their love and support.

3. Work to understand, to analyze why they became true fans in the first place. Understand this, and it becomes easier to develop more true fans.

4. Continue to believe in giving and serving all of your network with meaningful, helpful (free) content.

5. See below.

Another way to frame what we are talking about here is creating evangelists for your work. People that – without pay – do the selling for you because they are so inspired by your work, and want to tell others.

The simple goal here today is to ask you to do recognize who your true fans are, do something to demonstrate appreciation, understand why they are true fans, and then focus your energy on adding to your fan base…

But here is the most important understanding:

5. You must recognize that you can’t force this. Looking at my list of true fans, I did nothing different for these folks than I’ve done for any other. For some reason, my work and my message just works for these people. And that’s great. There are others who have read the very same content, and not been so moved.

The more you focus on just building your fan base, just to report a cool number of fans, the more difficult it will be. Instead, focus on generating the meaningful work that got you your first few fans, and keep going from there, innovating and improving as you go. And, caring for and appreciating your fans along the journey.

Before long, you will have an army of evangelists that love and support you, and help you spread the message. This is when business and art is fun!

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[Important note: the photograph above includes, as you've probably guessed, Beatles fans. These are not folks reacting to my most recent post...And the photo is from Google.]

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[Todd Schnick is a marketing strategist, helping entrepreneurs become intrepid marketers...]
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My payroll company recently made an error, charging me an improper fee. Upon contacting them to make them aware of the error, they quickly acknowledged the problem, and promised to credit my account.

That was two weeks ago. And even though I’ve seen a paper record of the promised credit, I have not seen the credit applied to my account. To which I commented to someone standing nearby:

“Jeez, they are sure quick to take money out of my account, but they will sure take their sweet time putting it back.”

How many times do you do something like this to your customer? How many times do you promise a corrective action, and take three weeks to do it (or more)? How many times do you let a simple action take too long, and watch the good will that could be generated by taking that action, evaporate?

And more importantly, how many times has someone said something about you and your company to someone standing nearby to them?

It is an opportunity lost to build longer-term loyalty with that customer…

Sad to say, but quick action by my payroll company to correct their mistake would have surprised me. It would have made me happy.

It wouldn’t have taken much to make me happy (a sad state of affairs in this modern world, but it is what it is).

The point is, surprise people. Every day. And the real point of this post is that it doesn’t take much to do so. And you don’t need to read a lot of marketing books, or hire fancy schmancy marketing consultants to tell you that…

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[cartoon by hugh macleod]

Lack Of Eye Contact Hurts Your Business

We find ourself in a retail store, with a question about an item we want to purchase. And for the next ten minutes, an amazing 12 staffers will pass by but somehow NOT make eye contact with you…

“How is it possible that he can walk by and stare at the damn ceiling,” you mumble to yourself.

Managers: Coach your people to actively seek eye contact with your customers!

Here are the likely responses you will have to make upon interacting with that customer:
“Oh, my pleasure. Glad to help.”
“Sure, you can find them over there.”
“Hmmm, I am not sure, but let me find the answer!”
“Yes, the bathrooms are right over there.”

Of course, there are times when you don’t want to be bothered. You want to be left alone to explore. Learn. Study. Research. Assess. And it is here that TODD doesn’t make eye contact. This means –> LEAVE ME ALONE. I am contemplating. And I might buy something…

But this notion of avoiding eye contact when I need you has to stop. When we notice this, here is what you are saying to the customer:
“I have no interest in talking to you. You are a pain in my ass. There are only 23 minutes until I can go home. I want to hide in the broom closet so I can text my significant other. So, how can I avoid interacting with you?”

Have you ever been out of wine when dining out, and you sit there, giving your waitress the vulture look from afar, waving your hands, and making the gutteral noises that are designed to attract attention of the waitress (who seems to be admiring the floor boards) without being noticed by the kind people one table over?

Yeah, I look and sound like a dork at that moment too…

Spend a weekend at a Ritz-Carlton property. You can bet those folks don’t avoid eye contact. Heck, if you aren’t careful, they might even give you a glass of champagne…

But seriously folks… Why is it so hard to interact with customers? Are we that bad? Are there enough bad apples that make you want to strain your neck looking the other way that in the end, you negatively impact my customer experience?

I believe this is something that has to be taught. Coached. Rewarded. But they also say hiring is a strategic marketing move, in that you can hire people who will do this, love this, find joy in interacting with customers.

Yeah, yeah, we are always talking about the little things here. But, avoiding me when I need you isn’t really a little thing now, is it? Keep it up, and I will start buying all of my crap online…

What do you think?

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[photo from flickr]

Life is busy. Is Your Customer Paying Attention?

And that’s important.

But does your customer really care?

Is this something that excites you? Or is this something that really will affect positive change on the life of your customer?

Honestly, the latest idea, the latest shiny object, the latest application may have you all hot and bothered…

But does your customer really care?

Remember this: your customer isn’t sitting around the phone or the laptop waiting to hear about your latest wild idea. Instead, they have a nervous stomach worried about paying the mortgage, meeting payroll, getting Sally to school on time, or perhaps dreaming about doing something more meaningful with their life…

Does your customer really care about your latest idea?

Maybe…maybe not. But instead of just unleashing a flurry of ideas and content on the “next best thing” to change your customer’s lives, involve them in the creation. Seek feedback. Co-create with them. In fact, a smart business person will gauge interest in the new idea before it hatches, to see if the marketplace is even interested.

And even then I can’t promise they will suddenly embrace your new idea. But you have a fighting chance now.

All I am asking is to just be cognizant of the fact that people have busy, distracted lives. So don’t get discouraged when you unveil the big idea and it falls on deaf ears. The world is a big place, with lots going on. And you are competing for mind share against the stack of bills on your customer’s table…

Be aware. And takes steps accordingly!

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[photo by mugley]

I live in Atlanta. The city has been shut down for going on two and a half days now (as of this writing).

Here’s the intrepid tally of what I’ve missed out on in that time:

1. Three inspiring guests on the High Velocity Radio Show – all authors — had to be rescheduled.

2. A film shoot for a new client — had to be postponed.

3. An exciting session with an existing client to formally kick off the new year — had to be postponed.

4. Dinner with a new client to discuss the launch of our new engagement — had to be postponed.

5. Two lunches with fascinating people that are great learning sources for me, and potential referral sources for new business — had to be postponed.

6. A conference call with a newfound prospect — had to be rescheduled.

Reviewing that list, I realized the very real economic impact of this winter storm on my bottom line. The three guests on the radio show are all potential prospects, and certainly all potential referral sources. The film shoot was a new client and payment on my work will be delayed. The momentum from kickstarting things with my old client might be slowed down, at least temporarily. The loss of a week of execution time on the new client will be lost forever. Who knows if those two lunches would have produced new business prospects. And last but not least, the prospect phone call might never get rescheduled and that business opportunity potentially lost…

That’s real. And that’s significant. But here’s what I also realized:

Not spending time with me has an economic impact on them too. And God knows, I certainly hope they all see value in spending time with me:

1. Our three radio show guests lost a chance to get their book and their work broadcast and promoted to our audience, who might now never purchase their book or retain their services.

2. The new client who needed the video work from me has lost out on a video to help market their business, at least temporarily.

3. My existing client has lost some time planning the kick-start of their 2011 marketing, and lost the value of any insights I might bring to help make their marketing better.

4. My new client will lose of week of time on kickstarting a new marketing program for their business.

5. My two lunch dates will lose the value of my knowledge and ideas, and lose out on any prospects or valuable connections I might provide them.

6. And this new prospect, who reached out to me because they think I might help improve their marketing, loses out temporarily from the benefit of my counsel.

THE POINT OF ALL THIS?

You matter. You have value. People, and their organizations, need you too. Don’t ever lose sight of that fact.

I will be honest in saying this winter storm has given me a chance to refresh some thinking as I continue to move into what has been a strong start to 2011. It has made be think about the value that I bring to my customers and potential customers.

And made me realize that I can make that value proposition stronger… that I have the power to make it stronger. I want the story those nine people referenced above tell to be more dramatic, and I want them writing blog posts about the economic impact of missing out on time with me.

But first, you have to realize you can impact that story, that you have an economic impact on others. And that’s an important realization for any small business person, start-up, or entrepreneur to come to.

So the moral is, use snow days to think long and deep about the value you bring to your market. And how you can strengthen it.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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[pic from this morning's AJC.com]

I’ve always been fascinated by design. As a minimalist, I’ve long admired simple, clean, pure design…

But perhaps like you, I’ve always thought of design as something created by an artist, or at least someone who attended art or graphic design school. I think of what Dieter Rams did with Braun when I think of a designer. Or why we all love the simple but powerful design of Apple products.

It has only been recently in my life that I realized I am a designer.

You are too. Just most of us haven’t come to that realization yet.

We have full control to design everything that matters to us: lifestyle design, business design, health design, customer experience design, financial planning design…the list goes on and on.

But yet, we seem willing to let events take their natural course, as if we have NO choice in the matter. I am as guilty of that as most, and until recently, I allowed life to just dictate terms to me.

Why do we do that? Why? Why?

Are you worried about how your customer interacts with your business? Well, commit to design a premier experience for your customers, and design something so grand, they can’t help but talk about it. You can carefully, thoughtfully, methodically design your customer’s experience, and more importantly, design a process for when you receive customer feedback. You don’t have to leave it up to the winds anymore…

Do I want a superior quality of life? Then I can design an exercise plan, supplemented with an appropriate nutritional plan to ensure a healthier lifestyle. I don’t have to incorporate fast food into my design, or extra snacking. I have complete control to design this important element of my life, exactly as I want.

So, of course, it stands to reason we don’t invest the true passion and energy to design these differing components in our life — because it is hard. Or we are lazy. Or we are scared. Sure, I’ve read a thousand articles, books, and blog posts on the topic. Achieving the drive to make something happen is harder than that.

And that’s why I’ve been taken with the word of design… Because it makes it cool…

Do you know what I mean? It is cool to be a designer. Dieter Rams is cool. Videos of him talking about design are cool.

For me, design began to mean something different for me when Tim Ferriss coined the term lifestyle design. Taking control of your own life, living the way you want, living where you want, etc… In other words, designing the life that YOU want.

I now intend to apply Dieter Ram’s ten design principles to virtually everything in my life (business, life, health, distance running) that I intend to do well:

Good design is innovative
Good design makes a product useful
Good design is aesthetic
Good design helps a product to be understood
Good design is unobtrusive
Good design is honest
Good design is durable
Good design is consistent to the last detail
Good design is concerned with the environment
Good design is as little design as possible

Dieter Rams

Read that list again. Now, apply this list to something in your life that matters to you. Can you see how different the application of these principles will have the outcome?

There are a lot of people out in the world that I admire. People living life on their terms. People running cool companies like Nike and Apple. But here’s the thing: they are just people, like you and me.

They just decided to take life by the balls. Do it on their terms. In a way that inspires them. And inspires others. The probable difference between them and us? Our vision/mission is the future…what we see ourselves doing in five years. For them? Their vision is taking an action (likely completed this morning) that moves them forward. Doing…Designing…

Not dreaming like us…

So what do you think? Do you have the courage, do you have the strength to be a designer?

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Day 20 (of 31):

Question To Ask Yourself: Are you focused on your customer experience?

Running a business, we are tasked with a lot of day-to-day responsibilities, but I sometimes wonder, do we focus too much on all but the one thing that truly matters…how our customer interacts with our business??

I recently wrote a post called 33 Questions To Ask Customers. The purpose here was to help us ask the right questions to better understand if we are providing a meaningful experience for our customers…

Are you doing enough of that? Do you understand how EVERY employee in your organization interacts with customers? Do you study how your customers interface with every facet of your business…from the telephone, to the website, to your twitter handle?

What I am doing: Being a small business, I interact with a small network of ongoing clientele. But I worry that I am not doing enough. Not communicating enough.

I worry that I’ve been too scatterbrained with all my projects that I am not focusing enough on the most important part of my business…my customers. That changes in 2011.

What about you?

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Todd is planning his 2011 marketing attack. He is asking himself a series of hard questions, questions that will fine tune his go-to-market strategy. This December, Todd will share one question per day, hoping these questions help you too…

Click HERE to follow the entire series on what questions to ask as you draft your 2011 marketing plan!

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This past weekend, I was in San Antonio with a big crew of friends running a local half-marathon.

On Saturday evening (night before the race) a few of us went to a place called Boudro’s Texas Bistro to get some healthy food that would provide energy for us during the race the next morning.

As I typically do (when I remember), I checked into the place on Foursquare.

Nine times out of ten, I never hear anything else from the restaurant. Ever.

But in this case, Boudro’s sent me a tweet the next day, thanked me for our business, and thanked me for checking-in.

Nice.

Sadly, that small action alone makes a restaurant stand out from most. But as I was thinking on this, I realized there is so much more they could (and should) be doing.

Here are some things I wish restaurants and bars would do with social media:

1. Thank me for checking-in on whatever geolocation application I am using (as referenced above). As I said, simple, but still rarely done, at least in my experience.

2. I wish bartenders would be empowered to twitpic patrons sitting at the bar, and while doing so, share a cool story about that customer. As in “This is Dave. He comes here every Sunday to watch his beloved Chicago Bears!” This demonstrates that you care about your customers, and not just about blasting out the latest specials. I mean, really, don’t just use Twitter to promote you….

3. Instead of the usual boring advertisements about specials that I see in newspapers or magazines, place a QR code in the ad, and encourage people to learn more about you in a unique way. Send the user to a special landing page that tells a good story, and offers personalized specials. Stand out… (sure, a majority of people can’t read QR codes yet. but that is changing!)

4. I sure wish waiters could snap a digital pic, and/or collect my email or twitter handle, and send me personalized digital notes after my visit. “Hope you had a good time” or “Gosh, I sure enjoyed serving you” or “I hope you had a great birthday!” I would never forget this, I would tell others about my waiter, and I sure would talk about this experience with others…

4.5. Although not digital, I’ve been to a few restaurants that send me handwritten notes following my visit. Talk about WOW…

5. As part of their daily routine, I wish more restaurants, especially those trying to build a loyal repeat customer base, would collect vital stats about their customers, and occasionally tweet/blog/email/text specific specials to people based on their customer file. For instance, if you know one of your customers graduated from Florida State, and you notice FSU wins a big game, I’d send a personal email, text, tweet, or Facebook message to your customer, and invite her to the restaurant, and say something like “In honor of your big win, come by, and the first drink is on us!”

[You just have to empower and encourage your employees to record these kinds of details in a notebook...]

5.5. Oh, and to answer the common fuss I hear about how hard it is for restaurants + bars to track customers online, just set up a special column in your Twitter management platform, place all customers there, and devote a few minutes a day to monitor what they are saying. Comment appropriately. This is magic, btw…

6. And another idea about geolocation tools like Foursquare… More and more people are checking in at state lines when they are on the road. If I am a restaurant on the other side of the state line, I sure would keep an eye out for people who are checking-in this way. I’d invite them to my restaurant, and offer a “Welcome To Our State” special.

[trust me, if someone is checking in on Foursquare from the road, they probably have the means to check Twitter and get your note...]

7. I would love for a restaurant to blog about cool things their employees (and customers for that matter) are doing to help the community. As in “We love that Jamie, a server with us for six months, volunteers for the United Way. In fact, if you dine with us, and donate a dollar to Jamie’s efforts, we’ll match the donation to the United Way, and give you dessert on the house!”

[btw, this gives you a lot of cool stuff to share on Twitter and Facebook]

8. Use big events to draw people in on Foursquare. For instance, if there is a big event, such as a football game, when people check into the stadium, offer a Foursquare special if they bring the whole family by following the game.

8.5. And if I am a restaurant in an airport, I would sure do the same when people check into the airport.

9. I do think restaurants should have a Facebook page. But if you just use it to promote specials, it will bore people, and it will be meaningless. I also think what you talk about on Facebook should be different than what people find on your Twitter stream. Here, maybe you feature, talk about, and show pics of the special events that occur at your restaurant…

10. I would love to see video blogs from restaurants that serve my favorites foods. You don’t have to share the “secret” recipe, but it would be fun, helpful and informative to see how these places prep their food, get to know their chefs and learn the stories behind the family recipes they use. This would be fun and helpful content, especially for places that advertise healthy dining. In addition to providing unlimited amounts of content for your blog, it also makes it easy to optimize video content for YouTube, yet another powerful way to be found on the internet.

11. And for gosh sakes….if you want people to hang out at your restaurant or coffee shop, please please please have more than one power outlet… And honestly, if you don’t have FREE WI-FI, I have no use for your joint…

So these are just a few ideas. What do you think? Any others?

P.S. btw, I wrote this at a Caribou Coffee shop. And I checked-in on Foursquare. Just so you know…

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[pic taken from boudros.com]