There are two life experiences that almost always result in me writing blog posts: interacting with airlines, and visits to the emergency room.

A recent visit to a local ER was no different. Here are some customer service observations from my recent experience:

1. Do something surprising. There was a new addition to the ER experience at this local hospital. Valet parking. And it was free for ER guests! This is probably sad, but this surprised me. In a good way. Always look to add something to the customer experience that leaves people pleasantly surprised!

2. Think about context. Every ER has one, the mean old lady who only cares about collecting your insurance documentation. I suppose as a business that likes to get paid, I understand their need to do this. But this old hag woman was as rude and as unpleasant as you could imagine. Recognize what your customer is going through, and adjust the context with which you behave.

3. Meet long-held expectations. This was a hospital. I have certain expectations of hospitals. Such as, clean rest rooms. There were not as clean as I would expect. I’ve certainly seen dirtier rest rooms, but these surprised me. Meet long-standing expectations of your customers. When you don’t, that leaves an impression.

4. Keep your customers posted. I think it was Tom Peters who wrote that we can deal with a two-hour flight delay, if the airline keeps us frequently informed as to what is going on. No different with an ER. I mean, getting information…ANY information…out of them was maddeningly frustrating. Just keep your customers in the loop. They can deal…

5. A smile works wonders. The ER nurse assigned to our room was most pleasant. She told a lot of jokes, and smiled and pretended to laugh at mine. Her smile left an impression. A smile and friendly attitude works, even during unpleasant experiences like ER visits…

6. Staff up. Of course, when we really needed the nurse, she was nowhere to be found. She had too many other patients and rooms to cover. Always have enough resources to deal with your customer’s needs.

7. Use the damn technology! The critical issue in question on this particular ER visit was alarmingly low blood pressure. The machine was set to check blood pressure every 15 minutes. When a reading came back under normal, an alarm was set. And of course, no one EVER responded to the REALLY LOUD alarm. If you have means to track and respond to data, DO IT! There was a reason you installed it in the first place, no?

8. Listen to your customers. We had to fully explain the reason for the ER visit no less than FIVE times. I don’t know, maybe there is a medical reason OR some legal reason that requires ER patients to do this, but this got very aggravating. Listen to your customers, because when you don’t, they get angry.

9. Be accessible. When help was needed, there was none to be found. Instead, help was attained when I stood outside the door and waited until I could spot someone in a position to help. This was most naturally followed by “I will find your nurse.” Which meant help came on average 37 minutes later. If you have a “Help Desk” to serve your customer’s needs, it is helpful to actually have people there to provide service!

10. Answer questions | Be informative. Sadly, I’ve visited one too many emergency rooms in my lifetime. But the ER Doc assigned yesterday was the best ever. Helpful, informative, patient, clear, pleasant, understandable… This Doc took extra time to relay what he had learned and understood, and answered questions clearly. Most ER Docs are quickly moving to the next patient. This guy was different. When your customer’s have questions, answer them carefully, clearly, and patiently.

What other ER experiences can you share?

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[cartoon by @gapingvoid]

I run a business. Thus, I have customers. And as a human being, I am a customer myself. Here are the things we (I) need to keep in mind when it comes to understanding CUSTOMERS:

1. Some customers are people who are in desperate need. They have problems. They are stressed. And as such, they aren’t always thinking clearly or rationally. If your business serves customers in need, treat them like human beings. Recognize they have a lot on their mind. Treating them with respect does two things: One, they will remember you and how you treated them right. They will tell others about you. Two, treating them respectfully will get them to be better, more responsive customers. As in, paying bills on time, or getting paperwork in on time, etc…

2. They are not experts. Don’t make any assumptions that they know what you think they should know. A big part of what you do is education. Help them learn, it makes for a deeper relationship.

3. They are busy people. They have crazy lives. Mortgages to pay. Children to care for. Work to do. Groceries to buy. Baseball practice to get kids too. Customers have the same burdens you do – so remember that.

4. Just because they say I “understand” and I will get right on it, they probably won’t. You need to be patient and teach them what they need to know. Guide them. Help them. Encourage them. It takes time. In the end, they will be better customers, and you will be serving them better.

5. A customer who makes A LOT of noise about a bad experience is generally got problems on their own. The world recognizes that too, and won’t always hold you accountable. Just be patient, deal with the problem, sincerely try to fix it, be responsive, and move on. One loud customer (who is probably having a bad day) won’t ruin your business…

6. Customers expect you to keep your promises and deadlines. Customers don’t always meet your deadlines. But not because they are bad people, it is because they have life going on. Be patient and help them along as best you can.

7. Big ticket purchases are scary. Customers don’t always move at the pace we want on expensive deals. I catch myself all the time frustrated that a prospect isn’t making a faster buying decision. Especially when I realize I am the same way. Make them feel good about the purchase, if it is the right move for both of you, the deal will happen.

8. Although customers often try to communicate that they have knowledge and understanding of what you are bringing to the table, remember this: they need – want – expect your counsel and instruction. Give it.

9. Do not be afraid to speak your mind when your customer is going down the wrong path. Handle that communication respectfully, obviously, but at least make the attempt to communicate that you think there is a better way. You owe them that. If they don’t like it, they probably are not a good fit for you and your business…

10. It is ALL about trust. The customer is trusting you to help them, provide good service, reliable products, problem solving when necessary, being there when needed. You trust your customer to pay you on time, do the things you need, provide the information you need to make the best decisions, and execute on things you ask them to do and they agree to do. Without trust, the customer relationship will not work, both personally or monetarily.

What do you think? What else am I missing here?

[cartoon by @gapingvoid]

I had the real pleasure to receive an advanced copy of Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. This is a must read book –> if you care about developing your company culture and focusing on the customer. Here is my video review:

And here are ten reasons to read this book:

1. Learn about the Zappos Culture Book – how each employee is valued in creating the company culture.

2. Understand the 10 Zappos Core Values. Learn what they mean, how they are applied. And then use them for YOUR business.

3. Read many of Tony’s actual emails sent to Zappos employees over the years.

4. Enjoy the writings and perspectives of many Zappos employees.

5. Understand what it means to be open and transparent with your employees.

6. Learn about the Zappos employment development pipeline, and see how a real organization trains and develops its people!

7. Get the inside scoop to the Amazon acquisition. Fascinating stuff!

8. Read all about Zappos’ harrowing adventure. It wasn’t always wine and roses. This makes the story of this company even more amazing!

9. Learn the power and science behind delivering happiness.

10. And any book that quotes Morpheus has to be worth your time…

I still run across people who do not see value in investing time into social media. They say things like:

“I just don’t see any value in it.”

“It is not worth my time.”

“I started a blog yesterday. But I haven’t gotten any business yet. It clearly doesn’t work.”

“I need to focus on REAL marketing.”

“I don’t have time for fads.”

“My market doesn’t spend time in that space, so I don’t need to…”

In fact, the percentage of sales and small business folks NOT using social media is still pretty staggering. And I will continue to do my part to help educate these good folks on the possibilities. Before I continue that mission, here are a few things that have happened to me, ONLY because of my participation in blogging and the social web:

1. I’ve been approached about writing a book.

2. I’ve been asked to contribute bits to other’s books.

3. I’ve had my blog posts picked up by other blogs, exposing me and my writing to thousands of new readers.

4. I’ve met some amazing people, people I would not have met otherwise.

5. I’ve learned so much. Each day, I get exposed to new blogs, opening up a whole new world and opportunity for learning.

6. I have reconnected with old friends, people that I had thought were lost forever.

7. It enabled me to co-host a TweetUp that had 200 people in attendance, including people from five states and Canada! I’ve always been a connector – social media scaled it big time.

8. It has allowed me to connect with someone like Tom Peters.

9. I have been asked to guest blog. Often.

10. I have been able to strengthen my personal brand. Because in addition to my business writing, it has also given me an outlet to write about things I am passionate about, such at this and this.

11. And most importantly, from a business perspective, I have found and engaged new clients.

Key takeaway from this post: If I can do this, ANYONE can do this.

Seriously. Here is how it happened for me:

> I am not a particularly good writer, but I have been a pretty steady blogger since 2008. As a result, I do think my writing has improved.

> I make a real effort to share the work of others. And I plan to get better at this.

> I make an effort, by monitoring blogs I care about on my RSS reader, to comment on the published posts of others. I can do better at this too. And not a day passes where someone doesn’t express sincere gratitude for this, which, I don’t have to tell you, deepens the relationship…

> I am not worried about the raw numbers of followers. I used to worry about this, but I have forced myself to focus on the actual relationships. The impact of this change in thinking has been powerful.

> I am NO guru. Or expert. Or Jedi Master. I am still learning. Every day. And realize, every day, that I have MUCH more to learn.

> I have become a much better listener.

> I have been able to help A LOT more people.

> My sphere of influence is small compared to many others. But, the point is, I have a sphere of influence.

> This whole world of the social web is evolving. Constantly. The sooner you recognize this, the faster you will evolve with it. What works today, probably won’t work tomorrow.

> But that said, the importance of building relationships will NEVER change. Just the means of doing so. As soon as you understand this? I mean, really understand this? Social media will make sense to you.

I am just a guy, working from home, with a manageable book of clients, running a small little business. If someone like me can see real results from this investment, anyone can!

Agree? Disagree? Let me know…

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[cartoon by @gapingvoid]

So, I am going to play a little game…

I wrote the other day about my 30th Foursquare check-in at my local Publix supermarket. Comments I’ve received ranged from “I can’t believe a man has actually checked-in to a grocery store 30 times” to “you sure go to the store a lot.”

So, anyway… I am the Foursquare Mayor there. Which means, well, I can do and say anything I want [not really].

But I will be honest. I cannot believe there is a public, transparent online record that someone has been to a store 31 times – and this person has never been contacted. Even to say a simple “Thanks!”

So here is what I am going to do. I will write a short post for every Publix check-in of mine, until I finally get acknowledged. This isn’t meant to be mean-spirited. Rather, it is meant to educate and teach people about the possibilities with geolocation apps like Foursquare. As a demonstration of my goodwill, I will offer a free tip about how an enterprise like Publix can use Foursquare. I welcome input from the community about other ideas they may have.

This might be fun. We should learn a lot. And, well, I may be writing a lot of blog posts on this project…

Todd’s Publix Tip of the Day: One thing a store like Publix can do, is drive traffic to purchase a certain type of inventory. Let’s say you want to help people eat more healthy. For instance, you could offer people who check-in to Publix for the FIRST time on Foursquare, a free piece of fruit….

The Store: Publix Supermarket
[Store # 00033]
3605 Sandy Plains Road
Suite 200
Marietta GA 30066
770.578.6000

You don’t need another damn blog post about…

…focusing on the little things.

…being remarkable.

…making your customers say “wow!”

Oh sure, I got inspired to write this post because of a “little thing that was a big deal” kinda thing at my local Starbucks. And true enough, it was the kind of little thing that shouldn’t be a big thing, but because OUTSTANDING customer service is so rare, it became a big thing…and a blog post.

Thinking on this topic, I realized just how complacent most employees in joints like a coffee shop can get. Just people, doing their job, watching the clock. They aren’t responsible for the marketing, you see, so they don’t really care.

That’s not to say they aren’t nice people, who I am sure, more often than not, put in a good, hard day’s work. But they are complacent. They are prematurely satisfied. Just because.

And this is what leads to mediocrity. This is what separates most small businesses from the truly great, remarkable, “talked about by everyone” kind of enterprises…

So, I put together a short list of 5 things every business should do, every day, to fight off and kill complacency dead, dead, dead:

1. Ask at least one customer, each day, what you can do to make the customer experience better.

2. Thank a customer in a public way, each day. Do this on Twitter, your Facebook fan page, your blog…just do it somewhere public.

3. Over the course of any given day, you perform a multitude of administrative tasks. As you are doing them, examine them closely, and determine if there are ways to do them better, do them more efficiently, and do them faster, to save time…time that now can be focused on improving the customer experience.

4. Walk around your place of business. Is it presentable and clean? It is one thing to be unorganized to the point of charming. It is quite another to be dirty. New places are clean and shiny. Remarkable places STAY clean and shiny. Complacent places get dirty and run down…

5. Empower employees to do surprising things for customers. This, of course, makes the customer’s day. This also, of course, makes the employee’s day…

5.5. Don’t know any innovative ways to empower your employees? Let them come up with ideas. And reward them for being creative. And if they do something on the spot to wow a customer and haven’t necessarily cleared it with you beforehand? Don’t punish them. You will kill their spirit.

Just a few ideas. To be executed daily. What do you think? What did I miss?

[image by @gapingvoid]

I was reading Leo Babauta’s e-book about focus recently, and he was talking about the importance of rituals. He says it is easy to get distracted in this modern age, but when you engage in rituals, you are more likely to be focused and in the moment. He writes:

A ritual is a set of actions you repeat habitually — you might have a pre-bed ritual or a religious ritual or a just-started-up-my-computer ritual. One of the powerful things about rituals is that we often give them a special importance: they can be almost spiritual (and sometimes actually spiritual, depending on the ritual). And when they become special, we are more mindful of them — we don’t just rush through them mindlessly.

And I thought, I bet intrepid marketers have marketing rituals. So let’s examine this idea…

If intrepid marketers (CLICK HERE to learn what an intrepid marketer is) engage in rituals, based on Leo’s writing above, we should assume they are focused. On this point, I don’t think there is any argument. The question then becomes, what are they focused on? And thus, what part of their marketing process is cemented into daily ritual…

Are you focused on the customer? It is my opinion that each business needs to be more customer-focused, and thus, we need to devote more time – each day – to thinking about every customer interaction. We often overlook even the little ways our customers interface with our business.

What to do? Setting a ritual where you review these interactions – on a regular basis – is vital to success of your business. How about creating a series of questions you ask yourself – maybe at the end of each day – that help keep you focused and review how each customer interacted with your business, and how you can improve those. Include everything, from products, to voice mail, to your invoicing process.

Are you creatively focused? If being creative is an important part of your work, and it is for most of us, then ritual is probably a very critical element in your creative process. What does it take to get you in the creative mood? Do you need to remove all distractions, such as email? Twitter? Phones? Do you need to use a specific creative space, such as your studio, coffee shop, or the conference room?

What to do? Figure out what you need and then execute on the ritual so you can deliver your best creative work. And don’t let ANYTHING disrupt the ritual process.

Are you focused on process? Or results? These are two very different things, process and results. How you might ritualize to focus on these two would be different in my opinion.

What to do? First of all, do you have your process committed to paper? Can you measure the results of each step in the process? A regular examination of this process, and ritualizing to determine what is working and what can be improved might be a good thing to always be getting better at what you do.

As for results, well, isn’t this what we are after? Most people are more worried about the process than the results, and that’s why they have NO cash flow. It might be helpful to set a weekly ritual where you focus on thinking through all you are doing to be sure they are leading to actual positive results for your business…

Are you focused on conversation with your marketplace? Is interacting on the social web important to you and your business? Well, then you need a ritual. And I am not talking about getting on Twitter and just doing whatever for several hours.

What to do? What is your goal on the social web? If it is to identify and make relationships with new prospects, then create a ritual where you listen for keywords that are of interest to you, and begin a conversation. Then share information with that new contact. This three-step ritual might work for you. Here is what I do to help bring some sense of ritual to one element of my social web activity.

See, I am thinking most small business people don’t have marketing rituals. We are all too busy trying to manage the mundane and time consuming tasks of running our shop day-to-day. But, if Leo is right and rituals are a set of actions you repeat habitually, then we all need to formulate some new rituals. Life is too hectic, and we probably don’t have the discipline to focus our minds – on a regular basis – on the important things related to our business.

What do you think? What are your rituals? What works for you?

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[photo from untitled blue on Flickr]

I recently stumbled upon Leo Babauta’s Mnmlist blog, a blog about minimalism and simplifying your life. It has been a profound find, as I am in the process of trying to simplify things in my cluttered life (and I simply LOVE the blog’s design).

But as I was spending time thinking about these things in the context of my life, I got to wondering if there is anything to applying the same concepts to our marketing efforts. Just as it seems to be the case with my crazy life, I oftentimes wonder if most entrepreneurs have a marketing program that is far too complex.

So, here are some minimalist ideas to think about and some important questions to ask yourself:

1. Is your message too complicated? Make it easy for people to remember why you are special.
2. Is your website too cluttered? When people visit your website, make it easy to learn what you do and easier to contact you to do it.
3. Is your strategy on the social web too complex? Your simple online mission is to engage and serve others. That’s it.
4. Is your target audience too scatter shot? Be laser focused on a niche. Don’t try to help everybody.
5. Are you focused on simple storytelling? Do NOT try to communicate one thousand different ideas/messages/concepts/fixes…
6. Can your prospects look at your marketing collateral and easily understand the call to action?
7. Is your diet of new learning focused on the things you need to improve? Don’t read thought leadership on shiny objects (as Seth says) that don’t really advance the goal.
8. Do you have BOATLOADS of pointless busywork? Instead, be laser focused on the important work.
9. Do you experiment with all kinds of new tactical options on a whim? Instead, execute only on new ideas that fall into the scope of your crystal clear marketing plan.
10. Wait, do you even have a marketing plan? Oftentimes, the lack of a road map leads to confusion, complexity and disarray.
11. Are you worried about too many details? Such as inventory, blogging, twitter, facebook, sales, promotions, employees, sick days, cubicles, vacations, graphic design, vendors, invoices, accounts receivable, etc? Instead, focus only on the customer. All the rest will fall into place…

So, minimalist marketing isn’t about cutting back on your marketing, or reducing your marketing budget, or even cutting the time spent on marketing. What I am talking about here is simplifying things so that your program is uncluttered – and can do it’s job.

What do you think? Agree or disagree with this concept? Got anything to add or subtract? Let me know if you have additional ideas to simplify your marketing…

[photo by marmota]

cartoon by @gapingvoid

I was at an event last week, and engaged in a pleasant conversation with a fellow who worked for a local corporation. This gentleman had a decent job and wasn’t worried about losing it. In fact, it was apparent to me that he was very comfortable and almost complacent.

Being the marketing guy I am, I of course asked him about his role in the company’s marketing. His answer? “I don’t have a role in the company’s marketing.”

It amazes me every time I hear that. Sadly, it doesn’t surprise me anymore. Because what I know is that customer service is a very big piece of marketing, and most people, like the corporate gentleman cited above, don’t understand that.

But at this same event I run across a half dozen folks who are solopreneurs, people who do the sales, admin, and the product work – all themselves. These are the sort that do most of their sales and marketing at networking events, and you see them everywhere running the networking circuit. When I ask them the same question, their answer is different, but the same. Although being 100% responsible for their marketing, their answer is usually something like “I just don’t have the time” or “my budget is tight, so I have to cut back on my marketing.”

This too vexes me. But again, I am not surprised. And in their case, they aren’t even thinking about customer service. They are talking about the sales process…

Before I go on, I want to define what I mean by “marketing” when I ask the questions above. I am talking about an intense focus on your prospective and/or current customer. And focusing intensely on their overall experience. And by that I mean their pre and post-purchase experience. Customer service in other words.

Now when I proclaim to them that neither care about customer service, both snap back at me and proclaim “how dare you say that.” But deep inside, you know I am right. Now that said, both do probably care about customer service, but do both really CARE about customer service? We all know exercise is important, but a lot of us sit on the couch and watch old reruns of Seinfeld…

Watch this video of David Meerman Scott. He is describing the corporate guy above:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TxPAC6e7HE]
The point that David is making in this video is that the corporate folks are sitting around in meetings making stuff up and guessing, instead of mixing it up, engaging and getting dirty with real prospects and customers — finding out what they really want and need. [and yes, social media is a great way to get out in the world, ask these questions, and get answers]

What I am getting at here is twofold: One, every member of a larger organization, from the C-Level executive to the receptionist, has an important role in customer service. It’s not just the people answering the customer service hot line — and I will submit a majority of people answering that phone don’t care about customer service either…

And two, the typical solopreneur I run across on a daily basis believes they don’t have the time to focus on customer service, let alone sit back and think about ways to innovate and make it better. I’ve got a message for you: that should be ALL you think about.

We all need to be aware that today’s consumer has more ability to publicly comment about their customer experience – pro or con – than ever before. As a result, we need to be more attuned and focused on the customer experience than ever before. And I mean INTENSELY FOCUSED. OBSESSIVELY SO.

Every member of an organization, from middle management in a large company, to the one-man shop, needs to focus on the following:

1. Improving the pre-purchase experience
2. Improving the post-purchase experience
3. How to better handle customer problems
4. Better enabling sharing and helping spread the word about you and your service
5. Don’t sell. Serve. Help. Build. Grow.

Yeah, there are other things you could be thinking about. But a focus on the above five will be a strong baseline with which to start. So, get out of that cubicle or conference room, and start really understanding how you can spend time improving on the five items listed above. If you are the solopreneur, shift your paradigm and your thinking on your marketing, execution, and admin to how you can improve on those five things.

To survive in today’s marketplace, you have no choice.

Now, many of you solopreneurs will be angry with me for saying that you aren’t as focused on customer service as you should be. Do you know why I am saying that? Because I am one of you. As much as I talk about it, I need to do a better job of it myself. And I can promise you that increasing my focus on improvements on those five items above will be a MAJOR goal of my 2010 calendar year.

What do you think? Let us know!

Be Intrepid.