Marketing-Fix: 100-Words-On

“So who saw Parade of the Art-imals?
None of you?  Why not?
What was missing?”

- Disney Institute Cast Member/Guide

There’s no denying the enduring legacy of Walt Disney’s creativity, Roy
Disney’s financial acumen and Michael Eisner’s “Disney Decade” of extraordinary
expansion.  They’re all visionaries.

While visiting Walt Disney World recently, the company’s devotion to execution
impressed us equally.

Three factors stood out – and seem universal to marketing success:

Perseverance – after choosing a direction, the team, or “the cast”, focuses
relentlessly on getting to market with extraordinary products.  Say, building
an amusement park in a swamp.

Evaluation – when projects launch, they review results immediately with a cool,
detached eye.  When attendance isn’t on par – they ask guests what’s missing,
like Disney characters in the Art-imals parade.

Adaption – little gets jettisoned.  Concepts get tweaked, winning ideas
re-purposed and hard assets recycled to get better results.
Why not release “The Lion King” in 3-D?

They take basic business tenets and execute superbly decade after decade.

OK Walt, we believe!

“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade and lemon pie”
-Anne White

Ugh, but then again…

I wonder: when problems hit, why not take quick, transparent action? Getting in front of challenges can change customer perceptions – dramatically.

This started with big problems – failing nuclear reactors – but crystallized with a minuscule one: upgrading Mac OS X knocked out our MAC-only database.

Had the vendor jumped on the problem, they’d have taken advantage of ‘sour lemons’ to look like heroes.  Their actions would have conveyed:

• We’re top of our game. Even without advance warning from Apple, when the problem arose, it would appear that they were monitoring and improving – on the spot.

• We care about our customers. They have customers’ emails.  Why not show they’ve ‘got our backs’ before we discover problems?

And from management’s perspective, we bet it would be cost-effective. Aren’t spikes in customer service needs disruptive and expensive?

Sigh. Gotta love that lemon pie!

P.S. Kudos to the service wizards at Philadelphia’s Springboard Media who fixed the ‘glitch’ in a flash.

It’s tempting to jump on the latest marketing trend.

For example, trendwatching.com recently suggested creating ‘brand butlers’ to improve the customer experience—and allocating marketing dollars there.

Brand butlers, wow!  Another nicety that—sounds great.

But, perhaps being first with the latest only makes sense when all aspects of customer service work flawlessly.

And how often is this true?

• Consider recent experiences with Fortune 100 companies:

• “Real-time” inventory systems that are repeatedly incorrect.

• “Customer Service Facilitators”—formerly known as tellers—who’ve mastered greeting, but not doing deposits accurately.

“Live Flight Status” that’s hours off.

Before embracing the new and novel, why not:

• Audit how well basics are executed.

• Augment what works to improve service.

• Evolve to the next level when it’s appropriate.

Let’s all clean house before hiring the butlers.

“They overlooked it”

“The delivery service sent it”

“The policy is to charge extra”

Hospitality genius Danny Meyer recently suggested in the Times that success requires putting the employees first.

His ideas are basic, but worth re-visiting:

Hire right. Ritz Carlton: not our fault that reservations “overlooked” special requests for an anniversary.

Skills can be taught, loving interaction with people can’t.  Analysts don’t need people skills—front-line staff and managers do.

Make the team feel great. Manhattan Fruit Company: not our job to track lost packages, even if you’re “understaffed and really busy”.

Employees who like each other and their jobs transfer that enthusiasm to customers and co-workers.

Empower employees. Restaurant Associates: not acceptable that, “it’ll be $3″ for a second slice of bacon with our $19 bacon and eggs.

People can’t excel when constrained by rule books or micro-managing bosses.

From accountants to airlines:  being customers’ favorite keeps them coming back—so, please, put employees first.

You’re only as good as the last front-line associate”
-Concierge Ritz-Carlton Dallas

Systems upgrades may be easier to justify than “people upgrades.”

Improving systems seems foolproof, rigorous and eminently measurable.  Most love Amazon’s personalized recommendations.

Solving problems and improving customer experiences by upgrading personnel takes training, intuition, employer trust and employee initiative. Plus, measuring is harder.

Still, employees remain the best customer-retention tool.

We’d ask:

Who’s responsible for customer service? When it’s a back-office cost center suboptimal interactions often diminish customers’ interactions and trust in the brand.  Few love their cable company.

Has customer service been included in marketing plans? People demand answers and resolution instantly.  Not even Google can successfully launch a product-G Phone-without adequate customer service.

Have employees been empowered? Little annoys more than cloaking “No” in “it’s company policy.”  Consider Ritz-Carlton’s “anticipatory service”* where employees can spend lavishly solving problems anticipating additional revenue.

* Here’s the link to Ritz Carlton’s Leadership Center:  click here

Valet Parking Fee
vs.
Hotel Energy Surcharge

Late Payment Fee
vs.
Courtesy Reinstatement Charge

Watching fees multiply, we wonder:

Do companies really attempt to put the customer first?

Or, even try to create the perception that they care?

To us, valet parking charges feel appropriate: “I have a car, need to
park it, and he doesn’t.”

Resort usage fees, Internet charges and similar nickel-and dime tactics
over hefty room rates inflame: “I’m already paying to be here.”

Why not adjust rates marginally, and seem magnanimous?

In finance, late fees may be egregiously large, but seem quid-pro-quo for
having credit: “I was late paying, they win.”

Imposing additional “courtesy fees” on delinquent customers attempting to
get current screams: “Fat-cat bankers getting rich on our backs.”

Fees can benefit bottom lines enormously.  Why not craft and use them
artfully?

You could be a hero, not a demon in your customers’ eyes.

Call
Click
Visit

Whenever we have a marginal customer experience–and it’s still often–we wonder:  Does this company truly want my business?  Is management seeing things through customers eyes?  Has anyone called, clicked or visited lately–unannounced?

Calling: Is automated routing the right way to start?  Cost-effective, but most of us hate it.  Where are better customers routed–best reps, randomly, to overflow call centers?   Do you have to give the same information multiple times?  Kudos to United for pre-empting the process with reverse look-up and Delta for bringing call centers back on shore.

Clicking: Does your navigation make intuitive sense?  Does your help or search function return meaningful results?  Do you ask customers for information you don’t really need before checkout?  Even Apple’s help for i-Life suite could use improvement.

Visiting:  How does the facility look–fresh, neat, bright?  Start with the parking lot.  You’d never enter K Mart based on exterior maintenance.  Do associates greet you–and how?  How are stock levels–from literature to merchandise?  Consider Target and Wal-Mart.  Target may win for style but to know that the product’s in stock head to Wal-Mart.

It seems basic, but executing on the front line builds loyalty, which is a good investment in bad times.

Don’t friends count?

Aren’t critics relevant?

Who do you trust?

Today, most consumers consult blogs before making major purchases–more than ask friends or family.

Consumers always ranted and raved to acquaintances. And, now they do it anyone “Googling” your company, this redefines word-of-mouth from chat to broadcast.

The wired world magnifies the truism that we tell 4x more people about bad experiences than good.

“News” metastasizes at lightning speed. So, use it to your advantage.

The good news: like talk, electronic marketing is cheap. Maximize the opportunities:

• E-mail your customers and prospects–regularly.
• Build your own blog conveying your message.
• Monitor feedback relentlessly in virtual communities.