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Tag Archives: Spontanaeity

How To Interrupt Your Customers Right Now

08 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by Andrew Rhodes in Uncategorized

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Effective Communication, Spontanaeity

A few days ago I was the victim of misguided marketing strategy. Let’s break it down one step at a time.

  1. I’m spending a few months in Canada, so I recently got a prepaid phone plan and a new SIM Card for my unlocked smartphone. So far so good.
  2. One week later I received a random call from one of the customer service agents of the company managing my new plan. This came after I had already opted out of their text message alerts (not-so-good), and the first thing the agent did was mispronounce my name (bad).
  3. The agent asked if I had a moment to go through the new service on the phone. I told her no, I didn’t, and asked her if she could email me. I admit, I was trying to make this a polite brush-off, but her response shocked me:
  4. “Actually, I cannot email you the information. Would you like to reschedule the phone call?” (worst)

There is a clear hierarchy in communication methods. In ascending order of detail:

  1. Very short messages of a general nature that do not require a response can be handled effectively via text (ie, account information)
  2. Brief messages that may prompt a response can usually be sent through email (ie, our privacy statement has changed)
  3. Longer, more detailed messages that will definitely motivate a response are best handled on a phone call (ie, Q&A sessions)

The higher the level of detail, the greater the level of interruption if the message is delivered unexpectedly.

Do you see the problem? I already told the company that I didn’t want to be interrupted with messages of Type #1… but then they immediately jumped to Type #3. This was their first mistake, and I hope it set off alarm bells at corporate headquarters

Their second mistake? I told them I wasn’t interested in talking with them on the phone, and they responded that they were only able to share this information on the phone at a later date, and they asked me to schedule a new time to talk. Wait… are you telling me you’re unable to make a gentle transition from one type of communication to another, even at a customer’s request? And you expect me to believe you can only share this information over the phone. Seriously?

How about an interactive online guide where I could see animations of the different features? Or what if you gamified the process and I could win a statement credit for different levels of engagement? Either of these options – and many more – would have been easy to implement and even easier to track through digital means. But if you the company are asking me the customer to reschedule an inconvenient event that I never wanted in the first place… kiss your customer engagement goodbye.

Now believe me, I understand the motivation behind their original strategy. Engage with your customers directly and you’ll have a better opportunity to upsell or cross-sell them on related products and services. Makes total sense. Too bad they missed all my non-verbal cues.

If you want to surprise your customers, make it spontaneous and delightful. If you begin with an interruption you’re already at a disadvantage. Not insurmountable, but why create a challenge unless there’s a gigantic upside? But if you then ignore the three levels of hierarchy in communication and try to pigeonhole your customers on top of that… you may as well hang up the phone now and spend the rest of the day practicing email etiquette. You’ll need it.

Customer Lifetime Value

11 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by Andrew Rhodes in Desserts

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Spontanaeity

Yesterday I offered a brief profile of a customer service train-wreck. In the end, everyone loses, including yours truly.

Today we’re on to happier times, a case of customer service that goes far beyond serving the customer.

How many times has this happened to you?

  1. You notice Product A on sale. You have enough Product A at home, so you pass.
  2. Now it’s been two days since you ran out of Product A, and you’re back. Remembering the sale you head to that aisle…
  3. … $%&! where is it? I can’t believe they ran out of Product A!
  4. You ask an employee to check in the back, hoping that today’s you’re lucky day…

At this point, I was expecting a letdown. When you see a popular item is gone, it probably means the store ran out. If it was so popular and they still had inventory, the shelf wouldn’t be empty, right? So what happened next took my breath away.

“Yeah… that’s too bad… I’ve tried ordering that item three times in the past week, and our warehouse has been out every time. But since we don’t have it, I’ll give you Product B for free.”

Wait… what?!?!

In this case, Product B was identical to Product A in every way except 1) It was twice as large as Product A, and 2) It cost more than twice as much as Product A.

“Thank you so much! Are you sure, you’re going to simply give this larger jar to me for free? That’s incredible!” I restrained myself from saying “awesome,” but if ever there was an awesome experience in retail, this was it.

“You’re welcome! Just show them the sticker so they don’t scan it. Have a nice day!”

What made this gesture so powerful was that it was completely unexpected and spontaneous. I go to this store a lot, and I don’t see anyone walking around with a scorecard with the heading, “How many times have I been spontaneous this week?” Excellent Customer Service doesn’t work that way: it needs to come from the heart.

Effective Customer Service, on the other hand, means responding to your customer’s challenges and solving them… but no more. When we advance to the realm of the Extraordinary, we solve their original challenge and their next five challenges all at the same time. Or we quickly solve their challenge and then help them derive other benefits from our service, even if it means fewer dollars in our pocket today.

In your company, do you wait for customers to encounter problems before you jump in and solve them? Excellent Customer Service has nothing to do with reacting and responding, and everything to do with attention and understanding.

Almost every other time that I’ve run into a situation with Product A and Product B, the employee will apologize that they’re out.. and then they’ll offer to order me a unit of Product A for pickup at a later date.

No! This is the correct response by-the-book, but with this answer you just missed an opportunity to create a customer for life! Don’t offer me a solution that makes me do additional work at some point in the future to receive a supposedly equal benefit.

I challenge you to provide a solution that multiplies my benefit, immediately.

Game On.

 

Products A and B from above happened to be different brands of Coconut Oil. This post is best enjoyed while nibbling some Chocolate Walnut Fudge.

 

For another look at two of my favorite companies who understand Customer Service inside and out, please enjoy my previous post For Those Who Serve.

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