Director of First Impressions? Oh, really?

Earlier this week, I had a meeting with a dear business colleague. It was my first visit to his office.

Upon my arrival, I was impressed by the unique, elegant design of this office space. It's one of those building that you pass by a thousand times but never enter. Seriously, I was "Wow'd."

Making my way to the rather impressive reception desk (i.e., hexagonal control center), I noticed an impossible-to-miss brass desk placard, emblazoned with the following title:

"DIRECTOR OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS."

Whoa, I thought. This outfit has it together. I was fully expecting to be blown away with a first-class greeting.

Instead, the middle-age lady seated within the impressive-yet-imposing reception hexagon had her head down. Her brain was buried in a spreadsheet. This lady never turned to greet me; her body was turned at a right angle to me. She was busy...too busy, in fact, to make eye contact with me. After an extended period of awkwardness, she said plainly, "May I help you?"

When I informed her whom I was there to see, without turning her head she buzzed my acquaintance on the intercom and shot me a sideways glance. Then, she informed me that "he would be with me in a few minutes."

Director of first impression? Sheesh! What a lame first impression.

Marketing geniuses know that if you are going to have a bold title like that one, emblazoned for all to see, you have to live up to its billing.

My take: the placard would have read, more aptly, "DIRECTOR OF LAME FIRST IMPRESSIONS."

More on Dry Cleaners, Poor Customer Service and Bad Attitudes

This is from a local marketing genius who works for a non-profit organization in Charleston, West Virginia. She's a real pro ... experienced and savvy. She gets it. If she sees this post and chooses to identify herself that's great. We'll leave it up to her.

Recently, I have experienced a definite "the customer is always wrong" attitude ... it is day and night between businesses where people really hustle for business. In places like Chicago, there is a lot of competition and a lot of opportunity, and client service is strongly ingrained in the population. In other places, folks sometimes behave like they are in a socialist country, where there isn't any incentive to work hard because the rewards are limited. Such attitude can really hold a place back from progress and growth.

Maybe it's the lack of competition or workforce challenges, but "my give a damn's busted" is definitely the approach of many business owners and workers alike. My husband and I have experienced this with lawyers and other professionals, down to cashiers and waiters.

Here's some recent examples:

Yesterday I went to Petsmart to get some stuff for my cat. One of my items rang up $2 more than the price on the display sign. When I pointed this out to the cashier, she got huffy, accused me of switching prices and then reluctantly said, "OK, I guess I'll refund your $2." I thought this could be a "teachable moment" for the manager, so I very politely relayed my experience and pointed out that they weren't doing me any favors, because the law requires customers to be charged the correct price. She didn't get it either and got very defensive.

My husband took a very expensive pair of pants to the drycleaners. He had just got them from Kelley's and they had been worn once. When he picked them up, he took them out of the bag and noticed that the cuffs were basically shredded at the bottom and the pockets were mangled. The owner of the shop was outraged that he had the temerity to inspect them in the shop and screamed "We do excellent work" and blamed Kelley's, saying they sell crappy merchandise. When my husband said he would be happy with just a refund of the cleaning costs, the lady threatened to call the police.

I'm loathe to pick on my new hometown, and I've certainly had customer service problems in Chicago, but I hate for this region to be held back due to this defensive attitude.

Just blowing off steam.....

Okay, marketing geniuses, what do you think? Have you had similar experiences? What is that difference-maker "ingredient?"

Follow-up to "The Way We Leave"

Back in September, I shared my story of how I "broke up" with my drycleaner.

Drycleaner "P" (my former drycleaner) blew it. Their lack of attention to detail, caused their quality to slip. Their front-line service personnel just were not friendly enough. I deserve someone who recognizes me and knows my name--and I used to get that at Drycleaner "P."

Cut to the chase ... and here's the news: they went out of business at the end of October. It appears that I was not the only one who quit them. Meanwhile, I am perfectly happy over at Drycleaner "G." My wife just commented on how much less we are spending on drycleaning.

Marketing genius takeaway: Never lose touch with the pulse of your customers. How much do they love you today? And how do you know this?

The Way We Leave

I quit my dry cleaner this month. Bolted ... dropped the deuce. Peace out.

Quietly, without drama or fanfare, I switched from Drycleaner P to Drycleaner G. I never told the folks at P that I was leaving. I seriously doubt if they have noticed. Once I had made the switch, I told three friends about my experience.

Why did I leave? And more importantly, why should you care? My behavior as a consumer was wholly typical and representative ... it's a mini case study. I left my drycleaner for the same reasons--and in the same manner--that all customer leave all service businesses.

Reason #1 - Quality.
Drycleaner P stopped being careful with my clothing. I don't have time to replace buttons, and I don't like to spend more money to buy new pants that have been nuked at 1000 deg Kelvin with old press pads. So, their quality of service plummeted.

Reason #2 - Service Personnel.
At Drycleaner P, the long-time service rep (the clerk who greets you and takes care of your pick-ups and drop-offs was friendly, polite and helpful. The person who was hired to replace her was zombie-like in her glazed over, cold, distant manner. It comes down to the leadership (in this case the owners). I want--and I deserve--friendly service from nice people. (Hey- this is West Virginia, after all.)

Most customers, when they leave ... when they decide to quit you ... do not leave in a bombastic, confrontational way. In fact, most never even tell you that they are about to leave. They just leave. And it's because of the fact that 96% of humans prefer to avoid conflict or confrontation. We simply do not like to address the unpleasant stuff, like complaining about something. Ironically, they won't tell you that they are leaving, but they will tell others (4 to 5 people on average) why they left.

What does this mean for you and your business?

From a basic business perspective, it provides a very meaningful reminder that you can never quit striving to provide the best service at a very high quality level. It is an absolute must to have the best, most capable, friendly people interacting with your customers.

Where does marketing fit in this?

Now from a marketing perspective, this story demonstrates that you have to ask your customers if they are satisfied. They will not initiate such conversations. Ask them: "How are we doing?" "What could we do better?" "Have we done anything to irritate you or anything that has inconvenienced you lately?" Marketing geniuses understand that marketing is a conversation and also a feedback loop. They know that marketing serves two masters: 1- finding customers and 2- keeping them happy.

The Dissapearance of Marketing Genius: Lesson #3

Background: Marketing Genius (i.e., this blog) was taken down on July 13. For the ensuing eleven-day period, we lost control of the blog and our domain. During that time, an unknown party seized the blog and began running spoof ads containing links to SPAM proliferation sites, plus other nefarious, unauthorized junk. The episode was a weird, dark abyss. Thanks to the efforts of many of you (our friends, readers and supporters - the marketing genius community), the blog was returned to us on Thursday, July 24. The events associated with the loss and recovery of this blog contain lessons for all bloggers.

So - here is the second lesson: The Power of Human Action

This lesson is a simple one--but very, very important. From the point at which a human got involved in helping to remedy the situation, the whole mess was fixed in less than an hour. Google PR/Security rep Meghan Lamb sprung into action following an inquiry from a reporter. She called me at 2:00 on a Thursday afternoon ... and by 2:45 I had my blog back.

This flurry of activity, this intervention ... this one fine afternoon, followed 11 days of nothingness. Oh sure, I got an auto-reply e-mail from Google within seconds after I had filed my official online complaint. But I have to tell you, in our increasingly automated, online, self-service world (think Orbitz, Amazon and Peapod), there is nothing to replace a live human being.

Working through Blogger/Google's online service processes left me wondering and feeling worried.

Working with a Google human being, a real person, left me feeling confident, calm and satisfied.

A quick aside ... a war story, if you'll indulge me. I think it is relevant and illustrative. Back in my days working at the state economic development office, we once arranged a fast-track business registration for a Nebraska company opening up a new facility in West Virginia. (Now this was 1995, the early days of the Internet, so most of the requisite filings and registrations were still paperwork processes.) We assembled all of the representatives from every necessary agency and division in one big conference room. Tax department, workers comp, unemployment office, secretary of state, environmental permitting, just to name a few. We set the room up like a "county fair." The folks from Nebraska filled out one master form and wrote three checks. The seven state agency reps shared the information and filled out the forms for the customer. We completed it all in 41 minutes. Without human action, the normal processes would have taken at least five weeks, probably longer.

Here's your question for the day, marketing geniuses: do your business processes offer some degree of human interaction, or are they entirely automated? Are you touching your customers and prospects sufficiently with human interaction? Do you make it easy for your customers to engage with you?

Referrals and Service Recovery

At Next Generation Marketing, we recently presented a great deal of information about referrals. I wanted to share some additional information and resources about this important topic. It's worth a deeper look.

We all know that people live, socialize and communicate within networks ... and today across social networks such as blogs, forums, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, etc. People talk about their kids, hobbies, their vacation destinations and their favorite sports teams; naturally people also share their experiences as consumers.

Studies prove this. The Coca-Cola Company conducted a study in the late 1960's and found that a highly satisfied customer is likely to tell four to five people, on average, about a positive experience. On the other hand, a bad experience will also be communicated—to an even greater extent. Coke learned that a dissatisfied customer is likely to spread the bad news to nine or 10 people.

Such information provides substantial motivation to the business owner to seek out and repair customer complaints. In fact, such situations create an opportunity for a company to inspire a loyal, engaged customer. (Remember, you cannot convert a customer to a loyal advocate. You have to inspire them to become advocates.)

When a company successfully recovers from a service snafu (i.e., makes it right for the customer and successfully addresses the situation), it can be a very powerful experience. The Coca-Cola study found that in service recovery situations the consumer is likely to share the news of the resolved problem with nine to 15 people. Today with the prevalence of social networking tools the numbers are likely multiplied. Still, the ratios are likely to remain intact.

As Justin Seibert explained: "You only have two opportunities to make a good first impression. One occurs upon initial contact; the other occurs after you've screwed up (and fixed things)."

Starbucks: Charlie from Bridgeport, WV

Allow me to introduce you to Charlie (photographed with permission by yours truly). Charlie is a barrista.

Scratch that. Charlie is a coffee guru. He knows coffee and espresso. He's passionate. Truly enthusiastic about coffee. It is obvious to anyone that Charlie loves what he does.

Wednesday afternoon, we made it a point to visit Charlie's Starbucks in Bridgeport, West Virginia. We've been following this whole Starbucks turnaround, along with several other bloggers, with great interest.

And so, on this cold, damp, windy March Wednesday, we wondered: following last week's company wide three-hour training shutdown ...

Would there be any palpable difference?
Had things changed inside this one Starbucks store?
Would we be able to notice anything?
What would employees report about the training episode?

We could not help but get caught up in Charlie's enthusiasm about coffee, as we listened to him advise a patron on choice of beverage. Painting an elaborate and engaging word picture, Charlie built the customer a caramel macchiato ... layer by layer. Ingredient by ingredient. Step by step. At each juncture, Charlie explained how each process and each layer added to the taste, texture and feel of the drink.

After eavesdropping on aforementioned conversation, we talked with (interrupted, quite truthfully) Charlie about the training.

Did last week's three-hour training make a difference? "Yes. The company has traditionally relied on a lot of book learning for new-employee training and orientation," Charlie explained.

"This week's training was hands-on. It allowed our employees to see, touch, feel, smell and hear how to make great espresso. How to serve it. It's one thing to read about it. It's another thing to demonstrate and to try it out. They encouraged us to make some mistakes ... milk that has been oversteamed and such. And to study the goof-ups. We all learned some things. I think it was much needed and it was beneficial."

Charlie continued, "I am really excited about having Howard Schultz personally involved in the business again. That really helps."

The answers to all of our questions had become evident in the form of Charlie and his passion. Kudos to Charlie and everyone everywhere who loves what they do. And here's to marketing genius Howard Schultz: congratulations on building a great brand--and having the pride, commitment and courage to rebuild it.

Post Script - In the name of balance and full disclosure, the staff did not ask our names to assign to our orders, nor did they call us by name to announce our drinks were ready. That would have been a nice touch. But I certainly appreciated the young lady's suggestion of a Peppemint Mocha, and it tasted especially delicious this time. It was richer and I sort of nursed it for about 40 minutes, instead of chugging it.

Talladega Days and Nights

Beginning today and continuing through Monday, I will be posting blogs from Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

I am here on behalf of a client who sponsors a race team on the ARCA series. I will be focusing on the sights and sounds of NASCAR, its applications as a marketing platform and lessons we can take as marketing professionals.

Right now, it’s 5:45am. At this hour, you'd think everything would be quiet. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is so much activity, and to get the full experience, I've decided to camp in the infield of the track. It’s a great view, but there is a catch. Once you enter the infield with your vehicle, you can’t leave until after Sunday’s race.

What does that mean? It means the local grocery stores were very crowded when I was there at 3:30 this morning.

One could easily expect the staff of these businesses to be rather anxious, flustered and perhaps even unprofessional at times given the increase of customers in the wee hours of the morning. I was quite surprised when the grocery store I went to chose to be proactive in their approach to customer service.

The store had the feel of a retail establishment. A team of employees greeted shoppers at each entrance. They shook hands, welcomed folks, and engaged in small talk. Staff floated in the aisles, maintaining the dialogue established at the door, and offering assistance in locating items. Their approach reminded me of Kelley's in Charleston, WV, with its personal shoppers helping customers select the perfect suit.

The tactic was very effective. Customers felt at ease despite the large crowds, early hours and fatigue.

If marketing is creating an environment in which sales can flourish, customer service is one very important way of controlling/maintaining that environment.

Something to think about.

Posted by Emily Bennington on behalf of Jim Nester