The Marketing Message Blog

A look back at customer satisfaction Feb 08: Still guilty of this?

I was thinking back to a post I wrote in Feb of '08 about a freakishly bad customer service incident I witnessed at a big retail chain store.  It got me thinking about whether sellers both online and off are 'freshening up' their customer service or just hoping the recession will end so they can go back to mistreating the customer. 

Read the post below and see where you fall on the customer satisfaction scale.  Although I hope that kind of thinking has been squashed by the economy, I'm not so sure.  What do you think?

Feb '08 post: I saw a very interesting customer service interaction in a major chain store the other day that I have to share. The woman ahead of me bought many items. The clerk handed her back a small shopping bag with all the items unappealingly squeezed in—almost bursting the bag.

When the woman asked for a larger bag, the clerk refused saying, Sorry I can only give you a bag that fits your items with no space or I could lose my job. The woman became annoyed (as I would have) and said, 'If I give you $5 dollars can I have a bigger bag?' At that point everyone in line joined the conversation and a larger bag was finally supplied.

When it was my turn, I asked the clerk why she could lose her job. She said the store was having theft problems and the way she was instructed to deal with it was to make sure that bags had no room to stuff extra merchandise.

Hmm, well that's one way to handle it—punish the customers who buy a lot. Make sure to think through your solutions to service problems, lest they have the opposite effect.

Don't wait for the coach to call you in- grow your business!

Today I have some thoughts about small business owners taking initiative online that I want to share with you.  

Although many of my clients are small business owners and entrepreneurs, some still retain the mindset of an employee.  What do I mean by that? 

I see that some of them are still waiting to be chosen by the 'coach' to go in, meaning that they are waiting to be selected to lead something. 

Online businesses are made strong when the leader appoints herself.  If you have a good idea or a way to make something happen for your business, you should seize it.  No one is sitting around thinking about how to grow YOUR business.

One result of information overload is feeling too overwhelmed to create a new product or start a new revenue stream.  Don't wait to be picked as the leader, it's your show now.

I am very serious about helping people take action to create new products and develop new revenue streams for their businesses.

If you want to take action on this for your small business I have the next round of my 4 week eClass starting August 10th. You can go here to find out more

But whatever you do, take action now.

Beware of One-Size-Fits-All Marketing Advice

One online business issue that I'm concerned about these days is that small business owners may not be getting the right marketing advice SPECIFIC to their business.  No matter who advises you or how much you pay for marketing, the advice is useless unless it solves your company's problems. 

As I listen to the stories that customers tell me about previous advice they've received, I've begun to realize that a lot of it is good general advice about online tactics, but it isn't worth much to someone who doesn't have that challenge.  Unfortunately, an advisor may not know how to apply real world thinking to abstract concepts. If they know how to grow a mailing list, that's the advice you get whether or not you have that problem.

For example, a local business doesn't need to gin up traffic from around the web unless she is focusing on broadening her offerings.  Someone who has an extensive mailing list doesn't need to focus on growing that as their first step, they need to look at how to convert more.

It's not my intention to criticize anyone, it's just to alert small business owners to make sure that when they hire an online advisor of any kind that they get measureable advice that relates specifically to their business. One size never fits all.

Creating marketing order from Chaos in bad economic times

Great article in July's delivermagazine.com by Anne Stuart called Create Order from Chaos She interviews marketing guru Philip Kotler about his new book "Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the age of Turbulence."

In his book, he has a wealth of information about how to adjust your marketing in these uncertain times.  He believes that consumer behavior is affected in three ways by this economy listed below. I comment on how this effects you as an online marketer.

1. They are shifting to lower price offerings:

This is not a shock to you.  You're doing it yourself, so you know it's true.  In the case of your current offerings, don't be loathe to examine how you can re-work some of them to reach a lower price point.  Don't feel that you are 'cheating yourself.' Look at it as a nod to reality and make sure you have a host of price points for every audience.  Also add value to lower price points you currently offer.

2. They are postponing or eliminating discretionary purchases:

This is a signal for you to look at your marketing copy and remember to REVERSE the risk as much as possible.  If you can remove the fear, you can get movement.  (Here's where you should be glad you're an ethical marketer who eschews the hyperbole.)

3. They are cutting back on eating out and driving and staying at home:

Perhaps it's time to turn that conference into an online offering.  Also you should be using tools like GotoMeeting.com so no one is spending money they don't have on travel. (Webster's dictionary added 'staycation' as a new word in case you're interested.)

Check out the article in which Kotler gives you eight ways to flourish now.

Can you spend 10 minutes a day thinking about your customers?

I'm sure you think my asking whether you can spend 10 minutes a day thinking about your customers is an odd question.  You probably spend hours thinking and worrying about them or the lack thereof.  But how productive is that time? 

Here's a tip that might help.  Each day when you sit down at your computer begin by spending 10 minutes asking yourself:

"What is the one thing that I can communicate today, that if my customers hear it, they will be one step closer to increasing their revenue."

Does it sound too simple? Write the answer down and then work it into a blog post, an email or a presentation and watch the quality of your content improve and your subscriber list grow.  Try it and let me know how it works for you.