The technology doesn’t really matter!

The was a time when a well crafted ad, placed in the correct environment was the way. However marketing has changed.

Customers are much less interested in messages that are pushed to them. They want to discover new & interesting things for themselves & then show their friends how clever they are at unearthing a great deal or recommending a winner.

Get inside your customer’s head

All you have to do is make it easy for them to ‘find’ your offering & share it!

The link between Google & social networks has never been more important. A friend highlights a great ‘new thing’, you start by searching it then maybe look for recommendations on social networks before sharing it with your friends. But here’s the critical point – it will only get shared if it’s either very bad, which of course you want to avoid, or it makes the sharer look good. 

The best content is not only a good read & easy to comment on but it is also easy to share & gain some kudos in doing so.

Here’s some tips on how to improve your content;

• Pictures are better than words: video, photos, infographics etc
• Add share options to everything
• Tell  the story behind your product
• 140 characters is a good target: customers are used to short text
• Be funny, approachable, honest & credible
• Seek feedback, what do people think?
• Will your content impart some credibility to your customer?
• Only the best deals will do
• Don’t forget the keywords & remember to research the results

Social media can kill your business!

I’ve written quite a lot about the importance of social media; how easy it is to connect with potential & existing customers but here’s the problem, if you don’t CARE you will lose business.

I’ll come back to the C.A.R.E acronym but essentially social media can expose your good customer service as inadequate in today’s digital world.

Here are 5 tips that if followed will turn good customer service into a competitive advantage by delighting your customers;

1.    Map and communicate your customer journey

Even if it is a short relationship, make sure your customer & your team know what’s going to happen & when – there should be no surprises!

2.    Good advice

Your organisation should be the go to people when it comes to advice on your product & market. Make it easier for your customers to freely benefit from your product or service.

3.    Always learn

Foster a culture where you are always looking to improve & innovate. Ask your customers, research your competitors, and ask yourselves where improvements can be made. Then make sure you make them!

4.    Consistent

Your brand can only grow if you consistently add to its equity. Simply put only

“Make promises you can keep and keep the promises you make.“

With all the tools available online you have little excuse to keep a close eye on your promises e.g. turnaround and response times, speed of web pages, delivery timings etc

.5.    Continuous improvement

Customers expect the service level that is right for them so you can no longer have a standard rather a current service level that might well be better tomorrow.

Most customers don’t buy just the cheapest. They consider if there’s an additional ‘price’ in dealing with a company. Make sure that other ‘price’ is excellent value through excellent customer service.

 C.A.R.E.?  Customers Are Really Everything

Here are some of my previous posts on becoming a better customer centric organisation;

Don’t talk when selling!

How being too helpful isn’t helpful when it comes to sales

Free or Fee?

10 ways to become a better business

Social media drives purchase & recommendation

How being too helpful isn’t helpful when it comes to sales

Having spent some time recently helping on a client’s customer service line, I’ve talked to quite a few people who just can’t seem to make up their mind. We go round & round as they ask for more clarification on what I think is a fairly straightforward decision.

My first reaction was to put it down to plain indecisiveness but when I sat back & thought through the calls again, I realised being more helpful wasn’t helping! The more choices I supplied & the more questions I answered, the harder the decision became & in the customers eyes, the more important it became.

On hindsight I should have taken them back to the start of the call & provided a simplified choice such as;

“As I see it you have two choices, Product A or Product B. Now Product A has features x, y and z whereas Product B has features w, x and y. From what we’ve discussed, Product B is really what I think you are looking for. Does that seem right to you? Yes I agree, let’s sort out (next steps)”.

Of course you can up the ante if the intention is to try & get your product on a consideration list. Here a few choice technical descriptions & longer explanations of the benefits can help to increase the perceived importance of your product.

However, for me less is definitely more. Fewer options, straightforward language & explanations, easy to follow & short process all make it much easier for the customer to go along the decision path you are pointing out.

So next time you feel yourself slipping into the mire with a customer, remind yourself it’s not them being difficult or indecisive but probably you being too eager to help – get back to the straightforward choice & help them follow that easy path to a sale.

Free or Fee?

A quick thought on fees.

Never underestimate what you may think is an inconsequential service fee! Customers don’t like getting to the point of purchase, suddenly to find you are going to charge them another few pounds ‘for service’.

Remember the mindset is I’m buying the product, why do I have to pay for it to work or arrive?

There is an opportunity here to bundle delivery for example into the overall price. Free Delivery is very persuasive.

If you do have to add a charge, consider carefully the amount. 90 pence is psychologically very different to £1.

Is traditional marketing really still relevant?

More buyers are using the likes of Facebook, Twitter, customer review sites & their own word –of-mouth networks to inform their buying decisions. Particularly for smaller businesses, this leaves some big questions on whether traditional forms of marketing such as advertising & branding are really relevant anymore.

What good is high brand equity when it can’t be linked to business equity or measured in relation to business value?

And another thing! Why do firms who have started to embrace social media hire people to manage their activity who have no connection with the firm’s customers, products or markets? For social to work effectively you must be personally interested in the product & have experienced it’s benefits or you stand little chance of persuading people to part with their hard-earned money.

The new model then is still evolving but here are 3 connected elements;

Community marketing

Give your customers an easy way to share their views with their own local communities. Seek out those influencers who may not have bought a great deal from you but who can communicate with a wide potential audience.

Give these MVP’s (Most Valuable Professionals) lots of insider knowledge to share, previews of new products, special deals etc

Building social capital

By treating these MVP’s well you don’t always have to resort to traditional inducements. Instead give them proof of benefits, research facts, ‘did you knows’, powerful tips etc & they will use them to build their own social reputation & affiliate networks which in turn will help your business.

Involving customers in your product

By this I mean do everything possible to turn customers into advocates. If your product works & ‘does what it says on the tin’ then encourage customers to form groups to spread the word.

Perhaps you have some killer research fact they can get behind, maybe a competitor is doing something which you disagree with, maybe you have a new product that is just better.

The keywords in this new approach are;

• authentic customer relationships
• peer influence &
• community-oriented

Get these into your strategy & you won’t need traditional marketing!

Top 5 attributes of a friend!

New customer + right product + trusted recommendation = sale

Today with millions of brand conversations happening every day, I would estimate 8 out of every 10 purchases have been influenced by a trusted recommendation, whether from family, friends or a respected person.

Are you helping your brand advocates refer you business? Here are 5 tips on becoming their best friend; 

 1. Know your customers

Somewhat of a recurring theme of mine but once you have an acute understanding of your customers you can offer relevant advice that solves their problems

 2.    Legal, decent, honest & truthful

The Advertising Standards Authority mantra is a good one to chant at every customer touch point.

Those brands that consistently deliver customers expectations & as such are seen as reliable, will gain trust. In hard economic times, trust will support your business through recommendations.

 3.    Predict what your customers need

The vast majority of customer decision-making is subconscious. If you have & continue to work on that deep knowledge of your customer’s personalities, motives & needs you will soon be able to offer solutions before your customers really know they needed them!

 4.    Listen & ask questions

Find out what your customers thought of your service. Respond to queries & answer problems quickly with the Advertising Standards Authorities mantra in your ears.

Happy customers are advocates who will come back & bring their friends with them!

 5.    Core customers are king

This was a theme from an earlier post but I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to keep this group well informed. Reward their loyalty, remembering to be consistent & you should in turn be rewarded with positive comments & referrals. 

Every time you are about to ‘market’ your business, be that at a networking event, an email, a Tweet, a sales pitch, a post or call, remember to act like the friend you would want to have. Your advocates will buy your services AND help to sell your business for you just because you understood & treated them well.

Be predictable in your marketing!

Sounds strange but there is some logic to making sure you sell  in a predictable & consistent fashion. However that doesn’t mean under delivering on service or not meeting customer expectations. Let me explain.

That all important customer satisfaction that leads to a marketer’s dream of customers selling for you comes directly from what they expect, rather than what a business might provide. In selling we have to ensure that the two are as closely matched as possible.

The only way to achieve this is through deep understanding of how these customer expectations are set. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you will see this theme crops up time & again – understand you customer.

Today’s customers are coming to a purchase decision armed with a set of expectations that have been developed through reading blogs, articles, opinions from family & friends, work colleagues, competitive sites & reviews. If the business hasn’t grasped the concept of inbound marketing then it can have little effect on these expectations.

What’s inbound marketing? In my book it’s any activity that leads a warm customer to your business because of something they have found compelling, interesting & engaging. The direct opposite of this is more traditional  push activity that tries to force a message on an increasingly sales message adverse audience.

The old adage was ‘exceed your customer expectations’ or ‘under sell & over deliver’. However in today’s online world if you oversell for one customer it is quickly shared to becomes the norm that all other customers expect. Beware if you only provide your previous normal service to the next customer!

Aim for consistency & predictability that you can deliver & that your customers can share & understand when they repurchase.

A great example is the Dutch company, Brabantia. Their reputation has been built on high quality products but they had an issue with an early model where the bin lid failed. Recognising the expectation equation they will today replace for free any genuine faulty lid under their guarantee. Email customer service & your free, new lid will be dispatched the next day. Customers now expect this level of service from Brabantia. You can bet the newer models don’t have a lid issue, however it’s much more expensive to try & ‘buy’ the level of positive feedback that this has achieved.

Try Googling ‘Brabantia bin lid’ & read a few of the great comments shared on sites such as Mumsnet.

Great expectations when buying a new bin that Brabantia have shown they can consistently meet.

My new lid should arrive next week!