Cat's Eye Marketing Blog

Good Stuff You Might Have Missed: Friday Customer Relationship Gems

Sometimes, there is so much stuff out there that good things slip right by us.

I've been blogging once a week for almost two years now. I also write a weekly marketing e-tip. Content overlaps every once in a while, but not much.

What I believe

I believe in giving stuff away, lots of stuff. I believe that trust comes with generosity.

And I don't like hidden agendas.

They say:

"Subscribe to my cool, very helpful newsletter."

They mean: "I'm going to sell you as much stuff as I can in it."

They say: "Want short, useful tips you can read in 5 minutes or less?"

They mean: "If you are a speed reader, you can read my newsletter in 5 minutes. The tip is at the very end, after all the invitations to buy my e-books and attend my paid events."

Really, I don't like hidden agendas.

My Friday gift for you. Actually, 5 Friday gifts

Here . Some free stuff on customer relationship marketing. In case you can't afford those expensive CRM programs or that $200 dollar an hour-consultant.

Now these don't substitute for in-depth consulting, but they are things you can do—practical things—to improve your marketing and your relationship \with your prospect and customers, right now.

If you find this helpful, you can always sign up for my free (and "hype"-free) Marketing Hotspots, delivered to your in-box every Tuesday.

If you don't want to subscribe, that's cool, too. But accept these gifts anyway (if you'd like):

Multi-Sensory Marketing: A Tale of Three Little Customers- Did you know that your customers respond to your marketing and advertising messages based on how they best process information: visual, auditory or tactile? Find out how to use the right marketing strategy for each of these unique customer groups. 

5 Tips for Following Prospects and Customers without Being a Stalker- Ever been hit with the hard sell moments after exchanging business cards with someone? Eew! Learn how not to be that clueless person. How to keep in touch without being obnoxious.

Cookies, Milk and Scraped Knees: 6 Things Your Customers Wish You Knew- Find out what your customer is really feeling when they are reading your marketing copy. And how to recognize and address them.

Promises, Promises: 5 Ways to Build Customer Trust with E-Marketing- There's  a lot of slimy e-marketers out there. Here's how not to be one of them. How to build the customer trust that leads to sales.

5 Steps to Finding 'Warm' Prospects: Melting the Ice- Chipping ice off the windshield is hard. But of you take some time to warm the car up first…Well, you get the idea. How to warm up your cold prospects.

Okay, that's it. Hope these tips are useful. I write them with you in mind. Every week. Sign up here for a free subscription. But only if you want to. 

Do You Ever Lie to Your Customers?: Honesty, Fear and Teaching Pigs to Swim

It was a brilliant September day in 1973. What people in Spokane, Washington, call an Indian summer. Now I think we would call it a Native American summer.

It was the first day of my first year as a teacher and I was tied up in knots. Hadn't slept much, wondering what exactly I would do all day with 29 small, noisy people.

I had made detailed lesson plans. But, still, I didn't have a clue.

Teaching pigs to swim

I had a dream the night before. A nightmare, really. My principal, Mr. Buri, was standing at the side of a swimming pool.

He swung his head in the direction of the water. 

"If you want to work here, you have to know how to teach pigs to swim, " he said.

In the shallow end of the pool were four pigs with the largest snouts I had ever seen. 

"Well?" Mr. Buri said, his arms crossed.

That was when I sat straight up straight in bed, sweating, heart pounding.

A first day story

The next morning, I walked along the rows of tidy desks, placing a box of new Crayola crayons on each one. Even today, all I need is a whiff of that heady wax scent and it takes me right back to the classroom.

That, and the rectangular pieces modeling clay that reeked of oil and stained your hands in the one of the three available colors: Army green, chocolate brown or steel gray.

The 63-year-old teacher in the classroom next to me, with wise eyes and gray hair pulled into a bun, tipped me off about the clay.

"Honey, they're going to be scared," she said. " Give 'em the clay right away, when they first get here. It's hard as a rock. Working to soften it keeps their hands and brains busy and they forget their other problems."

She was right.

I gave each kid a piece of clay. Celia, a girl with frizzy red hair and a missing front tooth, let out a big sigh and pulled the wrapper off her clay. I had managed to distract her.

Then it started.

Chris, the tall, blond-haired boy in the second row I later would catch coloring his stomach—not coloring lying on his stomach; actually lifting up his shirt and coloring his tummy— sniffed. A lone tear trickled down his cheek. Katie, the girl to his left, was on the edge of her seat. She looked at me, her mouth a minus sign. Now everyone's eyes were on me.

Tell the truth

In a stroke of genius, I stopped acting like I knew everything in the world. I stopped acting like a teacher. I held up a piece of clay one kid had shaped into a ball.

"You know," I said, "I feel like this piece of clay."

Now the room was deathly still. 

"My stomach feels like it's rolled up in a thick ball. Were any of you a little afraid to come to school today? Maybe like you didn't know what was going to happen and you were afraid you would do things wrong?" 

At least 10 kids nodded their heads.

"You know, I'm scared, too," I said. "See, it's my very first day as a teacher. Ever. And I'm afraid I won't know what to do. How to do things right." 

I looked around, expecting some kid to say, "Look out. Ship's going down!" And a mass exodus of 28 six-year-olds, running for their lives.

What I saw instead was faces relaxing  and shoulders rising like ten pounds had been lifted from them.

Katie raised her hand. "I think you're a good teacher, Mrs, Dunn," she said with a lisp. A couple of other kids chimed in with simple words of encouragement.

The tide was turning. Why? Because I was honest with my students who, back then were my customers. It was a lesson that I never forgot. Honesty works.

Can you be too honest with your customers?

Now there are there those times with customers and clients where you just have to keep your thoughts to yourself.

If you are a surgeon and it's your first operation, you're not going to say to your patient, "Hey, it's okay to be nervous. I'm scared, too, because this is my very first surgery."

Or you're a pilot who just got her wings and your pathetic voice comes over the intercom.

"Good morning. We'll be flying at 39,000 feet. Just wanted to share with you that it's my first flight. I really hope I don't screw up."

Okay, you could say that, but it might not go over very well.

No one knows all the answers

You don't have to admit your fears and insecurities to your customers. But being open and honest with their questions can actually build trust and credibility.

Just last week, a client asked Bob, my biz partner, " Will these graphics work with the WordPress theme I'm thinking about using? 

Now, although some designers would be afraid the client would think they don't know their stuff, Bob's answer was, "I'm not sure. I'll check into that and get back to you."

Because, with new themes coming out all the time, it's impossible to know the features of every single one.

The client said, "You know, that's refreshing. My last designer would lead me down the garden path and I would find out later that it was bad advice. You actually admit it when you don't know something! 

How often do we do that?

We say, "Certainly. I can do that!" Then after the client walks away we say to ourselves, "How am I going to do that?"

Sometimes I say to a client, "I need to think about that. I'll get back to you."

It's okay to need time to think. To explore other options. To be a thinking, feeling person. To change your mind about something, even. It's what being human is all about. 

How about you?

When you react honestly, in the moment, or when you need time to think about the best strategy or service for a client, how do your customers respond? What if you change your mind about what they really need? Do they still trust you as a credible professional?

Would love to hear from you. 

Why Refusing Your Client's Money Can Be a Good Thing

Like most people, I like money. Really, I do.

As Adam Sandler said to Kevin Nealon's banker character in the retro-80s comedy The Wedding Singer,

"I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar."

If you own a business, you know that selling can be a beautiful thing. You do a job. Your client is happy. She pays you—money in the jar. Which makes you happy. You think of more things you can do for her. She pays you some more.

It's all good.

But what if making your client happy meant less money for you?

Imagine you are starting a new project for a client. Say, a website. Would you offer a solution that pays you less money but leaves your customer more satisfied? A better solution but a smaller invoice?

Example: A client wants one of those huge websites. You know the kind. With flash, multiple pages and complicated coding only you can mess with. A static website.

But you know a better way. A way that will cost less to design and be easier for her to make the changes she needs to without hiring you. That's right, one of those blog-websites that even the dumbest of the design illiterates can get into if they need to add a photo, change a phone number, delete an employee who's left.

Relationship marketing: attracting customers for life

Last Christmas Eve morning, in the middle of a snowstorm, the pastor of our church called us. We had designed (pro bono) the church's site. He was frantic because he needed the events page modified to let people know the Christmas Eve service was cancelled. Luckily, Bob was in the office and quickly made the change.

But it got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if our clients didn't have to call us every time they wanted to make a small change? Setting aside the charges (we hated billing for such a small amount of work), wouldn't it be a whole lot simpler if they could just make the edit on their end? Have more control over their own content?

And how would that affect the feeling they have when they see our name? Their level of happiness and trust, knowing that we want the best solution for them—not necessarily for our pocketbook—at any given time?

We made a change in our services. We are offering Wordpress blog-websites, at the fraction of the costs of a static site. So clients save in up-front design charges and in back end administration.

How about you? Do you ever sacrifice short-term gain, knowing that you are building incredible customer trust and loyalty? Does this philosophy make sense? 

5 Messages to Build Customer Loyalty: Lessons from a Grocery Store

What kind of messages are you sending your customers? Are they the kind that show that you understand them? I mean, really get their problems and needs?

Because, whether you know it or not, you are communicating to them, showing them how you feel about them, all the time. 

I stopped by a Top Food & Drug last week. I don't usually shop there. I was on my way back from a meeting with a client and it was right off the freeway.

I needed a box of cereal and a jar of marinara sauce, so I thought, "I'll stop by and see what's going on."

Actually, the real reason for my visit was something my client told me about the store that got the marketer in me curious.

"They've got a killer customer loyalty thing going on there," she said.

Okay, most every freakin' grocery store on the planet has a customer loyalty program: Reward Card, Club Card, Advantage Card. That's normal. Expected even.

But when I stopped by, I was impressed. No, amazed.   

With their free TOP Connection membership, this store takes the customer experience to a whole new level. By how they treat you, the customer, they are sending strong messages about how much they value you:

1. We know most days you don't really have time to shop.

Create your shopping list online, adding items from your shopping history, the weekly flyer, or a recipe. If you forget your list, just ask the folks at the guest service counter at the store to pull up your account and print you another one. 

What they're saying to you:

We value your time.

2. We know you appreciate the little unexpected extra's.

Print your coupons out at the store if you forget yours at home. No dollar amount limits on returns. Live people on the phones in the call center. Thank-you incentives.

What they're saying to you:

We appreciate your loyalty because we know there are so many other stores you could use.

3. We know it sucks when you buy something today and it goes on sale tomorrow. 

If the items you purchase go on sale up to 7 days later, you get credited the difference plus 1% on your card—automatically. You can spend it on anything in the store—or save it for a future purchase. If you lose your card, the store will roll you over to a new account without losing any of your benefits and credits.

What they're saying to you:

We want to save you as much money as possible.

4. We know that returning things can be a pain in the a*s. 

When you buy an item and are unhappy with the quality, call the 1-800 number and your purchase will be immediately credited. No need to even bring the item in. And the credit can be used the very next time you are in the store.

What they're saying to you:

We stand behind our products and know your time is valuable. 

5. We understand that sometimes you forget what you bought last time.

You get online access to your purchase history and can save recipes, so you know the name of that excellent cheese you bought and the ingredients in the soufflé you want to make again 

What they're saying to you:

We don't just want to meet your current needs; we want to anticipate your FUTURE needs.

Now, I'll admit. I've shopped at Top Food & Drugs a couple of times in the past and their prices seemed higher than other stores (though I can't be sure of that).

But at what point does price become less important than how you are treated as a customer, how much you are valued, how exceptional the products and services are?

What about you? Are you willing to pay a little more for such exceptional service and value?

Are you building customer loyalty by sending these kinds of messages to your customers, not by your words, but by what you do?

 

 

The Little Things: A Customer Service Story

I’m a fan of John Cleese and his old sitcom Fawlty Towers. It is the story of a crazy English innkeeper, his sarcastic wife and their bumbling staff. Basil Fawlty was always kissing up to his guests but, due to hilarious mishaps, could never quite live up to the superior customer service he wanted desperately to be known for.

Keeping customers happy in a service industry can be challenging But last weekend I had an amazing experience at a tiny, don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it restaurant on the Pacific coast of Washington. It was my in-laws’ favorite restaurant and it was the first time back there since my wife’s mom passed away.

I don’t know. It might have had something to do with the server being new. But I like to think that she just cared about her customers. Not long after she delivered our plates of food, we became quiet and a little sad, remembering all the other, happier, times we had been there. Seeing our unhappy faces—particularly my father-in-law’s— and hearing us whisper, she must have thought that something was wrong with the food.

She asked my father-in-law, “Is something wrong with your steak?” He frowned and said, “No, it’s good.” She asked, “Are you sure?” He said, “Why, yes. It’s nice and rare, just the way I ordered it.”

Five minutes later, the owner was at our table. “I’m hearing that maybe your steak was overcooked?” he said. “ I’d like to fix that for you.”

My father-in-law looked confused, but insisted again that his steak was fine.

It was looking more and more like a Fawlty Towers episode. Finally, my wife stepped in and explained that it was the loss of her mother we were all feeling and it had nothing to do with the food, which was, as always, wonderful. The owner must have wondered what to say. He could say he was glad we were happy with our food, but then we might think he didn’t care about the death in the family.

After an awkward pause, he found just the right words to say, then stuck around to chat a few minutes. Do I have a point here? Yes. That one small business owner went out of his way to make sure his customers were completely satisfied. It paid off. We ended up talking about the experience all the way home.

Thoughts on Giving

Yesterday I was working away at my computer, juggling two design jobs: a logo and a chamber of commerce directory cover. And it occurred to me: I was spending a good part of a day on pro bono jobs. The free services we provide for nonprofits can add up. Seems at any one time we are doing at least one pro bono project. Someone told me once I should stand in front of a mirror, pucker my lips, and practice saying "no". But there are just too many good causes out there.

The one thing I do feel strongly about is that if I offer to do something at no cost, I should treat it like any other project. That means scheduling rough and final draft deadlines—and meeting them. While it’s tempting to put those projects on the back burner, I have made a commitment and that organization, as appreciative they may be, needs their stuff on time, too.

Do I always practice what I preach? Most of the times, yes. But if I am swamped with huge projects, I occasionally find myself letting the "freebies" slide a little. Shame on me!

It’s About Respect: Thoughts on Customer Service

I tend to be one of those people who like to recognize outstanding customer service when I happen to be on the receiving end. I feel that it’s good for the employee and it’s helpful for managers to know. When it happens, I send a short e-mail, or write a letter, or pick up the phone.

When I am treated poorly, I also feel that is helpful information for a manager or owner.
At the end of November ’07, I purchased at set of Internet marketing-related DVDs from a very large, well-known information publishing firm. It was not my first purchase; I had also attended one of their copywriting conferences and taken a year-long marketing course from them.

The DVDs were priced at $149.95 and I was told that I had locked in “the very lowest price” by making my purchase when I did. I received my package in early December. Just ten days later, I opened an e-mail from this company’s internet marketing director, who offered me the exact same set of DVDs for $79.95. They were having a “Customer Appreciation” sale.

I wrote a letter mostly out of curiosity: why would someone pitch a “lowest price” offer and then send the same customer a second offer for the same product she just purchased, but this time at half the price? (It seemed to me that if it really wasn’t a “locked in-lowest price” deal, they would want to at least segment their lists so the $149.95 customers did not receive the second, lower-priced offer.)

In my letter, I asked for a $70 refund, just to see what they would say. I waited a month and got no response , so I visited the help desk on their website and copied and pasted in the same letter I had sent by U.S. mail. A week later I received an e-mail reply:

Dear Valued Customer, [not!]

Reviewing your account we see that you purchased the tapes on November 26, 2007.
We are not able to refund you the difference of the product as it was for a December end of the year special.

I hope that I have addressed all of your questions and concerns. If you should have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us for assistance.

Respectfully,

Company XYZ Customer Service

Now, mind you, this was a company I had already purchased more than $3,000 of products and services from. But the e-mail response was robotic in tone and did not address any of my concerns.

I think there are several marketing lessons here:

1. Keep your lists separate. A firm has every right to discount their product as much as they want, but at least segment your lists and don’t pitch a product to a customer who has just paid twice that amount for it.

2. Be honest. Don’t sell a “lowest price, locked in” offer that is blatantly untrue.

3. If you receive a “snail mail” letter of complaint, answer it. Anyone who has taken the time to compose a letter, address an envelope, lick a stamp and find a mail drop is very unhappy and deserves a reply.

4. It is in your best interests to keep your most loyal customers happy. I had already spent $3,000 and likely would have down the road been worth thousands more through additional “back end” sales. But I will never do business with this company again. Was it worth it to them just to save the $70 refund I requested?

As a manager, how would you have responded? Do you look at the long-term value of the customer when you make refund decisions?