If there is one way to create a better customer experience, it’s this: Advocate.

The term advocate is used a lot when referring to kids in the court system, patients in hospitals, and others who can’t necessarily stand up for themselves. Caretakers are encouraged to advocate for their loved ones – ask questions, probe deeper, be sure you understand the necessary steps to treatment.

But who is advocating for your customers? In 2011, we had some unreal examples of when companies did the opposite of advocating. They became antagonists to the very customers they are supposed to serve. It’s easy to think of these big brands as nameless, faceless corporations. But anyone who has worked within the walls of such an organization understands these companies are made up of people, just like anywhere else. So how does stuff like this happen?

1. Netflix, once a darling of their customers, decided to recreate their business model without warning or consideration of the impact of these changes on their customers. Once loyal customers quickly became detractors – posting and shouting about the poor decisions to anyone who would listen. Netflix quickly had to back off the changes and apologize.

2. Bank of America, not necessarily known as a “warm, fuzzy” company to begin with, solidified their position as the poster-child big, bad company by introducing a fee for customers to use their very own debit cards to access their very own money. Quickly, customers not only took to social media but also to the streets to protest. BOA, like Netflix, had to back off this change and attempt to apologize. It seems a little too late – customers are leaving big banks in droves to avoid the feeling of schmuckery that comes with being a customer.

3. And, most recently, Verizon Wireless felt the sting of bad decisions when they, too, had to back off from a new customer fee they proposed.

What happens inside those walls? I can only imagine the conversations – something along the line of this:

CEO:  ”We need more money! Money, money, money….grumble…”

Chief Fee Officer: “How about another fee? We can just RENAME the service we’re already providing, tack on a fee, and then watch the money roll in!”

CEO: “Yes! Call in those marketers. Come up with a snazzy name just in case someone actually reads the statement!”

Then the marketers lock themselves in a room, create a fantastically-inaccurate title like “Customer Choice Selection Investment,” then carry on with their lives.

I don’t think people who work in these companies are really awful or simple-minded AT ALL. I believe they are smart people who are asked to do simple-minded things.

And they are never asked to advocate for the customer. They are never asked to step back, think of what actions like this would REALLY do to the customer relationship, or the consequences of those actions. It is never part of the job description.

If someone in the room would ask those questions, we’d live in a better world.

Shame on them. Shame on the financial types who never “work the numbers” for what scores of canceled subscriptions, bad PR, and completely negative word-of-mouth could do to the company. Shame on the marketers who never stand up and say “this is BS.” Shame on the C-level for assuming customers aren’t paying attention.

Customers, FINALLY, have a voice. And we’re not afraid to use it. It’s time to advocate inside your company’s walls FIRST. Don’t end up on the list of bad moves.

Photo Credits: tray via Creative Commons

 

But I struggled with the headline, which read: Ease of Making Connections.

Ease? It’s not necessarily easy. In fact, there are days it feels like real work. Don’t get me wrong, I love the people and opportunities I’ve found through Twitter, Facebook and other social media, as the article so nicely states. I have no issue with the content or the reporter. In fact, I would say Sandra Guy is about as professional as they come – including me in drafts and otherwise offering courtesies other journalists don’t. But that headline made me think: Did I make it sound too easy!?

This is the ongoing myth of social media: It’s easy and free. It’s neither. Your time is valuable, and if you’re not being strategic then it’s time to pack it up. You are wasting time.

Here are some ideas on strategic ways to use social media:

• Go forth with a purpose. The ones who claim that social media “doesn’t work” are the people who click on every link describing videos of dogs talking or Scarlett Johanson’s latest photos. Be disciplined. Don’t click!
• Don’t suffer fools. There are fools, fanatics and freaks all over these here interwebz. Believe me, they will comment, tweet back and demand your attention. You could waste a day in “dialogue” with them. Or you could just get your work done.
• Good online citizens repay kindness with more kindness. It’s nice when someone acknowledges, retweets or shares your content. Thank them, and spend a little time to see if you can help them in their endeavors, too.
• Your content may need boundaries.  I rarely mention politics because that’s not why I’m here. I don’t comment just to make someone feel bad. And I enjoy a good laugh, but not at the expense of others. Bullies are already getting too much attention. Let’s not add to that online.
• If you have a topic you want to lead, then lead it. Those folks who go to the effort of setting up LinkedIn groups, online forums and Facebook pages WANT you to participate. You can’t be a thought leader if you never want to share your thoughts!

Photo Credit: HA! Designs – Artbyheather

 

Review and reflections from all angles

Much has been written. This collection from Urban Omnibus is comprehensive and full of angles missed elsewhere.

“In a culture where fear and anger are primary motivating factors for action, an understanding of love is one of the best tools we have to fight against terrorism and injustice.“

Patirck Groneman simply states the idea that reflecting on love is worth more than the worst evil and loudest critics in this piece on the Huffington Post. It’s an idea that’s still important, still needed and still underestimated.

Reflection is needed on a daily basis, and too often I’m guilty of letting it go. I don’t make time for it and this whole weekend has made me think I should.

How do you reflect?

Photo credit Into the Wild via Creative Commons

 

Imagine you sign up for a service which you believe will help you rent your place out for a week. You sign the papers, pay the invoice and find a tenant. Woo hoo! The renter goes through the same service you signed up for, and you feel a trustworthy agreement was made. Then you come home to damage beyond your wildest imagination. To make matters worse, you realize that nobody – not you, not the company through which the agreement was made – knows who this renter was. Fake information was used and you were left with a life turned upside down.

That’s what happened to a customer of AirBNB, and most people who heard this heartbreaking story of unwarranted destruction and devastation asked the same question: If this could happen, what the heck were those membership fees for? There were really no background checks, no security measures, nothing. As the customer pointed out, it was pretty much just like Craigslist with fees, but no warnings.

The micro (one person’s experience) became macro: if this could happen to one, could it happen to many?

And then there was a really thoughtful response from AirBNB. It was good – it shows thinking about the future. (Also, props to them for using a promoted tweet to spread the word – nice thinking!)

The customer, who is also a blogger, has been chronicling the experience in detail. The reply to the statement from AirBNB was honest. Basically – the feeling is: That’s nice. Happy you’re thinking about the future. But what about the micro here? It’s not over for this one customer who is putting a life back in order. I hope that AirBNB goes back to the micro intent here. Make it right for one AND all.

When micro doesn’t go macro

A few months ago, I wrote about my feelings of apathy for ADT. Well, they heard about it and got in touch. I heard from a customer service representative, had a service call, and my problems were solved. After a few years of frustration, a single blog post and a few tweets were all it took. Instead of the typical fee for a service call, they sent someone to fix what was installed incorrectly for no charge. Of course I was happy MY problem was solved. When the follow up call came, I said it was all fixed now (3+ years later!) and they went on their way. But I’ve wondered: what really changed!? Other customers are living what I lived with simply because it was too painful to do anything about it. They may not be bloggers or tweeters.

The micro AND the macro

There are times you need to step back and look at both sides of the coin. If ONE customer has an issue, it’s critical to realize it’s probably an issue MANY customers are having. What can you do to proactively address the issue?

At the same time, sometimes addressing the macro isn’t enough. You need to go back to the one customer, the one issue and ensure that it’s resolved.

How does your organization handle the one-off customer fires? Are they quickly extinguished and forgotten? When do you take the time to examine the macro of the issue? Complaints are a gift. Resolution is a prize. But only if you make it work for one and all.

Photo credit lucy_hill via Creative Commons

 

When considering why Borders is shuttering while Barnes & Noble seems to thrive, I believe there are some lessons:

1. Don’t bank on the device, tool or tactic.

Borders invested in music and movie products in the 90′s. Selling DVD’s is not a strategy. It works pretty quickly against you when we all start streaming video. This is happening all over the place with companies popping up relying completely on the platform of Facebook, Twitter or the like. This is not a strategy. It’s a way to follow a tool for a while. Tools fade away when new tools appear (Google+, anyone?) Rely on a strategy of serving your customers with bigger ideals.

2. Innovate, innovate, innovate.

What have you done for us lately? If you are not providing the “next best thing” then you will be passed by with the real next best thing. Don’t become complacent because you won the “best startup” prize of 2004.

3. Go where your customers are going; don’t force them to follow you.

Borders didn’t see the e-reader as competition soon enough. They still didn’t have a strategy for e-readers being integrated with their inventory during the holiday season of 2009. By this point, Barnes & Noble was seeing “huge demand” for their Nook devices. Borders failed to see where customers were going. They didn’t pay attention to the their road, and as a result allowed their customers to go elsewhere without much of a fight.

Closing up shop, especially one of this size and stature, is never easy. Perhaps we can all learn something for our own businesses and look for ways to go where our customers are going. Start thinking about it today so you don’t regret it tomorrow.

Photo Credit: ScottSchrantz via Creative Commons license

 

Yesterday, my friend ( and occasional foe, but that’s another story) Gini Dietrich blogged over at Spin Sucks about how Gary Vaynerchuk used a (misleading? misrepresented?) statistic to prove a point in his book The Thank You Economy. Let’s just say it caused QUITE the conversation. (And I’m not bitter because I had the guest post on the same day. Nope, not at all!)

I’ll let you investigate on your own and peruse the comments here.

One result of the conversation – some of which was outright bashing – was the subject himself, Gary Vaynerchuk, joining in the discussion and addressing the comments head-on. What was ultimately refreshing about it was his focus on learning, even when he had to repeat over and over that he both agreed with what most were saying AND he was sorry he upset anyone.

Feedback is something I’ve tackled in this blog and with clients. It’s never easy. Accepting feedback for what it is – a gift – is difficult.

Gary was gracious, sometimes frustrated, and always HUMAN. It was an excellent lesson in how to accept feedback, even when you don’t like what someone is saying. Here are a few lessons Gary taught all of us:

• Listen first.
  • While some commenters just wanted to join in the chorus and sing along with the Gary-bashing, there were at least kernels of truth in what they said. Gary patiently and repeatedly said “I learned from” or “Thank you…”
• It’s ok to ask questions.
  • In some cases, defending yourself is as simple as asking the question. “Did you read the whole chapter?” He asked these questions without resorting to ALL CAPITALS or other freaking! devices to show his frustration and immediately cause an uproar. They were simple, honest questions.
• Humans get frustrated.
  • After 122 comments (and counting) of many people saying the same thing, some of whom started by saying “I’m so sick of…” anyone might feel the heat. Gary expressed frustration but mostly turned it around by saying “I GET IT! I really do!”
• You can acknowledge missteps without admitting failure.
  • Some companies/leaders get so hung up on not wanting to join a conversation because it would be “admitting defeat.” Gary basically said he learned from this, but didn’t need to say he was WRONG with a capital W.

The basic lesson for all of us is to pace ourselves when responding to this type of feedback. I thought both Gini and Gary handled their parts of the conversation well. And I give Gary a lot of credit for just showing up!

Full Disclosure: I make no bones about being a fan of both of these people, as I mentioned in the comments of Gini’s post. I don’t receive anything from either of them, except for the ways they educate me!

Photo Credit: TheFemGeek

 

SOBCon is one of the smallest conferences I attend. And I love it for that reason. Instead of watching from the sidelines, EVERYONE is involved and participating. The speakers are humble and yet top-notch, and after their presentation they sit with you for lunch or mastermind problems at your table.

It is both inspirational and humbling. I got lots of doses of heavy wisdom which made me rethink my business strategy, my web site, my priorities, and everything in between. But I also became aware of how much I COULD be doing to make the world a better place.

There are many lessons from SOBCon.

Dream Big.

Start Small.

Be Kind.

Don’t Give Up.

Stay Humble.

Work Hard.

Create Your Own Luck.

Let’s be honest, these are not revolutionary. They are things we have said before and will say again. We will compare notes on the best way to say them, but overall these are lessons we all try to remember in our own daily grind.

But it boils down to this for me…Listen.

Ask that voice in your head, the one who criticizes and judges and whispers “you can’t,” to vacate the premises for once. Really listen to what others are teaching you. And then ACT.

That’s one lesson I believe we all need to hear more than once. The trick is to really hear it.

There have been several great posts from attendees of SOBCon ’11. Here are two of my favorites:

Barry Moltz summed up his experience as a very active listener (thanks to losing his voice) with Favorite Quotes at SOBCon 2011.

Steve Woodruff summarized the amazing types of people you’re guaranteed to meet in his post The Five People You Meet At SOBCon.

Photo Credits: The awesome and friendly Shashi! His Flickr stream is here. Enjoy.

 

What could I say on Monday that could – or, perhaps more importantly, should – break through the din of American flag waving and the tweet that launched a thousand journalists?

Osama. Dead. Our brave guys coming out of it safely.

THAT was the conversation.

I quickly took the post down. (I promise I’ll post it this week.)

And herein lies the challenge. We have all this great technology which helps us schedule and push out updates, photos, videos, blog posts, newsletters and more content content content. We “set it and forget it,” moving on with the other 156 things on our to-do lists.

But all that automation is worth diddly and squat if it’s not relevant. And many, many things are NOT. Word-of-mouth power is in the relevance of the conversation. And if it’s way off, guess what? You, and your company, your blog, your point-of-view, seems tone deaf. It is obvious you are not listening – just pushing, promoting and forcing conversations that don’t feel authentic or relevant.

While some brands become the conversation (hello, i-anything launch!), many are trying to figure out what WOM is all about. It’s a huge challenge, but also an opportunity.

We are in the midst of amazing times. When was the last time you heard anything relevant on the local evening news? By then, the news is old and you heard it straight from the horse’s mouth on Twitter, then quickly discussed it with your friends on Facebook. (In fact, Gini Dietrich wrote a really good post about how social media spread the news of Bin Laden’s death.)

Word-of-mouth is so many things. It’s social media and your best friend and discussing the cool gadget that stranger has on the train. It is product samples and blog comments and employee town halls and everything in between. And each of these has to work together as part of your overall customer experience.

And each of these things must be relevant. Relevance is fleeting, because what’s relevant one day might not be the next. How do you stay relevant?

Photo Credits: Steve Heath (illustration) & John McNab

 

I couldn’t help but nod my head along for a variety of reasons.

Personally

Who among us hasn’t wasted a few hours searching for people from our past or present who don’t work as hard/know as much/care for people like we do, yet have achieved something we label as “success.” It’s easy with Google and Facebook and Twitter to track those we both emulate and envy with a capital “E.”

As a working mom, there are times I wonder how others do it. How do they have a best-selling book, perfect body, outrageous speaker’s fee, or (annoyingly) consistently good blog IF they are juggling the same homework dilemmas, housecleaning disasters, potty training accidents and occasional date nights that I am?

Then, something ugly happens. I rationalize it. My mind takes over to convince me those successful people don’t have it all. Their life doesn’t match mine. Something is amiss. Their marriage is in shambles, their speaker’s fee is a farce, and their children turn in their homework late.

Of course, that’s that green-eyed monster helping me out there. When I take a breath and realize it’s a big world with plenty of space for HIS success and HER success and MY success, I am much happier. And the irony is that I am more productive and doing better work, too.

And Now a Word about Customer Envy

My clients, searching for ways to overcome their own insecurities about the economy/ the price of manufacturing/ the upstart competitor taking their customers away, refer to other companies in the same way.

• “I heard Zappos pays their service people WAY too much. We could never do that.”
• “Apple gets all the good engineers.”
• “We can’t afford the advertising like E*Trade.”

Well, that’s probably true. So what? What will you do with YOUR unique experience to provide customers with a memorable experience with YOUR company?

Don’t let jealousy get in the way. Don’t rationalize your way out of creating a special experience for your customers.

And me? I’ll work on celebrating fellow successful working parents, thank you very much.

Photo credits: sean_oliver & _tarO_

 

I dare say people who don’t even know they’re discussing it are thinking about the overall customer experience. So here are 3 themes I’ve heard from panels at South By Southwest Interactive last week.

1. Employees matter. Their empowerment is the single most important thing you can do to engage customers.

Josh Bernoff and Ted Schadler covered this quite a bit in their Empowered session. Your employees will empower themselves whether you like it or not – it’s best if you play along and empower them for good.

2. Support needs a seat at the table.

Frank Eliason certainly made a strong case for this in the Kill Your Call Center session. Don’t just share the good customer support stories with your executives – share the real life nightmares. Otherwise, it’s too easy to marginalize support. It’s part of the greater experience and should be treated as such.

3. Think big. But start small.

Social media isn’t going anywhere, but you don’t need a million Facebook fans to qualify as a brand with evangelists. Laura Beck of My Striped Shirt asked us to consider if we could get what we needed from 100 True Fans – a concept she credits to Scott Olson.

It’s an interesting question. Is 100 true fans enough? I’m on the fence on this one but believe if you create a true, memorable and engaging experience for 100 fans they’ll do more for you than 10,000 “fans” created by a short-term promotion.

My mind has been processing all the information, connections and ideas from SXSW Interactive. Essentially, the entire event gives me hope. Yes, there were logistical nightmares and annoying egomaniacs and too many people. But overall, there is a sense of innovation and “yes, and” mentality that is energizing. And isn’t that what experience design should be about?

Photo credits:  Ben Saren and draggin