Customers/Clients

Do you subscribe to the subscription trend?

January 23, 2019

You can subscribe to just about anything today. I can remember, as a kid, that one of our neighbors got a fruit of the month shipment. We were fascinated by what kind of fruit he might get the next month and when the box arrived – we were all there for a peek and a taste. It wasn’t just that we didn’t see a lot of papaya in Minnesota, but it was the novelty of the monthly shipments.

Fast forward to 2019 and you can subscribe to pretty much anything from razors to dog toys to clothes, cosmetics, ingredients for a complete dinner or fine wines from a specific region of the world. On the B-to-B side, there’s Leadership in a Box, MentorBox and many more. In case you think it’s all consumable products, Porsche even has its own subscription offering.

There are quite a few websites dedicated to telling buyers about their subscription options. Those websites had over 37 million visitors in 2017 and the numbers are rapidly climbing. It’s a fascinating cultural shift and it’s worth thinking more about, in terms of how we go to market with our products and services.

Like most trends, this one snuck up on us a little. Technology made companies like Netflix and Spotify seem natural. Why wouldn’t we want hundreds of thousands of movies and other videos at our fingertips for a small monthly fee? Why buy CDs when you can mix and match your music on a whim for a few dollars a month?

The subscription market has grown by more than 100 percent a year over the past five years, according to McKinsey and many of the big brands like P&G, Under Armour and others are now jumping in. 46 percent of consumers subscribe to some sort of streaming media service and if we have one, we’re likely to have more. The McKinsey study found that the “median number of subscriptions an active subscriber holds is two, but nearly 35 percent have three or more.”

What are the elements that make a subscription model work?

Personalization is key: In many cases, it’s the ability to cherry pick the items or types of items that are appealing to the subscriber. The personalization might also be in frequency of delivery or the number of items in the shipment.

A specific why: Some subscription services like Dollar Shave Club are all about having a steady supply of the items. The fashion boxes are all about having someone else recommend the right look for you and then do all the work of putting together just the right pieces. Some are a blend of the two. The meal subscriptions are about having someone else figure out what’s best for you and serving it up right when you need it. The B-to-B boxes like MentorBox are about access to information and insights.

Creating a connection: All subscribers drift off eventually. The key is to maintain the subscription for as long as you can. The longer they subscribe, the more profitable it is for you. The tone of your communication, the access you offer to your CEO or leadership team and the secrets you let your subscribers in on can all deepen the relationship and extend the subscription.

Build a community: There’s incredible power in word of mouth, referrals, and reviews for subscription services. Find ways to connect your subscribers, whether it’s a Facebook group, a car window decal or exclusive events where they can meet in person.

What do you think? Could your business jump on the subscription bandwagon? Before you dismiss it out of hand, do a little legwork. I think you’ll be surprised about who is active in the space.

 

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The cost of apathy

January 9, 2019

I live out in a newer suburb. I say “out” because bits of civilization have not reached us yet. There’s no movie theatre or Target (hopefully both are coming soon), and there’s no Panera. For my family, this almost put our location out of the running when we were ready to move.

On occasion, I’ll make the run into a closer suburb for everyone’s favorite Panera breakfast items. Round trip, including order time, is 45 minutes. So imagine my irritation when I got home a couple of weeks ago to discover that all the egg and cheese sandwiches were missing a key ingredient – the eggs.

Here’s the truth for all of us. No matter how hard we try – we’re going to disappoint a customer. It’s inevitable. The good news is that depending on how we respond to the mistake, we can either deepen the relationship or lose the client.

Re-earning a customer’s loyalty doesn’t happen by accident. You need to anticipate where you might underperform and then you need to create standardized responses. But, that’s not enough. You need to train your people on the responses but even more than that – they must have a customer-centric point of view. When confronted with the problem, whatever it may be, they need to care enough to want to resolve it. If that’s not the case, no protocol is going to save the situation.

On that Sunday, I picked up the phone and asked for the manager. After waiting for about 13 minutes, Adam, the manager on duty, came on the line and I explained the situation.

Fix opportunity #1: Apologize. Actually, use the words “I’m sorry.” Adam never apologized or even acknowledged that they made a mistake, inconvenienced us or ruined breakfast. In fact, Adam made it pretty clear that they were busy and he didn’t have a lot of time for this conversation.

Fix opportunity #2: Ask how you can re-earn the customer’s trust. Adam said they’d be happy to make new sandwiches if I wanted to come back to the store. When I explained the distance, he said that was his only option. If you don’t know — Panera delivers. But my suburb was too far away. Not too far away for me to drive back, but too far away for him to send someone out.

Fix opportunity #3: Have processes and procedures in place for the most common issues. I’m sure this was not their first faulty order. Being able to credit the customer seems like a simple choice. But after I said I did not want to drive all the way back, there was silence. I was expecting him to offer up some alternatives, but he didn’t. Finally, I started problem-solving for him and came up with options.

Me: Can you just put a refund on my credit card?

Adam: No. Our machines aren’t set up to do that.

Me: Can you mail me a gift card for the amount?

Adam: No. I can’t do that.

Me: Well Adam, what can you do?

Adam: If you want to write my name on the receipt, we’ll give you free sandwiches the next time you come in.

I did not. Instead, I wrote his name on several review sites.

Fix opportunity #4: Remember the power of the consumer. 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as their friends. If an establishment has less than 4 stars, the average consumer eliminates them as an option.

At the end of the day, we had plenty of food in the house, and no one went hungry. Was it a big deal? Not particularly. But Adam’s disregard made it a big deal. This isn’t just a problem for Panera. Mistakes are inevitable. You can afford those. But, you can’t afford to have employees who don’t care.

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Convenience is today’s currency

January 2, 2019

Step away from your marketing role for a moment and consider yourself as an average consumer. Think about how you make buying decisions today. For many people, price is still a significant consideration. But it’s certainly not the only one. Whether it’s true or not, we all feel time-starved. We’re trying to pack in a 40-50 hour work week on top of the time we want to spend with our family and friends, work out time, me time and oh yeah – sleep if we can fit it in. The fact that most of us get too little sleep tells us that the value of time in our lives is significant. If we could get more of it, we’d gladly take it. And that’s where convenience steps in.

There was no such thing as convenience as a product or service before the late 19th or early 20th century, when labor-saving marvels were introduced to the marketplace. My grandma never baked from an instant cake mix and when I was a kid, my parents had to use a travel agent to buy plane tickets. That all seems ludicrous to us today.

Amazon is the perfect example of this. Go to the store? Why would you do that when you simply say “Alexa, order laundry detergent” and depending on where you live in the US, it’s delivered right to your door today, or if you’re not in a major market, you might have to wait until tomorrow.

We talk about the importance of buying local, but the truth is, we will often choose convenience over anything else.

If convenience is the currency that buyers covet the most, then we need to be mindful, now putting our marketing hats back on, of how we do or don’t appeal to that need.

We worked with a client recently that sold products online. It took twelve clicks to purchase their best product. Sales were lagging because we’re wired by Amazon’s 1-click purchase convenience. We couldn’t get them down to a single click, but we were able to reduce the twelve to three and saw an immediate jump in sales.

What kind of friction does your marketing or sales process create for your buyers? Do they have to sign contracts in person? Do they have to wait for delivery? Are your customer service people only available during bankers hours?

For many businesses, the first point of friction is difficulty in getting the information the buyer needs early in their consideration process. Anytime the buyer thinks “is this worth it,” they’ve hit friction.

If your website’s bounce rate (check your Google Analytics) is high, that tells you that people are coming to your site looking for something they can’t find. Our attention span just keeps getting shorter so make sure your navigation is clear, and the ten questions you are asked most often are answered on your site.

Buyers want to do their early stage shopping without talking to a salesperson. Make sure you don’t lose them by not providing the information they need to move from consideration to purchase.

There are some other key friction points that you should focus on correcting:

• Poorly trained or unenthused staff members
• Rigid customer service policies
• Inaccessible customer service reps
• Negative or no reviews
• Slow delivery of products/services

We are being trained by the Amazons and Ubers of the world. We barely think about needing something, and voila, they’ve delivered it. We don’t have to pull out a credit card or even type in our address. They’re almost always fully stocked and ready to serve us in an instant.

That’s who your competition is. That’s who is setting the bar that your customers are expecting you to scale. Think friction-free or think going out of business sale.

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How to avoid the social media storm

December 26, 2018

Previously, we dug into the details of two very different but very visible social media storms and how the brands (Crock-Pot and Old Navy) dealt with the unexpected spotlight.

Don’t think for a minute that your local business is immune to the same sort of trouble. The good and the bad of social media is that it is an equalizer. If the story is good, bad or salacious enough – it can quickly get national or international attention.

The web is filled with examples of how small, local companies are hit with an unfavorable review, Facebook post or photo and suddenly the world knows about the dishonest mechanic, lousy pumpkin pie or whatever the complaint is about.

Whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or own a small retail shop, you need to be ready to handle the unexpected, the unwanted, and sometimes the unwarranted wrath of social media.

Here are some best practices for protecting yourself and handling any social media crisis so that you come out on top.

Listen: There is not a business on the planet that can afford to ignore what is being said about them online today. At the very least, set up a Google Alert for your business name and the names of anyone in an ownership or leadership position. If you want to elevate above Google Alerts, there are a plethora of tools available. Be sure you are also monitoring ratings and review sites.

Have a plan in place: You won’t have time to put together a comprehensive plan once the crisis is in motion. You need to know how you’re going to react long before you have to react. If you own the organization or are their CMO – this is not just a plan for you. Your entire team needs to understand the plan and be trained to react quickly and appropriately.

Be human: Before you rebut, correct, sympathize or deflect – take a minute and try to understand the emotion behind the attack. That was Old Navy’s biggest mistake. There was no empathy. No heartfelt apology. Just corporate speak. On the flip side, Crock-Pot’s condolences for Jack were perfect. It didn’t matter that he is a fictional character. What mattered was that people were hurting and Crock-Pot acknowledged that.

Decide – online or off: Just because someone says something to you or about you online, does not mean you have to deal with it in that same environment. In some cases, if you deal with sensitive customer data or privacy concerns, you have no choice – you have to take it offline. But even if you don’t have that restriction, you can acknowledge the complaint, show your humanity around being sorry that they are disappointed (or whatever emotion they’re expressing) and then invite the attacker to reach you by phone, email or in person so you can have a detailed conversation and resolve their issue.

Keep your emotions in check: They’re going to say things that you find insulting, inflammatory and in many cases, inaccurate. It’s human nature to defend your honor and intentions. Don’t. In many cases, it’s a good idea to have someone by your side that is not as emotionally invested. Have them read your responses before you hit send and their job is to make sure you come off as caring, competent and in control.

Whether it’s a little local flare up on Facebook or under the nation’s microscope, every organization needs to be ready to deal with a crisis before it arrives at your front door.

The good news is that the audience’s attention span is short. The bad news is that Google forgets nothing so how you handle that moment in time can last a lifetime.

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Old Navy gets it wrong

December 19, 2018

Previously, we took a look at how Crock-Pot dealt with the untimely death of a beloved TV character due to a faulty Crock-Pot cord and the social media backlash that erupted from that pretend but apparently emotional death.  A situation that could have gone very wrong but Crock-Pot got it right. They didn’t get defensive or remind the people leading the outcry that Jack didn’t really die. In fact, they sympathized with the grieving audience and then used the incident to talk about their actual safety features.

The actor who plays Jack, Milo Ventimiglia, went on tour telling the world that he loves his Crock-Pot and wants to encourage other people to get one too. Can you imagine what it would have cost Crock-Pot to hire the star of the season’s biggest hit to be their spokesperson?

On the flip side, Old Navy did not handle their social media storm nearly as well. An Old Navy store near Jordan Creek Town Center in suburban Des Moines, Iowa created a national incident when an employee racially profiled a customer and accused him of stealing a jacket that he actually got for Christmas and entered the store wearing.

After the man was forced to prove he owned the jacket, a post on Facebook alleged that a central Iowa man was racially profiled while shopping Tuesday at an Old Navy store at Jordan Creek Town Center by the clothing store’s employees.

After the incident, the man posted pictures and videos of the incident on his personal Facebook page and it went viral. The post had more than 150,000 shares and thousands of interactions.  Old Navy’s reaction is a textbook example of how not to manage a social media crisis.

The post went live on Tuesday, January 30th and Old Navy’s solution was to close the store on Wednesday. The store and Old Navy corporate didn’t announce or explain the closure, which set the story on fire. The store re-opened on Thursday, also without any explanation. A spokeswoman for Old Navy emailed an official statement that said Gap and all of its brands maintain a “zero means zero” policy and that an investigation of the incident is underway.

The email went on to say “we are a company made up of diverse people — from all backgrounds and cultures. We encourage diversity in thought, celebrate diversity in each other and demand tolerance and inclusion, always.”

On the same day, Old Navy’s Twitter and Facebook feeds had a statement that explained what happened and that the incident was under review. Two days later, on both social networks, the company announced that the customer was treated in a way that violated their policies and values. They also announced the firing of the three employees involved in the incident.

Underneath those official announcements was a huge outcry on Twitter and the Old Navy Facebook page. Angry consumers took it upon themselves to tell similar stories, complain about the product and in general, kick Old Navy while they were down.

The next stumble on Old Navy’s part was that they went a little overboard in trying to prove that they weren’t racially insensitive. Suddenly, all of the models on their social media feed promotions and ads were African American. You can imagine the public’s reaction to that shift.

The good news for Old Navy is that as quickly as the firestorm started, it seemed to die down. But they could have turned the situation into a win rather than, at best, a draw. They missed some key best practices that could have saved the day.

Stay tuned as next we will explore how brands should respond to going viral when they don’t want to be in the spotlight.

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A tale of two reactions

December 12, 2018

Social media is a powerful tool, but it can also hand a brand some serious problems that need to be dealt with immediately. Your reaction can make all the difference.  When you respond in real time, you can do it well, or you can stumble and fall. When a brand doesn’t deal with the ember or spark or handles it badly, it can quickly grow into a raging inferno.

We watched the good and bad play out over the past year, and I’d like to dig a little deeper into each situation and then talk about some safety nets we all need to have in place in case our company finds itself in an unexpected spotlight.

First off, let’s look at the good.

The very popular show “This Is Us” killed off a beloved character this past season. The culprit? A house fire started by a crockpot’s faulty switch. People rushed to social media to mourn the death of this character and true to human nature, they were looking for someone to blame and the poor crockpot took the brunt of it.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but the build-up to how Jack died had been in the making for over two years. This is a show that pokes at the most sensitive emotions of its viewers, and so their hearts were definitely on their sleeve already, as they watched the tragedy unfold.

As the TV show ended and the fans scrambled to social media to give Crock-Pot a piece of their mind, the company found themselves in a very bizarre and unexpected position. They were being accused of causing the death of a pretend person. People were vowing to throw away their crockpots.

Crock-Pot had three choices. They could respond to the overwhelming wave of communication by reminding everyone that Jack is pretend, they could ignore the whole thing and let it blow over, or they could play along and use the opportunity to build their brand.

Their first tweet was:

We’re heartbroken over last night’s episode, too! But don’t worry, you can still make your favorite meals in your #CrockPot with confidence. We want to assure all consumers we rigorously test our products for safety. PM us and we’d be happy to tell you more about our safety standards.

Think this is absurd? It gets worse. The story of the killer Crock-Pot was also picked up on Colbert, Marketplace, and even Popular Science and Self Magazines!

Crock-Pot took to Facebook as well, with this message:

‘THIS IS US’ SPOILER ALERT. We’re still trying to mend our broken heart after watching ‘This Is Us’ on Tuesday night. America’s favorite dad and husband deserved a better exit and Crock-Pot® shares in your devastation. Don’t further add to this tragedy by throwing your Crock-Pot Slow Cooker away. It’s hard to pass something down from generation to generation if you throw it away (grandma won’t be too happy). Spending time with his family while enjoying comfort food from his Crock-Pot was one of his favorite things to do. Let’s all do our part and honor his legacy in the kitchen with Crock-Pot®. XOXO, Crock-Pot® Forever in Your Heart & Forever in Your Home

It’s bad enough when your company makes an actual mistake or deserves the heat of social media, but this example is a good reminder that we’re all vulnerable, even when it’s not of your creation.

Next, we’re going to take a look at a situation that was of their creation – the Old Navy racial profiling story that went viral and caused the store to close their doors temporarily.

After we have studied both the good and the bad, I’ll outline the best practices we need to keep in mind as we do business in this 24/7 connected world.

 

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A twist on old school tactics

December 5, 2018

In this era of all things digital, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to go old school and talk about some very simple marketing tactics that are often undervalued and underutilized. Best of all, neither of these ideas will dent your marketing budget.

Thank you notes: When I was growing up, my mom was a stickler for thank notes. On December 26th there would be a stack of thank you cards and a list of recipients on the kitchen table. The importance of that act has stuck with me my entire life, and I still write a ton of thank you notes.

Most of us don’t get a lot of traditional mail anymore, and when we do, we sort it over the wastebasket because there’s not a lot of value in what we receive. So we notice personal mail, and we remember who sent it to us.

When a client places a new order or makes a referral, don’t just shoot them a quick email. When a prospect makes time to learn about your business, be memorable. Their inbox is already bloated. Take five minutes and do what most people don’t do — write a thank you note.

Tech twist: When I’m on the road I don’t want to carry a bunch of thank you notes in my suitcase, so I use an app called Bond Black. It allows me to send a handwritten thank you note with my actual signature from anywhere in the world without trying to track down stamps or cards.

Make connections: We all have people in our lives that seem to know everyone and can quickly make valuable introductions that create new partnerships, client relationships, and peer connections. You need to be one of those people.

The good news is that you don’t need to know a certain number of people or have a certain level of influence. All you have to do is be intentional. The Zig Ziglar quote, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want” is spot on. What Zig didn’t say but I think is implied is that your desire to help them get what they want has to be genuine. You can’t fake it just so they’re helpful to you in return.

Here’s a great way to start. Make a list of ten people who genuinely have helped your business. Now, think of someone you know that would benefit them in some way. They might be a potential client or vendor. Or they might serve the same customer base but in a non-competitive way and there could be the possibility of them partnering together on a promotion or joint offering. Make an introduction, explaining why you think they should get to know each other. It’s that simple.

Tech twist: Use Linkedin as your connection hub. Leave recommendations for people who have been influential in helping your business. Go a step beyond that and send a message to two people you want to connect and make an introduction. They’ll be able to meet each other and make a LinkedIn connection, which opens their networks to each other.

While both of these tactics may seem rudimentary, we don’t do either often enough.

Selfishly, they pay huge dividends. But even more important than that – they remind us to be the kind of business leader we should all aspire to be. Giving, gracious and grateful. I know those are the kinds of business people who have helped me learn, grow and build my business for the past 25+ years and I want to return the favor.

 

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Silence is not golden to your customers

November 28, 2018

I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a prescription the other day. When I gave the pharmacy tech my name, she went to the bin marked M, flipped through the prescription box and came up empty. She didn’t say a word but just walked into the back of the pharmacy. A minute later, she came back out and then disappeared into another nook. Again, no communication.

While she was actively trying to fulfill my order, here’s what was going on in my head:

• I wonder if there was a problem with the insurance?
• Was this the right Walgreens or did I send it to the other one in my neighborhood?
• Maybe they didn’t have time to fill it yet since I just submitted it a couple of hours ago
• Maybe they didn’t have it in stock and are waiting to get some from another Walgreens

All of those thoughts ran through my head in the few minutes it took her to find my prescription and bring it back to the counter. This was just a routine refill. I was in no danger if I had to wait a couple of days. But still, I had all of those momentary thoughts and worries.

I’m sure for the pharmacy tech; it was just a routine “I can’t find it but the computer says that we filled it, so it’s around here somewhere” moment. But that’s not how I experienced it.

No matter what you sell or who you sell it to, there are moments in the process that are routine to you. But that doesn’t mean they’re routine to your customer. You might be waiting for some internal paperwork. Or the order could be in process and already on its way to the customer’s office. For you, it’s business as usual. Everything is on track. You’re not worried because you understand the entire workflow and know that everything is exactly where it should be. But your client doesn’t have that same insight.

All your customer hears is the silence. And in the silence, worry often appears.

We are often blind to those silent spots in our own processes. We think we’re hard at work, serving our clients, and instead, we’re accidentally making them anxious.

The pharmacy tech could have prevented all of my random thoughts and worries by recognizing that silent spot and over communicating with me. Immediately after realizing my prescription was not in the bin, she could have let me know that they had filled it and she just needed to find it.

No matter what product or service you sell, there are some common moments that might be ripe for creating worry for your clients.

Immediately after your discovery meeting: In many businesses we invest a significant amount of time on the front end of the engagement, learning as much as we can about our client’s challenges. And then we go back and have to assimilate all of that insight to diagnose the problem and decide on a solution. We’re deeply engaged on our end, but that kind of thinking takes time.

Inter-departmental handoffs: If there are different departments within your business that all play a role in a client’s project, there’s usually a slight lull as the new department gets up to speed.

When outside vendors are involved: Once you’ve relinquished the work to your partner, you’re comfortable waiting for them to complete their work. But that’s because you know them and have confidence in them.

Walk through your entire process and note where moments of comfortable silence for you have the potential of being an uncomfortable worry for your customers. Then, build additional communication into those moments to give your clients comfort and reassurance in those necessary bits of silence.

 

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Who already trusts you?

November 21, 2018

If there is a cardinal sin of marketing, it’s ignoring the people who already know you, appreciate you and give you money. For most organizations, 60-75% of your net new revenue should come from your existing customer base.

Despite that metric, most businesses spend the majority of their marketing dollars and efforts chasing after new clients and invest very little in wooing the customers they have already earned. You’ve already cleared the highest hurdle – earning their trust. And yet, we often walk right past them on our way to talk to strangers.

One of the biggest values of marketing to your current clients is that they’re the ones who are most likely to tell others about you. It’s logical to think that the more they know about you, the more they can share with someone else who might be in the market for what you sell.

Another lost opportunity, if you don’t actively connect with your customers, is that they develop a narrowed view of who you are and what you do. Odds are good that even your best clients don’t utilize every product or service you offer. If you don’t keep reminding them of all of the other ways you can help them – they begin to pigeonhole you as the “fill in the blank” company that is purely defined by what they currently buy.

We’ve certainly had that happen at MMG. If we developed a brand and the support materials (logo, tagline, etc.) for a client, they begin to see us as a brand shop. If we don’t keep talking about other aspects of marketing strategy and execution, we can quickly be JUST a brand shop.

In all of our work with financial institutions, we knew that if someone had 3+ accounts or 4+ ACH/direct deposits going in and out of their checking account, they were far less likely to change institutions. The marketing expression for this reality is “setting more hooks” and it’s as true for your business as it is for a bank or credit union.

Of course, the trick is how do you introduce yourself to someone who already knows you? Marketing to your existing customer base is all about demonstrating that you recognize who they are and what matters to them. There’s no need to focus on helping them get to know you or trust you. You’re already there. It’s looking for ways to enhance what you already do for them.

Make a list of the customers who make up the top tier of your sales. Ask yourself these questions:

• What could we do (not sell) to make their experience with us something they couldn’t help but talk about?
• What product or service would significantly enhance the effectiveness/usefulness of what they already buy from us?
• How can we bring that to them immediately, either through something else we offer or from a strategic partner?
• How do we genuinely demonstrate that we appreciate their loyalty and business?
• Who, from my figurative Rolodex, needs to know about this person/company and how can I make those referrals?
• Have we invited this client to provide a testimonial, case study or to leave us a review?
• How can we institutionalize these kinds of requests so we get them from all of our best, happiest customers?
• What else do they need that we don’t currently provide that we could develop and deliver with excellence?

If you want to set more hooks and bring even more value to your best clients, you’ll need to spend some time finding the answers to these questions and then be ready to invest some time, talent and budget to bring those strategies to life.

 

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