Can I Help You?

Just looking, thanks.

You barely get your big toe across the threshold of the front door and Chippy Chipperton is all over you like a blanket of annoyance. One thing is clear, Chip is on commission and his manager has pummeled the up sell into his cerebellar cortex. You avoid eye contact and hurriedly say “No thanks, just looking.”




Do You have it in blue?

Then you really need help, you like the shirt but can't find your size. You don’t want to call the Chipster back, you just want the shirt not the sales pitch. Ultimately you walk out with the decision to do without the shirt avoiding more time spent with the over attentive sales dude.

Is it lunchtime yet?

It’s one of those days where you wonder why you’re on the verge of passing out. You then realize that it’s 3pm and all you’ve eaten that day is a chocolate chip cookie at your 10am meeting. You sit at your desk in a haze wondering if anything you said made any sense to anyone. Blood sugar levels need attention.

Anything will do.

So you grab your keys and head to the closest drive-thru’. Guilt is overwritten by need and anything to keep the wolf from the door will do. Then you are met with the barely breathing attendant at the other end of the speaker who can hardly muster the energy to lob your burger combo into the bag. Your happiness is not a concern.

The cheese is missing, they added extra pickle when you asked three times for none and you don’t even like root beer. But you gag down your late afternoon feast and try to forget the ordeal as quickly as possible. Your day ends without that new shirt and a delightful case of heartburn.

Which outlet is giving great customer service?

Chippy doesn’t care about solving your pain, he just wants to make his numbers and our friend at the burger palace is simply putting in time – the similarities between what you ordered and what you get are strictly coincidental.

Are these two places common or rare? How could each improve during our tight economic times? Are you working in either environment?

@knealemann

Customer Service: Not A Given

Last week I spoke with someone who said his customers don’t know what they want. That statement may be partially true but what he is missing is that his customers’ perceptions are their realities. Like it or not.

If it’s broken to you, it’s broken.
Seth Godin

I had an interesting exchange with my Cable/Internet provider a couple of weeks ago because I miscalculated last month’s bill by $31.59 which garnered a rude call from their collections department.

I have been their customer for more than twenty years and they are on me like dirt over thirty-one bucks. I told the person he had about 15 seconds to convince me not to take my business to the competitor.

His response was underwhelming and I hung up the phone then paid the difference. Twenty years and I am treated like a delinquent. To me, they are broken.

Marketing Is A Promise, Not A Campaign

So all the well thought out marketing and advertising campaigns were tossed out for the sake of a miscalculation. Because I screwed up some math, they broke their promise.

It may be difficult to grasp, but people will often pay more for something that works and something that is superior. Price is not the only deciding factor – remember shareware?

They Solved My Problem

I had a hefty bill recently from my local tire and brake place. It was my fault that I had let it go so long and not their fault that new tires and brakes were $2500. The entire exchange was enjoyable.

As I paid the bill they reminded me to bring my car back every 10,000 miles to get my tires rotated for free and it would be ready as soon as Ralph put it through the car wash. And important to note, the people working in this garage get along well and help each other constantly. You want to give these guys your business.

My perception was not that they tried to gouge me for tires and brakes, my experience made me tell everyone to go there if they ever need their car serviced.

Lessons Learned?

So I am mad at one company for hounding me over $31.59 and happy to promote another company that charged me $2500. By the way, the car drives like new and my hi-speed internet service is still sporadic most days.

Perception is reality and nothing you can do will change that.

Which company best describes your company?

@knealemann

Giving Up Control

I received a call from a colleague recently who pondered why music companies don’t release new albums along with concert tickets at the same time. That way, fans can download the music or buy it at a store along with tickets to the upcoming shows. He went on to wonder if there is concern about free downloading of music and movie torrents, why don’t studios simply release the film and DVD on the same day?

What? And Give Up Control?

Old model thinking is you can control the marketplace, behavior and spending. It is a fantasy. If you owned restaurant and people quickly found out that Thursdays are free food nights, how big would your line up be on Friday? Sure some would come back because you offered great food at a great price point, but could you control that?

Collusion vs. Solution

I have been in media and marketing for a long time. I know it doesn’t work this way. It’s not a simple solution but is it not a worthy discussion? The Ticketmaster/LiveNation merger has created a lot of heat because of the collusion ramifications, so merging a distributor with a concert company and a music label will create even more.

But let’s focus for a moment on behavior.

We all know stealing music is wrong, downloading movies is illegal, taking something that isn’t ours is improper and our moms taught us that years ago. But has that changed behavior?

If you found $1,000 in an unmarked envelope on the ground, what would you do? If I told you that you could download as much music as your heart desired without any consequence, what would you do? If you found a loophole to avoid paying income tax, what would you do?

Is it wrong or is it reality?

The topic of free is a big one right now. If you can get the same service or product for less money – or even free – is that your preference? Now flip it around and tell me you will offer me your service or product for less money or free.

The music labels are in trouble, that’s well documented but as one who adores music and wants it to continue to thrive, let’s look at solutions rather than trying to cram more genies in to more bottles.

How does this apply to your work? How can you better understand customer and human behavior in order to better meld your business plans with reality?

@knealemann

photo credit: rdhelectronicsinfo.com