Customer appreciation can lead to more than loyalty
by Jan Quintrall, President/CEO, BBB
jquintrall@spokane.bbb.orgfor the Spokesman Review, 09/19/10
When it comes to your customers, how does loyalty turn into passion? Corporate America spends millions on loyalty programs to keep people coming back: From airline miles to free hotel nights, to free movie rentals. But are customers passionate about that airline, hotel, or rental company? How do you create passion?
If a customer has a bad experience that is handled quickly and fairly, the company will probably hang on to that customer. But if they fail again, odds are that customer is gone. And, if the experience was really bad, the company might just create a passionate customer. Passionate about NEVER doing business with them again, and sharing the horror of the experience with everyone they know—which these days could be hundreds of people. Remember the U-Tube phenomenon “United Breaks Guitars?” All the loyalty perks in the world have no effect once the relationship has eroded to this point.
When a customer has great experiences using your product or service, they can become passionate in a positive way about you and your company. But in order to create that emotion, the customer needs to feel connected and appreciated—not just one of millions. They need to feel like you enjoy seeing them just as much as they like visiting your establishment. They must feel cared about and special. Then they can feel passionate about you.
Yes, loyalty programs are a stop on the road to passion. They bring people back in for a specific reason. It could be a special offer on the person’s birthday, a specific product at a reduced price that the company knows they use or even just a bit of news about the company that does not try to sell you a thing. These small touches keep your clients thinking about you. Face it, customers have hundreds of choices as to where they spend their money, so what can you do to make yourself stand out among all the other dentists, restaurants or clothing stores?
- Make it easy to do business with you
- Keep in touch with your customers
- Make them feel special when they arrive
- See your clients as relationships and not a dollar amount
One of the very best examples of passionate customers I have seen recently involves Wild Sage American Bistro on 2nd Avenue and Lincoln, in downtown Spokane. Yes, that Second Ave, the one that looks like Beirut. Tom Sciortino and David Wells have built a great loyalty program in the last two years by using email coupons, birthday special offers and a dining club concept that brings new features to their customers each month. Pretty standard stuff, but somewhere along the line they took a big jump to passionate.
Second Avenue is missing in many places, six foot holes are dug and filled in ever-changing patterns, while sidewalks appear and disappear. Heavy equipment stands where cars used to be. It is an amazing project and has added to the challenge of doing business. (The BBB on Jefferson between 1st and 2nd has experienced these challenges all summer—just getting into our parking garage is a daily adventure.) But what is this doing to Wild Sage? They count on diners coming and going several times each evening.
One evening last week, friends joined us from the other side of the state for dinner at poor Wild Sage. My husband and I both thought they would really need our business considering the challenge of 2nd Ave. And we are loyal customers, but when we visit a business because we care about THEM, well, that is passion.
We were not alone. At 8 p.m. on a Wednesday night, the place was full! Spokane is famous for early eating, so we had thought at 8 it would be empty. Tom greeted us at the door with a hug and a handshake, just like he always does. But he went on to tell us they had had a great August, a notoriously bad restaurant month in Spokane (everyone is at the lake, you know) simply because their regular loyal customers were worried about them amid the construction and wanted to support them through the project.
Passionate customers, you bet! And they have already sent a wonderful thank you for caring out to all those loyal and passionate customers. Those who have come in since construction started feeling appreciated and those who have not will be sure to visit.
Relationship-building trumps marketing every time.
Make Surveys Work for You, Not Against You
by Jan Quintrall, President/CEO, BBB jquintrall@spokane.bbb.org
for the Spokesman Review, 09/05/10
If you share your personal email address with companies you frequent, chances are you have received a survey about your level of satisfaction regarding a recent transaction. Interesting things, these surveys.
Let’s look at them from the opposite point of view. For businesses, surveys can be valuable tools, even though they’re not always statistically accurate nor do they provide a true cross section of your customer base. We all want to know how well we are serving our clients. But a survey is just one tool, not the whole box. To get the best feedback, nothing beats a phone call from a caring staff person asking consistent, open-ended questions. However, reality often dictates Survey Monkeys and short, point-of-sale surveys.
Some general rules about surveys-
• Keep them short
If you need a long in-depth survey, make it worth your customers’ time by offering a coupon or other bonus. And be sure you tell them up front that it will take 20 minutes, but that you will reward them for this valuable feedback.
• Keep the questions focused on one area
You want the responders to keep one area of service in mind, so if you want feedback on your hotel, don’t wander into asking questions about your restaurant or the city in general.
• Let them select anonymity or not
Some people simply will not respond unless they can do so in private. Others want a reply from you or they want you to know how happy they are and are quite willing to share their identities. Just let them choose.
• Measure the same thing over time to see if you are improving
There are so many things we want to know that we alter the survey each month or week. Resist that temptation and follow your trends for at least six months. Then you know what consistently needs attention and where you excel.
• Try to solicit comments
People really like to compliment individuals, so make it easy for them! Encourage use of names when they want to offer a pat on the back to one of your team members who knocked their socks off.
• Follow up or don’t ask
I stay at the same hotel chain when I travel, use the same rental car company and fly two or three airlines. Most of them send me a survey after my transaction. And, I know that! So when I am in the midst of my use of services I keep in mind that a survey is in my future. I note names of excellent employees, jot down when they fall short and do a good job of preparing for the questions I am sure will come. And I always use my name. Anything important enough to say deserves a name attached to it.
But this is where some surveys fall flat and actually do more harm than good. If I have something negative to say, and you asked me for it, you must be ready to respond to me when something went wrong. It is like not bothering to answer a complaint sent to you by the BBB! The message is that this customer and their feedback are so unimportant that I will not even bother to let them know I am sorry, that we will fix it or just hey, thanks for letting us know!
Once I had an “I think I am in the Twilight Zone” experience at my regular hotel chain and let them know in a survey response. Nobody ever contacted me about it; no apology, not a word. It felt a bit like asking me if my dinner was OK, me telling the server it was not and having them shrug and walk away. Not a good feeling, to be sure!
Dismissing feedback you don’t like cheapens the whole survey process and makes us all a bit skeptical about the care the company takes in the answers. Just a quick email response letting me know you heard me is all I really want. I am not filing a formal complaint, just letting you know I was not 100% happy with the experience. And that gives your company the opportunity to reach out and let me know you will work on it and look forward to showing improvement next time I visit.
Great customer service (and business longevity) involves questioning your customers and making sure you’re ready for the answers! Then your surveys will work for you and not against you.