Category Archives: Reality checks

December 4, 2013 · 9:03 am

No, I’m Not Making It Up

After Monday’s post on the collective genius of the folks at KlearGear.com, a reader reached out with a question.

research

(Photo credit: suttonhoo)

“I buy in to your thoughts on how customers ought to be treated, but is there research to support your statements about how doing business the right way (with a customer focus) actually translates into better business?”  Funny you should ask!

This from the Connected Customer blog from the folks at Liveperson:

Today’s savvy consumers want access to information and support instantly, and if they don’t find what they need quickly, they will look for it somewhere else. Our study tells us that, on average, consumers won’t wait more than 76 seconds if they need help during their online journey.  The research indicates that 49% of consumers continue to find websites difficult to navigate, with 33% struggling to seek help or locate customer service.

The folks at MediaPost’s Research Brief summed it up nicely:

Every interaction with a brand can either drive customer loyalty, or lead to abandonment to a competitor, says the report. The repercussions of a negative digital experience have never been higher, and the result of a positive experience is becoming increasingly more valuable. 84% of online users say brand trust is a result of a positive online experience. In addition, the vast majority say that a positive online experience makes it more likely for them to complete the purchase with the company and to buy from a company again

  • 78% of consumers agree that they are more likely to be loyal to companies that give them a great experience and service online

  • The result of a poor online interaction with a brand is abandonment of the transaction (45%), a negative perception of the company (45%), loss of trust (43%), and loss of a customer to an alternative website (41%)

So to answer the question, yes, treating customers as if they were family members or dear friends does have measurable positive effects.  We don’t need research, however, to tell us that suing our customers is a bad idea.  Almost as bad as having customer service people who can’t be reached by customers or who treat those customer complaints as annoyances rather than a problem a friend is having.

Does that make sense?

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November 26, 2013 · 9:46 am

Why Saying “Thanks” Is Good Business

Let’s say “thanks” this TunesDay, or at least consider how often it’s been said musically.  With Thanksgiving right around the corner it seems appropriate to do so as well as to think about the business point.

We begin with the weekly music video – this is one of my favorite thank you songs and it just happens to be from a guy named Keith.  It reminds us that

People say they’ll stand beside you/They swear they’ll never leave
But when the rain started falling/You know it only fell on me

We all find out who is loyal and who is not and how saying “thanks” may not even be enough to show one’s appreciation. We generally find out when times get rough, as they have for most businesses over the last few years.  The lads in Led Zepplin (“Thank You“) have a similar take, and say thanks for:

Today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles/Thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one.

It’s nice to make someone’s world smile, but it makes the point that we might not even realize the effect doing so has on the recipient nor the depth of the response it can bring.  Dido (“Thank You“)sort of gives thanks for the same thing:

 I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life/Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life

Oh sure, her significant other handed her a towel and called her during the day, but mostly this is about how having a strong bond with someone can lift them up just by doing little things and being there.  Natalie Merchant (Kind & Generous) has an even longer list:

I want to thank you/For so many gifts
You gave with love and tenderness
I want to thank you

I want to thank you/For your generosity
The love and the honesty
That you gave me

I want to thank you/Show my gratitude
My love and my respect for you
I want to thank you

There is more thanks offered in the song but it shows that when we stop to think about it, we have quite a bit for which to be thankful.  It could be as simple as letting someone be themselves (Sly & The Family Stone – “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin“) or for being a friend (Andrew Gold and also the theme to Golden Girls!) or even for music (ABBA).  Which raises the business point.

Every business has a lot for which to be thankful.  Loyal customers, hard-working employees, honest partners.  How often and in what ways do we say “thank you?”  As the above lyrics show, a little thanks can go a long way, we might not realize the powerful effect it can have on the recipient, and this is probably a great time to spread some around, don’t you think?

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November 13, 2013 · 10:41 am

Are You A Workplace Troll?

Anyone who runs a website or a blog is familiar with trolls.

By Åsmund Ødegård from Oslo/Ås, Norway (Hunderfossen Uploaded by Arsenikk)

You know them – the evil ones who pop up from underneath a log someplace, spew forth some usually unprintable comment or begin a flame war, and leave. You are then left to clean up the mess.  They’re not a new phenomenon:

Yet there is a certain race of men, that either imagine it their duty, or make it their amusement, to hinder the reception of every work of learning or genius, who stand as sentinels in the avenues of fame, and value themselves upon giving Ignorance and Envy the first notice of a prey

That was Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1750, long before the internet. But trolls aren’t the topic today. Instead, I want to talk about criticism itself, since in a strange way that is how trolls see themselves.  I happen to think criticism is important, and done well it can be enlightening.  Dr. Johnson believed in critics too:

You may abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables.

That gets to the root of people like me (who read or watch films or eat out) criticizing works (books, films, restaurants) even though we can’t create those things (books, movies, dishes) on our own.  It’s possible to be educated enough in something and to have an informed, cogent opinions without actually being able to do the thing in question.  If not, why do we have sports columnists or book reviewers?

The thing about good criticism is that it’s not of the “you suck” troll variety.  It is specific and measures the work in question against other works and benchmark standards as well as against the reviewer’s own experience.  Not all criticism is negative either.  A review that says something was great is just as useless as the “it sucked” variety if it doesn’t explain the “why”.

So ask yourself this – are you a troll in the workplace when you offer criticism without the appropriate additional information?  Telling someone their work isn’t good without explaining why and helping to find a road to making it better makes you one in my book.  It’s just as bad to compliment someone’s work without explaining why it’s good.  How is the recipient of your nicety to replicate what made it great if they don’t know what that was?

Criticism is an integral part of daily life.  The thing I try to remember is to be a critic and not a troll.  Are you with me on that?

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