Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Hit the Ball. Drag Charlie.

This post is for all you golf lovers out there! Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot of time to spend on this sport, but when summer rolls around, I often think of a good friend of mine who is a scratch golfer. Now, for those of you who may not be interested in, or know much about this sport, suffice it to say, my friend Jim is a very very very good golfer. He practices daily. When he is not playing a round of 18 or 36 holes, he is at the driving range or putting green continuing to perfect his swing and his short game. Jim is so intent on this sport that it is actually painful for him to play with someone who is not as good as he is. If I happen to be talking to Jim and I know that he played that day, I’ll often ask him how his game was. If Jim had been playing with someone with only meager ability but a huge love of the sport, he will often say, “Any day playing golf is great but today, I hit the ball and then…I had to drag Charlie.” I guess it’s tough for some people who are really good at what they do to tolerate those who struggle.

As I think about good golfers and the lesson they have to teach us, I am reminded that in our own corporations, we have people like this. Most of our staff, for example, is performing adequately. They do their jobs, no more – no less. Then there’s that smaller percentage who struggle. They may have been selected to do a job for which they are not prepared or in which they have no interest. And then finally, we have our “Jims”, the superstars who seem to excel no matter what we throw at them by way of a task or challenge. I really worry about this group, because the superstars, like my friend Jim, have a tendency to get really frustrated when they see management accepting less than the best from their employees. We run the risk of losing this group if we are not managing all three areas of the skill set spectrum. Superstars, in particular, do not want to spend their day “hitting the ball and dragging Charlie.”

As managers, know that you have tools available to you to help you with the skill set management task. Mystery shopping, for example, is a great tool to use to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the performance of individual staff members. It will allow you to recognize and reward your superstars and at the same time, it will give you the information you need to identify those who may need more training or coaching. It is also a useful tool to help you determine if you have the right people in the right positions on your staff. You may need to consider moving some people to jobs that better suit their skills and talents. Your mystery shopping reports will help you determine this.

How do you keep your superstars from getting frustrated?

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Mystery Shopping: What Do Mystery Shopping and Dancing with the Stars Have in Common?

When the results come in from your latest round of mystery shops, some of your employees are going to feel like the latest contestants who won Dancing with the Stars. Others…not so much. Ok, I am officially busted. You now know that I am a huge Dancing with the Stars fan. I am a devotee of the beautiful costumes, fabulous music, and very talented professionals who coach the celebrity contestants to become the best dancers they can possibly be. But the thing I am impressed with the most are the professional judges who rate each routine.  They love lavishing praise, (and as managers and supervisors, don’t we all?). But when it comes to rating those dancers who are clearly not going to seeing the mirror ball trophy anytime soon, you can actually see how difficult it is for them. I think it’s the same for us as managers when it comes to meeting with our staff and sharing the results of the latest round of mystery shops. It’s easy to share the news when it’s good and much more difficult when improvement is necessary.

Here are some things to think about as you approach these employee meetings.

• Think of the data contained in the mystery shopping reports as the starting point of a conversation. The data allows you to approach staff performance problems from a third party perspective.
• Lavish praise where employees have done well just like the judges. Be specific with the things you know the staff is doing well and spend time coaching your staff on how to improve. The mystery shopping reports will give you specific examples to cite.
• Give you staff specific things to work on until the next round of shops. This is what the judges do on Dancing with the Stars. They tell the competing couples what they want to see the following week in the way of improvement. It helps to know what your coach or the judge expects.

Are there any tips you care to share when it comes to having those tough discussions with an employee?

As you’re enjoying the next season of Dancing with the Stars, take a tip from their panel of judges and add some new techniques as you coach your staff on their way to delivering the ultimate customer experience.

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Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Cheers to All the Quirky Waitstaff Out There!

Customer experiences and breakfast are not usually two topics that I would logically pair, but I have to share the experience I had at a networking breakfast the other morning with a good friend and colleague of mine. We went through the usual mechanics of emailing each other trying to find a day, place, and time that worked for both of our schedules. We finally decided to meet at one of the popular national chains that specializes in breakfast because it was conveniently located at a half-way point for both of us. We had been there before and while we had a productive meeting we found the food to be bland, the waitstaff to be sleepy and disinterested, and the general decor and environment to be “corporate blah”.

At the last minute, something happened that was going to take one of us in the opposite direction after we met for breakfast so we decided to change the venue to a little mom and pop place that serves up breakfast and lunch and a fabulous customer experience.

Here’s how they do it:

This great little cafe understands the value of food that has personality. They have items on their menu that are different, unique, fresh, and fun.

The other thing that the owners of this cafe understand is the importance of having a fun quirky waitstaff. Our waitress, on this particular morning, was memorable in a very good way. Her appearance and personality were fun and funky and her demeanor indicated that she is as definitely a “morning person”.

And the environment…what a great place to hang out! The decor of this cafe is “island shabby chic”. It’s a visually enjoyable environment that invites the customer to chill out and relax.

My friend Jane and I left that cafe and meeting feeling a sense of accomplishment and so much more. It affected the rest of our day. The infusion of delicious creative food, a beautiful environment, and that quirky waitress into my day was so memorable that I can’t wait to go back for more! The choice of the national chain is out and the quirky cafe is in!

So let me ask you…what are you doing to be a little bit quirky in your business? What are you doing to be memorable?

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Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Business Plan

Unless your work takes you to the far side of the moon, you recall how the late-night talk show shuffle turned Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien into players in a melodrama.  Whether you prefer Jay, Conan, or an early bedtime, you know the fallout was ultimately about business decisions. Bad business moves are easy to see in hindsight, but sometimes, they’re defended as “taking a chance on a new idea.”

It all reminded a reporter friend of what her former newspaper tried. “For some reason, it was decided that merging three distinct, successful, weekly sections would be a great idea,” she said. Each section—separately featuring travel, food and entertainment– carried ads skewed to a specific readership.  The paper’s sales force fretted over pitching the new product, advertisers protested the blurring of their niche markets, and focus groups suggested that the paper might lose readers.

When prototypes of the “super section” appeared, staffers from every department offered feedback. ”But management didn’t want critiques, just compliments,” said my friend.  Negative comments were brushed aside and the new section was launched, amid expensive, extensive promotion.

The super section was a super disaster, disliked by readers and shunned by advertisers. Less than a year later, after tweaking its format and shrinking its staff, the paper quietly dropped its “great idea.”  The disappointment could have been dodged, along with resources saved. Yet those in charge ignored all instincts but their own.

Ever been so wedded to an idea that you overlook the caution flags from colleagues or customers? One last look before taking the plunge may bring an early glimpse of welcome hindsight —and the foresight for success, not regret.
Consider using a focus group of your customers before the launch of a new idea, product, or service, or survey customers to see if there is a need and interest in what you are trying to sell. Your customers will be happier and your bottom line, more robust!

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Customer Communication and Spring Cleaning!

Believe it or not, spring cleaning and customer service have something in common. The urge to purge, to spruce up and air out winter’s doldrums hits all of us this time of year, from critters thinking of nests to homeowners pondering paint.  Even the phrase “spring cleaning” evokes images of fresh breezes and crisp organization, as blessed by Martha Stewart.  Why limit that sweep to the basement storage bin or linen closet?  Sometimes business benefits from a little springtime shakeup too.

For several years I’ve been on the mailing list for a monthly e-newsletter. Except it’s no longer monthly, more like bimonthly, or quarterly. Or whenever it pops up.  The publisher always slips in a slightly apologetic note explaining its late arrival, or lack of a promised article. She thanks readers for their patience and promises that the next one will arrive right on time. But it never does. The latest, for January, came more than a month late. It includes a discount coupon good though Feb. 1. And in her haste to get this first newsletter of 2010 out, the publisher neglected to change the template, which is still dated 2009.

When it launched, the e-newsletter held promise, with easy updates and timely tidbits. Because it came via email, it never cluttered a mailbox or wastebasket, thus saving trees and postage. But its publication became just one more chore for the harried editor putting it together.  She allowed it to grow stale instead of updating its look and promoting it via more current avenues.  Instead of a business tool, it stagnated into an antique, largely ignored. The editor admits to rarely receiving feedback.  And her monthly discount coupons? Unused.  In this economy, a customer skipping the chance to save money, because he didn’t see it? Definitely, time to spring clean that e-newsletter out of there.

Maybe you’ve got an outdated “newsletter” of your own that worked just “then”.  But a fresh approach will give you a better handle on “now.”

Give Market Viewpoint a call and we’ll be happy to take a look at your newsletter and offer suggestions for how you can spring clean and spruce up the most important vehicle for staying in touch with the most important people in your business- the customers!

Mystery Shopping: I Spy

Mystery shoppers are like secret agents. They’re on a mission, and they’re invisible to the general public. They swoop in, size up the situation, gather the info, and vanish. You’d never know a mystery shopper was on the scene.

Except when she announces her presence to the world, or at least, the store she’s surveying.  In the swirling aftermath of a post-Christmas sale, I heard the loud clear tones of a woman telling someone that she was “here to do a mystery shop, you know, look at everything and report about customer service and whether the store is clean.”  Her voice carried like a referee’s announcing a first down.  The woman standing closest to her, pushing a packed shopping cart, had mistaken her for a store employee, so she was busily explaining a mystery shopper’s tasks. “I look at everything, and if someone’s not wearing a name tag, I write it down,” she said. “Later I’ll go to the food court.  Last time I mystery shopped here, the pizza was cold.”  The woman with the cart asked a question and our mystery shopper replied, “Oh, the money isn’t great but I get to buy things and I can keep those. Plus they’ll reimburse me for the food. I mystery shop for [another store] too.  It adds up.”

She might have continued but her cell phone summoned her. “I can’t talk, I’m mystery shopping,” she told her caller. By now, several store employees were nearby.  They adjusted their facial expressions from “when’s my next break?” to “how may I help you?”

The temptation to grab her and deliver a lecture on the do’s and don’ts of mystery shopping was too great.  I left the store with increased respect for mystery shoppers who Do It Right, never even THINKING to behave as Miss Loud did. Hey, when there’s one like this on the loose, the high road is the only place to be.

As you consider your choice of a mystery shopping company, ask lots of questions about how they choose their shoppers and how they train them. It may mean the difference between a successful mystery shopping program or a failed one for your organization.

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: What Are You Wishing For?

As managers who are responsible for customer service, we’ve all got those To-Do lists.  There’s always at least one in our Blackberry.   And another in our heads, in constant revision mode.  Maybe a few more, from long range fitness to Friday’s grocery run.  And of course, the list of ways to increase our business, from attracting new customers to pumping up that cash flow.  We dutifully cross out each completed item, or try to.  Then we add more to-do’s to the ongoing to-do list. That turns it into more of a never-ending story than a list of tasks done. Because there will always be more to do! And honestly, we know too well, that to-do list is never going to be done.

Instead of always running the To-Do marathon, why not change the scenery? Make a wish list for yourself.  We associate those with kids writing to Santa, and starry-eyed brides-to-be, or even our own birthdays. Usually a wish list is defensive: we compile a list of gifts we’d enjoy getting to make sure we don’t end up with  drugstore perfume in a bottle shaped like Hannah Montana, or eleven crock pots.

But those wish lists are for others.  A wish list for ourselves should come from the heart, not the accessories department.  Instead of “I wish I had a new pair of Ugg boots,” try “I wish I could polish my public speaking skills.” Rather than wishing for a new tennis racket to improve your serve, you may wish you could emulate a colleague’s organizing ability. Then look for a way to make that wish come true, whether it’s making practice presentations, or asking a co-worker’s help.  When you get your wish, you’ll feel  energized, confident—and capable of tackling any To-Do list on the planet.   Keep adding new wishes to your private list. You’ll find that “wishing” can boost “doing” every time.

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: Seeing Your Business From The Customers’ Point of View

Regarding the customer experience, a friend once told me about a legendary shop in her neighborhood—legendary not because it was beautifully run, filled with bargains or fun to visit. “It’s a miracle she stays in business,” my friend said, describing the dusty store, tucked on an out-of-the-way street. Only a tiny, hand-lettered sign indicated that this plain stucco house was actually a business “open since 1947.” Each room was overcrowded with stock, some still in original, yellowed cellophane wrappings. Boxes and picture frames obscured a tall window, where winter sunlight strained to beam through.  The owner was a stern woman who repeatedly and loudly told her few customers “don’t touch!”   I wondered how she’d react to such treatment if she were on the other side of the counter, planning to make a purchase. How did she turn a profit?  Well, she didn’t:  she ran it strictly as a hobby, reluctantly serving those who braved her stony stare. Why open the doors at all?

The store is still there, now run by the late owner’s daughter. She cleared out the clutter, rearranged the stock and held a grand re-opening; hoping some of the loyal, longtime customers would come around. “My mother never looked at her store from an outsider’s eye,” she told my friend, who was amazed at the transformation. “If she had, she would have seen how tired the place looked, and how she could have treated people better. But she always said she did everything her own way, not someone else’s, and she didn’t care what it cost her.”

Imagine running a business with such arrogance. By ignoring the absence of customers, the outdated materials and even her own negative energy, she lost every opportunity to make her business thrive and grow rather than stagnate. Opportunities lost, since 1947! It takes such a small effort to walk around to the customer’s side of the counter. Do a little window shopping in your business.  Are you in the “don’t touch!” category with customers, or even employees?  Instead, invite them to share what brings them back to you—and what you could do that would inspire others to do the same.

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: What the Super Bowl and Mystery Shopping Have in Common

Will you be watching the Super Bowl on Sunday? Of course you will you and many millions of others.  No longer “just” a football game, this winter TV ritual is a feel-good medley of sports and entertainment, advertising and snacking.  If football isn’t your thing (or your own team isn’t playing!) you tune in for the clever commercials, or the extravagant halftime show.  As the daylong pregame show always proclaims, there’s something here for everyone.  On Super Bowl Sunday, how can anything top the Big Game in all its glory? Nothing can touch it, which is why competing networks run old movies and marathons of crime shows. Why burn something original when no one’s looking?

Still, there’s another event, on a different network, riding along for the hype to score points of its own. The annual “Puppy Bowl” on Animal Planet is just lots of cute footage of frolicking, adorable dogs, airing every Super Bowl Sunday.  It’s no ratings rival for the game, but instead enhances the day with some laughs and the “awwwww” factor.  Fans of both events routinely wander from one TV set to another, enjoying two kinds of fun.

Given the mega-success of the Super Bowl, you have to wonder why anyone outside the stadium, so to speak, would seek to grab any of its spotlight.  But the upstart Puppy Bowl, which has added new stunts and surprises each year, simply basks in the Super Bowl’s shadow. Rerunning the same sweet shots of pups, plus halftime-cheering kittens, even an anthem-singing parrot, the program never tries to outshine the NFL’s crowning moment.  And yet without the gaudy Super Bowl, Puppy Bowl wouldn’t exist, couldn’t provide the smiling extra points that parallel the Super Bowl’s dramatics.

Even if the competition looms large in your life, you don’t have to use all your artillery to outscore it. You can offer an alternative, something perhaps smaller, but strictly unique and separate from that other experience. Whether it’s personalized service or a revised bid for attention, those extra points will point up YOUR value, no matter what’s happening in the big game.

Contact Market Viewpoint today for a quote on mystery shopping your competition. You may be surprised at what you learn!

Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: A Little Freedom, A Lot of Responsibility?

Freedom—it’s a truth we all take way too much for granted.  Freedom to___ : Fill in your own blank. It’s what we all want, at some level.   Freedom to book a vacation anywhere, never mind the cost.  Or just to take a midweek day off, no questions, no guilt. Freedom from a specific corporate mindset has been the goal of everyone who ever started a business. Your cubicle-bound friends sigh in frustration / admiration, wishing they could be free to do whatever THEY want, too, using their own splendid ideas instead of answering to the Boss of the Year, Evil Variety.  YOU have the freedom to be your own boss and answer to no one.

As they say in New Jersey, yeah right.  Freedom in business means you’re at the epicenter, but you’re often answering to a hundred bosses, better known as customers. The freedom to pursue your own instincts has to balance with that demon bottom line. You already know that if you really want that day off smack in the middle of a workweek, you’ll do more work in advance, and endlessly check emails or messages while you’re ‘off.’ That freedom comes with a price tag.  If you crave some extra freedom, in the form of family time, or taking a class, how much responsibility are you willing to bear in exchange?

Reba McEntire, the entertainer, once told an interviewer that although she loved skiing and riding horses—she’d been a rodeo champ as a teen—she no longer indulged in either hobby. “I’m responsible for too many people trying to make a living,” Reba said. “If I get injured, it’s not fair to all of them.”  Instead she’s chosen a new freedom from routine: designing business casual clothing for women. Her outfits are aimed squarely at those who buy her CDs or watched her TV series. She’s responsible—there’s that word again!—for choosing the colors and fabrics, calling it more fun than she imagined.

Seeking some freedom from your routine? Sometimes the price tag comes with the bonus of new creativity. Worth its weight in responsibility.

• Want a little freedom from the worry about how your customers are being treated? Schedule your mystery shopping program now!
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