A-Ha….there is a great post on Customer Connection from Leslie Pagel at Walker Information sharing how missing an opportunity to capture a customer’s idea in an immediate and simplistic fashion can make a difference – perhaps a game-changing difference.

“The other night my husband and I sat at a bar for dinner when I overheard the following conversation between the bartender and another customer.

Customer: Can you put on the IU (Indiana University) football game?
Bartender: No hun. We don’t get the Big Ten Network.
Customer: That is too bad. I was hoping to watch the game while I ate dinner.
Bartender: You can go to our website and submit a request to add that channel. They do listen when customers submit feedback. They’ve implemented a lot of things that have really helped us out.
Customer: Oh. OK.

The customer had a cell phone with internet access, but did not take the next step to submit his feedback. Instead, he used his phone to check the score of the game.

While I don’t know for sure, I doubt this customer ever submitted his feedback, which got me thinking. How many ideas get lost because sharing feedback is inconvenient for customers? Think about it. How many times have you thought, “I should send them a message to tell them what a great job they did,” or “That was inconvenient. I should send them a letter?”

How many times have you been in meetings, social events or even “just hanging out” where you witness or have an “a-ha moment”?  How do you take action on that idea?  In that moment?  Do you write it down on a napkin, call yourself and leave a voice-mail, write a note in your cell phone?  None of the above?

Right, too often we find ourselves not able to take the immediate action needed to capture an idea that would improve the delivery of service or product.  Enabling communication with the powers that be within a company is a nut worth cracking.

We have the ability to access information immediately.  How we leverage that ability or create a link to that information to harness the ideas of our customers is our next challenge.  As Leslie points out in “How many ideas get lost because sharing feedback is inconvenient?”, a challenge doesn’t have to have a complex solution.  It can be as simple as taking an order.

Great article and great food for thought Leslie,

M

Posted under Business & Process Innovation, Customers, Employees, General, Leadership, Shareholder Value

You know how the saying goes right?  “How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.”  The same goes for creating valuable customer experiences.  You don’t do it all at once.  Impossible.

But what bite do you take first?

#1.  Hire the Right People! Another old saying…”Hire for attitude, not just aptitude” or “Hire for attitude, train for skill“.   (Side note – great article by Peter Carbonara in Fast Company)

We’re working with Walker Information on creating a stronger Customer Loyalty program.  One of the first things we are choosing to focus on is our number one customer – our employees.  If we don’t have engaged employees, why would our customers want to engage with us?

Employee Recognition is front and center for a successful Customer Loyalty program.  From our highest leader, we walk the talk and work to create a recognition environment everyday.  In creating and maintaining a strong Recognition culture, Gallup’s research shows that for employees to feel valued and committed to a workplace, they need to receive some form of recognition every seven days… Something to think about.

As employees feel valued and engaged, the customer’s experience improves and the business performance is enhanced.  How much it is enhanced is up to you.

What are some of the ways you can think of to recognize your employees?  Are you doing it every seven days?  Put it on your calendar.  Make it a priority.  It makes a difference.

Bite #2, next week….

M

Posted under Customers, Employees, General, Leadership