Category Archive: Customer service

3 ways to get happy customers for life

Posted by on October 26, 2010

Dr. Seuss

Running your own business is complicated enough. How do you make sure your customers are happy and they bring you referrals and positive word-of-mouth? Here are 3 tips to follow:

1. Under promise and over deliver. Return their phone call, email, tweet, question within reasonable time.  If you are completely swamped then tell them you will get back to them upon review. Deliver on what you promised. Take it a step further – under promise and over deliver. Make sure you meet the deadline you suggested in the first place. Always go above and beyond to make sure you are over-delivering on their expectations. Just meeting their expectations doesn’t cut it anymore.

2. Be consistent. This means be consistent in everything you do – from your marketing to the way you answer emails. Again, this is based on creating expectations. People doing business with you get used to doing it a certain way. People don’t like change. If you are planning on improving anything, make sure to give people plenty of notice and allow them to opt out. An example is how Twitter and Facebook change their platforms. Twitter allows people to go back to the old version of the platform. Facebook makes the change whether you like it or not. People don’t like change. Be consistent and you have a better chance of making people happy. This doesn’t mean be consistent at under delivering, you will only create a complete failure.

3. Treat everyone with respect and give them special attention. Respect your customers and they will respect you back. People are all individuals an they deserve the utmost respect until proven otherwise. Everybody wants to feel special. You can make them feel special by finding out what they like and jotting it down in your computer. If you have some type of customer relationship program, record it there. Otherwise, attach it to their name somehow, electronically is the preferred method. Remember their birthdays. Remember little things they said in your every day conversation that could lead to a special recognition or gift. For example, if someone likes tea instead of coffee, get them a special tea set for the holidays with a hand written note from you. If you make them feel special, they will remember your business. Once they need your service, they will come back to you.

Happy people spread positive word of mouth – the most affordable marketing your small business can purchase.

Go ahead and make your promise. Just make sure you actually over deliver on it, be consistent and give them individual treatment.

What’s your best advice for small business owners?

Categories: Blog Business Customer Loyalty Customer service Marketing Small Businesses Word of Mouth | No Comments »

Ralph Lauren “Gets It”. Do you?

Posted by on October 10, 2010

Case Study: Ralph Lauren

This blog post is way overdue. It happened two winters ago and I just haven’t gotten around to write about it. It absolutely impressed me as a situation where clearly a company “Gets It”.

The company: The company is Ralph Lauren and more specifically their Polo Blue Cologne Fragrance. They created a brand new campaign to help launch their Red, White and Blue product line.

Photo Credit: JustBeMagazine.com

The Concept: A special edition under the Polo Blue franchise inspired by the Ralph Lauren Spirit and the icy invigoration of winter sports. Experience a fragrance celebration of exceptional athletic achievement. Come “push the boundaries” of BLUE.

The Promotion: Ralph Lauren teamed up with Warren Miller film tour and showed their product to 250,000+ moviegoers right before an incredible skiing and snowboarding footage from around the world. They created a 30 sec film combining the new fragrance with exciting skiing and snowboarding scenes. In addition, they had the product available for people to touch and smell prior to going in the movies. More promotions included YouTube video, Twitter contest, Facebook and newsletter promotions.

I participated in their Twitter contest initiated by @SkiingExaminer whom I have been following for a while and trust. I retweeted a short message from the company announcing the product in connection with the upcoming Warren Miller movie premiere.

The Results:

1. Established authenticity for winter sports positioning.

2. Sales increased 70% at Macy’s and 50% at other retailers for the week following the movie premiere.

3. Created excitement among youthful audience.

This so far looks like a well thought out and executed marketing campaign. Great product, good positioning and good tie in of traditional and new media.

What Impressed me?

Following the Twitter contest I was notified that I had won the product and it’s on its way. I completely forgot about it until 2-3 weeks later I received a package in the mail. Inside the package there was the new Ralph Lauren Red White and Blue Men fragrance. In addition, there was a ladies Red White and Blue fragrance bottle and a handwritten note from their Marketing Director. The note said: Dear Milena (Yes, that’s me) Thank you for participating and congratulations. We are including an extra fragrance bottle for you (they figured it out who they are sending the prize too; extra bonus). We hope you enjoy the new fragrance. Sincerely, Ralph Lauren Marketing Director. Did I mention it was a handwritten note? You bet it made me feel very special and appreciated. They way every company should make you feel if they want to keep you as a customer.

I was so impressed with the results that I tracked down the contact information for the Marketing Director from @SkiingExaminer and asked her to send me some information about the campaign to include in my blog. That’s how I know what the campaign generated in the Results section. She sent me an entire PowerPoint presentation with impressive slides, numbers and examples from the campaign some of which I have used in this post. This blog post is the least I can do to show my appreciation for a big brand that “Gets It” and tell you how a big company can actually be personable.

Ralph Lauren obviously gets what it takes to make people feel special. Do you do the same? Share some of your stories here in the comments section.

Categories: Blog Brands I like Business Case Studies Customer Loyalty Customer service Facebook Marketing Social Media Social Media Marketing Success Stories Twitter Word of Mouth | 2 Comments »

Superb customer service at the dentist office

Posted by on September 7, 2010

If you are like most people you probably dislike going to the dentist. I have to agree with you. Except that this dentist is very special.

I’ve been seeing him for over 15 years now despite of changes in dental insurances and 45 min drive to the office one way. He’s one of these older, nice gentleman who can make you feel very comfortable.Even in the dentist chair.

What I like most about this dentist is his attitude towards his clients and his high and I mean really high standard for customer service.

Dr. Donald Orme (in Truckee, CA) by far wins my award for customer service for a local Lake Tahoe business. He knows how to treat his customers and by that I don’t mean keep their teeth healthy but treat them with respect. He understands what it takes to make them feel good, how to make things right and how to keep his clients happy.

He “gets” how word-of-mouth and referrals work and he practices it every day. I wished more Lake Tahoe small and large businesses would learn from Dr. Orme and apply his unwritten policy: Do whatever it takes to make the customer happy.

I wrote a review about him on DentistDig. If you end up going to see him, feel free to write your opinion as well.

Have you run into a good or bad customer service experience lately? Leave a comment on this blog.

Categories: Blog Brands I like Business Customer Loyalty Customer service Lake Tahoe Marketing Small Businesses Success Stories Word of Mouth | No Comments »

Follow up on my Lufthansa travel story

Posted by on July 27, 2010

I want to close the loop on the Lufthansa travel nightmares blog post I wrote back in May during my trip to Europe for those of you who followed my trip and have been asking me for the result.

In summary, I had to deal with a delayed plane, a sick passenger, a well deserved and expensive  shower, new clothes and a long delay at the airport, a lost bag for 7 days, a damaged suitcase and missing items from the bag and COUNTLESS hours emailing, talking to and collecting paperwork for Lufthansa.

Today I received a check from them for $1,732. This is the maximum amount they will issue for a lost bag. (Policy)

All and all, I’m OK with this. It certainly didn’t make up for the lost hours dealing with the company. It can’t make up for the inconvenience, the hassle, my niece’s disappointment when her new iPod was missing, etc.  At least, I feel like I have been somewhat compensated for the expenses.

Ultimately the question is – Did Lufthansa keep me as a customer?

Most likely they did. At the bottom of the pyramid.

During the entire process, I was contacted only once on this blog from someone in their “social media” department.

The worst part about Lufthansa as I discovered is that you cannot contact their customer department by phone. Only by email and by fax.  I suppose you can visit them personally in their office on the East Coast. It felt too much to me like they didn’t want to deal with customers.

Again, did they keep me as a customer? Probably so. Can they work on improving their customer service? Absolutely. Can they start to move people up the pyramid?Definitely so. It would have taken them very little to move me up. Maybe next time.

This concludes my Lufthansa story. Now, I’m ready for new travel adventures with happier experiences and better airline service.  Oh, and anyone from the customer service department of Lufthansa reading this blog, I can consult you on how to improve your customer service. Call me for a free conversation.

Categories: Blog Customer Loyalty Customer service Life Travel Travel & Recreation | No Comments »

Lufthansa travel nightmares

Posted by on May 12, 2010

I just had the worst experience ever on my trip from the USA to Europe. I can understand problems with volcanoes but this is getting crazy.

First, the plane was delayed from Philadelphia to Frankfurt.

Second, a passanger threw up on my in the plane. The most disgusting experience in my life.

Of course, I missed my connection flight to Sofia and had to sit in line for over 2 hours to rebook. With the vomit all over me. Horrible experience.

The next plane to Bulgaria wasn’t until 9 hours later. I managed to find a shower for $8 at the airport. Washed my clothes and walked around in wet clothes until I found a store to buy some new ones. That meant going through multiple check points and passport checks.

Finally, with new clothes (another expense of about $150) and 9 hours at Frankfurt airport (another expensive stay) I got to Sofia to find out that my bag didn’t make it. Now, 30 hours later, Lufthansa still can’t find my bag. It’s not available in the system. What kind of a shitty system is that?Where is my bag? Still in Philadelphia, in Frankfurt or somewhere else in the world????

I have contacted Lufthansa in the US and in Bulgaria. They can’t seem to help me. Their online form doesn’t work. What is one supposed to do? I need my bag. I need a refund on all purchases I have made for this trip so far.

I’m taking my complaint to the social media world and I will not stop until I have a resolution. All of you Lufthansa people if you are listening on the web here’s a shitty customer experience that will damage your brand. Jump on on it. FAST!

Categories: Blog Customer service Life Travel Travel & Recreation | 6 Comments »