Coffee Anyone?

In this world of ever

increasing commoditization,

key to winning the battle of

the marketplace is a clearly

differentiated (and better)

customer experience

Question: How is it that a person will spend over three dollars for a cup of coffee at a trendy coffee shop when that same cup of coffee could be enjoyed at an upscale hotel for two dollars and fifty cents, a casual restaurant for a buck and a half, a fast food place for a dollar, or in the comfort of your own home for a total cost of about twenty cents?

Answer: It’s not about coffee . . . it's about the customer experience!

Think about it. Regardless of what you are buying, your decision as per whom you buy it from is more dependent on the total value proposition (convenience, service experience, image, ambiance, trust, packaging, etc.) than it is about the product or price.

The same holds true for almost any product. Take financial products and services for example. You can get a mortgage, open an RRSP, or receive financial advice from any number of financial services providers ...and all for pretty much the same price. Why do you bank where you do?

Long gone are the days when all you had to do was build a better mousetrap and customers would beat a path to your door. Today, new and improved product and service offerings can be replicated by the competition in a matter of days, if not hours. Now, to get the customer to come to you, and stay with you, you must present a better total value proposition!

That is what customers are really buying and knowing what customers are really buying is key to selling more of it!

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If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

A Magic Formula For Thriving In Tough Times

I'm sure you all recognize this famous couple, but how much do you know about their history? Well let me tell you about it…



It all began in 1923 when an ambitious young man named Walt Disney arrived in Hollywood California with a big dream, a few sketches and $40 in his pocket. Soon thereafter, Walt convinced his brother Roy to join him and together they formed The Disney Brothers Studio using $200 Roy had saved, $500 borrowed from an uncle, and $2,500 contributed by their parents who mortgaged their house to come up with the funds! In no time, they hired a small staff and got down to the business.

For the first few years, Walt and Roy paid the rent and their staff by selling their early cartoons which were the original versions of “Alice in Wonderland” to M.J. Winkler, a New York film distributor. It wasn’t until early 1928 that Mickey Mouse, Disney’s best known creation was born.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

When the demand for the Alice series waned, Walt created a new character for Winkler named ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’. Oswald’s popularity grew, and in the spring of 1928, Walt decided to go to New York to negotiate a higher price for the contract.

Unbeknownst to Walt, Charlie Mintz , Winkler’s husband, had recently engineered a hostile takeover of Walt’s operation, enticing most of his staff away with the promise of better money. What Walt also did not know was that according to the terms of the original contract, Charlie Mintz and Universal Pictures actually owned all legal rights to Oswald as well as the Alice series. Thinking he had the upper hand, Mintz demanded that Walt Disney give up his business and go to work for him. Walt refused and stormed out of his office to return to California with virtually nothing.

It was during the four day train ride home from that fateful meeting in New York that Mickey Mouse was born. Walt originally wanted to call the little guy Mortimer, but fortunately, Walt’s wife convinced him that Mickey would sound less formal. Likely prompted by that conversation, the creation of Minnie was soon to follow.

Walt completed Mickey’s first cartoon, "Plane Crazy." in record time, but likely intimidated by the Universal Pictures disputes, no distributor would buy it. Not one to quit, Walt produced a second silent Mickey cartoon, called "Gallopin' Gaucho" which was also a very tough sell.

If nothing but persistent, late in 1928, Walt Disney began work on his third Mickey Mouse cartoon, this time a talkie, entitled, "Steamboat Willie." The young man (now 26) invested everything he had left into the film. This time the investment paid off and Mickey and his leading lady Minnie became stars, and orders for more cartoons came flooding in.

All that said, Walt’s troubles were far from over. It was 1929 and looming on the horizon was the Great Depression. Fortunately by this time, Walt, Mickey and Minnie were no strangers to adversity. They not only knew how to manage it, but even how to turn it to their advantage. Laughter sold well during the dirty thirties… and well beyond!

So what was Mickey, Minnie and Walt's magic formula for thriving in tough times. It's simple really. For over 80 years they made people (customers) happy! And they still do.

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

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If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

The Silent Disappearing Act

The following was submitted as a comment by Justin Baillie (a fellow crusader of the service quality cause) in response to one of my earlier articles entitled ' The Company You Keep.' Given Justin's words spoke to more than just the core theme of that effort, I decided that rather than post it as a comment, I'd put it up as a whole new article. Thanks Justin!

I am probably the worst kind of dissatisfied customer. When something goes wrong, I just walk away. You'll not hear another thing about it from me (did I hear you breathe a sigh of relief?), I'll never again do business with you and, being human, I'll tell all of my family and friends not to either.

You have just lost a customer and you don’t even have a clue why. And you can’t win me back, because I’m gone. Like magic, I just disappeared and all your companies expensive MI will show is attrition, with no attributable or tangible explanation.

If management is clever, when they see a lot of attrition, they may try to find the cause. But don't worry; that takes a lot of time and how will they know it's linked to the poor customer service you provided?

Let's be realistic. Customers come and go, and we all generally spend a lot more time trying to get new ones than focusing on the existing, or exiting ones.

And besides, so what if I have left, what’s the big deal, who cares?

But, just in case you are interested, here's the ironic bit: the reason I am walking away is trivial and you could so easily have done the right thing in the first place, or put it right after the fact, if only you'd picked up on my rather obvious signs of displeasure.

Now I'm thinking that you and your organization don’t really care about service, or my business. Fair enough, you are a big corporate, you make millions, so why should you care about my few hundred or maybe few thousand dollars of revenue? I bet your motto is “There are plenty of other fish in the sea.” Right?

Fortunately for me, that works both ways. What you offer is available in many different places, maybe even for less money. I’ll just take my business elsewhere; thank you very much.

Justin

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

NEW: If you would like to be notified whenever a new Wavemaker blog topic is posted, just drop us an email at wmconsulting@live.com with "Blog Me" in the subject bar. We promise never to provide your contact details to anyone else and you can unsubscribe from this service at any time.

If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

In Good Times and Bad

To be productive, there are only two things you can do in business:

1-add value

2-save costs

Now then - which are you doing right now?

The above words of wisdom were sent to me by a good friend and X boss. While I love the simplicity and see no need to mess with them, I would like to suggest there is something to be said for the order in which they are presented, especially given the times.

While all for running a tight ship, I am more than a little concerned for those companies focusing first and foremost on cutting costs, but giving little or no thought to adding value.

Particularly disconcerting is the all to common practice of cutting programs aimed at improving the skills and knowledge of long standing employees, or worse yet cutting the people themselves.

I suspect most, if not all of these these companies are going to find themselves behind the eight ball when the markets turns, if not before. And, when it comes to time to staff back up, the cost of regaining, or retraining the skills and knowledge lost may be more than many can bare.

So if your response to the question posed above is simply "I'm cutting costs" and you haven't already developed and implemented a plan for adding value, you might want to rethink your approach.

What is the best, and likely the least expensive way to add value, regardless of the times?

We would suggest the answer lies in retaining and further developing your best people so your company can deliver a superior customer experience that differentiates you from your competitors, both today and in the future - a logical strategy for both good times and bad!

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

Change

While some would say it comes in waves and others suggest it rides an expediential curve; I believe that change may well prove to be the last remaining constant.


What with everything going on in the world these days, you have to admit, these are certainly interesting and ever-changing times!

For the most part, change is a good thing as without it, there can be no improvement. But significant and rapid change does have its down sides, one of which is the risk that faced with the uncertainty, confusion and fear typically associated with change, we may occasionally lose sight of what matters most.

In business, there is no doubt that it is the customer that matters most. After all, if not for customers, we wouldn’t have our businesses.

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the general decline in service quality of late, it would appear that at least some, likely distracted by recent events, may have lost sight of this fact. Perhaps it would help to remind ourselves (and others) that even inturbulent times, service quality is one of the things we still have complete control over.

So enough of being distracted by things outside our control; isn’t it time we all returned our attentions to what matters most?

No matter if you believe that change comes in waves, is expediential in nature, or is the last remaining constant; during turbulent times it is wise to remember that you can only manage those things within your control. Among these are operational efficiency, sales effectiveness, cost containment and above all else, service quality!

In the face of a storm, these are your anchors and if you give them your undivided attention and manage them well, they will keep you from being washed off course and onto the rocks.

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

Talk to the head… but speak to the heart

The other day I stumbled on the following little quote and thought ‘now there’s a sales & service quality message if every I heard one!'

“People will forget what you said, people will

forget what you did, but people will never

forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

To win customer loyalty and advocacy, it is not enough to simply deliver fast, efficient and accurate service. You also need to touch the customer on a deeper level. It takes both strong rational and emotional connections to develop meaningful and lasting relationships.

This may well be the shortest blog entry I’ve ever written, but I think that between the title, the quote and conclusion, it just about says it all.

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com

The Company You Keep

You've likely heard the old expression "You are judged by the company you keep." I recently heard a new one that takes that line of thinking a whole lot further. It went something like this:

"You become the average of the people you

associate with most often."

You have to admit, it's an interesting concept, even if you think it only partially true. But what's all this got to do with sales and service quality? Well, it may actually go a long way to explaining how we as individuals, could raise the bar on the customer experience significantly, perhaps even on a country, or world-wide basis.

What if we all decided to only associate (do business) with those who provide a great customer experience?

My bet is that over time, a number of things would happen:

1) by association, our own service delivery would improve (not a bad outcome in its own right)
2) by rewarding those who provide the type of customer experience we all want, we would encourage more of the same
3) by not rewarding those that don't provide great service, we would be helping them see the error of their ways (they would either get the hint, or go out of business)

I appreciate this approach may initially cause us all a little inconvenience, especially as great customer experiences are hard to find, but if enough of us did it, wouldn't the gains be more than worth the effort?

So next time you are out doing a little shopping and you run across poor service, do yourself, your country, and maybe even the world a favor.

Just walk away!

To comment on this blog click on 'comments' below. To read previous articles, see the Blog Archive (lower right) and to become a Wavemaker Blogs follower, click on 'Follow' (just above Archive).

If you would like to know more about how Wavemaker Consulting can help your company improve the customer experience you provide, visit our Website, or email us at wmconsulting@live.com