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Everything is Marketing episode 50
Today we talk about how customer service is not a reactive art and is radio dead?
Customer service is not a reactive art.
I have said this before, anticipating what the customer wants and delivering to them before they know they need it is high art. In this day and age getting great customer service should not be hard, we are more connected, there is more data on customers than ever before, social media allows for a layer of connection mass media doesn’t, and digital scales — a lot.
So why are people still writing about customer service? Because it just isn’t being done. When my wife and I drive to work together (which is rare but a treat) we tend to stop at a particular coffee shop to grab a cup for the road. This past week they have removed a barista from the staff, seemingly to save money since there isn’t a hiring sign in the window, which has caused BIG slow downs in the time it takes to get the latte — let alone the customer service because the two people behind the counter are “in the weeds” as they say in the food service industry.
So this morning, the fifth day in a row that there were two poor souls attempting to get coffee for the mid morning rush and not doing a great job of it, I passed on the coffee and got it at work.
Will I go back? Not sure, but that is where most customer service kicks in. This is where the owner would say “please come back we will make it up to you” or “service is our number one commodity, come see why it matters to us” but the problem is that they statements occur in the wrong order.
Customer service is not a reactive art, it is a proactive one.
Take the other side of the coin, a coffee shop a block from my office that has 5 baristas on staff — at all times. These shop is an artisan shop that takes pride in the coffee sure, but none of that matters if the experience is shit. This isn’t a post about who has the better coffee because like wine, beer, bourbon, and food — that is subjective. But treating the customer as if they are the center of the universe is not subjective, you either do it or you don’t.
Unleash your inner Yoda on this one.
Do not wait for there to be a problem with your brand for the great customer service to kick in because the ROI of doing it on the front end is so huge, not doing it will cost your business BIG TIME.
Alligators react to the world around them, they wait for the world to act and then they respond.. Thought leaders and killer brands go on the offense and create the world around them, the ecosystem for the customer to engage in, and then engage with the customer early and often. Go on the offense today because you can’t cut your way to profitability and you can’t create a great customer experience after the customer has already had bad one.
Two wrongs just don't.
In Grand Rapids there is an auto repair shop owner who is seeking his 15 minutes of fame by claiming that openly gay couples are not allowed in his establishment, a view he feels strongly about and claims is threatened by the lack of "free speech" in the country today. Here is the nuance, freedom of speech is alive but not free of any consequence which is the part most people miss when they speak of such things.
My favorite supreme court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes would not deem this a "clear and present danger" it would, in fact, be covered as "free speech" however there is fallout on both sides of this debate.
You can run your business anyway you want, but if you won't allow openly gay individuals at your business and if you disagree with his views he will intentionally put your car back together wrong (his words) that seems to me to cover dishonesty, thievery and immoral behavior that he states in his post he won't tolerate.
He is right, nothing is earned and GREAT customer service can make your business but this is one of the greatest debates of our time and I feel at some point he will end up on the wrong side of history but that is his choice and hopefully his team's since he added them to the post.
On the same token starting a flame war with someone like this, banning friends who agree with him, or attempting to change his ideology, or behavior is both a waste of time and no better what he is doing - just in reverse which doesn't make it right.
Acceptance is very hard. Empathy is easier to write than it is to exercise but now more than ever it is vital. Equality covers everyone and if that is what you are seeking, you cannot waste a minute on hatred or even rage. Both are wasted on him and this.
What this event needs is a moment to disappear.
It has been great for social media flame wars and pageviews, it is not great for moving the debate forward or even having a civil discussion about how a individuals views fit into a public facing business. These are real issues, ones we need to discuss, but not like this and not using these social tools of division.
We all have a view and we all have a voice. Some just are louder than others - but that hardly makes them right.
I want better ideas
I listened to Seth Godin doing a podcast the other day where he said, and I am paraphrasing here “I don’t decide to write a book, I write a book when the idea won’t go away.” But where do ideas come from? More importantly how do I get great ideas like Seth Godin, Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, or any innovative archetype that you are inspire by.
I will let you in on a secret.
All of the things you wonder about, how do I lose weight, how do get rich, how do I have better ideas, how do I get smarter, how do I ship more and fear less? All of them come from hard work. You put in the hours and you get back the result. Any one of the people I mentioned above are tenacious in a manner you aren’t likely to be accustomed to because we enjoy the idea of a video going viral or making $200,000 a month off an Instagram account and shy away from the hard work. But we forget two things 1) like the flu, viral video fade 2) social platforms change.
What doesn’t change is hard work.
You want better ideas? Start with AN idea and tell someone. Do it again the next day, and the next, and the next. After three weeks of this, it will become habit (just like exercise would in the same time frame) and you will be an idea-producing machine. That isn’t to say that every idea is gold or that every idea is terrible. It is just to say that you are creating ideas and putting them out into the world. But even that, is only the start. Because anyone could do that, what makes an idea special is the execution of the idea and that is the scary part.
For people who don’t want to speak in public, public speaking or sharing an idea out loud is terrifying, but being on the hook for an idea that germinated into a product or event – that is Michael Myers with a knife in your closet scary. But once you start putting ideas out into the world, the natural progression is to turn one of them into a product or service and once you do that – you want to do it again. This is how progress happens. This is how business moves forward. This is how you empower or “pick” yourself. This is how you can change the world.
Put in the work.
Share the idea.
Execute.
Repeat.
Like shampoo. You want to have great ideas? You have to start creating an idea first and then get into the habit of shipping that idea.
The alternative of doing nothing should scare you much more than the idea of taking a risk, selling an idea, creating your moment.
What will that moment be?