The Customer Authority

If you haven’t heard of Zappo’s by now, you should have. The little online shoe store has grown into a corporate giant – and they’ve done it all on the power of customer service.

You’ve heard me talk about Zappo’s on here before and how their dedication to a customer focused culture has helped them rake in millions. Customers love this company, not just because of their products, but because of the “give-the-customers-what-they-want-and-more” attitude.

If you’ve been trying to figure out how to use Zappo’s strategy for your own company, here’s your chance.

Zappo’s will be hosting a webinar Tuesday, September 29 at 2:00 p.m., titled “How Zappo’s Built A Billion Dollar Empire Through A Customer Focused Culture”. The webinar will feature one of their Customer Loyalty Team Leaders – Senior Manager Rob Siefker – who will discuss how the company increased their gross merchandise sales from just over $1 million to $1 billion in just eight short years.

There will be a lot to learn from this very informative session, so I highly recommend this to anyone interested in increasing their company’s success through customer service excellence. (Which should be ALL of you if you enjoy reading this blog!).

Here’s the article about the webinar. To register, go to the company’s registration page here.

Today is an important, emotional day for me, as it is for any American. Of course we will never forget that day. Always remember.

But with that said – I wanted to lighten the mood a little and share something I had a few chuckles over as I was reading it.

I came across this article on weird and outdated laws that are still on the books in states across the nation. Some of them were obviously just old, and for whatever purpose, were needed at the time.

Others will leave you scratching your head asking…uh…WHY did they need this law in the first place – and how is it physically possible to do?

And yes, I know this has nothing to do with customer service. The point today is simply to take a moment, remember, and be thankful you have the freedom to take time to have some fun. Enjoy.

Read article here…

Today we’re going to talk a little bit about marketing your business. Have you ever noticed when you go to other people’s websites, all they do is talk about themselves? It’s all “we do this”, “we do that”. “These are our features, aren’t we pretty?” “Don’t you want to buy us because we’re so awesome?” Blah blah blah.

Yeah, I get sick of it too. Hopefully you’re not making this mistake on your website. But if you’re one of the guilty ones, it’s okay. That’s what I’m here for – to help you make things better.

Customers don’t care so much what you’re selling. They only care about what’s in it for THEM.

They want to know WHY your service or product should be important for THEM. They want to know HOW it’s going to make their lives better or easier. They want to know WHAT about your product or service is going to enhance their lives.

There’s a word for all of this you should become very familiar with – it’s called BENEFITS.

In any type of marketing strategy you have, your focus should ALWAYS be on the benefits to the people you are targeting your service or product to. They only care about your features if they know it’s going to have a positive effect on their lives.

Those benefits could be:

Emotional
Physical
Conscious
Sub-conscious

If your product or service can make a person feel better, prettier, thinner, or confident; if it helps make their lives easier, more organized, more productive – they’re going to want it.

When deciding how you want to market yourself, list all the features of your product or service. Then next to those features write down every single benefit you can think of. Don’t just stop at one benefit – take it to the next level until you can’t go any further.

For example:

Feature for make-up powder: Will give even coverage to your skin

Benefits: Will cover all the lines on my face => Will make my face look younger => Will help me compete next to the younger girls when trying to meet a man => Will help me not look like a old cow => Will help me get that hot date with Ted on Friday => Will help me get lucky on Friday night because I’ll be looking fantastic!

Okay, so you get the idea. Try to think of all the reasons why people buy things and then take it to the nth degree. Then create your marketing concepts out of those wants/needs/desires you know they’ll have. Once you make those connections, you’re making it that much easier for people to buy from you and not someone else.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

The Customer Authority will be back on Wednesday!

See you then!

Michelle

I was raised to be a polite person. When I was a little girl, I was instructed by my parents to refer to them as “ma’am” and “sir”. I was also to refer to any elder of mine in this manner. If I didn’t I received a stern warning and the “stink eye” that was my mother’s angry stare.

I learned early on to say my “please” and “thank-you” in order to avoid any minor injuries. Mom had a long reach, and while I was good at ducking, I preferred to do as told then risk a stinging slap. Being polite became so ingrained with who I was; I was even referred to as “polite” in my high school yearbook description. Now THAT’S polite when teenagers point it out.

Which brings me to today’s post, which also happens to be the final post for the 25 Things You Should Do In Customer Service. And that is to be sure to always thank your customers.

In customer service, I notice more often than not, customer service representatives are losing their manners. I’ve been on the phone or in a store on more than one occasion where the representative seemed to barely register a pulse. And while they may not have been rude to me, they surely were not going out of their way to be friendly.

To me, it’s just logical to say thank you to your customers. If they are shopping for your products, and hopefully buying them, you want to thank them for all their worth. Because their worth a lot to you at that point!

Even if the customer isn’t buying from you at that moment, you still want to say thank you. You’re thanking them for coming to visit your store or site. You’re thanking them for the consideration of purchasing your services. And you’re thanking them for hopefully coming again in the future.

You may not think customers notice these simple, small gestures of appreciation, but they do. If a customer comes often enough, they notice consistency of friendliness, manners, appreciation, and attention given to them. I have more than once been in a location I noticed these things and made a point to mention what friendly/polite service they had. It’s also why I would go back.

So from now on, do what your momma told you and be polite. Not just to your customers, but to everyone! And if your momma never told you that, then pretend I’m your momma – Don’t forget to say Thank You!

Have you ever had a customer service story that was so hysterical, you just had to share it with everyone you knew? And when they heard it, they said it was the funniest customer service story they’d ever heard?

Well now you can share your story with everyone AND get paid for it!

There is a contest going on right now called “Outrageous Interactions” sponsored by Interactive Intelligence, a “top 10 ranked provider of call center software designed to improve customer service” (according to the article I was reading). As the top prize, the company is offering $5000 smack-a-roos. They’ll also be giving out smaller merchandise and tech gadgets to other contestant winners.

Sounds pretty good, eh?

The only catch is they want a video created depicting your tale. So if you aren’t video-savvy, you may want to get a friend who is to help you out. (You can give him a small percentage of your winnings).

To learn more about the contest and how to enter, just read the article here. Be sure to check out the customer tips at the end on how to get a better service experience!