The Bridge Conference:5 Things I Learned

I had the great pleasure of speaking at the 6th Annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing Conference in DC today. It was a great conference, and I learned a few things that I thought I would share.


First, according to Bryan Dodge, a great speaker, there is a clear problem with people's work life balance. There is too much focus on quantity at work and quality at home. In his opinion, and mine that should be reversed. We should be spending more time at home with our families. If we focused on quality at work, we could do just that!


Second, and also according to Mr. Dodge. We need to start spending more time with energy givers and less with energy takers. Amen Brother!


Third, (this I learned on the treadmill) this country focuses way too much on pop culture and way too little on world needs. Just think, if we would cover the food/clean water crisis in third world countries only a 10th as much as Nancy Grace has covered the Caylee trial we could probably raise enough money to alleviate the problem all together.


Fourth, no matter how many times you say it or how many people know it, there is still a lot of ground work that needs to happen in organizations to improve EXPERIENCE!

Fifth, I continue to be impressed and amazed by the great work that the nonprofits in this world do every day!

Take-away: Never stop learning!




Take-away:

"I Am a Winner, Sort Of"

Recently my dear friend Tammy Carter went "Over the Edge" for Make-A-Wish Foundation. She won the award for the slowest rappel which cracks me up. As she put it, "I am a winner, sort of." The event itself was no laughing matter. They raised over quarter of a million dollars, have had a ton of press, and earned over 1500 new individual and corporate supporters in a single event. Make-A-Wish Foundation had photographers, video crews, and a full spread of food, drinks, and entertainment all to enhance the event. Tammy raved about the experience and the organization. If it weren't for the unique experience offered, it is unlikely that she would have become a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Now she is a raving fan!

As the competition for dollars gets more fierce, the importance of delivering a UNIQUE experience increases exponentially.

Take-away: How can you make your next event a unique, standout of the crowd event?





























http://www.youtube.com/user/GreaterTEXASFCU?ob=5

What is your motivation to volunteer?

This week one of my fellow team members wrote a great blog on what motivates him to volunteer: http://community.sagenonprofit.com/blog/sagenonprofit/motivations-volunteering. I always find it interesting to learn more about what motivates people, so I challenged the entire senior team to share. As such, here is mine.

I have volunteered with or supported a nonprofit for as long as I can remember. I am typically a supporter for social service causes. I think my passion for those causes comes from growing up in a home with many financial struggles. (Although, I really didn't know it at the time...I like Ramen Noodles).

Needless to say, my most recent cause is Support Behind the Badge. The organization is a small start-up that myself and two other women joined forces to bring to Cedar Park.

My husband is a police officer and last year, his department was devastated by the loss of a fellow officer.

Reed remembered as officer, mentor: kxan.com

At the funeral my heart went out to Officer Reeds family, and we decided that we wanted to do more to strengthen the bond between the families and friends of the department. And, we wanted to memorialize Officer Reed in a way that was fitting. We decided to start with a scholarship because Officer Reed was very committed to the children of our community and their futures.

Since October, we have held several events and are very near establishing the scholarship. It is exciting to be a part of something that we know is going to have an impact on the community for years to come.

Take-away: "For it is in giving that we receive." St. Fancis

Say My Name, Say My Name

One of the local restaurants that I happen to frequent has a waitress that always says my name and knows my order. I love, love, love her and often tip her well above my normal tip. That got me thinking...just how valuable is saying someone's name?

Well, if you google research on saying a persons name you get 80,000,000 results. Hundreds maybe thousands of books have been written on the power of saying a person's name, and yet it is rarely used in a customer experience manner.

Take-away: Today, when you thank a customer, thank them by name!

To the Extreme

Today before my clock hit 9 AM, I had the pleasure of experiencing the best and worst of the customer service wheel. As a result, I once again learned something new.

My day started with a trip to my local car dealer, Covert Cadillac, now I may have mentioned it before, but just in case I haven't it is worth restating. This place is truly 5 Star! They make every trip to get my car repaired enjoyable. Yes, I said enjoyable. They offer candy, popcorn, water, soda…whatever you want. Everyone in the place speaks to you with respect and good manners. They don't waste time, and this morning I was asked if I was in a hurry or not because they wanted to wash my car before they returned it. Now that is great, but the best part of it is they asked before assuming I had nothing better to do! I smiled the whole way to work. I thought about how I would probably buy my next car from them, and how I would make it a point to share how wonderful they are with as many people as possible.

When I got the work, I started my normal routine of checking emails, and returning phone calls. One of the things on my "to-do" list was to schedule a cleaning service that I had purchased on a Living Social deal. (I love all of these deal sites.)

Anyway, I called and was told:

Cleaner Way: "Are you a living social deal?"

Me: "Yes, I am."

Cleaner Way: "Ugh…can YOU call me back in 5 minutes?"

Me: "Sure, but is it ok for me to just wait on hold" (I knew I would forget to call back)

Cleaner Way: "I guess." (One minute passes)

Cleaner Way: "Ok, I can't clean for you until June 17th."

Me: "That sounds great."

Cleaner Way: "You know, I am not making any money off of these deals. They only give me half of the total. Where is your house?"

Me: "My address is...."

Cleaner Way: "That's going to be an extra $35 for gas. Do you tip?"

Me: "As a matter of fact I do tip for good work, but I don't understand why I am being charged an extra $35 for a house that is inside the limits of your service?"

Cleaner Way: "Because otherwise I won't make enough money."

Blah, Blah, Blah…

Me: "You know, I would recommend that you not do another Living Social
Deal because the primary purpose is to give new clients an opportunity to try
your service. And, I am going to be honest with you, based on this conversation;
it is unlikely that I will be doing business with yourcompany in the future."

Cleaner Way: "So, do you want me to put you down or not?"

Me: "I think, not!"

(Three seconds pass- I call Living Social, they refund my money, thanks Living Social!)
Now, I am confident that the first and last are conversations many of you have had. It's important to remember that all of these conversations do matter and they do have an impact on people's decisions to purchase or give.

So, here are some hard and fast rules for experience:
1. Delight your customers
2. Don't place your problems on your customers
3. Remember, a customer is deciding to give to you or do business with you ever time you interact with them, so consistency is KING!

Take-Away: Next time you have an interaction with one of your customer's choose to operate like Cadillac instead of like The Cleaner Way!