Wednesday, August 22, 2012
The Most Powerful Word in Loyalty Building
SORRY!
You can’t win them all, but you sure can apologize and own your losses. Pleasing everyone is a daunting task, and if that is all you try to do you probably won’t ever get anything done. Worse, you are pretty unlikely to be unsuccessful.
With all of that said, one of the best tools you have to create a positive experience in an unfortunate situation is the power of the phrase, I am sorry. I think we all know it, but it can be hard to execute. It means that you may have to have a difficult conversation or swallow your pride, but I can tell you an apology can go a long way to build loyalty.
Take-away: Next time you are in an unpleasant situation here are some steps to follow.
1. Listen to the person share why he/she was upset.
2. Repeat what you did that upset the person in question.
3. Apologize for that action.
4. Share what you will do to prevent that action from happening in the future.
5. Take action to prevent the action as you indicated you would.
6. Move on! Life is short, don’t dwell on mistakes. After all, we are all human.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Free Tools on the Web
Everything is online today, but finding anything useful is a huge challenge. Here are a couple of useful and easy to use free tools on the web.
1. About.me-This is a great online business card site. You can link all of your social sites to one place and add a short description. Mine is http://about.me/bridgetlbrandt.
2. Hootsuite-The leading social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks. I love this site. It is an amazing time saver, and social watch dog tool. http://www.hootsuite.com/
3. Twellohood- This tool allows you to search for people by geographic area. Very cool way to connect with local businesses and people online in your area. http://www.twellow.com/twellowhood
4. Common Craft- A great resource of free videos that help teachers and trainers delight millions by making complex ideas easy to understand. http://www.commoncraft.com/
5. Rapportive- This tool helps you get to to know your contacts by showing you everything about them right inside your inbox. http://rapportive.com
6. Wise Stamp-Email apps enable users to bring functionality in every email they send. Check out the Apps gallery where you’ll find 14 social, fun and serious apps...and the list is growing. http://www.wisestamp.com/
7. Survey Monkey- Free online survey tool that allows users to conduct, collect, & analyze survey data. http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Take-away: Try some of these great resources and let me know if you have other tools you love.
Thanks to Joel Adkins for sharing some of these great sites.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Listen and Respond, Lesson's From a Three Year Old
This adorable question from 3 1/2 year old Lily prompted Sainsbury's to respond in an equally adorable and tremendously viral fashion.
After receiving Lily's letter about their product Sainsbury's replied just as one should to a three year old. Then her family posted the reply, and at screen capture this letter had almost 150,000 likes on Facebook. Now that is something to be happy about if you are Sainsbury.
After reading this adorable post, I wanted to try some Tiger Bread. Needless to say, this type of customer service truly creates an experience above the norm that can't be denied.
Take-away: Next time you have the opportunity to respond in a fashion that makes a difference to one person, you should because in today's online world one can sometimes equate to 150,000.
After receiving Lily's letter about their product Sainsbury's replied just as one should to a three year old. Then her family posted the reply, and at screen capture this letter had almost 150,000 likes on Facebook. Now that is something to be happy about if you are Sainsbury.
After reading this adorable post, I wanted to try some Tiger Bread. Needless to say, this type of customer service truly creates an experience above the norm that can't be denied.
Take-away: Next time you have the opportunity to respond in a fashion that makes a difference to one person, you should because in today's online world one can sometimes equate to 150,000.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Satisfaction Does Not Equal Loyalty
Satisfaction does not equal loyalty, satisfied customers defect everyday. In a study done by the Marketing Leadership Council, it was discovered that three simple steps can create true loyalty that drives repeat purchase.
Step 1: LEARN
Capture and share information across your organization. Share information you glean from your customers, your sales teams, R&D, and any other resources. If you are a small company, rely on in store feedback and surveys.
Step 2: TEACH
Teach customers, don't just sell to them. Focus on teaching your customers about the industry you serve them in. For example, Sage Nonprofit Solutions sells Nonprofit Accounting and Fundraising Software. As such, we work to teach our customers about our solutions, and how to be successful in the industry. What is happening in the industry and how they can be more successful. This is a true win/win. When customers know more about how you can help them and why it matters, they are more likely to purchase.
Step 3: AMPLIFY
When you have a raving fan, you should be sharing the voice of that fan with everyone you can. And, you should be educating that fan with knowledge about your organization, how it works, how it helps, and how it can move other organizations forward. Essentially creating a powerhouse of word of mouth advertising.
Take-away: As with all things, it is easier said than done, but the results show that investing in true loyalty measures pays off in the long run.
Source: Marketing Leadership Council, Redefining Customer Loyalty: Growing Share of Wallet by Systematizing Customer Delight, Washington D.C.
Step 1: LEARN
Capture and share information across your organization. Share information you glean from your customers, your sales teams, R&D, and any other resources. If you are a small company, rely on in store feedback and surveys.
Step 2: TEACH
Teach customers, don't just sell to them. Focus on teaching your customers about the industry you serve them in. For example, Sage Nonprofit Solutions sells Nonprofit Accounting and Fundraising Software. As such, we work to teach our customers about our solutions, and how to be successful in the industry. What is happening in the industry and how they can be more successful. This is a true win/win. When customers know more about how you can help them and why it matters, they are more likely to purchase.
Step 3: AMPLIFY
When you have a raving fan, you should be sharing the voice of that fan with everyone you can. And, you should be educating that fan with knowledge about your organization, how it works, how it helps, and how it can move other organizations forward. Essentially creating a powerhouse of word of mouth advertising.
Take-away: As with all things, it is easier said than done, but the results show that investing in true loyalty measures pays off in the long run.
Source: Marketing Leadership Council, Redefining Customer Loyalty: Growing Share of Wallet by Systematizing Customer Delight, Washington D.C.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Things I have learned from our nonprofit customers that you can use!
We just hosted our first Customer Success Tour. The idea, which seems like a no brainer now, had never been done before. We wanted to bring our customers together. Share where we are going and see where they are and want us to be. Simple!
The event was an amazing success. Here are a few of the top lessons I learned from our customers that you can use for your donors:
1. Communicate- Your donors want to know more. Email is not enough. We need to share what we are doing multiple times, and we need to share it in multiple channels.
2. Share- Your donors want to know how the organization is impacting others and what others are doing in the organization. One of the primary benefits of the success tour was being able to share the success The Jazz Foundation is having with Sage Fundraising Online. It was a win/win for everyone in the room. We were able to share the success of great product, and our customers were able to learn a great deal about online fundraising. You can do that in your organizations too. (Thanks Petr!)
3. Give them what they want- I have said this a million times and heard it a billion, but it bears repeating. If you are sharing information about dog rescue with a cat person the message will not be heard. Target your audience based on what they want to hear and what they care about.
4. Timing- New York in December is beautiful, but it is also hard to navigate and a very busy. Sadly we inconvenienced our customers by bringing them into the city during the Holidays. A great lesson for us and you. Is the timing of your events suited for your schedule or the schedule of your donors? Make sure they both jive.
5. Answer the questions- A great learning for me was that we need to have a more succinct resource for supporting our customers, so we put together a customer resources page to help answer their questions. Time and again, I stumble upon nonprofit pages that don’t answer the basic questions of donors.
- Who are you?
- Why should I give you my money?
- Are you accountable for the money you have gotten before?
These are must have’s for all nonprofit websites, and it was a great reminder for me.
Take-away: All in all, I learned more from those four short hours than I have in my five years with Sage. When was the last time you got your donors together and asked them how you were doing? Maybe it’s time!!!
The event was an amazing success. Here are a few of the top lessons I learned from our customers that you can use for your donors:
1. Communicate- Your donors want to know more. Email is not enough. We need to share what we are doing multiple times, and we need to share it in multiple channels.2. Share- Your donors want to know how the organization is impacting others and what others are doing in the organization. One of the primary benefits of the success tour was being able to share the success The Jazz Foundation is having with Sage Fundraising Online. It was a win/win for everyone in the room. We were able to share the success of great product, and our customers were able to learn a great deal about online fundraising. You can do that in your organizations too. (Thanks Petr!)
3. Give them what they want- I have said this a million times and heard it a billion, but it bears repeating. If you are sharing information about dog rescue with a cat person the message will not be heard. Target your audience based on what they want to hear and what they care about.
4. Timing- New York in December is beautiful, but it is also hard to navigate and a very busy. Sadly we inconvenienced our customers by bringing them into the city during the Holidays. A great lesson for us and you. Is the timing of your events suited for your schedule or the schedule of your donors? Make sure they both jive.
5. Answer the questions- A great learning for me was that we need to have a more succinct resource for supporting our customers, so we put together a customer resources page to help answer their questions. Time and again, I stumble upon nonprofit pages that don’t answer the basic questions of donors.
- Who are you?
- Why should I give you my money?
- Are you accountable for the money you have gotten before?
These are must have’s for all nonprofit websites, and it was a great reminder for me.
Take-away: All in all, I learned more from those four short hours than I have in my five years with Sage. When was the last time you got your donors together and asked them how you were doing? Maybe it’s time!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)