Guess we won’t be seeing Lebron in this uniform again. Let me start by saying that I’m not a basketball fan. If I had to pick a sport and lawn bowling wasn’t an option then baseball would be my pick. There is something so boring about watching a bunch of guys in shorts run to one end of the room and then back over and over and over.
But as a resident of Northeast Ohio, even I would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the drama being played out with the Cavaliers and Lebron James.
Last week after an hour long (longest hour in the history of television?) special on ESPN he made the announcement that he’d be leaving Ohio and headed for sunny Florida.
A lot had to have weighed into his decision. The color of the uniform. Plenty of oranges. Sunshine rather than the midwest clouds. Who knows – but for sure it was a make or break moment for Lebron and his relationship with his customers – the fans of basketball.
The question from the customer’s perspective is this: did Lebron put himself in the shoes of his customers or was the decision based solely on his needs and his goals. You may say that as a professional sports celebrity – he should have only considered himself. If that is the case, I wonder – what will be the long term affect with the fans? Will people forget that his ego seemed to shine brighter than his gifts to the industry?
Make or break moments are those times when we have the opportunity to build a relationship with our customers or times when we do something that harms that relationship forever.
Which has happened with Lebron? Time will tell but as a resident from Ohio, the buzz around here says it will be long time before people forget this particular make or break moment.
I have been saving a torn out letter to the editor since May 26. The letter struck a cord with me.
This election year the local school put a levy on the ballot. They wanted the residents to vote for adding a sizable tax amount to our real estate taxes for the purpose of…..well, I don’t know that we ever knew.
I have one child in the school system and she participates in many extra activities, most of which we now pay for as we go. I received a letter that talked about some of the programs that are available but it didn’t say what would happen if the levy didn’t pass.
Yes, isn’t it nice that we have all of these programs. How is that tied to the levy.
The letter to the editor from Kathleen Hooker, a friend of mine and a savvy business woman and articulate communicator had this to say, shortly after the levy didn’t pass:
“While I am disappointed thta Hudson voters defeated the school levy, I am not surprised. As someone who monitors macrotrends for a living, there is a fundamental shift occurring in society; the emergence of the “value-added buyers.” This buyer desires transparency to make better decisions against their own judgement of value, calculated as current value (e.g. property values or test scores) or future value (student job prospects, quality of life). ……The school district should tell us about its investments like corporations publish in their annual reports and we can become better investor partners in the Hudson City schools.”
Beautifully said. Our customers want to know the “whys.” All the more reason we need to strive to build a relationship with our customers. As Kathleen put it – we need to make them better investor partners.
How many of you have had to raise your prices (or perhaps you hesitate to raise them) and then have to justify the price increase to your customers? Do you say something like – it is the economy or cost of living or do you actually take them on as partners and let them know how the price increase affects them and why you’ve come to the decision. Perhaps your suppliers have raised prices. Perhaps a local vendor you used went out of business and now you have shipping costs you never had before.
Full disclosure or as Kathleen says “transparency.” If our customers see we are being up front and honest – they will trust us and remember, people buy from those they like and TRUST.
Do you convey your value? Do you invite your customers to be trusted investors in your relationship?
We’ve dabbled in social media. In some cases we have gotten quite good but are we focused? There are many uses for participating in social media, but for me – the best benefit is the ability to connect with our customers – or our potential customers. We have a make or break opportunity available to us when we use social media to actively listen to what is being said about us and our industry and to query those consumers for what is important to them.
I have put together a Customer-Focus Social Media Strategy workbook that I offer FREE to help get you started. This is a workshop that I am invited to give on a regular basis and because I know you can’t come to Ohio and hear me speak, I have created a couple audio files that will walk you through each of the pages in the workbook.
Next – let’s make sure we have all of our account information in a convenient location. Cut down the stress and frustration levels by keeping track of your User Names and passwords.
Now we move into the meat of your strategy. Create a Social Media Site Map for each of your brand images. The instructions for this form are broken into two parts:
Okay, you have your direction – you’ve identified the brand message and the target customer, now let’s think about the ways you can connect with those customers. In the audio explanation for Opportunities to L.I.N.C. you’ll learn how often you should participate.
Time to make a commitment. In this final audio, you’ll make your commitment to what social media vehicle you’ll use and how often. I share thoughts on how to fit social media into your schedule. Time to make a commitment.
Best of luck as you put together your social media strategy and begin to connect with customers!
I had the opportunity to spend the evening with three other women for the purpose of selecting a winner of a $1,000 college scholarship. Jo-Ann McFearin, a highly celebrated and successful Howard Hanna real estate genius, is a customer of mine. When she called asking me to be part of the selection committee, I jumped at the chance to work with her even though this was a task for which I had no experience.
Thirty-five high school seniors had applied by answering a series of questions and completing an essay. The forms included teacher recommendations, grade point average and their class standing.
Jo-Ann developed this scholarship as a tribute to her children, now grown and in college, and as a way to give back to the school system that had served her family so successfully. The chosen candidate wouldn’t necessarily be someone in need or with the highest grade point average.
“I want this award to go to someone with a passion for their chosen career path,” said McFearin. “Someone who shows leadership qualities but most important is that focus and drive for making something of themselves.”
A quick glance through the applications let us know the process would be difficult as all of the students had a strong background. We began weeding the candidates out and quickly determined some key elements that led to the final six.
The process was similar to how our potential customers weed us out as they search the Internet for a company to potentially do business with:
Neat, easy to read and understand
Is our content easy to follow, are the navigational links in working order, does the layout make sense?
Did more than the mininum – the essay required a minimum of 100 words. Some applicants clearly counted and wrote just the bare minimum.
This holds true with our marketing materials and our in person connections: do we just show up – or do we take it to the next step? Is our website just a splash page so that we can say we have one, or is it a resource that provides value to the reader? When prospects enter our location – do we smile and then get back to our busy-work or are we attentive and engaging?
Answered the questions – some wrote a lot but totally missed the question
Does our website content sound like a commerical – all glitz and no substance? Do we address the questions and issues that drove the reader to search the Internet and find us to begin with?
Well rounded - spending time in after school activities, charitable volunteer hours, community activities, holding roles of responsibility
Are we a company that appears to be just in it for the money? Consumers like to do business with those they share common philosophies. Do we show that we are making an effort to go GREEN or to give back to the community or to mentor young men and women on their path to a career?
Showed a passion for their future – the final six applications all had one thing in common – through their words and also their actions (the list of their activities) there was a direct correlation that spoke volumes. These are students who not only have a dream but they aren’t waiting for college or adulthood to start making things happen. One had started a foundation, one has begun a business, one is already providing counseling to the patients she someday hopes to help as a doctor.
Does our passion come across in our words and actions? We may offer great products and services but are we PASSIONATE about how we help our customers? Is that communicated effectively in our marketing material, website content and our in person attitude?
It was a wonderful opportunity participating in the selection process and the one student who was finally selected as the winner is truly deserving on every level. It was humbling to see how dedicated the final candidates are to others, their family, and their own future. All of that came across loud and clear on paper.
Do we make the most of our Make or Break Moments on paper (or with our Internet presence)?
I bought a daybed from Hillsdale Furniture. It is a Dorchester bed. It comes in three big boxes. Pieces, parts, hardware and two instruction pages; one for the frame and one for the daybed.
I am pretty handy, in fact, I don’t use the included allen wrench or open ended wrench – I have my own tools. I love putting things together. In fact, look around my house; the desks, entertainments centers, bookshelves – you guessed – I have put them together. Never had a bit of trouble until today. A daybed – how hard can it be?
I read both sets of instructions and concluded I needed to start with the wooden daybed. Piece of cake until I got to Step Two:
Attach Link Spring (*not included) to daybed.
I look for a corresponding “*” and I found one in a diagram that showed a metal bracket – no spring visible. Not included struck a moment of horror in my mind. E-gads.
So I looked at the instructions for the mattress frame. I reviewed the hardware list, the parts list, the instructions and the diagrams. No Link Spring.
I went on the website and searched for Link Spring and just found a picture of the bed frame. Went to WIKI – no definition, not even when I put quote marks around the phrase.
Curious.
So I skip Step 2 and go to the mattress frame. I complete the frame and when it comes time to attach the frame to the wooden daybed I find that the Frame Plates look just like the Link Spring. hmmm. No spring. Nothing to link.
Using the hardware from the daybed, I attach the frame to the bed with the frame plates – perfect fit.
How much time and confusion was caused because the Frame Plate was really a link spring? How many customers call customer service for clarification?
I just finished reading a post at Idea-Sellers that talks about a frustrating experience the writer is having with a company website that forces the potential customer to jump through hoops before finally calling the company and leaving a message that, at the time of his post, had still not been returned.
Do companies really want to do business with their prospects?
Do companies care if their customers can use their product with little confusion?
My daybed is lovely. But I sure didn’t like the fact that the instructions made it far more difficult than it needed to be simply because they weren’t consistent in the name of the parts.
Do you make it easy for your customers? Do you have different names for the same product and service that could cause confusion?
Once again Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have corraled a couple hundred writers, marketers, and entrepreneurs and asked them to provide their valuable insights into connecting with the customer through social media. The book is currently at the publisher and is expected to hit the book stores (print and Kindle/iPad versions) in April! I’m humbled to be part of this wonderful collection for the second time.
In the Age of Conversation 3 Gavin and Drew asked authors to share their thoughts in one of ten areas:
At the Coalface
There is much to be said for good strategy, but what happens when the strategy is done? What happens when the time for talking is over? This section is about working at the coalface of social media. It’s about the real world lessons that come hard and fast. It’s about case studies and the stories and events that are much better in the re-telling than in the moment.
Conversational Branding
When we talk of brands, we generally understand what it means. But what happens when a brand ventures into online conversation. What does it mean to participate in these conversations? Is this earned media? Is it paid for? Or is there an in-between space? How important is brand in the social media space? How does the conversation shape or change the brand?
Influence
Much is made of influence, but what does “influence” mean in social media? Who has it, and who creates it? Does influence mean different things to different people? Is it hype or can it make the cash register ring? Is influence one of the new currencies?
Getting to work
They say that the best approach to social media is dive in. But getting to work with social media can be harder than it first appears. What have you done to quickly get to work? Or perhaps this section is about how you use social media to get to work — literally. Is it a viable tool for networking and job hunting? Or maybe this section is about how social media is changing the face of work. Does getting to work now mean sitting at the kitchen table in your bathrobe?
Corporate Conversations
There is plenty of coverage of social media when the focus is on marketing or advertising. But what is happening in other parts of your business? How is social media playing within your business and has it surprised you? Or…if you’re a consultant or agency, how do you introduce social media to the C-level at your client’s business? How do you make social media more than a fad or seem relevant to the bottom line?
Measurement
Can you measure social media? Many claim you can and many claim you can’t. But if you can measure social media, should you? And how do you measure it? And do you measure it in terms of ROI? Or influence? Or ability to do good? What are the metrics that matter and how do you get to them?
In the boardroom
Is social media a fad dreamed up by the marketing department to get the attention of the executives? What are the hard questions and firm answers that get thrown around the boardroom. And who, if anyone, is best placed to answer? What role should the C-level executives play in a company’s social media strategy? Do they just green light it? Should the CEO have a blog? Or…from a non-profit’s perspective, how does the board of directors play a role in the organization’s SM activities?
Pitching social media
The work has been done and the late nights are weighing heavily on your shoulders. But it’s time to buck up – to pull it all together and wow your client. What do you do to impress? Is there a new art to pitching social media? And is it important to eat your own dog food? Or, if you’re from the PR side of the table, how are you pitching your client’s stories to social media’s influentials? Or are you using a different tactic?
Innovation and Execution
People make great claims for social media. Is it the long dreamed of silver bullet? Can the tools and techniques be harnessed to drive innovation? How can you take an idea or a strategy and make it work for your brand or your business? How do you move from idea to actual execution? What task or tool has social media eliminated or replaced? What do you predict it will eliminate in the future?
Identities, friends and trusted strangers
Many people are now living much of their lives online. Who do you call friend? How do you set boundaries or decide who to let into your circle of influence? How do you know who to trust when you can’t look them in the eyes? How do you define your own identity? What tools, techniques and sites do you find most useful in creating your online brand? How do offline meetings or conferences influence your online identity?
A pretty powerful collection of ideas – wouldn’t you say? So who are the contributing authors? Check out this list of amazing people:
Keep checking back here for updates on when you can order your copies! By the way – the really cool cover was designed by none other than cover designer Chris Wilson.
I am always focused on the customer and our relationship with them but the other key component to successfully building a reputationfor putting customers first is how your employees feel about the whole thing. Happy employees equal happy customers. “If mamma hate happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
“They don’t tell me what I need to know to do my job”
I love the irony of the first two – you are afraid to speak up, but if you conquer your fears and speak up it doesn’t matter because they aren’t listening anyway.
Today’s quote in my Leadership widget that provides a quote to my iGoogle page each morning said this:
Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. ~ George S. Patton
Imagine if we did four things differently:
Provided the whys and wherefores of the task at hand with all of the information necessary or information about who they need to go to for more clarification
Asked employees for their thoughts
Listened with interest
Then let them have at it!
I wonder what impact that would have on our success and on the morale of our staff?
If customers can’t find you – it is tough to build a relationship.
I recently learned a lesson from a group of young boys who had developed a band. They were being interviewed on a radio station and when the disc jockey asked where fans could find them on the Internet they said:
“Just remember BOY BAND. We are on Twitter @boyband, MySpace and Facebook @boyband and our website is www.boyband.com.”
(BoyBand is just a place holder, that wasn’t the name of the band – I can’t remember the name of the band.)
The point being – they were consistent with their name in every online venue. Are you using the same name every where or do you some times use your company name or your tag line or your slogan? How easy to just say “find me at @Putcustomers1st on every site on the web.”
Check out this great tool KnowEm which lists 350 social media sites. You enter your name and it will tell you if it is available on all those sites. It is a great way to create a consistent name so customers can easily find you.
I had the pleasure of facilitating a communication workshop earlier this week and the results were riddled with “ah-ha” moments.
The group took a test to determine their “color” communication style and then they broke into groups to identify:
key elements of their communication style
pet peeves in communication
topics they like to discuss
tips for effectively communicating with them
Part of the group, identified as the BLUE communicators, like to tell stories and make people happy and were empathetic and don’t like to be cut off.
Another part of the group – the GOLD communicators, wanted “just the facts” and didn’t want the back story and couldn’t stand to listen to the drivel.
Oh my goodness – the two groups were shocked to discovered their opposite approaches and all of a sudden the conversation got derailed with people offering up times when they struggled to effectively communicate. I couldn’t have planned it better. The participants were saying things like “no wonder you interrupt when I’m talking” or “now I understand why you have to tell the back story to something rather than just getting to the point.”
The group learned that by sticking with their own comfortable way of communicating rather than trying to be sympathetic to other communication styles, they struggled to develop a relationship of trust and mutual respect.
We then broadened the conversation to include the customer. When a customer needs to tell a big long story and the sales associate just wants them to get to the point – we have a situation were the lack of patience and respect are felt and the customer doesn’t feel listened to or valued.
Bottom line: when communicating with our customers, our peers, our boss or our family members, we need to be aware of the fact that different people communicate differently. We need to try and mirror their communication style if we want to build relationships.
The one thing all four communication groups agreed upon: they all wanted to be respected when communicated with.
It’s hard to build a relationship on the Internet. You can’t make eye contact. You can’t ask questions and if you could – you certainly wouldn’t be able to hear the answers.
Yet the Internet is where our prospects and customers seek information and make decisions about potential vendors or companies with which they’ll do business.
So how do you tell your story? How do you communicate your vast knowledge and experience without a bunch of WORDS PEOPLE WON’T READ?
YouTube offers a platform to share your story – but you have to be creative if you want to capture the attention of viewers and hopefully create a message that “goes viral.”
In a recent edition of Advertising Age, Teressa Iezzi of Creativity Online shared the top creative picks of 2009. I’ve talked about one of them in an earlier post – the musical stairs in Stockholm. But this time I want to share the story of Johnnie Walker in their historical, yet extremely creative video called “The Walk” which chronicles the history of one of the greatest adult beverages known to man.
You have a unique story as well. One that people would be interested in hearing. Have you considered using YouTube to tell about how you got started? Or maybe your start-up story is ordinary, but how you came to focus on a particular product or service is unique.
For more information on how to connect with your customers and share your story using YouTube, check out this video from Small Business Trends by Jim Kukral with 101 ways to use YouTube and this article from Meryl Evans on the 34 ways to use YouTube for Business.
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I had the opportunity to spend the evening with three other women for the purpose of selecting a winner of a $1,000 college scholarship. 
I am always focused on the customer and our relationship with them but the other key component to successfully building a reputationfor putting customers first is how your employees feel about the whole thing. Happy employees equal happy customers. “If mamma hate happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
I had the pleasure of facilitating a communication workshop earlier this week and the results were riddled with “ah-ha” moments. 
