Re:Focus

Who Cares About Customers?

One day, when you get old, would you like your family to support you or would you like them to care about you?

If you're family supports you, that means they will pay the bills for the old age home, call you the prescribed number of times and visit you on your birthday. But if they care about you, they will visit you more often and not on any set schedule. They will bring the grand kids over and make sure you get an extra helping of marshmallow sweet potatoes (your favorite) at Thanksgiving.

No one wants to be supported, we want to be cared for. So why are so many companies so proud of their "customer support?" You see it all the time on websites...the link in the upper corner that says simply, "support." To most that means giving you the ability to send an email with your question.  Support means answering your questions and acting in the prescribed manner.  But "care," that's an entirely different standard. Care is human...like the customers.

There is power in words - just as you plainly understood the difference when I asked you if you wanted to be supported or cared for when you get old, so too does that word impact the behavior of the people we hire to support...er...care for...our customers.  Firstly, the department itself is usually called, "customer support."  It should be called, "customer care."  We tell those who work in the department to offer "customer support."  We should be telling them to "care for our customers."

We, as customers, can always tell the difference too.  A customer support agent who has been told to offer "support" tends to follow a script.  They tend to be matter-of-fact about things. And even if the problem is not resolved to your satisfaction, they will actually tell you all the things they've done to help you and that there is nothing more they can do. That is, by all fair metrics, good support.

But customer care agents who have been told to take care of the customer, will talk to you differently.  They have more patience.  They will go out of their way or even ask one of their colleagues for help if they don't know the answer.  There is no script.  They don't need one.  If you hire someone who likes people and you tell them to take care of other people, there is no special training required...just special words to inspire them to do the right thing...to take care.

Do You Know Why?

  Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their successes over and over?

 People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started with why. Their natural ability to start with why enabled them to inspire those around them and to achieve remarkable things.

 Three and a half years ago I made a discovery. I discovered that all the most inspiring and successful leaders, regardless if they are individuals or organizations, regardless of their size or industry, all think, act, and communicate in the exact same way—and it’s the complete opposite of what everyone else does. I called this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. Why does your organization exist? Why does it do the things it does? Why do customers really buy from one company or another? Why are people loyal to some leaders, but not others?

Start With Why is a book for those who want to learn to inspire others and for those who want to find someone to inspire them.  Start with Why is available now at your favorite book seller.

Special Promotion: Buy two copies, give one away and we can inspire even more people...

Passion vs. Pressure

There’s a difference between a passionate pitch and a pressure sell.  A passionate pitch is when someone believes in something so deeply that they’re keen to share it with others.  A pressure sell is when someone is so keen to extract something from someone that they will push and push until they get what they want.

 Though we may feel pressured in both situations, we enjoy the experience with the passionate salesman and feel excited if we do decide to buy.  In contrast, we often feel dirty after we make a purchase we were pressured into making.

 Those with passion may sometimes apply pressure and those who apply pressure may defend their behavior in the name of passion.  But for us, what matters most is how to tell the difference.

 People with passion will never make you feel bad for not partaking in whatever it is they want to sell you.  If you say no, they will say something positive to you to hopefully encourage you to think about it in the future. Conversely, those who rely on pressure to make the sale will always try to make you feel bad if you seem to be tilting towards “no.” In other words, they turn up the pressure.

 A pressure sell may produce the sale, but it will not engender loyalty. It may even do the opposite. In contrast a passionate pitch will engender loyalty, even if the sale isn’t made.

 The simplest way to ensure that your sales force (or even you) are selling passionately and not just pressuring the sale is to be clear about why you believe so strongly in what you’re selling and only hire those who believe what you believe.

When Your Why Is Clear...Everyone Knows It

I am often asked "how do people know when your WHY is clear?" The wonderful thing about a WHY is when it's clear, you know it...and so does everyone else. Sounds suspicious right? What you just read is a manifesto, a statement of belief, from the home page of a company called Yoga To The People. Do you know what they believe?

Even if you've never been to there, you probably have a very clear idea of what the experience would be like? It might not surprise you that they charge $7 for a class...or that on same days, the cost is just a donation.  Their goal is to get back to the essence of yoga - to relax. As they say, "Yoga is meant to help strengthen and stretch your arms and legs, not cost you one!"

This manifesto is a statement of WHY they exist.  WHY they do what they do. What they believe wasn't buried deep in some "about us" page - it was right on the home page. Because Yoga To The People starts with WHY, anyone who comes to their site knows exactly how they see the world and already has some level of expectation of what their products and services will be like. And they didn't have to read a single brochure.

When people believe what you believe, it piques their interest to either learn more or  buy from you without much "selling" required. If people don't believe what you believe, they will either turn away or do business with you anyway because you meet some other requirements. In other words, you won't lose those customers, but you will gain some very special, high quality ones.  Start with what you believe, start with WHY, and you can instantly filter and attract the customers most likely to be loyal.

Surf around the web, look at some other companies and you'll quickly see websites with home pages filled with details, prices, facts, photos - everything to "attract" new customers.  But none of it really does. And of course, your IT professional will tell you the importance of filling your homepage with more instead of less.  All that does is attract more people but it doesn't inspire them to do business with you.

The best part is, if you have the discipline to start with WHY and if someone believes what you believe, even if they don't buy your product, they may talk about you to their friends...or blog about you.  And that blog may attract more new customers than the one you think you lost.

p.s. let me know if you visit their studio because of this blog. 

Simply Doing Your Job Is Not Special

I saw this fantastic commercial for a car company that has an amazing new model.  It goes when you press the accelerator, it stops when hit the brake.  It's got another seat next to the driver and a big seat in the back for kids or friends or whomever wants to join you on your trip.  Here's the best part - you can travel between any two points you want - no bus stations, no waiting for a taxi - you can go directly from your home to work. Amazing right?!

Imagine if that's how car companies attempted to sell their products to us.  Not sure many of us would be that impressed.  We expect a product to do what it's supposed to do. Amazingly, so much advertising today, does just that -  they simply advertise what their product is supposed to do.  They advertise the category, not themselves.   A fast food company tells us their food tastes good.  A weight loss center says it will help you, you guessed it -  lose weight.  A gym says it will help you - wait for it, wait for it - get in shape. Cellphone companies tell us that their calls get through - isn't that a minimum standard?  And so on and so on....you get the idea.

Here are links for two commercials from the Super Bowl, Career Builder and Monster.com.  Both are very funny.  And both tell us nothing other than what we expect.  If you hate your job, we are a job posting site that will - that's right - help you find a better job.  Isn't that what they are supposed to do?  No one can remember any of the claims or that are supposed to distinguish one from the other. We expect them to both basically do what they say.  And neither does a very good job of telling us any more about why we need them beyond what we already know - to find a new job.  Sadly, this is the norm in marketing today.

I long for days when companies tell us what they believe, not simply what they do.  When they align themselves squarely with one point of view or one perspective, something to which I can relate.  Trying to appeal to everyone that may need what you sell often results in fewer people wanting what you sell...no matter how good you are.  Giving a few "differentiating" facts and figures is not enough either.  No one walks around with a score card to keep up with all the claims made in advertising.  For the most part, we to ignore them.  Monster, for example, offers some "differentiators" and Career Builder offers none.  Are any of us convinced Monster is better because of a couple of claims?

Few companies have the discipline to focus on a small group of higher quality customers that share their values and beliefs and instead aim for the lowest common denominator - those who just need what they sell.  I have to imagine that Career Builder is better for some people and Monster for others.  But, with no help from their advertising, none of us will ever know which is right for us.  But they will keep running their commercials and they will send me emails telling me how effective their advertising strategy has been.  And if you throw enough spaghetti against the wall, some if it is bound to stick.  "Good" advertising, however, is only throwing the spaghetti you know will stick.