Laura Benjamin's Newsletter

Laura's Letter(TM)
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Vol. 5, Number 10 - October 2004
Publisher: Laura Benjamin
http://www.laurabenjamin.com
(C)Laura Benjamin International 2004
Reprints upon request and with attribution
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Quotes of the month:

Happiness is that state of consciousness, which proceeds from
the achievement of one's values. (Ayn Rand)

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth. (Sherlock Holmes)

Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
(Flannery O'Connor)

Don't give up five minutes before the miracle. (Unknown author)

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Privacy Statement: We never release your contact info, ever.

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In This Issue
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1. Sales & Marketing Tips

2. Service Tips

3. Supervision Tips

4. Useful Resources

5. Shameless You Know What (always at the end)

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1. Sales & Marketing Tips
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The Benefits of Experiential Marketing

Properly integrated, almost 9 out of ten people agree that participating
in a live event marketing experience makes them more receptive to a
product the next time they see it. Conversely, 83% of consumers say they'd
also be more receptive to participating in a live event marketing experience
after seeing an announcement for that particular product or brand.
(Jack Morton/SRI Study on Experiential Marketing, 2004)

An Example: the health club industry uses two types of experiential
marketing: first, they offer prospective clients an opportunity for
complimentary day passes in which they can use the facilities; second,
they offer clients guided tours of the facilities. In both cases, the
hope is that the potential clients experience of the facility will
lead to a sale. (Reprinted with permission from John McCarthy,
Executive Director, International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Assoc.)

Tip: give people an opportunity to experience something about your
products and services to get them involved and establish name recognition.
This is why you get to graze your way through the aisles of the grocery
store on Saturday morning and why climbing walls at sporting goods stores
are so effective in promoting the sport.

Suggestions:
- Get yourself a mini-disc recorder and have a friend "interview" you to
showcase your business expertise in an educational format. Copy and send
to existing clients as a gift and prospects as a marketing tool.
- October is Customer Service Month. Find an opportunity to thank your
customers by offering a sample upgrade of your higher end product/service.
- Rent a telephone bridge line and invite customers/prospects to dial in
for customized advice similar to the free legal lines now available in
most communities. Do a keyword search for numeous bridge line providers.
- Send a coupon to your existing customers that they can give away to their
best customers qualifying them to a free gift, sample consultation, etc.
This will extend your marketing reach and make your customers look good too.
- Volunteer one of your successful or turnaround business practices as a
case study for a local university business or marketing class. This gets
students more involved than if you were only a guest lecturer.
- Suggest your best customers host a customer appreciation event for their
best customers and use you as the main event. You donate a value-laden
educational experience for attendees with free gifts to those who attend.

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2. Service Tips
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How do you make a company 60% more profitable? According to a Deloitte Research
report, manufacturing companies that followed a customer-centric approach were
60% more profitable than companies that weren’t. (Making Customer Loyalty Real:
Lessons from Leading Manufacturers: Deloitte Research; Smart Customer Service;
February, 2004)

Amy May of Amtech Marketing defines customer-centric contact centers as those
that persistently evaluate their operations through the eyes of the customer.
Her research shows that while many companies honestly believe their call centers
are customer-centric...
- Most contact centers still measure quality based on input from a subjective
QA staff with little or no input from customers
- Many contact centers provide little or no ongoing training to help agents
continually improve their knowledge and skills to best meet customer needs
- Many contact centers don’t have the database resource to track and report
product complaints, errors, or problems

A few steps she suggests to create a customer-centric culture include:
1. Build Customer Loyalty: Classify your customer base into different groups
based on their value to your organization. Identify ways to uniquely serve each
group to assure they remain loyal and migrate them from one group to the next.
2. Solicit/Track Customer Feedback Daily: Technology is available to let your
customers/callers provide real time quality feedback at the end of every call.
More than an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, a web-based application
allows you to create questionnaires and implement them in minutes through phone
or web interactions. It can supplement your current QA Monitoring Program or
replace it and customer participation rates of 80% are not uncommon.
3. Create a Customer-Centric Incentive Plan. With the new feedback technology,
you’ll want to create an incentive program that encourages agents to invite callers
to complete the survey as often as possible. Studies have shown that agents who
are better at getting customer participation, are also the agents who are best at
achieving customer satisfaction.

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In response to an earlier article on the importance of returning phone
calls, a subscriber commented:

"Dear Laura, I closed on a house last month. A week later, I got a
panicked called from the title company. They would be sending me a
form that hadn't been presented for signatures during closing that
they needed. I was told to sign it and return it asap.

I got the form, and there was something in Paragraph D that I did not
understand. So I called and left a short msg for the person who handled
my closing. 'Please call with an explanation of Paragraph D on this form.
I can be reached at this number at work until 4:00; after that try this
number, which is my home number.'

I never got a response. I put the form up on my fridge with the date and
time I called and a reminder of what msg I'd left. It'll stay up there
for 90 days, after which I'll put it into the folder with the rest of
the closing info.

If they were so all-fired worried about the form, they should have returned
my call. I'm not usually this hard to get along with. Within days of closing
there was a death in my family and at times like these you look long and
hard at all the nonsense you routinely put up with!"

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3. Supervision
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At a recent workshop for Heating, Plumbing and Air Conditioning Service
Managers, a business owner described the problem he's having with employee
turnover. He's lost significant numbers of highly skilled technicians since
one of his major customers was acquired by a Fortune 50 firm. Why? Because
the culture of the acquired company changed overnight from a collaborative
to a control culture. Leadership and technicians struggle with customer
expectations, beliefs and practices that are now in direct conflict with
their own culture. When this customer represents one-third of your annual
revenue, yet your turnover rate is going through the roof, what's a business
owner to do?

Options:
- Should he develop a dedicated technical team devoted just to this one
customer and base his hiring decisions on matching the new hire to the
customer's culture rather than his own?
- Should he also consider changing his business practices to adapt to this one
customer's way of doing business (including project bids, billing, accounting
methods, hiring, shift schedules, etc.)?
- Should he make a concerted effort to develop new markets that are a better
fit to his own company culture so he can retain his top talent and eventually
relegate this customer to the bottom of his client list?
- Should he educate his people in how to work more effectively with a conflicting
culture?

Tell me what you think and I'll publish your ideas in November's issue. In
the meantime, based on the work of Bill and Kristine Schneider of Corporate
Development Group, here are the four organizational cultures and a brief
description of their characteristics. If you want to learn more, register
for our Management Makeover November Teleclass, "Does Core Culture Count?"

Collaboration:
Synergy, egalitarianism, diversity, involvement, united we stand and divided
we fall, people interaction, harmony, spontaneity

Control:
Certainty, systematism, objectivity, order, stability, standardization,
utility, realism, discipline, predictability, accuracy

Cultivation:
Growth and development, humanism, faith, commitment/dedication, involvement,
creativity, purpose, let things evolve, shoot for the stars, subjectivity,
values are paramount

Competence:
Professionalism, meritocracy, pursue excellence, continuous improvement,
competition for its own sake, craftsmanship, don't rest on your laurels,
efficiency, autonomy/individual freedom

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5. Shameless You-Know-What...Always at the End
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Peoples National Bank Mystery Shop Project
(through Spring 2005)

Wells Fargo Consumer Cr. Group Executive Coaching
Des Moines IA

Christian Meetings & Conventions Association (CMCA)
Members only teleseminar, "Call of the Wild: Taming Godzilla
and Other Difficult People" (Oct 12)
For more info, visit www.ChristianMeeting.org

General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service
Outreach Europe 2004 Biannual Expo, Heidelberg Germany
- Teamwork: There IS an "I" in Team
- Crack the "EQ Code" to Construct Emotionally
Intelligent Teams (Oct 18-21)

Fort Lewis Senior Leader Training Conference, Seattle WA
"Teamwork: There IS an 'I' in Team" and "Call of the Wild: Taming
Godzilla and Other Difficult People" (Nov 20)

Ragan Communications Teleclass, "Call of the Wild: Taming
Godzilla and Other Difficult People" (Dec 7)
For more info, visit www.ragan.com

Christian Meetings & Conventions Association (CMCA) Teleclass,
"How to Hit the Numbers and Coach Your Sales Team to Higher
Profits" (Dec 7)
For more info, visit www.ChristianMeeting.org
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Laura Benjamin International specializes in business relationship
development, which includes team interventions and management
development. She presents internationally at conferences, leadership
retreats, and employee development events. Her work has been
featured on radio, televison, and published in trade journals and
magazines.
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To join this group of well-informed group, click here or fax to 719-785-5768
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Laura Benjamin International
Phone: 719-266-8088
Fax: 719-785-5768
http://www.laurabenjamin.com
(C)Laura Benjamin International 2004
Reprints upon request and with attribution