Customer Crossroads

Connecting with your Customers with Blogs, Community Sites, and Forums

The controversy over the TV show "The Book of Daniel", which NBC has now pulled off the air, left me wondering what might be on their web site.  Very interesting!  Whatever you think about the controversy, you need to have a look at how NBC is interacting with their audience online. 
Here's what I found:

How to respond to customer enquiries: Shell Helps

About a week ago, I became irritated by an oil fuel delivery truck that was idling for about 15 minutes outside my window, emitting greenhouse gases and whatnot.  So I wrote a quick e-mail to the offending company.  Their response was impressive (see below).  Here's what I liked:

Cafe, Coffee Place, Coffee House: Names and their meanings

As new categories emerge, we need new names.  I was thinking about this in connection with places like Starbucks.  What the heck do we call these places, if we don't say "a place like Starbucks?"  I wondered what phrase most people would use, which took me of course to Google. And also to  Answers.com, the outfit that supplies Google results pages with links to definitions of terms. 

Categories are important because they provide insight into mental maps people have of the world.  To see what I mean, come with me while we look at the coffee results...

Subscribing

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More on Blink: the book club weighs in and finds it wanting

I've recently joined a business book club, and we talked about Malcolm Gladwell's Blink Thursday.  Loyal readers may recall my previous comments wherein I drew some lessons for customer experience managers from the book.

Most of those in the group gave the book a 2 out of 5 rating as a business book, and the general consensus was that it required more editing.

Upcoming Event: Alan Middleton on Marketing Dashboards

Next week there is a chance to hear Alan Middleton speak on the topic of marketing dashboards.   He is one of the best, most engaging speakers I've heard, and the session is guaranteed to be worth the time.  He is currently head of the Executive Education centre at Schulich School of Business, but has a long and very interesting career in marketing.  Toronto, January 25, details here. 

I, unfortunately, am already committed at another event that evening, which probably won't be nearly as much fun [it wasn't blog-worthy, was it], so if you go, please post a comment about what he said.

Is 2006 the Year of Design?

Core77 is launching Design2.0: Discussions on Design, Strategy & Innovation -- a series of panel discussions with executives about design, innovation, and customer experience.  The first one, slated for February 28 at the Union Square Ballroom in New York City looks like a winner, with Bruce Nussbaum as moderator and some all-star panelists:

Kevin Farnham, CEO of Method, a brand and user-centred design consultancy
Marissa Mayer, Vice President of search products and user experience at Google
Jeneanne Rae,  described as an innovation guru by BusinessWeek
Andrew Zolli, futures researcher and trend spotter at Z+

Aside from the brain candy on offer, Allan Chochinov, Editor of Core77 is promising snacks and a cocktail reception.  According to Allan,

"One of the biggest challenges of brand and service design is to take complex systems and represent them to users as simple and clear experiences. From Google to Apple, from Kodak to FedEx, this panel discussion will center on the strategies for developing clear artifacts and experiences from sophisticated palettes."

Amen to that.
Details available at http://www.core77.com/design2.0

Innovation Resources to get you Thinking

Some useful web resources on INNOVATION were brought to my attention today by loyal reader Apoorv D., who has an uncanny ability to find cool stuff online.

http://www.businessinnovation2005.com -- this is Fortune's blog on innovation, and has excellent short articles.  Be forewarned, however, that it is a very active blog, and you may need to set an alarm to remind yourself to get back to work.

http://www.urenio.org/virtual-innovation-environment.html -- URENIO stands for Urban and Regional Innovation Research Unit.  Okay, they know something about innovation there, but could use some help in the acronym and branding department, because this sounds like some kind of creepy bodily fluid or perhaps a non-governmental organization operating in a distant land.  Get over it. 
Their virtual innovation environment page alone is worth a look, because it is so unusual -- it's the graphic at the top of this post, and each of the building icons is clickable. The main site has an RSS feed, so you can keep tabs on it with Bloglines or other RSS reader.

The Innovation Network, which has quite a few resources on the site, as well as lists of books, events, etcetera.  This is the home of the Innovation Bookclub, a virtual bookclub you can join to discuss books about innovation and creativity.  I'm practically bankrupt with the books I bought last year, but this list had me drooling.  Both are projects of Joyce Wycoff and Ruth-Anne Hatori of ThinkSmart, an innovation consultancy.   

[If anyone out there is a member of the Innovation Network ($195 to join), I'd be interested in hearing your comments about the value of the resource.]

How to Open a New Branch Location

Eight rules for opening a new location successfully, according to Bancography, a geographic market planning company:
[the rules are theirs, the commentary is mine]

1.  Hire and staff ahead of time

Get people out in the market networking and building awareness.  This is not the time to get cheap with your personnel budget. If you want these folks to be a team, start early.

2.  Measure initial sales in smaller increments

Catch problems early by monitoring activity daily and sales weekly

3.  Continuously reinforce sales training

Or as another wise person said, begin with the end in mind.  Start the way you plan to finish.  This is really important if the staff are all new to the organization -- but better yet, move experienced people into this market if possible.

4.  Follow up marketing for at least a year

This may be the biggest event in your life, but if you want the community to know you are there, you need to get repeat messaging out after the big opening splash.

5.  Direct market to the business community

Even if you're targeting retail sales exclusively, don't forget that businesses have staff.  They don't have to live in the area to be your customer. They do have to know you are there.

6.  Don't forget low-tech tactics

Not enough traffic?  Get out and meet some people.  Knock on doors, visit schools, barbecue hot dogs every Friday if you need to.  But don't sit in there and wait for the direct mail campaign to work.

7.  Find peer branch advisors

Put local staff in touch with stores in similar markets.  Encourage them to talk on a regular basis, do some visiting, share ideas.  This is particularly true when it's a new concept and there are still lots of bugs to work out.

8.  Promote at other branches and touchpoints

Don't lose loyal customers who want a more convenient location.  Plus what is better news than that a business is growing?  Tell people you are expanding.  Another good way to get some word of mouth started.

Full newsletter is available for download at Bancography's web site 

Dell's Small Business Excellence Award Spotlights Customer Experience

Dell is again running their Small Business Excellence Award for innovative use of technology.   What I love about this is that improving the customer experience is one of their criteria for winning: 

Entrant will be required 1) to demonstrate how the company has used technology to improve customer experience. They must show how they've driven a significant change within their company and/or developed a competitive advantage by delivering superior customer value and experience (50% of score); 2) to describe how they have made the customer "number one." Customer testimonials can be used as examples of how the customer's experience has improved over time (50% of score)

The award is offered in partnership with the National Federation of Independent Business in the US, and RBC Royal Bank  in Canada. For information on other countries, check the Dell home page for the country.

Deadline for entries is February 24.  The $30,000 prize is certainly worth the effort to apply.  Even better is the chance to spend time talking with Michael Dell. 

Thanks to Notebook News for bringing this to my attention.

Trends for 2006: pod-casting, time-bound experiences, and satellite radio

Maybe podcasting does make sense?  I didn't really think so, until I received an i-Pod Shuffle for Christmas.  Now I'm wondering why my local museum won't let me download the audio onto my Shuffle before I get there.  And thinking about the role of advisors in satellite radio.  Permit me to explain...

Time-bound experiences

More visual art than auditory art can survive over the centuries, because it is possible to experience it faster.  You can listen to far fewer symphonies in your life than you can take in paintings and etchings, for example.  One result of this situation is that the only the best music and theatre survive the centuries, and the mediocre is generally lost.

 

Do Consumers want Control, or Help? Or both?

A recent New York Times article, Agencies Look Beyond Focus Groups to Spot Trends, reported emerging trends as spotted by major advertising agencies JWT and DDB.  [Related post here]

JWT: Consumers Want Control

"Consumers increasingly expect to call the shots," JWT said in a forecast for 2006. "They demand more personal control, yet all too often find it doesn't give them the satisfaction they seek. In 2006, people will be seeking to further extend the boundaries of personal control in their retail and other transactions."

DDB: Consumers want Help

"We've heard a lot about the 'empowered consumer' and 'masters of the youniverse,' " the agency said. "We believe, however, that marketers are in danger of missing signs for a very different set of consumer needs: to be led and be given authoritative rules and guidelines."

You're Both Right

Are Focus Groups Really Obsolete? Or Just One Tool out of Many?

Focus groups are being declared useless or obsolete all over the place these days.  They aren't really obsolete or useless -- what is happening is that the focus group is simply taking its place as one tool among many to understand customers and trends. 

The latest article was in the New York Times, Agencies Look Beyond Focus Groups to Spot Trends.

Leading advertising agencies such as Leo Burnett and DDB are trying new approaches to gathering trend indicators. For example, the article reports that Leo Burnett recently surveyed taxi drivers in ten Asian cities to get their views on effects of rapid economic development. 

Eva Steensig, a sociologist at DDB spoke about their new strategy of collecting market intelligence from their employees' observations worldwide, a program they call SignBank.  I thought that was also a really interesting idea, and a great way to leverage the insights of your staff at all levels.  But then she said this:

"Focus groups confirm what you already know... Talking about toilet paper for two hours in a room doesn't really help."

The author went on to say this:

The problem, Ms. Steensig said, is that most consumers are not experts on their own consumption patterns. They have other things to worry about - their families, or the weather. So in focus groups they are easily led and rarely come up with the kinds of original insights that a marketer needs to stay ahead.

Is surveying taxi drivers better than a focus group?