Several months ago I wrote a blog on how women were no different than men; it was sort of tongue-in-cheek and it caused quite a stir which is always fun. I’m always on the alert for gender related commercials; there’s a fine line between funny and insulting and it’s not always obvious. I recently read there are three parts to an advertisement, the surface meaning, what you see immediately and your first impression, the advertising intention, what are they selling and the cultural part of the ad–how we really get connected. ( By the way, this information is taken from and included in an interesting blog, the Gender Ad Project Blog which shows you how to analyze advertisements and their meanings.

And then I noticed the Progresso Soup commercials. The one I like the best is the one where the woman is excitingly telling the chef about her weight loss. Since he doesn’t quite get it she asks if there’s a woman she can talk to. In the photo above, this woman is talking about her weight loss and her engagement.

The commercials are charming and very clever and give us insight into this particular woman; she believes a woman would be more interested in talking with her about her weight loss.

I went to YouTube and checked out the Progresso Soup commercials and found several more involving women , as well as some home grown ”copy cat commercials” that are really funny. The commercials show grown ups having fun talking about their grandmothers and one of our favorite childhood foods–soup. My own grandmother, Christine, used to make a mean lentil soup. The key to all these commercials is the personalization and the connection to the family.

The commercials are just funny and nostalgic and involve happy customers. How does this fit for your business? Do your commercials involve nostalgia and personalization? After watching one of your commercial do customers feel delighted and connected? Many business don’t realize that anything that anything that them to their customers is a form of great customer service.

Here are 6 ways to stay involved with your customers whether they’re men or women.

1. Vow to have fun with your business and your customers ; the world is far too serious so lighten up. Go ahead and make fun of yourself and your business. As a salesperson, you need to to ask your customers what they think about your commercials. This way you will have a way to connect and you will know what works. Your customers know better than anyone if your advertising connects. Fun and humor are a great way to connect with your customers.

2. Involve your customers in your commercials; Progresso has a cute contest where you can make your own commercial and write a 300 word essay about your “soup” experience.

3. Post your commercials and ideas to your YouTube channel and invite your customers to do the same.

4. Invite your customers to share their ideas about the use of your product; give a prize for the most original idea or several prizes.

5. Don’t forget to feature everything on Facebook and invite comments. Who knows what you’ll discover about your products.

6. Whenever possible, build connections with your customers, personal connections. Get to know them, their likes and dislikes and become friends.

Lisbeth Calandrino
Fabulous Floors
Associate Publisher &
Director of Consumer Research
lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com

I love lists! They serve to remind us of things we need to do or may have forgotten. To satisfy this passion, I’ve decided to devote one eletter marketing lesson per month devoted to 12 things in 2012 you can do to improve your mindset, marketing, and management of your career or business.

To get the ball rolling, let’s look at twelve great ways to stay in front of your customers in 2012!

#1. Make more offers to them. Yes, marketing 101 for many readers, however, a buyer is a buyer. They’re already sold on us, so make it a goal to add more value, save them time, and allow them to spend more money with you.

#2. Mail handwritten thank you notes. Timeless, yet so few people do it.
They connect with people and are always appreciated and remembered.

#3. Set up a Fan Page on Facebook. It’s gotten much easier and it’s also a low cost way to engage, share, and promote your message to your biggest fans, referral partners and prospects.

#4. Use an eletter. Educating and keeping people informed is a non-negotiable. If your business is out-of-sight, it’s also out-of-mind and that’s not a good place to be.

#5. Have a contest. People love a challenge and being rewarded for their time, effort and input. Make sure you offer cool prizes that get people excited, talking, and thinking about what you and your business.

#6. Host a client appreciation event. It’s amazing the positive impact these have with customers when planned and thought out properly. Don’t be cheap, have fun with the event and also look to partner with key suppliers and referral partners to help co-promote and fund the event.

#7. Step up your community outreach. When your visible people take notice.
Encourage your people to become active within the community and causes that they are passionate about.

#8. Have fun with your marketing and communications. If you get people smiling, you often get them buying. Incorporate fun into your marketing and reveal this positive shade of your business. Most businesses are boring and often forgotten.

#9. Do theme related promotions. Tap into what people are talking about and build a bridge with your product or service promotions. Piggyback on key trends, holidays, sporting events, and other calendar related opportunities. Hint: In 5-weeks it will be Super Bowl Sunday.

#10. Share good news. Let people know about the positive things going on within your business, your employees, and customer’s lives. Again, people seek out and enjoy good news.

#11. Join groups, clubs or associations they’re in. Networking is essential. From trade groups, chambers of commerce, to local service clubs, there are a wide range of options for you to congregate and become active within groups that your best customers are members of.

#12. Thank customers daily for their business. Similar to point #2, we must never take business for granted. The customer signs our paychecks. In the age of digital and intense competition, they have lots of options and can easily choose to go somewhere else if they feel their patronage and referrals are being taken for granted.

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
616-638-39121
www.mindcapturegroup.com

“Delivering good customer service shouldn’t require a focus
group or study by Harvard Business Review Magazine!”
-Tony Rubleski

Here’s the premise of my thought: great customer service makes dollars and common sense for every business to strive for, especially when getting new and repeat business is the lifeblood of every organization. Surprisingly though, poor customer service is still the norm in many businesses and it simply should not be tolerated.

New customer acquisition is tough enough these days as prospects are jaded, skeptical and picky when looking for someone to work with for the first time, or when they’ve become dissatisfied and looking for a fresh alternative.

Here are five powerful and instructive reasons why superior customer service is vital to marketing success. If marketing is the oxygen of every organization, great service is like the blood which flows to support the entire body. It’s essential that they work together in tandem and not in opposition.

#1. Word-of-mouth marketing online and offline is either your friend or foe. Exceptional service pays off in multiple ways that far too many people downplay or continue to ignore at their peril. When done well, people talk about you and it costs nothing, but it can pay off in a big way.

When done badly, poor service spreads much quicker especially in the age of instant communications. Tick off a customer today, without offering up a happy resolution quickly, and you risk that the unhappy person will go online and find potentially several hundred, if not thousands of people, to tell and turn against you (See enclosed article reprint regarding disgruntled college student and local towing company). The choice is yours.

#2. Better service = more referrals. This should be common sense but many businesses, non-profit leaders and sales people still don’t get it! The customer of today expects and wants to be appreciated for their patronage and relationship. Again, if you do this well, they’ll tell others they know and become your unpaid sales force in the form of referrals and continued repeat business. Yes, these little details do make a world of difference.

#3. Happier employees often translate to happy customers. Every person on your staff is the “Director of First Impressions” whether they know it or not. Well trained, valued, and respected employees are a non-negotiable in today’s turbulent economy. It can take years to win a customer and only seconds to lose them.

A grumpy or distracted employee is far more dangerous than your biggest competitor. The competition you’re often aware of and can keep an eye out for. However, a disgruntled employee can often hang around like an undetected cancer that slowly takes over the body (your business) and hopefully can be caught and treated (put on a plan or fired) in time before it’s too late.

#4. The “Cheers” effect. People want to go where people know their name, but more importantly do business with those who appreciate and respect their business. For example, the late Mary Kay Ashe was legendary for telling her people to imagine that a customer has an invisible sign around their neck that you can’t see that says, “Please appreciate me.”

How true this advice is, especially today where the attention to detail in serving others and common courtesy are often hard to find and in short supply with most firms. Upper management may have a strong sense of ownership mentality, but far too often the staff has little if any incentive to think this way. The end result is lackluster and non-memorable service which also negatively impacts the next point, repeat business.

#5. Increased repeat business. Duh! I’m often told by people that when I speak at an event or do training that I remind them of simple strategies that they know they should be doing to be more successful.

They’re timeless, solid principles that work, but often they’re easy not to do because people don’t make them into a consistent habit or part of their daily job to help produce positive breakthroughs.

Never forget that a customer is a customer. What do I mean by the last statement? While it may sound like play on words, what I’m actually pointing out is that a happy customer should be nurtured and communicated with frequently and with different forms of media.

We call it a retention plan in marketing circles and it is especially important to have in place these days. If a customer already knows, likes, trusts, but more importantly has already invested money with you, the odds are very high that if you make them aware of additional offerings they’ll be inclined to spend more money with you and refer more people to you.

When you show up, often time’s good things happen. People need to be reminded that you’re still around, are relevant, and can do more to make their life better. For each month that goes by without a customer hearing from you, 10% of TOMA (Top of mind awareness) or recall disappears from their mental radar.

In an age of 3000+ marketing messages being thrown out each day at the typical North American, it is imperative that you stay in front of your best customers, prospects and referral partners on a consistent basis.

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
1-800-420-1450
www.mindcapturegroup.com

Since I live, die and preach the Gospel of Customer Service for a living these days, lots of folks ask me why it’s generally so bad no matter where you go. I have several thoughts on the matter. But first—remember. There are some companies that give great customer service. My wife and I had dinner at Outback Steakhouse in Castleton last evening. The service was FANTASTIC. The manager stopped by to check on us and introduce himself. The waitress was warm, friendly and WELL TRAINED. So ALL’S NOT LOST!

But I’ll bet Outback worked very hard—at the corporate level and inside that specific restaurant—to give my wife and I such a pleasant experience! Did I say the food was very good as well?

For companies that have failed me lately, such as Sprint, Chase Bank, Sears, Brighthouse and others, I offer these bits of advice.

1.THINK LONG TERM RATHER THAN SHORT TERM. Cutting jobs, services, products and training seems to be the way to go in corporate America today. And it CAN contribute to the bottom line—INITIALLY. But NOT long term! I saw this first hand after O’Malia’s was bought by Marsh. All that happens when companies think short term is that you lose customers and your corporate culture is lessened.

2.PROCESS OVER PEOPLE. Too many companies (the banking industry comes to mind) have too many policies and rules that hamstring their employees and keep them from delivering even basic services. Email me at dannyomalia@gmail.com and ask for my Citibank Customer Service fiasco and you’ll see what I mean.

3.Failing to practice MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND. Go back to the great 80’s book IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE and read the chapter on that topic. Get to know your people. Let them know you care about them and the jobs they do. It’ll pay big dividends!

4.Am adjunct to number three: “FIND SOMEBODY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!” That was one of Joe O’Malia’s big beliefs. When you do, TELL EVERYBODY about it. You’ll find more folks wanting you to tell everybody about them!

5.PRAISE IN PUBLIC. CRITICIZE IN PRIVATE. Self explanatory ( I hope).

6.The late, great john Wooden channeled Joe O’Malia when he said, “I’m not looking for great players. I’m looking for players that make THE TEAM GREAT.” From the hiring to the training to the execution, make your employees/ associates part of your TEAM.

7.Finally, RETURN THAT CALL—UNBELIEVABLY FAST. Or email, Or text. You’ll be the only one doing it and that will give you a great competitive advantage. Besides, IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

These are a few things service providers are failing to do. Without them, no amount of technological savvy can save them—LONG TERM.

Danny O’Malia
Indy’s Trusted Servant
(317) 413-9062
fax (317) 815-8755
www.indystrustedservant.blogspot.com