Category: Living in trouble
-
Why employees are always in training
As a company grows, it's nearly impossible to control the quality of the people. If we plan to build a company, we have to plan on constant training. Otherwise, we'll follow Chipotle and General Motors into national scandal. Harvard Business Review: How one fast food chain keeps its turnover rates absurdly low, 2016-Jan-26 by Bill Taylor…
-
Is targeted advertising a problem? Is signaling the solution?
I don't have the time to wade through everything Don Marti and others have written about the 'evilness' of targeted online advertising. However, I do think they are correct to worry about it. As a marketer, I'm most concerned with the plausible idea that it causes people to ignore advertising at a higher rate. As a…
-
How the Verizon Wireless ‘Smart Rewards’ Program Backfires, Erodes Customer Loyalty
For our family wireless service, we switched from AT&T to Verizon several years ago, and we've found them eager to provide reliable, high-quality service. So we've been loyal. A couple of months ago, I ran a price comparison and found that Verizon remains a superior value. So when Verizon launched their Smart Rewards program, I expected it would…
-
To sustain our business, we have to keep managing the relationships
When we discover a new customer and they really like us (really!), we may fool ourselves into expecting smooth sailing. While it's good to experience the sun shining on us, we have to keep steering our business by accepting responsibility to manage the relationship. Years ago I was very upset when my partner wanted to…
-
In complex sales, retaining existing customers may be TOO hard
If we have complex sales and/or business relationships, our salespeople may find renewals and upgrades of the existing contracts so difficult, they prefer signing up new customers. Typically, businesses which have this problem also have many other productivity problems relating to siloed business processes, lack of digitized contracts, etc. Even in small businesses, the founder…
-
The customer experience of abandonment cuts both ways.
One of my most memorably bad experiences was in the service area of a car dealership. I was clearly not of the recognized regular customers. And I arrived in a bad mood, as a consequence of some problem with my car. The service manager punished me by overlooking me for all the other customers in…
-
Good Data on Sales and Marketing Alignment from ChaiOne
Over at ChaiOne, they've designed a new "mobile sales enablement tool" called Game Plan that looks pretty cool. Fortunately for everyone, they've put out an infographic that sharing the research that led to the Game Plan project. The text is a little hard to read here, so head over ChaiOne to see their original. The most…
-
To Grow, We Have to Embrace Social Media
We all have our issues with social media. As soon as we get comfortable it changes. Unfortunately, that's an advantage! The tools are getting better in many respects. It's not a smooth road but it does lead to greater awareness. Anyone interested in growing a business, building a career, and developing strong relationships has no…
-
Does the fact you have info about your customers’ behavior change their expectations?
If you have a restaurant and customers use Facebook to announce their presence, do those customers expect the restaurant to notice? What if they are checking in frequently? Do they feel the restaurant should acknowledge them? We don't have good answers yet, but as this Harvard Business Review article points out, large chains like Starbucks…
-
Resuscitating the Email Newsletter
I've been worried about the email newsletter. Although it's one of the most reliable ways to provide steady customer relationship management, they are so difficult to write well. But maybe it's not the writing but the content. In the article below, Blaise Lucey makes a great comparison of the spontaneity and sense of discovery we…
QVIews 