Screw it up and WIN!
Here’s a reality check. Your business, as well as mine, is going to make mistakes – lots of them. Assuredly we are trying to limit those breakdowns; however, some of our customers wont be raving and may even be raging about a subset of experiences with us. If there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, its the comfort that comes from from knowing that our competition is invariably also failing customers and that we have a chance to distinguish ourselves by our commitment to make things great when things go wrong.
So here’s a challenge, can you create a culture where your shortcomings are actually the source of your business’ greatest strength? Rafe Needleman writing for CNET shares his perception of striking difference in the service mindset between Dell and Apple. According to Rafe, when he encountered a problem with a Dell PC tower, Dell’s outsourced repairmen inconvenienced his schedule by requiring in-home maintenance and then the repairman failed to show up for the appointment all together. After several frustrating interactions via phone, e-mail, and even Twitter, Rafe purportedly received a refund but vowed never to purchase from Dell again.
Even though the majority of Rafe’s Apple devices have also needed some sort of repair at some point or another, Rafe reports “excitement” to drop his laptop off for repair at an Apple Genius Bar. Excitement – really? According to Rafe, the Apple service culture results in a consistent repair experience in which he is greeted warmly, his computer is fixed promptly, and where Apple employees are exceptionally accommodating.
So how does your service recovery and repair process stack up to the two examples presented by Rafe? Is your customer dreading or excited by the opportunity to have your people fix their problem? If you think you might be residing in the land of service recovery dread that should be your first and most important problem to fix!
Why Zappos will be fine despite the criminal privacy intrusion!
The 24 hour news cycle has already begun whirring. Headlines talk about “Zappos being zapped by hackers” and commentators are asking why a company known for customer service has closed down it’s customer loyalty team phone lines to process customer questions through email. Even Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, has been quoted as seeing this hacking incident as a setback for a brand that has invested so much in garnering customer trust.
Before you take a “sky is falling” perspective on Zappos, I would suggest it will weather this storm well and so will it’s customers. Here are a few of my reasons:
1) Zappos has truly obsessed about customer experience and trust for its 12 year existence. Those types of investments pay dividends when unforeseen and malicious attacks occur.
2) Zappos is a value based culture accustomed to making business decisions in accord with its foundational values. At times like these, open communication, humility and other core Zappos values will guide wise, customer-centered responses
3) Zappos leaders care about people. When things go wrong in business customers will forgive you if you apologize, fix the problem and protect (where possible) the problem from happening again.
In the end the act of a criminal hacker won’t undo the goodwill of a culture of service professionals. Zappos is fine and their customers will be made whole. What do you think?
The Power of Story – Betabrand
I was backstage with Chris Lindland CEO of Betabrand recently at a Zappos All Hands meeting and I couldn’t help but conclude that he may have best demonstrated the power of an “engaging story.” In fact, I would dare to say that for awhile his entire brand with a fable without a deliverable product. Lest you think I am being harsh, let me offer Chris’ own words
“I have been in the fashion business for 6 years and it started with one product Cordarounds – horizontal corduroy pants. Essentially, my company began with a dumb question that went too far. I asked why don’t people turn the corduroy material horizontally? I then decided to take action on that question and designed such a product in my basement. If I were to act like a real clothing company, I would have hired a designer, a quality manufacturer, and a photographer to take pictures of my product for online sales but I am a communicator – so I just made the pants myself (about 150 pairs of them) and decided to sell them by telling a fascinating story about the pants. For example, I sold them suggesting that horizontal corduroy pants could ‘lower your crotch heat index’ and that you could ‘finally walk silently while wearing corduroy pants.’
Long story short, Chris’ novel idea and compelling story garnered significant media attention; particularly, from a high profile New York based newspaper and Chris was flooded with orders. In one day those orders were on the magnitude of 5 times his existing inventory. With no prospect of delivering against the demand, Chris launched a new story approach in the form of daily email campaigns to customers delighting them with fictionalized stories of where their pants allegedly were. These grand fables engaged customers for months while Chris found ways to get the pants manufactured and delivered.
Can you imagine, no product for extended periods and almost all your customers gladly waiting without canceling their orders because of engaging (yet fabricated -pardon the pun) stories about their eagerly anticipated product – stories they can share with their family and friends.
I have often said “story is currency in the wired social world”, what story have you given your customers to tell about you?
By the way, here are some stories I shared at the Zappos All Hands Meetings. Thanks to Tony Hsieh (Zappos CEO) for his kind invitation and introduction…take a peek
The Real Reason Your Team Doesn’t Trust You
Today’s guest post is by Mike Figliuolo, the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership. Here’s Mike:
Your team doesn’t trust you. Honestly. They don’t.
Trust is key to effective working relationships; yet, as you climb the corporate ladder, trust seems harder to earn and easier to lose.
What causes a team to not trust their leader? You. Yes, you. You’re unpredictable and your team doesn’t know what to expect from you. But, these are fixable problems.
Trust is about an ability to rely upon or expect a predictable outcome. When you act in ways your team doesn’t expect, it erodes trust and makes them wonder what you’re going to do next. If you want to get a sense for how much your people trust you, you can take this Trusted Leader Assessment online – it only takes 3-5 minutes and you’ll get a comprehensive analysis of your results after taking it.
If you can clearly lay out how your people can expect you to behave in a variety of situations, they’ll have a basic expectation upon which to build a foundation of trust. These expectations have to be personal and meaningful enough to you that they guide your behavior. I refer to these guiding principles as “leadership maxims” which are rules of behavior or conduct. The collection of all your leadership maxims becomes your personal leadership philosophy.
Defining Your Leadership Philosophy
I encourage you as a leader to define your own set of leadership maxims. They can be as simple as one of mine which is “What would Nana say?” For reference, Nana was my grandmother. I can use that maxim to guide my behavior. When faced with difficult choices, I simply ask “what would Nana say?” and my choice becomes clear. When I explain this maxim to my team, they’ll better understand how I make choices and they’ll see my behavior as consistent with this maxim. It is this consistency that forms the basis of trust.
If you want to define a powerful leadership philosophy, here are a few steps to start with:
- Be yourself. When you write your leadership philosophy, spare your team the corporate-speak and tell your personal story instead. They can spot a phony a mile away.
- Give in to emotion. Articulate your leadership philosophy as a set of reminders of stories that have deep emotional meaning for you. The reminders are touchstones to guide your behavior. The stronger the emotions associated with the story, the more likely you are to change your behavior to be consistent with the lesson the story reminds you of.
- Lead yourself. You have to know where you personally want to go in life and define your personal code of conduct before you can lead someone else. Write down reminders of your code as part of your philosophy.
- Lead the thinking. Your job is to set direction, challenge outdated thinking, and define standards. Create reminders that force you to do these things on a regular basis – not only during the annual strategic planning process.
- Lead your people. Get dirty. Know their jobs. Know them as individuals – not as a box on an org chart or a job title. When they know you care about them as a person, they’re much more willing to give you everything they’ve got.
- Lead a balanced life. If you’re burned out, you’re worthless. Set your boundaries and stick to them. Let everyone else know what they are. Balance applies to your work too – have enough work you love to do to balance out all the mindless tasks you don’t enjoy. Again – create some simple yet personal guidelines that remind you make decisions that keep you in balance.
- Pull it all together. Document all your reminders of how you want to behave on a single piece of paper. Tack it up on your wall or carry it on a card in your wallet. Having that simple reminder of your approach to leadership always within arm’s reach will help you live up to that standard every day.
- Share. Tell people your personal story. Share your triumphs and failures. Help them understand the experiences that have made you who you are as a leader. When you share, you help them understand you better. That understanding and the vulnerability you demonstrate while sharing builds trust between you and your team members.
The Bottom Line
The sooner you commit your leadership philosophy to paper, the better off you are. Be sure it is personal, authentic, and free of jargon or buzzwords. Share it with your team. Live it every day. Help them see you’re really not that complex or unpredictable. Morale, productivity, and trust will all increase as a result. Take the Trusted Leader Assessment to see where you stack up. The results can make a big difference in helping you build trust with the members of your team.
- Mike Figliuolo is the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership. He’s the managing director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC – a leadership development firm. An Honor Graduate from West Point, he served in the U.S. Army as a combat arms officer. Before founding his own company, he was an assistant professor at Duke University, a consultant at McKinsey & Co., and an executive at Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He regularly writes about leadership on the thoughtLEADERS Blog.
Intention is Fine but Where’s the Service?
You are going to have to indulge me for a moment because the following service breakdown story may initially seem like I’m venting but it is presented to highlights how “good service intentions” just don’t cut it .
For me things did not start off well with a new utilities provider. When I called to have a natural gas tank filled they told me they would “try to come out” later in the week. Try as they might – they never showed up. I called up to set-up a new appointment and they said “they had nothing for the upcoming week but would call me back in a couple of days to set something up.” A couple of weeks later, I realized they hadn’t called so I contacted them yet again. Upon telling the call center staff person that I just “want the company to send someone else to provide service” she told me how my service request had “come at a very busy time for her company.” I did feel bad for them but would have rather her had her acknowledge her company’s shortcomings and make some effort to apologize for all the effort she was requiring a customer to expend. Ultimately, a technician came out and did a satisfactory job executing the service transaction.
A few weeks later, I received a phone call asking me to evaluate the company’s service. Phew, finally someone actually wanted me to tell them about my experience! In the case of my service challenged utility provider, the person initiating the call seemed most interested in getting the perfunctory survey completed than actually hearing honest feedback. The caller jumped right in to the first of two Yes/No questions, “Are you satisfied with your service to date?” To which I said, “No not particularly.” She then proceeded to ask “would I refer the utility company to a family member or friend?” Well you probably can guess where I went with that one. Why call me at all?
I am sure the idea of a survey reflected a well-intentioned inquiry but when such processes lack fail to execution they can backfire and further erode trust and respect from customers. I am so grateful to my utility company for the reverse education they provided me. As a result of their example, I have tasked myself and my staff to look at our execution against our intentions across every business process that touches our customers. I can’t have my customers feeling the way I do about my utility company.
Are any of your business processes well-intentioned but missing the mark with your customers – possibly resulting in tension and distrust?
Since I’m on the topic of trust you will want to check-out tomorrow’s guest blog by Mike Figliuolo, the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful Personal Leadership. Mike will offer important lessons on how to garner trust as a leader.
Customer Experience Then and Now!
I read the strangest things! Right now, I am finishing a short book by P.T. Barnum entitled “The Art of Money Getting: Golden Rules for Making Money.” I wasn’t attracted to the book because I need to make money (on that front I have been blessed beyond my wildest imagination), I picked it up because I thought “the greatest showman on earth” and the first show business millionaire might have some insights on creating “craveable” (albeit spectacular) customer experiences.
Now to put the rest of this blog in perspective, you have to realize that P.T. Barnum was born just over 200 years ago in 1810 and wrote The Art of Money Getting when he was 70. The book looks back at lessons Barnum learned about achieving success and significance. What is striking about the book is its timelessness. I dare say it relevant to customer experience challenges of today. For example, take this excerpt from Barnum’s chapter entitled Be Polite and Kind to Your Customers:
“Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him. “Like begets like.” The man who gives the greatest amount of goods of a corresponding quality for the least sum (still reserving for himself a profit) will generally succeed best in the long run. This brings us to the golden rule, “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them,” and they will do better by you than if you always treated them as if you wanted to get the most you could out of them for the least return. Men who drive sharp bargains with their customers, acting as if they never expected to see them again, will not be mistaken. They will never see them again as customers. People don’t like to pay and get kicked also.”
I love looking back at the writings of business icon’s like Barnum because they often help me see that technologies will change but underlying human service needs are stable across time. Is it fair to say in 2011, that women and “men who drive sharp bargains with their customers, acting as if they never expected to see them again, will not be mistaken?”
What are you reading and will those writings stand-up to scrutiny in a couple of centuries?
You’ve been Faced at the Bathroom Blogfest 2011
How fun is this? Another year participating in the Bathroom Blogfest! For more on this week of blogging on bathroom and customer experience related themes check out http://www.bathroomblogfest.com/
Now, faster than you can hit the “flush lever” let me “plunge” into my content…
I was standing at a urinal in Zappos Headquarters (probably more information than you needed) reading a flyer that had been posted at my eye level. The headline on the flyer read “have you been faced?” With that tease, I had to read on….
The flyer essentially was alluding to a culture enrichment game that was created by a group of new hires at Zappos. The “you got faced” concept was an extension of a prior community building concept called the “face game.” I talk about both the face game and “you got faced” in my recently released book The Zappos Experience here’s an excerpt:
An example of how Zappos facilitates personal connections between staff members is the “face game.” In essence, the game begins each time an employee logs into the Zappos intranet. Upon login, before an employee can get to work, he or she is presented with a picture of a random fellow Zapponian. The individual is then provided four employee names along with a “don’t know” option. After the employee chooses a name, the screen indicates if that choice was correct and then the full bio of the actual individual is shown.
Noel Cusimano, Buyer for the clearance and discount site 6pm.com, which is operated by Zappos Development Inc., shares how the biographical information in the face game has additional value: “People can click on you and see your journey in the company. It gives them something to relate to or to talk to you about. You can also select things like, ‘I’d love to have people job shadow me’ or ‘I’m really interested in this topic,’ so you can search for people in the company with similar interests to yours. That idea came from our Speaker of the House who wished for a database where she could tag people and could pull up everyone, for example, who love doing face paintings or who are artists.”
The face game has been taken to yet another level thanks to a final project completed by participants in a Zappos culture class. That class developed the “you got faced” project in support of the Zappos value to build a positive team and family spirit. According to Rachael Brown, Zappos Pipeline Manager, “You got faced encourages Zapponians to send an email to someone whose face popped up on their screens but who they didn’t know well enough to name correctly. The class suggested the email carry the subject line ‘you got faced’ and that the email invite the person to lunch or to do something to get to know one another. That culture class came up with the you got faced campaign, splashed it everywhere, and marketed it throughout the company. That’s an example of how we are always looking for opportunities to build the Zappos family connection.”
If you would like to try a sample of the “face game” check out this link….
However, if you can’t wait to connect with the community of other Bathroom blogfest bloggers, I’ve provided that list below.
Starbucks blocks electrical outlets in its cafes – What?
As you may have heard from the media, some Starbucks stores are blocking electrical outlets. Since I have been involved with the company and written The Starbucks Experience, I am often asked about decisions that affect Starbucks customers. For today’s blog, I thought I would share my response to a recent inquiry concerning the “outlet issue” as posed by reporter from the Ma’ariv Newspaper in Israel. So here’s my take..
“I should preface my remarks by noting that to my understanding the decision to block power outlets was not a corporate one but instead was being made by some Starbucks store managers. The stores that I am aware of are in NYC where seating space is difficult to secure given that some customers huddle around power outlets for hours. These store level decisions are consistent with an overarching Starbucks goal of creating the highest quality coffee house experience that serves as the living room for the community. I view such decisions as utilitarian in nature and in keeping with the key experiential offering of the brand – to facilitate a welcoming environment where people can have a conversation over a cup of coffee.
Starbucks was never designed to be a cybercafe and leaders were reluctant to make “wi-fi” free, in part due to the types of complexities being addressed in Manhattan at present. Other American cafe brand’s like Panera Bread (which embraced free wifi early on) have had to place limits on how much wifi time individuals can have at peak hours. While personally I am not a fan of having to take such dramatic steps as to block power outlets, I am also aware that some customers do not concern themselves with the impact of their behavior on other customers and do not consider the good of the business that so generously provides the electricity and other comforts they enjoy. I believe Starbucks may have to address this challenge in a more systemic way over time but for now I appreciate that the store managers are trying to find ways to keep the coffeehouse experience from becoming a campground or internet haven.
I was in Hong Kong recently and noted a similar challenge for IKEA’s experience. While the shopping experience is designed for people to spend ample time perusing merchandise and purchasing items (complete with low cost meals, a supervised child care area, and ample showrooms), I observed people making IKEA into a daylong mini-vacation complete with napping on showroom furniture . Great brands find effective ways to maximize their optimal experience for as many as they can effectively serve. As consumer behavior poses challenges, company’s like Starbucks, Panera, and IKEA typically cobble together interim solutions and if needed develop more strategic course corrections.”
What consumer behavior challenges do you face which require solutions to serve that broadest quality experience possible? How would you solve the “wifi” challenge at Starbucks?
Business partners and a FREE Zappos Gift
T0day, I was fortunate enough to get to speak to an audience regarding co-branding and business partnerships! To draw out core concepts, I asked the group the following questions and thought they might help you consider your essentials of partnering:
- In your personal life or in business, where have you accomplished more because you partnered with someone else?
- Who was/were your partner(s)
- How did you select them?
- What competencies did they bring to the table?
- What was their level of investment?
- What reward did you derive? Was the reward known/discussed going in?
These questions set a foundation for broader distinctions between those who are business partners in name only as opposed to those who integrate with our own business processes. While I will expand on these types of distinctions in future blogs, I would love to hear your answers to the above-referenced questions and the insights you gain from considering them.
I am grateful for those who have partnered with me through the years and as such offer you the following free preview of my Zappos Experience book.
http://www.mhprofessional.com/zappified
Upon review, I hope you will share your honest thoughts online (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc). Again thank you for your partnership
What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?
I’ve watched Zappos twitter posters and Zappos bloggers effectively deploy questions like that one to engage their social media tribe. I was speaking at an event in Las Vegas today and heard a panelist offer one of the best distinctions between the lead generating benefits of a web page and the relationship building benefits of Facebook and Twitter.
The panelist used an interesting example. Let’s say you are a financial advisor at a cocktail party. Would it be appropriate to interrupt the party to start analyzing the investment portfolios of the people you meet in that setting? There is a time an place for everything and it might be more fitting to ask about a favorite breakfast cereal. So I am asking, what’s your favorite breakfast cereal? (In my youth it was Quisp. I even had a Quisp stuffed toy….ok so I still have the toy)
Sometimes quirky questions allow us to connect in relaxed ways and gives us information we can later leverage for the good of the relationship…
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