Business in General

Is providing good customer service really that hard?

I just got off the phone with a University Bookstore (who shall remain anonymous) who purchased 24 copies of our Business Plan Pro software. We did play a little phone tag before we connected, but the time that lapsed between his original call and the call where we actually spoke was 22 hours (not bad given I was out of the office from 12pm on yesterday).

While placing the order, the customer indicated he needed the software shipped overnight because classes started last week. He continued on, saying they originally contacted another company (he didn't know or reveal the name of the competitor) but still didn't have software despite having contacted them at the end of February. He said, "Even though there was a slight delay in you getting back to me since you were out of the office yesterday afternoon, at least you called me back." My thought was, "Of course I called you back...you are a customer looking for information on our products and services, not to mention returning a phone call is just plain common courtesy." 

I don't know if I, or the companies I have worked for, are a rare breed, but it amazes me that some people and organizations don't have the common courtesy or business sense to call a potential customer back. I guess the competitor that this University Bookstore originally called didn't feel as though an $1865.00 order was worth their time (not to mention the future orders this customer is likely to place).

I am proud to say I work for a company that truly believes in providing good customer service. We call people back and respond to email inquiries in a very timely manner and we treat every customer with respect and appreciation. Yes, I honestly believe we do this, and I think our customers would agree.

Kristen Langham
Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Solopreneur and Being a Pathfinder Explorer

Listen to Matthew relate your solopreneur journey to this video...

This post is a complimentary seminar offered as part of the men@pause seminar series.

If you would like to receive access for $1 to the latest live and 24x7 access interviews, ideas, thought leaders for entrepreneurial men @ intersection of professional success and personal significance visit our men@pause seminar series.

 

The BIG Blog guest author, Matthew Scott, is founder and CEO of The Life's Work Group and a Duct Tape Marketing Coach.

5 Organic Lessons for Your Small Business Marketing

 

 

The purpose of this post is not to convince you to go organic the way you might think ...

Just because I'm from Oregon and live next to the Cooper Vineyards and own a community garden plot does not make me an organic poster boy. Okay! Maybe it does, but...

I believe that we as small business owners can learn some organic marketing lessons from the organic business sector.

Here are my Duct Tape Marketing Coach 5 Organic Marketing Lessons:

1. Be authentic. Execute on what you believe and invite people who share your belief to become and remain your customer.

2. Have confidence to be a polarizing niche. Our business world is littered with small business owners who all have the same features and benefits and therefore people can't tell them apart. The dude who purchases groceries at Wal Mart is more than likely not going to grow and eat his own produce.

3. Higher cost, but higher price. I will pay a ridiculous amount of money for baby sweet carrots for my kids. Our kids are learning conscious food choices. They no longer believe fruit rollups are part of the USDA fruit pyramid. Organic diehards will not bat an eye and pay $3.25 for the right organic asparagus. I find the same is true of my clients who believe I'm offering what is best and they are willing to pay.

4. Build a community vs. customers.

5. Viral marketing. I don't know anything about biodynamics (Cooper Vineyards), but I swear their Pinot Gris makes me tell the same story over and over again at our frequent neighborhood supper club gatherings. It could be just the wine flowing and talking...

What are the question(s) you may ask what you can learn from having an organic approach to business?

 

Why don't you ask me this question and have me answer your question during my 40-minute LIVE & Complimentary Ask Duct Tape Marketing Coach seminar at www.askducttapemarketingcoach.com?

 

The BIG Blog guest author, Matthew Scott, is founder and CEO of The Life's Work Group and a Duct Tape Marketing Coach.

A Quality product -- yes, but WHAT quality

We hear it frequently in the marketing and advertising pitches for products and services.  "This is a quality product!"

Aaaarrrgggghhhhhh. Are we consumers, by inference, supposed to assume that this implies good quality?  Hardly.

Every product, every service, everything has a quality (noun).  What is missing from claims like these is an adjective distinguishing exactly what quality is being touted.

• High quality
• Indifferent quality
• Good quality
• Dubious quality
• Fair quality
• Export quality
• Premium quality
• Middling quality
• Top-drawer quality
• POS quality
• Craftsman quality
• Discount quality

You get the picture, yes? So give your product or service a good hard look, and then give us the benefit of a few superlative adjectives -- if they are deserved.

Of course, you may not want (or be able, legally) to use high-quality adjectives for your product. So go ahead. Leave them out. But we'll still know the quality...it's scrappy.

---Steve Lange
Senior Editor
Palo Alto Software

Shutting down Starbucks

7000 Starbucks will be closing their doors today. Not forever, just from 5:30pm - 9:00 pm local time. Why? The baristas will be "retrained" in the Art of Espresso according the Starbucks website.  They're calling it part of a "Transformation Agenda".

Dunkin Donuts is calling it an opportunity.

Dunkin, from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm today, will reduce their price for all small lattes, cappuccinos and espressos to 99 cents.

Not sure who's going to end up on top in this battle of the beans. Perhaps it's a good time, all you Starbucks customers, to rediscover your local coffee house.

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Small Business Blogging - why you aren't doing it and why you really should.

At the BusinessandBlogging blog, there's conversation about why small businesses aren't blogging and the reasons why they should really be looking into it.

Liz Fuller writes:

[Lawrence Salberg] cited my recent post stating that 1.25 million businesses had blogs, and he basically predicted that with the exception of tech companies, that number would pretty much remain flat this year.

In other words, he predicted that the other 22 million small businesses in this country would not take up blogging despite the fact that it had the potential to provide them with a competitive advantage over 95% of their competitors.

 

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Martketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

How Entrepreneurs Can Create Happiness by Finding Their Hygge!

We're happy to introduce you to our guest author for today: Matthew Scott. Matthew is the founder and CEO of The Life's Work Group and a Duct Tape Marketing Coach. We asked Matthew to share his fresh point of view with the readers of The BIG Blog.

 

People, get your hygge on...

No, it does not require you to show you have no rhythm. You will not need to stretch. You will not need to wear a safety helmet.

A prince does it. I do it. You can do it.

Hygge (pronounced "hoogey") is the Danish term for gatherings, sometimes spontaneous where you hang-out with people around a common shared interest.

I recently watched a show that announced Denmark as the happiest place on earth. It would not have been my first choice. A recent Cambridge University happiness study researched the world for indicators of happiness and the country with some of the highest taxes in the world --between 50 & 70% of incomes -- and some really dreary weather is #1 in overall happiness.

So, I began to share with my executive and entrepreneurial coaching clients what I learned.

"How can entrepreneurs learn more happiness from the Danes?"

1. Define happiness in not only how you feel right now, but also how you feel about your entire life. Begin to measure success backward vs. forward. Measure the progression of how far you have come vs. elusive ideal of how far you have to go.

2. Don't gain your self-identity from your job title. In Denmark, people generally don't choose careers based on income or status. They call it 'Jante-lov," which means 'You're no better than anybody else.' You are measured on the quality of your work. One feature is on a garbage man who is not judged by his career choice but is respected for doing a noble job, being loved by the people he visits with every week, and that he is the respected soccer coach because his choice of work allows him to be done by 12 noon and spend the rest of day with his family and the kids he coaches.

3. Engage in "hygge." 92% of Danes belong to some kind of social club. It could be dancing, singing, wine-tasting, neighborhood supper clubs, or whatever shared passion with other-like minded people. In fact, the Danish government will even pay for this.

4. Have nice things, but don't make consumption a top priority. Danes are not impressed with "stuff."

5. Build trust networks at work and in our community. We have a long way to go here, but to show you the possibility--Danes often leave babies unattended in strollers outside cafes, and even though they can afford cars, they prefer to ride bikes.

You may attend a complimentary tele-seminar and learn more about finding work that matters and living a more meaningful life as an entrepreneur by visiting men@pause coach Matthew Scott, M.S. at www.menatpausecoach.com

Green? Say It

Are you running a "Green" business? Are you building "Green" products? Is the brightness of your "Greenness" important to your customer?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, let it shine, make sure your customers know about your "Greenness."

I'll give you an example of a local business that's doing a great job of letting their customers know about their "Greenness" everyday.

Yesterday, we had a working lunch at the Ring of Fire, a local Thai restaurant. While viewing the menu, a co-worker, noticed a nicely placed "Green" statement.

Ring of Fire restaurant is committed to sustainability and uses sustainable practices whenever possible. We use organic products as much as is physically and financially feasible, purchase 100% of our electricity from EWEB renewable wind power, reduce energy and waste with in-house conservation policies, filter our water with an Aqua-Metrics system, recycle everything possible, compost approximately 7,200 gallons of material every year and implement many other small changes which we hope will lead us and our customers to a healthier lifestyle and environment. Please join us in these conservation practices. Thank you for dining with us

This "Green" statement does an excellent job of letting the customer know that being "Green" is important to the owners and employees of the Ring of Fire restaurant.  The statement is specific, they use EWEB renewable window power, and it's focused on the activities of the business.

This "Green" statement made everyone at the table feel good about spending money at the restaurant - making us more likely to return. It's a smart move for the restaurant because the local community prides itself on being "Green" - I'm sure it generates lots of free "word of mouth" advertising. It produced an additional positive point - it started a conversation at our table about the local options for buying wind power. I wonder how many Ring of Fire patrons have switched to wind power as a result of reading about it on the menu?

The Ring of Fire is a "Green" business and they're doing a great job of letting their customers know about it. Are you running a "Green" business? If you are - say it! If you aren't - shame on you.

-- Cale Bruckner

[Photo credit: Flickr user rpeschetz]

Dancing Queen

Have you seen this ad?

So this is my question. What relevance does the dancing man have on going back to school?

This is genuine confusion on my part. It was my understanding that ads should be clear and get directly to the action point. But instead of drawing me in to go back to school, I want to ask why he's dancing?

Is this an effective ad?

'Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

"Green" is the new "Low Fat"

Yesterday I attended a business lunch where the keynote speaker was the gentleman responsible for organizing the upcoming 2008 Olympic Track and Field Trials here in Eugene, OR.  (A huge deal for our small town that produced Steve Prefontaine!) 

The last part of his talk provided for a Q & A session.  There were the obvious questions:  "Does Eugene have enough hotel rooms?  How many volunteers will be needed?"  But one question in particular stood out to me:  "What is your sustainability plan?"   What was even more interesting was the detailed answer the speaker had readily available: "…concessions will use biodegradable utensils, recycling depots will be placed around the grounds, and repurposed building materials are being used.” 

It is amazing in the past 5 years how much environmental consideration has come in to the business world as it relates to consumers.  Where once waste ran abundant in production and construction, now stands increased sensitivity to all things green.  In fact, going green has become one of the hottest trends in marketing.  This month's cover feature of Marketing News is titled "Going Green: Why "Green” is the new "Low Fat."   According to a recent BBMG marketing firm survey, nearly 90% of consumers would choose an environmentally friendly company if the cost is the same at the alternative. That’s a big bandwagon to jump on.

A new entrant into this green scene is Clorox.  Not always categorized in the minds of consumers as a traditionally environmentally-friendly product, bleach is getting a make-over.  And they will start selling their products on…..wait for it.....Earth Day.  This April, Clorox will unveil Green Works, a line of "natural" green cleaners.  Interestingly, Clorox happily lists the ingredients on the label - something it doesn't do for its conventional cleaners.  They are further capitalizing on green power by co-marketing this new product line with the Sierra Club.  Not a bad move and one that is sure to resonate with tree-huggers everywhere.  "We'll definitely have some folks who are surprised by this decision, but also people who are pretty excited about it," said Sierra Club spokeswoman Orli Cotel. "We are supporting Green Works in hopes that more people will have access to these kinds of products, some of which aren't even available in the middle of the country." 

But beware. Where going green can lead to a healthy bump in revenue, there are also pit falls if there is no substance behind the campaign.  To the average green customer, environmental issues are serious business. Not practicing what you preach can be an invitation for negative PR and lead to the loss of some of this precious customer base.  British Airlines was recently called out by CBS news for flying empty flights across the US.  BA claims these flights were canceled due to flight attendant scheduling, yet BA flew them anyway and denied a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper that said the airline also was operating the "ghost" flights to avoid losing its valuable takeoff and landing slots at Heathrow airport.  BA must use these slots 80% of the time or they loose them. "A 747 flying from London to New York will burn almost 100,000 gallons of fuel, which produces a considerable amount of pollution and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere." A CBS news source reports.  Environmental groups have sharply criticized these "phantom" flights....especially given that BA's Web site boasts the airline's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, indicating that the carrier has improved its fuel efficiency by 28 percent since 1990.   

Let's face it: The decision made in the boardroom to go green most often is more about dollars than saving trees, but at the end of the day, if it increases sustainability and makes the world a better place for our kids – then I say go for it.

One last note: If you are a business thinking about throwing your hat into the green ring, experts say you only have about 2 -3 years to capitalize on this kind of message.  Predictions are that soon the buzz will die down and green products and services will become just an expected standard in how companies do business.

Beth Anne Whalen
Director of Business Development
Palo Alto Software, Inc.