I dropped my Blackberry on a hard surface, and when I did, it fell into several pieces. I attempted to put the Blackberry back together but when I did, it would not boot.

So, I visited my closest AT&T store for help. I was greeted by a young staffer behind the check-out desk who confidentlly took the Blackberry apart, reinserted a few of its parts and informed me it would take a moment to see if it booted.  She cautioned me that if it didn’t, I would need to take my Blackberry to a T-Mobile store. Now here’s where it gets interesting…..

I ask her where the closest T-Mobile store was located. She says, “I don’t know.” An older staff (probably her supervisor) is standing at the adjacent computer terminal and overhears our exchange.

He simply says, “Let’s search,” and proceeds to do so. Now, she gets it! (Oh, I shouldn’t just say “I don’t know.” I should help the customer!) She tells him she’ll do the search and soon she finds the info I need.

Key learning point: This colleague/supervisor modeled the appropriate behavior in a supportive way. Many of us would have simply “told” her what to do. His approach was far more collegial and it got her going. I was impressed!

Marketing ace and friend, Bob Gutermuth (founder of Dialog Marketing) shared this recent experience with a Houston pizzeria. Reports Bob, "We left our feedback via a comment card that the waitress asked us to fill out. The very next day I received the following email from the restaurant:"

Loyalty Tip: Don’t just ask for feedback. Put it to work! And circle back with customers to let them know how their feedback is being used to improve the customer experience.

Want to one-up your competition and win a customer for life? This kind of “closed loop” communication can help!
–

About the Author, Jill Griffin, The Loyalty Maker®

Jill Griffin’s new book, Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer: Building Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World, is a Miami Herald “Top Business Books” pick for 2009. Buy it on Amazon or by calling 1-800-956-7739. Sign up for Jill’s Loyalty Tips at www.loyaltysolutions.com.

Santa came after Christmas this year!

The Miami Herald just named, “Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer” to its list of 11 “Best Business Books” for 2009! Given the 1,000′s of fine business books published every year, I’m thrilled.  Check it out here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/1399600.html

P.S.  Santa, please know that I’ll try to be a good girl again in 2010.

The garage doors at my house need adjusting. They sound as if they are going to collapse whenever my husband Mack or I hit the remote opener. This week, Mack “delegated” to me the task of calling the installer to schedule a service call. I went out to the garage expecting to find the contact information on the wall mounted control box. No dice. No easy-to- find information anywhere!

Loyalty Lesson: Don’t overlook the low tech ways to build customer loyalty. In the case of my garage doors, how simple, easy and cost-efficient it would have been for the installer to have posted a simple “For service” tag on the control box. With no such information, I’m on my own in searching for a vendor. What a shame for the original installer! This could have been cash in their pocket.

There are hunters and there are gatherers. With the advent of online commerce, hunters are now ascendant. And why not? Thanks to Google, anyone who can key in a name, even one spelled incorrectly, can suddenly gather information about a product, service or provider in detail that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier.

Turning browsers into buyers;
Prospective consumers are armed with information and dazzled by choices, but their new empowerment provides an opportunity for businesses to build customer loyalty.

Taming The Search-And-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World. Jill Griffin. Jossey Bass. 288 pages.

BYLINE: RICHARD PACHTER, rap@richardpachter.com

There are hunters and there are gatherers. With the advent of online commerce, hunters are now ascendant. And why not? Thanks to Google, anyone who can key in a name, even one spelled incorrectly, can suddenly gather information about a product, service or provider in detail that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier.

For those of us who tend to obsessively research prices and features before making a purchase, it’s heaven, but the extra edge afforded by discovering testimonials (or cautions) from users is the real killer app. Some online retailers, most notably Amazon.com, recognize the value of this and encourage buyers to post reviews and ratings of products.

The same situation exists in the nonconsumer sector. In fact, the b-to-b segment is usually tougher in its ratings, since they generally employ more exacting requirements, and technical and legal standards may be involved as well.

It’s great if you’re a buyer, but if you’re a provider, what the heck can you do to, at the very least, participate in the process? And can you control it?

Jill Griffin may not have all the answers, but I was blown away by her deep understanding of this complicated subject and her intelligent and actionable assessment of the necessary strategies. Having a firm grasp of the obvious is all too rare.

Rather than counsel obfuscation and deception, she recommends going at it full-bore. Of course, the internals have to be worked out first, though some of the tasks can be done on the fly. The first rule of promotion still applies: make sure the product (or service) is tight; if it isn’t, then the criticism may be deserved. The whole point of Griffin’s strategy involves doing the right thing and telling the truth. If the message emanating from you and your organization is bogus, you’re sunk. If you start with honest communication and customer satisfaction as the primary goals, it’s easier to formulate company policies and practices, even if they have to be made up as you go along.

Griffin suggests ways to genuinely connect with customers and prospects with an intelligent and proactive deployment of blogs, social networks and other resources to provide support and rapid responses to criticism, problems and concerns — legitimate or otherwise. She also offers a guide — several, actually — to assess key aspects of the initiative. Customer loyalty is the ultimate goal, after all, and it’s an ongoing process.

These elements usually require a fair degree of attention and consistency. But this type of behavior is now mandatory for businesses seeking to thrive in the context of the new reality.

Griffin covers a lot of ground in this book, but her organization of the material is excellent. It’s not enough to have great ideas and to write well. If it isn’t presented in an entertaining and compelling manner, making a lasting impression will be difficult. But if any business or other organization that sells or serves is serious and sincere about engaging customers, prospects and other stakeholders, they’ll benefit from the principles, strategies and tactics of Jill Griffin.

I’m a happily married woman. But I’m here to confess: I have “another man” in my life. His name is Lalo. He “speaks” and sells (at rock-bottom prices) great brands like Tory Burch, Moschino, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Nanette Lepore. I’ve been seeing him steadily for two years.

But my visits go beyond the fact he helps me land designer brands for cheap.

Lalo is a reminder that America is full of remarkable, resilient business builders with abilities to search out untapped customer needs, profitably meet them, and earn deep customer loyalty along the way.

And, I NEED that reminder at the moment! How about you?

With news of corporate misdeeds, bank failures, scarce credit, home foreclosures, plummeting stock values and layoffs swarming all around, it’s pretty darn easy to feel scared and hopeless. But the truth is, our country is full of thought leaders (and doers) who step up and courageously create new “business designs” — defining and differentiating their offerings, choosing how to go to market, configure resources, capture profit, etc. (No doubt, our Big Three automakers are the poster children for bad business design!) But amidst all the bleak news, it’s important we remember our country has plenty of firms, both large and small, that do ‘get’ it.

My man, Lalo, is a case in point.

This Austin-based, veteran shoe retailer saw the writing on the wall several years back. With internet search engines providing consumers with ever-increasing choices, Lalo recognized the need (and opportunity) to shift his customer value delivery into overdrive. His solution? Launch Designer Clearance House (DCH), a no-frills store where in-the-know women could find hip designer shoes and handbags at rock bottom prices ($300 shoes routinely going for $23 to $50.) How did he deliver his deals? By brilliantly cobbling together a stellar customer value proposition fed from willing channel partners whose “gets” exceeded their “gives.” Here’s how he did it:

First, the great inventory…. Approximately twenty designer shoe manufacturers sold Lalo their end-of-selling-season samples. Why? Besides the immediate cash for the samples, Lalo’s store, tucked away in a business office park, provided these manufacturers (many of whom are well-known in Europe, but not in the United States) an opportunity to build brand awareness among high-end, fashion-conscious shoppers who were candidates for full-price shoe purchases in the future.

What’s more, a number of high-end local retailers sold Lalo their end-of-season close-outs for pennies on the dollar. Through DCH, these retailers could sell-off merchandise that didn’t move after final mark-down.

Lalo’s message to customers who “loved the shoe” but not the size? Visit the regular retailer at the beginning of the season! Lalo would tell them where to shop.

Next, low fixed cost…. Lalo kept his store’s operating costs super low by opening his doors only during prime weekend shopping hours, several times a month. He used e-mail to notify his customers a couple of days in advance of when he would be open (these openings typically coincided with availability of new inventory). Castillo also offered shop by appointment, whereby a group of girlfriends, for example, could reserve store access and private shopping time.

Finally, word of mouse…. No advertising. Just a web site where customers sign up for e-mail notification (he offered in-store sign-up, too). Lalo sent out e-mails whenever he had a new shipment, and customers came running, often bringing a friend or two with them.

Customers embraced the “just in” notifications! On one of my visits (yep, I’m a regular), I vividly remember a departing customer, with new leather boots in tow, enthusiastically calling back as she walked out the door, “I can’t wait to receive your next e-mail, Lalo!” (When’s the last time you heard that at the mall?)

In this tough, bruising economy, DCH and its carefully-crafted business design are thriving: Lalo’s talented daughter-in-law, long-time shoe rep, Spring Castillo, has joined the business. The store inked an exclusive deal with upscale Houston retailer, Tootsie’s, and now DCH offers clothes at an astounding 75% off retail price. After expanding its retail space three times in less than two years, DCH began 2009 with a move to a more centralized, permanent store location with ‘real’ stores hours.

Loyalty Lesson: Your firm’s business design choices have huge consequences on its ability to profitably grow loyal customers. And profits matter! How does your firm (1) select its customers, (2) define and differentiate its offerings, (3) define the task it will perform itself and (4) those it will outsource, (5) configure its resources, (6) go to market, (7) create utility for customers, and (8) capture profit? Choose wisely. Your ability to earn customer loyalty depends on it.

There I am… along with a few other lucky folks getting a rare, behind-the-scenes tour of the famous Dorchester Hotel in London. (I’m in town to present at the European Conference on Customer Management and my fellow speaker and a long-time Dorchester advisor, Christopher Daffy, graciously arranged this amazing opportunity. Thanks Chris! ) While in London, I’m staying at the conference hotel – the Royal Lancaster, a few blocks away – but one of my pals on the hotel tour, customer experience expert and author, Lew Carbone, is a guest at the Dorchester.

Our guide has just toured us through the Dorchester’s impressive culinary facilities including the staff dining area. As Lew and I leave this area, a staff message board catches my eye. “Lew,” I call out with amazement, “There’s your picture and bio!” Lew stops dead in his tracks, stares wide-eyed at the message board and with a big, knowing smile, replies, “So that’s why all the staff here seem to know me!”

Loyalty Lesson: What untapped tools can help your staff deliver exceptional customer experiences? What readily available customer information, shared with front-liners, can mean the difference? Make this a brainstorm topic at your next staff meeting. And get ready for some ‘ah-ha’ ideas to surface!

“Know whose new coffee drinks beat the heck out of Starbucks? … Good ole McDonalds!” she said. “That’s good news. I can’t afford Starbucks anymore!” said another. “Well, I never liked Starbucks coffee anyway. Too strong,” replied another.

This was the start-up conversation in a cancer center’s tiny waiting room as a handfull of patients, all strangers, awaited radiation treatment. While the group conversation started with McDonalds coffee, it soon progressed to other topics of shared interests. I had tagged along with my best girlfriend who is battling blood cancer, and this unlikely setting gave me yet another lesson in the ubiquitous power of word-of-mouth. But it also reminded me that our tendency to give and receive information is “hard wired” into our DNA.

Human beings have an innate hunger for information and are designed to be ‘infovores’ reports Dr. Irving Biderman, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, whose studies on brain activity suggest humans experience real pleasure in acquiring (and sharing) information. This waiting room’s powerful transition from weighty, depressive silence to energized discussion was a testament to infovore behavior! For nearly an hour (the radiation unit was running way behind) we talked, we learned, we shared. The pleasure grew and the time flew. When the long-delayed technician finally came calling, a blanket of good cheer seemed to follow each patient out the door as her name was called. And although the cancer center did not directly orchestrate this ‘event’, the center sure benefitted. No doubt, we all felt better (or, at least, no worse) about that hospital after our “infovore fix.” And that’s despite the fact we had almost an hour wait!

Loyalty Lesson: Want to enhance your customer’s experience and deepen engagement with your brand? Get your customers interacting! For example, savvy firms are establishing online customer communities that enable customers to help other customers. Advises Microsoft’s general manager of community support services, Sean O’Driscoll, “How do you get users to want to stay at your site and engage with others? The only way is peer-to-peer discussion, in their own voices, rather than the company’s voice.”