Wasted Investment in Branding

Recently, I needed a service call in my home to fix a problem. I don't want to identify the company, but it is a large enterprise which invests lots of money in its brand. The service person was a very nice, chatty guy. As we talked, he proceeded to tell me all about the problems in his company ... how it was losing its local roots ... how disillusioned employees were ... etc., etc. So, all the money that the company had invested in advertising, public relations and community events that had influenced my positive image of their brand ... went right out the window. That's why internal marketing and good employee relations are such a critical component of branding.

Pay What You Want ...

This afternoon I'm going to do some on-air pitching for Hawaii Public Radio. They have an interesting business model. They provide the service at no charge and then ask people to make a voluntary payment. It's interesting and unusual, but it turns out that this model is not unique. Recently a restaurant implemented a "pay what you want" scheme. They were confident enough in their product quality that they were willing to try this. While they had some "cheap charlies" and deadbeats, in general they found that people were paying expected menu prices ... or, surprisingly, some were paying a premium. Which goes to show that when you provide real value, customers are generally willing to pay for it.

On the other hand, companies that provide lousy value get complaints about prices. Once again, airlines are a good example of a business built on cutting corners and squeezing value.

Circumstances Have Prompted Me to Blog Again

I've been silent for some time ... feeling that no matter what, things are taking their own course. What can one do? But then came ... the Arab spring ... occupy Wall Street ... and other evidence that people can get stirred up and make change. And then there's ... the craziness of the political scene and the inability of people to work together. So, maybe it's time to blog again.

I'll start with a recurring theme: the true foundation of prosperity is creating honest value. Not derivatives. No get-rich-quick schemes. No flim flam.

Good marketers and good managers have always understood this. Quality and value stand the test of time. Everything else will eventually come crashing down.

I'm including some wisdom from Calvin and Hobbs.

A "Talk Story" Session on Strategic Planning ...

Hawaii Public Radio ... Business of the Arts, September 5, 2010.

Customer Service

On vacation recently, we were taking a train from Brussels to Paris. The train was delayed for about 40 minutes. While en route, staff came through the train asking passengers if they would like a taxi reserved for them upon arrival ... and handing out forms to request a 20% discount on the price of the ticket.

I wonder why the SNCF - the French train service - can do this ... and airlines can't. Or won't.

Managing Expectations

I seem to be picking on airlines again when it comes to discussing customer service. I recently returned from a multi-leg itinerary for which I used reward miles to get an upgrade. Each time I checked in, the airlines dutifully added a priority tag to the baggage tag. And each time I picked up my bag (on all four segments), the bag came off the conveyor in random order - often near the end. It wasn't just my bag. I was watching the other bags come down the belt and found that there were "priority" bags peppered throughout the distribution.

Now I'm not saying that getting my bag early is a big deal for me. But what I am saying is that if the airline has created a service plan that promises priority delivery - and doesn't deliver - that's a customer service problem. In studying customer service, there's a concept called SERVQUAL that helps companies identify potential lapses in service delivery. This one is a classic: good intentions gone wrong.

Really excellent companies take a different approach. Disney theme parks famously overstate the estimated waiting time in lines. When you stand in a line that suggests a thirty minute wait time - and the time is actually twenty minutes, you feel pretty good. When an airline promises priority bag handling and you don't get it, you feel pretty bad.

Customer service is really pretty simple. You just have to do it.

Race to the Bottom in Customer Service

I recently was on a long international airline flight during which I listened in on some flight attendants discussing upcoming changes in the airline's onboard service offerings. Listening to them - and watching the service attitude on the flight - it struck me that employee attitude and service delivery is directly affected by the service culture of the company. If the company starts to "nickle and dime" the customer, there is a very clear message that the customer is not, indeed, king. Not even royalty. And that attitude gets reflected in the "soft" side of things. Employee smiles and attitude.

Connecting to another carrier (an international carrier), and I had a completely different experience. The service offering was customer-focused. And, guess what? The employee attitude was customer centric. Coincidence?