Great to see that Research In Motion is offering its frustrated clients free premium apps worth more than $100 each as an apology for last week's service outages.
A customer-service problem like that demanded a grand, serious gesture on the company's part (see my National Post blogpost here), and RiM has delivered.
The complete selection of premium apps will become available from BlackBerry App World for four weeks beginning Oct. 19. Enterprise customers will also receive a month of free technical support.
Good to see strong statements like these from RiM's embattled management:
“We’ve worked hard to earn [customers’] trust over the past 12 years and we’re committed to providing the high standard of reliability they expect,” says RiM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis. “We are taking immediate and aggressive steps to help prevent something like this from happening again.”
Industry analyst Francisco Jeronimo at IDC said the decision could be good for RIM, if it helps more customers to discover BlackBerry app services. He said RiM has likely struck deals with app developers to keep costs down. Even so, he says, “More important than the offer itself, is that RIM is showing goodwill and being humble. They recognized the problem, apologized and now they are compensating their users.”
In my Oct. 14 NatPost blog, "overcompensate" was the phrase I used to describe how companies can rebuild trust following customer-service breakdowns. You have to prove you learned your lessons, and that you value your customers' time and loyalty.
Here is my list of 7 Steps to take when faced with a company or customer-service breakdown.
• Acknowledge the problem quickly.
• Identify the magnitude of the breakdown as soon as possible.
• Tell customers what outcome you are working toward. (e.g., How soon will power be restored?)
• Don’t just say you’re working on the problem – show it. (Make sure they see you sweat.)
• Take steps to shut-out customers as comfortable as possible.
• Acknowledge customers’ confusion and frustration.
• Overcompensate. Once the emergency is over, find creative, memorable ways to apologize for the inconvenience and thank customers for their tolerance.
You can read that complete column here.
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer service. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Putting the Customer First, Part II
What does your business do to make customers love it?
In February, I wrote a column for the Financial Post on how companies need to put their customer first – and then asked readers to write in to tell me how they do that.
My column in last week's Post discusses some of the responses I received. Good news: customer service is alive and well in Canada. From dot-coms to retailers to service and software companies, enlightened entrepreneurs are proving that the best way to succeed is to help your customers win first.
Excerpt:
In Oakville, Ont., T-Shirtmonster Inc. combines online technology with client-first focus. In addition to selling customized T-shirts to sports teams and community groups, the company enables consumers and organizations to open virtual storefronts to sell their own branded apparel.
"We are the only company in Canada that prints and fulfills T-shirt orders in-house, on demand, and provides free store-hosting and online sales reports clients can view 24/7," says Roland Mackintosh, president and co-founder of the company.
The Breast Cancer Society of Canada opened a store on T-Shirtmonster.ca to sell shirts to supporters across the country for its annual fundraising event, "Dress Down Day." The society "loved the fact they didn't have to take on inventory or worry about order fulfillment or customer service," Mackintosh says. Supporters can even personalize their shirts. One design, for instance, simply says, "I wear pink for my ---," and invites you to complete the message by adding a name or photo.
Making things fun and easy for customers offers powerful payback, Mackintosh says: "If we hadn't impressed BCSC, we would have missed a major opportunity for their supporters to become regular customers of our own."
You can read the full story here.
In February, I wrote a column for the Financial Post on how companies need to put their customer first – and then asked readers to write in to tell me how they do that.
My column in last week's Post discusses some of the responses I received. Good news: customer service is alive and well in Canada. From dot-coms to retailers to service and software companies, enlightened entrepreneurs are proving that the best way to succeed is to help your customers win first.
Excerpt:
In Oakville, Ont., T-Shirtmonster Inc. combines online technology with client-first focus. In addition to selling customized T-shirts to sports teams and community groups, the company enables consumers and organizations to open virtual storefronts to sell their own branded apparel.
"We are the only company in Canada that prints and fulfills T-shirt orders in-house, on demand, and provides free store-hosting and online sales reports clients can view 24/7," says Roland Mackintosh, president and co-founder of the company.
The Breast Cancer Society of Canada opened a store on T-Shirtmonster.ca to sell shirts to supporters across the country for its annual fundraising event, "Dress Down Day." The society "loved the fact they didn't have to take on inventory or worry about order fulfillment or customer service," Mackintosh says. Supporters can even personalize their shirts. One design, for instance, simply says, "I wear pink for my ---," and invites you to complete the message by adding a name or photo.
Making things fun and easy for customers offers powerful payback, Mackintosh says: "If we hadn't impressed BCSC, we would have missed a major opportunity for their supporters to become regular customers of our own."
You can read the full story here.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Losing Focus – Anyone can do it!
What’s going on, Starbucks?
Ted Matthews and his team of “brand coaches” at Toronto-based Instinct Brand Equity are accusing the international coffee chain of losing sight of its true self in its quest for growth. Of course, it’s the same problem that besets many companies that lose sight of basic values and operations as
they grow.
they grow.“You’ve really been screwing up,” they tell Starbucks this week in their newsletter, Instinct. “Your stock price has halved in 52 weeks. You’re closing stores — terribly humbling for a company that has 16,000 units and wants 40,000 to cover the planet."
The grounds for Instinct’s complaint? “Bad service, poor product and dirty stores: these are the issues ruining your experience, your profitability, your Brand.
“You have too many staff with inadequate training, and substandard hires who lack a positive attitude.”
They also take aim at coffee temperatures (“the same drink can be lukewarm on one visit and tongue-burning the next”) and stale sandwiches.
The Brand Coaches conclude that Starbuck’s emphasis on growth has shifted its focus “from a consistent, high-quality coffee experience to a massive construction project.”
Their advice: “Focus on pleasing your customers — not the stock market.”
I reprint these comments in detail because I love to see companies called out publicly for non-performance – especially when it’s by people who truly love those businesses, and just want them to rediscover what made them great.
The question for you is: why would your best clients say about your standards, your attention to detail, your brand? Are you still putting the emphasis on customers, or are you being distracted by selfish concerns of your own?
What would a Brand Coach say about you?
(For more info on Instinct, see www.instinctbrandequity.com
To read their newsletter, click here.)
The question for you is: why would your best clients say about your standards, your attention to detail, your brand? Are you still putting the emphasis on customers, or are you being distracted by selfish concerns of your own?
What would a Brand Coach say about you?
(For more info on Instinct, see www.instinctbrandequity.com
To read their newsletter, click here.)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Are You ETDBW?
How easy are you to do business with?
In this day of unfettered and increasing competition, your ability to distinguish yourself through being “easy to do business with” could become a strategic differentiator. But first, you have to be genuinely customer-focused: you have to put the customer's needs ahead of your own.
That's harder to do than it sounds. Every organization has rules and policies for its own health that interfere with its ability to satisfy customers quickly and efficiently. Think of companies that rush to market with buggy software, hoping to make up for it with updates later; products with warranties that aren't what they seem, with the truth buried in the print; retail stores with spotty inventory records and untrained staff who can't tell you the difference between Product A and Product B; and companies that make you regret ever doing business with them at all when you try to make a return or exchange.
My column in this month’s PROFIT magazine looks at ways to make your business “easier to do business with.” To remind you that bad service is still all around us, the article also recounts the ludicrous story of a company that put one barrier after another in front of me when I went to it for help.
How do you lead your business on the path to being Easy to do Business With?
* Look internally first. Find out where your own people are “roadblocked,” where your own rules prevent them from helping customers.
* Analyze your business from the client's point of view. Survey your customers, track their complaints or ask your front-line people what’s preventing their prospects from buying more. They'll have lots to tell you.
* Empower your employees to take the customer’s side. Seattle-based department-store chain Nordstrom reduced its employees handbook to one rule: “Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.”
Read the full story here.
In this day of unfettered and increasing competition, your ability to distinguish yourself through being “easy to do business with” could become a strategic differentiator. But first, you have to be genuinely customer-focused: you have to put the customer's needs ahead of your own.
That's harder to do than it sounds. Every organization has rules and policies for its own health that interfere with its ability to satisfy customers quickly and efficiently. Think of companies that rush to market with buggy software, hoping to make up for it with updates later; products with warranties that aren't what they seem, with the truth buried in the print; retail stores with spotty inventory records and untrained staff who can't tell you the difference between Product A and Product B; and companies that make you regret ever doing business with them at all when you try to make a return or exchange.
My column in this month’s PROFIT magazine looks at ways to make your business “easier to do business with.” To remind you that bad service is still all around us, the article also recounts the ludicrous story of a company that put one barrier after another in front of me when I went to it for help.
How do you lead your business on the path to being Easy to do Business With?
* Look internally first. Find out where your own people are “roadblocked,” where your own rules prevent them from helping customers.
* Analyze your business from the client's point of view. Survey your customers, track their complaints or ask your front-line people what’s preventing their prospects from buying more. They'll have lots to tell you.
* Empower your employees to take the customer’s side. Seattle-based department-store chain Nordstrom reduced its employees handbook to one rule: “Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.”
Read the full story here.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes, Week 80
Here is this week's motivational quote, personally selected to get you off to an inspired start.
This week: one of my favorite quotes from PROFIT Magazine's PROFIT 100 research in the 1990s.
"There are three kinds of service you can give to people. Less than they expected, which we call 'Yuck'; what they expected, which we call 'Blah'; and more than they expected, which is 'Wow'. We only deliver Wow."
Igor Korenzvit (IKOR Integrated Facilities Inc., office furniture dealer, Toronto)
What does Mr. Korenzvit mean by "wow" service? Here's what he told us:
" If somebody asks me to call them tomorrow, I call them today. If they want a price on a chair, I'll get them the price, and then tell them there are two other chairs that are just as good but cost less. If we're supposed to install 100 work stations in a week, we'll do it in four days. And then, we'll ask what else we can do, like moving their old furniture into the basement. You'd be surprised how many dealers wouldn't think of that."
How could your firm deliver "Wow Service"?
This week: one of my favorite quotes from PROFIT Magazine's PROFIT 100 research in the 1990s.
"There are three kinds of service you can give to people. Less than they expected, which we call 'Yuck'; what they expected, which we call 'Blah'; and more than they expected, which is 'Wow'. We only deliver Wow."
Igor Korenzvit (IKOR Integrated Facilities Inc., office furniture dealer, Toronto)
What does Mr. Korenzvit mean by "wow" service? Here's what he told us:
" If somebody asks me to call them tomorrow, I call them today. If they want a price on a chair, I'll get them the price, and then tell them there are two other chairs that are just as good but cost less. If we're supposed to install 100 work stations in a week, we'll do it in four days. And then, we'll ask what else we can do, like moving their old furniture into the basement. You'd be surprised how many dealers wouldn't think of that."
How could your firm deliver "Wow Service"?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Correcting Mistakes
Today's reversal by Google underlines a customer-first approach to service that I think more businesses should emulate.
According to an Associated Press story today, Google has decided to offer full refunds to users who had paid for video sales or rentals through Google Video, a service it is shutting down.
The company had announced it would only give credits through its Google Checkout offering, thereby requiring users to buy coffee, magazines or other items from merchants who accept Checkout payments.
“When your friends and well-intentioned acquaintances tell you that you've made a mistake, it's good to listen,” Bindu Reddy, Google's video product manager, said on the company's official blog.
“We thought offering the refund in the form of Google Checkout credits would entail fewer steps and offer a better user experience,” Reddy wrote. “We should have anticipated that some users would see a Checkout credit as nothing more than an extra step of a different (and annoyingly self-serving) kind. Our bad.”
You're allowed to make mistakes in business. What's important is recovering from them quickly.
According to an Associated Press story today, Google has decided to offer full refunds to users who had paid for video sales or rentals through Google Video, a service it is shutting down.
The company had announced it would only give credits through its Google Checkout offering, thereby requiring users to buy coffee, magazines or other items from merchants who accept Checkout payments.
“When your friends and well-intentioned acquaintances tell you that you've made a mistake, it's good to listen,” Bindu Reddy, Google's video product manager, said on the company's official blog.
“We thought offering the refund in the form of Google Checkout credits would entail fewer steps and offer a better user experience,” Reddy wrote. “We should have anticipated that some users would see a Checkout credit as nothing more than an extra step of a different (and annoyingly self-serving) kind. Our bad.”
You're allowed to make mistakes in business. What's important is recovering from them quickly.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Best-Ever Entrepreneurship Quotes: Week 43
Here is for your motivational Quote of the Week, personally selected to get your week off to an empowering start.
"You are the agent for your customer."
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, 1918-1992.
From his 1992 book, Made in America: My Story.
Such a simple statement, yet oh so powerful. Are you "the agent" for your customers? Do you always strive to give them the best value, the most worry-free service, and reason to trust you forever?
"You are the agent for your customer."
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, 1918-1992.
From his 1992 book, Made in America: My Story.
Such a simple statement, yet oh so powerful. Are you "the agent" for your customers? Do you always strive to give them the best value, the most worry-free service, and reason to trust you forever?
And if not, why not?
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