Today I opened my Time Warner Roadrunner Bill to find that my monthly subscription rate had almost doubled to $52.95. Internet porn just got a lot more expensive…
Today I opened my Time Warner Roadrunner Bill to find that my monthly subscription rate had almost doubled to $52.95. Internet porn just got a lot more expensive…
I was dismayed about the inflated charge and immediately called the printed phone number. I patiently waited for the automated voice menu to list the operator option. None came. I repeated the options and listened very carefully. Still, no operator number was given. So I did what everyone does - hit zero. The response: “The number you have chosen is not a valid option. Please listen to the option list and try again.” I thought, yeah right, I’m not about to waist another five minutes, so I hit zero. Again, I got the automated response that zero was not a valid option.
This type of system is poor customer management. Why obfuscate a real-life service representative? I only interact with a Time Warner rep about once a year. Usually, that interaction occurs if my service is bad. You’d think they’d want to talk to me to see how things are going. This is Time Warner’s chance to WOW me back into their arms with a great personal touch. This is their opportunity to establish a personal connection with me, rather than pawn me off to an automated system.
Let’s run through the emotions of an average customer scenario here. Bob is frustrated because he is experiencing poor service from Time Warner Cable and needs to speak with a representative. Once he calls, Bob must listen through a batch of irrelevant choices. This makes Bob even more frustrated. The option for an operator is never given so he gets angrier. After listening through the options again, Bob punches the zero key several times and is finally redirected to a live operator. The first line Bob hears out of their voice is, “Thanks for calling Time Warner Cable, where we value you as a customer, how can I help you today?” Bob is seething now. If they valued him so much, then why did they make him jump through hoops to reach them?
Bob’s anger level went from a 3 to a 6 in a short period of time. Companies wonder why their reps get treated so harshly by incoming callers. How many customers has Time Warner lost because a callers level of frustration was escalated by the call-in process itself? Asking for help is supposed to be easy and alleviate pain.
Here’s an idea: display a direct line to live representatives right below the automated one and let your customers sort their needs. There’s no way in hell I would call if I needed a billing invoice. I can go on the web and check that in a minute. But my dad can’t - he’s not computer literate. He would want to call and speak with a live person. Companies should heed differentiations in comfort level.
By interacting with my dad, Time Warner could have turned his negative experience into a positive one. That’s a powerful interaction. Actually, it’s probably one of the most influential ways to act with a person (or customer), period. People won’t remember your name, your personal details, or even what you’ve done. What people will remember is how you made them feel. Here, Time Warner has an opportunity to turn the tide on someone’s feelings and create an everlasting experience for them. Otherwise, they’re just a commodity - a service provider at a certain price point that invokes no loyalty.
Luckily, I had a great rep that was able to WOW me even after I was ramped up to a 6. If I would have had an average rep, I wouldn’t have thought twice about switching to Windstream.
So to all of the Time Warners out there, reallocate some your marketing resources back into your call centers. Those centers are part of your marketing whether you realize it or not. Make them easily available so customers can establish a personal connection with you. A connection that invokes loyalty over a pricing sheet. This way you won’t be lying when you say, “Your call is important to us.”
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1) Delivering Happiness Review
-Brian Lambelet
When I was growing up, there was no gay-ass farmville. We wouldn’t water each other’s virtual garden or sniff each other’s virtual ass. We’d play the game with the opponent right there and we’d laugh in their face if they lost. Just like asking a girl out, I was usually at the receiving end of the laughter.
When it came to Monopoly, I still have nightmares of Uncle Pennybags ransacking my mattress for those golden Five-Hundreds. Besides the game taking four hours to play, I just didn’t have the patience to secure the key properties. I bought the first decent place I landed on, fearing that I’d roll worse next turn. My spaces usually ended up scattered around the board. I’d even settle for the lowly Vermont, Connecticut, or Oriental Avenue. You know, the light blue properties between the Railroad and Jail. Talk about a shitty neighborhood. Basically, I was a slum lord.
One of my older friends, Mike, was always able to administer the Park Place-Boardwalk combo beatdown. He’d go to great lengths to secure these properties. Then, he’d beef them up with housing and hotels. Word to the wise, when someone calls rent on you for landing on a Pimped-out Park Place right after you snake-eyed it from their Boardwalk hotel, they’re really saying, “Would you please end the game by violently flipping over the board over?” As any good friend would, I happily obliged.
But this story isn’t about how many monopoly boards ended up in the ceiling fan, it’s about Mike’s winning strategy: focus. My friend picked a plan and stuck to it. Sometimes, he didn’t get Park Place or Boardwalk, but he’d always grab some expensive spaces and pump them with housing and hotels. Mike would only own a few properties but one night’s rent would cost you hundreds. He had a few Hilton’s when I had a lot of Embassy Suites Holiday Inns Super 8s extra couches. His few beat my many every time. Why? Because he focused his resources on one thing.
That’s the lesson that our company, Reflect7, is trying to learn. From JP’s A Crappy Vision is Better Than Lack of Vision, you can see that we’re spread pretty thin. Just like my monopoly game, we’ve scattered our resources over several projects. When we step back in review, we see that some of these projects pay the bills, some build our local brand, and some are shots in the dark. However, all of them are not something we want to be defined as. We don’t want to be a “Trucking Software Company”. We don’t want to be “A Mobile Software Consulting Company.” We’re like teenagers graduating from high school, we don’t know what we want to be. Right now, we’re just hitting the first two years of prereqs with hopes of making third year’s tuition.
So what I’ve learned is that purpose takes time and experience. That you shouldn’t consult away your resources because you won’t have any product equity to show for it. You probably won’t have the passion either. I’ve learned that a person who spends many years on one trade will have a better product than a person who has spent one year on many trades. That when we find our purpose, we’ll drop everything. I’ve learned that focus wins the game of Monopoly and the game of business.
If You Liked This Blog Post, You May Like:
-Brian Lambelet
PS. For nostalgia’s sake, here’s an old Monopoly board:
Yesterday, I wrote about how I felt like Captain Jack Sparrow in search of a boat. Well, that’s not entirely true. We have a boat, the boat just happens to be a row boat. But like Jack, we also have a broken compass. However, I think this is all pretty normal for a startup that has only been around for 1.5 years. I’ve read time and time again that startup success takes years.
After March Madness, we were just kind of drifting with no vision. Maybe we were jaded by our optimistic expectations. I’m not sure. But we took time off of the Sports Fan Apps. Around the Big Omaha Conference, we developed the idea for Mindspread. We got pretty jazzed up about that but then realized we started getting a number of emails to update our football apps. We lost passion for the football apps and weren’t sure what to do. We finally decided upon the strategy of making enough money so that it gives us the freedom to choose what we want to do. This includes the following:
I’m not in love with this vision. In fact, I think that we can do better. I think that the context switching between projects can be detrimental. I also believe that it spreads our resources too thin. It doesn’t allow us to focus our expertise on making one kick ass product that truly changes the world. However, we are learning a lot, we are having fun, and we are making money. We will get to our destination, it’s not a matter of ‘if’, it’s a matter of ‘when.’
But the message is simple. You must have a vision. You must execute upon this vision, even if the vision sucks. If you’re not doing anything, you’re not learning or growing. That’s worse than not being focused and having a meaningful purpose.
Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson
-JP Richardson
I’m struggling. I’m struggling with the journey. My feeling probably resembles that of Captain Jack Sparrow’s feeling of when he didn’t have a boat - he was looking for a boat to commandeer. I’m looking for my boat. I’m struggling to balance all of my projects, being a great father, a great fiance, a great friend, and a great business partner. I’m struggling to identify my purpose.
Don’t get me wrong. Life is amazing. I’m fortunate enough to have a healthy nine-year old son, a loving fiance, business partners who happen to be some of my best friends, an awesome day job, and a business that is generating some revenue. What more could a man ask for? I think that I would like are two things:
It’s been said that it’s not about the destination, but it’s about the journey. One thing is true, I feel like I’m living and loving life to the fullest. When I arrive at the destination, I will have the answer; but until then, I will continue to document my journey on this blog.
What are your thoughts? Any wisdom to share?
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Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson
-JP
A pessimist presupposes failure. An optimist presupposes success.
A pessimist sees a dead end. An optimist sees an unpaved road.
A pessimists says, “It can’t be done.” An optimist says, “It will be done.”
A pessimist is an expert. An optimist is a novice.
A pessimist muddies the present with the past. An optimist clarifies the present with the future.
A pessimist believes that ideas are rigid. An optimist believes that ideas are pliable.
A pessimist lives in a world that is limited. An optimist lives in a world of possibility.
A pessimist will call themselves “a realist”, “a pragmatist”, or “experienced.” An optimist will call themselves, “an idealist”, “a believer”, “a visionary.”
A pessimist worries about problems. An optimist focuses on solutions.
A pessimist expires. An optimist inspires.
A pessimist quits because they’re stubborn. An optimist is too stubborn to quit.
Steve Jobs, the Wright Brothers, Walt Disney -> Optimists.
People you’ve never heard of -> Pessimists.
-Brian Lambelet
500,000,000 users. That’s a lot of zeros sharing their drunken stupor pics over the internet. More importantly, that’s a lot of people staying connected. Social websites allow you to look-in on your friends. To feel like your in the know on their happenings and whereabouts. Facebook has helped me organize and attend events that I wouldn’t have known about. Facebook has also kept me complacent about my social network…
Trailer Parks
Maybe I was rubbing elbows with Trailer folk over a bottle of moonshine, or maybe a psychologist I respect mentioned this to me tonight: that trailer parks have the highest level of connectedness when it comes to neighborhoods. On one hand, there’s the physical location of being literally right in the other persons front yard. On the other hand, there’s the technological dislocation. I’m making an assumption here so I could be making an ass out of myself. But assuming that Trailer park attendees are poor (hence the trailer situation), I conclude that they probably aren’t furnishing the latest Macbook Pro. They’re probably not connected to the internet at all, which means that they’ll have to get their social needs from, gasp, their neighbors!
Back In The Day
Many will say, “Brian, have you been staring at The Double Rainbow too long?” Yes, I have (it’s almost a triple rainbow!!!). But I also say, “look at your parents.” Back in the day, my parents only social interaction was done physically (and via phone) with family, friends, and neighbors. There weren’t any virtually represented friends and you actually had to see, or talk to someone, to consider yourself involved. Today’s Facebook friendships don’t require any effort.
Don’t get me wrong, Facebook is revolutionary as an efficient form of communication (and stalking). But it makes it all the more easier to cash out on our friendships. Just like texting, Facebook is a minimally invasive way to interact. However, the less invasive, the less the impact.
Think about it this way, when I’m talking with a friend in person, how well can I gauge their emotion? Pretty damn good. When I’m talking on the phone, how well can I gauge their emotion? Pretty good, but not as well as in person. I don’t even want to get into the miscommunications I’ve had while texting. Now consider Facebook. Most of the interaction is done via the Wall. How much can I gauge a person’s woes by posting something on their wall? Not much. How much affect am I really having when I leave “That’s what she said” with a smiley face in response to my friend’s status?
Old Balls
Call me old balls, I’m almost thirty, but I liked the good ‘ol days when my parents chilled with the neighbors and talked about real shit. Where the amount of Facebook friends or Twitter Followers didn’t define you (Southpark: You have 0 friends). I liked it when you could actually feel the person you were talking to (that’s what she said).
I’ll be the first to admit that when I had a hot chick as a Facebook friend, I was much less likely to delete her. Even if her Facebook status updates were self-involved and she made that fucking kissy face in every photo. Acquaintances have become social commodities for value when no one person should be used as a means to an end [Kant’s Categorical Imperative (2nd Maxim) - Booyah, four years of philosophy just paid for itself].
I’m Not Your Fucking Friend
If you’re feeling a little testy after reading this, here’s a letter you can send to 3/4ths of your “friends” on Facebook.
Dear Person I Have Spent More Time Stalking Than Interacting With,
We are not friends. We are mutual acquaintances that know some awkward shit about one another. Although we might actually give a shit about each other at some point, we really don’t right now. And that’s okay. So don’t wish me Happy Birthday and I won’t congratulate you on your new haircut (don’t worry, frosted tips are still in). So let’s just nut up and admit that we’re really just in each others glorified Rolodex. No big deal.
PS. I also like obscure music and limited-release films because I’m UnIQuE. My bio info is also [enter something witty here].
Conclusion
JP is right - we are insecure about not knowing. Social networks give us a way to stay informed in a very convenient way. Perhaps so convenient that we forget that with more connections, comes more dilution. In the meanwhile, I’m going to take a hint from Trailer Folk and focus on the relationships that matter - the ones on my front lawn.
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1) Leverage Simplicity and the Desire For Information
-Brian
From time to time, my mom will clip a newspaper article or send me an email some info of technology that she finds interesting. This morning, I received an email from my mom about the Airport Remote app:
If you are a developer, you’re probably thinking “what’s the big deal?” If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably thinking “meh, Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, Tripit, and a thousands of iPhone apps already provide me with this information.” If you’re my mom, you’re dazzled.
I started thinking about when I travel and what technology I use to make my traveling experience better. I typically buy my tickets on Orbitz. Orbitz sends me text messages about flight times and if there will be delays. I know that other apps exist that do this very same thing as well. However, when I’m at the airport, I still find myself stopping to look at the blue screen. At every single airport I do this despite me knowing that Orbitz will inform me of any changes.
Why do I do this? It’s the same reason that I tend to check Clicky multiple times a day when I only use to check Google Analytics once a day. It’s called insecurity work. We as humans are a bit insecure. We need to feel in control. We feel that we have more control when we have more information. That’s why this app is successful; because it’s simple and we’re insecure.
So if you can build a product that can leverage people’s insatiable appetite for information and do so in a simple manner, I would bet that you’re product will succeed.
Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson
-JP Richardson
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3) The Best Word Customers Will Ever Hear
“You’ve Changed”
I was out two weekends ago and wound up talking to an old friend from High School. After a bit of banter, she introduced herself. I interrupted half way through, reminding her that we had hung out in high school. She was flabbergasted. She truly didn’t recognize me. She went on to explain that it wasn’t my looks, but more how I carried myself and communicated my passions. Then I heard these key words, “Wow, you’ve changed.”
I had the same encounter with an old middle school friend of mine about a year ago. I was downtown partying with friends and he immediately recognized me. When I started talking about life, his eyes glossed over. I was different than when he remembered and could feel his apprehension to the conversation. That’s when I heard the same phrase, “Wow, you’ve changed.”
Even though these reactions were opposing, I maintained a massive appreciation of there meaning. I had actually changed. I wasn’t the same person they remembered from high school or junior high. My personality was so different that I was semi-unrecognizable. My friend from middle school might think I sold out and became too business oriented while my friend from high school might think that I became more motivated and goal-oriented. The truth is that they’re both right.
Change is Social
Change isn’t just about you, it’s about those around you. The majority thrives on safety. When given a choice between risking their current paradigm or playing it safe, they’ll play it safe. I see this happen all of the time. One of my friends decides to make a major change in their life only to end up being dragged back into their old ways. The sad part is that the people dragging them are usually their friends. Let’s face it, we don’t like change. Change is uncertainty and that creates discomfort. When someone in our social circle decides to make a change for the better, do we really support it? How many of us are guilty of expressing support verbally, but when it comes down to action, we drag that person right back into their former shadow? I know I’ve done it. It’s what we expect of that person. It’s their persona and the pattern of behavior that we’re used to. We never seriously believe that they are going to change.
To truly change is hard. It can take years. One baby step at a time. You won’t just be fighting your own bad habits, but you’ll be fighting your friends’ as well. It’s fucked up because I’ve had a few friends go off to self-help seminars. They thrive in a new environment because there’s no set expectations for their action. All of the people that they’ve trained (whether you like it or not, people treat you how you train them to) to treat them in a certain way are gone. They come back rockstars. Over time, though, the rockstar status fades to back-up singer, then to security, then to roadie, and finally they find themselves back in their regular mundane lives.
Bottom Line:
My point is that change is as time-sensitive as it is socially-sensitive. I had an entirely different social network three years ago. Now I hang out with people who are like-minded. If you want to change, don’t just manage yourself, manage your friends as well. Tell them right away what you’re trying to do and expect resistance. You might even have to let some of them go but in the long run you’ll change for the better.
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-Brian Lambelet
Happiness Delivered
I was at an after hours party (yeah, I get invited places) a few weeks ago when my friend, Andy, mentioned that he prefers to shop online. He went on to say that he buys his a lot of his apparel from Zappos, a company who had made a strong impression with their free shipping upgrades and one year return policy. I was amazed. A few months ago I had seen Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos, present at Big Omaha. There, he spoke directly about creating great impressions with customers.
Rethink Marketing
One of Tony’s main points was to rethink marketing. Marketing isn’t just a separate department, but everyone in the company. The more impact an employee has on a customer, the more marketing influence they have. So take the money you would have invested in traditional advertising, and instead, invest it back into customer service and product quality. The surprisingly exceptional service creates a WOW experience for customers. An experience that they pass along to their friends. By adopting this strategy, you’re getting more mileage out of your marketing dollars. You’re still marketing through word of mouth, and you’re also improving your product. Listening to Andy’s WOW story made Tony’s speech hit home. Then it dawned on me, in terms of customer service, I should be mimicking Zappos.
WOW Your Customers
Recently, I reacquired my previously sold business dealing with international clothing sales. I decided to reward my repeat customers with a free, high-end, leather bracelet. The first surprise gift went out two weeks ago to my best overseas patron. He received his package this last Friday and was ecstatic. Not only was he absolutely blown away that a company would send a customer a surprise gift, he also thanked me several times over for having great customer service. I had delivered my first WOW experience.
I felt good and not just because I thought he would spread the story. I felt like I was actually able to reach through the internet and deliver a mini-explosion of the unexpected. An authentic surprise these days is few and far between, which makes it all the more powerful. When’s the last time any business has pleasantly surprised you?
Then I started to think, why doesn’t this treatment become a staple of service? There’s a lot of businesses out there that take my money on a frequent basis but never deliver something better. I get treated like everyone else, every time. Hell, a lot of them don’t even know my name. If one of these business’s went beyond the expected just once, I’d talk about it. Just as Andy had echoed his great Zappos experience.
The Bottom Line
We rely on repeat customers to turn the wheels of our business but we often fail recognize and reward them. Reallocate a healthy portion of your advertising budget back into customer service and product experience. Give your best customers something better. Give them a story to tell.
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1) Delivering Happiness Review
2) Focus On Your Customers and the Money Will Follow
3) Be Exceptional and People Will Market For You
-Brian Lambelet
Whenever one of my college friends comes back into town, I love to call everyone from the old crew to go out and get some drinks. One of these friends, who we’ll call “Sergey” always responds enthusiastically by saying “yea man… I would love to meet up with you guys. I just have to do a few things and then I’ll give you a call!” Nine times out of ten, Sergey never shows up. On the times when he doesn’t show up, he doesn’t even send a text or call to let us know that he’s not coming. Admittedly, I feel a bit let down. I’ve told Sergey that it would be nice if he would just shoot me a text telling me that he can’t make it. I understand he’s busy and has obligations but I think it’s common courtesy to let someone know you can’t make it if you say you will.
Earlier today, I was reading my typical RSS articles. I read Seth Godin’s latest article A Hierarchy of Failure Worth Following. It’s small enough, I’m going to include the whole text:
Not all failures are the same. Here are five kinds, from frequency = good all the way to please-don’t!
FAIL OFTEN: Ideas that challenge the status quo. Proposals. Brainstorms. Concepts that open doors.
FAIL FREQUENTLY: Prototypes. Spreadsheets. Sample ads and copy.
FAIL OCCASIONALLY: Working mockups. Playtesting sessions. Board meetings.
FAIL RARELY: Interactions with small groups of actual users and customers.
FAIL NEVER: Keeping promises to your constituents.
The thing is, in their rush to play it safe and then their urgency to salvage everything in the face of an emergency, most organizations do precisely the opposite. They throw their customers or their people under the bus (“we had no choice”) but rarely take the pro-active steps necessary to fail quietly, and often, in private, in advance, when there’s still time to make things better.
Better to have a difficult conversation now than a failed customer interaction later.
After the the “Fail Never” line, I started thinking about one of my clients. After the last line, I got some knots in my stomach. You see, I’ve been a software consultant/contractor for about four years. I’ve been working with a trucking company to develop software to manage/schedule their fleet since I started consulting. I “finished” the software about two years ago. They’ve called me from time to time to do some small updates. About three months ago I got a call from them asking me to do some other updates. I visited their office and discovered that they didn’t really use the software much, and when they tried, it didn’t work as expected. It would crash, the UI would lock up, and it was generally buggy. I made a ton of mistakes:
My major strength was that I had a great grasp on simplicity and UI design. The app itself looked great. But, you can polish a turd and it’s still a turd. Regardless though, this wasn’t even my major weakness. As a developer (or as an optimist?), I frequently give clients optimistic time lines for completion of projects. This time was no exception. “Yea, we’ll come out at the end of a next week and show you the updates.” I said. When I opened up the code and looked at it again, I knew I was in trouble. What the fuck was I thinking years ago when I wrote this?
I worked diligently. The end of the next week came. I still wasn’t done. Not even close. Try making small changes to your data model on your crappy custom ORM. It sucks. I really wanted to rewrite everything, the whole entire app. But, I knew that would lessen my chance for success, as most of the functionality works. I knew that was a bad idea.
The week passed. I didn’t call them. It’s not like I blew them off, as we didn’t have a time scheduled, just a “end of next week” time. The following week passed without me contacting them. After reading that last line, I knew I had messed up.
Better to have a difficult conversation now, instead of a failed customer interaction later. -Seth Godin
Don’t forget this. Seriously. I called them almost immediately after I read that line. I knew I needed to tell them that I’m still working on making it work well and that I didn’t forget about them. They were very grateful that I had called and were willing to wait longer. When it comes down to it, they could have picked anyone else, but they picked me. I should not take that for granted.
Much like I was let down when my friend Sergey wouldn’t let me know that he wasn’t going to make it, I let my client down. That’s bad business. I won’t ever end my friendship with Sergey because I enjoy hanging out with him as we’ve been friends for about 15 years, but the truck company could’ve ended their relationship with me years ago.
But the real lesson is that business is about relationships. Each business interaction should be treated as such. If you can manage your business relationships in a uniquely positive manner, you’ll be successful. So many companies out their treat their customers like shit. Don’t be this company. Use the Golden Rule on this one and your customers will love you for it.
Follow me on Twitter: @jprichardson
-JP Richardson