CustomerOps.com

Subprime Meltdown Primer Powerpoint

The best explanation so far on why the economy is so screwed up.  Beware: adult language.

CDO Powerpoint SubPrime Primer - Upload a Document to Scribd

Making it easy for customers to do business with you

Customers Rock! is one of my favorite blogs. 

Becky Carroll just started a series on using social media for customer service starting with Part 1.

The article mentions Frank Eliason, a Comcast employee who monitors Comcast's Twitter page ComcastCares, which has 3500 followers.

ComcastCares is a good example of a company engaging customers "where they are."

Comcast has also been making progress in other ways.

The company's Contact Us page offers 6 ways to get in touch with the company.  The page also contains a blog by Rick Germano, Comcast's SVP of Customer Service talking about all the changes and investments the company is making to improve customer experience.

Other companies are using social media to harness the Wisdom of Crowds to generate and prioritize product ideas.

Dell's IdeaStorm and Salesforce.com's IdeaExchange are two good examples.

Look at the above examples and then look at your own website and customer service processes.

Are you making it easy for your customers to do business with you?

Great Sales Performance Management - Incentive Comp Blog

LeapComp is a blog run by Julien Dionne who has done a myriad of projects for lots of different companies.

Two posts I really liked:

• Insurance Industry Best Practices - Julien's recap of an interesting Accenture webinar.

• Salary Equality Sucks and Goodbye Marx - About paying people based on performance.

Performance Management Lessons from Bill Belichick

Oh yeah!  Football season starts this weekend.

Thinking about it reminds me of a recent article about Bill Belichick and training camp.

The article contains some relevant lessons for sales and service execs who want to get the most from their teams:

• Training Camp Lessons Pay Regular Season Dividends - Belichick drills his players on situations they might encounter during the season.  When game time rolls around, they've "seen it before."  Do you give your supervisors the time, training and tools to role play with your customer service and sales employees so that they are successful during those "moments of truth"?  Or do you simply react to the volume work and live with the repeat calls, missed sales opportunities and dissatisfied customers?


• Treat Different Players Differently - Belichick gives veterans extra rest and rookies extra repetitions.  Do you focus your coaching and development efforts on employees with the most potential to improve?  Or does everyone get one coaching session a month regardless of how they perform?

• Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement - Belichick measures everything.  He knows every stat for every player and unit.  He knows specifically when they're improving or declining.  So do his players.  As a result, there are many smart players on the field.  And he rewards and recognizes the team for superb execution.  Can you say the same about your team's approach?

In 9 seasons under Belichick, the Patriots' record speaks for itself:

• 7 playoff appearances
• 6 division titles
• 4 Super Bowl appearances
• 3 Super Bowl wins

GO PATS!

Amuse Bouche and Customer Service

A couple of weeks ago, I ate at Radcliffe on the Green in Charlotte.  This excellent restaurant features locally and sustainably grown and raised food.

Before the meal, the waiter brought out a small cup of apple soup.

Since I didn't order it, I asked what it was for.

He explained that it was an amuse bouche - which means "mouth amuser" - a treat from the chef.

Maybe this is a common occurrence at high end restaurants, but it was a first for me.  I thought, "what a nice surprise."

It was a small gesture, but it created a lot of good will.

How can you create an amuse bouche for your customers?

Accentuate the Positive

Whether you agreed with his policies or not, Ronald Reagan was The Great Communicator. 

One reason: he focused on the positive. 

For example, instead of saying, "I'll never forget..." he'd say instead, "I'll always remember..."

There's lots of brain research that proves the power of positive over negative.

For example, in the above phrases, your brain hears "forget" and "remember."  It ignores the other words.

If you want to influence the behavior of your customers, the same philosophy applies.

For example, Westin Hotels could simply put up a sign that says, "Please don't steal the robes."

If they did, people would steal the robes.

Instead, here is the sign they use:

Look around your operation. 

Do you accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative?

Free Webinar: The Value of Sales Performance Management (9/4 at 12pm ET)

Did you know that the average organization overpays incentive compensation by 5-12%?

So, on a $10-15M budget, overpayments could equal one...million...dollars (insert evil laugh here).

If you're responsible for getting the most out of a large sales force or managing incentive comp for them, then this is for you....

Merced Systems is offering a free webinar on Thursday, September 4th at 12pm ET:

The Value of Sales Performance Management

10 Best Web Support Sites

Does your company sell many different types of products or services?

Then check out this list of top support sites from the Association of Support Professionals. 

The list also contains links to the support sites of the best large and small company sites for the winners of the last 10 years. 

Dell's site, for example, has been in ASP's Top 10 list for 7 out of the last 10 years. 

Interesting to note that one of the top issues is Microsoft's Blue Screen of Death.

Performance Management Lessons from Dell

For those of you who missed last month's Performance Management web seminar with Dell (sponsored by ICMI and Merced Systems)...

You can

• watch the recording or
• read the recap on Merced Systems' blog

I especially liked the four key elements to a high-performing culture:

1. Single version of the truth
2. Metric alignment and standardization
3. Personalized goals, alerts, triggers and thresholds
4. Coaching, recognition and reinforcement best practices

Enjoy!

How helpful are your help pages?

In cycling, members of the team work together to help the star cyclist win. 

Check out the following pairs of help pages:

• Squidoo vs. Google Knol
• Salesforce.com vs.Oracle
• Zappos vs. DSW

Which companies are helping their customers to win?

Now look at your help pages and your competitors' help pages.

Which companies are helping their customers win?