Should Your Brand Be "Convenience"?

I am always intrigued by the musings of Shep Hyken. Better yet, I am also educated. This particular article on "convenience" and how it applies to our business really made me pay attention as it called out how our customers need speed and simplicity. I urge you to read on as there is a very useful premise behind this. Have fun reading. -Andrea Michaels

-By Shep Hyken

Competitive Strategy

What is one of the most valuable commodities in the world? Time!

There is an old saying that goes something like this: "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." This is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the concept of a better mousetrap is a great metaphor for a reason to continuously innovate.

In a competitive business world, price, selection, customer service and innovation are major reasons customer might choose one company over another. We can now add another concept to the mix, and that is convenience. (And, by the way, the reason I included innovation to my mix of competitive reasons is that it takes innovation to create convenience.)

Many will argue that convenience is part of customer service or the customer experience. I'll agree with that, but it is becoming so important that I'm willing to separate it out. There are businesses that use convenience as their sole competitive differentiator.

There is a reason that convenience stores are called convenience stores. Think about it. They are smaller than other retailers that carry similar items. They aren't necessarily the lowest price. Yet, somehow they don't just survive against their larger competitors. They thrive. Why? Because they are convenient. They are in the neighborhood. They are on the way to or from work or on the right side of the street. They aren't as crowded, so a customer can get in and out much quicker. For what they lack in the selection of merchandise, they make up for in convenience.

If you want to learn about how a  company competes on convenience, take a look at one of the biggest companies on the planet, Amazon. They are a case study for convenience.

When you think of Amazon, you might think of low prices and big selection. I can name dozens of other companies, both online and brick-and-mortar, that do the same thing. Amazon knows it competes with all retailers. So, they broke out of the low price and big selection game with convenience. They want to save time and make life easier for their customers. They created the Amazon Prime program that gets merchandise shipped to you, without shipping charges, in two days or less. They created the Dash button  that allows you to purchase merchandise with the simple push of a button. They want to eliminate as many steps as possible from the time a customer is thinking about purchasing a product until that product is delivered. And, now they are setting up distribution centers throughout major cities that can get merchandise to you in two hours or less. Speed and simplicity is what they are about.

So, regardless of the type of business you're in, how can you create convenience for your customers? What would your customers define as convenience? Figure that out and you have another competitive strategy that will take you and your business to the next level.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ Customer Service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken. 

Andrea Michaels is founder and president of Extraordinary Events, a multi-award-winning international event agency based in Los Angeles. Andrea is the author of Reflections of a Successful Wallflower: Lessons in Business; Lessons in Life and an in-demand speaker and leading voice in the special events industry. She may be reached via amichaels@extraordinaryevents.net.

Don't Avoid Customer Complaints. Manage Them.

Shep Hyken , a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author, has graciously agreed to share this impressive article published last month. Be sure to click on the links within the article. They lead to even more great articles! Learn and enjoy! -Andrea

COMPLAINT AVOIDANCE

It is typical that most companies want to create a customer service experience that doesn't give their customers anything to complain about. Well, it's not a matter if the customer will ever have a complaint. It's when the customer will complain.

Furthermore, the concept of complaint avoidance isn't about trying to be perfect and never having a customer complaint. For the purpose of this lesson, it's about avoiding reality. In other words, it's about turning your head from mistakes, problems and complaints - acting as if they aren't there.

Let's discuss two types of complaint avoidance.

The first is the potential complaint. This is a complaint that hasn't yet happened. It's there, just waiting to be discovered. You know about it, but choose to look the other way away and, for whatever the reason, you don't deal with it. It could be due to fear, laziness or apathy. It doesn't matter what the reason is. Avoiding the problem doesn't make it go away. Instead, you must seize this as an opportunity to step up and fix the problem before it becomes a complaint. You may have noticed a glitch or problem in your system. It may be an error on a report. It may be that you found out that your customer's shipment won't arrive on the date promised. Regardless of whatever the problem may be, rather than avoid it, manage it. Determine the issue, how it happened and what you can do to fix it. Communication becomes important. Be proactive. If there is a customer that needs to be informed, then inform them before they inform you. And by the way, that includes your internal customers as well. They depend on your good work, just as the customer does.

The second is simply avoiding the customer's complaints. Dodging phone calls or not responding to emails and hoping that the customer will just stop complaining and go away. Not dealing with the complaint may escalate it to become worse than it is. And, in some cases, the customer may actually stop complaining. They may even go away ... permanently. I'm not a psychologist, but I believe this is considered passive-aggressive behavior, aggressively deciding to passively avoid the issue.

In either situation, the reality is that there is a problem. It has either the potential to become a complaint or already is a complaint. Either way, it must be dealt with. So, here are three simple thoughts about managing versus avoiding customer complaints.

1. Be proactive. Deal with a potential problem or complaint as quickly as possible.

2. It may or may not be your fault. Either way, you must demonstrate an attitude of accountability to choose to own it.

3. Don't just fix the problem. In the process, work to restore confidence. Prove that the customer made the right decision to do business with you.

Shep Hyken may be reached via (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter @Hyken.

Extraordinary Events is an international meeting and event planning and production firm based in Los Angeles, California. To learn more, visit www.extraordinaryevents.net or contact Andrea Michaels via amichaels@extraordinaryevents.net.