When your sales people do more talking than listening. When you do strategic planning and no customers are involved or participating. When the last time you read a customer comment was more than 3 months. When you have not customer experience training. When you don’t have a senior staff position that champions the customer experience (CXO). When you don’t collect the (personal) name of the customer in your interaction with them. When you don’t reward and celebrate those employees that demonstrate great customer interactions. When there is no mention of great customer experiences on your web site. When your marketing
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Posts by Kordell Norton
"I are smart" and other Customer Engagement Myths – Improving Customer Service Requires so MUCH MORE.
There are 21 hospitals in the Intermountain Health Care system. When they were deciding what to do to raise the level of their customer’s experience, they focused on the world ENGAGEMENT. But what one person defines as engagement differs from another. Fortunately for IHC, they decided that shared decision making was a key. Shared decisions. At Disney, there are levels of engagement. Some “guests” opt for the full Monte with the Disney Plus program, complete with arm bands that act as mobile credit cards. Those who chose to go “all in” even decorate their bands with Disney pins and themes.
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With a Gear as their Logo – Planet Fitness has one asset that is anything BUT another cog in the machine.
It is a fitness center! Just another gathering of treadmills, clanking weights, and hard charging ellipticals. As I enter, there is the mandatory scan of my key chain fob and then it is off to some torture device that will elicit sweat. There, in this particular location, is a beautiful Polynesian young lady with a ready smile. As I scan my ID each day, there in front of her is a computer screen with my face and name. The same tools as so many other fitness centers. But in this one the front desk help actually read my name and
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Dentists are Getting Chewed Up – – – How Dental Professionals can escape Price Competition and other Woes
Dentists are getting chewed up. Third-party dictation of dental fees, the overpopulation of Dentists and Hygienists, and the expansion of “staff” doing more and more dentistry are just the tip of the iceberg that is threatening to sink the ship. In the middle of that is the patient, who is demanding a different experience. The millennial generation is bringing in their kids, and they want something different than those Baby Boomers. Is the problem the competition or is it the mindset of the dentist? IF the customer is shopping for the best price on a filling, then dentistry is just
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Destroying the Customer Experience – Four Tools for Fixing Employees Who Just Do NOT Care
You see it everywhere. The customer is walking away, shaking their head in disbelief at the atrocious behavior exhibited by that first line employee. How do you inject a charismatic relationship with customers if their experience is horrible? At the core are those employees who have been trained to know better, but they continue to destroy the customer experience. And it is contagious. One bad apple can indeed destroy the whole bunch. Just as famous people want to hang with famous people, so the criminal does not want to hang with the local police. Negaholics unite with one another. What
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The Customer can Smell "Being Taken Advantage Of" a Mile Away How a few charismatic household brands are being tempted with easy money shortcuts.
Charismatic Businesses know that customer engagement IS the foundation to their magical charisma. Yes, it may cost a little extra to create the engaged customer experience, but the profitability easily offsets the difference. Starbucks, one of the higher ranking companies in our Business Charisma survey, is opening liquids-only locations. It seems that selling hot beverages is a lot more profitable than also providing WIFI, seating for gatherings. Do people pay extra for their Starbucks because their coffee is the only great coffee out there? What percent pay the price to have a common place to meet friends? When your customer
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Your Chairside Manner May be Good, BUT That is Not Enough . . . the Future of Dentistry
I just moved to a new city. New banks, new dry cleaners, and a need for a new dentist. Our society values referrals now more than ever. After talking to multiple acquaintances; some orthodontists, endodontist, oral surgeons and even calls to dental labs, the same name kept popping up. Let’s call him Dr. Awesome. In the dental world there is a very elaborate dance that occurs between general dentists and the referrals they make to specialist for braces, surgery, and other advanced tooth care issues. Study groups of dental professionals who network and gain some addition knowledge; have at their
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"It is worth it because. . . ." – How To Craft a Business Story Based on Your True Value
Howard Schultz came back and saved Starbucks in 2008. His focus was to get back to the coffee experience. But what happens when the business focuses too much on the bottom line? We forget that the customer refers and recommends the value of our offering by completing the following: “It is worth it because . . . . ” Starbucks is starting to focus on drive through business. I have seen several of their “container” locations where they sell the profitable hot drinks, where the customer does NOT have a place to meet friends. Those pesky customers are expensive. The
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Incredible Math for Employee Turnover . . .and other revelations
Forbes had a great article with statistics that will make you stop and think. In 2014 an employee given a 3% raise really only gets a 1% increase in spending because of inflation If that same employee leaves the company they can look forward to a 10% to 20% increase in salary (with some as high as 50%) This is a call for HR to rethink their methods. If that employee does leave consider The replacement costs for an entry-level employee is between 30% to 50% of their annual salary. For mid-level employees it could cost up to 150% of
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Seven Behaviors to Connect and Motivate the Rising Generation (connecting with Millennials)
As published in the Midwest Society of Association Executives FOCUS magazine spring of 2016 by Kordell Norton “They can’t pass the drug test!” He is another client who is complaining about the workforce, more especially, those “Millennials”. Repeatedly business executives are frustrated by this emerging group of workers. “One half of all the applicants from this age group literally cannot pass the drug test. Then,” he pokes the air between us for emphasis, “those we do hire don’t want to work. After a couple of days they come and tell us that the work is too hard.” Who are these
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