brilliant results january 2013

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tradeshow

concepts

promo items

customer experience

going to the show

face time value

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Cover Story8 this isn’t your grandfather’s trade show

Departments6 publisher’s letter

7 contributors: who’s who in the industry

10 exhibit: the value of face to face

12 incentives: how effective are trade show giveaways

14 travel: attracting trade shows

16 branding: what do teddy bears, picture frames and condoms have in common

18 marketing tips: masters of the customer experience

20 advice: Top 10 Tools to Change Hurtful Habits

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Vol. 10, No. 1 2013

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Go with a note you know and trust.Unlike knock-off notes, genuine Post-it® Notes stick securely, remove cleanly and make a lasting impression for your business. They get your brand seen, not stepped on.

Don’t trash your reputation with a knock-off note

4 Brilliant Results • January 2013

3M.com/promote

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Go with a note you know and trust.Unlike knock-off notes, genuine Post-it® Notes stick securely, remove cleanly and make a lasting impression for your business. They get your brand seen, not stepped on.

Don’t trash your reputation with a knock-off note

Tradeshows today need to deliver roI. It’s that simple. what are you doing to make sure your company, or your client’s organization is remembered after the show doors close? If you have trade show questions, this is the issue for you. our annual tradeshow issue covers everything from preshow planning to post show follow-up, with a strong emphasis on follow-up and booth giveaways.

while you may not like it the 15 minutes you spend on your booth giveaway could decide that exhibit’s roI. I say 15 minutes because more times than not people just get the secretary to order 1,000 pens to have at

the booth, sad but too often true. Then some genius will say that the show roI was terrible. really? I say what did you do to maximize the show? did you have press kits available? did you use the show to stand out and draw attention to your company or did you merely blend with all the other booths in your row?

Like it or not people like to get something for Free. They like to feel important and receive something for their time. Match that give away with preshow and post show creativity and you have a recipe for success. I have seen many brilliant incentives that got me to stop by a booth, none of which was the proverbial pen. I thought the following were clever ideas and for the serious prospect they could actually grow your business… mail out one flip flop in advance with an invitation to stop by your booth for its mate; mail out a remote control whereby they must stop by to receive the remote controlled car. I also picked up one of the more controversial and yet spot on booth giveaways at the consumer electronics show one year…what was that give away? well it was a website that provided security and the give away a condom bearing their logo and the words safety First. That company got so much buzz at the show for their pick of giveaway and their booth was not only fun but also packed. while a condom may not be in your give away routine I would say think about something that would get buzz at the show and really generate roI. If your company can stand out and be remembered in a tradeshow filled with many of your competitors your roI will be brilliant especially if you follow up promptly with the crowd of prospects that stopped by the booth.

so whether you are marketing premiums or purchasing them a little thought and creativity can make all the difference.

publisher’s letter

Brilliant Publishing LLC9034 Joyce Lane

Hummelstown, PA 17036Ph: 717.571.9233Fax: 717.566.5431

PUBLISHER / ADVERTISINGMaureen Williams

[email protected]

EDITORIALEditor in ChiefMaryAnne Morrill

Senior EditorMichelle Donofry

Style EditorCharity Plata

Asst. EditorMolly Anika

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., Arnold H. Light, Martin Lindstrom, Barry Siskind, Dr. Peter Tarlow,

John Tschohl, Steve Woodburn

PRODUCTION / DESIGNArt DirectorJeremy Tingle

Brilliant Results is published monthly by Brilliant Publishing LLC, 9034 Joyce Lane Hummelstown PA 17036 (717) 608-5869; Fax# (717) 566-5431. Copyright © 2013 Brilliant Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/or their agents, assume the responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the advertisement. Editorial contributors assume responsibility for their published works and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on published work. No part of this publication can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher. All items submitted to Brilliant Results become the sole property of Brilliant Publishing LLC. Editorial content does not reflect the views of the publisher. The imprints, logos, trademarks or trade names (Collectively the “Marks”) displayed on the products featured in Brilliant Results are for illustrative purposes only and are not available for sale. The marks do not represent the implied or actual endorsement by the owners of the Marks of the product on which they appear. All of the Marks are the property of the respective owners and is not the property of either the advertisers using the Marks or Brilliant Results.

brilliantresults™

Maureen [email protected] 717-608-5869

Follow us on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@Bresults

6 Brilliant Results • January 2013 www.bri l l iantpubl ishing.com

a Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D. For more than two decades Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government organizations have relied on Dr. Barton Goldsmith to help them develop creative and balanced leadership. His columns appear in over 500 publications. He may be contacted through his web site www.BartonGoldsmith.com

b Arnold H. Light, CTC, Executive Consultant to Fire Light Group (FLG) has 35 years of marketing practice specializing in incentive and loyalty marketing disciplines helping multi-national corporations develop and implement B2B and B2C results oriented performance improvement programs. Has been an adjunct professor at New York University, Pratt Institute and The New School for Social Research instructing in marketing research, advertising and incentive marketing on the graduate level. For additional information visit www.incentivesmotivate.com .

c Martin Lindstrom, a respected branding and marketing expert, was selected as one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME magazine. The founder, CEO and Chairman of the LINDSTROM company (Sydney), Martin speaks to a global audience of approximately one million people every year. His book; Buyology – Truth and Lies About Why We Buy – a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book has been translated into 37 languages and is on almost all major best-seller lists worldwide.

d Barry Siskind is an internationally recognized trade and consumer show expert. He is the author of six bestselling business books including Powerful Exhibit Marketing. Read his newest book, Selling from the Inside Out for an in depth guide to a successful sales career. Visit Barry at www.siskindtraining.com.

e Dr. Peter Tarlow is the founder and president of Tourism & More Inc. Dr. Tarlow has appeared on nationally televised programs such as Dateline: NBC and on CNBC. Dr. Tarlow organizes conferences around the world dealing with visitor safety and security issues and with the economic importance of tourism and tourism marketing. For additional information visit www.tourismandmore.com

f John Tschohl, is founder and president of the Service Quality Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Described by USA Today, Time, and Entrepreneur as a “customer service guru,” he has written several books on customer service and has developed more than 26 customer-service training programs that have been distributed throughout the world.

g Steve Woodburn is the Director of Sales for Pinnacle Promotions. Pinnacle Promotions is a promotional marketing agency with expertise in design, sourcing, and production of branded merchandise and corporate apparel. Steve brings his long-term relation-ships and extensive experience working in the promotional products industry to Pinnacle Promotions. Please contact Steve at [email protected].

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This isn’t Your Grandfather’s Trade Show

By: STeve WooDBurn

www.bri l l iantpubl ishing.com8 Brilliant Results • January 2013

Back IN The day, you could have a cute “babe” or two in your trade show booth or a has-been star who’d sign autographs and you’d be inundated with attendees. chances are though those attendees weren’t really interested in what you were offering, just in the babes or autograph.

Now management actually expects an roI to justify the cost associated with exhibiting. The days of putting out a bowl of giveaways or a glass jar for business cards won’t cut it in generating real leads that grow business. and with attendance at shows slowing since the economy tanked, it’s more important than ever to engage attendees.

2013 portends some interesting changes in how exhibitors display their products and how attendees interact. here are just a few to ponder:

Use of iPads: The most innovative technology used to be creating a video of •your product or service and letting it play on an endless loop. Boring! iPads can act as portable kiosks in a “no hassle” area of an exhibit to display product pictures, specs or other information and qualify an attendee’s interest. Booth staff should also carry iPads to further engage with prospects, capture email data, collect customer feedback, complete surveys and more. armoractive is by no means the only company creating apps and selling hardware for iPads at trade shows, but it is a good place to begin to understand how this technology can help you stand out from your competitors.

a LeaP ahead: have yoU PLayed frUit NiNja? It’s a game on touch screen iPads or smartphones where you •use your finger as a sword to slice and dice fruit. Leap Motion has created an inexpensive way to use this same gesture control technology to do some amazing things. The $70 device will be available early in 2013 and third-party developers are already jumping onboard and creating apps to integrate with it. Using fingers and hands to swipe, poke and grab allows users to manipulate and control 3-d environments like never before. Imagine taking a blob of virtual clay and being able to create a piece of art through the use of hand gestures.

sociaL Media: Many companies are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, •Pinterest and blogs to connect with potential trade show attendees before, during and after an event. Before the event you can post reasons to stop by your booth, tease new product introductions and show pictures to generate interest. create a promotion and use hashtags which are like a secret

code on Twitter. Learn to pre-schedule posts using an app like hootsuite or Tweetdeck and start a month or more out to build interest. Tweet during the show, post pictures to Facebook and Pinterest and after the show write a blog about the experience and interact with those who attended.

the disPLay: smaller seems to be bigger these days when it comes to trade •show booth design. But what will set a booth apart from others are colorful graphics, fabric colors and lighting. First impressions hold true with trade show booths and attendees will be attracted to and learn about your company through bold graphics, visual displays and professional looking staff. Illuminated floors have become a new trend along with the use of lighting to highlight products and display cases. display booths should be open and inviting so attendees want to venture in and learn more about your company. They should capture the imagination and clearly define your brand visually and boldly.

during one brief period in my career I sold billboards and what I learned is these oversized ads must get the brands message across in a matter of three to four seconds. simplicity is the key using a visual and as few words as possible. The same is true for a trade show booth. People walking by will decide in just a couple of seconds whether they want to see what you have to offer. If they see a boring booth, staff dressed haphazardly, people eating or staffers standing together laughing and talking chances are you will be passed by.

The final key to a successful trade show is to follow up. So many companies spend huge amounts of money to exhibit and gather contact information, but when they get back there is no plan on how to follow up on those leads immediately. Plan beforehand how you will follow up on the leads you get. Be sure to make notes during the show of what people are interested in so when you call them later you can jog their memory since attendees see so many booths they may have forgotten what you offer. did I mention follow-up is key to trade show roI?

Trade shows can be a great way to build your customer base and reach people you may otherwise have never met. and just as you wouldn’t call on a customer without some sort of pre-planning, why would you exhibit at a trade show without a plan to build interest beforehand, qualify prospects at the show and follow-up afterwards? Be proactive, plan ahead, use social media, make sure the booth staff is knowledgeable about your company, your products and that they follow-up in a timely manner.


exhibitBy: Barry SiSkinD

The value of face to face


how Much VaLue do you place on an opportunity to sit down, face-to-face, with your customer? The question is not as easily answered as one might think.

In an age when technology is quickly moving in the direction where it is simpler and less expensive to connect on-line, we need to ask the question. “at what cost?”

This question has placed several challenges on the shoulders of those considering investing in trade show participation. Three questions emerge;

How do I define and measure value? •

how can I convince senior management to support a trade •show effort?

what steps can I take to insure that I am getting maximum •value for the investment?

Let’s take a look at each in turn. •

How do I define and measure value? •

The value proposition needs to satisfy two groups: your organization and your customer. The value to your organization is in knowing that face-to-face interactions at a trade show are moving the customer along the sales cycle. The value to your customers is that face to face offers them something that technology does not; experience, understanding and confidence.

The way to measure both of these is through feedback. soliciting comments from internal and external sources often uncovers helpful bits of information that let you know whether your exhibiting objectives are being met as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your exhibiting program.

with this information in hand you are in an excellent position to recommend change. This information also gives you a benchmark to measure whether the changes you have added to your exhibit program are producing the intended results.

how caN i coNviNce seNior MaNageMeNt to sUPPort a trade show effort?

studies have proven that senior management’s need is for a positive return on Investment for its exhibition budget. But not all trade shows and for that matter exhibitors have the ability to measure return on Investment. This is especially true for those companies whose exhibition objectives include soft objectives such as branding, presence and awareness. These metrics can best be articulated by a second equation which measures return on objective.

In either case, your exhibition roI and roo should have a positive effect on the corporation’s bottom line. In order to create a credible case for the exhibition budget, the exhibit manager must carefully collect and analyze the results from all the corporate marketing efforts.

every corporation is different but understanding your success ratios is crucial to finding formulas to satisfy your senior executives. some of the information you need to collect includes your average sales cycle, your lead to sale conversion ratio and your specific Audience Interest Factor (which is the percentage of your defined audience who will make a purchasing commitment within your sales cycle.)

what stePs caN i take to eNsUre that i aM gettiNg MaxiMUM vaLUe for the iNvestMeNt?

The steps become clear when the role of the exhibit manager is redefined into two functions: tactical and strategic.

The tactical function is for many exhibit managers the area that demands most of their time. It involves such items as booking exhibit space, working with the display builder, arranging for shipping and creating a staff schedule. The tendency is to let these tactical items monopolize your time and effort.

Tactical is also for many exhibit managers the area that their performance is measured on. If the show goes without a hitch, their job is well done. But if there are problems then the conclusion is often that it was a result of a mistake made by the exhibit manager.

The strategic elements are those items that ensure that the exhibition effort is moving the corporation forward. These include such things as developing exhibition objectives, finding the right metrics for success and reporting on ROI and roo. Because of the complexity of these issues, many exhibit managers leave these strategic considerations off their list of show responsibilities.

here’s where a shift in corporate thinking needs to take place. The exhibit manager’s responsibilities require a greater level of sophistication. This also means a need for continuing education in one of the professionally accredited courses offered by industry associations, colleges or universities. It also involves support for the exhibit manager to take part in industry conferences such as The exhibitor show in the us or exposystems in Brazil.

Trade shows in the future will be unlike anything we have encountered in the past. There is so much that will change but understanding their value will be a key consideration that corporations need in order to ensure the level of commitment to exhibition excellence is maintained.


incentivesBy: arnolD ligHT, CTC

oNe oF The nice things about trade shows is the giveaways. More people than not won’t admit it, but they really like the little trinkets that eventually find a place on a desk or a bookcase. how effective are they? well according to simmons Market research Bureau, 91% of respondents ranked trade shows as “extremely useful” as a source for purchasing products. The study also pointed out that 50% actually purchased at trade shows. with this kind of data, if you are exhibiting at a trade show you’ll want to find the kind of giveaways that match your corporate image and message.

a trade show giveaway can be the best and least expensive way to promote your company. You can actually use 3 types of giveaways…A. Those for your customers or hottest prospects;

B. Good prospects and; C. The general population or “trade show junkies”. You

know the type. The one’s who cart around a suitcase on wheels.

The key to selecting the right premium to giveaway is your objectives because there are many thousands of items and price points you could choose from. so once you determine what you’d like to achieve such as promoting a specific product, getting a certain message across, leaving a certain impression or just informing your prospect about your full line of products or services then you’ll be in a position to make a selection. A good way to find the right item would be through a registered asI or PPaI representative. asI stands for advertising specialty Institute and PPaI is the Promotional Products association International, both

How Effective Are Trade Show Giveaways?


How Effective Are Trade Show Giveaways?

organizations dedicated to matching manufacturers of premiums with those who sell and distribute them. The best way to find one in your area is do an Internet search or just contact Brilliant results.

an important point to note is to make sure those who have visited your booth remember you after the show. one way to do this is to offer a higher value gift with a long shelf life for qualified prospects. Because once the show is over and you start to do your follow-ups that little gift will make the recipient more favorable to your call.

a great way to involve a prospect is through the use of a real incentive that will make the prospect proactive. and that is through the use of a gift certificate for your product or service or some type of discount coupon. when the recipient redeems the certificate or discount coupon, they will have an opportunity to experience firsthand

your product or service and hopefully come back for more.

another very effective tradeshow giveaway is a drawing that is related to your business products or services. Make sure the prize or reward compliments your business and make the entrant either fill out a small form or use their business cards that are dropped into a bowl for the actual drawing sometime during the show or on the last day. These cards will be a great way to follow up after the show.

And finally, no matter what type or quality or price point you invest in for your trade show giveaway and incentives, none of it will matter unless you establish a follow up or tracking routine once the show is completed. have a system in place to contact all of those leads you received.

have a rewarding day!

The key to selecting the

right premium to giveaway is

your objectives because there

are many thousands of

items and price points you could

choose from.


travelBy: Dr. PeTer TarloW

Tradeshows haVe LoNG been seen as an important marketing tool for a large number of industries that need to exhibit their products to a specific audience. since almost the beginning of time business people have known that tradeshows offer merchants the opportunity to market their goods before huge crowds in a relatively short period of time.

Attracting Trade Shows


Attracting Trade Shows

Tradeshows however are more than mere platforms for marketing one’s wares. They also form an important part of the convention and meetings industry. Tourism industry leaders are well aware of the fact that trade shows produce not only primary business (the business that takes place on the tradeshow floor) but also secondary business (business that is the result of servicing the tradeshow participants, such as hotels and restaurants) and even tertiary business (business that comes from tradeshow participants returning at a later time to the tradeshow’s host community). Tourism leaders see tradeshows as conventions with something to sell.

From the perspective of the tourism industry tradeshows then provide a number of important challenges and opportunities. For example even a small or medium size tradeshow may attract as many as 10,000 people from out-of-town who will fill hotel rooms and eat at local establishments. For many of the reasons mentioned above Tourism professionals compete to gain tradeshow market share. They also realize that people who come to their community for tradeshows may return at a later time for additional recreation and fun.

while there are great similarities between the classical convention and tradeshows there are also major differences. Tradeshows often need large amounts of convention hall space, and easy access for products and tradeshow booths. Because tradeshows have multiple events occurring at the same time, the tradeshow floor must be designed to allow people to hear against a cacophony of sounds and permit private conversations in a public arena.

In order to obtain brilliant results from the tradeshow business, tourism officials then need to have both a pre-show plan and a during show plan of action

Provide clear and precise information about what •services the local community can provide to and for tradeshow hosts, guests and participants. Make sure that your community’s information appears in a font size that is easy for most people to read. In a like manner provide information regarding secondary and tertiary site locations that is clear and not cluttered. To avoid these problems create “Tradeshow check lists” that can be

reviewed with the tradeshow organizers prior to the start of the show.

do not overestimate what you can handle. Many •communities “bite off” more than they can chew. remember that the success of a tradeshow is determined not only by what takes place within the show, but also by what goes on off the tradeshow floor

use security as a selling tool to attract tradeshows and to •encourage people to consider post-tradeshow vacations in your community. Tradeshows are places where all sorts of merchandise are available and are soft target spots for pilferage. one way to gain tradeshow business is to demonstrate to potential tradeshows’ hosts that there is a total security plan and that the local police department has

been trained in tourism security issues.

Make sure that you use the fact •that people are at tradeshow to promote your community. Think of give-away bags promoting local products and services, interesting posters and regular information updates on things to do before and after tradeshow hours. Make sure that your community is part of the local tradeshow rather than merely as passive location in which the tradeshow occurs.

ask yourself who is exhibiting in your community and what the special needs are of these exhibitors. The best way to get brilliant results in attracting tradeshows is to demonstrate that you understand what the tradeshows’ hosts’ needs are and that you have a plan to meet their needs. Make sure you demonstrate to the tradeshow host that you understand who their target audience is and the message that they are trying to get across. Take the time to ask the organizers how they will define a successful show and what part the local

tourism industry can play in making sure that they meet their objectives.

remember that there are really two shows occurring at the same time. The first is the actual tradeshow in which merchants are exhibiting products. The second tradeshow is that your community is also on exhibit. To gain brilliant results use the personal touch and a sense of caring to distinguish your community from other communities that are also seeking to attract the tradeshow business.

In order to obtain brilliant results from

the tradeshow business,

tourism officials then need to have both a

pre-show plan and a during show plan of

action


department pgBy: MarTin linDSTroM

brand building

You MaY NoT be able to buy love, but perhaps you can buy a related feeling: security.

If you’ve followed my work over the last couple of years, you’ll know how I consider spending time in consumers’ homes an essential part of my work. as increasingly more of our time is taken up with emails, sitting in board meetings, and finding ways to navigate the global financial crisis, we’ve forgotten those who are really paying our salaries…the consumer. research reports and focus groups are good

at defining demographics, but fail to reveal those small personal insights that can transform a brand. This is why I’ve spent thousands of hours in consumers’ homes trying to understand what makes consumers tick (and what doesn’t). This has resulted in many fantastic insights–including finding out what teddy bears, picture frames, and condoms have in common. (More on that soon.)

The industry term for this type of investigative work borrows from anthropology–it’s called an “ethnographic

What Teddy Bears, Picture Frames, And Condoms Have In Common


What Teddy Bears, Picture Frames, And Condoms Have In Common study.” In theory, it does not require that much. all that’s

needed is a pen, a notebook, and a family willing to invite you into their home where for a few hours they briefly share their lives. You’d be amazed just how much you can learn by observing people–enough even to change the entire philosophy of a company. and that’s my mission. I drag my clients into their consumers’ homes to let them discover firsthand who the people that pay their salaries really are.

sometime I take ceos who run multibillion-dollar companies and board members along on these visits. Their job is to observe. we sit around kitchens in North carolina and Mississippi. There we defer to boys whose fingers fly across controls of Game Boys and Playstations, or young girls who groove to adele. Little do these families know that every move they make or question they answer could redefine the future for millions of people.

I remember once I took a client into a family home where they failed to refrigerate the very popular beverage he presided over. They nonchalantly explained that they’d run out of fridge space. Yet in all the company’s communications they’d emphasized that their drink is one that must be consumed cold. however, in this family home other household items were in place. Milk was in the side of the fridge door, eggs were in the egg tray, and fruit and vegetables were in the drawers. There were other beverages being kept cold, but not this ceo’s company’s drink.

This may not seem too big a deal, but when a beverage manufacturer is earning millions from a drink that’s best served chilled, it’s important to know why the Vitamin water has taken priority, and his company’s drink has been relegated to the pantry floor.

It took two years to work through the obstacles. The key issue involved parents’ resistance to their children’s consumption of a drink that they didn’t think had any nutritious value (which it indeed had). with research and a lot of hard work, parents accepted the drink and eventually felt comfortable with it in the fridge, alongside the juice and milk.

during ethnographic visits it is my habit to take in everything in the home. I notice what’s hanging on the walls, I peruse the books on the shelves, the dVds lying around the living room, the magazines in the bathroom, and, if I’m

to be totally honest, I’ll even rifle through closed drawers. after years of going into people’s homes, I began noticing a steady increase in, well, teddy bears, picture frames, and condoms. I date this change back to 2009. Besides being kept in bathroom and bedside-table drawers, I now began seeing condoms displayed in glass vases like candy. Then there are the teddy bears. For over a century they have been a feature in young children’s bedrooms. however, it seems that these days teddy bears are growing older with the children they initially comforted. It’s quite likely you’ll still find them on the pillow of an average teenage girl’s bedroom, and even beyond.

what could explain this? The answer came to me as I began spending time with some of the more sophisticated retailers whose window displays are using pictures in

frames. They’ve also been hanging framed images along the entrances to their store–and not just a few images but as many as 40 or 50. It’s a psychological reality. The less secure we feel in a financially unstable universe, the greater our need to “frame our lives.” as keisha M. cutright, an assistant professor of marketing at wharton points out in a Journal of consumer research paper, picture frames help us feel secure.

among other revelations, the study indicates that the more we’re under pressure–from a sluggish economy, a rough job market, you name it–the

more we feel the need for a secure environment to live in. This need for stability also offers a plausible explanation for why people are adding framed images to the walls of their homes. It also explains the longer-living teddy bears and the increase in condoms. Teddy bears provide comfort and a direct link back to the “good old days,” a time of rosy memories when we imagine everything was wholesome and good. and condoms? Psychologist Belisa Vranich offers a similar explanation: It’s all about feeling safe in a world that seems to be increasingly unstable. here, safety means something different than it does when talking about teddy bears, but the mental security is just as real. Perhaps this is why condom sales have soared 16% over the past four years.

as you might imagine, I dread the day when I walk into a home and see a framed picture of a teddy bear holding a condom. I wouldn’t know where to begin my analysis of what that might mean.

You’d be amazed just how much you can learn by observing

people–enough even to change the entire philosophy

of a company.


By: JoHn TSCHoHl

marketing tips

I aM oFTeN asked how I define exceptional customer service. here it is in a nutshell: speed, price, and technology—all built around service. That definition is especially appropriate today, given the fast-paced life we live and the budget constraints many of us face. when we are looking to make a purchase, we want to do it conveniently, we want it now, and we want it at a good price. That is true whether we are purchasing a car or carpet cleaning, an air conditioner or airline tickets.

how do you provide that exceptional service? Take a good look at how you deal with your customers, from initial contact to closing the deal. are you welcoming, whether customers walk through your physical doors or virtual doors? do you call them by name? do you have a smile on your face and in your voice? do you provide the information that will help them make an informed decision regarding their purchase? do you deliver what you say you will as quickly as possible?

Let me give you examples of three companies that go above and beyond to not only meet, but exceed, customer

expectations. at Metro Bank in London, you can open an account in just 15 minutes, complete with checks, a debit card, and an account password. at other banks, that process would take at least two days.

Metro Bank has the most sophisticated technology of any bank in London, but it also focuses on the human touch. real people answer its phones in one to two rings 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also competes on price; customer checks are free, and customers can use their debit cards throughout the world—with no fees.

Metro Bank’s focus on speed, technology, and price has proven to be more than a little successful. It opened July 29, 2010 and today has more than 130,000 accounts and $2 billion in assets. It projects that it will have at least 5,000 employees and 200 offices in the greater London area by 2020.

apple, the most valuable company in the united states—with more than $7,000 in sales per square foot at its apple stores—bases everything it does on speed. walk into one of its stores, and an employee immediately greets you and

MASTERS OF THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE what kiNd of vaLUe do yoU Provide yoUr cUstoMers?


asks what type of help you need. The employee then enters your information into a hand-held device and, when your name is called, another employee accesses that information and is ready to help you.

apple’s focus on its products and on going above and beyond in meeting its customers’ needs has made it a service leader. It bases all of its product innovations on speed and, because it has such a strong brand, customers are willing to pay more for those products. And those customers flock to its stores. In fact, each apple store averages 5,400 customer visits per week.

amazon is another company that has realized great success by focusing on speed, price, technology, and service. The company constantly attempts to eliminate cost—and then passes those savings on to its customers, which results in prices with which other companies have no chance of competing. In fact, amazon is so competitive that it has software customers can use to scan a bar code in a retail store to see if amazon has a better price for a specific product.

When it comes to speed, you’d be hard pressed to find any company that would beat Amazon. I get confirmation of my orders immediately and am notified when my order has been shipped. The company also offers its prime members free shipping and no sales tax.

everything amazon does, it does to make buying its products easy for the customer. combine that ease with state-of-the-art technology and prices that are almost impossible to beat, and you can see why amazon had $41 billion in sales during 2011, a 41 percent increase over 2010.

These three companies—Metro Bank, apple, and amazon—have incredible value because they create incredible value for their customers. They have mastered the customer experience. what value do you offer your customers? Is it enough to keep them coming back to you? If you want to ensure the success of your business, give your customers the type of service that will keep them loyal for life.


keep your temper. Remember, when you fly off

the handle, you usually are going to be wrong.

Try counting to ten before losing your cool. It’s an old trick, but it works.

show empathy. Put yourself in your loved one’s shoes and feel what he or she is feeling. empathizing with someone you care for can improve your mood and help both of you feel better.

Top 10 Tools to Change Hurtful Habits

Old habits are hard to change. But when you discover or are confronted with something you do that hurts the one you love, you will be motivated to try. Here are ten tools that can help.

Become aware. Whether you figured the problem out on your own or it was pointed out to you, becoming aware that you inadvertently hurt someone will help you change your action from a negative to a positive.

Think before you speak. Before you speak, say to yourself what you want to tell your partner and imagine how he or she will interpret what you say. If you imagine a negative reaction, you now have the opportunity to change your words to avoid doing damage.

apologize. a simple “I’m sorry” should be followed up with the question “what can I do to make up for it?” The answer you receive will lead you toward helping and healing actions. and don’t repeat your mistakes.

Practice, practice, practice. It takes about thirty repetitions to create a new habit. keep integrating positive behaviors into your lifestyle to replace your bad habits with good ones.

Listen when others speak. Your partner may be your best guide when it comes to helping you recognize certain ways you could improve. he or she is the one who is going to see (and be most affected) by your behaviors. Let the one you love help you make the changes that will make both of you happier.

remember that relationships have to be win-win. when you’re in a relationship, if one of you loses, both of you do. Trying to “win” an argument is only going to cause more hurt. If you can’t fix it so both of you feel like winners, put the issue away for a while and look at it again later.

Believe in yourself. You have the ability to change and even improve your behaviors. It does take determination and discipline, but if you start small, making larger changes becomes much easier with time and experience.

At some point in our lives, each of us must confront our bad habits. When it comes to the behaviors we manifest in our relationships, confronting bad habits can be more challenging, but you have something more to work for. You can do this.

remind yourself that you want this. Your desire to be a better person may be your most powerful force when it comes to making positive changes. People change and get better every day; all you have to decide is that you want to be one of them.

By: Dr. Barry golDSMiTH

advice


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