Havin’ Fun…..The Customer’s Way

When asked where do you think the fast-food business is going the, President of McDonald’s USA, Don Thompson answered, “Frankly, it is going wherever the customer wants to take it.” Usually when someone answers with a “Frankly”, the rest is about not giving a damn but anyone paying attention to the fast food giant lately can see that they continue to maintain their core menu but have expanded their offerings to accommodate the needs of a larger and health conscious customer base. The expanded menu was created by listening to their customers, watching what they are eating, their trends and offering them choices. Sounds like the right formula to me and appears to be working. Mr. Thompson also points out that the individual franchisees are paying attention to regional trends and extending offerings such as southern-style chicken sandwiches as well as “real” sweet tea.

Most of the attention lately has been around McDonald’s foray into the upgrading their coffee products and rolling out more premium coffees and Espresso based drinks. I have even heard rumblings that they were trying to cut into the Starbucks area of domination. They may do just that but McDonald’s customers drink premium coffee too so why not have it on the menu. I will also mention that McDonalds had the drive thru window long before Starbucks and now most new Starbucks I see opening up features a drive thru window so maybe it is not always about the ambience but maybe Starbucks saw the market for fast coffee opting for speed instead of atmosphere.

Later in the interview I read where McDonalds tested other drink options alongside the ever present Coca-Cola with Pepsi, I must say that was a statement to expand the taste of their customers.

Overall, it is always nice to hear a CEO leading the customer service charge and working hard to accommodate his customer base.

Now when I have a craving for some McDonalds’s fries and to quiet my kids I can order an iced vanilla coffee and some fries making everyone happy…. “i’m lovin’ it”

Is Diversity in your Target Market?

I ran across a very interesting blog exchange from 1to1 Media’s weblog: Risk in Targeting Minority Customers which was a response to an article in the November/December edition called, Will the Real Customer Please Stand Up? and subsequent article Trend spotting: A Niche Market With Broad Spending Power. It was the latter article that stirred up the proverbial hornet’s nest and it is not my place to comment on that particular exchange but it did stir up other topics I have been involved in.
What I took from the original article, Will the Real Customer Please Stand Up? was the concept of not using demographics alone to determine your target market. Segmentation practices are not that same as it was a few years ago due to the multiple sources and best practices of tracking customer behavior and data.

I will chime in on the question of are there risks in targeting minority customers?, I feel that it is too broad of a generalization to give a definitive answer mainly because minority segments has taken on new definitions and directions depending on how one defines a minority. I will say that it is not a risk when monetary value and potential exist.

What I do know about the minority segment and making the decision to target that market is based off of a couple articles that my business partner Brent Leary and I penned a few years ago addressing the lack of attention from CRM vendors to the minority business community. The two articles, “The State of CRM in the Minority Business Community” and “The New CRM: Community Relationship Management” revealed the business case for actively knowing and targeting this growing market segment. We discussed in our articles how CRM vendors could create brand loyalty by tapping a market that has been overlooked. By understanding the minority community, the channels, publications and alliances that minority businesses frequented CRM vendors could gain entrance along with trust, loyalty which in return would reap an ever growing monetary windfall. What we found in our research in the minority community that they were unaware of the solutions available to them and we also found the unawareness of this potential and market in the CRM vendors we working with. Our actions were geared around bridging that gap which has closed some but still too far apart. I remember reading that minority spending potential could exceed 2 trillion (with a T) dollars throughout 2007 and beyond; in that figure is a growing population of minority businesses that are not being effectively targeted and monetarily leveraged.

I feel a lot of that has to do with how a company approaches diversity as an organization in addition to the practicing diversity strictly through the Human Resource compliance. In addition to just doing the right thing diversity in the workplace has to resonate throughout all departments especially the marketing department in order to leverage the benefits of everyone NOT thinking alike. What I mean by that is if you have a diverse organization that you are willing to leverage in understanding a minority segment that will assist marketing in knowing when, how and where to target their marketing message.
Here is an example I reference frequently when discussing insensitivity and ignorance in a marketing message that probably turned a number of qualified buyers away. For those of you not familiar with the Office Max “Rubberband Man” Commercial a few years ago here is a clip:

I personally found that commercial offensive and I am sure I was not alone; I even bet many may have laughed initially but the stuck in the mail room mentality has never been funny to me. I know that was probably not their intent but perception can create reality. That commercial caused me to not to spend my dollars with Office Max. So, let’s say that Office Max has a diverse organization but if they had sampled the commercial to a diverse group of employees I know there would be someone who would share my feelings and speak out. The question then would be would they listen?

CRM….Christmas Relationship Management

I am sure we all have experienced the “Christmas Awareness” correctness that has been prevalent the last several years, maybe longer. It hit me as I walked the dog this Christmas morning and ran into a couple of neighbors. I noticed my concern or thought process as I walked by in my effort to determine whether to say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas. I understand and respect the fact that people have diverse beliefs and the genuine kindness of well wishes for the season causes me angst when I try to decide on my greeting to them. I am sure it is a “me” problem but I struggle with trying to be culturally or religiously correct not wanting to disrespect anyone’s faith. It accompanied me during shopping, at the gym and even during the planning of my 30th High School reunion last week. We all grew up saying Merry Christmas to each other and then I wondered; was Merry Christmas the right greeting? It was never really brought up and I do not think anyone really cared; we all enjoyed the Christmas Season with gift giving, caroling and other festive activities.

So, my point is my heartfelt intent of well wishes will always be there but I will go with Merry Christmas which depicts my faith or is it really Kwanzaa? Hmmm…..anyway, my greeting will be Merry Christmas and any response I receive back should be in the recipient’s faith greeting or whatever they are comfortable with…how does that sound? No disrespect but a genuine good will toward all people…I said Merry Christmas to Annie, our dog and she just looked at me and wagged her tail…Merry Christmas everyone.

My Grown up Christmas List

Home Depot….YouTube snafu…..

I received a comment to my blog entry on Home Depot’s YouTube $25,000.00 contest today and it pointed to this blog called HD Meltdown. Ouch…. talk about a PR nightmare the viral success they were seeking has backfired with the word on the street revealing that there was some insider interference going on with the promotion. Home Depot cannot afford this kind of negative press and looks as though they missed the collaborative bi-directional nature of customer interaction with their Web 2.0 strategy.

SMB and CRM Solutions….lessons that can be learned

I came across an interesting article on destinationCRM.com , the article was titled “Are CRM Systems Too Complex for the SMB?” and the first paragraph stated:

“Among managers and small-business owners implementing CRM systems, more than four out of five (82.9 percent) say that getting staff to use the software is the biggest challenge they face, according to a new survey from Really Simple Systems, a provider of hosted CRM software.”

In my mind that statement has very little to do with complexity; most applications today are very intuitive and easy to use. I also think that with technology today a more appropriate word is solutions not systems; in my view that word alone sounds technical and gives the connotation of complexity.

I think the perception of complexity and lack of user adoption is the result of:

A company not going through the proper steps of having a defined efficient and repeatable sales, marketing and service process.

• Lack of executive support and inclusion of users in the selection, implementation and training stages.
  

The survey also found that:

• More than two in five (42.9 percent) respondents use less than half of their existing CRM system’s functionality. – I agree but using the 80/20 rule by knowing and addressing your immediate needs that will point you in the right direction.(MWT)
  
• More than half (50.5 percent) say that synchronizing data is a major issue. – Synchronization today is not what it was several ago, knowing what synchronization means to you and your organization can be having internet access through mobile devices or wireless connection to your data. (MWT)
  
• More than a third (67.1 percent) say that finding time to evaluate CRM systems is a major issue. – Make the investment in time and expertise to make the right decision, do not let the vendor dictate, get a 3^rd party consultant to represent your interest and investment, this is a MAJOR decision. (MWT)
  

I will agree that most applications over deliver in the feature functionality arena and maybe that creates complexity in trying to do too much initially. Think about it, the majority of us use Microsoft Outlook right? But do we utilize even 50% of what it can deliver? Most of us use what we need to get most of our initial needs met and then we gradually expand the basic capabilities.

I can also assure you through my experience that this is not an issue with just SMB’s but I have consulted large enterprises that experience the same problems.

CRM solutions can be over analyzed and the real reasons of having one can be lost in translation from what vendors are pushing. For example, I would think for sales and marketing users it is important that the CRM solution allows them:

To streamline and cut down the process of finding and acquiring new customers

1. Know which prospects to be in front of when they are ready to buy
   
2. How to keep their pipeline full
   
3. Easy to access, maneuver and report as well as the ability to integrate with applications like Outlook
   

I recently saw a demo of an application that focused on allowing sales reps to efficiently make calls and follow up without the multiple key strokes most CRM applications require. The application allows you to model your business process as you make calls and positions you to know who to call, why you are calling and provides the process scenario, response and action taken in half the strokes it takes for conventional CRM applications. It also integrates with your CRM system when leads uncovered and qualified are ready for the pipeline.

Another cause of complexity and lack of user adoption is trying to accomplish tasks with solutions that were not developed for that process and you have multiple clicks to get through your list. One of the reasons this solution was created because users were frustrated with the multiple screens and key strokes required to get through a call list.

I agree with Laurie McCabe, VP of SMB solutions for AMI Partners on her assessment and hope SMB personnel as well as vendors take note.

There are many CRM solutions available that are geared specifically for the SMB segment but taking the time to get your organization and people prepared before making the investment will give you immediate user adoption and a positive return on investment.

There could be a lot of people staying at a Holiday Inn Express

I read this morning where Google is testing a knowledge site that could rival Wikipedia…..uh oh… I think…. the site is named “knol” Google’s shorthand adaptation of “unit of knowledge.”

Hmmm…not sure how that will work out but I am guessing it will allow for some ad space for sale right? Google has the insight on people searching for knowledge and points them in a direction but now having a hand in providing that knowledge?

Wikipedia is nonprofit and regulated by the community; I may be off base but if Google gets in the game there has to be some ulterior motives like revenue involved. People that contribute will be able to profit from their contribution of knowledge and split it with Google. I have no beef with that but will it strengthen the online knowledge community, taint or dilute it? That remains to be seen and Google has a good track record to date but I am a bit skeptical about this endeavor but we all will see in time. Who knows, they may peg me for an expert and then I will be singing a different tune right?

I must admit that the Holiday Inn Express serves a nice breakfast buffet and the flat screen TV was nice! (Get it?) Now here’s my pay pal account number############, I take all credit cards. What else would you like to know?

Scooped on the latest from Home Depot

"Customer Service will define my tenure’, Frank Blake, CEO of Home Depot

Now that’s different as well as refreshing and prompted me to read the home page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution several weeks ago instead of starting my Saturday morning out with the sports section. There it was on the front page, a CEO of a major corporation leading the charge and putting it out there. As I remember I cringed last year reading an article about Home Depot describing how they were incenting their employees to deliver good customer service and was a bit put off by the article blatantly sharing the fact that they had to motivate their employees to do their job with extra pay. It is not that I am against incentive programs but making a public statement about it does not make me, a sometimes consumer feel better about my experience there.
It is about the experience right? It is what we remember and share negative or positive that determines future actions. Most of the talk today around CRM focuses on CEM, Customer Experience Management and how Web 2.0 consumer generated media can react to their feelings in a negative and positive way. A single experience or multiple experiences forms favorable or unfavorable opinions that will determine whether one will frequent the store or service mainly for convenience with passive satisfaction or will the collection of positive experiences turn one into a verbally active advocate or worst just the opposite.
So, back to Home Depot and I want to share with you an earlier experience I had in Home Depot. I am not ashamed to admit that I am “handy man challenged” so when I walk into the store I really need assistance and look for it exclusively. I went to the local Home Depot store because it is conveniently located close to my house for parts to repair my daughter’s closet door again. I walk into the store aimlessly walking around until I find the closet section and approach two orange clad aprons having a discussion. I cleared my throat and also apologized for interrupting them which was clearly obvious I had done. I told them what I was looking for and one of them proceeded to give me an in store MapQuest description of where to find the parts and I am sure MapQuest has always given us the right directions right? So you see where I am going? Yep, lost in another area until I stumbled into the place I was seeking. What happened to the helpful orange apron of past days that would have led me right to the area and asked me if I needed additional assistance, I could have even been cross sold a cool tool to make my job easier right? Well, I was a bit frustrated and if my experience had been captured prior to me leaving the store they would have known how I really felt at the time.
So I am interested in how Frank Blake will pull this off but to me it is a great start. Top executive support and leadership is the first step and the article clearly expressed that vision and leadership. His explanation of how he walked the floor of Home Depot stores allowed him to see exactly what the customer’s were seeing and thus experiencing. When speaking with his store support managers he stated, “This is not about me, for our customers, Home Depot lives in our associates, and each associate is a lot more important to our customer than I am.” I had to read that several times to really understand what he was trying to say.
Frank mentioned how some customers had figured out his e-mail address and had written him about their experiences which got his attention. So his reaction to their experiences brought out this response, “Our priorities are directly related to what has frustrated our customers. Some of the big issues have been associate engagement, how the associates interact with customers, and the look and feel of our stores.” Sounds like he is speaking directly about CEM and the true test will be executing on this initiative throughout his organization.
I attended the Customer Feedback Summit this year in Las Vegas and observed a woman taking copious notes through out the sessions and had the opportunity to speak with her at a break, her name was Sue Park, VP of Customer Service THP for Home Depot and was in the process of moving to Atlanta, the home office of Home Depot to begin her duties. I also attended the Atlanta Chapter of the CRM Association summer meeting titled, CEM: Everyone already offers the “CE” part, but what about the “M?” one of the panelist was Brad Grimsley, Sr. Director of Supply Chain CRM for Home Depot. Brad came in with his orange apron and responded to the questions supporting the same theme as CEO Frank Blake described in the article so it appears that the vision he described is being passed through the ranks so time will tell how the individual stores will mimic and deliver this strategy. I will say that the passion I witnessed from Sue and Brad shows a positive direction and will have to be infectious throughout the organization, a large task but appears to be on track. I will look for that action on my next trek to Home Depot.
I had a brief experience working with a company called RWD Technologies, a human performance company and what their CRM practice focused on was extended and delivering a positive Customer Experience and how to align a company’s CRM strategy with the customer’s customer facing employees and making sure that the company’s customer really experienced that strategy. One of the important points I came away with was constantly being corrected by Gerhard Friedrich, CRM/CEM change management guru when I used the referenced “ end user “ to deliver the experience was not to think of it that way, think of the person in direct contact with the customer as the “customer facing employee” which extended strategy. I see that strategy in action with Frank Blake and will continue to monitor this initiative from afar as well as a customer but very refreshing to see a CEO take a stand and base his leadership tenure on delivering on that promise, maybe I should invest in Home Depot stock because at the end of the day isn’t that what really matters in the end?
I will say that I was in a Home Depot yesterday and the holiday season was in full swing and I actually was approached by a couple of “orange aprons’ checking to see if I needed assistance, so far so good! Stay tuned…….