"But how do you like our service?"

Good service, just like a good product, by itself is not good enough! A combination of the two is required to be truly successful.

I bought the Microsoft Surface Pro a few months ago. To be honest, I like it. I travel lite and got all my Windows/Office stuff on it.
Unfortunately, I grabbed my back-pack when it was unzipped, the Surface flew out and its screen cracked.
Called Microsoft (No, I didn't buy the protection plan - still looking at it as insurance on a blackjack table), nicest girl ever on the phone. Couldn't really help me, she didn't really know what to do! Found a local Microsoft store. Again, super nice, smiley and all. Yet, couldn't help me either. "Sorry sir, we don't have technicians here, there is another location downtown". So I schlep downtown, find the store and the (again) very cordial gentlemen tells me that they do not fix these and offered to sell me a new one - "prices are now reduced to only $699" (!!!). I thanked him kindly (though VERY frustrated). Then.....he asks if I would mind taking a short survey about their service.

Did I say frustrated yet??

Really appreciate y'all being so kind BUT I WANT THE SCREEN FIXED!! You can be really nice and all but eventually your product has to perform!I don't really care about your service at this point!
And so will your customer if all you give them is a smile while your product is not really working.

This reminded me of an amazing story I am carrying with me along my career that keeps reminding me again and again that good service alone is not enough! Eventually I wanted my Surface fixed!!!

So a guy walks into this fancy brothel. Amazing ambiance down the corridor while he approaches the front desk.
"I would like a girl".
"Sir, thank you so much for coming, we appreciate your business. How old would you like her to be sir?"
"Hmmmm....26 please".
"That's not a problem sir, please go down the hall, 4th door on your right"
The guy walks off, all impressed with the great service, opens the 4th door on the right and walks into a beautifully decorated room.
"Welcome sir, really glad you are here. How tall would you like the girl to be?".
"Hmmmm...how about 5'8"?"
"With pleasure sir, please go back to the hall, take a right and find the 3rd door to your left"
The guy getting all anxious while still in awe with how kind and cordial everyone is around here...3rd door on the left...
"Welcome sir, thank you for choosing us. What color hair would you like her to have?"
"Hmmm....red please"
"5th door on the right..."
"What color eyes...4th door on the left"
and so on and so on. By the 10th door, the guy opens it and finds himself back on the street!
REALLY aggravated, the guy walks frantically back in and yells at the front desk's really nice girl:"who here is the manage? I WANT TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER RIGHT AWAY!!".
A manager comes running from behind the smiley girl, approaches the guy, trying to shush him "sir, what happened? What's going on?".
"Look, I came in for a girl, I have been tossed around from one door to another, how tall, how old, what color hair and what's her mother's name and eventually found myself back on the street and you are asking me what's going on???".
Escorting him to the side so no one hears the manager leans forward to the guy and says:

"Look sir, we don't really have girls just yet but how do you like our service?"

Technology is working (mostly)…now what?

It seems that perception about technology has changed quite a bit. 

We trust technology much more. We are much more forgiving and accept that it will not perform 100% as advertised. 

Perhaps a combination of a generation who grew up into technology, an older generation who is by definition a technophobe slowly disappearing and - mostly working day-to-day technologies got us to where we are.

I think that years of Dr. Watsons, weekly (and sometimes daily) reboots combined with cheaper technologies helped us simply accept a slightly above par performing products.

The methods of developments have changed as well and surely added to this outcome. With SCRUM and AGILE dictating sloppy results due to rushing and an option to fix on the next release...next week it is only natural that we have learned to settle.

We used to really get upset when a call dropped in the middle of a conversation and try hard to figure out what caused it. Today we simply call back and continue the conversation. There were days were there was no way I would download a file larger than 1.5MB and run through an install wizard and today we update our iTunes with a 65MB files every freakin’ 3 hours and whatever we download we breeze through the wizard like we really know what we’re doing. We have gotten to an era in which we are between “I just don’t care anymore” and “I’m simply lazy” and let anyone remote access our computer.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it is a bad thing but merely saying it AZ is. 

                                                                    BUT…

If this is the situation, and we all trust the technology and hence technology providers (whether consciously or not) know it...now what? 

What does set one technology provider apart from its competition? 

When you made it to the short list of the bid you most likely have some record and a working product. But if they have this feature and you have that feature and conceptually the customer is willing to accept either bidders, what is next on our race to do things better and different?

My answer dear readers, is in not in the technology! 

My strong belief is that it is the service and the relationship. It is going back to basics - we are all human and we react to a level of service that WOWs us. We as people need that trust, knowing that my vendor is there for me. I will tell you more than that – make it PERSONAL!  It is OK to share that I had a crappy day yesterday and that I am preparing a surprise party for my daughter (just make sure it goes both ways and that you don’t overdo it of course).

I attended a pitch by multimillionaire Brad Sugars this past week who shared a story about a waiter called Phil at a steak house in Vegas. True, upscale and a large group around the table so a hefty bill but still. A day after that dinner, Mr. Sugars received a hand written letter in his house thanking him for dining there and for his business and hoping to see him again. Signed by…”Your Waiter…Phil”.

YOUR WAITER!!

I don’t remember the last time a waiter said thank you let alone writing me a hand written letter. The point is that Phil made the dinner memorable, made the customer feel important and personalized it. You can be certain that Mr. Sugars is coming back to that restaurant, recommending it to his friends and asking for….Phil!

Last week I added another customer to the Cornerstone family. He called me and said:” Alon, we looked at another option but YOU and your attitude made it easier for us to decide.

That’s what it’s all about!! Made my day!!

And on a personal note – make each and every one of your customers feel like they are YOUR ONLY customer. Trust me, it works…both ways!

Seriously!!! If you can’t PRAY do not SPRAY!

I was supposed to wait till next week for another post but just could not hold back. This one is one of those “just fell into my laps” from one very frustrated reader who asked me to suggest a response.

This story is around email marketing. Trying to get to as many leads as possible often leads to a Spray and Pray method. 

The problem is when you over generalize you miss too many targets and sometimes even create damage. In this case, a MARKETING COMPANY (!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!) actually sent this email campaign below and OH MY GOD!!! 

As a short background, this person who asked my suggested reply is heading a sales team in the software world out of Dallas, Texas (Go Mavs!) and here is the email he received. Word for word…

Dear XXX,

 I hope you are doing well.

My Name is XXX & I represent XXX, a leading End to End Marketing Life Cycle Management services provider.

We primarily function as the B2B Data back office of leading Technology companies, B2B publishers ,Information companies and B2B Marketing agencies the US, providing a steady flow of Prospect databases, Qualified Leads, Account Profiles, et al. We currently service companies like XXX, XXX, et al., who require customized B2B Prospecting services.

 XXX specializes in: 

     #   B2B Prospect Uncovering / Contact Discovery

     #   Updating & Enriching B2B CRM Databases (Master Data Management )

     #   White Paper Opt-ins

     #   Attendee Registration for Webinars

     #   Setting up prospects on trials, appointment scheduling, Lead qualification, Lead Generation and Lead nurturing.

     #   Account Profiling ( & Competitor Intelligence Reports )

     #   Pitch Deck / Power Point helpdesk

So XXX, I would greatly appreciate if you can accommodate a brief meeting slot, my colleague Ms. XXXXXX [General Manager - Business Development] would like to take this opportunity to meet you at your office to showcase our capabilities within B2B Prospect Uncovering and Marketing services. We were very keen to discuss how XXXX services would benefit your organization in terms of boosting ROI, Profits and Controlling Costs in greater detail. Alternatively you can suggest a time for a quick teleconference at a time slot that best suits your calendar.

 Look forward to your response/confirmation,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Dear XXX,

Just want to confirm if you had an opportunity to review my earlier mail. I understand you must be extremely busy but will greatly appreciate your feedback here.

We would highly appreciate your suggestion on time slot that best suits your diary for any day from 09th Sept to 20th Sept 2013 where my senior colleague Ms. XXX - Business Development Manager will be glad to meet you in your office, you can be rest assured the time spent by you will be productive.

 We look forward to meet you soon.

 Have a Lovely Long Weekend and Labour Day Holiday XXX. J

 Thanks and regards,
XXXXXXX| Business Development Manager
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. Ltd
Location - New York, London, Mumbai
Email: XXXXX@XXXX.com | Web: www.XXXXXX.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Being a big Seinfeld fan I immediately thought of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRh1CMC3OVw

And hence, here is my suggested reply:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for reaching out.

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was to see such a great company like yours sending such a poorly executed marketing email like the one below.

I do not appreciate different font sizes in one email (when it is unintentionally), I do not appreciate misspells (that’s right, here in the US it is Labor Day and not Labour day and even I as a non-American knows that), I do not appreciate bad email structure (yes, UI does mean a lot on emails as well), I do not appreciate bad grammar…et-al (or at all)…and I do believe Anne Frank wrote a Diary, I am using a CALENDAR!!

So, if you still think you are so good at what you do, and per YOUR suggestion you want to meet me in MY office, I will be available on September 17^th at 10am EST in my Dallas, TX office as I am not located in NY.

Let me know.

I doubt you will hear from them again!

As the new Managing Director in Sales at Cornerstone Information Systems I promise to work as hard as I can to learn from the above!

And on a personal note – be attentive, after all it is our customers who are paying our salary!!

AZ

Product + Service = EXPERIENCE

Yes, you must have a good product! No argument there! And a good product by itself is not enough either. Today, a superb customer service is expected along with a great product. This my friends is what I call Experience and this ladies and gentlemen, is what we should all strive for.

When I went to school in NY for my B.S in Business/Marketing I was working as a tour guide. Leading a loaded bus from Manhattan through the finger lakes region into Niagara Falls, then to Toronto, the Thousand Islands and back to NYC and then to the nation’s capital for an additional 2 days tour of all the amazing monuments and memorials (Not too long ago, in Paris, pouring rain stuck in traffic I used those tour guide skills with a few of you which was one of those…..you just had to be there…).

There were about 4 other companies in town offering the same tour and let me tell you- the product was GREAT!! Modular tour, you could choose to get on just the Niagara part or only the D.C option or the whole week experience. Inexpensive, fun and joyful. The customer service for the most part was also pretty good. A babysitting tour guide to be there every step of the way, a courteous bus driver, decent hotels and more.

We used to have a fierce non-written competition between us tour guides as to who knows more details about the different sites we would visit. One would say the CN tower is 523 meters high and the other would look it up and find in a different book that it is actually 525 meters high. A tour guide claims the fine for sailing down the Niagara Falls is $10,000 and another will correct him saying it is actually $12,500. This became our pride but more so we really believed that this excessive knowledge was the difference for the travelers. My office started getting calls from potential travelers asking to go on a trip but ONLY with “that tour guide called Alon”. Naturally I was flattered and when the first one approached me confessing to the fact they demanded to get on the bus with me I asked in a very nonchalant way if those who referred them told them about my amazing knowledge of the details. They looked at each other oddly, turned to me and said:” WHAT? NO!! It is because of the dancing on the bus, the jokes, the caring and the way you treat your travelers – they had an amazing Experience”.

After that, if anyone would ask any detail about any monument I would still know everything there is to know about it but would know that they are there for the Experience. They are there for the ride!

Last week I received a note through Facebook from someone who was on one of those buses some 15 years ago and told me he was looking at some pictures and it brought tears to his eyes remembering how much fun they had on that trip.

So whether you are selling clothes, fish, software, hardware or just services make sure you have a great product and an amazing customer service yet bundle it together with an unbelievable experience because this is what they want and this is how they will remember you. I guarantee you that YOUR experience will be different as well.

I just joined Cornerstone Information Systems and I cannot wait to take some new passengers on this bus ride with me.

And on a personal note - it really is all about the relationship, so do not be afraid to make it so.

Just my opinion…