The Competitive Advantage

September 1, 2015

Is the “Customer Experience” improving in our society?

In the course of just a few days last week, I had four separate [unexpected] experiences that made me wonder if businesses are finally starting to “get it”… and understand that the Customer Experience may be the most important aspect of marketing, let alone its obvious impact on satisfaction and loyalty.

August 11, 2015

LITTLE things make a BIG difference with CX

I’ll admit it… I am a Southwest Airlines loyalist – it’s the only airline I fly unless there is simply no other option. Been that way for years. I was on my way home from Baltimore last week and as we’re boarding, I kept hearing one of the flight attendants repeat an announcement about the best way to place the larger carry-on bags in the overhead bin.

Carry-ons are continually an issue. There are always a few folks whose luggage won’t fit or the overheads are just full… so they have to get back out of the plane and check their bag at the jetway… slowing things down.

April 15, 2015

Do you really know what clients want?

I was flipping through a magazine this morning and came across a small article announcing a new product available to consumers.

It’s a Bluetooth-enabled frying pan that helps you find the right temp so you know when to flip your pancakes (or whatever you’re cooking). Are you serious?!

March 27, 2015

Are we really in the people business?

As I write this, I’m 35,000 feet over Illinois, heading to Chicago, on my way to Detroit. I’m heading there for a kick-off meeting with a new client. I start nearly all engagements this way.

Why? Honestly, it’s not just for the work – much of it could be done remotely. I do it for 3 key reasons:

March 10, 2015

Do you have a mobile-friendly website? Let’s hope so!

Internet viewing trends

As regular readers of this column know, every Saturday morning, I go to the same local coffee shop to spend a couple of hours working “on” my business… not just “in” it. I do some writing, review email and social media metrics, plan out the upcoming week and record the past week’s Google Analytics.

Rarely do the Google Analytics surprise me… but this week they did. Of all the visitors to our website this past week, 24.8% of them came from a handheld device or tablet. That is, 1 in 4 visitors were not using a computer! It was the highest ever – up from an average of about 1 in 6 just the middle of last year – and the continuation of an ever-increasing trend.

March 3, 2015

Best booth giveaway ever?

In last week’s post, I wrote about several things NOT to do in a booth when exhibiting. And one of those was giving away cheesy “merch.” I believe that things like pens, mini-frisbees and logo’d post-it notes just don’t deliver lot of value for the exhibitor.

However, I did see one exhibitor at the CASRO Digital Conference a couple of weeks ago with what may have been the best booth giveaway ever… and for a couple of reasons.

November 18, 2014

Giving gifts to clients… is it good business?

My son, Alex (see photo), is a senior finance major at the University of Tennessee. After interning this past summer in the wealth management division of a large bank, he stayed on and has been working there this semester. He’s been very fortunate that one of the senior executives there has taken him under his wing and been a good mentor to him.

Alex was home this weekend and we talked about his boss/mentor. A really interesting lesson that Alex took away from him was the regular giving of gifts by his boss to his clients… and not just at the holidays, but all year round.

That got me to thinking about our industry… Is gift-giving (outside of December) a common occurrence? Should it be? Does giving gifts help to build relationships? Or guarantee a client’s on-going patronage?

July 16, 2014

C’mon, don’t be ordinary… dazzle me!

My kids got me a FitBit for Father’s Day… it’s a device you wear on your wrist that acts as a pedometer and comes with an app to track weight, diet, activity, etc. Pretty neat little item and a good reminder to stay active. Nice.

And if you achieve a certain level of activity – say, 10,000 steps in a day – it sends you a little ‘congratulations’ email. Again, nice.

But yesterday, I got an email telling me that my FitBit battery was getting low on power and needed to be recharged! What?! OK, it’s a small thing… but it’s also one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Somebody at FitBit was thinking – and in real-world terms, too. Yup… they dazzled me.