I noticed right away that they had none available at the usual spot. I told the ladies behind the counter that I was running to meet with someone, and I was looking for some gum or mints, but didn’t see any out. They apologized and informed me that they had just run out. HOWEVER, in the exact same response, the manager Beth Duval went to her own purse and then handed me some gum of her own!

Two things companies can takeaway from this:

1) Go above an beyond, and meet a need in an unexpected way. Meeting a need in an unexpected way is a powerful thing. The positive shock/surprise makes the experience with your brand that much more impactful. It’s hard to forget, and it’s a great way to generate positive word of mouth.

Rather than repeat it, here is a great post by Maki over at Dosh Dosh that gives an excellent explanation of the cognitive cause of surprise, and how it effects one’s behavior.

Look for ways that you can do something for your customers that meets a need in a way that they would not expect.

2) Remember to nurture the individuals who are already talking about your company/brand, or that you know are repeat and happy customers. Going above and beyond for these people in particular is important, because you might just do the one thing that makes them “tip”, and do something above and beyond in return. (Like me sharing my great experience at the Illium Cafe in this post)

In trying to build word of mouth, many times people think they need to do something big or crazy to appeal to a mass crowd of people who have never heard their message. This has its place, but don’t forget to focus on the individuals who are already talking about you.

Not everyone will communicate their experience with your brand, but nurturing your repeat and happy customers is never a bad thing.

Bravo Illium Cafe, and keep up the great work on all fronts!

“As we know, most of the Web 2.0 companies are built upon user generated content. Philosophically, User Generated Content is embodied human mind. This embodied mind is generally the fundamental asset for the company. Maintaining a proper community so that users may embody their mind with high quality is thus a central issue for the growth of the company. The duty of community managers is to supervise and maintain the high-quality production of the fundamental mind asset used by the company. Therefore, I would say that community manager is a critical job title for most of the Web 2.0 companies.”

This holds true for any company, not just Web 2.0 companies.

Every company today needs to recognize this.  While user generated content may be a core component of many Web 2.0 companies’ business models, the conversation and “content” provided by a company’s users/customers is of the utmost value to all businesses.

Therefore, ensuring that it is sought after, provoked, nurtured and communicated appropriately and applied correctly is of immense importance.

Still not satisfied?

• Jeremiah Owyang created a score card that you can use to help you determine your need for a community manager.

• Connie Bensen also lists some good questions that you can ask yourself, to gauge your readiness to take the plunge.

I’ll give you one question: Who in YOUR company is responsible for listening and engaging your community?

If you have to think about it, you’re in trouble.  It’s time.

Thinking about doing some marketing?

Here are some absolute basics:

1) Meet a need - Make sure that what you’re marketing really meets a genuine need. If you don’t have a product or service that meets a need, you shouldn’t be marketing.  You should be finding out why you’re doing what you’re doing.

2) Find the people who’s need you meet – If you meet a genuine need, find the people who’s need you meet.  Once you meet a few people’s needs, ask them where you can find more people with the same need.  Where can you reach them with your message?

3) Make sure the people with the need you meet know that you meet their need - Tell them how you meet their need. Show them how you meet their need. Better yet, have the other people who’s needs you’ve met tell them and show them how you’ve met their needs.

That’s it.  Simple huh?

Bottom line is – If you don’t meet a need, don’t bother.

Make sure you meet a need, and then make sure that everyone that has that need knows that YOU meet it.

Check it out:

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I knew what was coming…

Starbucks recently launched a new site called mystarbucksidea.com, powered by Salesforce Ideas.

I love it when I see a company (especially a large name company like Starbucks), utilizing technology to listen to and involve their customers in more of what they do.

I thought it was cool that they were populating ideas that were brought up prior to launching the site, like this one:

“Please go back to your original idea of an European coffee house and get rid of the
extraneous items like cds, stuffed animals, countless foods and all that factory
holiday junk. I love the original Starbucks better. And Howard Schultz, I love you.

- An idea from our Annual Meeting of Shareholders on March 19, 2008 in Seattle”

Jeremiah gave some good quick thoughts here, and Jim Bruene over at NetBanker added some great thoughts here as well.

Great move Starbucks, and wonderful execution on the roll out of the site and marketing campaign. Now the challenge will become being agile enough to respond and execute on the top rated ideas as soon as possible. Do it now, as early as possible. It will really pay off.

I’d love to talk to the individual at Starbucks that was responsible for making this happen.

It’s excellent, and I support it whole heartedly! Definitely check it out.

Myself and a friend went there to eat the day after its opening, and we both ordered a veal and crab dish. When our dinner arrived, the dish was excellent, though we had expected that there would be actual lumps of crab in the dish, not just a sauce made with crab.

When our waiter stopped back to check on us, we asked him if the dish was supposed to have crab in it. He knew exactly how the dish was prepared, and explained that the dish was made with crab in the sauce. Then, he asked if we had expected that there would be actual lumps of crab in the dish. When we said yes, he immediately said he would have the chef make up some crab in the sauce and bring it out to us. We told him it was ok, but he insisted.

When the crab meat arrived, it was a huge portion, almost enough for another entree on its own. After giving us some time our waiter checked back in, and asked us how we liked the dish with the crab meat added to it. We told him that it was excellent, and that it really made the dish. He was genuinely interested, and he said that he would talk to the chef, and ask him to make it that way from now on.

When we left, I took the unfinished portion of my meal with me. They wrapped it in a black carryout box, and wrote the name of the entree on the box in gold letters.

There were two things that came to mind in this experience for me:

1) Go out of your way to really please a customer (or prospective customer) and make them feel special. They will remember it and tell others about it.

I’m telling you about this experience, and they did make us feel special. I’ve been back multiple times since then as well.

2) When your interaction with a customer is over, somehow make them walk away with something that is unique, and causes them to remember you/your brand.

The black box with the name of the entree written on it in gold was somewhat unique, but more so it connected with their brand.

In addition to writing the entree on the box, one could take it a step further, and write the date (that way the customer doesn’t need to wonder how long it’s been in the fridge), a “thank you” with the waiter’s/waitress’ signature, and/or reheating directions. Maybe even include some vouchers for the customer to give to a friend.

How can you apply these principles to your interactions with customers and prospective customers? How do you?

Keep up the great work Golden Fox!

I recently bought a small table and chairs set there, and while I was there I looked for a TV cabinet but couldn’t find anything in the size I needed. The owner took down all my measurements, and said he would check with all of his suppliers to see if he could find something to meet my needs.

I called him today, and he immediately remembered who I was, and must have had the measurements somewhere close by, because he referenced the size right away. He apologized, and said that he hadn’t found anything just yet, but that he was going to call around some more and call me back this weekend. (I bet he calls later today)

When we ended the call, he thanked me for considering his business again, and for my past business and for my fathers business, who bought a set of dinning room chairs from him and picked them up the same day I had picked up my table and chairs.

The point of this post is that he did a few simple things, that are very important when interacting with customers:

1) He didn’t make excuses. He simply apologized that he hadn’t met my needs yet. He then set a time for when he would follow up with me next.

2) He thanked me for continuing to consider him for my furniture needs, and also thanked me for my previous purchases – AND the purchases of someone (my Dad) I had referred.

Just a quick post to highlight some small things in the way of customer interaction that make a big difference.