Showing posts with label Food # Lifestyle # Real Estate # Franchise # Personal/Professional Branding # Start Ups # Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food # Lifestyle # Real Estate # Franchise # Personal/Professional Branding # Start Ups # Technology. Show all posts

Monday, January 10, 2011

Proactive: Take the Initiative - destinationCRM.com

Proactive: Take the Initiative
Proactive CRM enables organizations to cut costs, minimize risk, protect their brand, and improve customer experiences.
By Lauren McKay (via destinationCRM.com)

Imagine a customer renting a car to move three short blocks in Brooklyn, N.Y. She calls on Zipcar, a membership-based car-sharing service—an alternative to buying or renting a car. After sweating in the July heat, hauling various household items up and down three flights of stairs, and making the same right-hand turns throughout several trips from one apartment to the next, her five-hour rental time has gone by in a flash. Suddenly, she finds herself nearing the rental deadline with not enough time to finish moving and return the car to the parking garage. Panicking, and checking her phone in disbelief at the time of day, she sees an SMS text from Zipcar, asking if she needs an extra 30 minutes. Elated, she texts back, a one-word affirmation and avoids a Benjamin-valued late fee and complete loss of her composure.

What Zipcar offers, an easy way to extend rental time, is nothing revolutionary. However, that simple proactive communication may be the difference between a consumer’s bad experience and a very good one.

Paul Greenberg, president and founder of CRM consultancy The 56 Group, makes the point that many companies are pushing toward building more positive interactions. However, Greenberg underscores a corporate truism: “Most companies don’t do anything but react, anyway,” he says.

Proactive CRM, as we are calling it, is a departure from traditional, reactive behavior and aims to take early action that facilitates a desired result. It could be giving consumers what they want before they have to ask for it. In some cases it involves monitoring products and customers to solve problems before they happen. In more cases, it’s arming customers with the tools and information they need to accomplish their goals. Each of these practices would undoubtedly create more positive customer experiences.

Proactive Service

Southwest Airlines appears to be the poster child for proactive CRM—the airline has a branch of its company appropriately titled “Proactive Customer Service Communications.” Fred Taylor, given the nickname “Mr. Apology” in a New York Times profile, took charge of the team after being plucked from the company’s front lines in 2007. Taylor, who presented at the 2010 Net Promoter conference, says he writes around 240 letters a year to Southwest passengers, often apologizing for unforeseen problems on flights or with travel scheduling.

Chris Carfi, vice president at Edelman Digital and author of the blog, The Social Customer Manifesto, was a lucky recipient of a proactive memorandum from Southwest in June 2007. Carfi’s flight to Oakland was disrupted by an unexpected stop in Omaha. A few weeks following the unpleasant plane ride, Carfi found a note from Southwest in his mailbox, one explaining the reason for the unexpected landing, apologizing for the inconvenience, and offering a SWA voucher for his experience.

One might argue that because the letter arrived after the bad customer experience that it was more reactive than proactive. However, the voucher, when combined with the letter, is a proactive attempt to keep Carfi, and others, from taking their business elsewhere. “The fact that they reached out proactively and communicated information in a timely manner—I thought that was phenomenal,” Carfi remarks.

According to Taylor, 70 percent of Southwest customers who receive proactive communications return to the airline and bring others with them. “We create a wow factor…and a positive storytelling experience,” he said at the conference. “I am fortunate to work for a company that puts forth a lot of support and resources to make sure my team [can] accomplish our mission each and every day.”

But the fact of the matter is that not all companies have the culture that Southwest does. Some struggle with the reactive part of CRM.

Proactive Suggestions

Carfi sees advancements in the way organizations will incorporate social media information into their customer engagement strategies. This would yield communications based on a consumer’s stated interests or buying history. Amazon.com has been a pioneer in this area. Businesses like Netflix and Pandora also excel at proactively suggesting new movies or music based on past behaviors.

However, right now, suggestions and recommendations work well for companies with subjective products like music and movies. Despite a company’s knowledge of customers and an engine that can generate what they might want next, customers might not be ready for recommendations in certain sectors. While recommending movies or music is not likely to be perceived as stalker-like behavior, offering healthcare information would raise some eyebrows. Also, there’s always the possibility that companies can go too far. “The flipside is if the recommendations are too proactive, especially around things you might like,” Carfi says. “Knowing where to draw the line—Is this creepy or stalker-y?—is important.”

Proactive Notifications

Proactive CRM can also give consumers the information they need to plan their day. Anyone who has ever waited around for a cable guy understands how frustrating it can be to plan an entire day around a service appointment. The best companies, Greenberg says, are the ones that now have developed sophisticated systems to carve out an hour time frame for arrival. “Those things are great because even if they have a problem, it’s not a four-hour problem that’s dragged it into the 6th or 7th hour,” Greenberg says. “They give you the information you need so you can make the judgments you need to make.”

Home furnisher Arhaus Furniture has taken that facet to the next level. John Roddy, senior vice president and senior logistics officer for the company, spearheaded an implementation of TOA Technologies a few years back to not only cut down on the time that its customers had to wait for furniture delivery, but to give them the ability to track the delivery trucks and even view a photo of the driver. “One of the biggest things we used to hear was that we didn’t communicate with customers enough [on] the day of the delivery,” Roddy says. With TOA’s ETA solution, Arhaus makes automated phone calls to customers to give them an exact idea of when to expect a delivery.

Changing the system has yielded fantastic customer satisfaction scores and feedback. Roddy reveals that about 90 percent of its furniture delivery recipients are females at home with children. “Making sure the right guy is coming to the house is pretty important so we let them see a picture of who is going to be arriving at the door,” Roddy says. “This is another step to reach the consumer and help them feel more at ease.”

TOA’s technology employs a predictive system that measures everything that happens in the field. Everything is reported and then the system takes a time stamp for every activity, via a real-time motion study. At the end of month, [TOA customers] create a performance profile for its [their] customers. That is then used that to estimate with a high degree of accuracy when a technician will arrive at a customer’s home.

Proactive Communications

For wireless music provider Sonos, being proactive means being pervasive. When Mike Carlino, senior director of customer service, came on board three years ago, about 85 percent of communications with customers occurred over the phone. Since then, the company has set up shop on social media sites, has developed a knowledge base for customer self-service, and has implemented online chat to assist customers.

Now only 40 percent of interactions are phone-based, according to Carlino. For every phone call, there are 15 page views of the online knowledge base. Carlino attributes the effectiveness of the solution to its consistent monitoring of issues that customers search. But still, Sonos puts a lot of emphasis on having a well-trained and friendly support team. “If you view tech support as a jet engine, where you suck ‘em in and spit ‘em out...you’re not going to fare well in the long run,” he says. Instead, Sonos focuses on longevity with customers and employees.

Proactive communication can mean a company reaching out about an issue that a customer might have, but it also could mean giving customers myriad ways to connect, based on her preference. Zipcar, for instance, encourages SMS correspondence, as well as mobile access of the site, and even unlocking the car with an iPhone.

5 Proactive Pointers
Being proactive requires more planning. However, in addition to decreasing support costs, anticipating customers’ needs can increase customer loyalty. Here are five ways to ignite a spark—and to keep it burning—with your customers.

1. Allow customers to opt in—and once they do, know what to do. If your customers have opted in to your communications, they are putting their faith in your organization to provide them with relevant and useful information. Before troubling your customers for their email addresses, cell phone numbers, and social networking identities, figure out what you are going to say. Strive for consistent information that will save consumers the time and trouble of having to seek it out for themselves.
2. Use proactive notifications. According a published report by Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst Elizabeth Herrell, proactive customer communications have the ability to reduce costs for incoming calls. By letting customers opt in to messages—sent to their device of choice—companies can convey information that is important to customers, whether it be a new offer, an account-related issue, or a time-sensitive alert. Being relevant and respectful of consumers’ attention ensures that the tone of these messages remains informative rather than intrusive.
3. See past the dollar signs. Consumers will figure out pretty quickly if your communications are only just ploys to get them to spend more money. Well targeted promotions are fine; just make sure they answer the ever-important question: “What’s in it for me?”. Every so often, why not say “Thank You” to customers before blasting them with your latest and greatest products and services. A little unexpected appreciation can go a long way.
4. Do chat the right way. Forrester Analyst Diane Clarkson suggests that to make chat work, businesses must base invitations on a predefined set of visitor behavior metrics. In other words, you don’t want to chat up just anyone. [For more on chat, see feature “How Can I Help U?” on page TK.] Clarkson’s research indicates that 44 percent of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live person while in the middle of an online purchase is one of the most important features a Web site can offer. “A successful proactive chat implementation doesn’t end with a check mark next to the word ‘done,’” Clarkson writes. “Savvy eBusiness professionals understand that proactive chat success requires ongoing refinement of the business rules that will trigger chat invitations, staffing, and customer experience.” Another rule of thumb? Don’t annoy your customers.
5. If you have to react, be proactive in the response. Sometimes, being proactive means assessing risk and implementing backup plans in case something goes terribly wrong. Gartner Research Vice President Jim Sinur writes in a recent blogpost about the concept of “proactive scenario planning.” Referencing the BP oil spill, Sinur states, “The mess in the Gulf could have been avoided with the right ingredients.” An appropriate remediation plan could have significantly minimized the environmental damage.

Read the article: Proactive: Take the Initiative - destinationCRM.com

Sunday, November 28, 2010

More Realtors turning to Facebook, other social media to meet new clients | The Business Review



More Realtors turning to Facebook, other social media to meet new clients

Premium content from The Business Review - by Michael DeMasi

Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 12:00am EDT - Last Modified: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 9:52am EDT
Previous 1 of 2 Next
  • TechValley Homes Real Estate President Miguel Berger, left, and Associate Broker Steven Girvin go online to check a Facebook page.
A mutual friend of Craig LeClaire’s learned through Facebook he’s a real estate agent. Now she’s selling her house through LeClaire, an associate broker at Falvey Real Estate Group in Albany.
Jennifer Fortune Gras of Realty USA said her Facebook page helped her land an on-camera interview with a local news station about the federal tax incentive for homebuyers.
And Teri Kraszewski of Realty USA has picked up a handful of clients by using Facebook to stay in touch with people she grew up with in Mechanicville.
“I found coming from a small community that it has definitely helped me,” Kraszewski said.
LeClaire, 35, Gras, 26, and Kraszewski, 38, are among a growing number of real estate agents in the region using Facebook and other kinds of social media to market their services and connect with potential clients.

Personal pages vs. Fan pages

Facebook usage varies, but real estate agents typically post pictures of themselves, along with photos and descriptions of their listings.
They can also let people know about upcoming events, post links to virtual home tours on YouTube, share news stories about the housing market, exchange messages, and publicize “The Skinny,” a free video about local home sales distributed monthly by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.
Facebook requires users to make a distinction between individual profiles for personal use and fan pages to promote businesses, though some local agents are still combining both features as they learn the rules.
Gras and Kraszewski are among those who maintain two separate accounts.
“I don’t think most people know,” Gras said. “I went to a conference and we took a seminar with an attorney. You’re not supposed to sell or do business on your personal page.”
Facebook is a more dynamic format than a typical website. Because of Facebook’s vast online network and instant search capabilities, it’s also easy to amass hundreds—if not thousands—of people linking to a page.
“It’s interactive and proactive,” said Scott Varley, 43, a Realty USA agent who uses Facebook. “I might get some comments going back and forth.”
A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors found more than half of the agents in the United States are using social media, up from 35 percent last year. Other networking sites include Twitter and LinkedIn.
The trend mirrors what has happened in real estate generally as the Internet has become the place that 90 percent of buyers go to when searching for a home. That means less time is spent looking at newspaper classifieds or free home-for-sale catalogues.
Among the youngest segment of the real estate market—typically first-time buyers—having a presence on Facebook, not just a dedicated website, can be critical to reaching potential clients and making sales.
“For the younger generation, they’re on Facebook all the time,” Gras said. “It’s so much easier for them to send me a message. ... In the past they would have to Google my name or get in contact with my office. To be honest, this is much easier. A lot of people don’t want to go through those extra steps to find me.”
Even though many agents have embraced social media, they’re still learning the rules of the road.
Facebook, after all, has only been around for six years, and was first popular with college students. It’s only within the past few years that it has become the medium of choice when it comes to social networking.


Read more from the source: More Realtors turning to Facebook, other social media to meet new clients | The Business Review
More Realtors turning to Facebook, other social media to meet new clients | The Business Review

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Twitter 101 — Learning the lingo

Learn the lingo

On the one hand, Twitter is pretty simple: send and receive short messages. On the other hand, what’s with all the symbols and strange terms? In this section, we explain the weird stuff that’s important so that you can use Twitter like a pro.
Some of the most useful conventions on Twitter—including retweets (RT), hashtags (#), and @username messages—were user innovations. When people wanted features Twitter didn’t provide, they created their own, and we later incorporated them into the system. We assume new features will evolve from users in the future, so feel free to experiment!

The key terms

Following

To receive messages on Twitter, you follow other people and companies you’re interested in—which means you get their messages as they post (put another way, their messages show up in your incoming timeline on your Twitter home page). Conversely, people get your messages by following you.

Tweet

Users refer to an individual message as a tweet, as in, “Check out this tweet about our CEO dancing on the sidelines of the Phoenix Suns game.” People sometimes use it as a verb, too, as in, “I tweeted about the stimulus package this morning.” If “tweet” is hard for you to use with a straight face in a business context, try “twittering” as a verb instead. Alternatives include “post,” “message” and “update.”

@username

For companies, one of the most useful things about Twitter is that it lets you exchange public messages with individual users. Simply start a message with @username of the person you want to reach, like this:
“@Ev Glad you liked our vegan cookies. Thanks for twittering about ‘em!”
If Ev is following your account, your message will appear directly on his Twitter home page. (If he’s not following your account, your message will appear in his folder of @username mentions.) People who are following both you and Ev will also see the message on their Twitter home page. Finally, the message will appear in search results, and people who come to your Twitter home page will see it among the messages in your outgoing timeline.
Tip: On Twitter, @username automatically becomes a link to that person’s account—helping people discover each other on the system. Put another way: when you see an @username, you can always click through to that person’s Twitter page and learn whether you want to follow them.
To find the public messages that are directed to you (i.e., those that start with your @BusinessName) or that mention you (i.e., those that include your @BusinessName elsewhere in the tweet), head to your Twitter home page, and then on the right side of the screen, click the tab labeled your @BusinessName. For businesses, it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on incoming @mentions, because they’re often sent by customers or potential customers expecting a reply.
Tip: To reply easily from the Twitter website, mouse over a message, and then look on the right end for the “Reply arrow”. Click the arrow to start a new message addressed to the original user.

DM, or direct message

Direct messages—or DMs—are Twitter’s private messaging channel. These tweets appear on your home page under the Direct Messages tab, and if you’ve got email notifications turned on, you’ll also get an email message when somebody DMs you. DMs don’t appear in either person’s public timeline or in search results. No one but you can see your DMs.
The one tricky concept with DMs is that you can send them only to people who are following you. Conversely, you can receive them only from people you’re following.
You can easily send DMs from the Direct Messages tab by using the pull-down menu to choose a recipient and then typing in your note. To send a DM from your home page, start your message with “d username,” like this:
“d Ev Sorry those cookies gave you food poisoning! Would you prefer a refund or a new batch?”
Tip: If you’re communicating with a customer about something potentially sensitive—including personal information, account numbers, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, etc.—be sure to encourage them to DM or email you. As we mentioned earlier, @mentions are public, so anyone can see them.

RT, or retweet

To help share cool ideas via Twitter and to give a shout-out to people you respect, you can repost their messages and give them credit. People call that retweeting (or RT), and it usually looks something like this: “RT @Username: Original message, often with a link.” Retweeting is common, and it’s a form of conversation on Twitter. It’s also a powerful way to spread messages and ideas across Twitter quickly. So when you do it, you’re engaging in a way people recognize and usually like—making it a good way to connect.

Trending Topics

On the right side of your screen and on the Twitter search page, you’ll see ten Trending Topics, which are the most-mentioned terms on Twitter at that moment. The topics update continually, reflecting the real-time nature of Twitter and true shifts in what people are paying attention to. A key feature of Twitter, Trending Topics aggregate many tweets at once and often break news ahead of the mainstream media. (Note that the trends often include hashtags, described below.)

Hashtag (#)

Twitter messages don’t have a field where you can categorize them. So people have created the hashtag—which is just the # symbol followed by a term describing or naming the topic—that you add to a post as a way of saying, “This message is about the same thing as other messages from other people who include the same hashtag.” Then, when somebody searches for that hashtag, they’ll get all of the related messages.
For instance, let’s say you post, “Voted sixty times in tonight’s showdown. #AmericanIdol.” Your message would then be part of Twitter search results for “#AmericanIdol,” and if enough people use the same hashtag at once, the term will appear in Twitter’s Trending Topics.
Companies often use hashtags as part of a product launch (like #FordFiesta), and conferences and events frequently have hashtags associated with them (like #TED).

Tweetup

A tweetup is simply an in-person gathering organized via Twitter, often spontaneous. Companies use them for things like hosting launch parties, connecting with customers and introducing like-minded followers to each other.

Shortened URLs

With just 140 characters at your disposal, Twitter doesn’t give you much room to include URL links—some of which are longer than 140 characters themselves. If you post a link on Twitter via the website, sometimes we automatically shorten the URL for you. There are also a number of services—URL shorteners—that take regular links and shrink them down to a manageable length for tweets, and some even let you track clicks.


READ MORE Twitter 101 — Learning the lingo and more twitter for business techniques on business.twitter.com

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Your Business & Yelp In 2010

Your Business & Yelp In 2010
Mat Siltala
courtesy of search engine journal

I want to get you thinking the way I am on this one, so bear with me for a moment. I want you to imagine yourself moving into a brand new area that you are completely unfamiliar with. You have brand new neighbors, and there is not a familiar face anywhere. You don’t know if your new neighbors have kids for your kids to play with, or if you would even want them to. So the process begins, you meet your neighbors, you gain trust and eventually are part of the neighborhood BBQs. As time goes on, and you are getting to know everybody even more, they begin sharing information with you, like what the best schools are, who to call for takeout, what doctors are nearby etc. There is a process of trust that grows within the community, and that community sticks together and helps each other out.

In Comes Yelp


Businesses need to look at Yelp in more of a neighborhood sense, as explained above. Stop trying to think how you can game the system with only 5 star reviews in mind. Businesses need to understand that there is a strong community of people that run it, police it, and spend all day on it – looking for, or giving recommendations. If you are a good neighbor, your business can benefit from it. If you are a bad neighbor that creeps everybody out, then its not going to work so well for you, and the neighborhood will spit you out.

Do Not Fear The Reviews


It amazes me the number of businesses that are afraid to get listed on Yelp. My personal opinion, if businesses are afraid to get on Yelp, then there might be some internal house cleaning that needs to be done, and problems fixed. If your business is broken, and this is why you are worried about getting on sites like Yelp, then FIX THE PROBLEMS NOW. Even if you do get some negative feedback, take it as a learning tool, grow from it, and do everything you can to overcome and grow as a business. Yelp is only going to continue to grow, and with app phones flooding the market now, the mobile use in 2010 for local marketing is going to big the biggest ever. In my opinion, this is going to be the biggest opportunities for businesses marketing online. These phones are not going away, these apps are not going away, so your business needs to do better starting now.

Be A Man, Stake Your Claim


If you do not go in andcreate your business listing on Yelp, someone else will (and its just a matter of time before the reviews start pouring in). These are free tools that Yelp is willingly offering you! Go take advantage of them! When you rely on someone else you add your information, you are risking things like:

* wrong phone number
* wrong business address
* wrong website address
* wrong product information
* general company info wrong
* wrong hours
* wrong menu items
* which photos show up first
* a competitor going in and listing you wrong (on purpose)

This Matters For Four Reasons Because:

1. Users will quickly click off your listing if the phone number does not work.
2. Users will quickly move on to the next business if they are looking for a website, and yours is not listed.
3. Trust will be lost with a half done/wrong business listing.
4. You can create a reputation nightmare by not staying on top of things.

Yelp!

The main point I want to make with this post is 2010 is going to be the year of mobile/local marketing & apps, as well as the opportunities that are going to be generated from them.Yelp has a mobile appnow for iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre and Droid. I am sure as more app phones come into the market, Yelp will be developing for them as well. Yelp has become my new American Express – “Can’t leave home without it” I really can’t go anywhere without consulting Yelp first. It is for more then just food too, you can get reviews and information on pretty much any kind of business possible. Funny, my Mother and Father in Law told us the kept tabs on us during a recent trip by checking out my Yelp reviews, and could tell we had a blast! They personally do not use Yelp, but they always tell me: “See what Yelp says” and I do a quick consult before we all head out somewhere. Its truly an awesome tool to be able to carry in my pocket, and “mark my words” this is the future of local marketing.

I asked Gabi, the Phoenix ambassador for Yelp to share her thoughts of how business owners can do better with Yelp in 2010, as well as a couple others – Will Scott & Chris Smith. Here are their responses:

Gabi:

Per your request, below are a few quick thoughts on how businesses can utilize Yelp to their advantage in the new year:

1. 1. Utilize the free tools that are available – Claim your business!
2. Respond to all yelp reviews (once you’ve claimed your business) to thank that yelper for their feedback.
3. Tell about the business, business owner, specialties, etc… and announce special offers, events, etc…
4. Look at Yelp as a helpful resource – we’re not the enemy; Yelp is a useful tool to help you improve your business all of the time!
5. Do not ask random friends or customers to write reviews on Yelp – this can come off as spam; let the reviews happen authentically
6. Provide fantastic customer service always and you’ll likely reap the rewards in the reviews that are written!

Will Scott:


1. Be proactive.

2. Just like any review site you need to get your fans out early and often. The rules say you can’t pay people or otherwise incentivize but you can certainly ask.
3. Consider advertising.

4. One of our clients started advertising in Yelp and increased his leads from yelp by 5X almost instantly. Moreover, you get to pick your favorite review to pin at the top of your list.

5. And, best of all you can show up on your competitors’ listings. Mwahahaha.



Chris Silver Smith:


I see two main areas where businesses may do better with Yelp.


1. Businesses really need to step up their customer-service game. A world of pain can be avoided merely by instituting highly excellent customer service practices. Customer service policies and practices need to be revisited frequently to insure you make a good impression.


2. In 2010 businesses should become less shy about asking pleased customers to review them. I encounter many proprietors who are hesitant to ask customers to rate them online, but I think the fear is unwarranted. Dale Carnegie, in his classic book, “How To Win Friends & Influence People”, even recommends that you ask others to do you favors as a strategy for getting people to like you (among other tactics). In that vein, I suggest that when a customer particularly gushes, hand them a coupon for a discount for their next visit, and tell them you’d really appreciate being rated in Yelp. Do not pay for ratings nor offer discounts in trade for a rating, but merely ask in a modest way. By specifically targeting pleased customers, giving an unconditional discount, and personally asking them to do you a favor, you make them feel important and inclined to give you a very positive review.



Having a strategy to encourage and build positive reviews can help to insulate a business from occasional negative reviews and can pump up rankings and conversions.



I appreciate Gabi, Will & Chris taking the time to share their thoughts on how businesses can do better with Yelp in 2010. To sum it all up? Businesses need to not be afraid of where mobile/local marketing is headed. Also, they need to not be afraid of UGC type sites like Yelp. Your business will grow and gain customers in 2010 if you embrace Yelp, run a good clean business and play by the rules!



Matt Siltala, owner of Dream Systems Media shares his love and passion for SEO and all things social on his Internet marketing blog.
You can follow Matt on Twitter here – http://www.twitter.com/Matt_Siltala


Your Business & Yelp In 2010 | Search Engine Journal



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