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It is not "About It". It is about what buyers "Can Achieve With IT".
The lost art of telling stories woven with how your products and services are used is a powerful way to make a human connection and build trust.
Helping the customer create a Vision of a Solution as to how the various capabilities offered will help them achieve their needs. www.visiongroupmn.com
"There’s a lot of buzz around the action of “storytelling.” It’s a trendy term. "Some marketers hijack storytelling as the art nouveau of their work. I suppose that’s fine, but it still rings generic." "Nurses, we live storytelling. Our work is storytelling. The intimacy in the care we provide is like a Bob Dylan song because storytelling doesn’t have to be the feel-good, inspire-the-world marketing scheme. It’s a lived life." "Storytelling—good storytelling—encompasses the grit and the grime. It is the real, and yes, sometimes it is happy, but sometimes it’s about suffering and pain and a mixture of all those things." [The Storyteller, photo by Steve Evans]
Via Gregg Morris
"In other words, consumers want what they want when they want it, and if your company can’t meet their needs when they’re ready to pay for it, brand loyalty isn't going to sway them." "...consumers are no longer making their buying decisions based on brand loyalty, but rather which companies can match their desired experience at a time of their choosing." "...the reality is that companies are at risk of losing customers if they fail to accommodate customer preferences or adopt evolving channels of communication in providing service." By Marisa Peacock Read more: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/demand-for-tailored-customer-experiences-put-brand-loyalty-at-risk-020137.php
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Julien Rio
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"The customer experience is the accumulation of elements that make a visit on your page unique and memorable." "You might have created the perfect website with a very clear interface and an intuitive linking of your pages, you would still like to be able to assist your visitors when they have questions." "Some websites completely ignore this aspect - leaving their customers on their own - and some overdo it - covering them with pop-ups and unnecessary information." "There are usually two situations that you want to avoid: the first one is having a sales jumping on you even before you had time to check out a single product, and the second one is having sales ignoring you completely when you would actually require some advice." - Julien Rio Read more: http://www.julienrio.com/marketing/english/74/Improving_customer_experience_to_increase_sales.html
"I found a definition in Wikipedia as follows: “Customerization is the customization of products or services through personal interaction between a company and the customer." "A company is customerized when it’s able to dialogue with individual customers and respond by customizing its products, services, and messages on a one-to-one basis." "Customerization requires a company to shift its business model from seller-centric to buyer-centric." - Christopher Brown Read more: http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/being-customer-centric-means-being-people-centric-0399084
"When properly planned and constructed, B2B podcasts can be entertaining, informative, and providers of excellent ROI." "They can build backlinks to your site, increase your search rank, ramp up marketplace awareness of the solutions that your company delivers, and drive inquiries from qualified in-bound prospects." Rafe Gomez
Storytelling is a powerful business tool. I was reminded of this during my visit last week to the January meeting of the Ohio State Council of SHRM. Although I was there as an invited guest speaker, I certainly feel like … Continue reading → (Three...
Via Karen Dietz
"This new movement has spawned an interesting debate – does business strategy or customer experience come first?" "One side claims business strategy comes first as it sets the framework of the business – what market problem it solves, for whom, with what products, through which distribution channel, etc." "The other side claims that customer experience comes first and should drive business strategy." Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecrandell/2013/01/21/customer-experience-is-it-the-chicken-or-egg/
"So when I joined a mobile technology startup called Kinvey as VP of marketing, I quickly realized that I had been perpetuating a series of false choices. The content marketer in me had been at odds with the lead marketer in me." "I now hope to set the record straight, using as an example Kinvey's latest infographic, "How Long Does it Take to Build an iOS or Android App?"
"A customer relationship begins with the way you treat them during the sales process."
"...director Konstantin Stanislavsky helped found the Moscow Art Theater in 1898. It’s here where Stanislavsky turned Western drama and acting techniques and training on their head." "Stanislavski believed that the true magic of theater came only when an audience felt as if the characters on stage were living out the story, instead of reciting a memorized script." How many times have you wondered about the person on the other end of the line when you contact customer service to try and resolve something which went bad on your end? Ever fill as if their whole job is to prove you were at fault, even though the product and/or shipment failed poorly? Image a company who treats you like a human being and they sincerly want to help you resolve your problems. Plus placing blaim is not the highest priority on the list. The first action is taking care of your immediate needs and they do not transfer you to somebody else after you have explained what just happened. The article discusses: 1 Loosen the Scripts, Be Human, not a Robot 2 Train to Improvise 3 Know Your Role, Your Brand, Your Character http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/want-a-better-customer-service-experience-teach-employees-improv-0350768 If it is possible to create a better customer experience by loosening up the scripts used by customer service departments. Why is it more companies have not joined in? The good news, as customers, we get to choose who are suppliers will be in the future.
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"More and more sales people are using social media to help them prospect and develop new business. It’s certainly an avenue that I use for my client development. Used wisely and effectively it’s a great tool to enhance your business development efforts." "Allow me to propose this: Are sales people who utilize social media more successful than others, OR is it that consistently successful sales people almost always use the smartest techniques and are ahead of the curve?" "Social media should be used to create awareness, build thought leadership and inform your prospect but it shouldn’t be applied when actually selling to your prospects. I would actually argue that sales people don’t outsell their peers using social media, but, on a level playing field, they out-prospect them, they out-perform them on their pre-call intelligence." by Monika D'Agostino Read more: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/sales-social-media-you-0511867
"There are two components to listening to needs:" 1 - The skills of listening 2 - The importance of understanding people’s needs "Listening and hearing are not the same thing. Most people are born with the ability to hear; but few of us are truly good listeners." "Well-developed listening skills that include asking good questions, combined with striving to satisfy needs will create long-lasting, trusting relationships with team members, internal colleagues and client/customers." by Caroline Rowan Read more: http://www.tac-focus.com/article/listening-needs#.UWfwAfMo603
Via Karen Dietz
"The classic Glengarry Glen Ross scene is unforgettable – not only to those who saw the movie, but also to anyone who held a sales position in the 20th century." "The ABC (Always Be Closing) sales methodology reigned supreme, and still does in some organizations that have failed to evolve with the times." "Thanks to advances in technology, this antiquated methodology has been replaced and the world is a much better place as a result." "In this post, I will analyze the evolution of ABC to ABH – “Always Be Helping” – and encourage organizations stuck in the ABC mindset to abandon it immediately." By Aaron Aders "Read more: http://www.business2community.com/strategy/evolving-sales-from-always-be-closing-to-always-be-helping-0347805
"Buyers are looking for individuals who understand their day-to-day challenges and have solutions that solve them, insight, and unique perspectives. We’re seeing the rise of social salespeople." "Not all sales reps are equipped to engage in this capacity. But those that are, will have knowledge, experience and unique perspectives that can enrich your internal search marketing integration (SMI) efforts by weaving search engine optimization (SEO) techniques into their day-to-day work." "So, how can you effectively and efficiently enable your sale team to improve your SMI?" - Brad Miller Read more: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2253374/Search-Marketing-Integration-Starts-With-Your-Sales-Team
"Take a minute and think about the last time you were motivated to rave about a product or service? What motivated you? What did you love so much about the product, service or experience?" "If you stop and think about what gets you really excited, it may give you some ideas on how you can create that same experience and feeling for your customers." - Author: Level343 Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/creating-customer-evangelists-0424762
"Last month I was in Europe with a group of customer experience professionals ... About halfway through the all-day session, one of the attendees asked me a question..." "...when should we put aside the need for profits and fund customer experience projects instead?" "His question surprised me. And I clearly surprised him when I responded, "Never." "I let that hang in the air for a moment so it could sink in. Then I added, "You should never put aside the need for profits when you fund customer experience projects." - Harley Manning Read more: http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/2013/03/when_should_you_favor_customer.html
"In the past five years, the financial industry has taken a drubbing. Plunging profits, allegations of improper behavior, customer backlash against rising fees and massive layoffs have challenged the industry." "But various sources list one bank as a best place to work, and its practices may provide a blueprint to other companies on how to keep workers engaged even during tough times." -Anita Bruzzese, Gannett Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/bruzzese/2013/02/09/on-the-job-employee-happiness/1898083/
"Bill Harley, a Friend, storyteller, author, songwriter, teaching artist; two-time Grammy winning artist in the spoken word category; Lifetime Achievement awards from the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities, Children's Music Network and the National Storytelling Network."
Via Karen Dietz
Pixar Studios filmmaker Andrew Stantongave a good TED talk about a year ago where he states that one of the key aims of any good story is that it must make the audience care. "Make me care," he says. If you research the advice of famous directors and screenwriters of today and of years gone by you will find this is a common refrain: You have go to make the audience care.Presentations in all their many forms are never just about transferring information alone. We are emotional beings, like it or not, and to connect and engage people to the degree that they will care enough to listen to you, you have to evoke in them some kind of emotion. The TED talk below is well worth watching; the storytelling lessons in this short talk are many.
Via Gregg Morris
"Thanks to social networks, we’ve naturally been driven to a host of metrics that include attributes of “engagement” and conversations shared online." "This, in turn, has fueled the content marketing race – and ultimately, the quest for producing what is most relevant or valuable to a company’s current and prospective customers." "As we compete in this context to draw attention for our brand and offerings, perhaps one element has remained constant above all others: the power of visual storytelling."
Here is a list of 14 tools that journalists might find useful. Some launched this year, while others have been around for some time now but continue to be used by news outlets today.
Via EBUZZ, Rudolf Kabutz, Karen Dietz
"...last month I challenged... to tell me why they could claim to be a customer experienced focused software company where just a few months before they were something else..." I named... 8 companies... offered them... to prove... as customer experience focused..." - Paul Greenberg
"Patricia responded to an audience question by saying that Europcar focused on creating a customer-centric culture because the company can't script every interaction. Therefore employees need to be able to make the right judgment calls on their own..." "...every time I see USAA's Wayne Peacock speak, he always uses the phrase "We do the right thing because it's the right thing to do." He's the EVP of Member Experience at USAA, which is the number one bank, the number one credit card provider, and the number one insurance provider in our Customer Experience Index." Read on to compare a story about a Southwest Airlines pilot to the decisions made by some United Airlines employees. http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/2012/12/engaged_employees_do_the_right.html ;
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