Take Note: My Bank Wowed Me!

That's right, I must be one of the 0.00001% of Americans who were actually wowed by their bank's customer service. Yes, this actually happened to me last week.

I walked into my bank branch to close one account and add the money in that account to another account that we have. Simplifying our finances is one of our goals this year.*

photo © 2009 Alan Cleaver | more info (via: Wylio)

Not only was the bank manager happy to make the change, he invited me into his office to sit comfortably while he was doing that for me. On top of that, he noticed that we had a pretty low-interest savings account and asked me if I wanted one with better terms, but no additional service fees.

Of course I did!

 I was delighted that he was willing to proactively make a change for me, and within minutes, I not only had gotten what I came for, I'd also gotten more than I expected.

Where do I bank? Do you want to know? Should I name companies who provide me with great service, like I did in my Discover card post the other week, or leave them anonymous? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.


* If you want help clarifying goals, one way to get there is to try Sonja Lyubomirsky's "Best Possible Selves" exercise.

What companies have wowed you lately?

Why People Who Take Their Jobs Seriously are Great

Every day, the woman who works at the security desk in the office building where I have my 9 to 5 (which actually starts at 7:30) says the same thing to me when I leave at the end of the day:

I say: "Have a good night."


and she says: "You have a good night, too, darlin'. You be safe now."

Then I say: "Thanks, you too!"

The best tended gardens bear the best fruit.

That's right. The security guard wants me to be safe even after I leave work. She takes her job seriously enough that she sees her job as not just keeping people safe during the workday, but making sure we stay safe all the time.

So what on earth does this have to do with marketing?


This is a great reminder to me that whatever I'm doing, I should be trying to do my best. From a marketing standpoint, it's important to deliver quality campaigns and the best product possible. It's a reminder to care about my customers from a human standpoint. They aren't just folks with a checkbook, they're people with dreams, goals, needs, and wants. The more I care about my customers, the more I take my job seriously, the more quality I deliver.


What are you doing to make the quality of your work even better this year?

Profiting from Off-Label Uses for Your Product

Are there off-label uses for your products?

You know, like the use of hormone injections for weight loss or coffee to relieve headaches?

Now is a great time to think about other ways your own customers might be using your product.

Tito has some great alternative uses for your extra tuna.
Photo: J. Ibraheem

Do your socks make great potholders?

Are people reheating their leftover pizza with your waffle irons?

Are they using your spreadsheet software to plan their weddings?

Or using your kitty litter to prevent odors in the fridge?

There are huge opportunities to sell, keep, save, and serve your customers if you can figure out other purposes for your products:

Sell – people might not need your product for its primary use, but they badly need a solution for one of its alternative uses. Are you letting them know about other uses in your promotions?

Keep and Save – your current customers might no longer have the problem your product was originally meant to solve. No worries- they can still use it. Just make sure to let them know how.

Serve – Customers who love your product for its original use will be delighted to find out it’s so versatile. Make sure to let them know how useful it is!

Not sure how your product is being used by your customers?

Ask them! On your blog, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, in your stores, in your e-blasts, on your web site. Your customers are your best source of information. Ask them all kinds of questions, and ask frequently!

Not sure if your product can protect your hands, reheat pizza, prevent fridge odors, or help with wedding plans? Send me a note and I’ll be happy to help.

How are people using your product off-label? Please share.

A Tale of Two Credit Cards - Why Customer Service is Marketing, Too

These guys were totally frightened by my credit card rates.
Photo: Leah Ibraheem

I have two credit cards - one I use several times a year for making travel arrangements, and a second one that's a backup.

Earlier tonight, I called my main credit card company to ask them to lower my rate. I'd read a number of scripts for this conversation and planned to tell them all about how I had received better offers from other companies, that my rate was too high, that I have excellent credit, and they should help me out.

The first person I talked to said that I already had the best rate and that she would not be making any changes. I said, "I guess you'll just need to cancel my card, then."

I'd read in all the scripts that you should do that.

She said, "OK."

Wow.

So I was transferred to a supervisor and she couldn't lower my rate either. After several minutes of negotiations, she offered me two months of interest payments back, which was nice. I was not happy that they wouldn't lower my rate, but this was better than nothing. Feeling empowered, I called my other credit card company, which happens to be Discover.

The woman at Discover was the nicest woman ever. She even told me where she was located (Portland, Oregon) and thanked me for my eleven-year, six-month relationship with Discover. She asked me how she could help, and was interested and enthusiastic.

Well, let me tell you this -

Not only had Discover recently evaluated my situation and taken the initiative to lower my existing rate by five points (which I didn't know since this happened after my last statement), they readily agreed to offer me a 6-month promotional rate that was another eight (eight!) points lower than the new rate they'd already extended to me. That's 13 points!

After that, my customer service rep let me know about some additional discounts I could get for travel and a special cash-back bonus on home improvement items that begins this month. She never rushed me and she kept thinking of more and more ways she could help me.

Her goal: to make sure that my Discover card was my primary card, which it hasn't been - I hardly ever use it.

But that's about to change. Why? Because Discover's marketing, sales, and customer service are integrated to effectively save, keep, sell, and serve me, all at the same time. How does that work?

• They were actually working proactively to save me by assessing my account and lowering my rate before I even called.
• They were ready to keep me with an additional offer to make their card even more of a value.
• They had several product suggestions ready to sell me - products that would save me further on things I'm already buying, deals which are useful to me specifically.
• They emphasized how much they wanted to serve me by identifying the length of our relationship, thanking me for it, and offering numerous ways to help.

What can we learn from this?

Maybe it's time to take another look at your customer service operation - does it work to save, keep, sell, and serve your customers? How can your marketing department help your customer service reps with the right things to say, great offers, and the power to use tools like special promotions, savings clubs, and new products to keep your customers happy?

I'd love to hear about what you're doing to save, keep, sell, and serve. Please tell me in the comments, or send me a note.

So, which credit card just moved from my desk drawer to my wallet? Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

How to Start Your Competitive Analysis

I promised you last week that I'd write a post about doing competitive analysis, so that we could answer three very important questions.

1. Where are you in the competitive space?
2. Who are the other players and what do they offer right now?
3. How are they getting the word out?

Today, I'm going to tackle the second question only. This is usually the most practical place to start. After all, you can't answer the other two questions until you know the answer to this one. A few thoughts on this:

• Don't forget that your customer always has the option not to buy whatever it is you're marketing. This is actually your first, and your largest competitor. You'll have to overcome your customer's resistance to spending money, eating dessert, going shoe-shopping, getting a manicure, etc., etc. Don't worry, I'll cover this in a future post.
• Next it's time to look at where people are buying products similar to yours, as well as products that are different than yours, but solve the same problem. For example, if you sell pies, don't just look to other piemakers. Check out cake bakeries, and any other place people might get dessert - ice cream shops, cupcake trucks, regular restaurants, and the grocery store.
• Look carefully at product offerings by the competitors you've identifed. What's different about your pie? How does it solve the problem of what to eat for dessert better than other pies? What other problems can be solved with pie? Are there better ingredients? Is it handmade? Is it a great value? Is it customizable? Is it more convenient? Also, why is pie a better choice for dessert than cake, ice cream, or anything else?

These are thoughts to get you started as you begin your own competitive analysis. If you have any questions, please let me know.