Ross the Boss Wows , Customer Service Officers and being ' Socially useful '

Ross McEwan has taken over the reins from former chief executive Stephen Hester of the Royal Bank of Scotland today.

In an address reported by the BBC to his staff, Mr McEwan said it was ‘ an absolute thrill’ to take on the new role.

“It’s one of those ‘wow’ experiences”

Mr McEwan said that he planned to refocus the bank on customer service, promising to make it the best in the UK. He has previously headed the retail arm of RBS.

“We exit because of the customers we serve and we should never forget that. Our job is to serve our customers. Without our customers we are nothing as a business.”

He also said the bank needed to repay the faith albeit mandated by the Government bailout. UK tax payers still own 81% of RBS after it was bailed out for £45 billion in 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

Mr McEwan stressed that its tax payer funded bailout meant the bank had to live up to a higher standard than any other bank.

“We should never forget that obligation”

Finance firms attracted 20,000 complaints a day in the UK in the first half of 2012 according to the FSA. The compensation bill for miss-sold PPI schemes has been estimated at £10 billion. Which - the consumer group  have warned that the compensation bill could climb even higher.

PPI was not the only issue though. 

 Lloyds Bank Group remained the most complained -about financial group as grievances climbed 146% to 860,000 according to the London Evening Standard. But those complaints`were spread across its many different brands .

Lloyds Customer Services Director was quoted by Simon Read in the Evening Standard 27th Sept 2012 :-

" We understand that there is still work to do, but the figures show that  relative to the number of customers  we have fewer complaints than any other bank ( Lloyds has 1.4 complaints per 1000 accounts compared with Santander 5.2%)"

The Standard went on  quoting that  the Nationwide Building Society  with 17,269 complaints about its banking services - had just 0.7 complaints per 1000 customers.


The FSA reported that complaints about banking services across the sector  rose 5% although only 47% were upheld well below the average.

However one analyses this data , Customer Service is a critical topic for the financial sector at the moment.

Indeed  the then RBS boss Stephen Hester  summarised the situation

" Banks have simply not been good enough servants of their customers in the recent past. We have to address the root cause of the industry's failing"

Similarly Barclay's Chief Executive Anthony Jenkins

" I do believe that Barclays has a significant job to rebuild trust - but I'm also confident that we can.It goes back to what we do: if we serve customers and clients in a way that is socially useful, then we will rebuild that trust."

"I'm on record as saying that the industry and to some extent Barclays did lose sight of the customer and it's our job to put the customer back at the centre of everything that we do"



Individual Complaints to banks

 

In a somewhat cynical piece by  the Economist's  Schumpeter column  The Magic of Customer service it commented on  the rise of Chief Customer Officers. Schumpeter implied that customer service will not immediately improve because a flashy new member has joined the C suite. This is fair enough.

Yet some of the best firm’s for customer service have such a role- so one feels that there must be something in it.

Various titles given to the assistants to the "Chief Customer Officer"
by Salesforce.com, netApp, Cisoc and Vanguard
 showing the importance given to Customer Service

A study by Forester research in this area investigated the customer service standards of 160 firms. A third were rated poor" or "very poor". Heath Insurers and cable companies fared worst.

I found this surprising as the USA has a good reputation in customer service in many people's minds.

Trying to focus on the entire “customer experience”, rather than on individual transactions seems a logical approach to companies who rely on process data to track client interaction feedback.

A new book  explains why this is happening.

 In “Outside In”, Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine of Forrester Research observe that customers are growing more powerful.

The Internet makes it easier to shop around and share complaints with a wide audience.

Yet poor service persists.

 Manning and Bodine have been asking customers about their experiences with American companies for years.

Powerful, angry customers could spur big changes.

Customers have embraced companies that serve them well, such as Zappos (the on line shoe shop that lets you order, try on and return as many shoes as you like)

Bank of America the Economist says should be terrified that it is near the bottom of the customer-experience index while another bank, USAA, is right at the top.

Having a CCO may help firms that find that technology is disrupting the way they relate to their customers.

The Washington Post  has discovered that it must provide a constant stream of content rather than a single daily edition.

 Language-learning software provider Rosetta Stone , has found that it needs to offer interactive coaching as well.

Both companies have recruited CCOs.

What difference will this make? asks the Economist

Companies have paid lip service to customer service for years, yet still treat customers like poorly.

 Manning and Bodine suggest trying to learn from the few, such as Disney and Apple, that have cracked the customer-service code.

I went on line and took a look at Zappos

Zappos family Core Values
example of Customer Service Culture

 Zappos keeps a " WOW library"  of exemplary recorded calls that its employees can listen to.

I took this from their website ( my highlighting and underlinings)

 

WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that's above and beyond what's expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver.

We are not an average company, our service is not average, and we don't want our people to be average. We expect every employee to deliver WOW.

Whether internally with co-workers or externally with our customers and partners, delivering WOW results in word of mouth. Our philosophy at Zappos is to WOW with service and experience, not with anything that relates directly to monetary compensation (for example, we don't offer blanket discounts or promotions to customers).

We seek to WOW our customers, our co-workers, our vendors, our partners, and in the long run, our investors

Just Consider  Zappos WOW customers service culture compares to the earlier statement  from that UK bank above

 " We understand that there is still work to do, but the figures show that relative to the number of customers we have fewer complaints than any other bank "

I 'googled' for the opposite to WOW - it came up with FLOP !

So let's wow them whether we are the new head of RBS or a workaday sales professional.

Making or Selling appointments and obtaining Interviews

 The challenge of getting in front of the right people at the right time becomes greater and greater.

  Making appointments and obtaining interviews with both new prospects and existing clients has become tougher.


There are three main methods available to you:

 1. Phone

 2.  E mail + outlook link Tutorial

3. "Cold" Calling


Other methods like email, advertisement returns and direct mail can be used either to obtain leads or to prepare the ground for you, but any of these is likely to be supplemented by one of the three main methods.

The basic sequence

This is the same whichever method you are using ( face to face or phoning) and is very similar to the sequence of an actual sales presentation:

• Clarify your objective(s): the primary one must be to get to meet the person, but secondary ones could be to obtain information or referrals.

• Prepare: remind yourself of the questions/facts/benefits you will use according to how the situation develops, and how you will answer the most likely put-off’s or objections; review the information you already have about the person/organisation; ensure you have your diary and other materials to hand.

• Be polite and respectful but sound confident: use your prospect’s name immediately; be sure to get it right; give your first name and surname; never appear apologetic for interrupting but thank the prospect for speaking to you if he/she has done so at an inconvenient time.

• Obtain attention quickly: use a question, a referral, a previous request to “contact me again”, a factual statement or some other ‘attention getter’ as soon as possible; don’t waste time.

• Explain the benefits of a meeting: motivate the prospect to want to meet you by giving a beneficial reason for doing so; but remember that at this stage you are selling the interview and not the product/service.

• Answer objections and avoid put-offs politely but firmly: always appreciate the client’s point of view; never argue; emphasise that the meeting can be brief; explain why a personal meeting is necessary in the client’s interests; don’t be led into making your actual presentation by phone (unless this is appropriate).

• Close on your objective: ask for the appointment directly, with or without one of the back-up closing techniques (e.g. offer alternative times/dates); be as flexible as necessary in terms of when/where; resort to a secondary objective only if you completely fail in your primary one.


Special considerations

• PAs and contact's coworkers: they must be your friends and allies not your adversaries; be polite and never ‘talk down’ to or patronise them; always introduce yourself with first name and surname and be careful about the use of their first names (if in doubt, don’t); ask for their help; smile (even when on the phone); be friendly but don’t waste their time; ask them for information; if they ask for further details before they will put you through, keep it short and simple and politely repeat your request.

• Receptionists: Although there a less around compared to 'back in the day' if you meet a reception desk do exactly as for PAs and the contact's coworkers above but when cold calling be patient and do not rush them; offer to speak directly to your prospect on the receptionist’s phone if preferred; be confident but not aggressive.

• Literature: emailing pdfs, mailing or leaving literature is seldom effective by itself; it can even be counter productive because it gives a prospect a reason for not seeing you personally; always be prepared to explain why it is not a substitute; have ‘mini literature’ which you can send if necessary which will simply whet the client’s appetite; if you have to send full literature then use it as a reason for calling back for a personal appointment.

• Business cards: try to avoid giving them to receptionists straightaway, as a snap (negative) judgement may be made by a prospect if your card is read over the phone or presented ‘cold’.

Related Links
:
Click on these

Planning and Prioritisation

Research

Selling by Objectives

Getting and maintain Buyer Attention

Investigation skills for Salespeople

Benefits and Personalising the Client Benefits

Answering Objections Behaviours to avoid

Answering objections such as "Price, happy with present supplier, what's the added value, I need to speak to my boss, Leave it with me..."

Gaining commitment and Closing

Real world Marketing 2

In a previous post we looked at the four Ps and 3 Ps of our Marketing Model
http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/marketing-today-essentials-1.html

Our marketing model looks straight forward but now we need to put some real world factors into the model to make it useful for practitioners.

'Real World' Factors

The next group of factors to be taken into account in our marketing model are collectively referred to as the PESTLE factors.  When considering each of our four P’s we must do so taking into account the following:

POLITICS

The political environment can significantly affect our marketing plans and strategy.  National and international considerations must be constantly monitored so that we can adapt our marketing to changes in legislation, taxation regulations, controls or political climate. 

The internal politics of customer organisations may also cause a change in approach, especially with direct selling.

ECONOMY

Economic factors will also have a direct effect on the success or failure of any product.  In general our economy is cyclical and follows a pattern of recession, depression, recovery and prosperity.  No product can be launched without considering the overall state of the nation's economy and the effects of, for example, recession on potential purchasers.
 

SOCIETY

Sociological factors can have significant impact on product development and the way we price, distribute and promote.  Fashion influences vary from industry to industry, but green issues are becoming increasingly significant in every area of business.  We also need to take into consideration demographic information, ethical and other social attitudes.

TECHNOLOGY

We need to ensure that our marketing is keeping pace with developments in technology to stay ahead of the competition.  New materials and developments in electronics can make products obsolete overnight.

As well as the PEST factors there are two other key elements which we must take into consideration when building our marketing plan:

LEGAL

Legal factors include - health and safety, equal opportunities, advertising standards, consumer rights and laws, product labelling and product safety. Companies need to know what is and what is not legal in order to trade successfully. If an organisation trades globally this becomes a very tricky area to get right as each country has its own set of rules and regulations.

ENVIRONMENTAL

As increasing scarcity of raw materials has become more critical over the last twenty years  factors such as  pollution targets, doing business as an ethical and sustainable company, carbon footprint targets set by government.. More and more customers are demanding that the products they buy are sourced ethically, and if possible from a sustainable source.
  TIME

The TIME factor is a critical element when any marketing plan is being considered.  No product can succeed, in spite of its relevance and quality, if it is launched too soon or too late.  Too soon and there is no market for it - too late and competitors may be so strongly established that it is impossible to make real impact in the market.

COMPETITION
 

Although we should not become obsessed with competitive suppliers we need to ensure that our information about prices, products, developments and activity is up to date so that our marketing plan can counteract competitor activity


 

Related Links

http://fruitsofsuccesswithhugh.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/marketing-today-essentials-1.html

Self-actualised Selling -Maslow and Selling 70 years down the road.

Behavioural Psychologists, Neuroscientists, Humanists, Evolutionary Psychologists and the current UK Government loved ‘happiness movement’ support or challenge ( and some even reject)  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

 It has come under attack for the lack of empirical research it was based upon.  

Perhaps one can challenge the sequence of his hierarchy,  his postulation of  2% of folk ( which naturally Maslow included himself) achieving self-actualisation as questionable .

 Individual behaviour also seems to respond to several needs - not just one.

For those in the research field there is also a problem if not some considerable debate in determining when a level has actually been "satisfied“

 The model ignores the often-observed behaviour of individuals who tolerate low-pay for the promise of future benefits for instance interns.

Maybe Maslow's contribution to selling today is more from a philosophical perspective yet there has also always been an attractive intuitiveness from his approach based on classic story telling of the journey of human experience and stories of business success.

Salespeople can recognise his levels and their sequence from classic fiction such Daniel Defoe’s The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe  ( 1719) . Amongst other things Defoe was a salesman or as historians are wont to describe “a general merchant, dealing at different times in hosiery, general woolen goods and wine “.  This book should be on every salesperson’s bookshelf or downloaded on their e book reader.

Should reading not be your thing, a copy of the classic  2000 movie directed by Robert Zemeckis , ‘Castaway’ starring the great Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland is essential viewing. William Broyles Junior the writer I guess must have been part inspired by Defoe's Crusoe.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow's theory of human motivation is 70 years old but it continues to have a strong influence on the world of business.

A recent BBC World service radio programme ( I player version available) asked of Maslow’s Theory What is it, and is it right?

The picture that painted a thousand words.

Once the somewhat complex theory had been illustrated into the simple visual of a pyramid / triangle this visual aid became commonly reproduced symbol which many believe holds the key to personal fulfilment and business success.

On sales training courses as management courses that triangle is as inevitable as ‘biscuits and role-playing.’

In 1943, the US psychologist Abraham Maslow published a paper called A Theory of Human Motivation, in which he proposed that people had five sets of needs, which come in a particular order. As each level of needs is satisfied, the desire to fulfil the next set kicks in.

First, are the basic needs for bodily functioning - fulfilled by eating, drinking and going to the toilet. Maslow also included sexual needs in this group.

 

Then there is the desire to be safe, and secure in the knowledge that those basic needs will be fulfilled in the future too.

After that comes our need for love, friendship and company.

At this stage, Maslow wrote, “the individual may even forget that once, when he was hungry, he sneered at love".

The next stage is all about social recognition, status and respect.

And the final stage, represented in the graphic as the topmost tip of the triangle, Maslow labelled with the psychologists' term "self-actualisation".

It's about fulfilment - doing the thing that you were put on the planet to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"A musician must make music,

 an artist must paint,

 a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy," wrote Maslow.

 "What a man can be, he must be."

And so perhaps

"A SALESperson must sell "

(i.e. give the customer a damned good listening to )

 

Perhaps Maslow’s most useful contribution to selling is that he gets us to think about both the rational ad emotional motivations of our client.

To gain a fuller picture and more rounded picture of our client from the signals and observations e pick up from encounters in the work environment e.g. their office , their social environment e.g. corporate hospitality, networking events and for those few clients we meet in the domestic arena of their home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adaptations of Maslow ( Pragmatic rather than rigorously theoretical)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Links :

1st September 2013 BBC News Magazine

 Article by William Kremer and Claudia Hammond

 

BBC World Service health check I player programme http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bxkcr

 

Castaway movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/

The ‘Red Bully’ Saga and the world of Brand Trademark Protection Redbull and Redwell

“ Seeing Red”

 

In marketing, the answer to the question “what’s in a name ?” is “a very great deal of money.”



Online Press Coverage of the Redwell Brewery and Red Bull Story in August 2013

A lot of investment of capital and skills goes in to building a brand and defending it from deliberate or accidental imitation. It is a serious business.

‘Me too’ products try to piggy back on the efforts of brand leaders products. They have to stay clear of infringing copyright, patents and intellectual copyright.

 We hear regularly of titanic fights on Intellectual copyright, patents and trademarks from the likes of Apple and Samsung etc.

Biting the Bullet ! ( Once bitten twice shy ?)

In the drinks sector there have been past cases such as in 2012 Red Bull won a High Court bullfight with a rival firm Sun Mark.

Austrian firm Red Bull GMBH claimed that Sun Mark infringed trademarks by naming a drink Bullet, and using the advertising slogan "no bull in this can".

Sun Mark, and associated shipping firm Sea Air & Land Forwarding, disputed the claim.

But a High Court judge sided with Red Bull GMBH, following a hearing in London.

Mr Justice Arnold heard that Red Bull GMBH sold a drink called Bullit as well as Red Bull.

Red Bull GMBH said trademark rights to the word Bullit and the words Red Bull had been breached.

The judge said Sun Mark's use of Bullet created a "clear likelihood of confusion", and added that the "no bull ..." slogan took "unfair advantage of the repute of Red Bull".

Sun Mark, and Sea Air & Land Forwarding, did infringe trademarks, he concluded.

 Defending the brand names, trade marks is strategically significant and tactically important..

However brand policing, if clumsily executed can create short term unfavourable publicity in the form of ‘David and Goliath’ confrontations which attract media attention.

Example of unflattering on line poll during
 the Red bull / Redwell story

This week’s “ Red Bully” story was covered online and n the conventional press by the likes of the BBC, Huffington Post, ITV,  the trade press sites  such as Brand Republic, Design Week as well as the local press and media of East Anglia.

The ‘free’ publicity and raised profile of the fledgling micro brewer Redwell from Norwich has probably been a boon to the eight employee company. The story has also raised the profile of the design work on the bottles and other merchandise  created by third year graphic designers at Norwich University of the Arts.

 However there must have had some heartbeat skipping moments  for the directors of the micro brewer, when they received the first and follow up correspondence of Red Bull’s Brand Tsar Herr Jeserznik  from Austria a few days ago.

Red Bull’s  brand enforcement manager, wrote to the microbrewery to lodge a complaint  asking that Redwell withdraw its trademark application as the names are apparently too similar.

Redwell is named after Norwich’s Redwell Street.

The letter stated that the name “comprises Red Bull’s earlier trademark ‘red’ as a whole, which is a prima facie for the similarity of signs.”

“Moreover, all trademarks consist solely of English words and contain the common element ‘red’. The term ‘well’ is merely descriptive and therefore of no distinctive character at all.

Furthermore the term ‘bull’ and the term ‘well’ share the same ending and just differ in two letters.

“The ending ‘ll’ is identical and therefore the terms Red Bull and Redwell are confusingly similar from a visual as well from a phonetical point of view.”

Just some of the things that make for a brand

The letter added that the brewery’s name would “take unfair advantage of, dilute and tarnish” Red Bull’s trademarks and that if Redwell did not comply then the brand would take legal action.

 

In media reports of his letter, Mr Jeserznik said : ‘The term B-U-L-L and the term W-E-L-L share the same ending and just differ in two letters.

‘The ending (L-L) is identical and therefore the terms RED BULL and “Redwell” are confusingly similar from a visual as well as from a phonetical point of view.’

He went on to say “ that consumers would be confused by the similarity of the two brands.”

One of the bars at the 2013 CAMRA
Great British Festival of Beer 2013,held at  London's Olympia

Well attending this year’s Great British Beer Festival at London’s Olympia Centre I wonder how many of the beers and breweries are trademarked to the same extent.

 I noticed going round the various themed bars there were beers called Red Cullin from the Isle of Skye, Kempton an East Sussex Brewery had a beer called Red -  a hop-forward Amber Ale. Big fruit flavours balanced against a complex malt backdrop, or Hawkshead (Cumbria) Red Rich flavoured with lots of fruitiness and good hop flavour with lingering after taste. 

There was Coggerrhall Gold from  Essex Brewer Red Fox ( a Golden Ale with intense lemon, grapefruit and lychee aroma/flavour with a small percentage of wheat). 

The Biggest Pub in London ?
Great British Festival of Beer
London Olympia 13-17th August 2013

Whilst Greater London’s Redemption Brewery’s Best Bitter Hopspur ( will they be receiving a letter from  White Hart lane’s brand enforcement supremo  for confusingly similar sounding name one wonders ? Are puns permitted ?)  Chewy biscuit malt flavours, slightly sweet with roast malt throughout. Citrus and pine flavours with a bitter finish.

Well, should Redwell’s bottled beers meet CAMRA’s exacting standards for real ale in a bottle  (RAIB) for beer that is unpasteurised and contains yeast and enough fermentable sugars to allow for a slow secondary fermentation in the bottle, they might well want to leverage profile further. They were not to be found at the Norfolk district bar at this year’s show.

Now that Red Bull has retreated from its initial threatening behaviour ,the short term poor publicity of being ‘branded’  “Red Bully” in the online coverage will probably have little long lasting adverse publicity of their image.

Indeed it could be seen an alert to any potential competitor large or small to be extremely wary of infringing on its brand names and trademarks when registering a trade mark.

 

Related Links

Redwell Brewing


Red bull

   Norwich University of the Arts

Edp 24 Video Interview with Redwell



Patently absurd Patent Trolls

BBC ‘s Rory Cellan-Jones excellent programme on Radio 4

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038c8s4

  

Marketing Today the essentials the 7 Ps1

Logo of the London Cooperative Society
 in the Fulham Road, London
 - the site is now a German style Pub

According to 'information Britain', the first true supermarket in Britain was not a Tesco or Sainsbury but the London Cooperative Society  on 12th  January 1948 in Manor Park a mere 32 years after Clarence Saunders began exploiting the self-service concept in his splendidly named Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis.

But human nature does not change much nor do their needs and wants that marketing fulfils.

What goes around comes around as the proverb goes.

Farmers markets have returned even to the main cities despite the cheap prices that the supermarkets can offer.

They seem to be a good starting point for this new series for the blog to take a fresh look at the topic of Marketing.

The Background to Marketing

Back in the day, the emphasis of any business was very much on the needs of the company and the product which it made.

 Products or services were launched into the market place and it was then the task of the marketing department and sales force to create the need for them.

 This was  known as company or product orientation. In many instances it was successful ( and can be today especially with new and innovative products).  However, to ensure on-going growth and development business needed to adopt a different approach.

The emphasis changed from being centred on the needs of the company and its products to being centred on the needs of the consumers who would buy the products or services.

  Companies found that they could only exist and grow if, before producing products, they first established what the actual needs of consumers were and then produced in line with those needs. 

The MARKETING APPROACH has a primary aim of customer satisfaction.  The better that customer needs can be satisfied, provided that by doing so a profit can be earned, the more businesses will thrive.  This is marketing or consumer orientation.

The Marketing Mix ( the 4 Ps plus some more)

This comprises four key elements which need to be considered in order to satisfy the customer needs determined by marketing research. 

The first of these is our PRODUCT or SERVICE, sometimes referred to as our “OFFERING”.  Product planning includes not only the physical design of a product but also decisions about packaging, branding, guarantees, trademarks and the anticipated market life of the product or service.  It is vital that the product or service is developed, in all aspects, to satisfy identified consumer needs. 

Parsons Green farmers market is located in a school playground

The second element of the marketing mix is PLACE, which refers to logistics or the distribution CHANNEL.  This includes everything from the physical aspect of getting the product to the customer, to the selection of appropriate channels of distribution.  These can include wholesalers, distributors or retailers if the product is intended for the general public

The third element is PROMOTION or marketing COMMUNICATION.  This includes advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct mail, telemarketing, exhibitions, public relations, social media etc.  The blending of these different methods of promotion is known as the marketing communications mix, and will vary from company to company, industry to industry.

The fourth element in the marketing mix is PRICE, also referred to as COST.  The price of a product or service must be set at a point where profit is possible, is acceptable and justifiable to the consumer, and is also competitive with similar products (if any exist).

These four key elements are collectively referred to as the four P’s of marketing, and the precise marketing mix, the relative importance of each, for one product or service is likely to differ enormously to another product or service.

If you are exclusively marketing a service then consideration should be given to two further P’s.  The first is PEOPLE – they are core to making your service a success and they must be fully trained and capable of meeting the customers’ expectations.  The second service ‘P’ is PROCESSES – and these must be structured so as to deliver maximum customer value and satisfaction.

Related Links

The CoOp 

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/aboutus/ourhistory/