Tom Feltenstein

Twitter, Facebook, Instant Messaging, Podcasts, and a host of other social media has infiltrated society.  People perceive that the Internet has taken over marketing and advertising, when in fact this is not the full picture. More traditional means of media such as magazines are holding their own against the wireless warrior. During Google’s 12 year reign, for instance, magazine readership has actually risen 11 percent due to online versions. Social media proves once again that there is enough room for all forms of advertising and marketing mediums.  Just as movies didn’t eliminate radio and TV didn’t oust movies, social media isn’t going to kill other forms of advertising and marketing.

You cannot assume that customers are going to behave a certain manner nor can you assume you know exactly what they want, because invariably you will be wrong. Before you jump on the social media bandwagon and eliminate other marketing efforts, take a moment and think about your customers. What is their average age? What are their interests? And which social media platform – out of the hundreds – might be best for your audience? If your target audience is over 45, they might not care as much about some social media platforms as a younger group of customers would. Research shows that people between the ages of 35-44 are more likely to use Linkedin, Digg, or Twitter than they are to use Facebook.

Lastly, I’d like to give a word of caution about starting new marketing mediums. Don’t assume because something is all the rage on TV or on the news that it directly applies in the exact same way to your market or business. This perception can cost you big bucks. To determine the best method of reaching your customers you need to research your advertising and marketing strategies and evaluate what works and what doesn’t. Ask your customers for feedback and responses. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  What tactics do you use to reach your customers? Are you using social media for your business and if so, how?

Recently I had to call and make a payment over the phone. What should have been a quick, simple phone call required fifteen minutes. I had to press 1 for English, 3 to pay my bill, 8 for a person…and heaven forbid if I forgot to press #.  By the time the call ended I was ready to don a straight jacket and suck Jell-O through a straw. How can any company expect to retain customers when it is annoying them so much? I thought it can’t just be me; surely there are more people out there who despise automated calling systems. Apparently I’m not alone; check out this hilarious spoof on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUM0KYQrmKM&feature=related

As I sat in the Emergency Room due to the carpal tunnel injury I suffered from pressing #,*, and every other combination of numbers, it again confirmed to me how important personal contact and quality customer service truly is. To quote Barbara Streisand, “People need people.” Bring back the human touch, please!

Most automated call systems originated out of the company’s need to cut costs.  However, it has grown into a convenient excuse for some companies not to offer actual service that is easy and efficient for customers. The frustration consumers experience as a result of automated menus reflects a broad and unsettling shift in the service industry mindset.  The core focus has shifted from being customer-centered – that is, striving to offer an extraordinary customer experience – to being self-centered.  In this new reality, the company chooses to save costs rather than explore more efficient methods of operating and delivering customer needs, and as a result the customer experience is marginalized.

Where does your company fit in this new paradigm?  When you make choices, do you think of the impact upon your customers first?  We all know that without customers our phones don’t ring.  One encounter with a frustrating phone menu reminds us that we need to be constantly vigilant in serving our customers to engage customer loyalty.

I’d like to learn from you.  What are some of your most frustrating or most memorable encounters with automated call systems?

Many consumers today want to spend their money with companies who care about more than just profit. Cause marketing, as it is referred to, is when businesses and charities partner together to support a common cause. From pink ribbons to celebrity endorsements, cause marketing is rapidly becoming an integral part of our culture. Oscar Mayer, for instance, is offering people a chance to bid on eBay for a “Ride Shotbun in the Wienermobile” package.

(http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=128968).

The lucky winner gets to drive the giant wiener for a day, have a catered Oscar Mayer cookout for 50 and a year’s supply of the hot dogs.  Proceeds from the auction support Oscar Mayer’s “Good Mood Mission” to benefit the hunger-relief organization Feeding America.

Cause Marketing is an effective public relations strategy for your business, because anytime you help your local community you’re certain to reap the benefits of your good dead.  It also positions your business in a very favorable light with your customers and gives you an additional personal connection with them because most business owners pick a cause that they personally care about.  Whether this is a cancer charity or animal rights cause, you will soon find customers telling you their stories about how they are involved with that charity as well. It is a way to feel great and give back as a business owner and get your customers involved on a personal level which enhances their loyalty to your business.

What type of cause marketing have you been involved with or been inspired by?

Every time a customer has a bad experience with your business, they’re going to tell at least 10 people. Now add Facebook and Twitter to the mix, and those 10 people just turned into hundreds or thousands.

Social media is word of mouth on steroids — and it can kill your business. This new medium of exposure is here to stay, so why not use it to your best advantage and give your customers something good to talk about. Great customer service is one of the single most important aspects of a successful business.

Below are my Three Quick Tips to improve your customer service:

1.) Have a good attitude. If you don’t like what you do then it is going to show not only to your customers, but to your employees as well. So if you hate the hamburger business, sell your restaurant and do something else.

2.) Build relationships, not just sales. Making a connection with your customers is crucial to your success. People do business with people they like, so call your customers by name, take the time to learn about what they like, and show them that you value them as a person.   When I owned a chain of restaurants, I used to tell my employees: “You only need to remember two things about a customer: their name and one other thing about them.”

3.) Take action. Sweep your floors, keep your restrooms clean, and handle customer complaints. Being proactive gives you credibility and earns the trust of your customers. People are willing to pay for security, integrity, and proper treatment, but they shouldn’t have to. These should all be automatic. Make sure you give your customer the best experience possible. Don’t just meet their expectations, exceed them!

How do you provide extraordinary customer service?

We’ve been bombarded with public relations nightmares recently. From the Gulf Oil Spill to Toyota, to the McDonald’s recall of tainted Shrek glasses, we can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen next. A veteran of the McDonald’s team, I’m impressed at the quick action the company took to remedy the problem. McDonalds’s took care of business pretty darn quick by announcing a voluntary recall of $15 million dollars worth of Shrek glasses when, from a regulatory perspective, the glasses weren’t really toxic to kids. But they know the power of perception and they did not want to lose the trust of their customers. To read more about McDonald’s recall, click: The brilliant lessons from McDonald’s recall.

McDonalds issued the recall as a precautionary measure out of concern for its customers’ health and didn’t allow the crisis to take control — unlike British Petroleum’s fiasco in the Gulf. If we’ve learned anything from BP and Toyota, it’s that allowing negative public opinion to stick to a company is the road to certain death. Granted, these are all vastly different incidents, but the underlying message is the same – take quick action, make smart decisions, and accept responsibility.  As business owners our customers’ trust is paramount if we want to keep them. The most important aspect of business is to adhere to the 10 Commandments of Customer Service, the first of which is “honor thy customer.”  How have you managed crises in your business?

One of the funniest movies I’ve seen is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. One scene in particular stands out. When the daughter, Toula, tells her father she wants to go to college, he looks at her and cries, “Why you want to leave me?” Today many business owners find themselves spouting the same words to their customers. Customer loyalty is a major concern because without repeat business, you will never grow. The most precious asset a business has is its current customer base and it takes a great deal of time and energy to cultivate those relationships so when they leave, it hurts. On average, it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing customer. It is important to have in place a solid customer retention strategy, but far too often these strategies aren’t proactive enough to prevent the loss of customers.

In order to take action you must first be able to see the early warning signs. Take a look at your current customers, are they acting differently? Has the regular customer who eats lunch at your restaurant, three times a week only been in once or twice this month?  Are there people who used to come in your store or shop very regularly that you haven’t seen in months? If so you need some answers and quickly.  Setting up ongoing customer feedback systems and “listening posts” throughout your organization will enable you to spot unfavorable trends so that you can take action to reverse such patterns before it is too late.

When one of these long lost customers reappears, offer them a discount coupon or free gift and thank them for being your customer. Sometimes that’s all it takes to draw them back in. You might also tell them that you are evaluating different areas of your business and ask if they can offer some suggestions on things that might be changed or improved. Often this is the only opening they need to let you know the real reason they haven’t been around much. Once you know the real problems you can address them. How do you retain your long time customers?

Café Grumpy, a small chain in New York, charges $12 for a cup of coffee while Aida’s Grand Reserve in Baltimore sells their morning elixir for $13 a cup. These coffee houses get six times as much per cup as Starbucks because they have focused on enhancing the value of their product in the minds of their consumers. Café Grumpy’s, for instance, highlights the fact that their beans are handpicked in Ethiopia and offer connoisseurs hints of apricot, pineapple, bergamot, kiwi and lime flavorings with each sip.

Few businesses understand how important this perception of value is. If you are in a competitive area such as selling a cup of coffee, you have to find your niche and market to that particular group. Grumpy’s Café and Aida’s Grand Reserve understand the market for coffee was saturated and looked for an alternative way to enhance their offering. Your business has to have a distinguishing characteristic – which is 100% about perception of value.

The two most important words to keep in mind in developing a successful customer base are differentiation and positioning. Select your product or service carefully, and realize that the world is not your client base. Be selective. Think about the particular types of customers you want to serve and market the special features and benefits you offer. Recognizing who your most loyal customers are (measured by repeat sales, related purchases, and referrals) — and rewarding them — is the key to optimizing sales and profitability.

How do you identify and reward your most loyal customers?

No matter what business you’re in, your employees are a vital part of your organization and it is important to recognize and reward them for their hard work – but it has to be done right. You may have seen or even been a part of marketing programs in the past that were little more than popularity contests. Not only does this type of program not work, it can be very divisive and counterproductive.  It is important to recognize employees based on those criteria that are the underlying backbone of your business. This might include attitude, exceptional customer service or even teamwork. The whole idea is improve employee retention and at the same time encourage them to increase their skill set.

I recommend that you do something monthly so the idea is ever present and something employees want to strive for and achieve. The prizes you offer might be movie or sporting event tickets. Or perhaps you give them a specific management perk like an executive parking spot. This may not sound like much, but not having to hike across the frozen tundra of a huge parking lot to get to work lets your valuable employees how much you appreciate them.

The bottom line is that you are thanking your employees for their commitment to the success of the business. It is not really about the prize, but more about the fact that you recognize their contribution and want them to keep striving to improve. It is amazing, but true, that employees will work longer hours for much less pay at a job where they know they are appreciated and recognized. When you look at how much turnover costs when you have an employee quit, then you realize how much profit a good employee recognition program will bring.

What do you do to retain your best employees?

I’ve been a big advocate of change my whole working life. Change is good, but only when that change is well thought out, smart change. When you work very hard to build your brand and then decide to make sweeping change, don’t be surprised if you get buried by an avalanche of customer backlash – and even the strongest brands aren’t immune.

Twenty years ago, on April 23^rd to be exact, “new Coke” was introduced to the world. Coca Cola is arguably the most recognized brand worldwide but that didn’t ensure success of this idea. Customers were not happy that Coca Cola had changed their Coke and the CEO was bombarded with mail and telephone calls. Consumers and retail outlets complained to employees on every level of the company. After several months of pushing the new product against increasingly strong customer resistance, Coca Cola announced on July 10^th that the original formula, Coca-Cola Classic, was coming back. This was a reminder to every business owner of who’s really in control – their customers.
The public gets intimately involved with products, services, and even people. These items become family to us. People shared some of their happiest moments with the old Coke and Coca Cola capitalized on this for decades with commercials showing the family atmosphere and with jingles like “I’d like to buy the world a Coke”. Needless to say customers wanted the product associated with these good emotions and suddenly removing that product and forcing something else on them was not well accepted.

Head my warning, when you think of rebranding yourself, don’t underestimate your customers and completely take away something they have come to love. They know what they like, and may jump ship leaving you to flounder or even sink.

Watch this video to see exactly how others used Coca Cola’s “new Coke” mistake to their advantage!

Last week I spoke at Restaurant Leadership Conference where restaurant owners and experts gather to share ideas, network, and learn from the best in the industry. The tone and message of  Restaurant Leadership 2010 was clear: Your business must adapt or become insignificant. I presented this message alongside an extraordinary lineup of speakers who all agreed that this past year brought tremendous market challenges to every facet of our business.

Here are four key lessons learned from the conference:

• Remain true to your organization’s fundamental profit drivers in a chaotic market
• As individuals and as leaders, it is our perspective that allows us to see options for success amid the challenges
• There is no doubt that social media is changing the landscape of restaurant leadership, but social media tactics are only as good as the underlying value the business provides
• With technology being able to share one person’s message to millions in a matter of minutes, providing great service to your customers as well as your employees (your internal customers) is more important than ever

The basics of a successful business haven’t changed. Offer something of value, do it well and give great service. That hasn’t changed for decades. But the environment we do that business in changes on a daily basis. In order to be a market leader you must see innovation where others only see challenges and grasp opportunities when others play it safe.

Are you stuck and in need of a breakthrough? We want to know! What tools and techniques will you be most likely to implement this year and why?

Sometimes increasing sales is is not about discounting or offering special deals. Customers want to know that they matter and that you value their business. With Mother’s Day rapidly approaching, why not combine forces with another local business and give the Mom’s in your area a special thank you for their patronage?

Any business can offer Mother’s Day specials or discounts, but the business that can offer a value added item on top of their usual mother’s day offerings will attract more customers. Invite families to take their mothers to lunch or dinner in your restaurant or to go shopping in your store and give each Mom a rose, small bouquet of flowers or tiny potted plant. This tactic makes a great partnership promotion because you can team up with a local florist that wants to draw in more customers as well.

You can also prepare a bounce back coupon and present it to all of the visitors on Mother’s Day, encouraging them to return to your restaurant or store within the next month. By combining forces with the florist you can give customers at both locations flowers adorned with ribbons that say, “Happy Mother’s Day from (Your Business Name) and (Florist’s Name) and have your coupon attached. Every time Mom gazes at that small gesture of kindness, she’ll be reminded of your business, the florist, and all of your generosity which will result in positive results for your bottom line.

How many different ways have you tried to connect with your customers this month? Two or three? Did your traffic increase? More importantly, how much did your sales increase? The primary goal of customer promotions is to see results, specifically in the form of more money in your pocket. So many businesses think too small in terms of promotions. They think they have to offer only what they’re selling. You may have read that and thought, “Tom, you’re nuts! I can’t promote what I don’t have.” Oh, but you can.

I didn’t earn the nickname of, “The Profit Prophet” for nothing. You have the ability to look at your customers and figure out what their deepest desires are, then help them fulfill those desires. For example, have you ever said, “If I could just win the lottery…” This is something the majority of people dream about. They fantasize about purchasing the golden ticket, the one that can make all their dreams come true.

Why not tap into this emotional dream that so many people, including your customers, already have? If your business is located in an area where there’s a lottery, giving away tickets is a productive (and fun) way to increase your traffic. The best time to do this is when the jackpot swells to a sizeable amount like over $20 million.

For example, if you own a bar you can hand out lottery tickets with the purchase of the featured drink. Make sure to tell your staff to call your customers’ attention to the potential for a big time pay day. You can even have them say something like, “If you purchase our special Margarita today you will also get a chance to win $47 Million dollars and never work another day in your life!” This is fun for everyone and creates a happy and excited atmosphere within your business. Grab people’s attention with posters strategically placed in visible areas that show people living their dream with money raining down. You can even have servers pin play money to their shirts.

The important concept here is to think beyond your usual promotions and tap into the emotional desires of your customers. We all want to believe we are that one in a million and who knows, with the right ideas and promotions your business just might be.

Last week, I visited with my good friend David Oreck about how he got started…and grew to become a household name across the United States. Tune in and comment below to let us know: What is the most valuable piece of information you learned from this amazing discussion?

So you say you’ve created a product or service that everyone loves. There isn’t one person on this planet that doesn’t want or need what you have to offer, right? Fat chance. In a perfect world this may be the case, but in the real world this doesn’t exist. No matter how hard you try you can’t please everyone. Yet businesses can get caught up in wanting to offer something for everyone and this can lead to less profit rather than more.

One of the hardest things to do is to eliminate inventory or services to increase profit because on the surface it seems so counter intuitive. However, it is a well known fact that restaurants with smaller menus are more profitable than those with large menus because they do tremendous volume on those few items that make them money rather than having cash tied up in product sitting on the shelf waiting for the occasional order. The same is true of retail. If you own a boutique specializing in ladies shoes, does it make sense to also offer a lot of other accessories like purses, hats and jewelry just because you can? How much of this inventory will end up in a clearance bin or gathering dust on a shelf?

In any business it is vital to make a continual assessment of what’s selling and what’s not and adapt to the behavior of your consumers. Remember that for most businesses 80% of your revenue comes from just 20% of your customers. In the case of the shoe boutique, you can bet that all of your customers need shoes whereas only a few may need a hat even though everyone talks about how beautiful they are. Are you spending valuable dollars on inventory that goes stagnate because you’re trying to please the largest group of customers that are likely to be only producing a small fraction of your revenue?

We have to understand the most profitable segments of our customer base in an effort to increase revenue. Think about your customers and try to understand their actual behavior – not the behavior you want them to have. I see many business owners that have the idea that more is always better, but if it doesn’t make you more profitable, is it really better? Don’t base your decisions on assumptions of how you think your customers behave as that is the fastest way I know to go broke. Evaluate what is selling and what is not and let the facts dictate what you put in your store.

I’m constantly amazed at what I’ve seen and heard over the years. Several years ago, I read a story about a woman who broke her thumb trying to bang a nail into the wall with her high heeled shoe. A hammer would seem the better choice in hindsight but it points out the fact that we often do what’s easiest instead of what’s best. Why is it that we waste our time looking for the quick fix or that elusive “something” to make our business better when the answer is right in front of our eyes? So many businesses search for the newest methods to find and keep customers without realizing that their best avenue is standing right in front of them – their employees.

Your employees, or internal customers, are an integral part of your business. I saw a sign one time in a restaurant that said “If mamma ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy” and I remember thinking to myself the same can be said for employees. If you want your external customers to have an exceptional experience, you have to meet the needs of your internal customers. Your employees have to be happy and satisfied with all aspects of their job otherwise you’ll experience high turnover and a potential loss of revenue as a result.

Don’t fall into the trap of taking the attitude that you are doing your employees a favor by giving them a paycheck. We as business owners and managers need employees just as much as they need us. When your internal customers don’t feel you appreciate them, they’re going to find an employer that does. Making an internal customer feel valued and a part of the company doesn’t have to cost money. One of the best ways I’ve found to show a new employee your appreciation is to stick a congratulatory note in with their first paycheck thanking them for all of their hard work. Recognizing the contribution of all your employees is a simple as saying thank you on a regular basis.

Today, social media is heralded as the end all be all to help grow your business. It seems that endless opportunities abound for anyone who has mastered this revolutionary practice. Once your Facebook and Twitter accounts are active and videos posted on YouTube, with the wave of a wand and an utter of the magic word – Abracadabra – you’ll have more customers than ever before and you can sit back and watch your bank account grow. As if! Social media can’t and won’t magically build your business. What most people don’t realize is that building your friend or fan list on this type of media is not the same as developing an effective marketing strategy.

The number of views or followers doesn’t determine your actual success. Fans, apps, tweets, or videos don’t constitute a solid marketing strategy. How much money are you making with social media? Can you make a direct correlation to internet sales and the number of fans you have? Have your YouTube videos demonstrating how great your products and/or services are increased the number of new customers?

While I’m not discounting the value of social media, which for small businesses or ones with a niche product or service is a great way to get your name in front of a large customer base for a relatively low cost, the problem is that the majority of companies focus too much on the latest social media trends rather than on their customers. When it is all said and done your customers don’t care about how many fans or video testimonials you have. They want to feel valued and be treated with respect. While I believe social media is valid and has its place, I know from experience that social media will never replace the personal touch.

Marketing blunders, boo boos, and snafus have plagued many a business over the recent years. I’m constantly amazed at how many companies make these simple marketing mistakes. Yes, they are funny, but instead of sitting back and laughing, take a moment and learn from the other guy’s mishaps.

Twenty years ago who would have ever thought of paying for a bottle of water? Now, prepackaged water is the standard and the thought of drinking from the tap is less than civilized.  On CNNmoney.com’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, they highlight an interesting blunder by Fiji Water. With every other bottled water producer showing pictures of natural springs, waterfalls, and clear mountain lakes touting their clean and refreshing water (though many are bottled in major cities), Fiji wanted to set themselves above their competition by running a magazine ad headlined, “The Label Says Fiji Because It’s Not Bottled in Cleveland.” Officials from Cleveland decided to combat that remark and ran a few tests on Fiji bottled water. The tests revealed that Fiji bottled water contained 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per liter, while the city’s tap water had none. The city released its finding to the media and battle was on, all be it short lived.

Fiji Water earns a Feinstein Folly Award for their witty yet incriminating retort stating that their own authorized tests found less than 2 micrograms of arsenic per liter.  Now granted this amount of arsenic can be compared to a drop in a swimming pool and has no adverse health effects, but the general public doesn’t think in those terms. They hear arsenic and think poison. Fiji may as well have slapped a skull and cross bones on their label.  What we can learn from this is if you’re going to compare your products to anything else, even a city, you’d better have your facts straight. The best marketing is done through creativity and imagination not thoughtless reaction.

I get more work done during the day than most people half my age. No, I’m not drinking a bunch of caffeine and I don’t drink green algae or take hourly B12 shots. I make effective use of my time. Hardly anybody matches my personal productivity, because they refuse to embrace my methods (most of which are just common sense). The one method that I take the most flack about is that I don’t have a computer on my desk. I don’t waste my time on the mind numbing daily internet surf or reading about if Tiger has another girlfriend. Instead I use my time wisely on the things that bring in revenue to my business or enhance my life in some way. Unfortunately, the majority of business owners don’t understand the importance of this thought process and wind up being slaves to their cell phones, laptops, and email. What a time drain!

I simply prioritize my day, figure out what’s really important and cut the rest out. If I don’t have time to do what has to be done, I immediately delegate it. This gives me the results I want as well as the freedom to enjoy doing what I want to do. There is a growing recognition that this constant obsession with being connected is more harmful than helpful. I recently saw a Frontline program on PBS featuring the research of a Stanford scientist who used MRI’s to demonstrate potential permanent damage to the very ability to think from too much computer time. Dare I say it; we can actually spend too much time on our electronic gizmos and gadgets. How many customers do people ignore or lose because they’re constantly texting or checking email? Who would you rather do business with, an actual person who takes the time to speak to you or Mr. Roboto who works you in between emails and texts?

This constant connectedness to the digital world is a never ending disruption of thought as well as a drain on your time and productivity. I say no more! Toss your laptops in the dumpster on the way home. Turn your cell phones off. Stop texting and start thinking. Revolt against the machine, take back your time and invest it in what really matters – your business.

One of the biggest excuses business owners use is that they don’t have time to learn new techniques to grow their business. I speak with many who flat out tell me that they can’t leave their business for even a few days.  They run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to do anything and everything. This is nuts! The truth is they don’t run their business it runs them. It’s all about priorities. Do you feel like a slave to your business with no time to promote your brand or get new customers? Have you lost your focus on growth and become a mindless zombie wandering around blindly? Do your employees roll their eyes when they see you walk in the door and think “Oh no, here comes Major Micro-manage?” Why are you scared to let go and delegate? Your  main responsibility as a business owner is to hire the right people so you can put your efforts toward expanding your business.

I hire the best and brightest in the country. I don’t want to know how to upload photos, fix my computer, or ship orders. My best talent is spent meeting customers face to face and getting new business. If you don’t concentrate on your strengths, your weaknesses are going to crush you. Learning not to insist on control of every aspect and every decision is difficult for some business owners. To this, I say – SNAP OUT OF IT! Is your best time really spent standing in line at the Post Office or going to Costco to buy bottled water?

Evaluate your own capabilities and identify whether or not some of the tasks you spend so much time on are really moving you forward, or if they could be better performed by someone else. If you’re in business to make money, use your talents wisely and trust your employees to do their jobs. If you don’t trust them than why did you hire them? How much would your business grow if you were more focused, had more time, and less worry?

For literally decades I’ve heard everyone from CEOs to media experts talk about the fact that any publicity is good publicity.  Their misguided premise is built on the idea that as long as your name is in the news, and it doesn’t cost you anything, that it helps your business. Not only is this not true, the wrong kind of publicity can have devastating effects on your brand and your bottom line. Look at the recent problems Toyota has had with cars accelerating unexpectedly. While it is true that the issue has become an international media frenzy, it has also devastated the positive and superior brand that Toyota spent most of the last century building.

A year ago if I’d asked you what you thought of Toyota cars you might have used words or phrases such as: reliable, well-built, or great resale value. But what you would say today? If I offered to let you test drive a Prius or Camry right now, would you hop in the driver’s seat or would you think twice? Now think about the fact that the negative news stories about Toyota didn’t really start in earnest until the Federal Government recall in January of this year. What took almost a century to build has been devastated by bad publicity in a short three months.

Don’t let this happen to your brand! It takes a great deal of time and energy to build and sustain a company image and you must fiercely protect it from issues and problems before they garner unwanted media attention. This includes handling issues right up front and ensuring that your relationship with your customers is maintained. If customers perceive for one second that they are your last concern, then your business will soon be six feet under and the media will be all too happy to shovel dirt on the grave.

Your Front Line is Your Bottom Line

Overlook your front line employees at your own peril.  They’re the face of your business.  After all they are the men and women who interact directly with your customers, either in person or on the phone.  Your customers will remember the individuals who serve them long after they forget your latest advertising campaign.  It’s your job to make sure that the face of your business has a big smile on it.  Following are some simple, inexpensive tactics you can use to help keep your internal customers happy, so they’ll pass those smiles onto your customers.

Give every employee that works for you his or her own personal business cards. Now all the bosses seem to have them, but why, why doesn’t the person making an hourly wage have his or her own personal business cards?  I never understood that.  If you have a product that you would like for your internal customers to promote, put a stamp on the back so that the employees can give away one of the product. Let them give away, say, five free products a month to whomever they want. It builds their self-esteem, and it makes them part of the organization.  It’s little stuff like that that is so huge, more powerful than a TV spot when we can do that.

Make the first day on the job or the first paycheck really special. What about sending them out for dinner that first day with their family?  What about making it special so they’ll always remember?  Or what about a paycheck, that first paycheck that says, “Congratulations, Joanne, you did it,” and you put a Payday candy bar in there with it.  Why wouldn’t we do that?  Or the second paycheck: “Congratulations Joanne, two more weeks until the next one.”  Market to our internal customers.

Celebrating retention. After they’re with you for 90 days, give employees some type of really cool celebration and send the family out for dinner.  Or give them some little gift.  And do that over a period of time.  If you own a restaurant chain or you have a mom and pop coffee shop or a similar business model, let them bring in their entire family.  We need to start rewarding our folks more.  Or, if you happen to be in the retail business where you’re meeting customers all the time, one of my favorite tactics is to have a button that says, “I’m in training; thanks for understanding.”  Put it on your most experienced people. I love it when customers say, “My God, you’re in training and you’re really this great?  How did that happen?”  It’s a lot of fun, and it really works.

A few simple, inexpensive rewards will let your employees know that you care about them.  You’ll be amazed at how quickly they’ll show their appreciation by treating your customers like gold.  It’s a win-win situation for everyone!

Service is so awful, customers expect to be abused. Cold food in restaurants, dirty public washrooms, late deliveries, rejected parts, lost orders, lazy staff — it’s all normal. Bottom line, people expect bad and rude service. Give ‘em junk and they’re not surprised. Just what they expected. As long as the abuse isn’t any worse than they expected, they’ll be back for more. Your customers are a revolt waiting to happen. They’re only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing any better. Let’s start a change. I always say change what needs changing, not what’s easy.It’s not even about service anymore, because service is a mechanical skill, but hospitality is a heartfelt relationship that you have between two people.

I want to really move over and create a hospitality revolution. The key is to treat your internal customers as your most important customer. Once you have really have this process down, you can watch sales and profitability grow as your employees grow in terms of how they feel about working in your business.  Remember  your front line is your bottom line and many companies are using innovative and creative ways to show employees how much they’re valued. So, I really want to what are you doing to show that you value your employees?

I always say if you treated your external customers the way you treat your internal customers (or employees), you wouldn’t have any customers.

That is the key.  All great companies depend on great employees who will support products and services, and validate the brand.   Employees who are enthusiastic and gracious service providers make the greatest brand impression on consumers and are most effective and enduring, and ensuring repeat visits.

For successful companies, the most truly effective marketing starts with employees.  It has to.

Companies can do all the clever marketing in the world, but if your internal customers aren’t on board, engaged, and enthusiastic, the results will be unsatisfying for the brand.  And any executive who understands this aspect of four walls marketing tends to reap tremendous rewards.

What kind of marketing plan do you have for your internal customers?

Marketing is the message, but human beings with hearts and souls are the messengers.   We’re in the feeling business; everyone is.  We need to focus on the experience your customers and your employees have with you and your company.  Respect authenticity, empathy, being vulnerable.

So, I recommend a plan for everyone that I work with to always start with an internal customer survey.  You have a two-point prong here.  First, it’s recruiting, and I have lots to share about this subject later, and the other is all of those internal customers you have on board now.  How are they feeling about themselves?  We do all this external research, but we do not seem to do the internal research as we should.  Our role isn’t to measure employee satisfaction; it’s to create employee excitement.  So, the survey really gauges the self-esteem of the employees that becomes the litmus test for what happens next in the sales-growth plan.

Many clients are surprised when they find out that only 35 percent of their employees   would recommend their product, service, or business to their friends and families.

Look at the revolutionary power of employees Zappos has created!

I have been preaching the gospel of neighborhood marketing and strategic four walls branding for decades – even to many of my clients who do not have traditional physical locations. If you think your business does not have four walls, think again. Perhaps you are a real estate agent, the owner of a dating service, or a lawn care professional. Thanks to the Internet, everyone is capable of creating a virtual four walls location, and the same customer-attracting formulas that work for a brick and mortar store will work for you as well. Ask yourself the following questions and then think about how to initiate your own virtual four walls marketing strategy:

• Does your website look like Fred Flintstone invented it?
• Do your marketing support materials look like they belong to ten different companies?
• Does your vehicle fleet hold more empty coffee cups than a Starbucks warehouse?
• Do your employees show up at your customers’ homes dressed looking like they just go tout of bed
• Is Quasimodo answering your phone?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you are not using your virtual 4 walls to your best advantage.

The secret to successful tactical promotion is your ability to present a special benefit to your intended audience. And to succeed, you’ve got to make the right pitch to the right people.  You have to know what motivates them. Talk to your customers.  Listen to them.  Get to know their dreams, their frustrations, and their goals.  Messages that evolve from an intimate understanding of your audience have real pulling power.

Be specific.  Compelling promotions are precise, not watered down with generalities, multiple offers, or messages.  You must offer your prospect detailed facts and clearly focused, quantifiable claims. Singular messages have impact.

Sell the benefits.  To sell, you must clearly communicate your product’s benefits.  Your customers want recognizable benefits or advantages.  Don’t bore or distract them with minute details about your business or its employees or owners.  When was the last time you were motivated to patronize a company because the owner appeared in an ad and told you his family history?  Instead, tell me why your product or service is better or valuable or offered at a good price.

So when selling a new item or service, let your audience know how great the product is or how convenient or how speedy the service is.  Don’t sell features; sell benefits.  Features don’t sell, only benefits.

Awesome hospitality is an experience that is random, unexpected, and out of proportion to the circumstances.

It creates positive & compelling word-of-mouth endorsements.  As a result, when your employees deliver exceptional customer service you’ll entice droves of new customers who are eager to experience extraordinary hospitality for themselves.

A friend of mine tells a story about his experience while shopping at a Nordstrom store in Seattle. He was about to try on a shirt, when he received an urgent call from his wife about a plumbing emergency at home.  He quickly purchased the shirt, confident that the size he had chosen would fit, and hurried home to attend to the plumbing problem.

Much to his chagrin, my friend discovered that the shirt he’d selected was too small.  He described the shirt to the clerk who answered the phone and asked if they had an XL in stock.

“Yes, I do Mr. Levin.  If you’d like, I can bring it by the office.”

Lo and behold, the clerk brought the shirt to the office, and it was a perfect fit!

My friend never tires of telling the story of his world-class customer service experience at Nordstrom.

Share Your Awesome Hospitality Stories and Your Customer Service Nightmares

Do you have an awesome hospitality story to share?  Did an employee of yours go beyond the call of duty to dazzle one of your customers?  Have you received out-of-this-world customer service that you’ve described to your friends repeatedly?  How about an horrific experience that turned your store visit into a nightmare.

Tell us your story – the good or the bad – and we’ll send you a gift (a surprise that I promise you’ll enjoy).

And Win a Free Copy of the 10-Minute Marketer’s Secret Formula

Who is the greatest inventor of all time?

Hint:  It’s not Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, or one of the Wright Brothers. Not by a long shot!

It’s always been my opinion that the greatest inventor of all time is the mastermind who created The Last Minute.  Would anything ever get done without this invention?

How many times have you waited until the Last Minute to finish a task that’s been collecting dust on a shelf?  It’s only when the deadline draws near – and there’s no way you can procrastinate a moment longer, that you muster the energy and initiative to finally get it done.

If we didn’t have that Last Minute  – the most brilliant idea ever –  we’d be living in a wasteland cluttered with unfinished projects.

Would DaVinci have finished the Mona Lisa?  Would Edison have invented the light bulb?  Would the Wright Brothers have flown their pioneering airplane at Kitty Hawk back in 1903?  Perhaps not – because they were all perfectionists, like many of us – who didn’t want to send their ideas soaring until we get them just right.

Thanks to the brilliant man or woman who invented the last minute, these great achievers had that extra 60 seconds to enrich our world with their bold strokes of genius.

We’re conducting a global search for any information leading to the identification of this unheralded individual, to whom we should be singing our most flowery praises.  An achievement as remarkable as the invention of the Last Minute should be recognized and celebrated.  Let’s put our heads together and see if we can identify this history-changing person.

Tell us a story, in 500 words or less, describing who you think the inventor of the Last Minute is, and we’ll publish the most interesting and imaginative entry on my blog.  If you happen to know the identity of our unsung hero, more power to you!  If not – just make something up.  Those who submit the Top 10 entries will win a free copy of my popular book, The 10-Minute Marketer’s Secret Formula, which I wrote to help entrepreneurs discover how to mine the wealth within the untapped market that exists within a 10-minute drive of your business  (and to save you the frustration of having to wait until the Last Minute to execute a powerful, sales-generating plan).

Please email your entries to me at Tom@powermarketingacademy.com.  Be sure to put “The Inventor of the Last Minute” in the subject line.

Are you aware that 93% of local store marketing dollars are wasted on ineffective or poorly executed programs with little or no ROI? This dire situation, which has wreaked havoc with franchisees all over North America, has haunted me for a decade.  I finally came up with the solution! And at the International Franchise Association’s national convention on February 7, 2010, I rolled out my innovative plan for franchisees called Precision Marketing. Here it is…I want to take 2% of the franchisee marketing budget, allocate it to a national fund that is spent proportionally back every month in all the franchisee locations.

After merging local and national-fund marketing dollars, we create a 12-month marketing plan that includes a tightly integrated approach of promotions, incentives and tactics customized to each franchisee’s operation.  Through the pooling of all marketing dollars, franchisees get to see a huge economy of these promotions.  This enables franchisees to have programs working on their behalf that they could never do themselves; now these programs are done for everyone!

The real eye-opener for franchisees is when they see that the dollars they send into the franchisor are now being proportionally sent back to their location. For example if the franchisee makes average unit sales of 700K, if your fund becomes a total of 4%, that is $28,000 spent effectively back in their own store!

This is a bold move for a franchise to take, but I’m confident that implementing this system will allow franchisees to provide better service, increase sales, and enjoy the freedom to really focus on what’s important, without having to worry so much about marketing.

I’ve put more information about my Precision Marketing on my website, so click here if you want to read more plus get the five most powerful reasons franchisees are getting on board with this system. Post a comment if you have any more questions or call my office at 561-6501-1315.

In our digital age, marketers must continue to make personal connections with their customers, even though technology can seduce us into distancing ourselves from one another.  If used properly, technology allows us to engage in a more dynamic dialogue with our customers, and to stop interrupting them.  It lets us be available to our customer whenever she needs us, in the way that she needs us, and in the language that she understands.

While my philosophy is very “local,” the basic tenets apply globally towards any industry, including high-tech.  We’ve all got to figure out a way to break through the clutter and to allow our customers to invite us in to speak to them. The days of shouting and interrupting customers are over. Use technology as a tactic to touch your customer and speak to them in a way they understand.

The 21^st century neighborhood is wherever you customers congregate – individuals with similar interests, with similar needs and desires, attitudes, beliefs and values. You can find them in your own block or across an ocean. You can invite them to participate in your blogs and on your Facebook pages. You can find them in churches, schools, libraries, fund raising events, your local chamber of commerce, or in chat groups, phone books, forums… and through other companies who have already found them. But most importantly, and most effectively – you can find them through your present customers.

I’ve always said that your business works the same way your brain works. The single largest detriment is that we fall in love with our product or service. Just for a month I invite you to fall in love with your customer. Look at your business as if you were a customer, think of the interests, values, needs and priorities of your customers – and then you’ll begin to find them. Use your technology to listen to your customers and to find out how you can best fulfill their needs. Devote your life and your enterprise to making their life better, richer, fuller, happier, more meaningful – and the marketing strategies and tactics will begin to unfold from their own lips.

Newspaper articles and blog posts hail Pepsi’s decision to opt out of advertising during the recent Super Bowl as the giant cola manufacturer’s Big Gamble.  I say, “horse feathers!”  Choosing not to waste money on multi-million dollar ads that do not move the sales needle is not a gamble, it’s a sound decision.  Super Bowl ads never have, and never will, generate a strong return on investment.  Although they’re sexy, often controversial, and create a big buzz, these mega-productions are a giant waste of money.

Instead, Pepsi said it has chosen to devote more marketing resources to social media, which is essentially a neighborhood marketing strategy for the digital age.  After all, social media platforms such as web sites, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter gather together communities of individuals who share common interests, engage in intimate conversations, and exchange ideas.   Doesn’t that sound exactly the way people interact in neighborhoods?

Congratulations to Pepsi for finally accepting the neighborhood marketing challenge. Let’s hope more companies follow suit, and choose to spend their marketing dollars wisely.

You can unleash THE SECRET POWER of your internal customers – your employees – with proper recruiting, training, and motivation. Do this, and you’ll turn them into an amazing sales force that will work for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, virtually FREE.

The importance of the internal customer is not new. In fact, Henry Ford struggled with the issue of high turnover resulting in delivering poor quality and service to Ford’s customers as long ago as 1914. Ford found it necessary to hire at least 60,000 workers each year just to keep 10,000 people on the line. He paid them 80 cents per day.

Ford decided to gamble—he raised the pay from 80 cents per day to 5 dollars per day. Was he crazy? Maybe just a maverick and an innovator.

Here’s what happened. No longer did the plant have to recruit and train 50,000 replacement workers.

Henry had a waiting list of eager applicants, service and quality improved and profits quickly doubled.

By Tom Feltenstein

During the start of my career in marketing, I was fortunate enough to work for several years with Ray Kroc, the legendary owner of McDonald’s who revolutionized the franchise business through neighborhood marketing.  Although Ray imparted enough wisdom to last a lifetime and fill countless volumes of literature, I’ve distilled his most valuable insights into the following 7 Lessons.   Please read them carefully, because if you adopt them as the guiding principles of your own business philosophy, you cannot help but win your competitive battles, no matter how formidable your foes are.

1. It’s all local
2. The heart and soul of your business is marketing inside your own walls
3. Community involvement.  Become an integral part of your community by being generous with your time and efforts to lend a helping hand to those in your neighborhood who are in need.
4. Trust your people.  Allow your employees the freedom to contribute their opinions, insight, and knowledge.  Give them the power to make decisions to benefit your customers.
5. A good idea doesn’t care where it comes from.
6. To make it work from top to bottom, it has to work from bottom to top.
7. Deliver a powerful level of service – beyond what’s expected – and you’ve created a tangible bond with a customer that no mass media program can achieve.

Twitter’s new Local Trends Debuts to Zero in on Specific Geographic Locations

Twitter – that wildly popular micro-blogging site – has added a new wrinkle that makes it possible for subscribers to read tweets about the hottest topics in their specific location.

“Local Trends will allow you to learn more about the nuances in our world and discover even more relevant topics that might matter to you. We’ll be improving this feature over time to provide more locations, languages, and data through our API,” writes Twitter’s Jenna Dawn, on the company’s blog.

“The big events that come up around the world will always become a global conversation, but what about the big events that only happen in your world that only matter to those around you? Or the slight differences in the way Californians perceive an event, like Obama’s election victory, versus those São Paulo, Brazil?” Dawn said.

Because the Local Trends feature is still in the developmental stage, locations are presently limited to 13 cities worldwide. Over time, we anticipate that this new Twitter feature could be quite useful for companies who wish to keep consumers in their area updated on business trends that can have an impact on their communities – yet another way that strategic neighborhood marketers can maintain an ongoing dialogue with their customers.

For up-to-the-minute tweets on the hottest new info on neighborhood marketing and strategic 4 Walls branding, join me on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/toms4walls

I would also like to connect with you on Facebook. Click on the Facebook image above to get:
• Instant Access
• Great Marketing Tactics & Insights
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The Most Potent Strategy for Businesses of All Sizes

A popular misconception exists that because neighborhood marketing is a community-based strategy, it’s most effective with small businesses, and that bigger companies ought to stick to mass media campaigns. To the contrary, big box stores will also gain the competitive advantage by deploying neighborhood marketing strategies, as will non-retail businesses such as maid services, lawn care, pest control, etc.  The truth is, any mass-market media campaign won’t work without a complementary neighborhood marketing campaign. It actually doesn’t matter if you’re a multi-billion dollar company or a corner grocery store – the same principles apply.  In fact, these days more and more big-name companies like Starbucks, The Cheesecake Factory, Virgin Group, and Harley Davidson rely on neighborhood marketing strategies rather than mass media campaigns  Mass

A Revolutionary Concept as Old as the Corner Grocery Store
The revolutionary concept of Neighborhood Marketing is as old as the 19^th Century corner grocery store, whose owners knew their customers’ names, addresses, and birthday.  From the corner grocer to the big box superstore, what distinguishes neighborhood marketers from their competitors is the fact that they care about the people who live and work in their communities.  As a result, they deliver superb service, provide a product line that’s sensitive to their customer’s needs and desires, and generate an ever-growing following of intensely loyal patrons.   Not until you’ve maximized all of your opportunities within your own four walls, should you even give mass marketing a passing thought.  For the past 40 years, we’ve been teaching thousands of businesses that it’s all local, and that everything sells.  Neighborhood Marketing begins inside your four walls, from your employees, to the real estate located within 10-minute drive or walk from your place of business.  And it’s your most powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal, no matter how big or small you are.

Providing Essential Knowledge You Can Use to Seize the Competitive Advantage

Long recognized as one of  North America’s most accomplished strategic marketing firms in the foodservice, hospitality, and retail sectors, Power Marketing Academy has provided countless  businesses with the knowledge, wisdom, and inspiration they need to increase sales, build stronger brands, and deliver outstanding service to their customers.

One of the world’s leading proponents of  Strategic Neighborhood and 4 Walls Marketing, PMA’s founder and CEO, Tom Feltenstein, has passionately demonstrated to clients running the gamut from leaders of Fortune 500 companies to owners of small businesses, that virtually all marketing wars are won in local battles that begin inside the four walls of their stores and end within 10 minutes of their locations.

We invite you to check in with us frequently, as we’ll provide you with plenty of essential information, leading-edge marketing insight, and pearls of wisdom you can use to your competitive advantage.  And we welcome your comments, in what we hope will become an energetic dialogue in which we share exciting new ideas. We also encourage vigorous debate, so feel free to express your candid opinions!