My new business and website are taking shape. After a great deal of faffing around in circles, I am pleased to announce that the Fountain Feedback website is live and taking shape.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be busy updating the website, adding content and explaining how customer feedback and testimonials can help your business.

According to the Telegraph, British pizza chain Pizza Express has hired a “classically trained actor” called Karl James to teach its waiters and waitresses how to “flirt” and the “art of chit-chat” to help them “butter up the restaurant’s customers”.

It seems that in the UK, we need training for basic skills that waiters and waitresses in other countries (the USA for example) have in buckets. The English language skills of eastern European waiting staff in the capital comes to mind as a significant factor in the sterile service available in some of London’s eateries.

Whilst some may celebrate that a restaurant chain is investing in improving it’s table-side service, it is a real shame that they feel the need for formal training on the art of conversation in an industry where building rapport with the customers should be a fundamental minimum skill requirement.

At least they’ve got people (including me) talking, so the marketing team will no doubt be celebrating this lunchtime with a bottle at their local Pizza Express.

Testimonials are a wonderful thing. They let you have real people tell prospective customers how great you are. You are able to attach your credibility and reputation to that of your happy customer. In many ways they help sell your product or service better than anything you could do yourself.

Untapped Goldmine

Many companies have delighted customers who would be more than happy to write a testimonial. This is something I’ve personally experienced over the last couple of days. Having spoken to Michael Cotton at Eastcote Sign and Display and his customers, I realised that there was an untapped goldmine out there for his company. His customers keep coming back for a reason – they’re a great company to work with.

Quick and Easy

Together, Michael and I drew up a list of 11 regular customers. Leaving Michael to continue making signs, I went off to contact his customers. So far I’ve spoken to six customers on the list and received two testimonials back. In less than 48 hours.

In under two days we have some material to improve the marketing message for Eastcote Signs. We’ll be adding these and the other testimonials to the website in due course.

It’s also important that you thank customers who help you so I’d like to extend Michael’s and my thanks to Saida at Brent Council and Paul O’Brien at J&B Construction for their prompt action.

Great Free Advertising

Michael’s testimonials have given him great free advertising – he hasn’t had to pay anyone to develop any slogans or hire actors to pretend to be customers. The messages speak for themselves.

Here’s one of the testimonials received:

If Michael had asked for the testimonials himself, then getting great advertising like what you see above really would have cost him nothing.

Our next step is to implement a strategy where all customers are regularly asked for their feedback, in order to help promote the company and to identify areas of improvement.

A small amount of effort in a new direction can yield spectacular results. In this case, a few phone calls and emails has rewarded us with some great advertising for Eastcote Signs.

Too Busy? Outsource!

Do you wish you had comments like this about your company on your website?

Some business owners, like Michael, are too busy to take care of testimonials themselves. That’s where we can help. Just like we’ve done here with Michael, we can have great customer testimonials for your company in just a few days.

Call us today on 020 3358 3321 to kick start your testimonial strategy.

How can your business learn from Seinfeld and Facebook to make you more money?

When it comes to the attention of internet users, social media is fast catching up to search engines or even overtaking them.

According to Experian Hitwise (via The Independent), in the UK in May 2010, “search engines accounted for 11.33 per cent of internet visits … while social networks accounted for 11.88 per cent.”  Experian found that in the USA, “for the seven days to 13 March, Facebook received 7.07 per cent of website hits in the country, overtaking Google which had a 7.03 per cent share.”

Specifically in the UK in May, Facebook attracted 7% of total hits in the UK whilst Google accounted for 9.2% of hits.

As fellow Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle member, Maritza Parra, says in her “7 Universal Laws of Social Marketing”, successful use of social media in your marketing is all about your followers knowing, liking and trusting you. As Dan Kennedy describes it, you want to be influential with your followers.

Connecting with people

Maritza explains one of her seven laws, connection:

“People are hungry for connection in all its forms. They are just as hungry to feel a part of something greater than themselves.

“One of the strongest human needs, after air, food and water, is a sense of belonging. This is one of the reasons that Social Media is so popular and so powerful. Social Media in all its many forms provide a sense of belonging to something greater than yourself.”

When you create that connection with customers, contacts and prospects, selling what you have to offer is much easier and more profitable than the alternatives like cold-calling or waiting for the phone to ring. As the statistics from Experian Hitwise show, people are looking for that connection in growing numbers.

What does this have to do with Seinfeld?

The Independent newspaper also reported today on the earnings that repeats (re-runs) of Seinfeld have netted Time Warner since the show ended 12 years ago. The company has earned an astounding $2.7 billion from Larry Seinfeld’s “Yada Yada”, whilst new shows featuring Seinfeld and his old co-stars, Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss,  have failed to hit the mark. Seinfeld’s new show on NBC, “The Marriage Ref”, has been panned by critics, yet it has been booked for a second season. Perhaps NBC are hoping that Jerry Seinfeld can work his magic to ultimately produce another winning show.

Seinfeld (the show) had a connection with its audience that still banks top dollar today. The show ended just as the internet was coming into its own, long before the advent of Facebook or Twitter. Despite Seinfeld’s lack of internet connectivity, the connection that audiences had with the show translates even today into major revenues for the rights holder. Somehow Seinfeld got it just right, giving people what they were looking for, at least in terms of entertainment programming.

Seinfeld was great at generating water-cooler conversation the day after each episode aired. It created a whole community of people who wanted to share their love of the show with others. Many of these people are tuning into the same show a dozen years later to recapture the enjoyment they had, to reconnect with that experience. And to have a good laugh (TV comedy isn’t what it used to be, sadly.)

Both Seinfeld and Facebook demonstrate that the money lies in connecting with your audience. In your business it doesn’t have to be about Facebook specifically, or writing a muli-billion dollar sit-com. Something as simple as responding to customer feedback about typos on your website shows that you care and increases the depth of your connection with them.

What can you do to increase your connection with your audience and your customers?

Simon Says Media works with companies and business owners to develop their “Secret Sauce”, connecting them with their customers for lasting, profitable relationships.

Call us today on 020 3358 3321 to find out how we can help you connect with your customers.

Two weeks ago I had lunch with my aunt at a restaurant that I won’t be returning to.

We met in central London to have a lunchtime curry and found a place amongst a wide choice in Drummond Street, near Euston station.

The food was tasty if a little too spicy, especially for Aunty. That is not why I won’t be going back.

The waitress brought out a jug (pitcher) of water and when my aunt tried to pour the water into her glass, it ended up all over the table. I’ve never seen a jug before that had such a small lip and bizarre shape. The waitress, who’d been there for only 2 weeks, knew that the jugs were poorly designed. It’s not because of the jugs either that I won’t go back to this restaurant.

When the bill came, my aunt decided to treat me by picking up the bill (nice aunt!) so I covered the tip. She found the credit card terminal confusing as did I – until this point I’d never seen a card terminal that required the payer to confirm the amount they were paying by pressing the green button first. I have my own credit card terminal for my business and I’d never seen this type of operation before. It took 2 goes to get the payment made. It’s not because of the credit card terminal that I won’t be returning.

I saw the manager on the way out and decided to mention these couple of niggles. First I mentioned the strange jugs that were great for spilling water everywhere.

“You need to know how to use them,” he said.

“It’s a jug,” I replied. “I shouldn’t need instructions on how to use a jug.”

“You want instructions?” he asked.

“No, I want a jug that doesn’t need instructions,” I said.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want you to change your jugs!” I explained.

Silence.

Then I queried him on the credit card terminal, telling him that I had my own credit card terminal and I’d never seen one operate like the one they were using.

“That’s the law and that’s the way it is,” he explained.

Really.

Very calmly and politely I said to the manager “I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”

This is where the manager should have asked me why I wouldn’t be coming back. I didn’t like his attitude. His job at that point was to convert me into a returning customer and which he failed to do because he said NOTHING and let me walk out of his restaurant.

I would say I was so polite that it wasn’t really even a complaint, just a friendly chat. Even so, every complaint is an opportunity for a company to impress their customers by resolving any issues that are raised and demonstrating that they value their customers.

This manager didn’t try and clearly didn’t care about my custom, so why should I care about his restaurant?

I’ll go where I know I’m welcomed and appreciated. There are plenty of restaurants in London.

This particular restaurant was even nominated for Gordon Ramsay’s best local restaurant on his “F Word” programme. It’s pretty clear why they didn’t win.

The lesson here is that in today’s service economy there is plenty of competition and if you’re not doing everything you can to convert first-time customers into repeat business then you are not just missing a trick, you’re running a business that is doomed to fail.

Simon Says Media works with clients to help them attract new customers and to retain them. We can help your business ensure that you don’t let customers walk away, never to return.

To help your business, call us on 020 3358 3321 to find out more.

What is the secret sauce in your business?

Many businesses make the mistake of selling the features of their business rather than the benefits to their customers.

A kitchen company that has 136 different types of kitchen to choose from doesn’t impress me as much as one that promises me that they can supply my ideal kitchen with perfect layout, materials and colours.

An engineer with 30 years experience doesn’t offer me the same reassurance as a guarantee that something will be repaired perfectly on the first attempt.

A company’s membership of a trade association offers vague benefits when compared to a satisfaction guarantee, backed by a trade association.

A business can have secret sauce in many ways. A simple way to start is to take your features and turn them into benefits. This will help you stand out from your competitors and move away from pure price competition. Lowest-price customers will always shop for the lowest price.

More discerning customers will be looking for other benefits associated with dealing with a particular company, rather than a rock-bottom price-tag. These are the customers that will appreciate you going the extra mile with what you do; Turning features into benefits will help you attract them.

What are the features of your business and how can you turn them into benefits and secret sauce?

I’ve just got off the phone with a friend and client, Richard Dix of Rural Broadband. We were discussing the new services he’s offering in satellite broadband and ADSL connections and how to plan for possible problems that could arise.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but not planning for problems with any product or service is actually planning for failure – the failure of the experience you will give to customers.

It was apparent as we went through different examples that most companies don’t have a system to respond to and solve problems as they crop up. Either specific and known potential problems or the unknown, yet to be experienced snafu.

Richard is differentiating his business by offering oustanding service, a pleasurable customer experience and prompt responses, all backed by a guarantee. So we were exploring how that should be reflected in prepared responses to possible problems, both how to fix the problem and to restore the experience of the customer.

I’m always impressed by any individual or company who tells me how they’re going to fix a problem and what they’re going to do to make me a happy customer. That is outstanding customer service and yet we see so little of it. Richard is putting procedures in place to ensure this is what he will deliver consistently.

Companies that really screw up are the ones that either have no idea that they’re ruining their customer’s experience or they do know and, for some reason, don’t care (perhaps they have a monopoly). So they take their time fixing problems or they don’t even try and certainly make no effort to make amends to the customer. I bet this sounds familiar to many of you.

A company that delivers outstanding customer service has a unique sales message to deliver. Why not make it central to its marketing?

A great company slogan would be “If we screw up, you’re next month is free”.

This would tell me all I need to know – the company is looking to solve problems because they will cost them hard cash which they will put in my pocket if I have a problem . When a company lives and breathes this service, not merely scripting the response, it will have my undying devotion.

Do you know of any companies that make such a promise?

The London Eye celebrated its 10th anniversary on Tuesday 19th January. To mark the occasion, they offered the chance to win 10 pairs of tickets if you tweeted @TheLondonEye #LondonEye10 between 9.50 and 10.00 am on the day. I was one of the lucky people who won a pair of tickets.

Considering that Twitter is an instantaneous medium, I was pretty surprised that it took until 3.40 pm for the folks in the press office at the Eye to announce who had won. Surely it needn’t have taken so long to pick 10 winners. The competition was a pretty swift affair with a 10 minute window, yet it took them nearly six hours to figure out and notify who would be the lucky recipients of a pair of London Eye tickets. In the Twitterverse, that’s a lifetime!

As requested, I emailed over my name and address, along with my Twitter name and waited for a response. And waited.

On Thursday I emailed them to enquire whether they’d received my email, prompting a response on Friday to say that they had and that the tickets were in the post. In fact they arrived later that day in the lovely card you see above. I’m delighted with my free tickets and waiting for some great weather to use them.

I asked by return whether they were going to make any further PR hay with the giveaway and, again, I didn’t receive a response.

Being the proactive chap that I am, earlier today I called the lady in the press office at the London Eye who sent my tickets over. To save her dignity, I’ll call her Marjorie.

It seems that the folks over at the London Eye Press Office don’t really understand Twitter.

Here’s a transcript:

Marjorie: Hello London Eye Press Office, Marjorie Speaking.

Simon: Hello Marjorie, Simon Aronowitz speaking, one of the lucky 10 people on your 10th anniversary.

Marjorie: [downbeat] Hiya.

Simon: Hi! [Pause] Happy Anniversary!

Marjorie: Oh thank you.

Simon: I was wondering what you were going to do about the ten people who won, whether you were going to use that as a PR opportunity, whenever people turn up with their tickets.

Marjorie: Erm, I don’t think we are because we’ve got a lot of planned activity happening in March. So that was more of a message to let people know that the Eye was re-opening after its maintenance work and it is our anniversary year. I don’t think we’ve actually got any planned activity as such planned for them.

Simon: I think you’re missing an opportunity. You’ve got 10 happy people there who are going to turn up and be absolutely delighted that they got free tickets and you’re going to do nothing about it.

Marjorie: Well I think it was just more of us just saying thanks and getting the message out though, as opposed to…

Simon: Oh yeah, but leverage it! Leverage it! Social media, it’s all free!

Marjorie: Yeah, of course I know but like I said I think we’ve got a lot of activity at the moment, so I think we’re just concentrating on that.

Simon: Sure, although that’s March. I mean, I might turn up in April – you might have a quiet month in April, it would give you something to talk about.

Marjorie: Er, yeah, maybe. I can suggest it, but I’m not sure obviously how far that would go. The story is more about us celebrating our anniversary and giving out complimentary tickets because obviously we do it with quite a lot of charities and whatnot.

Simon: Sure, but as I say, if it’s just a tweet, if you’ve got a picture of happy me in May with my guest cos we’re enjoying our free tickets, you’ve got one more tweet of someone happy where, you know, you tweet that and it’s about me, or a two-line blurb on your website and you tweet about it, I’ll re-tweet it and I’ll tell everybody else all over again about the London Eye. I mean, that’s what social media is all about.

Marjorie: Yeah, okay. Erm, well thank you for the suggestion. Like I said, it’s noted. Obviously we’ll see. We have all you guys’ contact details so if we do anything, obviously we’ll be in contact. Okay?

Simon: Although, I think you probably want to invite the nine other people as well as myself to let you know when we’re going to be down there because I would never miss a trick if it was my organisation.

Marjorie: But we’re not using it for media purposes, as I said. It’s more of a thank you and just a treat. We obviously wouldn’t exploit them for media purposes.

Simon: But even then, you see Twitter is all about narcicism and egotism, so if you say “Please let us know when you’re coming down, then you can tweet and say “@supportlounge came down to redeem their free tickets”. That’s all about Twitter. It’s a two-way conversation, it’s feeding into it.

Marjorie: Okay, well like I said, thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely feed back to my team and see what they think about it.

Simon: Okay, you’ve got my details.

Marjorie: Yes we have, thank you, bye.

Am I being harsh, or are The London Eye missing a trick?

Last week I interviewed Erik Qualman, the author of Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business.

We discussed how the internet has moved beyond search and how businesses are using the latest technologies in social media to keep in touch with exisiting and prospective customers.

If your business hasn’t started to explore how it can use social media to its advantage then you really need to listen to this interview

Erik Qualman on Socialnomics

To get a copy of Erik’s book, go to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

Erik’s Website