Grrrrrr….. How often have you ended up raising your voice with a customer service representative or an automated voice system? It happens to me whenever the specifics of my situation fall outside a company’s “rules” for its software or front-line people. I for one get frustrated too often, my impatient self is ashamed to admit. Still I am not alone. Companies that reduce these jaw clenching moments can gain a leg up in the race for creating the best customer experience. My most recent example is a call to my 92-year-old (and getting mentally frail) mother’s bank. The PNC representative refused to turn on a feature that would let me (for mom) direct deposit payments into her caregivers’ banking accounts. This refusal occurred despite my name being on the account and the bank having a record of my having my mother’s power of…
Are your business model strategy and marketing communications aligned?
A dangerous canyon often arises between business model strategy and marketing. Separate roles, meetings, deliverables, timetables, personalities and consultancies exist on each side of the divide. When business strategy and marketing execution move forward independently – as they often do – spin, distrust, poor customer experiences and commoditization result. A classic case of this problem was the latest branding of Plymouth as “Not your father’s Plymouth,” when the new model was in fact just like the dated car. Needless to say, the brand now belongs to history books. Ty Montague offers a needed bridge across this canyon in True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business. Montague is co-founder of co:collective, a consultancy that helps its clients develop their strategy and brand story using the principles of Storydoing™. Montague’s premise – and it is a terrific one – is…
How business models shape customer experience – a tale of two brands
US Airways and Kimpton Hotels both compete in very crowded market spaces where price can make the difference in a consumer’s final selection. But one of them knows how to move beyond price to compete on experience and the other doesn’t. On a recent trip to NYC, I flew on US Air because it contributes to my United frequent flyer status, and stayed at Kimpton’s 70 Park Hotel, because I belong to the loyalty program for this chain of boutique hotels. But with Delta miles and Hilton points, I could easily have made other choices or decided that loyalty points were not worth paying a price premium. Arriving very late at Kimpton’s 70 Park Hotel, the night staff greeted me the way a hostess would greet a dinner guest she was excited to entertain. Hungry after my too-small airplane meal, I discovered…
Insurance solutions, fast from a model business model
Here’s the situation: Just sold my Wisconsin home, my car in Wisconsin is about to be sold and I’ve yet to purchase a new one in my new home state. So I’ll lack car insurance. I don’t want to pay my rental car company’s expensive insurance rates. My Wisconsin insurer can’t help me – they don’t do business in California. Who to call next? Of course! That clever Australian commonly known for his sage advice on car insurance. Never mind that he’s a lizard, and a cartoon, he’s a cracker-jack sales and service guy. I visualize his chartreuse coat and over-sized burgundy eyes first, then the name GEICO pops into my mind, true evidence of the power of effective advertising. GEICO has more than a well-known name and brand characters. It also has a largely on-line business for selling insurance, a business model…
AT&T’s business model Achilles Heel
Protected markets are great things, while they last. But when they end, the protected companies pay a huge price. Do you remember when the US car industry lost its near-monopoly position with the entry of Honda and Toyota, who demonstrated that high quality was affordable? When a consumer discovers there is something better after having had no choice, he feels ripped off by the monopoly-like provider. And that ah-ha is disastrous for companies when markets open as customer loyalty is essential to retaining market share. No wonder US consumers waited a decade to recognize that US car quality has improved dramatically. The company that’s going to pay a heavy price for a monopoly-no-longer position is AT&T, the exclusive Apple IPhone network since the to-die-for phone’s introduction. With Apple likely to add other providers in 2011, one would think that AT&T would be working…