On a recent road trip through New England, I made an interesting observation about rest areas on the Interstates. I-93 starts at the north-west corner of Vermont and heads for the south-east corner of New Hampshire before heading into Boston. As a “national” road that crosses through several states, much of what you see — aside from the scenery — stays the same. The signs look the same as do the rest areas that appear at intervals.
But as I traveled south through Vermont, I noticed something else about the rest areas. In addition to offering vending machines, there was also wi-fi access. In the mountains of Vermont, cell coverage can be limited so wi-fi access is a great feature. When I cross over into New Hampshire, I found that the rest areas featured State Liquor Stores! Since New Hampshire has no retail sales tax, I would guess the thought was to capitalize on cross-state traffic. However, I thought it sent an interesting message about drinking and driving.
Perhaps it is a reflection of the New Hampshire state motto: Live Free or Die.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
On the road
I love to travel — for almost any reason and to almost anywhere. I’ve been itching for an adventure so I’m heading out on a road trip this week. After a couple of days at the cottage, I leave for an almost unplanned trip through Vermont and New Hampshire, with potential stops in Maine and/or Boston. The purpose of my trip is to revisit one of my favorite parts of the country and to do some research.
A project I am currently working on is for the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition, a non-profit networking and professional development organization for women who working in the outdoor industries. I am the editor and one of many contributors to a guide to working in the outdoor industries, called: The OIWC Guide to Turning Your Passion into Your Profession.
One component is the project is to interview women in the outdoor industries about what they do and how they got there. So far, I have spoken with many interesting women on the phone. During my road trip, I will have the opportunity to meet some of these women face to face.
Since I have a keen interest in the outdoors, I have found the project to be an interesting experience and a great opportunity to learn more about the industries and how they work. I look forward to some interesting conversations in the next week or so.
A project I am currently working on is for the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition, a non-profit networking and professional development organization for women who working in the outdoor industries. I am the editor and one of many contributors to a guide to working in the outdoor industries, called: The OIWC Guide to Turning Your Passion into Your Profession.
One component is the project is to interview women in the outdoor industries about what they do and how they got there. So far, I have spoken with many interesting women on the phone. During my road trip, I will have the opportunity to meet some of these women face to face.
Since I have a keen interest in the outdoors, I have found the project to be an interesting experience and a great opportunity to learn more about the industries and how they work. I look forward to some interesting conversations in the next week or so.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Keep your finger on the pulse of your customer
As it is often said, it is easier to keep a customer than create a customer, so why not focus some energy on further pleasing your existing customers. Use the relationship you already have with them to create programs that will convince them to buy more of the same or to develop additional products or services that will interest them.
Once you have a customer — particularly a good customer — you should work hard to keep them. Happy customers will continue to buy, and will spread the word. Unhappy customers will stop buying — and may not tell you why — and they will spread the word, to your detriment.
Therefore, it is extremely important to understand what customers want and what they think about you. You should consider the opinions of current and past customers as well as non-customers. Asking for customer feedback is a good way to get information, but you should have a plan — not only how you are going to collect the information, but also what you are going to do with it.
For example, in many retail stores, it is not uncommon to ask customers “did you find what you were looking for today?” at the cash. If you ask the question, are you prepared to deal with a “no” answer? At this point, the customer is ready to put their money down to buy. Is this the right time to interrupt the process to redirect them? Although your goal may be to increase their satisfaction (and increase your sales), can staff manage to deal with a diversion? Even if it is not necessary to return to the store floor based on the feedback, do you have a means to collect the answers that the customer provides?
With this in mind, the first step in collecting customer feedback is to think about what you want to know. You may want to learn more about your customers and their needs and/or habits, or you may want to get a better understanding of what they think of your organization and the product or services you provide.
Regardless of the focus, you also need to think about how you are going to use the information you collect. For example, open-ended questions can provide a depth of information but the answers can be difficult to categorize, making it hard to identify trends. Anecdotal feedback is useful, but hard numbers are much easier to interpret.
Collecting customer information and feedback is an ongoing activity. It is important to keep asking some of the same questions so you can track results over time. And it is important to act on the feedback. Take your customers’ pulse both before and after any changes so you can see the impact of your decisions.
The whole point is to improve your business, so be sure to focus on collecting data that will help you make better decisions. And start with easy changes that will have the greatest impact.
Once you have a customer — particularly a good customer — you should work hard to keep them. Happy customers will continue to buy, and will spread the word. Unhappy customers will stop buying — and may not tell you why — and they will spread the word, to your detriment.
Therefore, it is extremely important to understand what customers want and what they think about you. You should consider the opinions of current and past customers as well as non-customers. Asking for customer feedback is a good way to get information, but you should have a plan — not only how you are going to collect the information, but also what you are going to do with it.
For example, in many retail stores, it is not uncommon to ask customers “did you find what you were looking for today?” at the cash. If you ask the question, are you prepared to deal with a “no” answer? At this point, the customer is ready to put their money down to buy. Is this the right time to interrupt the process to redirect them? Although your goal may be to increase their satisfaction (and increase your sales), can staff manage to deal with a diversion? Even if it is not necessary to return to the store floor based on the feedback, do you have a means to collect the answers that the customer provides?
With this in mind, the first step in collecting customer feedback is to think about what you want to know. You may want to learn more about your customers and their needs and/or habits, or you may want to get a better understanding of what they think of your organization and the product or services you provide.
Regardless of the focus, you also need to think about how you are going to use the information you collect. For example, open-ended questions can provide a depth of information but the answers can be difficult to categorize, making it hard to identify trends. Anecdotal feedback is useful, but hard numbers are much easier to interpret.
Collecting customer information and feedback is an ongoing activity. It is important to keep asking some of the same questions so you can track results over time. And it is important to act on the feedback. Take your customers’ pulse both before and after any changes so you can see the impact of your decisions.
The whole point is to improve your business, so be sure to focus on collecting data that will help you make better decisions. And start with easy changes that will have the greatest impact.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Seth Godin says…
“It's way more profitable to encourage each of your existing customers to spend $3 than it is to get a stranger to spend $300. It's also more effective to get the 80% of your customer service people that are average to be a little better than it is to get the amazing ones to be better still.”
Seth’s comments on the June 29th entry on his blog, titled “The magic of low-hanging fruit”, caught my attention. I liked the message of simplicity. Sometimes in trying to create something different, marketers end up creating something that is more complicated than it needs to be. Often, the shortest distance really is a straight line!
Incremental improvements across the board — on almost anything — generally have a greater impact on a business than any major improvement. Many times, the rewards of “big win” are diminished by the effort it takes to generate them. So, apply the KISS theory to your marketing and make it easy for your customers to act.
Seth’s comments on the June 29th entry on his blog, titled “The magic of low-hanging fruit”, caught my attention. I liked the message of simplicity. Sometimes in trying to create something different, marketers end up creating something that is more complicated than it needs to be. Often, the shortest distance really is a straight line!
Incremental improvements across the board — on almost anything — generally have a greater impact on a business than any major improvement. Many times, the rewards of “big win” are diminished by the effort it takes to generate them. So, apply the KISS theory to your marketing and make it easy for your customers to act.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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