SavvySoloCAST #14
On Friday Michael Pollock from Small Business Branding , interviewed me on his SavvySoloCast podcast show #14.
We talked about the importance of incorporating a customer experience into any business, and how it is becoming the next economical shift - now, one of the few ways of increasing margin on the service business.
After the interview, I had some additional thoughts for the soloprenuer:
1. Learn about your customer's real needs by observing them in the natural habitat. You can do this by tagging along with a friend or family member while they interact with a similar or parallel service provider or product. Be present to:
- Expectations (before the interaction)
- Experience (during the interaction)
- Memory (after the interaction)
2. While observing just watch what is going on, take pictures, and jot down notes. After you are done, let it sit for a day and look at it fresh - you will be amazed by what you discover.
3. Branding and customer experience relationship posts we talked about during the interview.
Brand is What You Do
Brand is Experience
4. Create a "purple cow", and create something completely unique and different. Think about how your customer remembers you, and start creating clues that will stick in the memory as something unique, good, and worthwhile. Because it is more and more about how your customer feels before, during, and after the interaction with you. We describe it as the space in between (you and your customer).
5. Listen to what friends, family, and customers are saying about their experiences when interacting with other companies - inside and outside of your industry. The amazing thing you will find is that it is the experiences that people share more than products, services, or people.
6. Experiences are stored in memory. Those past experiences are building blocks for future experiences.
7. Strengthen your storytelling muscle - you must be able to consistently and simply tell your story and enroll others in the storyline.
Hope this helps open a new world of possibility for you! And don't forget to keep us posted about your successes and failures!
Thank you Michael for a great interview - keep up the great work...
We talked about the importance of incorporating a customer experience into any business, and how it is becoming the next economical shift - now, one of the few ways of increasing margin on the service business.
After the interview, I had some additional thoughts for the soloprenuer:
1. Learn about your customer's real needs by observing them in the natural habitat. You can do this by tagging along with a friend or family member while they interact with a similar or parallel service provider or product. Be present to:
- Expectations (before the interaction)
- Experience (during the interaction)
- Memory (after the interaction)
2. While observing just watch what is going on, take pictures, and jot down notes. After you are done, let it sit for a day and look at it fresh - you will be amazed by what you discover.
3. Branding and customer experience relationship posts we talked about during the interview.
Brand is What You Do
Brand is Experience
4. Create a "purple cow", and create something completely unique and different. Think about how your customer remembers you, and start creating clues that will stick in the memory as something unique, good, and worthwhile. Because it is more and more about how your customer feels before, during, and after the interaction with you. We describe it as the space in between (you and your customer).
5. Listen to what friends, family, and customers are saying about their experiences when interacting with other companies - inside and outside of your industry. The amazing thing you will find is that it is the experiences that people share more than products, services, or people.
6. Experiences are stored in memory. Those past experiences are building blocks for future experiences.
7. Strengthen your storytelling muscle - you must be able to consistently and simply tell your story and enroll others in the storyline.
Hope this helps open a new world of possibility for you! And don't forget to keep us posted about your successes and failures!
Thank you Michael for a great interview - keep up the great work...
1 Comments:
That's a nice at-a-glance tutorial, Kyle. One observation about the Purple Cow: it doesn't have to be big. I just flew Southwest for the first time and noticed how the staff all used humor in their routines, which was shockingly refreshing compared to what you encounter on other airlines.
When giving the pre-flight safey talk, the attendant on the microphone noticed that only half the passengers were paying attention so he says, "ok, I don't want to have to explain this again, so everyone stop reading and look up front." He had a David Spade style, so it worked. Also, it was a joke that everyone got: nobody ever pays attention to the safety talk, and the attendants don't particuarly enjoy giving them, so let's just do it right and get it over with.
Later, when telling folks to put away their wireless devices, the attendant on the microphone called out "yes, that means you in row 10." Everyone on the plane burst out laughing. Finally, when the landing was particuarly rough, the pilot made a joke about it over the intercom. I didn't catch the joke, but again everyone laughed.
So, here we had one of the most mundane and often irritating experiences out there, and I left with a positive memory because of the power of humor. They took responsibility for the space in between.
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