When my daughter was about 8 months old we received 5 Disney books in the mail. What a great idea I thought.

I relate to this shameless promotion by Disney in two ways.

1)   I wish my daughter could grow up in ‘logo free / brand free’ world. However, although I think this is unobtainable in today’s society (while living in a city anyway) it would be a  wonderful place. Kids could grow up just being themselves without having to be pressured to belong to ‘the cool and most popular brand tribe’ of that moment.

2)   As a branding expert, what Disney did is brilliant marketing. By offsetting the cost of a few books in exchange for many years (if not a life time) of loyalty to Disney, the kids would buy Disney DVD’s, toys and apply consistent pressure to their parent to take them to Disney World etc. in the future.

Fast forward 8 months.

My wife got a call from Disney saying that they never received their payment for the books. My wife was confused. What payment? The lady explained that the books came with a payment slip and we were due to have paid for them or have returned them several months ago. She asked that we either pay it now or return them. My wife refused both requests. Why on earth would we pay for postage and packaging for a product that we never requested in the first place. The lady on the phone was nice and polite and eventually she suggested that we donated the books to the library. Again, a brilliant strategic move, now many kids can enjoy / become hooked on the wonders of Disney.

Brands are built on a collective experience of a certain company or product. Disney’s brand is that they ‘deliver magic’ and people’s experience of them is fun. After this episode our experience of Disney has shifted. They are cheeky & advantageous–causing frustration, confusion and wasting our time, (especially as my wife is a good citizen and actually followed through and took the books to the library).

Will this experience prevent me from ever interacting with their products again – no, probably not. However it has left a bad taste in my mouth. Like any reputation, once tarnished it takes something extra special, sometimes something extraordinary to make up for the initial disappointment. Maybe this post will trigger a response from someone at Disney. I will wait and see ‘if the magic comes my way’.

The lesson here is to be consistent. Don’t try to be sneaky or try to get away with something that is slightly ‘off brand’. Your customers are intelligent consumers and will notice when what they have come to rely on is not being delivered in the way that they now demand.

Many shopping malls have had mall directories since they opened. For the last few years the larger ones have had mall directories that are printed as a brochure that you can take with you. What great customer service that is as it helps to eliminate the frustration that comes with being lost (unless you’re the type of person who can’t read maps very well).

I have  found myself (as I am sure you have) on many occasions searching up and down aisles for an attendant, desperately requiring help to find a product & for advice. The other day I went into The Home Depot and was greeted by a lovely lady, welcoming me and offering a Store Directory. What a fantastic idea to enable me just to proceed to the aisle I  required.

However, as much as I appreciate this, I can’t help being a little skeptical in their intentions for doing so. Maybe, just maybe, if companies like The Home Depot hand out Store Directories making their customers more independent then they won’t need to hire as many staff. As a result there will be nobody around to give me assistance when I  DO need it.

As I said, “maybe, just maybe”.

I pride myself that I have never stolen anything in my whole life. But every morning as I walk my daughter to daycare I pass a house and see sausages just hanging outside the window. I am now tempted to steal every single morning! I want to take one, fry it with eggs, fresh basil, cracked pepper and a dash of hot sauce.

I have never seen sausages hung outside before. Fellow Foodists, is it ‘normal’ to hang sausages outside? I would knock on their door and ask but there seems little life inside the house at 7am every morning and I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate being woken up to be asked about their sausages.

Originally posted on Foodists.ca

Ensuring that every contact point for your company delivers the same consistent message can be a lot of work. But that extra effort can contribute to a very successful brand experience.

I was heading home today and grabbed an umbrella from work, it was new and I hadn’t had the pleasure of using it before. It was branded with the HSBC logo. I was impressed by the handle. It was not your usual basic crappy handle. It was sturdy and ergonomically shaped. It got me thinking about how even a small item like an umbrella is an important extension of your brand. As the umbrella was a quality and sturdy product that seemed like it could be trusted to protect me on a windy stormy night, these qualities were transferred to how I related to HSBC as a company. As a bank, being known as trust worthy, reliable and confident are great attributes.

In essence, be considerate about how your different customer contact points reflect your company. Sometimes it pays not to buy the cheapest.

This is a ‘mock’ ad I made for McDonald’s. It uses the familiar sound of the chickadee. It implants subconsciously the familiar sound of the chickadee with the word ‘cheeseburger’. Now every time you hear the bird sing you will automatically think cheeseburgers and by association connect that with McDonald’s. Play the video below. IMPORTANT: Allow the video to fully load before watching.

Brand, customer retention, business development, profit, sustainability, these long-term, big-picture elements of a company can each be built or toppled by day-to-day customer service. Designers can develop a brilliant look for you, marketing strategists can launch brilliant campaigns, and really really smart people can develop fantastically impressive business models, products and service offerings, but if the person on the front line – the person who deals with your customers – drops the ball, he or she can turn a loyal customer into a business-busting, bad-mouthing machine in no time at all. Allow me to illustrate with some stories that I think we can all relate to.

The other day I was at Costco. Eager for my requisite Costco pizza slice, I withdrew $40 from the ATM and lined up at the food court. As I approached the cash register, I put a $20 on the counter and put the other $20 in my wallet. The cashier didn’t seem to notice me. She was busy counting the previous customer’s change. As she scooped up the pile coins and put them into the till, she also scooped up my $20 bill. A moment later, when she asked me for $3 for my order, I explained how she had already taken my money. That’s when she called the supervisor .

Her inclination to report the “incident” made me slightly uncomfortable, but since I was in the right I really just had to stand there and wait to be vindicated by the supervisor. Then I heard the cashier say, “If what the customer is saying is true…”  I quickly interjected, “What I am saying is true.” I’m no thief!

Then the supervisor asked for my Costco ID, “For the record.”

By that point I was frustrated, and a little paranoid about the whole Costco ID thing. Was I going to be black listed? I started to flash back to the last time I had to talk to the police. I sounded so guilty, I hadn’t done anything wrong then either but I might as well have. I even started to doubt my self. Was I going crazy? Did I really give her the $20 bill? I had to check my wallet to make sure there was only one $20 bill in there and not two. Of course there weren’t two. I watched her scoop up the $20. It was right there in her till.

Even though I got my order and finally my change from the $20, I was frustrated.

Had I left right then, I would have been angry and I probably would have complained to anyone who would  listen for the rest of the day. Instead, I decided to change the direction of things. I decided to talk to their manager.

I explained that I’d had a negative interaction with two of the customer service staff. On some level, I sincerely hoped they could learn and grow from our experience, and on another level I really just wanted him to know I was… unhappy with the service I received.

I explained what happened and said that in my opinion the cashier who served me need not have rushed so much, though I understood that it was busy,. I said that her comment about “if what the customer is saying is true…” was way out of line and that it made it seem as though Costco’s policy was “the customer is guilty until proven otherwise”. I also suggested it would have made a difference if the supervisor had explained in detail why he wanted my Costco ID.

The manager was great. He listened. He didn’t make any excuses. He thanked me for the feedback and genuinely apologized . As a result, he sent me on my way feeling I had been heard and feeling a lot less frustrated.

The moral of the story is that you can spend years building a strong brand for your company and it can be demolished within seconds if your customers experience bad service from your staff. On the flip side, an apologetic and authentic manager can do wonders to restore brand loyalty (if a customer gives them the opportunity).

Ultimately, it is up to you to hire well and to train your staff to provide the kind of customer service your brand, your business and your customers demand. Inspire your team to want to deliver good customer service (even if they are having a bad day) and manage people to ensure that they deliver the required customer experience consistently.

Train your managers to listen, to be genuine about the customer’s concerns and to always work to relieve their concerns. Managers should NEVER make excuses for their staff. Frustrated customers don’t want or need to hear excuses and ultimately managers should know that they are there to defend and maintain the brand, not the poorly performing customer service staff.

Often, people don’t need to hear much more than “I’m sorry that you had that experience, we will rectify that situation immediately, and thank you for taking the time to give us the feedback. It takes commitment on your part and we appreciate that”.  The old phrase ‘A little goes a long way’ is very appropriate when it comes to customer service, and brand integrity.

Of course, if the situation deserves it, managers could offer a gift card or some other type of compensation to a customer who has received poor service. It is amazing how quickly a small gesture can rebuild a customer’s loyalty. And if you are able to obtain the customer’s address, send them a follow up letter thanking them for their time, and update them on any changes you have made based on their feedback.

Customer service has never been more important than in today’s tight economic times. Businesses are fighting to keep customers loyal. At the same time, the amount of people looking for jobs has increased substantially. Teens are competing with 50-somethings, so take the opportunity to hire the people who are going to best represent your brand to your customers. Manage them well. And train your managers to respond appropriately when your customers tell them what they think you are doing right, and what you could do better.

Now, allow me to tell you a little story about exceptional customer service to highlight the role you can play as a customer to build better businesses. A few months ago I was shopping at Save On Foods and was served by a delightful lady who was probably in her early 50’s. I had my bicycle with me and she enquired into my day and my ride. It was not the usual generic “how are you” that we tend to revert to in Northern America. It was a genuine conversation. We joked, laughed and connected. It was refreshing.

My personal commitment is to  ‘report’ great customer service to managers too. I enjoy seeing the manager’s face when they realize that you are there about a compliment, not a complaint.

In this case, I happily reported that I had received great service from Maggie and that the customer service initiatives they have in place for their staff were clearly working well. As customers, one of the most effective ways that we can demand excellent service, and get more of what we want from a company, is to praise them when they get things right.

As business people and as customers, I believe it is time we take a stand and demand better customer service. Let’s report poor service and let’s celebrate  great service. Let’s tell our friends and colleagues what we are doing and encourage them to do the same. If we want exceptional or even good customer service it is in our hands as customers, as managers, as business owners and as employees to demand this and to be proactive in making it happen.

At the end of the day, customer service is relatively simple, be genuine, be polite, and go beyond the expectation of the customer.

Let’s strive for a community where a $20 bill never disappears again, and where brands everywhere are safe from the destructive forces of disgruntled ex-customers and ex-employees.

Watch it here – the end is the best.

This ad uses humour to create interest for a service that people are either not interest in or have personal health concerns. It addresses them all in a naughty manor without eroding the message. Enjoy watching it.

This is a motion reel using paper folding and movement to represent parkour. It’s simple and breathtaking. Watch here.