Don't Get Defensive

Good advice for personal relationships, and equally so for business -- when confronted with a potential argument (or even just a disagreement), don't get defensive.

Two stories for this one:

A few months ago I was at a local home improvement warehouse store, waiting in line with some lumber. This store has a "contractors" line-up for people with large, bulky items. Due to a bit of ad planning in the store layout, the cashier area only has room for one or two big shopping carts and the line-up is then intersected by a major aisle through the store. So, the line breaks up for twenty feet or so and then reforms. Anyway, I was waiting in the third position (the first person after the break) with two customers in front of me. The second customer had a couple of carts, so they were standing with one by the cashier while their spouse waited with the other a few steps to one side. The person in front of them finished, and the person in line moved forward. Their spouse brought the other cart over to join them.

At this time, a staff member walked past and confronted the spouse. "The line up is back there", she said, pointing in my direction.

Okay, common situation for almost every store. The spouse had a legitimate reason for being there, though, and simply said "Oh, I'm with her".

Instead of smiling and moving on, the staff member decided to get upset. "There's no way I could know that!" she snapped. I still remember this because of the way she said it. You know that episode of Family Guy where Brian has a new girlfriend who's a complete moron? Near the end of the episode, Stewie and Brian are talking about how she talks, where every sentence.. ends with an upwards inflection... as if it's a question. That was exactly how Miss "Angry That A Customer Pointed Out Her Mistake" sounded.


Second story:
Stopped for dinner at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago. One of us wanted to order the soup and salad combination. Unfortunately, they didn't want the soup of the day and tried to substitute French Onion in its place. The waitress informed us that there would be a $2 charge for the substitution. I pointed out to her that, on the menu, the price difference between the two items was $0.50. Unless the soup in the combo is four times bigger than the one on the menu (doubtful, since the combo cost in total was only double the price of the soup alone), the extra charge seemed a bit high.

We didn't care about the $2. It's not a big deal. But the principle of charging a significant premium for a slight alteration seemed like a really poor business practice.

Instead of simply apologizing and saying something like "Unfortunately, we have to charge a standard $2 for all substitutions" or some other excuse, she became very defensive. She proceeded to tell us how she isn't responsible for the pricing. And how she has to enter the substitution into the computer when she orders and can't instruct the cook to make the change. And how it's a much bigger soup bowl than the one on the menu... And on and on. Meanwhile, we're just telling her "Okay fine. It doesn't make sense to charge that much, but we'll just order something else."


In the first case above, the staff member risked making something of nothing, and obviously created a bad impression for any customers within earshot. In the second case, the staff member risked turning a mildly irritating bit of bad pricing decisions into an entirely bad customer experience.

In both cases, the defensiveness was completely unnecessary and was worse than the initial problem itself.

Oldies are Goodies

My birthday is next weekend.
Like happens with many people, this prompted me to think of some of the positives about getting older.

One that came to mind immediately was: "People take you seriously."
More specifically, business associates, clients, and especially potential vendors.

I want to focus on the last of these.

I'm currently in the process of buying an empty lot, selling my home, moving in with family for a few months, and building a new house. More about this in another post, I suspect.

The incredible thing is that this whole idea and process kicked off with a single visit to an open house. On a lark, we decided to check out a beautiful show home in an area we love, just to see what it was like. Amazingly, the real estate agent showing the home didn't ignore us. She actually spoke to us as if we might buy the place (or one like it). Just as importantly, she didn't seem to be just humouring us -- she really believed that we might actually be capable of buying the place. We continued down the street to a second show home that was having an open house. Considering the good experience at the first one, we decided to check the second one out as well.

Same thing happened. The agent was friendly, helpful, and genuinely seemed interested in taking some time with us. Even when another family arrived to look around, he continued to pay attention to us, answer our questions, etc.

Interestingly, a couple of rooms in this show home were being used as the office for the home's builder. When we were in that part of the house, he greeted us, introduced himself, and said that he'd be happy to answer our questions if we're considering building a house any time in the future. (We hired him, and the second agent, by the way).

I compare this experience to even just a few years ago. The last time I was house-hunting, I was virtually ignored by the agents showing the homes. Same thing with other "grown-up"' products and services.

I remember going into a BMW dealership, just to have a closer look at the current models, and not being approached by a single employee, while others around us were being accosted left and right.

Needless to say, although we were totally capable of affording one of their cars and were actually quite interested in considering one, we didn't hang around. We haven't been back since.

I wonder: If the slightly-younger me was given the same respect as the getting-older me, would I have been much more likely to buy back then? Probably.

Obviously, it might not just be an age thing. But it's the only obvious difference I can think of.

Missing The Spirit

I'm going to complain about the concept of "social media" again.
But this time as an example to illustrate a bigger problem.

A lot of brands have the bad habit of diving into a popular topic or concept on a very literal level, but miss its greater purpose (or the reason for its popularity in the first place).

Take iTunes. It's now more integrated with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Your social networks can see what you're listening to.
Okay. Great.

I supposed that, technically, that's making the music software more "social", but what's the point? It's a nice feature, but is it particularly valuable to users?

Social media is really supposed to be about connecting people, finding new connections, and about contributing to a greater whole. (Yes, I know it's a lot more than that, but this is just an example, right?).

So, how about this concept for iTunes: In a public place, listening to your iPod or iPhone or iShoe or whatever, you can choose to broadcast to those in your immediate surroundings. Imagine that you're sitting at a bus station, and people are using their devices to tune into your playlist (and vice versa). Find somebody with musical tastes that match your own and add them to one of your networks. Or discover a new song or artist just because the cute girl across the room seems to be listening to it...

(Again, this is just an example. Don't start with the "but copyright law..." and "but technologically..." stuff.)

I feel like a bit of a broken record (ha ha - it's a pun!), but it's worth repeating: don't focus on the tools. Figure out the WHY and the WHO before you worry about the WHAT and the HOW.

Meaningless Slogans

Ever notice how many slogans, taglines, or other brand statements are completely meaningless?

Real estate agents seem particularly bad for this. "Your professional partner", "A strong choice", "Enabling smart choices"... Did they all attend the same seminar or something, telling that they should start branding themselves?

Or check out hair care brand Tresemme's (one of many) lines:
"Used by professionals"

Wow. This says something and yet nothing at the same time. Could they be any more vague?
How is it used? For their clients or themselves? As a shampoo, or as hubcap cleaner?
Do they still use it, or is the implication that it was once used by professionals at some point in the past?
And who are these professionals? The shampoo company's lawyers? A couple of employees in the HR department?

I hate to think how bad or pointless some of the slogans they didn't pick must have been.

Who Are You Talking To?

I'm running into a lot of salespeople lately who don't seem to understand how to address the appropriate person or people in a transaction.

The old cliche, of course, is the construction worker or car salesperson, etc. who, when dealing with a married couple, virtually ignores the wife.

But even on a B-to-B level, things like this happen. I deal with several reps, for example, who insist on cc:'ing everyone on my team when they reply to my e-mails. In the past, I've had numerous experiences where a salesperson will invite my boss to an event or offer them some other goody, completely bypassing me.

Sure, sometimes it's forgivable. In some situations the roles of the people in a client or prospect's organization - or the relationships between those people - are complicated and hard to decipher. It makes sense for an outsider to either deal with everyone or just their "usual" contact.

It would be nice if (in all the other cases where it's not so understandable) the salesperson would simply ask a few questions to help clarify who should be involved. Don't go over my head or around me. Most of the time, you won't get a better response from the other people than you will from me, and in the meantime you're just making me think you're being sneaky or that you're unreliable.

Communications

It's interesting how many different ways people like to communicate.
I know people who seem to use Facebook (and, more specifically, their public "wall" on Facebook) as their primary communications medium.
I know others who would rather send a Twitter "DM" than write an e-mail.
And others who will pick up the phone for every little conversation.
And still others who go out of their way to meet in person.

At the same time, it's amazing how poor many businesses are at dealing with the multitude of preferences their customers may have.

Personally, for example, when looking for a new service provider, I love coming across "contact us" forms. If done well, they give me a great opportunity to send the provider a large amount of pertinent information up front, so I don't have to explain my needs to such a degree during our first phone call or meeting. Unfortunately for me, most service providers offer (at best) a form where I can submit a callback number.

Brands need to recognize that consumers' preferences about this stuff are all over the map. When a client asks me "Should we be using Twitter?" or "Should we advertise our mailing address?" or "Should we include our phone number on our Web site, even though people can just e-mail us?", I usually answer "Sure. Why not?"
Unless it's likely to require a significant investment of time or money to operate a communications channel properly, it certainly doesn't hurt to make it available. Setup a Twitter account as long as you'll be checking it daily -- even if you only post a few times a week... As long as you check the post as soon as it arrives, what can it hurt to advertise your mailing address?...

And finally:
It's even more amazing how many brands miss the most simple of tactics for communicating with customers: Calling people back.
I'm currently going through the process of selling a home, buying a lot, and hiring builders for that lot. I've had to deal with real estate agents, mortgage brokers, land owners, banks, construction firms, inspectors, government officials, cleaners, stagers, and so on and so on.
Sadly, a huge number of people I've contacted or replied to simply don't get back to me in a timely way. I wait days for urgent information to arrive (without receiving even a "It's on its way" in the meantime). I virtually tell suppliers that I have money ready and waiting for them, and they don't bother to get in touch. Are you so busy that you can't even spare a couple of minutes for a conversation with me? Not even an e-mail note? If so, lucky you. But you aren't getting any more business from me if I can't count on you.

Inventing A Problem

I'm automatically skeptical of any product that makes claims to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Or, at least, a problem that's greatly exaggerated.

The worst offenders are those late night infomercials.


ANNCR: "Isn't cutting fruits and vegetables a nightmare?"
FEMALE: [Pushes down on tomato with dull knife, wobbling this way and that, tomato juice squirts everywhere]
ANNCR: "And storing knives can be a real pain"
MALE: [Walks beneath a rack full of sharp knives, scissors, swords, daggers, and lawn clippers - all precariously balanced and about to fall on his head]


Come on. If your product is good, won't an (honest) demonstration show off its qualities? Why do they need to make the users look like they have the intelligence and motor skills of a 2 year old?

A recent, more mainstream, example is toilet paper ad. You know the ones with the happy little cartoon bear family? Apparently, that brand of paper doesn't "leave lots of little pieces behind". Really? Is that an actual problem for a lot of people? I hate to think of how hard they're wiping if it's tearing pieces off of their toilet paper.