The double-edged sword of giving referrals

Referrals are a double-edged sword.

Many of us like to refer our friends and family members to businesses and services we enjoy.  Asking for referrals from others can make it easier to make a buying decision. Some businesses even offer discounts or other incentives to encourage us to refer.

There's also a potential downside that occurs when the referral doesn't pan out or we discover a friend doesn't share our impeccable taste.

The Bad Experience
It's embarrassing to refer a friend to a trusted person or company only to have that person or company not deliver. Poor service can happen, but it feels a bit personal when you refer someone and they come back to you and say, "Gee, thanks for the crummy referral".

The Crazy Friend
I sometimes find myself questioning a friend after they've had a bad experience with a referral. Secretly, I think "Maybe you are a difficult, needy customer who is impossible to serve." Outwardly, I start feeling defensive and asking if my friend did anything wrong or suggesting my referral may have just had a bad day. The conversation usually concludes with "Well, I've never had that kind of experience before..."

Too Many to Choose
What if you get multiple referrals? If you choose one, do you have to explain yourself so your other friends aren't insulted?

What to do about it
Here are a few ways you can avoid feeling like you are trapped in a Seinfeld episode called "The Referral":

• Use a consumer rating source like Yelp instead of a friend. Sure, there are a lot of quirky reviewers on Yelp, but at least they're all averaged out. If your friend is quirky, there's just your friend.
• Have a few criteria in mind. I recently solicited referrals for translation services and received quite a few. It was easy to preserve relationships with the people whose referrals I didn't choose because I could honestly say, "Thanks for the great referral, but the one I chose was a personal friend who was unexpectedly available. I'll definitely keep your referral in mind for future projects."
• Do some detective work. Find out who your friend uses without asking for a referral directly. Facebook posts, your conversations, and their homes are full of clues about where they shop. Take note, but don't ask so you can avoid the awkwardness. Unlike a good detective, I'd suggest you stop short of diving in your friend's dumpster.

Do you have a good referral story to share? Let's hear it!

New social media stats: helping is better than entertaining

An article in the latest issue of Fast Company magazine provides some great lessons on effectively engaging customers through social media. It uses real data and real companies to highlight each of the key points. The first comparision was Dunkin' Donuts vs. Starbucks.  Dunkin' Donuts has approximately 80% fewer Facebook and Twitter followers, but those people are 35% more likely to recommend the brand. Quality clearly seems to work better than quantity in this case.

Read the article from Fast Company

The common themes from this study support the findings from my social media experiment. Here are a few of my take-aways from the article:

• Engaging your customers leads to better results than just generating buzz
• Not every company needs to use social media
• The key is communicating with your customers and not just at them

Success stories wanted... It is sometimes easier to identify what isn't working than to see what does work well. If you know of a social media success story, please share it by commenting below.

Ask a few questions, THEN guess

Organizational leaders are paid to act. They are expected to move quickly and decisively with limited data to make things happen. This approach is seen as a necessity to keep up with the speed of business today. The downside of rapid fire decision-making is leaders are often so busy taking action they don't actually get anything accomplished.

I've recently started facilitating sessions with leaders to help them learn how to ask a few questions, then make an educated guess on how to improve performance. The session's called Solving Performance Challenges on a Scratch Pad and it guides managers through simple exercises that get much better results than simply going off of gut instinct.

Here's a quick case study example. Take a moment to read it and then decide what you would do.

A payroll department with four employees was having trouble keeping up with the organization’s growing workforce.  The time required to process payroll at the end of each pay period had increased from three to four days over the past year. The company did not offer direct deposit, so the additional processing time meant paychecks had to be shipped overnight instead of 2nd day air to the company’s 100+ locations.  Managers often submitted their timecards past the deadline, which slowed the process.  The department sat in an open room and the entire team was frequently distracted by visits from local managers dropping off their payroll or stopping by to ask questions.  Their other duties, such as adjusting an employee’s withholding, filing, researching past payroll records, and correcting errors never seemed to slow down either, making their jobs even more difficult.

Implement new technology? Switch to direct deposit? Hire more people? These solutions may all work, but they'll also cost time and money. You can read the case study to find out what worked.

Try our Quick Fix Checklist if you are trying to solve a performance challenge and don't know where to start. Or, feel free to contact us if you'd like some help.

Seeing things from a customer's perspective

This is an update from a post that's now two years old, but I like to revisit important concepts from time to time. In this case, the point is to try and see things from a customer's perspective.

The picture below is from the ice cream cooler in a hotel gift shop. Look at the third flavor down. It either means "assorted" or it is the worst flavor possible.

 
The store sees one thing while some customers might see something else. It's natural to be a bit myopic when it comes to self-examination, but the sign is a great reminder that we should try to see things from our customer's perspective whenever possible.

Here are a few other examples where a customer's perspective could help:

• Service providers who apologize for a delay or problem by sharing their excuse rather than telling me what they're going to do to fix it.
• Cashiers who hand me my change with the coins on top of the bills, especially in the drive-through line. You have to be careful to catch the coins before they go flying!
• Valet parking attendants who leave my seat all the way back and my radio blasting on a station I don't listen to.

What are your examples of situations that could benefit from a customer's perspective?

It's time to fix your terms and conditions

Does anyone actually read the terms and conditions for a product or service? I must admit that I usually do. Part of it comes from wanting to understand what I'm getting myself into. Another part of it comes from a small paranoia that the company has buried a clause in the agreement stating that they will sell my information to identify thieves.  

Unfortunately, terms and conditions are getting longer and harder to understand. Some of these documents are even unfriendly. I recently enrolled in American Express's OPEN program and was struck by the provision that clearly stated that if I had any feedback about their service I should keep it to myself.

I have a few suggestions for anyone who is writing these documents.  Please leave your comments with your suggestions too!

1. Use lawyers sparingly. It's OK to have a lawyer advise you on your terms and conditions, just don't let the lawyer write them. The term "forthwith" should never stand between me and conveniently sharing photos online with friends.
2. Confine them to one page or less. A terms and conditions document should never be confused with War and Peace. One thing that's great about parking services is they can fit their terms and conditions on the back of a ticket. Try that with yours.
3. Make it sound as friendly as your marketing copy. It's ironic to read the warm, friendly tones of a company's marketing materials and then read their terse, unfriendly terms and conditions.

What other suggestions do you have?