Making an Impact
In this issue:
Experience or Expense?
This is the section where I share with you the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the customer experience, the impact everyone can have on it - in either direction, and the resulting impact on image, reputation, brand, customer relationships, your whole organisation and your bottom line. Does everyone in your organisation understand the importance of the customer experience, and their impact on it?
We have all been customers at some point, and we all give customer experiences to others, whether it's in work or out of it - so our neighbours, friends and relations can all be viewed as our customers too. I have a growing list of experiences which I am looking forward to sharing and in some cases, venting! You'll see that I do rather get on my soapbox about some of these!
Hitting All the High Notes
I've been to quite a lot of concerts and music gigs in my time, and use music analogies in my keynote and workshops, to show the similarities between the structure and customer experience of a band and that of an organisation, as some of you know. I've recently added another concert to my list. I went to see Michael Bublé.
I've seen him on TV before and on DVD – singing and chatting, but live performances are always a completely different experience, as I'm sure you'll know if you've ever been to one yourself. Sometimes too, whilst the artist or band can seem to deliver high quality performances on TV or DVD, it can be a different kettle of fish when you see them live.
However, I had high hopes I wouldn't be disappointed as MB has always seemed to deliver top draw quality, and be a nice bloke with it. The marketing and promotions for the concert tour were all around his latest album, raising high hopes too that he would not only perform the tracks from that, but that he would be singing other major hits. So in my head I had already worked out the set list that I was expecting to hear.
The whole experience is not only the performance though, it's from the moment you leave the house to travel to the venue, and what happens after the actual performance too, that contributes to the totality of the experience and the feeling it leaves you with. However to avoid this particular newsletter being mini book length, I'm going to cut out the journey, parking and getting to the arena parts of the experience.
Once inside the building, the place was heaving. You could hardly move. There were snakes of people trying to make their way from one side of the Atrium to the other, whilst clutching their trays of chips and hot dogs. When I managed to edge my way to the far side to be nearer the entrance to the auditorium itself, I had a quick look at one of the many enormous merchandise booths.
Merchandise is always expensive at concerts, and this was no exception. However, we all seem to be resigned to the fact that we will have to pay high prices on top of the ticket price, to go away with a tangible memento of the experience. I decided that I would wait until the end to buy a programme, as there were no carrier bags to accompany them, and there is never anywhere but the floor to put them.
However it's the intangible mementos that can be far more powerful than any tangible ones. You are less likely to lose them, they can't suffer damage over time or be lost, as they are always with you and preserved in your memory, if they are meaningful and strong enough, as this experience was about to prove.
I don't like to leave going into the auditorium until the last minute, as I like to soak up the atmosphere. It was an all-seated concert, so there was no requirement for any running to get to the front and fiercely defend the square foot of space you managed to bag for yourself, so a more relaxed and leisurely approach was possible.
I had a pretty good seat in the centre stalls block, and as it turned out, dead in line with the centre of the stage. So despite being some 40 rows back, I would get a good panoramic view – depending on how tall the people in front of me were of course!
The seats started to fill, and after about half an hour, the house lights went down, which was the queue for the support act to come on.
They were called Naturally 7, and I didn't know of them. As they started, there was still a lot of talking in the auditorium and people going to and from their seats clutching food, drink and merchandise. However, by the time Naturally 7 were almost at the end of their first number, I realised that the talking had stopped, most of the seats were filled, and everyone was focused on listening to them and clapping along.
They were fabulous! They had no instruments, and yet sounded like a full band. They used their voices to replicate drums, lead guitar, base, rhythm guitar, saxophone and trumpet, as well as all singing too at different times, including performing the best 7 part harmony I have ever heard.
We were all riveted. They had such a unique style, quality and such a professionally crafted performance that took everyone by surprise. They sang and 'played' contemporary numbers as well as some Motown. None of us had expected the support act to be so amazingly good, and when they had finished their set, we all said that we wanted more, and that we would pay to see them on their own!
They had done more than their job of warming up the audience; they had already won over thousands of new fans, whilst giving us a surprisingly great start to the concert.
When the lighting changed and it was clear that Michael was finally about to come on, the place erupted to a deafening foot-stomping scream combo, which would have happily beaten the decibel levels of any 747 take off!
I did a quick run through of the set list I had in my head, and hoped I wouldn't be disappointed. He began, dramatically silhouetted behind a transparent curtain, with the band starting up with the intro to Cry Me a River, and when MB hit those first few notes, I knew we were all in for something special.
He was utterly note perfect throughout, despite the fact I could see he was suffering with a cold. As a result, I could also see that he was working even harder to maintain the quality and tone of his voice, despite being a little feverish. The sign of a truly great artist is when their live performance is better than their DVD/CD – and his most certainly was, despite the fact he wasn't at full fitness. He was clearly so keen to ensure that he gave his audience the full experience they had been led to expect.
After he had finished Cry Me a River, he took some time to talk to all of us. He emphasised what a priority it was for him that we felt we had value from our expensive tickets. It's not often you hear any artist say that! He went on to acknowledge that he knew that wasn't the only cost we'd had to pay out to come to see him, and that some would have had to pay for childcare too, that petrol and parking were expensive, with some people having to drive for hours to get there and so take time off work to do so, and that some too would have had to go without other things to be able to afford to come.
He also stressed that he felt his job was to help us escape from our problems for a couple of hours and have the best experience he could possibly deliver for us. He added how much he felt it was a privilege and an honour that we had chosen to come to see him out of all the artists and bands we could choose from, and how he was determined not to disappoint. He said how grateful he and his family were for all the support we as fans and customers had given them, and that he never forgets that. He clearly said this with all sincerity too.
By taking the time to say this, MB had achieved several things. He had not only acknowledged the total cash cost to his customers of the experience, but had recognised the intangible expense too, in terms of time and effort, and the additional expense it led to. He appreciated the total effort that his audience had put into being his customers, how much he valued that effort, their custom and them as individuals, and did not take it for granted. This was certainly beyond all our expectations of making us feel valued and special as customers, and certainly a part of the experience I had not seen delivered before in that much depth at any other concert. Usually you just get a 'thanks for coming, we love you' type of greeting.
As with any customer experience from an artist's or an organisation's point of view, creating an emotional attachment with your audiences at the start, showing how much you value them as customers and that it is your privilege to serve and not theirs to be your customer, will powerfully serve to put you in a more favourable light in their eyes. Importantly too, it will mean they will buy into your band brand before you've even started to deliver the experience to them. Are you giving your audiences this kind of upfront value recognition to get them to buy into your 'corporate record' before you've even started to play it?
After that, we were all instantly and even more on his side. Even some of the men in the audience, who had clearly been dragged there under duress by their partners and wives, and who up until then had been quite quiet, were cheering and clapping with a newly unleashed enthusiasm.
After a couple of other numbers, Michael then told us that he was also a fan of my number one favourite Michael too – Michael Jackson. Then MB, to everyone's obvious surprise and delight, performed part of MJ's Billy Jean – including the dance moves! Again the arena erupted in a tumult of excitement and delight at this added surprise to the evening.
I knew MB always made a point of talking a lot to his audience, but he did so even more often than I thought, told stories and cracked jokes too along the way, engaging more with us, creating even more of an emotional connection with us, and making the whole experience more personal, and more than a music concert.
As he went on to perform more of his well known tracks, I was satisfyingly ticking them on my mental set list too, and was so pleased he sang every one I was expecting, plus a few bonus ones too.
His band was fantastic too, and several treated us to instrumental solos along the way. Not one of them was even average, they were note perfect and each delivered something special and top quality.
One thing I did know too was that MB likes to try if possible to walk into the audience at his concerts and say hello to people, to achieve that extra connection with them and add further value to their experience. Every person he talks to or whose hand he shakes, then has even greater value added to their experience, and a personal, close contact that is far more than they expected to have, and which leaves them with the most powerful and lasting memories.
As we were dead centre in the middle of the row, we were dead centre to Michael when he was singing centre stage, but this also meant that when he did go on walk about, we knew we would have little or no chance of getting close to him, due to the amount of people we would have to climb over to get to the aisles. With the main sound control deck only three rows behind us too, we felt we were pretty much boxed in with no chance of having a Bublé moment of our own.
We also thought that because it was such an enormous arena with so many people waiting to pounce, that he may not risk going walkabout at all.
However, he did indeed decide to venture from the stage, surrounded by a wall of security guards. We watched on the big screens as he inched his way down one of the aisles whilst singing a number – impressive multi-tasking in itself! We couldn't make out where he was for a while, and then became aware that he was in fact in the aisle to our left, and now just passing the end of our row. How great it was, we remarked enviously, for those people who were on the ends of aisles and having their Bublé moments, whilst we looked on longingly.
However, we were then aware that there was a lot of activity going on around the sound deck right behind us, with security people and technicians shifting things around. We suddenly realised that they were building over the sound deck, and transforming it into a stage! Before we knew it, there was Michael, climbing up some steps which had been rapidly put up against the side of the newly created stage. Still singing, he ascended the ladder onto the stage.
I'm not ashamed to say that we shrieked like teenagers with delight, realising that we were indeed going to get our very own Bublé moment after all!
The stage was only about four feet high, so in another very teenage moment, my friends and I stood on our chairs and turned round so that we were facing Michael. I was therefore now right in front of him, at his eye level. As the people in the three rows behind us, who, now that we had turned round, were in front of us, decided to our delight that they either couldn't or didn't want to stand on their chairs, we had a direct, uninhibited line of sight to MB. As I wasn't exactly standing there quietly, he saw me and for a moment looked me in the eye and smiled at me.
In that moment I was actually quite emotional, as it reminded me of the key performance experience moment that I have treasured all my life. If you've heard the latest version of my keynote, you'll know it was when I went to see the Jacksons in concert, and was only a few feet in front of that Michael too. He saw me too and beamed at me. There was more to that experience with MJ than to the one with MB, as you'll know if you have heard my keynote where I tell the full story, and I was already a greater fan of MJ when I saw him. Nevertheless, the feeling, although not as strong, was there.
As another added bonus, Naturally 7 joined MB on his newly created stage to sing with him and provide additional 'instrumental' support. Two of them saw me too and smiled, as I was singing along to the number. I imagined how much more they would be smiling if, in a comedy moment, my chair broke under the strain, and I delivered a memorable experience moment for them too that they probably wouldn't forget in a hurry either!
MB finally managed to get off the make-shift stage whilst singing another number, and inched his way through the surf swell of people back to the main stage. By now my friends and I were exhausted, but still full of energy! MB performed another few wonderful tracks before delivering three more in the inevitable encore. He ended in a very poignant emotional way too, and for those who are about to, or intend to go and see him in the future, I won't spoil it for you by telling you what he did.
The total experience wasn't over yet though. Naturally 7 had earlier announced that they would be available to sign autographs and chat in an area of the atrium bar. As one of my friends decided they were going to buy a DVD, and we all wanted to meet the group, we made our way to where they were stationed.
They were lined up at a row of tables, and a very civilised queue was forming ready to meet them. When it was finally our turn, they took their time to talk to each of us. I particularly noticed how great they were at listening to people and focusing their attention on each person, showing great interest in what they were saying. They also made a point of shaking everyone's hand. All 7 were the nicest and most genuine set of people you could wish to meet.
They were so highly professional and genuinely keen to give their audience time and attention, on top of having delivered an immaculate and memorable performance – mirroring the quality, professionalism and audience connection of MB's performance and attitude. I thought how they truly deserved to also have a huge customer fan club – I added my name to their mailing list, as indeed did many others. All this on top of them being so extremely talented too, was beyond what we all had imagined we were getting from the support act.
I noticed that many people too were clutching various expensive items of merchandise. At a concert or with an organisation's products and services, if we feel we've had a high enough quality and meaningful experience, the peripheral high price of other associated items seems to pale in our minds' significance. It is outweighed by the deeper rooted, intangible, emotional value we have gained from the main performance experience.
Looking at just some of the other key similarities between the impact and delivery of MB's concert performance and that an organisation's band should be aiming to deliver to its audiences:
Living Up to Expectations
MB had made sure the whole performance experience lived up to our expectations in every way. We as his customers would have felt disappointed and in some cases cheated, had he not lived up to the marketing we had seen about the concert, expectations raised and promises made in the promotions. Moreover, the things he said at the start would also have sounded hollow and insincere.
It is key to the customer experience any organisation is delivering too, that the experience across their whole performance and through every one of their band members too, lives up to the expectations raised by any marketing and promotions. If it doesn't, you'll be wasting the investment spent attracting customers to your concerts and performances in the first place, and credibility, reputation, referrals and customers will also be lost.
Making sure that the reality of the live performance experience lives up to the expectations raised with your audiences is the 4th Key Chord of my 9 Key Chords of Whole Organisation Marketing, to enable you to Create Your Customer Fan Club.
For those of you who are new to Whole Organisation Marketing, it focuses on getting all your people focused on the customer experience, and everyone understanding that they are all responsible for getting the customer experience right, connecting with your audiences, and representing your organisation in the best light possible, no matter what job they do, to generate fantastic referrals.
Exceeding Expectations
Having done that, he ensured that the experience he was responsible for delivering, not only his personal performance and set, but that of his band members and the support act too, exceeded our expectations and gave us an experience we would not forget, would want to have again and would be telling other people about too. However, we were only buying into this, and he was only able do this with all credibility, because the rest of the performance experience was flawless, and fulfilled the core expectations we all had of the experience. He not only managed to hit the vocal high notes to perfection, but the whole performance experience hit many other high notes for us too.
The extras MB added to the performance, such as the MJ number, would have seemed more like showing off than adding value, had the quality and the value of the rest of the performance not been there.
The performance MB gave had the credibility which enabled him to then credibly surpass his audiences' expectations. Doing so won him new fans and cemented the relationship he had with his existing fans, so cementing even more referrals, as fans would be raving about his concerts to other people and creating more fans for him. So also increasing the likelihood of repeat attendance, loyalty and associated ticket, merchandise and no doubt wider sales too.
The same is true for any organisation and the experience they deliver to their audiences. If the main performance isn't right, none of the extras you add, no matter how many high notes you hit, will cover up the underlying flaws. Customers will see through them, and those extras will only serve to alienate your audiences, rather than further attract them.
Surpassing your audiences' expectations is the 9th Key Chord to Create Your Customer Fan Club.
Delivery Consistency
Another overarching key part of Whole Organisation Marketing that both MB and Naturally 7 delivered, was maintaining consistency in the quality of that delivery too. This is crucial to the live performance experience any organisation delivers, and something I explore with my audiences in great depth, to help them achieve the same feeling and consistency with their audiences, that MB and other great bands and artists deliver in their live performances.
Maintaining the quality and still living up to those expectations, even if circumstances are working against you, is a key part of achieving seamless consistency of delivery – as MB did despite his cold.
Emotional Evocation and Connection
Above all, MB made his audience feel fantastic, which is another overarching key part of Whole Organisation Marketing: The way he communicated with us (as did Naturally 7), interacted with us, gave us upfront value recognition, connected with us as a whole, and then rewarded us by surpassing our expectations.
For some of us too, he delivered our own personal Bublé moments, making an even greater connection, adding even more value to the experience and making us feel special. In any customer experience arena, creating memorable moments for them too will have the same bonding effect, increase their loyalty, referrals and ensure they will come to your performances again at the drop of a hat, and be forever raving about you.
Are you making your audiences feel as fantastic about you as MB (and MJ) did with his – creating that emotional connection that will make them see you as stars in their eyes and want to keep you centre stage in their minds and be your fans for life?
Are you hitting all the right notes and striking all the right chords with your audiences?
In this newsletter, I've talked about just some of the 9 Key Chords of Whole Organisation Marketing to help you Create Your Customer Fan Club. In case you aren't familiar with them all and would like a run down of all 9 Key Chords, just drop me a line and I'll send them to you.
Observation Post
Space Invaders
Humans are naturally territorial. We like defending our own 'patch', our turf. When people stand too close to us and invade our personal space it makes us feel uncomfortable. Why then when we take a step back to display our discomfort, does the person then shuffle forward towards us to end up being at the same distance we'd backed away from?!
Hardly very sensitive when you've made such a point of moving away - especially if you've had to do this more than once! Yes, you have to consider that they may have a hearing or visual impairment, but beyond that, when it's clear they don't, they're not displaying much consideration for how they're making you feel. In doing so, the emotion they are then evoking becomes the one that starts to dominate you and is the one that you focus on. Your attention is diverted form the conversation and its content to the way they're making you feel through invading your space.
This benefits no-one and only serves to alienate the person whose space has been invaded, making them more wary of the person and diverting their focus immediately to this issue at the next encounter. Were the other person thinking more about the way they were making you feel, and more tuned in to that, alienation could be avoided and more positive emotions restored and outcomes achieved.
Making Your Mark
An Emotional Experience
What sort of emotions are the experiences you're giving your audiences evoking in them, and are they the ones you want them to feel?
Choose one section of your customer experience and try writing down all the emotions that you want your customers to feel during and after that experience.
Then ask someone else, preferably from a different area, to run through the same part of the experience, or you can do this yourself too, and ask them as they're going through it, rather than thinking about the process, to focus on how it's making them feel. Ask them not to think about it too much, but to literally, write straight from their heart and gut feelings, and if possible, to keep it to single words too, as that is the staccato way emotions are evoked in an experience like this.
Preferably conduct this with several people. Once you have the lists, you can then compare it/them with the list of emotions and feelings you wanted to evoke. Tick off the matches and look at the ones that didn't match. Whatever you're left with will give you a route to being able to start to create a greater emotional connection with your audiences.
Speaking Events
I speak at a range of different corporate conferences, both all-staff and management, on the customer experience and my strategy of 'Whole Organisation Marketing' - helping all your people, no matter what job they do, deliver your customer experience, live your brand promises, and promote/ celebrate your organisation through everything they do. The emphasis is on improving the whole customer experience, referrals, reputation, your brand, effectiveness, the amount of customers and partners you keep and attract, and your bottom line success.
I also speak at industry and professional body conferences and events. For example, I have spoken for the Institute of Customer Service, European Customer Experience World, the Institute of Sales and Marketing and the Chartered Institute of Housing.
See the showreel on my website from one of these events.
If you would like to know more about these or the other types of events and conferences I speak at, or indeed have one you would like me to speak at, then do get in touch. If you would like to find out more about the workshops and development sessions I run for organisations, which include ones to develop individuals and teams to improve the customer experience, then just give me a ring or drop me a line. You can see a summary of my workshops on my website too.
Thanks for reading, I hope you found it useful and thought provoking. If we haven't spoken or met already, I hope we get to do so in the not too distant future. If we have, then I look forward to chatting to you again.
See you next time.
Mob: 07787 573539
carolyn@carolyndallaway.com
www.carolyndallaway.com
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