Sometimes a project comes along that just warms the soul. Not long ago, Andy and I helped the new owner of a historic soda fountain as he sought to share the nostalgia and heritage of this landmark with a new generation – using New Media and Social Media tools. Recently, when meeting with the new owner, I found myself saying something that I say a lot:

“Customers are more loyal when they feel like an insider, and prospects are more likely to convert when they have ‘insider’ information.”

Similarly, several times a week, without fail, folks ask us about our lives… Usually the question goes something like this: “It seems like you are on the road ALL THE TIME… HOW do you do it?” Or, “How do you have time to do all of this?”

Really, the bottom line is that folks want insider information – they want a peak behind the scenes. And your customers want the same from you. As strange as it may seem, in this age of reality shows and YouTube (check out our channel), people really do care what happens behind the scenes at your business. I don’t think I’m that interesting, but who am I to tell you how to feel or what to be interested in? Or maybe, if you’re like me, it’s so refreshing to know that other people think or feel like I do. I believe “Insider Information” is a “needle-mover” when it comes to customer loyalty, word of mouth marketing and long-term success.

What are YOU doing to make your customers and prospects feel like “Insiders?” (Yep, go ahead, and leave a comment below. Seriously.)

In follow-up to the original version of this post, I got a note from friend and business owner Mandy Becker. I asked her permission to share her comments with you because I thought her feedback was so apt – it reinforces the message. Here’s what Mandy had to say:

I loved this!  I totally think the insider info think is critical!  The last three times I went to market, I wrote a blog about what it was like, what I was buying, etc. My customers loved it! They felt like they were part of the action! I have heard so many times, “Oh, I wish I owned a gift shop – what’s it really like? Do you love it?  What’s a typical day.” It is amazing how much people care about one another’s lives; I think we live vicariously through others in some way. Anyway – thank you!

P.S. I think I might even do a weekly blog post called “Insider Information.” Thanks for the idea – I hope it is okay if I use it?

How to make YOUR customers feel like insiders.

Where are the points in your customer experience that make a new customer feel awkward or out of the loop? Do some customers walk into your restaurant  or small business and know exactly what to do, what to expect, how to respond? Or do they struggle through certain points of the experience – or even getting in the door in the first place! Learn from your regulars – and find ways to make new customers feel equally comfortable. Sales and tips will increase accordingly.

This week, I had a great experience, but I’d be willing to have it again, refer folks to do the same, purchase from a distance and more… if only the store’s branding had included their domain name or web site address. Here’s what I mean…

I love to sell, I love to network, and I love the relationship side of business. But today, I saw the sales cycle for a small business in Texas work like a charm – without the pre-sale relationship building part of the equation.

Driving I-20 East, just outside of Dallas, Texas you’ll see a lot of things. Mostly a lot of grass and trees. But in one brief oasis, we saw a billboard for FRIED PIES.

My traveling companions were instantly alert and waiting for the exit to arrive. We stopped at the Fried Pie Shoppe (an outpost of the original in Davis, Oklahoma), and our noses were treated to a couple of delightful smells. Barbecue and fried pies.

I can be a sucker for a fried pie. I was impressed even more by their great menu and their total grasp on their concept. Really good food, well displayed but nothing fancy. Their signage and experience were a home run.

I walked out with a couple of happy companions and a sack full of fried pies.

I’d probably have to say the one thing they missed with me was a domain name in their branding. I’d love to be able to remember their business name a little better than I do, and I’d love to be able to easily link back to their business. I didn’t get to taste that barbecue, but it sure did smell great. If it had been a little closer to dinner, I’d probably have had to try it. But now, it’s going to be difficult for me to stay in touch, to send customers their way or even order their proprietary products (which they had, sitting on top of their buffet line – bottled sauces and such) on-line. The missing domain name or web site address on their signage, bags, branded 20 oz. cups, menus, point of sale, receipts, etc. left money on the table – my money – and certainly that of many other happy customers.

How can you extend your experience after every sale and after the customer has “moved on down the interstate”? Probably using that URL with your logo (as part of your overall branding) on EVERYTHING would be a decent start. ALWAYS get that domain out there, extend your business past your front door and onto the web.

Interview with Serial Entrepreneur & Publisher, Jack Criss

Jack Criss chatting with ResultsRevTV hostess, Marianna Hayes Chapman.

Yesterday, I interviewed 20-year publishing industry veteran and serial entrepreneur, Jack Criss. Criss is currently publisher of locally-owned and operated Greater Jackson Business magazine. Here are some of the questions we discussed and my paraphrases to his answers. For precise quotes, please watch the full interview on ResultsRevTV here (30 minute video).

Marianna: As a news insider, explain how small businesses can get their business covered in the media? What approach would you recommend?

Jack: Realize that the media love to be contacted and love to have their ego stroked. Recognize their work. For example, “Dear Jack, I read the article you wrote about the Two Lakes project – incredibly well written piece! I love what you’re doing with the new magazine… I have a story idea I think would fit well…” Address press releases or story ideas to specific people. Find their real name and correct spelling and send a personalized e-mail directly to that person’s e-mail address.  Be personal and find ways to connect with them unrelated to the need. Don’t mass send information to 50 journalists and address it to “Dear Sir/Madam” – those messages get trashed immediately.  If you don’t personalize a press release at least make sure it’s well written and correct and keep the information to one page as much as possible.

Marianna: How has technology played into having a successful business?

Jack: The demographic that the magazine is geared towards calls for a print magazine in addition to the website.  Jackson isn’t ready for a 100% online magazine yet, in my opinion. However, corrections can be made online within hours instead of waiting for the next edition to be printed.  We can supplement the print magazine stories, post video and photos not in the magazine and much more. Also, GJB is really a multi-media effort with the print magazine as the cornerstone providing readers and advertisers with a valuable and interesting long shelf life. But we supplement that with Facebook, a weekly radio show and vide on the web site.

Marianna: How have you overcome your fear of technology to keep up with the speed of news?

Jack: Facebook is often primarily used to communicate, network and make deals, in many cases more than e-mail. You have to get over your fear and get on Facebook.  Your competitors are on and you have to be too.

Marianna: How do you use Facebook to network while balancing your personal and professional life?

Jack: I’ve used it in incorporating my business and personal life. I’m just an ordinary guy who likes to run and has two daughters. I love being a father and a runner and a member of the community. I think being who I really am on Facebook helps me connect with others who share my interests and builds deeper relationships.

Marianna: How do you make time to do it all? Facebook, web site updates, sales, writing, events, networking and Twitter, too?

Jack: One way is that I’m leveraging the technology so that some things just happen automatically without me spending any time at all. For example, whenever a news article is posted to the web site, Facebook and Twitter are automatically updated with that information. You can leverage technology to make time to do it all without a big staff.   Facebook and Twitter all point to the magazine and help promote it.

Marianna: What do you do in your business to give back, even when cash is tight?

Jack: I can’t always give cash, but I can always give space in the magazine. Of course, certain “restrictions apply,” but non-profits that need advertising get free advertising in Greater Jackson Business – always. You’ve talked a lot about generosity in recent weeks, and this is how we do it at Greater Jackson Business – it’s important.

Marianna: What have you learned from failure?

Jack: Learn from your failures and be humble. You have to appreciate your customers more than ever.  Make friends with them and take time to develop a friendship. See them face to face on a daily or weekly basis as much as possible. Also, know when to say no and know when not to expand.

Jack talks much more on each point in the 30 minute ResultsRevTV broadcast…watch it now.

In short, restaurants and hotels should encourage and train employees in STRATEGIC social media use because proper use of these tools will motivate personal responsibility, provide greater job fulfillment, and lead to improved employee productivity.

Connecting directly with customers makes your employees’ work more fulfilling leading to more loyal, passionate employees. If you’re the boss, you know that keeping employees happy, motivated and highly productive is your key to success. There is a myth circulating out there that says that social media will lead to lower productivity – I’m here to tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth. Employees with an inclination to be lazy will find a way to be unproductive whether they are allowed to use social media at work or not.

However, good employees will do the opposite and improve your bottom line. Our restaurant and hotel clients tell us they attribute larger and larger percentages of sales to social media each month, with the same team of human resources. Sales are made more quickly and in a shorter sales cycle. Sales are made when they’re needed. And employees are able to become more and more passionate about their positions – and create more and more value for YOU in their positions. Andrew, a General Manager at one of our client restaurants put it best when he wrote us the following about his social media experience after a training session with Andy:

“We have been doing the Twitter thing here, and I have to say I am quite impressed. As of now we have over 700 people following us on Twitter alone.

We want to create actual interaction with people instead of them just reading a post we pushed out there.

One of the things that we have done is put interesting facts out about us and our restaurant. ‘Did you know that Americans consume more ice cream per person than any other nationality?’ These are great because they spark interest in a way towards us and our brand.

Another thing that we have done is doing trivia about our restaurant. One question sparked 20+ people interacting and commenting. People were even cross commenting to people that got the answer wrong. That is amazing because we created buzz about us by asking just one question. We tried this again with a free scoop of ice cream ($2) to the first person who could tweet back with an answer. Again the same thing happened.

The coolest part is the fact that people are ACTUALLY interacting with us! We have even gone through and posted pictures as well. GUESTS love that! Whenever we post a picture of something that is NOT pizza or ice cream, we usually get back comments like, ‘Ohh… I never knew you all could do Sea Bass’ and ‘Wow… that Shrimp looks amazing.’

I think the key to this is to have fun with it. It really is not that hard and is not that time consuming. Just think about it on a slower Saturday night if you post ‘We’re officially OFF THE WAIT.’ Could this bring in any extra revenue on an already slow night? Maybe…”

Recently, after spending the weekend talking to other business owners, social media folks and marketing leaders in different industries, I visited a client’s restaurant for a very late lunch on Monday. It was perfect timing. As it happened, we ran into the bakery manager who was testing out some new treats, and she let us taste a new chocolate concoction. The dessert she was letting the staff (and lucky bystanders and restaurant consultants) taste was great, and the experience of testing something as it was created and developed was amazing–especially something for the bakery case!

But even better than the dessert was the reminder of a concept businesses often forget to use. To be successful, we must LEVERAGE.

What does LEVERAGING mean?

One can be over-leveraged financially, and that’s not a good thing. But in this case, I’m referring to “leverage” as the ability to move faster or grow more quickly or make sales more efficiently by spending in the currency you have. In every business there is something – whether intellectual property, food, room nights, beverages, event tickets, etc. – that are worth more outside of your business than within.

Leveraging Food Costs in the Restaurant Biz

For a restaurant, that means spending in food whenever possible. Instead of spending $1400 for a magazine ad where ROI is difficult to measure, why not spend $100 in food costs to reach a specific target customer group? Not only do you spend less in overall dollars, but you may be simply using food costs that would have been wasted anyway since food waste is a very real portion of any restaurant’s overall budget.

With that in mind, what if you took excess cookie samples to the law office around the corner or gave away one free pastry tray a week to a deserving office in your neighborhood. What if you gave away a free appetizer through a daily drawing or simply offered dessert samples throughout the lunch and dinner hours to existing guests as leverage to make the upsell?

Recently, one of our restaurant clients ran a last-second Twitter promotion targeting college students. To help spread the word quickly, we offered a free pizza for the first person to re-tweet the message. It turned out that two tweets basically tied due to a technological blip, so we gave a way two free pizzas instead. Let’s assume that the pizzas hold about $4 in actual food costs (not counting wait staff, business overhead, etc. when considered as a menu item). In this case, the folks who won the free pizzas brought in groups of 6 and 12 respectively leading to a direct ROI of more than $200 in additional sales on our $8 in leveraged food costs. This doesn’t even count the other sales they helped generate through their social media participation.

Other Ways to Leverage In Business

Business owners can leverage any asset that is of more value outside the business than within. This means your time, expertise, food costs, employees time and skills, etc. are all fair game. I believe that, as business owners, one of the most critical things we can do is to leverage our time. As an example, I use social media to convert more clients and maintain a much larger network reach than I could have imagined five years ago before Facebook and Twitter.

Marianna and I leverage our time to create opportunity for you. An airplane ride like this one (I am currently flying back from Florida) is filled with getting blogs written, e-mails returned and photos cropped, edited and tagged – tasks that don’t require the Internet. It’s amazing the things we can do when we steal time from a wasted time category and turn it into profitable activity.

It’s great how the little moments that were formerly wasted, can be used profitably, but that also means that as business owners, we must make a real point to relax and turn off sometimes. Some of you know that I can’t seem to free myself from my cell phone at any given time, but we all know there’s a time for disconnecting and turning it all off.

I took a little vacation this month, where you weren’t able to get me by phone, email, Facebook, or Twitter…  I leveraged that time to recharge, stop thinking about old work, spend time with my family, clear my brain, eat some good food, and return–and turn back on!–ready to find opportunities for new work!

How can you use the concept of “leveraging” to improve your business today?

Photo Credit: shortlake

Doing some research on a new project, I noticed a trend. Some of the places that spend MILLIONS on TV, Radio and Print are totally off radar when it comes to social media. Oh, their names are out there, but it’s a one way conversation, from the angry customer. You see, happy customers don’t go home and blog two pages about how much they loved it when they bank got their deposit amount right. Or when the bank made a banking error in their favor. But you get on the bad side of a customer, you’ll hear about it in social media.

So why are they scared to be on Social Media? Facebook doesn’t seem that scary to me. Twitter doesn’t seem too daunting for a bank with a small marketing budget, but for a bank with millions in the game, they aren’t anywhere to be found. I think I know why. It’s the customer retention number, and it’s about to catch up with them.

“It’s too risky,” they say. “We can’t control it. How can we control it? It’s too much of an unknown.” I’m here to tell you – you’ve already lost control. And the unknown happens because of the “head in the sand” syndrome from which you suffer. (Hint: there’s a little thing called “social media monitoring” – every business should be doing it!)

Last year, I began banking with a large regional bank. Their marketing was everywhere, and their branches were too. Their branding and web site was fantastic (imagine, that, I liked the branding and web site?) I loved my small town bank with the friendly faces, but my travel and other limitations made us part ways. Boy, do I miss them.

So, I tried this large regional bank, and the first two weeks were great. (No, I’m not going to name them and harass them, that’s not what this post is about – we’re about solutions, not tearing folks down.) The girl who opened my account gave me her direct number, and things were fab. Then I realized that that dress she was wearing that day wasn’t just a little loose, it was maternity. (No offense, but maternity leave caused a lapse in our relationship – I get it, but I was still devastated.) I went from being happy and having a banker, to being a number.  I tried to find other branches, with good people with whom I could connect and trust, but it didn’t happen.

Finally, I started shutting down accounts. It was too much trouble to deal with the little things that they could have fixed in 30 seconds (but didn’t) mounted up. I was ready to leave. I went to complain to the manager about another “fee” that I was charged, basically an error in their system. I got told “there’s nothing I can do about it.” Well of course I wanted to go up the ladder and find someone who could help, but when that wasn’t an option, I walked out frustrated. And since then I’ve told everyone about my horrible experience banking with them. I’ve had literally almost everyone agree with me, and yep, I’ve cost that bank a LOT of money.

It’s funny that banks especially will spend so much on an ad campaign to get new customers, when making a couple customers a day happy could actually create more of a buzz, than a grocery bag, that’s “green.” You made me mad, I told everyone on facebook that I hated your service (850 people), and I tweeted about you (400 people) and I got retweeted (1500 more people), plus I’m writing a blog that will be here forever.  Don’t you think a little, “let me take care of that for your sir” would have gone a long way. Yep.

So why aren’t the big boys all using Social Media to communicate with customers and provide customer service? Could it be that they know there are LOTS of people angry with them. That giving those folks a clean shot at communicating directly with the brand is not gonna look pretty for the PR department?

But what if… what if? What if they opened a dialogue and fixed a few customers’ problems…and engaged…were real by admitting that they’d made a mistake or two. Maybe they could LISTEN and learn about what customers want and understand why certain policies were hurting them terribly in the customer retention department. Maybe they would learn how they could actually GROW the bottom line from another angle instead of “gotcha” fees.

Hrmmm, well I know some banks (and other entrenched industry mammoths) aren’t gonna go for that, but I suggest that you watch your small local banks. I have a feeling some of them are going to engage social media with a passion as a means to engage customers and gain a competitive edge over their competition on both profit margins and the customer retention game.

What say you? How can social media change the face of the banking industry?

Social Media: A Sprint AND a Marathon

For the past couple of weeks Andy and I have been rolling out an exciting local social media strategy and engagement campaign for a local restaurant management group here in the Jackson, Miss. metro area. It has been a BLAST to work locally and to work with such a passionate client who is ALL in – and totally get it. It’s a rare treat to get to play in our own backyard, so to speak, and tonight the treat was all ours.

After a day out of town to work on-site helping a brick and mortar boutique launch their new e-commerce project, Andy and I opted to take our middle daughter out to dinner at our clients’ cafe (one of three restaurants in the group). For this particular restaurant, we are six days into the launch of a Facebook Page presence with a goal to increase guests IN the restaurant during this immediate push. We were looking for immediate results – so the past week has been a sprint to get that initial boost. Our fan base topped well over 1,000 today (celebration all around) with interactions between ownership, staff and guests along with rave reviews from guests exploding all over the Page wall almost continuously. But that’s obviously not our endgame. Our endgame has everything to do with measuring a bottom-line increase, right?

So, tonight we walked in, and the typically slow dinner hour (this is definitely a place primarily known for breakfast and lunch) was bustling. By bustling,  I mean that most tables were filled at 5:45 pm. By the time we settled in and walked up to the counter, two registers were three deep in customers. A few minutes later, the tables were full, the order counter was filled with happily networking guests, the restaurant was filling orders quickly, busing tables efficiently, and serving up the most beautiful fruit salad that has ever landed on my table anywhere (Did I mention there was yellow watermelon in my salad?).

As I watched, the enthusiastic shift manager skillfully navigated and managed his staff through a much busier than expected Tuesday night crowd. He led by example by filling needs where they happened: working the cash register, order window, kitchen AND not missing an opportunity to sell (out of) day-old and “after 6″ discounted pastries, take-out and much more. When we left (they needed our table, or we would have watched until the end), all tables in the main restaurant area were full, there were people ordering and the food looked amazing. The manager texted us later to let us know that tonight was a “major improvement” over the previous week. (Yes, that’s text messaging, and yes, we text with our clients all the time. It’s part of our accessibility motto – we also Facebook chat and Tweet). P.S. It was a RAINY/STORMY evening this week!

So, the sprint was a winner… The initial boost appears to have happened… And for us, it was definitely a runner’s high.

But here’s my point.

Sure, we won the sprint. But we’re also staring straight into the miles and miles of marathon that lie ahead. You see, launching social media right means launching with a sprinter’s attitude. Go big or go home. Cross promote off-line, draw a crowd, grab attention – all the while, be thinking LONG TERM. If you don’t continue to deliver that promise long-term, keep it relevant, keep it valuable and most of all, keep it REAL, then over the long-haul, social media will kill you. (Why? Because you will have done the worst thing: you will have disappointed your customers because they thought you were going to do something – that you didn’t.)

Everyone says this: It’s NOT about numbers REALLY. It’s about long-term relationships. And that is all oh so true. But when you get together a group of folks who CARE about your business through a Twitter following or a Facebook Fan Page or some other method, you’ve gotten together a group of folks with whom you can engage, educate, cross-promote, convert – over and over and over again… They can talk, tell their friends, recommend you, participate with you and help you build your community. They will be more loyal, and your retention rates will go through the roof.

IF YOU STAY IN TOUCH.

What good are a bunch of followers and fans if you don’t talk to them? Carry on conversations (those work two ways), say thank you, reward them, engage them… Ask their opinions, give them exclusive updates and behind the scenes information. You certainly can’t do all of that in a week (the sprint) and expect it to last for the lifetime of a customer. Every week is a new week, and a new opportunity to be a better friend, a more valuable resource, a greater source of comfort, a more relevant alternative, the go-to guy, a more important connection, a more impressive experience…the first and last thing they think about in your category.

When you examine your social media strategy – and really, any marketing strategy – do you launch with a big, fast sprint that sets the stage for a win at the marathon?

What say you? What have you done to make the sprint successful? To maintain the discipline of the marathon?