Total CX

Managing My Home Stuff: New Program from Lowes

Last week, after a long day of research and writing my customer experience audit on Mint.com, an independent site for managing all your personal financial “stuff,” I sat back to enjoy a bit of television. A commercial for Lowes was on, and it was talking about the new MyLowes program being offered by the Home Improvement superstore chain. Although pretty tuckered out, I guess I’ve become addicted to researching sites that claim to “manage my stuff,” so it was back to the computer to check it out. According to Lowes.com:

“MyLowe's is a collection of tools designed to revolutionize, customize and simplify home improvement.

• Track purchase history with a MyLowe's card.
• Get organized with Folders & Lists.
• Stay on top of seasonal needs with Reminders.
• Make managing your home easier with Home Profile”

How to Be a Great Customer!

By Patricia Seybold

My brother Andy Seybold is a great customer! It’s not that he buys more than most people (he doesn’t), or that he travels and meets more people than most (he does). But what makes Andy a great customer is that he likes people. He’s naturally outgoing and cheerful. That rubs off on everyone around him. He gets the best service of anyone I know. Not because he’s haughty, but because he’s attentive and personable. He treats the people he deals with in person, on the phone, via email, with respect, humor, and compassion. So does my colleague, Ronni Marshak. Ronni has a knack for making friends, for unruffling ruffled feathers, for smoothing troubled waters, and for coming to the rescue. Both my brother, Andy and my long-time colleague, Ronni, are expert in the art of being a good customer. So when Ronni suggested that she write about what it takes to be a good customer, I loved the idea!

These tips will serve as a great reminder the next time you’re in a less-than-ideal situation and/or as you’re embarking on a new relationship with a client.

What I found interesting in reading Ronni’s description of what makes a good customer is that I can match them up, person-for-person, with the customers that we and our clients have selected to participate in their customer advisory boards. Good customer advisory board members are critics, and they are demanding. But they are articulate, respectful, and have a win/win attitude.

How would YOU rate yourself as a customer? Do you fume silently and tweet your annoyance to the world at large (which is what I do!), or do you reach out and bridge the gap, offering to be helpful in the mutual dance of commerce?

How to Be a Great Customer
Good Customers Have the Best Experiences
By Ronni T. Marshak, Executive VP and Senior Consultant, November 3, 2011

Accepting Customer Feedback in the Right Way

The last time I was flying JetBlue (which I do often), there weren’t any Extra Leg Room seats available. Usually I secure one of these seats, not so much for the extra room, although it is very welcome—it’s nice not to have to worry about anyone hitting my laptop closed when the person in front of me reclines their seat as I’m working—but primarily for the other benefits that come with that upgrade: early boarding (so enough room in the overhead bins for your luggage) and the priority security line at major airports (including my home base of Logan airport in Boston).

I mentioned to the gate agent that it would be great to have an upgrade option to priority security and boarding that wasn’t dependent upon a restriction of specific seats. He advised me to go to the JetBlue web site and offer this recommendation. I figured that this was a nice blow off. Offering feedback on a web site rarely seems to do anything except generate an automated response that leads nowhere.

However, the next time I was booking on the site, I decided to try it. On the JetBlue.com home page, I decided to try the link for “Speak up.” (See Illustration 1.) Sure enough, it led me to a page where I was welcomed (on the “Get Answers” tab) with a very simple, but convincing argument for email feedback: “JetBlue's Help Site was designed with your needs in mind. Chances are that the answer to your question can be found here. Plus, it is much easier than picking up the phone to ask.” In addition, there were two additional tabs: “Give compliments” and “Share concerns.” (See Illustration 2.)