#deli….can have two advisors. as a treat.

[e-vasong]

listen everyone’s all karnadeli this colindeli that and i get it they’re both so juicy. but let’s set shipping aside for a second because i also need people to be a thousand times more invested in colin and karna being slow burn best friends who come to a gradual understanding of each other and eventually bond over their surprisingly similar traumas and hangups. I want them to gossip over meals and share commiserating glances when the nobility do some stupid rich people shit. I want colin and karna to team up during arguments, and deli to be exhausted because he has to deal with the fact that his skalds have unionized. I want them to quietly have each others backs, even though they’d never fucking admit it if you asked. Are you all seeing my vision.

[martechadvisor-blog]

Personalization: The New Age Formula of Success for the Marketers

Do you know me? You have collected all sorts of demographic, behavioral and transaction data about me and despite all of this work, you treat me like we have never met. Jim Fosina, CEO, Fosina Marketing Group explores today's consumer and their rising expectation around personalized communication and/or the lack of it. What you know and don't use is hurting your business

Many of us remember the familiar tune that introduced each episode of the hit sitcom-Cheers. When the world’s challenges and tribulations get you down you want to go to a place where everyone knows your name. The great bar Cheers in Boston, where the bartender knew all of the customer’s names and treated them like they were friends, family. None of the “regulars” would ever think about going to another bar this was their home; they were intensely loyal. This show was on air from 1982-1993 and it is my sense that we have lost something since the last episode. Each week, with that familiar jingle we were reminded of what it could feel like to be recognized and valued.

These days, I worry a great deal that the loss of those sort of relationships between business and their customers are gone. It seems replaced with a level of indifference that makes any thought of personalization and real engagement only romantic and historical. We worry about how to engage our customers and build loyalty on a grand scale. What have we truly done to craft our messaging and engagement with our best and most loyal customers?  Do we know their names? Do we even care? It’s clear from market data that Gen X, Y, Z desire relationships with brands and “retail” partners that transcend the transactional. They truly want the “Cheers” connection with organizations and merchants that really care about them and their business. They are searching for and will remain loyal to those companies that are much deeper than the cash register.

Before the competition turns the lights off on your business.Here are several tips/thoughts and ideas that you must implement to differentiate your relationship with customers whether that “touch” is online or in store.

Stop Calling Me Guest: That seems to be the latest fad from the burger place to the tire replacement retailer. Can I help the next guest? How about in retail, we start by saying, Good Morning or Good Day, what’s your name?  Then the counter person can refer to the customer by their first name throughout the “service period”. My name is Jim I am not a guest in your store. I am Jim. “Anything else we can help you with Jim? Sounds a heck of a lot better. I can’t tell you how frustrated I am with all of our online connections. **STILL- years later after multiple transactions there are merchants that haven’t conquered first name personalization**. Seriously you say you want to build loyalty etc  the first step in building loyalty is to address the customer by their name. To show them that you thought enough of them to move past the generic to the personal. There is NO reason why you as a business can’t do this. Stop being lazy and get that done.

Stop Wasting My Time: When I was a kid, I worked in the corner gas station deli. Not only did I know each and every customer’s first name, birthday, the age of their kids etc. I knew so much about what they liked and didn’t like. With that information, I was able to recommend all sorts of new products and offerings in our small deli. My customers loved that. They felt as if I thought about them even when they weren’t face to face with me. In today’s world, we are generating all sorts of profile and transactional data on our customers. We know so much about their likes and dislikes. The customer’s expectation is that with all of that data and understanding both user generated and observed.**You as a merchant should be contextual and personal about the way you treat me and service me**. It’s NOT happening. WE are treating our best customers like we are meeting them for the first time every time. That is getting very old. If you as a merchant and online retailer don’t care enough about me after I have proven that I have an affinity to your brand and offering. I don’t need to waste time any longer-I will move on and find another provider who gives a damn about my business.

Surprise and Delight Me: Some of you may remember when retail stores used to drop lollipops into your bag and/or give you a free something as a surprise for being a great customer? I am not speaking about an online coupon. I am recommending every so often for your best customers you surprise them with a FREE SURPRISE- sent to them and/or tucked in their bag with no strings attached. Sometimes you have to spend a little money to make money and build strong loyalty with your customers.You do this because NONE of your competitors are doing it. A friend of mine owns a pet food business. He has one of his employees stand outside his shop and offer passing dogs a free dog cookie. Nothing has done more for the success of his business that this simple gesture. You see the dogs pull their owners into the shop that they know gives them a bone.

Send Love Notes Often: You never call. You never write. **You say you want me to be loyal but the only time you “connect” with me is when you want the contents of my wallet**. Customers and other human beings crave connection with themselves and those that they care about. Stop sending formulaic, machine processed and delivered generic messages solely to your customers. The customer today knows the difference between the sincere message and one that was cranked out by some automated program in the back room. Want to build loyalty? Start communicating with customers in a personal way. Not every message needs to be offering a coupon and asking for an order. We all never grow tired of being told that we are loved and appreciated.  You are trying to build a relationship. Any solid relationship is based on a deepening understanding and respect between the two parties. Share your business soul, mission, ideas. Customers will respect you more.

Make it Easy for Me: Are you thinking about my needs as a customer? Do your really know what I go through each and every day? Do you really think that my world pivots around you as a merchant and provider? Get over that way of thinking. If you haven’t shopped your own company whether online and/or brick and mortar lately go do it. Customers don’t have lots of time to figure things out for you. They will be loyal to merchants that make it easier for them to get what they need and move on with their lives. Look at every interaction with a customer with an eye towards being more personal and easier to deal with. Customers have too many options today to suffer through poor user experiences in any channel. Your business needs to pivot on the customer’s needs. If it doesn’t you are a dead business walking.

In recent months, there has been much written about the rise of subscription and “box” marketing. If you aren’t focused on doing all you can to enlist your current BEST customers in these type of subscription initiatives, you are missing the boat. **Think about personalized subscription efforts as the top of the pyramid** in satisfying the customer’s need for more time in their lives. Your lack of any program like this indicates that you really don’t care about me as a customer. This is the ultimate in terms of building affinity and loyalty.

If you do nothing else after reading all of these tips, start with taking the first step-be a place where everybody in your company knows your customer’s name.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

[martechadvisor-blog]

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Do you know me? You have collected all sorts of demographic, behavioral and transaction data about me and despite all of this work, you treat me like we have never met. Jim Fosina, CEO, Fosina Marketing Group explores today's consumer and their rising expectation around personalized communication and/or the lack of it. What you know and don't use is hurting your business

Many of us remember the familiar tune that introduced each episode of the hit sitcom-Cheers. When the world’s challenges and tribulations get you down you want to go to a place where everyone knows your name. The great bar Cheers in Boston, where the bartender knew all of the customer’s names and treated them like they were friends, family. None of the “regulars” would ever think about going to another bar this was their home; they were intensely loyal. This show was on air from 1982-1993 and it is my sense that we have lost something since the last episode. Each week, with that familiar jingle we were reminded of what it could feel like to be recognized and valued.

These days, I worry a great deal that the loss of those sort of relationships between business and their customers are gone. It seems replaced with a level of indifference that makes any thought of personalization and real engagement only romantic and historical. We worry about how to engage our customers and build loyalty on a grand scale. What have we truly done to craft our messaging and engagement with our best and most loyal customers?  Do we know their names? Do we even care? It’s clear from market data that Gen X, Y, Z desire relationships with brands and “retail” partners that transcend the transactional. They truly want the “Cheers” connection with organizations and merchants that really care about them and their business. They are searching for and will remain loyal to those companies that are much deeper than the cash register.

Before the competition turns the lights off on your business.Here are several tips/thoughts and ideas that you must implement to differentiate your relationship with customers whether that “touch” is online or in store.

Stop Calling Me Guest: That seems to be the latest fad from the burger place to the tire replacement retailer. Can I help the next guest? How about in retail, we start by saying, Good Morning or Good Day, what’s your name?  Then the counter person can refer to the customer by their first name throughout the “service period”. My name is Jim I am not a guest in your store. I am Jim. “Anything else we can help you with Jim? Sounds a heck of a lot better. I can’t tell you how frustrated I am with all of our online connections. **STILL- years later after multiple transactions there are merchants that haven’t conquered first name personalization**. Seriously you say you want to build loyalty etc  the first step in building loyalty is to address the customer by their name. To show them that you thought enough of them to move past the generic to the personal. There is NO reason why you as a business can’t do this. Stop being lazy and get that done.

Stop Wasting My Time: When I was a kid, I worked in the corner gas station deli. Not only did I know each and every customer’s first name, birthday, the age of their kids etc. I knew so much about what they liked and didn’t like. With that information, I was able to recommend all sorts of new products and offerings in our small deli. My customers loved that. They felt as if I thought about them even when they weren’t face to face with me. In today’s world, we are generating all sorts of profile and transactional data on our customers. We know so much about their likes and dislikes. The customer’s expectation is that with all of that data and understanding both user generated and observed.**You as a merchant should be contextual and personal about the way you treat me and service me**. It’s NOT happening. WE are treating our best customers like we are meeting them for the first time every time. That is getting very old. If you as a merchant and online retailer don’t care enough about me after I have proven that I have an affinity to your brand and offering. I don’t need to waste time any longer-I will move on and find another provider who gives a damn about my business.

Surprise and Delight Me: Some of you may remember when retail stores used to drop lollipops into your bag and/or give you a free something as a surprise for being a great customer? I am not speaking about an online coupon. I am recommending every so often for your best customers you surprise them with a FREE SURPRISE- sent to them and/or tucked in their bag with no strings attached. Sometimes you have to spend a little money to make money and build strong loyalty with your customers.You do this because NONE of your competitors are doing it. A friend of mine owns a pet food business. He has one of his employees stand outside his shop and offer passing dogs a free dog cookie. Nothing has done more for the success of his business that this simple gesture. You see the dogs pull their owners into the shop that they know gives them a bone.

Send Love Notes Often: You never call. You never write. **You say you want me to be loyal but the only time you “connect” with me is when you want the contents of my wallet**. Customers and other human beings crave connection with themselves and those that they care about. Stop sending formulaic, machine processed and delivered generic messages solely to your customers. The customer today knows the difference between the sincere message and one that was cranked out by some automated program in the back room. Want to build loyalty? Start communicating with customers in a personal way. Not every message needs to be offering a coupon and asking for an order. We all never grow tired of being told that we are loved and appreciated.  You are trying to build a relationship. Any solid relationship is based on a deepening understanding and respect between the two parties. Share your business soul, mission, ideas. Customers will respect you more.

Make it Easy for Me: Are you thinking about my needs as a customer? Do your really know what I go through each and every day? Do you really think that my world pivots around you as a merchant and provider? Get over that way of thinking. If you haven’t shopped your own company whether online and/or brick and mortar lately go do it. Customers don’t have lots of time to figure things out for you. They will be loyal to merchants that make it easier for them to get what they need and move on with their lives. Look at every interaction with a customer with an eye towards being more personal and easier to deal with. Customers have too many options today to suffer through poor user experiences in any channel. Your business needs to pivot on the customer’s needs. If it doesn’t you are a dead business walking.

In recent months, there has been much written about the rise of subscription and “box” marketing. If you aren’t focused on doing all you can to enlist your current BEST customers in these type of subscription initiatives, you are missing the boat. **Think about personalized subscription efforts as the top of the pyramid** in satisfying the customer’s need for more time in their lives. Your lack of any program like this indicates that you really don’t care about me as a customer. This is the ultimate in terms of building affinity and loyalty.

If you do nothing else after reading all of these tips, start with taking the first step-be a place where everybody in your company knows your customer’s name.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor