Yesterday, I was on an important business conference call. Ten minutes into the call, I was dropped. I immediately used my other line to dial back in and after 4 minutes I was dropped again. As I’ve become skilled at through years of experience, I rebooted my modem. I finally got back on the call and at the end, I complained about your company being the sole provider in this area for my cable, Internet and phone. One of the other conference attendees immediately exclaimed that he was about to sign up for your triple package. After my 3 minute rant about how abysmal your service is throughout every aspect of the organization I have touched – and I’ve got years of touching(!) – he thanked me and said he would use your competitor. Where he lives, he has options.

I realize that complicated technology sometimes goes awry. So, it is not your technology I dislike. Rather it your service. I have questions:

Why must I ALWAYS waste my time working my way up the ladder of service competence being transferred from one department to the next to the next to the next until I finally get to that really smart person who seems to hold all the answers? What’s her direct number?

Why do I need to… dial my number into the recording that answers my call, only to be required to give it AGAIN to the service person I speak with?

Why do you NOT give me the option to speak to a live person unless I trick the dial-in system by continually hitting “0″ over and over until it cries “uncle” and connects me to a live person?

Why has almost every service call over the years consisted of the technician telling me that he found the problem, only to have the technician on my next service call tell me the problem is what the last technician did?

Why must each support call I make about a dire emergency with my dead service needing to be looked at by the next level department “that handles that” end with your phone rep cheerfully asking “Is there any thing else I can help you with?”

Why do you ask me EVERY TIME at the end of a service call if I could just take a brief survey to “rate the quality of my service”? Who wastes their time taking those surveys, and do you really think that’s the way to get accurate customer feedback?

Sincerely,

A Severely Dissatisfied Customer.

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The point is: Every customer matters, even if you are a mega billion dollar corporation, but especially if you are a small business. News travels fast and in ways you can’t even imagine. Make it easy for people to solve their occasional problems with your product or service, make live people and phone numbers easily accessible (No, the Internet hasn’t made telephones obsolete!), and rethink your policies, especially if you consider and name them “our policy”.

You can no longer hide from bad word of mouth. Ask my friend who is now that other phone company’s newest customer!

They all relate to my beautiful and talented wife, Christine, in an article recently written about her. Take a read through this brief biographical piece to learn a bit about the 24th M.I. Battalion in Desert Storm and the joys of world travel.

To read the piece click on: http://www.hvbiz.biz/proud/lakereganchristine.php

What else do they have in common? They all were either broken within a VERY short time or came defective right out of the box.

Probably like you, over the years, I could make a fairly long list of things that… shortly after their purchase became defective. But I thought it was remarkable that three of four substantial purchases made within the past two weeks share that trait. A gem fell out of a thousand dollar bracelet, the photos don’t loop as they should on a Kodak digital frame and the rotors broke upon a fairly soft helicopter landing of the initial flight of this $200 machine.

What does this have to do with branding? EVERYTHING! Most of what we are told about building a successful brand consists of a catchy name, a good web site, well-placed high quality advertising, the right pricing model, etc. All of these and other means of building a brand come a distant second place to… HAVING A GREAT PRODUCT.

Go to Amazon and you’ll find several popular books written about how to engineer good word of mouth. They go into great detail about public relations, viral & guerrilla marketing, and slick distribution schemes. But before any of that, you just have to have a great product — one that people rave about to their friends, relatives, product review pages and social web contacts.

Here’s an idea for a New Year’s resolution: At the top of every marketing meeting agenda, put “Improve Product Quality”. No matter what else is on your agenda, spend at least half the time brainstorming about how to make your product better. What? You don’t think that’s the job of marketing?

Think again, because if word of mouth is valuable to your product’s marketing, Zales, Kodak and that little toy manufacturer doing direct sales in the mall just took a big hit. No amount of expensive marketing can come close to the power of my personal dissatisfaction story to my friends considering the purchase of a Kodak digital picture frame.

So, how do you know how to start improving your product? Ask your customers. Read reviews on Amazon.com, Bazaarvoice.com, Epinions.com, Buzzillions.com, Consumerreview.com, Testseek.com, etc. Can’t find anything useful there? Then do a survey using Surveymonkey.com and ask only one question: What improvements to our product would make you rave about it to your friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances?

The number one way to build your brand is to sell a remarkably great product — one that people enjoy bragging to their friends about how smart a purchase it was. But remember: Just like bad news on television is more interesting that good news, stories about poor products tend to be more prolific and engaing for the teller. Instead, give them something to rave about and you won’t have to waste your money on books about manufacturing word of mouth advertising!

A letter from our heating oil supplier had teaser copy that claimed that they want to help us. Honestly, I hadn’t even noticed it, and at the moment of my son’s innocent enthusiasm, I was reminded how jaded most of us adults are regarding advertising copy – and how important (and difficult) is it to write it well.

First, I must give kudos to my heating oil company for… adhering to a cardinal rule of advertising copy: Write from the perspective of the customer. They did this when they wrote “We want to help you.” Far too many advertisers continue to write copy that speaks about them: “We’ve been in business over 50 years.” “We have locations throughout the Northeast.” or “Our service can’t be beat.” None of that copy would excite my 8 year-old son. So how do you write copy that resonates with grownups who are likely to buy your product or service?

Let me give you a list of questions, that if answered correctly, will provide you with powerful ad copy. Before I give them to you, it’s critical that you know where to get the answers. They do NOT come from your advertising agency and they don’t even come from an internal meeting of your senior staff. They come from your customers. Ask each of these questions of your customers and your ad copy will turn to gold.

1. What are the goals of my customers and what are the main problems that stand in the way of them achieving them that my product/service eliminates?
2. What do they believe about the problems they’re trying to solve?
3. What other options do my customers have that might also eliminate the above problems?
4. What do they believe about products like mine?
5. What do they need to believe about my product/service in order to buy now?
6. What are their objections about buying my product now?
7. Who/what are their enemies – people or products they distrust?
8. What are their dreams for the future?

Ask these questions of your customers either in person, through surveys or by reading on-line blogs and forums so that you can gather answers to as much of the above as possible. Then find some commonality between answers and write your ad copy as if your customer were speaking it themselves.

P.S. My son was elated by another envelope, this one from an insurance company carrying a message beneath the clear address window that read, “Pay to addressee or bearer”. As my son yelled, “Dad, someone wants to give you money!”, I asked myself in this day and age, if anyone BESIDES an 8 year-old is taken in my that trick! Don’t use gimmicks. Just good copy that resolnates with your audience.

That day, I opted out of using the drive-through since there were three cars lined up waiting in both open lanes. As I entered the bank and took a first glance at the counter, I felt justified in walking in since there was only one person waiting in line. That assumption, however, proved to be wrong.

As I got in line, I saw that there was only one teller. Without a customer at his window, he was working on his computer, seemingly oblivious to the two of us waiting for him. As one minute grew to two, then five, I started… imagining what possibly could have been on his monitor that so captured his attention that he couldn’t even look up or acknowledge his two patiently waiting customers. Was it the checkout screen at Amazon? His Twitter page? The details of a nearby one bedroom duplex on apartments.com? Perhaps it was the recent job posts at monster.com.

I looked around the bank. I saw a partially finished Christmas display; worn and tired carpet, drapes and walls; and signs for their mortgage services that were as uninspired as the teller’s enthusiasm for his waiting customers. On the other side, drowned out under the Barry Manlow muzak were the murmurs of sullen higher-ups at rows of cheap wooden desks, on the phone and chatting with each other. “HEY, ANY OF YOU KNOW HOW TO TAKE DEPOSITS?” I felt like screaming.

At that moment, I thought about that bank’s brand. I thought about their expensive commercials, ubiquitous newspaper advertisements and the miriad of local sponsorships and donations made to bolster their community awareness. The only thing influencing my opinion of this brand, however, was their interior, staff and that lone teller. Hopefully, he’s finally on the Amazon purchase confirmation page!

Branding is supposed to be colors, fonts, logos and all the material your company produces to tell the world how great you are, right? After all, that’s all the stuff your marketing people or agency work on. It’s what you spend your money on. But there is a far more important element that defines your brand that few people ever consider: The product or service you offer your customers. It’s the experience people gain or feel when using your product or service.

We all know that word of mouth advertising is the most potent force driving someone to consider you, right? And while there are books written on how to “create” and “grow” word of mouth advertising, there is only one way: A customer experience that creates stark raving fans.

So the next time you are asking yourself or your marketing people how to better promote your brand. And the next time you are evaluating your media budget trying to calculate your ROI, take a walk through your lobby. Take a deep breath, look around and get a real sense of your brand.

It was a commercial for womens’ pajamas. The company sells a nice selection of pajamas: Flannel, silk, nursing, maternity, sexy – something for everyone. They come in a “hat box” along with something called bath tea. But what I find absolutely brilliant is the other component they throw in with each purchase.

Before I disclose it to you, think for a moment about marketing. We’re all trying to… get people to purchase our product or service, right? We spend so much time writing sales and brochure copy to compel people to buy, that we forget about the product or service experience. More importantly, we frequently forget to tap into the beliefs of the buyer that our product or service will reinforce. That’s VERY powerful. The premise behind Seth Goden’s brilliant book, All Marketers are Liars is that we need to discover the story that our prospective buyers believe, then show them how our product/service will confirm, reinforce and help them experience that belief or story.

Back to pajamas. With each set of pajamas, the company also includes a Do Not Disturb door hanger. First, think about the story they are reinforcing: You’re not wearing these pajamas to cook breakfast, clean up after your toddler’s latest accident or do laundry. You’re wearing them behind closed doors in the privacy of your bedroom. Do Not Disturb. ROMANCE! They’re tying their product for women into romance, and doing it in a very powerful and cunning way. Even Victoria’s Secret didn’t come up with anything this good.

Here’s the second key point: This door hanger costs the company almost nothing. It’s a piece of cardboard! And the takeaway for you is that there is an inexpensive something that YOU can add to your product or service that has a low cost and high perceived value to your customer. And when that add-on actually makes your product more compelling, your in rarefied marketing air! Now, you just have to discover it.

Your assignment is to think about the story that your customer believes relative to your product or service. Then figure out what simple element will reinforce that story in her mind. Again, the magic of the door hanger is that it costs almost nothing. We’re not talking about a $500,000 television campaign to convince people that they should like purple shoes. Instead, you’re tapping into an existing belief (I deserve more romance) then providing the means for your customer to experience it through the use of your product or service (hanging the Do Not Disturb sign behind a closed door as you wear – and perhaps disrobe – your beautiful new pajamas.)

By the way, the company is Pajamagram. Great work, guys!

Now, I think it’s fair to say that we’re all trying to figure out the best use of social media for commerce. There are plenty of national brands with their own Facebook account and Twitter page, but the jury is still out on how well that actually sells their product. Clearly, the gentleman I spoke of above has a contrarian view, but I think it’s worth mentioning because he said some things that I thought were instructive.

This internet marketer drew boxes on the board, each containing Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. and said, “I look at each of these as a party”. When you go to a party and introduce yourself to people, you don’t just start by… telling people all about the benefits of buying your product or giving them testimonials. Instead, you tell them some personal things about yourself. You’ll probably talk about what you do for a living, but it’s not a pitch. The point here is that social media, in this guy’s opinion, is a party where you are making friends. You’re telling stories, sharing experiences and getting to know people better.

He then said that his blog is like his home. It contains cool stuff that visitor might like to see and experience. Again, not a sales pitch. So after he meets people on Linkedin (a party), for instance, he invites them to his blog (his home). After getting to know him better by coming to his blog, people may be inclined to tell their friends about him. After a while enough people get to know him and trust him and perhaps respect his professional skills, they might choose to buy his product. But that purchase isn’t forced through his social networking or blog. Those purchases are a consequence of familiarity. Sound a bit like traditional brand marketing?

I’m playing right now with Twitter and trying to figure out my best use of it. I would suggest taking the plunge into one or more of the many available social networking and media sites to see what you might find – or who might find you. As my friend above said, perhaps consider it a party where you meet people and you each learn about each other. Don’t pitch. Meet and greet. If you’re nice, you never know how many parties to which he might invite you.