WOWEDFactorSM
Programs are
right for businesses or organizations that believe their ultimate
differentiator/sustainable competitive advantage is their employees'
abilities
to connect with and engage customers/clients/guests/patients. Our
Programs are designed to impact key business development objectives:
(1) create "very satisfied" customers/clients (from whom come 80-90% of
referrals); (2) secure
more business from existing customers/clients; and/or
(3)
obtain new customers/clients.
Developer/Presenter Fred Firestone on
WOWEDFactorSM Overview
WOWEDFactorSM Programs Summary
(See Table
of Contents below
for details on background and Programs.)
Reinforces
and awards employees who deliver the WOWEDFactorSM to
customers. Designed
to accomplish three objectives:
(1) Helps ensure that
what was learned
in workshop is actually implemented.
(2) Sends message to customers
(through communications ... point of purchase materials, receipts,
etc.) that they should look to be "WOWED."
(3) Allows for
opportunities to celebrate WOWEDSightingsSM
with employees and customers.
The
Ethical
Selling* Institute, a subsidiary of Sempact, Inc., provides training,
speaking
(keynotes,
breakouts) and coaching
to companies and organizations on how to pullahead of the competition
by building more Trust,
Credibility and Partnershipinto
their products and
services. We believe that the ability of
businesses and organizations to do so has much more to do with crucial
interactions employees have with customers/clients/guests/patients than
with what's in a mission statement or customer commitment policy.
(Hereinafter, any reference to businesses should be read to include
organizations and any references to customers should be read to include
clients/guests/patients.)
*Our definition
of selling is not
the conventional one.
We take a
broad look; it encompasses any moment of truth that influences
perceptions of
service image. Thus, all people who have contact with
customers would be involved in "selling."
Our clients include DuPont,
Hewlett-Packard, 3M, AT&T, the United States Postal Service as well
as
Anheuser-Busch (sampling of client letters).
They come to us sharing a
philosophy:
They
realize the path to
differentiation is about providing customers with a more favorable
experience than they would expect to get
elsewhere.
They
believe that
differentiation will never happen without the involvement and
commitment of the people who make up their organization.
They
believe that there is
little value in the typical lecture-type customer service training
program. Rather, customer service training should take the form of a
"service blue print," relying on the expertise, insights and experience
of the people who make up their organization.
Since
our inception over twenty years ago, we have continually
found that businesses and organizations that successfully differentiate
do so
because of interactions their customers have with specific employees
that are
so significant they reach the WOWEDFactorSM
level. Our WOWEDFactorSM definition: a personal
experience a customer has with an
employee of a
business that is perceived by the customer to be so humanizing,
engaging or
connecting, that the customer's perception of that individual,
and
consequently
the business, becomes significantly enhanced.
The WOWEDFactorSMdoesn't happen uhappened.
Notice, we don't call it the WOWFactor. It's past tense
intentionally.
It
doesn't exist until a customer perceives it to have happened to
him or
her. A business can only say its objective is to build its value
by
having its customers experience the WOWEDFactorSM with
its employees. A
customer doesn't experience the WOWEDFactorSMwith ACME Tool and
Rental; she experiences it with Pete,
Judy or Tom who work for ACME Tool and Rental. It's a
personal
experience and people have personal experiences with people - not
businesses.
Thus, the extent to which businesses deliver the WOWEDFactorSM has everything to do
with their employees and their crucial
interactions with customers. The
business-enhancing impact of doing so can
be significant.
Research substantiates
that the
reasons why customers quit businesses have much more to do with not
receiving the WOWEDFactorSM than anything else.A
much-quoted survey of consumer habits
shows that sixty-eight percent of all lost business results from the
indifferent, uncaring attitudes of employees toward customers and only
fourteen
percent is lost because of product dissatisfaction.The results on Why Customers
Quit:
68 percent -
indifferent attitude of employee
14 percent -
product dissatisfaction
9 percent -
competitive reasons
5 percent - other
friends
3 percent - move
away
1 percent - die
If customers quit
businesses in
large part because of an attitude of indifference on the part of
employees, it stands to reason that the antithesis, delivering the WOWEDFactorSM,
is a significant reason why customers stay.
WOWEDFactorSM
Sightings of Fred Firestone, principal, Ethical Selling Institute
Harriet.
Four years ago, I
was writing a column
about a fast food restaurant that purported to have the best
burger. Regardless of how good that burger was ... and it was
better than
most, it was not even on the WOWEDFactorSM
radar screen
because it was not a personal interaction that humanized, engaged or
connected. What was, however, was my experience with
Harriet, the
minimum wage server, who treated me like I was a guest in her home.
WOWEDFactorSM
delivered; business value
enhanced. (Column: Harriet
and
the $6
Burger)
Brent.
My
good friends' son was a front-desk
clerk at an up-scale hotel in Denver. A guest called the desk and
was
frantic because he was supposed to attend a black-tie event in a half
hour and
he had failed to pack his dress shoes.All he had were his beat-up running
shoes. He wanted to know where he could buy the shoes in the
neighborhood. Brent explained that there was no place nearby, but
finding
they wore the same size, offered to swap his own shoes for the
night. WOWEDFactorSM delivered;
business value
enhanced.
Evelyn.
I pull
up to the five-minute passenger pick up area at the airport. I've
been there many times before, and I'm use to hearing a harsh directive:
"You've got to move your car now!" Not this time. A woman
comes over to my car and introduces herself. Evelyn asks me whom
I'm picking up. "My wife," I answer. "Where has she been?"
Not what we're used to from security officials in our post-9/11 world.
She leaves, and about five minutes later returns and nicely asks me to
please move my car. She says that she'll look for me when I
circle back through. She even asks me what my wife looks like so
that she'll be able to alert her that I'm circling. WOWEDFactorSM
delivered; business value
enhanced.
The WOWEDFactorSMPrograms
are about how businesses can ensure that more
employees deliver more of the WOWEDFactorSM
to more customers more often. Therefore,
all people who have contact with
customers (and those who manage them) should participate.
Here are some some types
of businesses/organizations whose front-line people's ability to
deliver the WOWEDFactorSM
could significantly influence business value through enhanced loyalty
and word-of-mouth advertising:
Banks.
Teller's are the front-line interface. Their ability to engage is
crucial to building brand.
Hospitals.In times of emotional stress, which really defines the hospital
experience, patients and their families are looking to be
engaged. Because of this heightened awareness, there are many
opportunities for staff to build value through delivering the WOWEDFactorSM.
Call Centers.
Our July 2006 pilot for this seminar was at an A-B Call Center that
sold promotional products. Their results were significant: When
their employees delivered the WOWEDFactorSM,
value was built even before
customers really knew all about their product offerings.
Further, after delivery of WOWEDFactorSM, customers were more favorably
predisposed to wanting to own more products and customers were more favorably
pre-disposed to employee suggestions re those products. In sum,
when WOWEDFactorSMwas delivered, sales increased. (Note: This could also be applicable to
Franchises where employees are in a position to make recommendation
about products/services.)
Franchises.
If service image is what builds the franchise brand, it's incumbent
upon franchisers to develop training programs that ensure that
front-line people deliver value. Article about experience at
Hardee's that brings home the concept: Making A Difference With Effective
Employees: Harriet and the $6 Burger
Component
Two:
People
Make the Difference and People Deliver the WOWEDFactorSM
How
to recognize and
deliver
on WOWEDFactorSMopportunities
The
business-building
impact of delivering the WOWEDFactorSM
The
single
greatest untapped
opportunity to pull ahead of
the competition
Why
anyone who
interacts with a customer is an inextricable part of the
product/service in the customer's mind
Why
it matters more how
things are said than what is said
Why
people are the
ultimate
product/service differentiator
Why
ownership needs to
be
broadly defined
What
the transfer of
"ownership" is all about
Why
everybody who
interfaces
with a customer is involved in "selling"
the organization
Why
everybody in the
organization
sells
How
to create
experiences
with every interaction
Why what
employees
say
and how they say it,
is more important than the effectiveness of a product or service to
address customers' needs
Why
customers quit/why
customers stay
Why
the fact that
you've
heard only a few customer complaints doesn't mean your customers are
satisfied
The
economics of
customer
retention and complaints
How
complaint handling
can
be a tremendously effective means of differentiation
How
to engage the
"difficult
to engage" with effective listening
Why
delivering the WOWEDFactorSM
results in your
customers being more favorably pre-disposed to your product/service
suggestions
Why with so much "quality-equality" in
today's
market,
delivering the WOWEDFactorSM
could be the greatest opportunity to
differentiate products and services
How to create a WOWEDFactorSM
experience with
every customer every time
How to look at every opportunity to deliver
the WOWEDFactorSM and evaluate it
What steps to take
to avoid being
emotionally engaged by
angry customers
How
to determine where
there
is the
greatest business-building value in delivering the WOWEDFactorSM
Component
Three: How to
Develop a WOWEDFactorSMCulture
(for Managers)
How
to establish a
service
culture that gives people tools to deliver
the WOWEDFactorSM
How
to establish a
corporate
culture where your employees convey more of the WOWEDFactorSMto more people
How
to give employees
(and
customers) a "piece of the rock"
Where
are you on the WOWEDFactorSMscale
How to drive a WOWEDFactorSM culture with effective coaching
How to drive a WOWEDFactorSMculture with a recognition system
designed to "Wow the Wowers" (e.g., company personalized WOWEDAMERICASMEmployee Recognition Program -- see next
section)
Back to Top WOWEDFactorSM Presentations - Sampling of Testimonial
Letters
We
established WOWEDAMERICA.com (Facebook.com/WOWEDAmerica)
in December of
2006 to capture random WOWEDFactorSM
Sightings. Our Board of Advisors regularly selects the "best of the
best" for WOWEDAMERICASM
Certificates.
Some
"Best of the Best" Certificatesof
Sighting:
Adam, manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, provides much
more than a car. Adam's
Certificate
Robin,
customer service rep for Royal
Banks, takes ownership of customer's issue. Robin's
Certificate
Forrest,
checker for Schnucks
Supermarkets, is not a checker ... he's a friend. Forrest's
Certificate
Joe, salesperson for St. Louis Custom Gear, makes last
customer of the day feel as though he's most important customer of the
day. Joe's
Certificate
Chad, salesperson for New Balance, goes out of his way to
satisfy customer. Chad's
Certificate
Jessica, phone rep
at American Airlines, defuses
a
customer's anger. Jessica's
Certificate
Edna,
driver for Hilton,
befriends an 80 year old van
passenger. Edna's
Certificate
The WOWEDAMERICASM
Employee Recognition Program personalizes WOWEDAMERICASM
for your
company
as a way to reinforce
and award employees who deliver the WOWEDFactorSM to customers. It is
designed
to accomplish three objectives: (1) Helps ensure that what was learned
in workshops (convey
WOWEDFactorSM
more often to more customers) is actually implemented; (2) Sends
message to customers
(through communications ... point of purchase materials, receipts,
etc.) that they should look to be "WOWED"; (3) Allows for
opportunities to celebrate WOWEDSightingsSM with
employees and customers.
How it works ... the basics:
Customers who experience the WOWEDFactorSM go to
WOWEDAMERICA.com and fill out the appropriate Sighting Form for your
company. (See our generic Sighting Form.)
All WOWEDSightingsSM are sent
directly to
you.
Your company then celebrates the Sightings
with
employees and customers. (We've got some "out there" ways of
celebrating we'd love to discuss!)
