Buzz Builder

Why Companies Seeking Success Need to Tell More Stories

I was reminded of the Heath brothers' Made to Stick, one of my favorite business books, when I read David Murton's excellent guest post on the Future Buzz blog. Murton explains how storytelling is a timeless way to personalize a company and build word of mouth - especially in social media which relies on personal narratives to be compelling. He then proceeds to share excellent ideas on how interesting storylines can be easily develped - particularly useful if you're prone to writer's block.

In the last few months, in looking at the websites and social media activities of prospective clients and their competitors, I've noticed that few companies do a good job telling stories about themselves, their customers, their products, etc. By sticking with marketing lingo rather than stories, companies miss out on forming real connections and differentiating themselves from the competition. 

I'm sure that I've been more aware of the power of stories recently since my three-year-old loves listening to those that I make up or read from books. I'm convinced that if more marketing folks spent time reading stories to kids that they would understand how powerful they are are. After all, if you can capture the attention of a distracted three-year-old with stories, imagine how effective they would be in capturing the imagination of multitasking adults.

Helen Bernhard Bakery Creates Customers Evangelists with Great Service and the 13th Cookie

Last week, I gave a "Galvanizing Your Business with Word of Mouth Marketing" workshop to ten CEOs and entrepreneurs who belong to Vistage, the world's largest peer learning organization for business leaders. It was a outstanding group that challenged me with excellent questions and shared their best practices for boosting repeat and referred business.  

The group seemed particularly intrigued with the story of Helen Bernhard Bakery, my favorite Portland bakery founded in 1924. I'm a sucker for sweets and Helen Bernhard's delivers the goods. But, it's their friendly service that has made me one of their many customer evangelists. What gets me most excited about the bakery is the extra item that counterpeople throw in when I order twelve items or more. Sure, the "baker's dozen" is hardly a new or unique concept. But, few bakeries give away anything - likely a result of the ever increasing prices of flour, butter, milk, etc. But, Helen Bernhard is gaining much more than the cost of a item when it gives one away. Undoubtedly, I'm one of many customers who gets a big smile on my face when I get a complimentary items which further solidifies the goodwill I already have towards the company and motivates me to recommend the business to others. 

In my Vistage presentation, I said that my loyatly to Helen Bernhard represents "the thirteenth cookie" effect. Attendees with both B-to-C and B-to-B companies got excited about this idea. One of them said that he would challenge his team to come up with an unexpected product or service that they could add to every order to delight customers. Others said this was a great idea and that they would do the same. 

If you own a business or work for a company that has a successful "thirteenth cookie" way of creating customer evangelists, please let me know as I'm always looking to buzz about new examples.

I'm Not Even Worth a Dollar to Dollar Rental Car: A Case Study in Invisible Toll Booths and Bad Profits

Please excuse the long lag between posts but client work and speaking commitments have kept me away from this blog for too long. "Excuses, excuses," you say. Well, you're right! So, to keep me on the blogging straight and narrow, starting today, I commit to posting to this blog at least twice a week for the rest of 2011. If you notice that I fail to do this, please send me an email and I'll mail you a thank you card along with a free copy of my book Secrets of a Working Dog: Unleash Your Potential and Create Success.

I felt an urgent need to write since I received a great lesson in "bad profits" from Dollar Rent A Car that is just too useful to keep to myself. It came in the form of a letter from the company's Vehicle Violations Team stating that Dollar Rent a Car charged $26 to my credit card on record for a $1 toll charge and a $25 "administrative fee" since I allegedly failed to pay a toll on the Crosstown Expressway in Tampa Bay, Florida during our recent vacation.

After discussing the supposed infraction with my wife, who thankfully has a much better memory than mine, she remembered how we paid various toll fees at booths throughout the area that day. When I called Dollar Rent a Car's Vehicle Violations Team to explain what happened, I got a humorless customer service representative who said in a robotic sounding voice "Our records do indicate that you failed to pay a $1 toll fee."

I told her that I would never pass through a toll booth without paying. She said, "Well, I'm sure you paid some tolls but there are many toll roads in Florida that don't have booths, and that's why you must have been charged." I was incredulous and politely expressed my frustration.

"Go ahead and look up invisible toll booths on the Internet and you'll see that I'm right. You should have opted for our prepaid toll option when you rented the car and we would have covered the $1 toll," she insisted. I protested and she said "Okay, I'll credit you back $20 but we still have to charge you for the toll part of our administrative fee." 

As advised, I did look up "invisible toll booths" on the Internet and found multiple entries for Florida. However, I'm absolutely certain that Dollar Rent a Car never offered me "prepaid toll protection" coverage (yes, it really does exist) when I rented the car.

Instead of sending me a bill for $26 and forcing me to call and complain, Dollar Rent a Car would have been much smarter to take the high road. The company should have covered the $1 toll charge out of its own pocket and sent me a note tellling me that they had done this while warning me about the existence of "invisible toll booths." Additionally, Dollar Rent a Car could have suggested that I buy "prepaid toll protection" coverage the next time I visited Florida to avoid similar problems. 

While Dollar Rent a Car has collected extra dollars from me and others that invisible toll booths have ensnared, they are surely alienating customers and driving them to other rental car companies. Sometimes, going after every dollar just doesn't make cents sense!