How is your dating life going if you… Give out a reward card on your first date and after each date you punch a heart and offer a reward of carnations after 5 punches and roses after 10? For last-minute dates, you offer double points (two punches)? You offer specials such as a free dessert if your date has not gone out with you for 6 months? The only way to describe your dating life would be “NOT good!” Your best friends may even consider an intervention and ask you “Why are you trying to buy love? Why are you being so desperate?” You may be feeling uncomfortable with this discussion itself. But many brands do this exact thing to increase loyalty, as they measure loyalty by squeezing out one extra visit (date) from a customer. What is loyalty? I describe it as being “FAITHFUL, TRULY COMMITTED, DEVOTED, REGULAR, STAUNCH, or ALWAYS THERE” Those words describe a relationship, a feeling of being close, or best friends. Loyalty is not getting an extra date or visit at any cost, instead it is about putting your customers first. Listening to them, getting to know them, and connecting to them in a meaningful way. Just like the dater was thinking of themselves first, the same way most loyalty programs put the brand’s win first, and often do not care about what customers feel. There is a place for a REWARD PROGRAM, where guests visit and aspire to achieve something of value, and not just get products they already would have bought at a discount. Currently most brands do not measure loyalty, and they are not driving loyalty; but often they call their program a loyalty program as it sounds good. The time has come for every brand, small and big to wake up and put their customers first. Click here for a white paper on the True Loyalty™ vision. A Story: Heart Broken On Valentine's Day This year on the morning of Valentine’s day, a Coffee company sent me a “Buy one get one free” (BOGO) offer valid only for this Valentine’s day. I know brands segment their customers and send them offers based on who they are and what they need. Does that mean the Coffee company saw me as a cheapo customer who looks for BOGO offers when taking my Valentine out?  Then I read the offer closely and realized that it was only valid after 3 pm. Still, I showed up at 5 pm and ordered a latte and a chai. To my surprise I was charged full price. Now I was ready to fight, but before I could escalate this, the Barista showed me the offer was valid for espresso drinks only. This was not nice, a “double limited offer” that really got me. I left FEELING CHEATED, after buying two drinks at full price on a day I didn’t even want one. Yes Coffee company, you won. You got an extra visit and two extra beverage purchases from me, but trust me, you will not be my valentine ever again. Any Valentine’s day BOGO should be a total NOGO. True Loyalty: Measure: Connection Goal: Customer Win Manifestation: Customers choosing you more often Questions for You: Checklist for your current Loyalty program: How do your customers feel when they: Hear from you? Visit you because of it? A few days after? Are you putting your transaction needs ahead of customer’s wins? How are you conditioning your customers? ...

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How would you feel if you found out that your date was tracking where you go, what you do, and was found going through your credit card statements? You may feel that you are being STALKED. Shouldn’t your date simply pay attention to you and get to know you? Many brands do the same thing and buy every data point that is available on their customers and analyze it to better “target their customers.” To build a long-term relationship, brands should be able to say yes to the following three questions: Is the TRUE PURPOSE of data gathering to benefit your customers? When Amazon studies customers' buying patterns and recommends what they would really like, it makes customers feel that the data gathering is “all about them.” The same way when customers share their name and information, and you use it to recognize and reward them, it makes them feel special. Is your data TRULY PREDICTIVE? The behavior data of your customers away from your store may or may not be indicative of their behavior with your brand. Is your data gathered with FULL KNOWLEDGE and TOTAL CONSENT of the customer? These are essential to building and maintaining trust. Only Purpose of Customer Data: To know your customers To know what they want To offer a better experience A Story: Why Would You Send Me A Bra On My Birthday? When my daughter was 13, I went through something that every dad is afraid of experiencing. A lingerie brand sent me an offer for a free bra on my birthday. My daughter opened the envelope and immediately we both were totally embarrassed. How did it happen? I realized that when I took my daughter to the store, she used my credit card to pay. The brand must have harnessed my credit card data to get more information about me and chose to smart-market to me. Then, they invited themselves to my birthday celebration by sending me the gift of a free bra. What did they miss? They should have known that a sizable percentage of teens rely on their dads to drive them to the store and use dad’s credit card. Hence for teen products, the payee and the buyer may not always be the same. They could have done a simple data validity check to find out what names are primarily male names as that would have avoided the big mistake. It has been 12 years and I still have not forgotten the embarrassing moment. 3 Questions About Your Customer Data: Is the TRUE PURPOSE of data gathering to benefit your customers? Is your data TRULY PREDICTIVE? Is your data gathered with FULL KNOWLEDGE and TOTAL CONSENT of the customer?  ...

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Once you align your brand in the feeling business, it is important to quantify the value of positive feelings you are generating in your customers. Your customers always walk in with an anticipation and if you surprise them with something nice, it will start the experience on a positive note. Then you can build on it by adding more experience elements that make them feel joy and once the joy overflows, they get elated. The continuing overflow of joy takes them to a “MUST SHARE” state; where they must share with either a small group of friends or on social media. This sharing is Word of Mouth (WOM), the most credible brand endorsement you can ever get. Identifying the one thing that you can do to surprise your guests immediately after they walk in and then adding more, are sure ways to generate Word of Mouth every time. Value of WOM: Priceless as you cannot buy it. From the beginning of time, it is the most credible and effective marketing ever. Social media has magnified its reach and value. Some brands leave it to chance and do not have a process to connect generating customer feelings to Assured WOM. A Story: Yes, I Fell In Love With My Dental Office I was in Plano, Texas. It was the night before a big presentation and my crown on my front tooth broke. I looked at myself in the mirror, saw the big hole and felt that my professional world was coming to an end. Next morning, I called a local dentist’s office and Andy answered the phone. He was calm as he listened to me. When I was done explaining, he said “Arjun, yes we can take care of you in our office today. Come over by 9:30 am and the Dr. will work on you, in between patients. We will get you back to normal by 2 PM.” Yes, that is what I wanted to hear. I loved the confidence, I also felt assured as he and his team seemed to have done this before. When I got there, Andy greeted me with “It is you Arjuuun!”. I felt really good continuing the phone connection. Then Dr. Nguyen and his team took over and it was like magic. And at exactly 12:30 I was done, sending pictures of my new tooth to my coworkers and family. But then something happened. I was at the counter ready to check-out, and there was no Andy. I waited for a few minutes and was getting into “This is not right” mode; when Andy came running into the office. He was thoroughly apologetic. “Sorry, the line was a little too long at Starbucks. As you are far away from home during the holidays, here is a gift card from us to say Happy Holidays to you”. Oh My Goodness! Wow! This happened at Plano Modern Dentistry, in Plano, Texas on Dec 19, 2018. From the moment I called, they surprised me and continued it all through the experience. And finally running in with the gift card, was the final piece, that put me in a “must share” moment. Thank you, Plano Modern Dentistry Team; you are the best. Questions For You To Get To Assured WOM How do you make your customers feel… Surprised soon after walking in More joy as they continue Specific feelings that trigger WOM How do you react to WOM from your customers? What are you plans and measures for the above?  ...

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Every customer, every day walks into your store with anticipation. Everything you do or don’t do impacts your customers’ feelings and all the feelings blend to influence the customer’s relationship with your brand. Hence it is the Customer Feelings that defines your success. THE FIRST FEELING SETS THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE: What is the first feeling your customers have in your store? This is a momentum builder. A positive first feeling creates a positive halo that will go through the rest of the experience and make them feel that they made the right decision to visit. A negative first feeling can start lead to doubt if they made the right choice. Difference Between Feelings & Experience Elements Experience elements = Operator’s check list. You must add a “will do what it takes attitude” that will result in that feeling in every guest every time. An Example: Can A Glass Of Water Make Or Break An Experience I walked into one of my client’s office and Emily at the front desk greeted me with a big smile. She asked me: “Arjun, may I get you a glass of water?” I paused for a second, and realized it was a special moment as not everyday someone offers me a glass of water. My eyes lit up as I said “Yes, I would love a glass of water.” The next second, Emily politely stated, “There is a fridge behind you. Feel free to get a bottle from there.” Ouch. What just happened. My anticipation was killed. I was trying my best to hide my disappointment as I opened the fridge to grab a bottle. I had no problems getting a bottle of water from the fridge. But once an anticipation of something special is set, any disappointment stays with us for the entire experience. That day when I walked into the CEO’s office a part me still held on to my disappointment over being promised and then denied a glass of water. Yes, it has been months and I still have not forgotten. 5 Questions For You To Create That Positive First Feeling What is it? Is it unique? Is it a brand separator? How consistently do you deliver it? Do you have plans to improve it?  ...

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Over the years, I have seen that for most hospitality brands, especially restaurant chains, the guest experience drops the most at peak times.  In fact, for some brands, nearly half the customer dissatisfaction comes during peak times. WHY IS THIS THE CASE? Imagine your brand is designed to serve 100 customers at peak time. That means if 100 customers come in, each is likely to experience the brand at the 100% level. What happens if 110 guests come in? Then the 110 guests must share the experience and each get 10/11th of the experience; or 91% experience level. The worrisome part is, for the brand to operate at 91%, nearly half the guests may get below 91% experience level. Is that acceptable for guests?  Will the diluted experience make them want to come back? If 120 guests come in then the level drops to 83%. If 130 guests come in, then the level drops to 77%. WHAT MAKES THIS A VERY DIFFICULT PROBLEM TO ADDRESS? Hospitality brands I have studied, have the following: A lunch peak time between 45 to 70 minutes; and a dinner peak time between 60 to 90 minutes.  There could be other peak times during weekend or other periods. During peak time, transaction spikes to 2x to 4x the transaction levels before or after the peak. Unfortunately, we cannot hire partial labor and labor must be scheduled at 4 hours/team member or more. So how does one plan staffing to address this peak time? HOW DO BRANDS CURRENTLY ADDRESS THIS? Quite a few brands have a team member huddle before peak time to bond and have a huddle at the end of the peak time.  Does a huddle help? Or does the huddle remind the team that ‘we are heading into the peak time under-staffed and somehow need to get through it’. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Think of this challenge from a football example.  If you were a NFL coach then the peak time translates to a “two-minute drill”.  To be a successful coach you must realize the following: The “Two-minute drill” needs a completely different game plan compared to the rest of the game. The success of the “Two-minute drill” may determine if we win or lose the game. It is not just enough to have a different game plan for the “Two-minute drill” but one must practice it frequently. Hence, I strongly urge operators to have a game plan for peak-times.  Here are some thought starters: Change the labor model for the peak time.  Invest more in labor before the peak time (in prepping) and in serving guests during prep time. This is critical as you cannot afford to have dissatisfied guests. Free up management time. During the peak times to cheer the team members and assist them during the period. Have a total different operations system during the period.  Managers can work next to the team and give team members mini-beverage-breaks, being on the clock; giving them an opportunity to catch their breath. Focus on serving every guest one-guest-at-a-time. Instead of rushing to take care of all guests.  Because of this if there could a long line or a few guests may leave.  But that will be better than the guests leaving dissatisfied.  It is much more difficult to get a dissatisfied guest to come back than a guest who chose another brand because of the long lines; as the long lines is proof that the brand is a popular spot worth visiting another time. Huddle to celebrate. Finally, at the end of the peak time, a team huddle is a great idea.  But instead of it being just a “routine huddle”, managers should pause to thank the team and mention the “super play” of different team members or groups that resulted in the win. As you start thinking about creating your plan for “peak times”, just remember that “at times it is better to be inefficient by choice, to make sure that your brand experience does not get diluted.” Arjun Sen...

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