How-Tos
How to Get What You Want From Customer Service
My friend Chip Bell wrote this piece on Forbes asking customer experience experts (including me) their best advice for getting positive outcomes when dealing with customer services folks. Gold!
My new research about why consumers care more about time then ever before, and how businesses can increase revenue by being faster.
You did it!
Absolutely INCREDIBLE response from The Baer Facts community to the challenge in the last issue to rewrite the English bridge sign, to reduce accidents.
Some of you sent diagrams, photos, and more. Amazing!
It was a very tough choice, buy the winner is Steve Sokolowski, who suggested:
"LOW BRIDGE AHEAD - Keep left to destroy your vehicle and get laughed at on the Internet"
Congrats, Steve! $20 Amazon gift card coming your way.
This case study is nuts
Word of mouth is STILL the best way to grow, but it cannot be taken for granted.
Why?
Because competency doesn't create conversations.
We don't tell stories about "good". We tell stories about "unexpected."
I've done several keynote speeches this year on Talk Triggers, whereby businesses intentionally do something different in their course of operations, with that unusual thing designed to unlock customer conversations.
People sometimes assume that word of mouth and Talk Triggers cannot work for every business. But it definitely can, and it does.
Even for a company as specific and seemingly dull as Brewers Supply Group. Based in Minnesota, they sell barleys, malts, and hops to craft breweries.
What's the story brewery pros tell about BSG? It's not about the grains, although they are perhaps the best in the industry.
The story is about a Salted Nut Roll.
Yes, the antique candy that combines nougat of questionable provenance with peanuts of dubious lineage in a bright, red wrapper.
One of these gems is hidden in each pallet of grains shipped by BSG.
When the shipment arrives, brewery pros go into full Hunger Games mode trying to be the first to find the Nut Roll.
This has become such a "thing" that not only do brewers talk about it amongst themselves, some are actually making Salted Nut Roll beers as an homage.
This, of course, spreads the story even further, creating additional momentum for Brewers Supply Group.
The key to creating a Talk Trigger for your own business is keeping it operationally and psychologically simple, and then applying it consistently, every time.
If you want to create more word of mouth for your business (and it's a great way to succeed in a dragging economy), let's talk about a presentation, or grab a copy of the Talk Triggers book.
THE BOOKS REPORT
LOVE this new one from my buddy Mark Schaefer.
Belong to the Brand: Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy is a compelling and useful book that shows not just HOW to turn customers into a tribe, but why NOW is the time to do so.
When Mark and I started in business, the idea was to reach as many people as possible who were even modestly interested. An audience.
Today, it's the opposite. You want to reach a reasonable number of people who are VERY interested. A community.
Excellent book, and worthy of your time!
Jay's Faves
I won't bore you in every issue with tequila reviews, but this one is special.
For the first time EVER, both myself and my tequila reviews co-host Maddie Jager (Maddie also helps produce my events, my social media, and even The Baer Facts) gave a tequila a perfect 10 score.
Tears of Llorona is perhaps my favorite ultra-aged tequila. If you like bourbon, you'll love this one. It's not cheap, and it can be hard to find, but it's AMAZING.
Packaging is also very cool, and it comes in 1-liter size, instead of 750 ml.
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