It’s no secret that managing a business travel program today is about much more than just containing costs. Successful programs balance policies to achieve improved traveler productivity and satisfaction in addition to achieving high levels of compliance and cost reduction. Businesses with travel programs of any size can get helpful insights from the 2015 Business Travel Survey released by Travizon. The results identify specific areas that can improve the travel experience, increase productivity and add to the satisfaction and retention of your business travelers. Survey results were broken out by age group, frequency of travel as well as by status...
Everyone talks about Nordstrom extraordinary service. Are the extraordinary deeds the stuff or myth? I had a chance to see for myself not too long ago. A friend recently told me about an experience he had at the mall. His shoes hurt his feet so we stopped into the shoe department at Nordstrom. He struck up a conversation with the sales clerk, explaining the Cole Hann shoes he was wearing seemed too tight. On the spot, the clerk offered to swap the shoes out for a larger pair even though he confessed he had not purchased the shoes from Nordstrom originally. The...
We recently received feedback from one of our members about a local business that provides indoor activities for children. The feedback provided great insight into the member’s disappointing experience at the business. Staff members were disinterested and obviously didn’t want to be there. They talked within ear shot of guests of their desire to leave. The food choices were poor and staff struggled with simple things like getting a hot dog order prepared. Smiling at customers was clearly not in the job description. A few days later, we received a follow up message from the same member about the same business after...
A good friend of mine is a Graze junkie. If you aren’t familiar with the product, Graze.com is a delivery snack company. Their tasty personalized snacks appear in her mailbox weekly, biweekly or monthly and contain 4-8 snacks based on her preferences. In addition to her addiction to their Pecan Power sampler, the quality which makes Graze.com the one of her favorite companies is their dedication to their customers. Graze makes the snacks and gives the rest of the power to the customers. Each box is full of personal touches from a company who is listening to your thoughts and...
My business partner recently needed to get a refund from an airline. She didn’t cancel the flight, they did. After making numerous calls, to numerous people, repeating the story over and over, I questioned whether it was worth the hours and aggregation. Although she was hornets-nest irritated, for $1600, she assured me, she would fight until she was reimbursed. It took hours of explaining and holding, and 6 months to get the refund. Did you know that resolving a problem takes an average of three attempts with 69% of consumers reporting their complaint multiple times before it is resolved? Should be...
How do you feel when you see Comcast offering service to new customers for half of what you, as an existing customer, are paying? Like many businesses, they spend a lot of time, money and effort to get new customers, and very little on customer retention. There are huge rewards in paying attention to the customers you have and it is very expensive to neglect them. Consider these powerful statistics: It costs 6 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one Existing customers spend on average, twice as much as new customers A 5...
A friend of mine shared extreme frustration after a trip to the mall this weekend. She needed to purchase a new bottle of make-up brush cleaner. Being a life long customer and make-up aficionado, she knew exactly what she wanted. A quick trip to the counter would have been sufficient, instead it turned into a marathon waste of time which resulted in no purchase. So how does a life long customer leave without their product of choice? Great question. My friend was whisked into something I like to call “The Process”. Salespeople have a process they are supposed to follow during...
Millennials have not entered the workforce quietly. They’ve demanded, among other things, more flexible schedules, open floor plan workspaces and the ability to work remote, all in search of a better work/life balance. Now they’re doing it to the corporate travel industry. Traditionally, travel has been scheduled and managed by corporate travel managers. The corporate manager sets up a travel schedule, focusing on cost-effective transportation and accommodations with little to no input from an employee. The employee then follows the itinerary, with all its resulting travel headaches. Changing the Way Employees Travel Enter the internet. With the sudden availability of travel sites, it’s now incredibly easy...
George Klein, founder and CEO, of Peoplocity had an opportunity to interview with Jay Baer for his newest book on customer service, “Hug Your Haters”. Jay Baer is a New York Times Best Selling author and inspirational marketing speaker. His book Youtility is a New York Times Bestseller about “How can we help?” instead of just selling to your customers. He shows businesses how to genuinely help someone and create a customer for life. Now, Jay Baer is taking on customer service. He approached George Klein about his expertise on customer service. Klein was able to talk about customer service...
According to Gartner, 89 percent of marketers expect to compete primarily on the basis of customer experience by 2016. To be successful, they must have the right tools, processes, and strategies in place. You can’t fix what you don’t know! In order to compete on customer experience, it is imperative to collect and analyze data about your customers. What do your customer want? What’s working for them? What isn’t? How can you get that information? The seemingly easiest method to collect data is the ubiquitous survey. Unfortunately, we are overwhelmed with surveys. Every time we use our credit card, or...
