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Why Airline Travel Should Be More Like Ben & Jerry's.

6/11/2015

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Brian E. Faulkner -
Tags:  NetJets, Yahoo News, IATA, Ben & Jerry's, American Airlines, United Airlines, FlyersRights.org, Delta, Southwest, Jet Blue, Spirit Airlines

I hate flying.  Not the soaring, free kind of flying that dreams are made of.   I’m talking about public conveyance, the cramped kind of flying: commercial airline travel, where you’re imprisoned in a long aluminum tube with your fellow inmates for an insane number of hours.   Which isn’t really flying at all but more a kind of suffering you have to endure to get from one place to another without spending days or weeks doing it.
 "Flying commercial” brings up all sorts of mind pictures, most not all that appealing:

* waiting in lines
    - ticket agent lines
    - security lines
    - gate agent lines
    - boarding lines
    - baggage line
    - lines to get in other lines
* overbooking
* carry-on hassles
* cramped aisles
* cramped carry-on space
* cramped seats
* the seatmate crap shoot
* quarrels over seat backs
* make believe food
* bad air
* restrooms that are anything but restful
* weather delays
* crew delays
* tarmac delays
* late arrivals
* missing connections
* sleeping in the terminal

And that’s assuming the technical part of flying goes perfectly – all the doors get closed, the wings are securely fastened and somebody checks to see if there’s gas in the tank.

If I had a NetJets budget, I wouldn’t be concerned about such things.  But I don’t.  And most of us don’t.   Which made me perk up and take notice of this headline on Yahoo News:

           Airlines struggle to please the modern passenger.

According to the article, here are some of concerns expressed during this year’s meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade group for airline execs – keeping in mind that these weren’t complaints from passengers but observations and comments by the execs themselves:
  • More passenger info is needed, especially on mobile devices.  One suggestion was to “offer passengers a behind-the-scenes view of their suitcase as it moves through the airport machinery,” although methinks that could create more concern than certainty.
  • Give people a “nice, reliable experience at a normal price,” one exec said.  Another added: “Make my life easy,” which sounds great except that airlines appear to staff for ordinary flying conditions in a world filled with extraordinary events, the least of which these days is the weather.
  • “Don’t give me a vanilla experience”, one panelist told the IATA gathering.  But is that so bad?  Because  when I buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream, my expectations are met every single time.
  • Another exec spoke of “managing” expectations, which seems like an especially worthy goal – as in no surprises!    Just over half of meeting participants thought the airlines weren’t “doing a good job meeting passenger demands.” 

What are passengers demanding?   Here’s how a reader named Mike put it in the comments section:
“The only issue is how stupidly uncomfortable the experience is.                                                                                 You’re stuck in a tiny seat from which you can’t get up most of the time."  
“THE DAMN SEATS ARE TOO SMALL,” agreed Mr. B (dramatizing his frustration by writing in all caps), “and the answer isn’t smaller carry-ons,” even as the IATA proposes new industry-wide standards for carry-on bags.   The small places in which we now are asked to stow our carry-ons seem to be getting more restricted while people are becoming more frustrated (sometimes even rude) as they seek a spot to stow their briefcase or backpack, often rows away from their seat, causing that much more confusion when it comes time to get off the plane.   And as dissatisfaction increases, seat room and restroom room appear to be shrinking.  

It seems absurd, but perhaps not altogether illogical,that “the two most profitable airlines — American Airlines and United Airlines — have abysmal customer service satisfaction scores,” according to a recent Forbes article, quoting Kendall Creighton, spokesperson for FlyersRights.org , which advocates for air travelers.   “An airline’s customer satisfaction levels appear to be inversely related to profits,” she says.  “The higher the profits, the worse the scores.  The more modest the profits, the higher the customer satisfaction.”   And now the government is proposing new emissions standards for aircraft, which would put additional pressure on price and profit.

According to the Forbes article, Jet Blue has the highest passenger satisfaction scores and the lowest profit margin.  Spirit Airlines, whose ironic tagline is Less Money. More Go, had the highest margin and lowest customer satisfaction, while “Delta and Southwest have managed to strike a balance between profits and happy passengers.”

I have a suggestion:  In the interest of communicating clear competitive advantage, each airline could post a simple graphic at critical passenger touch points, from ticketing through to the baggage carousel.  The graphic would consist of ten stacked rectangles, one each for the top 10 measures of airline customer satisfaction.  Each rectangle’s color would change as customer satisfaction ebbs and flows, from angry red for poor performance through shades of yellow to leafy green for superior performance.  Data could be gleaned from in-flight customer surveys taken every day, on paper, through passenger devices or even later online.   The information should include date of service, flight number / seat number and accumulate over time.

I challenge each of these airlines, in fact the entire airline industry, to put their heads together and create what might be called the Airline Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a numerical way of communicating the same info the colored rectangles do.   Perhaps the IATA will choose to lead the way.  Such measures surely will be more effective in raising airline industry expectations – and performance -- than making “standardized” carry-on bags even smaller!

TakeAway:  If your business, brand or product satisfies – even delights – customers, let the world know about it.  

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

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Car BUYING Decisions, Car Dealer Surprises.

3/6/2015

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
I've been thinking lately about buying a new car – a newer car.  My 1998 Crown Vic with “only" 326,165 miles has been showing signs of terminal illness.  

“It’s the transmission,” my trusty mechanic reported after a test drive.  “You can feel it jerking like a fish on a line.”  Sure enough, I could feel it – and could feel my wallet becoming much lighter if transmission repairs were to cost more than $2,000, which he said was possible. 

“You could always donate it to the fire department for training,”  he added, without a wink or smile, which would have meant he was kidding. As the local fire chief, he was always on the lookout for such things.  But sacrifice my trusty old Crown Vic to the Jaws of Life, a car so clean I've been known to dry if off after a rainstorm? I’d sooner make a planter out of it. That way, I could still wipe the paint clean after it showers.

All of this got me thinking about buying another car:

  On the PLUS side:  I enjoy looking around at new cars.
  On the MINUS side:  I don’t like spending money I don’t have on cars I don’t think I really need.
Turns out there are plenty of Crown Vics for sale online, many of them retired police cars.  Some look like they were driven by the Blues Brothers while others are shiny and new.  There was one attractive non-police LX Sport model for sale recently that appealed to me right away.  Unfortunately, the seller’s ex-wife had taken a baseball bat and high heel shoes to the sheet metal.  He was offering the car cheap, since he’d already bought himself a Jag (wait ‘til she gets a load of that!).

Truth is, the Crown Vic is getting long in the tooth.  The newest of them are 2011s and look pretty much like my ‘98, although mechanical improvements have been made over the years.  Should I look at cars with a turning radius less than a small delivery truck?  Should I consider something more stylish?

As a friend once told me, “Lookin’ don’t cost nothin’.” 

So I headed out in the Crown Vic to see what I could find, with the transmission still jerking like it had a fish on the line.  First stop?  The local Ford store, where I’d heard they had a slightly newer Crown Vic for sale.  Long gone.

“Those Crown Vics sell fast,” said Ed the salesman, who looked every bit the man who’d spent years in sun-soaked car lots talking to people like me.  “So why not keep your Crown Vic?” he asked.  

“The transmission may be on the way out,” I said, looking  as hangdog as possible so Ed would feel sorry for me and cut me a deal on something else. “And my wife says we need a newer, more dependable car to ride our grandchildren around in, since even the closest ones live three hours down the road.  And besides, she says, you need to make a more up-to-date appearance. 

Right on both counts.

“You don’t need to get rid of that car,” said Ed.  Right again -- me and the Crown Vic could keep right on goin’ if it weren't for that pesky transmission problem!

“Maybe it’s something else,” proffered Ed, who had taken an odd tack away from selling me something new in favor of fixing what I was already in.

“Why don’t you go up there to the shop and let them check it out before you make a decision.”

It’s worth a try ...  thanks, Ed!

Jarrod the tech no doubt had seen his share of Crown Vics come through the shop, most probably driven by older folks like me who’d grown content with their cars and weren't so easily smitten by curvaceous new sheet metal, and thus appeared to understand where I was coming from. 

“Feels more like an ignition issue to me,” he proclaimed during our short test ride.  “Transmission’s shifting smoothly.  Car runs good.  Let’s put it on the analyzer.”

“I’ll have to come back,” I said, rather lamely, sliding back into the driver's seat and heading out the door.  Gotta think about this:
* Option 1:  Fix it.  Maybe get to 400,000 miles before it breaks again.
* Option 2:  Sell or trade the car before it breaks (or somebody's ex takes a ball bat to it).
* Option 3:  Buy a newer car and KEEP THE CROWN VIC!   We could use a spare car, right?
I can easily see myself in a sky blue Mustang convertible like this.  Or maybe one of those svelte new Lincoln sedans, although stark reality suggests something more like a used Taurus.  But then what would happen to the Crown Vic if the new car gets the garage?  Leave it out in the SUN?  Or the RAIN?!  

One plus about buying a car is that I get to do business with Ed, a man who defies the car salesman stereotype.  His first impulse was to help me make the right decision, not to feather his own nest by pushing me toward an immediate sale, which he said is not unique to him but an extension of his dealership's customer-first philosophy. So let me know if you’re in the market for a new (or newer) car.  I’ll be glad to pass Ed's name along to you.  Meanwhile, I've got an ignition module to replace on my Crown Vic.

TakeAway:  Surprise your prospects with authentic, customer-first sales and service.  They’ll come back for more -- and tell their friends about it.


Content © by Brian E. Faulkner



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Pick Up The Phone And Smile: An Unusually Satisfying Business Experience.

12/2/2014

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Had occasion today to call a hotel in Orlando.   Suzan answered the phone, and she sounded so enthusiastic that it immediately made me feel that she – and everybody else at the Grand Bohemian -- was delighted that I’d called.  Not just glad ... delighted!   What a rare experience these days when so many businesses care only enough to plug you into their endless, impersonal and oh-so-frustrating automated answering systems.  Either that or the person who answers the phone gives you the impression they’d rather finish filing their nails than talk to you.

"Good afternoon, and thank you for calling the Gran Bohemian Hotel -- this is Suzan at your service."  The way it should be done.

Suzan passed me along to Marion, who was equally enthusiastic.  She, in turn, connected me to the secretary of the gentleman who owns the hotel – just like that.  Impressive, especially after having tried to contact business execs whose phone setups clearly suggest that they don’t want to be found.

I had not been aware of Richard Kessler and his 10 themed hotels, elegantly branded as The Kessler Collection.  But I will long recall the exemplary welcome I received on the other end of his phone.  He clearly recognizes the value of investing in the people it takes to enliven his properties, known for their “distinctive architecture, rare art and music, and exemplary service,” which I have no doubt runs like a golden thread through the entire business.  

The Kessler experience reminded me of a hotel stay in Columbia, S.C. going on a month ago: the Clarion on Gervais Street.  To tell the truth, we almost turned around and went somewhere else when we saw the property.  The entrance was temporary and rather uninviting.  A worn carpet led the way to the front desk.   The place was under renovation, and management clearly had decided to do what business it could while one part of the facility was being torn down. 

But the front desk folks welcomed us warmly, made good noises about our grandchildren (who were exploring every corner of the lobby as only a trio of curious toddlers can do) and explained the situation.  The elevator was wobbly and the hallway carpets were grungy.  The door to our room opened reluctantly and banged angrily against its metal frame.   It was late and we were tired, so we decided to stay and ask for a discount at checkout time.  However, by then the hotel staff had completely won us over – from several shifts of front desk people to the woman who cleaned our room. 

Despite the less-than-perfect accommodations, we left smiling.  There was no need for a discount.  Plus, the kids found it fascinating to look out the window of our rooms in the morning as a power shovel demolished the building across the way.

The two very different hotels shared a common characteristic: a great experience, thanks not only to good people but also to management with the wisdom to hire, train and keep them.

TakeAway:  Good people with great attitudes can make a huge customer experience difference – and create loyal brand advocates.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner
Tags:  Grand Bohemian Hotel, Orlando, The Kessler Collection, Clarion





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The Customer is Culture at this Successful Company.

11/10/2014

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Bob Tiffin gets up every morning a happy man.  After early meetings with his management team, the genial founder and CEO of Tiffin Motorhomes takes to his office, phone to ear, eager to speak with his customers. 

He knows he’ll get the calls, first because he invites them.  And second, because motorhomes are complex products and they need service from time to time.  An array of different systems must work as one to keep 30-48 thousand pounds of vehicle, 100-150 gallons of diesel fuel, 90 gallons of fresh water, 100+ gallons of waste water, plus cabinets, furniture and personal belongings (not to mention driver and passengers) rolling down the road. 

“A motorhome, first of all, is a home,” Tiffin points out. “It has everything a home has, but on wheels.  It also has hydraulics and a diesel engine – like a backhoe.”  Not to mention the finest TV and electronics packages available.  Plus a fine kitchen, an air conditioning system and two electrical systems, including a generator.  And it all has to operate properly at sea level or at 11-thousand feet and accommodate a variety of climate and road conditions.  From chassis to engine to handcrafted cabinetry to exceptional fit and finish, the company’s quality standard is high, whether an owner vacation travels or lives full time in their motorhome.  

“Our customer sets the standard,” says Tiffin.  “The customer is the culture of our company.  We think about them when we design our products.  We think of them every minute of every day and do everything we can to help them.  We have 200 employees in our service department.  Fourteen techs each take 30-40 calls a day.  And CoachNet takes the calls after hours and on weekends.” (CoachNet is a leading provider of 24/7 technical and emergency roadside assistance for motorized and towable RVs with a network of more than 40,000 service providers throughout the U.S. and Canada.)

“My three sons work with me in the business, and we meet every day with our engineers to go over each problem we got a call about the day before,” notes Tiffin.  Many of the fixes to those problems find their way into the company’s six Class A motorhome lines, which range from Allegro Breeze, the smallest rear engine diesel coach on the market, to the lavish Zephyr, “45 feet of sumptuous grandeur loaded with more features than we’ve ever put into a motorhome,” including a residential style fridge, two bathrooms and a stacked washer / dryer combo.  

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Image © by Brian E. Faulkner
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http://tiffinmotorhomes.com/
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Image © by Brian E. Faulkner
Bob Tiffin’s customer service passion is rooted in values instilled in him by his father, Alex Tiffin, whom Bob watched do business in the family lumberyard and general store in rural northwest Alabama from the time he was a little boy:
Build it well.  Make it better.  Back it with good service. Treat customers the way they    would want to be treated.  And always answer the phone.
These days, if Bob Tiffin isn’t in his office taking with a customer on the telephone, he’s more than likely talking to a customer in-person, at the Tiffin plant in Red Bay or on the road somewhere.

“If you can’t look your customers in the eye, you can’t do business with them,” Tiffin believes, a maxim that goes back to the Tiffin Supply Company days and has stuck with them since the family acquired and developed a motorhome manufacturing business after one of their customers went bust forty-odd years ago. 

The product may be more sophisticated these days, but Tiffin’s attention to the basics remains the same – in fact, it’s at the nexus of quality and service that Tiffin Motorhomes really shines.  The company is known not only for meticulous attention to design and manufacturing but also for Bob Tiffin and his legendary customer service, all of which combine to set Tiffin apart in a business where the competition isn’t shy about contending for market share.

“There used to be something like 100 motorhome manufacturers,” Tiffin says.  We’ve survived four major economic meltdowns since we started in business, and now there are only 6-7 manufacturers left.”  Which says a lot about his company’s products and the people who build and service them.

Just ask a Tiffin owner.

“Our customers talk about us around the campfire,” he points out. “We want them to say that we try our best to help if there’s a problem.  We don’t sugarcoat the fact that motorhomes can be challenging.   If there’s an issue, we ask our customers to call us, contact one of our 85 dealers, or drive to the factory.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, we’ll fix whatever needs to be fixed.  Because it’s our name that’s on their motorhomes.”   

Bob Tiffin gets it.  He gets it that the promise of quality begins on day one of the manufacturing process, continues through sale and delivery (by a limited number of carefully chosen Tiffin dealers) and extends through the entire ownership experience.  His team gets it too, understands that integrity is the foundation stone on which their current and future business success rests.  The promise Bob makes to Tiffin owners, the promises his sons make, and the promise that every associate in the Tiffin family makes is part of each motorhome that heads up the road from Red Bay.

“Customers invest from $100,000 to more than $500,000 in their motorhomes,” the founder says.  “Sometimes that’s their whole life’s savings.  And keeping them happy is our job” -- a Marketable Truth© deeply embedded in Tiffin’s long-time tagline:

“Where You Go, We Go!”

TakeAway:  Live your integrity.  A reputation for excellence will follow, and your customers will brag on you.

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner      Marketable Truth
© by Brian E. Faulkner   

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People Power as a Competitive Advantage.

8/14/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Lowes Foods, a 60-year-old, 100+ store grocery chain based in North Carolina, has made a gutsy move:  they’ve put the future of their business in the hands of their people.  Their team.  Their hosts -- the honorific says it all.  

The moment you walk in one of their rebranded, re-cultured stores, you can feel the difference.  Smiles seem to arise naturally.  Employees greet you and offer their help – and seem to mean it.  There’s a refreshing hustle about the place.  More spontaneity. Lowes Foods leadership has managed somehow to meld procedure and belief and make it work.  
 

“Cultural branding is really at the core, at the heart of what we’re trying to do,” says the company’s enthusiastic CMO, Michael Moore, a veteran of 28-years in the grocery business.  “And what I’ve experienced a lot as I’ve gone to retailers, both in the States and overseas, is that there’s so much emphasis placed on the visual side of the equation, prettying up the store, making it a little bit more shoppable, so on and so forth, but yet there’s nothing that’s done with what we call our hosts.”

Although stores like Publix (1077 stores in six southeastern states), Wegmans (84 stores in the Northeast), Whole Foods Market (371 stores nationally) and Nugget Markets (9 stores in California) are known for getting the cultural piece right.  And each rises continuously on FORTUNE’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For*. 

Nugget Markets claims that their “positive attitude and love of people” sets their associates apart, which – in turn -- sets them apart in the marketplace.

“Our associates are the difference maker,” says Chris Carpenter, their COO and Vice President, “and it is they who separate us from our competition.  We believe that when our associates are having fun and feeling valued, there is an energy and enthusiasm that is created—and it transcends right through the guest.”

Lowes Foods’ management gets that.  My recent conversation with CMO Moore in one of the company’s stores was interrupted several times by cheers from people in the Chicken Kitchen celebrating completion of another batch of “chicken you’d cross the road for.”  

Who wouldn’t rather shop at a store where people are enthusiastic about their work – as long as quality and selection are up to par?  Personal experience is just one of a dozen or so competitive factors that set any business apart – along with service, convenience, innovation, etc.  Even grocers who sell primarily on price often have other competitive factors in their favor.  Aldi for example, is known for its limited inventory, quality merchandise plus low price.

But the people part likely does as much, or more, to attract and hold customers than any other single competitive factor.  It’s also the most challenging to make happen -- and sustain -- in the me-saturated American culture.   Disney has proven the value (and endurance) of people power for decades.  

“The Disney operating style has greatly influenced our training program,” says Moore.  “We believe in one of the core Disney concepts in particular, which is when we’re on the floor we’re onstage, and we want the people onstage to be delightful.  We want our hosts to be rabid fans, working for Lowes, and we want our guests to feel that love – and feel that commitment and support.”

Even when my local Lowes Foods store was only halfway through its renovation, the cultural transformation already had begun taking hold.  I was pleasantly surprised when a man in the produce department engaged me in conversation about the mushrooms I was buying.  (see http://theproducemerchant.com/produce-stand-outs/ for more about him)

Customer satisfaction is relatively easy to achieve, because it’s … relative.  Creating delight, however, is quite something else and may not even be measurable except by collecting personal anecdotes and tracking repeat business. The man in produce delighted me by offering suggestions on how to store and prepare my mushrooms.  A month or so later, a young woman roaming the store with crisp watermelon samples intercepted me in the cereal aisle.  Her smile alone was enough to delight.  And had I not been a long-time Lowes Foods customer, either "host" would have more than counterbalanced my experience a few weeks prior with the only rude clerk I’ve ever encountered at that store (a memorable example of how not to treat a customer).

“Culture is the driver in our company in all departments,” says Lowes Foods VP of Fresh Sales Chris Van Parys.  “While the bricks and mortar have all evolved, of course, the take-away we have the most pride in is our people or hosts.  The main focus is taking care of our guests in new and unexpected ways.”

And not everybody fits. 

“There’s a certain profile we look for as we think about new hire strategy,” says Moore, “people comfortable with that kind of interaction.  The folks who are not, there’s tons of great backstage kind of work that fits better for them.  And we really make sure that’s front and center as people are making applications for jobs.”

The new people who have appeared in my local Lowes Foods store recently seem to embody that spirit more readily than the old crew (although there are a few choice holdovers).  Even the young workers who stock the shelves have sprouted an upbeat, helpful attitude.  You find much the same at Publix, where employees also are owners.


PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
“Providing premier service and a pleasurable shopping experience is what we hang our hat on,” says Kimberly Reynolds, media and community relations manager in their Charlotte, N.C. division, who noted that as far back as 1930, their founder proclaimed that “we shall treat our customers like kings and queens.”  Today, how the Publix brand promise plays out in the stores remains their “secret sauce,” as an associate in Fort Mill, S.C. proved to me recently by not only being above-and-beyond helpful concerning a product they did not carry but personable to boot.  She personified founder George W. Jenkins' belief that "Publix will be a little better place — or not quite as good — because of you."

Max De Pree, in his seminal little book, “Leadership Is an Art”, talks about covenantal leadership, which I have seen at work in only a small handful of client organizations over the years – from small businesses to billion-dollar consumer products companies and their business units.  The culture of a national apparel manufacturer/marketer I consulted to revolved around a passionate leader who created the future, invested the team in it and sponsored their success.  But the company's culture proved tenuous.  When the leader moved on (or in another case  I recall, when corporate ownership changed), the cultural focus and inspired energy dissipated.

Lowes Foods, like Publix, appears to understand that in order to survive, qualities like “team” and “passion” and “commitment” can’t be pasted on.  They have to be planted deep and lived out in the attitudes and actions of people who believe they are contributing to a larger cause.  Only then can business culture become an enduring – rather than momentary – source of competitive advantage.  It’s not something you can fake.

Publix hires people with “a servant’s” heart, which CEO Ed Crenshaw appears to epitomize.  Lowes Foods hires people who understand the concept of “host” from the heart out, and their senior management team is quick to credit one another with the early success they’ve achieved in rebranding the chain and building a new culture.  That suggests stability in an era when grocery shoppers will change stores on a dime just to get a good price.   

Stability alone is no guarantor of success, of course, although stability based on a culture of believers with a can-do attitude can work wonders in attracting and keeping customers – and perhaps even help make a buck or two more than the competitor down the block. 

Publix and Lowes Foods are destined to compete more directly in the near future as the Florida chain moves deeper into North Carolina. Customers are sure to respond positively to both stores’ people-powered presentations and reward them with increased business and greater loyalty.

TakeAway: People power can be a powerful source of competitive advantage. How does your culture stack up?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner   *FORTUNE and FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For are registered trademarks of Time Inc.

Tags:  Lowes Foods, Publix, cultural branding, Wegmans, Whole Foods Market, Nugget Markets, ALDI



About Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the thought leader / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer and narrator of over 100 segments for UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  



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10 Ways Southwest Airlines Just Stepped In It in Dallas.

7/24/2014

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A Southwest Airlines gate agent apparently has transformed a customer service opportunity into a social-media fueled pie-in-the-face moment, according to a WCCO (Minneapolis) story.

The incident reportedly happened in Dallas when a passenger attempted to board his flight early (as was his privilege as an A-List Southwest flyer), only with his two young children in tow.  The gate agent wouldn’t allow the children to board with him, saying they’d have to wait and board later.

Step 1:  The gate agent could have instantly created a happy customer by allowing the trio to board early, thus upholding Southwest Airlines’ reputation for first class customer service.  I can’t imagine Southwest people being that rule bound.

Step 2:  The passenger threatened to Tweet about the “rude” agent, which he did after eventually boarding the plane with his two kids. 

Step 3:  The situation then went from bad to worse after the agent saw the Tweet: the Airline then threatened to remove the family from the plane.   

Step 4:  The person who asked them to get off the plane (presumably the gate agent) threatened to call the cops. 

Step 5:  The children began crying, and the family left the plane.

Step 6:  The Airline said they could get back on the plane if the passenger deleted his Tweet.

Step 7:  He did.  And they flew on to Minneapolis along with the other passengers, who must have wondered what bad stuff had come down around a dad and his two kids.

Step 8:   Back home, the passenger contacted WCCO, where an Emmy-winning reporter knew a good story when she heard one and ran with it.

Step 9:  Southwest apologized to the passenger via email and gave him three $50 vouchers for future flights, which likely never will be redeemed because he says he won’t fly Southwest again.

Step 10:  Some number of other would-be passengers also will decide not to fly Southwest because bad news always travels faster and farther than good news.

It may be that the gate agent was tired and hassled at the moment she made her choice to bar the children from boarding early.  But then she compounded her poor decision by making further unwise demands of the A-List passenger and his children.  So be it.   But, as those of us who fly with any regularity know, the moment airlines should be prepared to shine most is when the going gets tough. 

Because anybody can come up a smile on a blue-sky day.

TakeAway:  No matter how diligently a business works to create (and communicate) competitive advantage based on superior service, it all can come crashing down in a moment if your people don’t live that truth every day.

Tags:  Southwest Airlines, customer service, WCCO

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


About Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a content writer and Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage:

>  blogs to establish you as the knowledge source / authority in your business category
>  case stories that communicate your sales successes and invite prospect inquiry
>  testimonials that showcase customer / client satisfaction in 1-2 short sentences
>  positioning statements to guide business development & marketing
>  landing page copy to set your business or brand apart in a compelling way
>  tagline development to attract the interest of your most qualified prospects

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award-winning Public Television writer / narrator and is principal writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular "Our State" magazine series, on the air since 2003.  His distinctive sound has been heard on many hundreds of radio spots and client videos since the 1970s.  People say he has a “Mercedes voice” and sounds a bit like Charles Kuralt, which Brian considers a welcome ... but happy ... illusion.

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Mission: The Hole in the Donut.

7/21/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Without its hole, a donut is an undifferentiated mass of dough (limiting discussion, of course, to the ring-shaped donut variety). Likewise, without meaningful values and clear purpose at its center, a company can be an undifferentiated mass of people working for no clear purpose.  It may even be undifferentiated from its competitors.

Values and purpose combine to create mission.  Values are the common beliefs that knit a culture together, whether country, church, non-profit, or business – the U.S. Marines are a fabulous example.  Purpose is the “product” people create together plus the difference it makes in the marketplace (or on the battlefield).  

People Make The Difference.

One of business leadership’s key challenges today is to increase the productivity of its human resources, to give people a new vision of themselves -- and their potential -- while maximizing their combined contribution.  Values are the qualities that meld people into a team.  They help make success happen.  It’s the cultural part of “work” that gets folks up in the morning and charges their batteries.

As Adam Smith suggested over 200 years ago, it is the participation of individuals working in their own and the collective self-interest that makes capitalism work so well.  At its best, capitalism creates personal freedom as well as profits and seems to work most effectively for both people and businesses when there is a comfortable convergence of personal and business goals.  What gives meaning to forging tools or making T-shirts?  Or to a non-profit cause?  Realization that the collective purpose is worthwhile.  Herbert Hoover called it a “lifting purpose.”  

Most people don’t want to just work.  They want to contribute; they want to be part of something.  It’s eye-opening to realize, even today, that work often has nothing to do with “real” life.  All too many of us live for the weekend and count the days ‘til vacation time rolls around.

If the unproductive and uninspired workers in our country -- never mind an unfortunate percentage of students in our schools -- could be given hope, could be empowered to contribute beyond the ordinary, beyond the constraints of their “jobs”, the productivity transformation within America could be incredible.

I have seen companies with strong, can-do manufacturing cultures and weak management but seldom the reverse.   I have seen retailers selling great brands who have created (or allowed) a depressing, discouraging atmosphere for their people to work in but also great cultures where people have worked together to transform a good brand into a great one.  

I also have seen retailers who sell essentially the same mix of products as their competitors but set themselves apart by hiring people who care, aren’t shy about showing it and who are given the freedom to make service decisions at the customer contact level.   Robin, the young woman who used to answer the phone for one of my clients years ago, always made a positive impression.  Her upbeat attitude and willingness to serve reflected the attitude of her company's management, their manufacturing excellence and their product superiority. In contrast, companies that choose to have a machine answer their phone communicate the opposite message:  “We don’t care enough to put our very best people on the business end of your inquiry, so your call is not really all that important to us.”

In conclusion, values and purpose are intimately connected in an organization’s mission.   Values is the why part, the reason people come to work charged up about their potential contribution.  Purpose is the product part, whether a manufactured item, a variety of essentially off-the-shelf components integrated into something new or selling things like smart phones or cars, groceries, medical supplies or personal services.  It includes everything that makes success happen, from strategy to marketing to customer /client contact to manufacturing and those all-important support functions that keep things running smoothly. 

People who are energized about coming to work every day create great products and provide great service, competitive qualities your present and future customers or clients won’t be able to find anywhere else.

TakeAway:  Take a look at your mission through the business donut hole.  Do you see a team looking back at you that cares deeply about your products and customers and has the freedom and energy to help you create a future charged with success?

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner

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The Airlines oR DMV - Which is Worse?

6/13/2014

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PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Flying commercial has been compared recently to waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles office to register your car.   So which of the two has gotten so much worse that it invites the comparison?

Nearly every DMV wait I’ve experienced through the years has been annoying, hot, boring and lengthy, so not much has changed there.  In fact, I recall one especially memorable clerk in Connecticut back around 1970 whose snarl was genuinely world class.  She did not enjoy being helpful.  But most DMV clerks I’ve encountered have been helpful.  Just recently, a young woman here in North Carolina was not only helpful but pleasant as she sorted out my registration/ inspection mix-up, despite the long line of grumbly folks awaiting her attention.   

To be sure, life can dish out far greater unpleasantness than waiting in line at the DMV.   But the experience of traversing a busy airport these days apparently is running neck and neck with the DMV for customer dissatisfaction.

Flying used to be fun – back when airliners had propellers and you were eight years old and didn’t know any better.   In 2014, flying commercial (as distinct from renting or owning your own airplane and getting to fly whenever and wherever you want) can be a white knuckle experience, from the check-in line to the security line to the boarding crush to the two-hour delay on the tarmac to maybe getting to your destination on time or maybe not but still having to deal with the baggage crap-shoot no matter what.   Unless, that is, you're a passenger on Southwest Airlines, which has managed to fly above its competitors by offering a straight-ahead, efficient, value-priced product with fewer customer surprises.

Of course, in between the many hassles that greet the flying public today is the flight itself, which has morphed into a crammed-in-your-seat, uncomfortably public experience that nobody in their right mind would recall fondly unless they maybe lucked out and hooked a spot next to Harrison Ford or Angelina Jolie who had been forced to fly coach because this was the last flight out to East Sagebrush, Texas, where they were shooting a Western first thing in the morning.

Every business has its challenges, but some provide a greater sense of reward than others – compare the commercial airline business to selling flowers, for example.  The big challenge of flower selling may be running out of red roses, but as long as the stock holds, delivering bouquets of happiness can be fun.  Ideally, the airline business also should be about delivering happiness.  Instead, the challenge of most airlines these days appears to be annoying as few customers as possible.   Although I’ve never done it, selling flowers seems like it might be a pleasure compared to working an airline ticket counter.

From the time you go online to buy your ticket to the time you and your fellow passengers have to wait as some unthinking clod attempts to stuff his slightly oversized carry-on into the slightly undersized overhead bin while the harried flight attendant tries to introduce some discipline, pleasure is not usually what comes to mind when thinking about commercial air travel, with its ever-skinnier seats and the exorbitant fee they charge to make sure your extra suitcase actually gets on the plane with you.  I’ve even read lately that some airlines are considering shorter lavs to save space – you don’t mind bending over to do your mid-air business, do ya?  

It makes you wonder, What are they thinking?! when airlines slight passenger comfort or convenience to shave a buck or two off their fares.

“Offering our low fares requires doing some things that some people complain about,” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza recently wrote in a letter to Bloomberg Businessweek, “—more seats on our planes with a little less legroom, no Wi-Fi or video screens, and no refunds without insurance; however, these reduce costs which gives our customers the lowest fares in the industry.  Judging by the number of customers on our planes and repeat customer rate,” he concluded, “most people like this tradeoff.”

This strikes me as long-range customer service suicide. 

So back to the comparison between flying and the DMV. 

“Forty-two percent rated the DMV as worse than a busy airport, while 40 percent said being in a packed airport is worse than standing in line to get a new driver's license,” according to an article by CNBC.com’s auto and airline industry reporter, Phil LeBeau.  "No doubt the airline industry is doing a better job of pleasing passengers, but there still is a lot of room for improvement," LeBeau writes, quoting J.D. Power's Rick Garlick. "Satisfaction is improving, but it's a stretch to say passengers are truly happy."

Now there’s an understatement.  

It’s also an understatement to say that the airline business is tough and complex.  Margins are thin at best and beset by high fuel costs and other profit-munching expenses.  As Richard Branson so wryly put it, "How do you become a millionaire?  Start as a billionaire and then buy an airline.”

Even so, the knack of the airline business to rile up its customers astonishes me no end, despite the often herculean efforts of individual employees to do the opposite.   In light of this unfortunate reality, I have created a pair of taglines to dramatize the difference between the two nearly equal customer service experiences.

DMV Tagline:  Bear with us, it will be over in 15-20 minutes.

Commercial Airlines Tagline:  Bear with us, it will never be over – and have a nice flight.

TakeAway:  When the service in your industry descends to joke status, there’s an opportunity for somebody to  break the mold and create real competitive advantage.  Will that be you … or your competitor?  

Content © by Brian E. Faulkner


About Brian Faulkner:

PictureImage © by Brian E. Faulkner
Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies over many years. He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.


Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  


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Best Buy Fails To Satisfy: Poor Customer Experience Suggests Need For Strategic Change.

4/8/2014

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PictureBest Buy image.
Went shopping for a new laptop last weekend at Best Buy.  Over the years, I have avoided Best Buy because it’s too big and sometimes too loud and because the help doesn’t always know what they’re talking about.  Truth is I don’t like big box stores in general.  I miss the small, more specialized, more personable shops (and shopkeepers) that used to populate our towns and cities. 

But if I want a wide variety of laptops to select from – at least in Piedmont North Carolina, there is no choice other than to frequent Best Buy, or one of the office boxes. 

So there we were, two somewhat older, would-be Best Buy customers wandering around trying to figure which laptop from a mind-numbing array of choices would best suit my wife.  Within minutes, a young guy in a blue Best Buy shirt appeared, briefly inquired about our needs and said he’d find someone to help us out – a positive start!  Then he (and apparently his helper) … disappeared.   Later, after having selected an HP laptop totally on our own, he approached us again as we sauntered over to the camera department and went through the same routine again, not realizing that he had spoken to us fifteen minutes earlier.

In the camera department, I asked another blue-shirt about a specific Canon product that they were likely to have in stock considering the price range of cameras already on display.  “No,” the clerk said.  “We don’t have that one.”  He wandered off.

Hmmm …

Then I turned around, and there – at eye level on an end cap display – was the camera I’d inquired about in all its promotional glory!

The clerk came back.  I pointed out the display.  He seemed genuinely shocked.  Then said that the camera department “expert” would be back from lunch in a few minutes and that we should hang around and talk to him.   We did.   He didn’t.   After a while, the clerk returned with news that the expert wasn’t actually working that day and that we should come back during the week.

Hmmm …

So on to checkout.  Only one register open, and there was a line.   After a while, it was our turn.   The young woman behind the register acted bored beyond hope and asked far too many pre-programmed questions, which was one reason the line moved so slowly.   After completing our single-item transaction, her final note of disdain was to mutter “Thank you, have a great day” in a tone that made me want to dope-slap her (or her manager, or his/her manager, or the president of the company).

One miscue I can handle, but five?

1.  The disappearing greeter, Part I.

2.  The disappearing greeter, Part II.

3.  The uninformed camera clerk.

4.  The missing expert.

5.  The disappointing checkout.

HEY BEST BUY People, IT SHOULDN'T Be That Difficult!

Best Buy had five chances to shine but muffed them all.   Sure, the company is having trouble finding its way in a world that’s getting more expansive on one hand (think Amazon.com) and more specialized on the other (think Apple stores).   If they don’t reinvent themselves – and soon, upstart competitors, including those yet to emerge, will eat their lunch and their dinner.

Best Buy Takes Off.

The Best Buy merchandising concept emerged in the late ‘70s after the owner of a small chain of Minnesota stereo shops discovered the power of discounting following a store fire.  Five years later, the enterprise was renamed Best Buy and took off like it was being chased by the future, with innovative store formats and ever more product categories, including appliances.   By 1992 they were a billion dollar company and expanding nationally as more and more personal technology came on line to sell.  With more than 600 stores in the U.S., Best Buy glided into the Millennium as if nothing could slow their inevitability.  By 2007, they were in China – with eyes on other international locations. 

But pervasive market change had begun chewing away at their success, including online gaming, music streaming, online merchandising and (of late) software migration to the cloud.   Strategic disruptor Amazon.com sold their first book online in 1995.  And reached a billion dollars by 2001.  Today, they’re busily selling the everything from A-Z that Jeff Bezos envisioned from the start.  

The Wachovia Personal Banker.

Years ago -- centuries in terms of business change, Wachovia Bank rolled out their Personal Banker concept.  It paired customers with a branch banker who stuck around instead of rotating into the next training slot, as seemed the usual banking custom.  “You Have a Personal Banker at Wachovia,” proclaimed their tagline.  It was true.  And it worked!   For a long time.

There were two keys to the success of Personal Banker:

(1)  It maximized (and managed) the customer experience: created value by creating valuable relationships. 

(2)  It was authentic.  Wachovia delivered on their promise, day in and day out.

But what about Best Buy?  They clearly need a fresh approach, perhaps one as bold and innovative as the concept that first set them apart.  However, instead of looking to selection, scope and scale (even price) for differentiation, there may be strategic ground to be gained in activating their sales culture.

Power To The People.

Like Wachovia Bank did so effectively with Personal Bankers, people power can be let loose relatively quickly and provide an enduring source of competitive advantage.   Under this scenario, Best Buy would hire (and retain) a top tier of professional sales consultants whose primary mission is to create valuable customer relationships, product knowledge experts who have been granted the autonomy to give their loyal customers set-apart service (essentially an expansion of Best Buy’s Geek Squad concept).   The consultants would be amply rewarded, based on metrics like better conversion, more frequent purchases by “their” customers, increased average transactions, time in grade, etc., and newer employees would aspire to join their ranks.  Customer satisfaction and repeat business would skyrocket.  Service complaints would begin fading away. 

Transforming Best Buy’s sales culture into a high performance human asset may sound like a stretch.  But even if the idea were only moderately successful, it beats the heck out of the errors, ignorance and indifference that pervaded our recent Best Buy laptop shopping experience.  And it certainly would give the company a long-term competitive advantage worth shouting about.

To be fair, Renew Blue, a Best Buy performance improvement initiative designed (in part) to “reinvigorate and rejuvenate the customer experience” has been underway for just over a year.  But for the moment, these two Best Buy shoppers are in no hurry to come back -- although when the new laptop breaks, we’ll be first in line to check out the Geek Squad.

TakeAway:   Differentiate your business, brand or product in a meaningful and enduring way.  Create value by creating valuable relationships.  Reward the people who make it happen.   Then tell the marketplace about your success – instead of letting it shape you.   People will want to be your customers.   And will return again and again.

© Brian E. Faulkner.

Related posts: 
www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/01/minimum-wage-should-be-stricken-from-our-business-vocabulary.html

www.brianefaulkner.com/1/post/2014/02/mr-grumpy-gets-his-due.html

ABOUT Brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003. 


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The GoDaddy Guy Kicks Butt, Small Businesses Benefit!

3/20/2014

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PictureImage source: GoDaddy
A guy from GoDaddy called me today.  That’s never happened before.   At first, I was suspicious.  What is he trying to sell?   Nothing, as it turned out, other than to offer help in renewing (or not renewing) three Web domains I have registered with them.  A helpful and altogether thoughtful gesture, I must admit – especially for a small change customer like me.

Heretofore, I’d not been all that impressed with GoDaddy.  

As an occasional user over the years, whether to add, renew or cancel a domain name, I have found their site uninviting, difficult to navigate and tricked out with product offers I didn’t need – and often didn’t even understand.  They assumed I had a degree of technical knowledge, which I do not.  To me a computer is an appliance, a tool:  turn the thing on, start working on my thing and that’s as far as I care to go.  Which is pretty much what I told Adam when he called.

We had a positive discussion.  As if Adam had any power to change things, I suggested that GoDaddy needed to reboot their marketing after having cranked up their visibility with the famously controversial GoDaddy Girls.  It’s time to position themselves more effectively to the vast, largely unaddressed portion of their potential market:  people like me, who would almost rather undergo a root canal than struggle with a tech-belabored Web site.  He said they were working on that, thanks to their relatively new CEO, Blake Irving.  

What actually IS GoDaddy? I wondered.   And what is Blake Irving up to?

A little wandering around on GoDaddy’s pleasantly refreshed, more accessible site revealed Web site building options, email services and online bookkeeping products in addition to domain registration.  There’s a new service called GetFound, which helps spread clients’ basic information across the Web and makes it easier for people to find them.  And now, WordPress blog hosting and management, which especially caught my eye as a blogger thinking about a hosting change. 

Comments posted to Blake’s Blog lauded GoDaddy's customer service (Adam is a terrific example, and they’re said to have 3,500 people just like him engaged in “customer care”).  And Wikipedia reveals the company to be staffed by true-believers with shared values, which makes them rightfully particular about who they host. 

So what would you do if given the opportunity to help elevate Go Daddy’s marketing?  

My first task would be to develop and launch a more strategically differentiated message.  I would answer the question, “What does GoDaddy do and how does it benefit me?” while maintaining their enviable 80% aided, 50% unaided brand awareness with ad buys during the Super Bowl, NASCAR races and other high visibility events.    I’d present some grounded-in-reality customer success stories that present tangible benefits to the great bulk of prospective customers who have yet to “tune in” to GoDaddy's wavelength or who have been put off by the tone of their advertising.  

Go daddy shifts its ad strategy.

After writing the previous paragraph, a modicum of online sleuthing showed me that GoDaddy already has shifted in that direction.  See their Super Bowl spot about the woman who quit her day job to start a puppet making business here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf0vzLgF-OI .      

And according to the blogged transcript of a GeekWire Summit discussion he participated in last year in Seattle, ( http://blakesblog.com/?p=223 ) Blake Irving is a man with a plan that rings my bell and clearly should ring the bell of tomorrow’s GoDaddy customers.

The basis of GoDaddy’s move into the future is a 32-page strategic document that includes a “bigger than life” vision of “radically shifting the global economy toward small business.”  He described their target market as “1-5 people trying to turn themselves into a real business” and talked about changing the world for them.   In a more recent online article, the GoDaddy leader noted that 75% of U.S. businesses are sole proprietorships.  So the opportunity to add more paying customers to the 12-million-plus they already have is huge.

“Changing the world for small business” is a great example of a compelling Key Message that's extracted from a larger strategic document and used to communicate to the prospect base about -- and rally company culture around -- what now is possible. 

“We’re in a deep transformation of the company,” the GoDaddy CEO said.  “Who we serve, how we serve them, how we position ourselves, how our employees feel about themselves, about serving those little guys, is really different.  Our mission in the company is we help small business kick ass.

“It’s a quest, not a company.  Everybody’s leaning into this thing …”

Irving finished his GeekWire conversation by challenging the audience (and me) to check out the company’s Kick Ass Manifesto video online.  I did.  You should, too (see it below).  The only thing missing is that daring but powerful potential tagline:  We Help Small Business Kick Ass.

I deeply abhor edginess for edginess sake because so much of it is in-your-face tasteless, smug and self-serving, so I would pause when considering whether to include “Kick Ass” in my tagline -- and who knows how it will translate internationally.   But those six words are true.   “Kick Ass” will require some elaboration, but so do oft-used positioning words like “leader” and “world class.”   A less dramatic way of saying the same thing might be:

       GoDaddy Helps Small Businesses Build Their Dreams (incorporating their recent ad theme). 

I like taglines that make a bold statement and communicate Marketable Truth© -- in any language.  So, either way, I say go for it GoDaddy! 

TakeAway:  Develop a meaningful strategic vision that points your business toward the future.  Then extract a compelling Key Message from it that charges your team with purpose and makes the customers or clients you want most want to do business with you.    

Content and images © by Brian E. Faulkner unless otherwise noted.  All rights reserved.  

Tags: 
Go Daddy, GoDaddy marketing, Blake Irving, WordPress, customer service, brand awareness, GeekWire, small business, vision, strategic vision, powerful tagline, taglines, Kick Ass Manifesto, Manifesto of Kick Ass

About brian Faulkner:

Brian Faulkner is a Key Message expert.  He helps clients come up with words to set their businesses, brands and products apart and attract the customers they want most.  His strategic insights, and the words that go with them, have made a significant, often immediate difference for client companies.  He thrives on strategic communication problem solving, complex subjects, new ideas, concepts-as-products, challenging marketing situations and demanding deadlines.  His "sweet spot" is smaller to moderate sized consumer products, retail, service and manufacturing companies that may have
struggled to find just the right words to position their business, brands or products to competitive advantage.

Brian also is a three-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer and narrator of UNC-TV’s popular Our State magazine series, on the air since 2003.  

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    sample blog:

    This is a sample blog  for writer Brian E. Faulkner.  It presents stories about brands that do (or don't) communicate competitive advantage effectively. Stories have been gleaned from the business press, personal experience and occasional interviews. New articles are added from time to time, and every so often there will be a post of general interest -- about things like success, passion, social trends, etc. 

    Author

    Brian Faulkner is a writer and strategic communication consultant who helps business clients explain their competitive advantage in compelling and enduring ways.
     
    He also is a five-time Emmy award winning Public Television writer & narrator for a highly-rated and well-loved magazine series.

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