Got cards?
During his session “Make Some Noise,” Ken Schmidt of Harley-Davidson showed a photo of the Harley-Davidson president working the crowd at a motorcycle rally, which apparently is something he does on a regular basis. The president had a pocket crammed full of index cards, on which he was writing customer feedback as he received it. Schmidt drew several lessons out of that photo for the audience:
- Make people feel special. If a customer sees you smile and nod in response to their complaint, they may feel heard, but if they see you writing it down (and even better, if they hear back with constructive followup later) they’ll feel catered to.
- If you’re an exec, you must make time to talk directly with customers. Nothing has the same impact as hearing a complaint directly from the disgruntled member; hearing it secondhand from line staff won’t have the same effect and won’t spur the same response from you.
- Staff watch what you do. In the photo, another Harley staffer was standing near the president—and the staffer had his own pocket full of notecards. The president’s positive behavior was being picked up and modeled by staff—and what great behavior to pass along.
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