Contradictory impressions
During a recent training event I attended, we saw an interesting video presentation on customer service. The narrator told a number of great stories, including one about how the common practice at banks of attaching pens to chains was a terrible idea. The chains imply that the bank thinks the customer is a thief, he said; it would be wiser to provide unchained pens with the bank’s name on them, so that if the pens did wander off, they’d be advertising for the bank as they did so.
Makes sense to me. But the whole thing struck me as funny, given that the video started with 10 seconds of focus on a single dark screen with large red writing at the top: “Duplicating this video is STEALING!” Which undercut the narrator’s point somewhat.
I’m not here to argue for illegal DVD duplication, but to point out that it’s important to consider the impressions you make on members and customers. I’m sure the narrator of that video was sincere in his arguments; I’m also guessing that he never saw that “Duplication is STEALING!” screen, or, if he did, he didn’t think of it in connection with the story about pens at banks. It’s easy to do that when planning a big project—you can get very focused on details and not realize that Detail A contradicts Detail R, and that members or customers will be annoyed or even angered by that contradiction.
One example I’ve seen several times recently is that of advertising a conference as “paperless” after eliminating an on-site program or education session handouts, while not considering the amount of paper used elsewhere at the meeting. Once attendees have the expectation that the conference is paperless, they will notice every time you use paper throughout the event, and question it. You should too.
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Comments
Lisa -
You wouldn't be talking about Annual now, would you?
:)
Posted by: Matt Baehr | October 2, 2007 9:29 AM
There was definitely feedback about that at Annual, and after! And I've seen it at other events, too. The more you push the environmental angle, the higher expectations are--which is a good thing, but can be a challenge for the organization to meet those expectations.
Posted by: Lisa Junker | October 2, 2007 9:34 AM
You're right on. I recently did a post about the whole "paperless" thing. It's such a misnomer...it really does weaken the message.
Here's the post.
http://associationmarketing.blogspot.com/2007/09/traps-of-marketing-paperless-conference.html
Posted by: Lindy Dreyer | October 2, 2007 9:57 AM
"…to point out that it’s important to consider the impressions you make on members and customers."
The kind of experience Lisa described makes me smile—irony is amusing. Seriously, I believe it's the little things that count--especially the words you use (in a video or spoken in person).
I picked up this tip from a co-worker:
When you help a customer/member and he or she says, "thank you" a lot of people commonly reply, "no problem." It's a very minor thing, but on some level you are implying to the customer that there is some problem with their request or with them (even though you are saying it's "not" a problem. At the very least, it is a negative statement. It's much better to say, "thank you" or my personal favorite, "my pleasure."
See how a small choice in words can change the perception from being of one of, “you’ve brought me your problem and I’ve fixed it for you...now be gone” to one of, “I am so happy I had this opportunity to help you.” The first choice has the warm fuzzy of standing in the line at the DMV, the later choice, the customer knows that he or she is truly appreciated.
As for the paperless conference, I always know to take the word “paperless” with a bag of salt. I think, in general, we use more paper now than we did before the electronic revolution.
Posted by: Caron Mason | October 3, 2007 1:14 PM
Living in Manhattan, if I get a "no problem" response, it's one of the more civil responses of my day. Guess it's a cultural thing. But this is the kind of thing we New Yorkers like!
You should have heard the unsolicited comments I got waiting yesterday for the light to change at Park and 34th! :-)
Posted by: Virgil Carter | October 3, 2007 2:14 PM
Maybe the point is that you have to go paper-less before you can become paper-free.
Posted by: Mark Milroy | October 4, 2007 8:42 PM