Jon Enten

Jul

2010

Lunchtime Horrors!

Labels: Customer Relations, Customer Loyalty Programs

I like to eat lunch from a number of carry-out restaurants in the neighborhood where I work in Bethesda, MD. What I eat depends on where my tastes run to on any given day--Tacos, Asian food, subs and sometimes soup or salads. But the one thing that is always important these days is the value of what I buy. I have reduced my list of favorite restaurants to maybe a half dozen based on food quality, value, service and proximity.

Lately I have been frequenting a taco and Tex-Mex fast service restaurant that is owned and operated by a local family. The restaurant (whose name shall remain nameless except it has the name of a certain west coast state in it) serves a pretty nice list of Tex-Mex dishes. The service is prompt, prices are reasonable and the food always fresh…EXCEPT THAT MONDAY!

Here’s what happened: I ordered my usual three crispy tacos…two chicken and one steak (I like a balanced meal) and my containers of hot sauces. I paid my tab, and strolled back to my office, dressed my tacos, hot sauce, salsa and then took a bite! Holy Moly…they gave me stale taco shells!!!

Now I am not a person given to emotional outbursts…I don’t often complain unless there’s something to complain about. This was something to complain about…I know, “what’s the big deal” you may ask? but for me, food is as much about texture as it is about flavor. So soggy taco shells don’t cut it!

As it happens, I had signed up for the restaurant's rewards program and had the official card in my wallet. So I receive the usual emails with coupons and other information from the restaurant. Being the tech savvy guy I am, I went to the restaurant's website at 2:10 pm, clicked on the “contact us” page and wrote an email describing what had happened. Lo and behold, at 4:10 pm I received an email from Stacy Kane, Director of Marketing…

Hi there Jon -

Thank you for being such a fan and for taking the time to write about your taco debacle. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I know how incredibly frustrating it is to be all excited about your meal, only to find that everything's not quite right. So believe me when I tell you, I will talk to the owner about this right away and I promise you, he'll make sure his taco shells are as fresh as they can be. What store did this happen at?

In the meantime, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. Because as much as I hate to hear that we've failed our customers in any way, it's feedback such as yours that will ultimately make us a better restaurant.

(I deleted the part where Stacy offered to throw a few “bucks” in my account for my inconvenience.)

What’s the point of all this? Well, there are two points…first, because the restaurant utilizes a frequent diner card program and a very well-developed and organized website that is particularly consumer oriented, I was able to communicate with the restaurant and the restaurant was able to deposit a few bucks into my account for my inconvenience and communicate back to me. They probably were also able to see my level of spending at the restaurant and perhaps deemed me a valuable customer. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about that!

The second and more important point is that all the technology we have today doesn’t do any good unless business owners care enough to have procedures in place to quickly and effectively communicate with customers, and address their complaints, compliments and questions. The folks at this restaurant did just that! And they communicated in a way that was personal and thoughtful…not just a boilerplate letter saying “sorry”.

It is heartening to see how technology can be used to build a business and good customer relations…it’s not just technology for technology’s sake.

Got a positive technology-customer service story? Share it with me here!

Apr

2010

Marketing Like the Dead

Labels: Strategy, Branding

My daughter and I were talking the other day and discussing music as we often do. Invariably, we got onto a discussion of a band we both share a love for...The Grateful Dead.

Our conversation steered to a discussion of The Dead's practice of allowing recordings of their concerts for free, "Freemiums"...a radical idea in the then "pre-Internet free content" era.

The Grateful Dead, the hippest of the hippie bands of the time, made themselves a marketing powerhouse...while never achieving a number 1 album or single in their entire career! It's generally agreed that The Grateful Dead are the most financially successful rock 'n roll band ever.

But the thing that impresses me most is The Grateful Dead's intuitive marketing abilities. The free taping and distribution of their music, the fan-centric approach in giving their fans priority access for concert ticket sales (the Dead-Heads), the open-arms licensing policies they used with vendors who sold their shirts, stickers, posters (and even coffee) at their shows, the idea of creating a viable database of their fans waaay before databases were commonplace. All of these tactics in support of one overriding principle: give your fans what they want; the best musical experience possible... and the rest will follow.

Maybe the Dead's innovative "marketing tactics" were simply a reflection of the band's innocence and stated goal of getting their music out to the largest number of listeners possible. But I think there's uncanny logic in what they did. Most rock radio stations didn't even play their music! But as time passed and the band's popularity grew the simple idea of catering to their most loyal fans...even to the point of giving their product away free, succeeded in a big way. The result was the creation of an intensely loyal fan base and an increase in the sales of concert tickets, recordings and licensed products far outweighing the revenue they might've lost from the bootleg recordings.

The Dead approach should be a business marketing primer on building a loyal customer base. Today, years after the band disbanded and the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 the band continues to generate significant revenues today to the "tune" of $60 million per year. What a legacy!

Twirl on.

P.S. I understand that Nordstrom will be selling tie-dyed towels and a whole line of Dead-esque linens soon.

Jon Enten
Vice President
Frost Miller Group

With over 30 years of experience in marketing communications, strategic planning and creative development, Jon keeps our B-to-C clients on track. In 1988, this Washington, D.C. native founded Enten & Associates, Inc.. There, Jon devoted his time to developing comprehensive marketing and communications programs for a diverse group of clients including MasterCard, Johns Hopkins University, GE Information Services, Fitzgerald Auto Mall, Microsoft, IBM, Iceland Air, and FujiFilm. As creative services director at Giant Food, Jon worked on the initial development of Giant Foods' product branding program. Jon attended the Maryland School of Art and Design and the University of Maryland. He serves on the board of The Montgomery County Public Schools Educational Foundation and the Montgomery County Conference and Visitors Bureau. Jon also squeezes in a little time to play golf.

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