For example, we might have customers fill out evaluation forms of their experience with our company–but then we have our sales people hand them out–people who have a vested interest in the customer rating them high (and they do say to customers, “Please give me a 10!”). Or we’ll only give them a few options. Or we’ll make it incredibly difficult for them to give feedback. Or we’ll have a strategic initiative to increase our customer service number by x percent, which, translated means, we don’t really want to get feedback that would lower the number.

However, the problem with all of those scenarios above is that they keep us from hearing what we need to hear in order to make the changes we need to make. To make this real, let me share with you an experience I had last week with a company, Power Windows and Siding.

My wife and I live in a neighborhood where the houses are 23 years old and every one of our neighbors has had their roof redone starting about seven years ago. We’ve been the lone holdout. So, this year we decided, let’s not push our luck, let’s get the roof redone. We attended a home show recently and filled out three forms for estimates  (one of which was Power Windows and Siding) to do our due diligence, plus we’ve contacted references from two neighbors.

Three of the companies were all very easy and professional to deal with. Sears was a little annoying with their call center, but their sales person was easy to work with and quickly assessed that I knew a lot and could skip through whole sections of his sales presentation pretty fast and get to the estimate quickly.

But Power Window and Siding was a whole different story. Their call center was the most annoying I’ve ever encountered. They called incessantly to confirm the appointment. I mean daily–which was annoying. I made an appointment. I keep my appointments. If they wanted to call the day before to confirm the appointment (which is a good practice), I wouldn’t have been annoyed. But to have their computer dial my number daily to confirm the same appointment–that was beyond infuriating.

Furthermore, when the computer would leave the phone number, it was always fast with a tagline like, “You know the number, RIng PWS!” Now, let me ask you, do you know what number R is? Or W? Or I? Names aren’t customer friendly. If I’m taking a message, I want someone to give me numbers. I don’t want to have to look at the dial pad and then have to figure out what the numbers are.

So, by the time the sales person came by, he was already in last place. Then as we sat down, he went into “sales mode.” You know what I’m talking about. He was trying to be my best friend. So tell me, where did you grow up? How many kids do you have? What are they doing now? Etc. He kept peppering me with questions, reflecting back my answers, affirming everything I said, etc. So much so that it all felt fake/plastic.

I kept telling him that I just wanted an estimate for my roof. My time is valuable and I didn’t need to bond. Then to get the measurements, he asked me to go out with him. Now, I’ve had four estimates before his and none of them needed me to hold the tape and walk the house with them (asking me more annoying questions).

Then when we came back in, he proceeded to go through the sales presentation which talked all about Power Windows and Siding and how great they are and how they were featured on Extreme Makeover, etc. — none of which dealt with me — or that I cared about. All I wanted was a roofing estimate.

He continued through the stock presentation even though I was telling him that I didn’t need to know all this stuff.  But he kept his head down, affirming, “I understand …” and then continuing to do what I was asking him not to do. Finally, when he got to the actual numbers he pulled out his calculator and showed me numbers that were about two and a half times higher than some of the other estimates we had received. Two and a half times higher! At that point, I said, “Listen, let’s save both of us some time. There’s no way we need to carry this conversation any further unless you’re about to tell me, ”Normally, this is what we’d normally charge, but right now we have a special going on where we’re discounting our normal price by over $10,000.“ He kept trying to move forward but I wouldn’t let him. Life’s too short.

However, to make matters even funnier, we’ve still been receiving calls daily from Power Windows and Siding since then. Finally, this morning I picked up the phone (I clearly recognized the number :-) to say, ”Stop Calling,“ when they guy on the other end informed me he was calling to schedule an appointment for a free estimate. Amazing!

But, here’s the point, I’m guessing that the people at Power Windows and Siding are pretty clueless about the feedback I just gave. In fact, right on the front page of their website, their CEO says

We work tirelessly to satisfy our customers, and our standards of quality, ethics, and integrity are unmatched.

Right! I’m sure, from an internal standpoint, they’re working on their systems to make things better from their standpoint. But if they really talked with customers, they’d find out something different.

1. No one likes being called to death by call centers reminding them of appointments, day after day.
2. No one likes alphabetical phone numbers (or, if one must, at least give a numbers option and repeat it twice).
3. No one likes being sold or a salesman trying too hard. (fake bonding is bad)
4. No one likes a salesperson who can’t read their customers’ verbals and non-verbals and then doesn’t adjust their sales presentation to what they’re seeing and hearing.
5. And no one likes an outrageous estimate (after all, we’re talking about a roof here. No one says to their friends, ”Hey, come look at my roof! I paid two and a half times what I should have. Isn’t it grand?“)

So, how are you doing? Are you really searching for honest feedback from your customers and prospects? Are you making it easy? Are you getting feedback that isn’t filtering into some metric that makes you look good? Are you asking enough tough questions? Are you following up with lost sales?

Remember, sometimes the feedback from the sales you lose can be the key to making a whole lot more money in the future!

To your accelerated success!

P.S. Note: this is not to say that all feedback is valuable or true or that it should change what you do. However, if you don’t aggressively pursue honest feedback, then you just might miss out on those insights which are accurate and which you should take some action on!

Well, this morning I ran into a couple of different stupid systems. The first one was/is a simple, but silly one. Yesterday, we had a major rain and lighting storm here in the DC area and the only thing affected in our home was the router we use with Verizon FiOS. I used the router before the storm and all was fine. But after the lightning strike near our home, it didn’t work. After waiting a half hour and then doing everything I knew I’d be asked to do, the customer support person (after another half hour) agreed and said he’d send out a replacement router that should be to me today. Fine.

So, what do you think happened this morning? Exactly! I got an automated voice message telling me that I can track my package by going to www.ups.com. HELLO! If I could go to www.ups.com I wouldn’t need a new router!!!  Stupid system (Note: I do have an iPhone so I could track it that way but the system–on their end–doesn’t know that. So the PROGRAMMED message on their end should have first of all told me when the package was sent and when it should be arriving and then should have said, “And if you have an alternative way of tracking packages online, you may do so by going to www.ups.com and entering the following tracking code).

In addition, the auto attendant quickly gave me a long string of 18 numbers and letters to use to track the package–with no option of repeating the numbers. HELLO! Do they really expect that everyone who answers their phone does so next to a pad of paper with a pen that actually works? Or do they really believe that everyone who writes down 18 numbers and letters, gets them correct the first time they hear them? Buzz! Stupid system.

But the funnier one to me was from Citigroup. Citi called because they thought we had a fraudulent charge made on our card with them last evening (good system). When I confirmed the charge, the fraud specialist asked if I had any other questions, which I did. So I said, “Yes, it’s not a big deal, but I’ve wondered for awhile why Citi raised my interest rate last year. If you look at my account you’ll see I pay off my bill every month so it’s not a big deal, but as a good customer, I thought it was pretty ridiculous to raise my interest rate to 23.9% when I always pay my bills on time.” He said, “Great question. Let me transfer you to customer service.”

When I got on with phone with customer service, it all went downhill. When I asked him my interest rate question he said, “Let me look into that.” When I said, “Well, since I get 7-10 credit card offers a week and everyone–including you at Citi–offers me between 9.99% and 13.24%, it seems that you ought to be able to reduce my rate.” “Yes, Mr. Johnson.” “Okay, so what does that mean?” “We’ll take care of you.” “What does that mean?” “Just trust that we’ll take care of you.” “Okay, but what does that mean….” He said, “Just call us back and we’ll make an adjustment in your rate.”  So, why do I have to call back? Can’t we do that now?” Yada yada yada. Stupid system.

I then went on and said, “Okay, I’m looking at an offer from Citi, your company, right now. You just sent me an offer that if I open up a Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card (the same one I currently have) you will give me a $50 gift card, 2 Thank You Points for every $1 I spend for the next twelve months, 0% interest on transfers in, 0% APR on new purchases until 2/11 and a 9.9% APR today. In other words, if I stay faithful I get nothing. But if I open up a new card with Citi (the exact same card that I already have with you) I get all this.” Yes.” “So, why should I remain loyal?” Stupid system.

Now, my point is not to beat up on Verizon and Citi, because, as I said at the beginning, we all have stupid systems. Instead, my point is to remind you (and me) that we all have them. And while neither of these is enough to cause me to leave either company (hey, they just happened in the last hour or so), there are plenty of stupid systems that do cause customers to leave–and that’s both a tragedy and a fiscal nightmare.

In light of that, as you look at your own company, where are your stupid systems? What systems do you have in place that customers don’t like? Or what systems do they complain about that you haven’t fixed? Remember, what you think is irrelevant. It’s all about what customers think.

So, what stupid systems do you need to change?

To your accelerated success!

P.S. This is a great exercise to do with your staff–and with your customers.

I remember, shortly after my board coup several years ago, the movie “Rocky Balboa” came out and in the middle of the movie, Rocky made the following comment to his son,

“It ain’t about how hard you’re hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward–that’s how winning is done!”

I immediately put that quote up on my credenza and still look at it to this day. To me, that’s the power of a great quote. In just a few words, it can say so much.

In light of that, over the July 4th weekend, I decided to create my own favorite quote site. As a consultant and professional speaker, I’m regularly on the look out for great quotes. So, rather than horde them for myself, in the spirit of Tom Peters (when you go to the site, you’ll understand that comment), I’ve decided to make them available to everyone.

So, rather than bore you with more content, let me encourage you to go to the site and read some great inspirational business-oriented quotes. I think you’ll enjoy them! Oh, and the URL is pretty easy to remember

http://www.brucequotes.com

Note: I just created the site Saturday evening so some of the topics only have a few quotes, while others have quite a few. But over time, the approximately 400 quotes will grow. The site is still under 48 hours old. Just bookmark it and return to it whenever you either need some inspiration or you’re putting together a talk or training session and need the perfect quote to make the perfect point.

To your accelerated success!

http://www.brucequotes.com

That said, last Thursday, my father sent me a list of things he needed from Home Depot to complete the installation of a new sliding glass door at my home. Not necessarily excited by the task, I got in my car and drove over to the local Home Depot, with my list in tow, and entered “The Unfamiliar Zone.”

I call it that because it’s all out of my comfort zone. And in my previous journeys to Home Depot, I’ve rarely met anyone who’s been exceptionally helpful. Despite advertising to the contrary, most of the time I ask a question of someone at Home Depot, they point down the concrete pathway and says, “I think that’s on aisle … about halfway down on your right.” Thanks!

However, last Thursday, that all changed. As I walked into Home Depot (at the lumber entrance), a Home Depot employee was walking towards me and, probably noticing my pained look, asked, “Can I help you?” To which I quickly replied, “Absolutely!”

He asked, “What do you need help with?” I pulled out the list my father had sent me by email and said, “My father sent me a list of items he needs to complete the installation of our new sliding glass door.”

He (his name is Shadi–picture below) said, “Can I see the list?” “Absolutely!” As soon as he saw what I needed (chair rail, floor base and trim) he took hold of my cart (one of the lumber ones) and started walking me toward the correct area of the store. As we were walking Shadi asked, “Do you know the sizes of each of these? And what kind of trim or chair rail you need?” Etc.

Fortunately, I had taken measurements and photos with my iPhone so I could show someone what I needed (since I knew I didn’t have the right vocabulary). He said, “Perfect. I know exactly what you need.”

And then Shadi did something wonderful, he literally walked me to each of the three places where I needed to get what was on the list, pulled out what I needed out, cut the wood into the exact lengths I needed, and even helped me save some money. It was truly wonderful. In fact, I even said, “This is like having a personal shopper!”

So, why did I title this post, “Shame on You Home Depot!”?

Because when we were done and I had shared with Shadi how much I really appreciated everything he had done for me (and he did it rather quickly, by the way), I asked, “So, Shadi, do you have a comment card I can fill out on you about how terrific your service was?” He could only reply, “No!”

I continued, “Well, is there a manager I can talk with?” He politely said, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing. It was my pleasure.” As I walked to the front of the store, I kept looking for a manager to share my story with–and couldn’t find one. I asked the cashier, “Do you have any comment cards I can fill out?” She said, “No!” I said, ‘Really?“ And she said, “The only thing we have is a computer way down at the other end that you can log onto and fill something out.” End of story. Fortunately, Shadi had walked to the front of the store by then so I could grab a photo of him with my iPhone (which you can see below).

But shame on Home Depot for not making it easy for someone like me to brag on one of their employees! They should be collecting these stories and sharing them in every location all the time. Great customer service doesn’t just happen. You have to cast vision about it. And nothing speaks louder than a compliment from a customer about a great service experience.

So, how about you? Do you have a system in place that makes it easy to capture customer testimonies? Do you use multiple capture methods? Do you have some Shadi’s that you need to lift up? Do you regularly cast vision about great customer service? Etc.

At the end of the day, you and I don’t know Home Depot by their executive team. We know Home Depot (and every other business) based on the Shadi’s of the world–the people we actually interact with. And the same goes for you and your company. So who are the “Shadi’s” of your company? And how are you going to make heroes out of them today?

To your accelerated success!

First, before I share the two lessons, here’s what happened. I received my latest bill yesterday and now, for the fourth month in a row it’s wrong. Each time I call and talk with a representative. Each time they make the change on their end and tell me what the correct figure is. Each time I ask, “Are you sure this is the correct amount?” Each time, they say “Yes!” So, I pay the amount they tell me to and then when I receive my next bill, guess what? Exactly, there’s a “balance forwarded” amount equal to what I was told not to pay.

But to make matters worse, when I called this time, I went through their voice mail system (which is frustrating in an of itself). However, when I finally got to the response, “Your wait time is …”, I was told, “Your wait time is 15 minutes. If you’d like us to call you back in 15 minutes, please press 1”. When I heard that, I was pleasantly surprised. “Hey, this is a nice change!” So, I left my name and number (which was interesting given that they already had both), and went and did something else rather than wait with a phone next to my hear.

Around fifteen minutes later, the phone rang. However, instead of a “live” person, it was an automated attendant. It confirmed I was on the line and then told me I would get the next available customer service agent. Why the system was designed so that I wasn’t directly connected to an attendant makes no sense. But that wasn’t the frustrating part. The frustrating part was that I had to wait on hold an additional 15 minutes before a “live” attendant came on line. So much for the customer service idea of leaving a number so I didn’t have to wait on a phone line for an attendant. In fact, I would have felt better had I just remained on the line in the first place.

Now that you know the situation, what are the two lessons that you and I need to take away from this experience–lessons even Verizon doesn’t get?

1. Make it easy for frustrated people to contact you and get the answers they want ASAP. When a customer decides to call customer service, they’re usually already frustrated. So when you’re frustrated, how excited are you to have to go through 52 questions to “get to the right person”? Not very. When someone’s frustrated, they want to talk to a real person who can answer their questions and solve their problems immediately. The last thing they want to do is to go through 20 or 50 questions just to get to the person they wanted to talk with when they originally called.

So, as you look at your business, where do you make it hard for customers to deal with you? When do you make it hard for them to get answers or solve a problem?

2. When you make a promise to a customer or prospect, you better deliver on that expectation–or don’t make the claim in the first place. Why? Because promises raise expectations. If Verizon hadn’t offered the 15 minute return call so I didn’t have to wait on the phone, I wouldn’t have been as ticked off. But because they made the offer (a systems choice), they raised my expectations–which made the 15 minute wait after they called me back even worse. I wasn’t ticked the first time, but the second time I was.

So, as you look at your business, where do you make promises that you aren’t fully living out? When do you raise expectations that you aren’t following through (or consistently following through) all the time?

If you want to grow the kind of business customers want to use over and over again, then you’ll want to apply these two lessons on a consistent basis to your business.

To your accelerated success!

If so, you’ll want to immediately get your hands on the new free report I just released today entitled, “The Seven Secrets of Fast Growth Companies.”

Inside it you’ll discover,

• The number one differentiator between slow and fast growth companies
• The two key elements you need to use to create a fast growth culture
• A simple practice that can radically reduce the time it takes to implement anything
• A lesson from a Harvard professor that can change the way you think forever about your products and services
• A top team practice that can change any meeting you run—and make it more effective.
• The one metric you need to use before choosing any growth idea if you want to be an accelerated growth company
• How you can create a business that’ll scale fast
• How to avoid letting your market think you’re just like “everyone else.”
• How you can create a business that works 24/7, especially when you’re not around.

• And the number one mistake that most CEOs of small and medium-sized make

To get your copy immediately, just fill in the form in the right hand column entitled, “Interested in the 7 Secrets of Fast Growth Companies?” and then click the submit button, “Send it to me now!”

Then after you read it, post your comments below!

I had one of those experiences the other week. I was speaking at a convention in Orlando that was held at the beautiful Omni Hotel Resort at Champions Gate. It was around 9:00 a.m., on the morning of my presentation on “The Four Keys of Accelerated Growth,” when it dawned on me that my talk went from 10:15 a.m. until noon, which was also check out time.

So, I thought, “Why don’t I just call and request a late check out time so I don’t have to pack up right now.” At that moment I went over to the phone next to the bed and saw the following button entitled, “Prompt Response.” Note: It’s the first button on the second row from the bottom (you can click on the image for a larger image)

When I saw that, I thought, “What a great name for a button to  call down to the front desk or operator,” and promptly pushed the button. Unfortunately, what happened next was anything but prompt.

It took 15, yes 15 rings before the operator picked up the call. She asked, “How may I help you?” I said, “I’d like to get a late check out for my room.” She said, “Let me transfer you to the front desk.” After which I then waited, catch this, for 60 rings BEFORE I hung up (i.e. no one at the front desk ever picked up the call).

Forget how terrible that was (systems mistakes at every level) and instead think back to the expectation that was set by the button, “Prompt response.” When you hear the phrase, “Prompt response”, how many rings do you expect before someone picks up the line? I’m guessing that while your normal assumption is probably three or four rings, when you hear the word, “Prompt,” it probably means, “On the first or second ring.”

In other words, when the Omni Hotel made a decision to change the normal first button on a hotel phone from “Front Desk” to “Prompt Response,” they created a whole new set of expectations. This wasn’t just a cute marketing phrase, it was a whole new level of expectations they created that needed a whole new level of systems to ensure that it would always be executed perfectly–24 hours a day.

It’s irrelevant if they pick up on the first or second ring 80 percent of the time. For the 20 percent of us who don’t get the standard level of service, it’s even worse than if they hadn’t used the phrase, “Prompt response.” And I’m pretty sure than in anyone’s book, 75 rings doesn’t meet the standard expectation that Omni management set with their cool new first button.

So, as you look at your business, what are the standard expectations that your customers and potential customers have of you? What expectations have you set with your marketing and materials? How often do you meet those expectations? If the answer is anything less than 100%, I’d encourage you to start there.

Why? Because the first step to creating WOW, is to eliminate all unWOW. And the place to start eliminating unWOW is wherever you’re not meeting the standard expectations your customers have of you (like getting a prompt response).

Toward accelerating your success!

Note: This is a great exercise to do with your staff or with a customer advisory board.

Well, one way is by simplifying the system you give them. In other words, after going through all of the training that they need to go through (assuming that you actually do train them), most frontline and tech staff are overwhelmed by the amount of information they've received. And whenever someone's mind is overwhelmed, the natural tendency for them is to shut down (something we've all experienced). So while we may be frustrated that they're not "following through," the reality is that we probably haven't given them what they need to succeed.

So, what do they need?

One Solution: Give them a simple system that lets them know what really matters. For example, in the case of Disney, 

you're probably aware that they've narrowed down their service system to just four service standards. In priority, they are

1. Safety
2. Courtesy
3. Show
4. Efficiency

Now, is this everything they're supposed to do? Of course not. But can everyone memorize four simple standards? Absolutely! And can everyone follow through on those four standards? Well, if you've been to Disney, you know the answer to that question.

Another case in point. I was talking with a client of mine earlier today who was lamenting the number of dropped balls by some of his tech people each week. While we were discussing this I suggested that he use a simple four point grid for his tech team.

1. Be prepared.
2. Be early
3. Be alert.
4. No dropped balls.

There's no magic in the number four. The basic rule is that any list of expectations is probably best followed when it's narrowed down to the top three to five items. Anything above five tends to be forgotten. And of the three options, three is better than four or five.

So, how are you doing with this? if I were to go up to any employee of yours and ask, "What are the top three to five expectations your boss has of you?" how many of your people would answer that question with the same list (or have any answer at all). If the answer isn't, "Everyone," then you may want to go back and design the top three to five expectations for everyone on your frontline or tech team.

You can even do this with each area/department/business unit. But remember, the key is to keep it simple. They still need the manual and all the training, but they also need a simple grid or rubric to help them sort out what's most important from what's overwhelming.

So what are your top three to five expectations for how you want them to perform? Or, what are your top three to five service standards? Make sure you write that list ASAP if you want to quickly improve the performance of your frontline and tech teams.

Several years ago, when I used to pastor a large church, I needed to hire an architect to design our first building. After doing our research, we brought in two national church architectural firms that were used to designing and building large church buildings and one local firm that had a great reputation for building large public buildings, including concert halls, but hadn’t designed a church (we liked to think differently so we thought that hiring a non-church building architect might allow us to create a church building that would be, well, remarkable!)

The two national firms both sent us similar packages, packages you’d expect an architectural firm to send (with letters and references, basic outlines and images of projects they’d done etc either in a folder or comb binding). Neither was bad. In fact, they were good. But they were predictable (which means they were ordinary).

Then we received the package from the local firm, David Schwarz. David’s package wasn’t ordinary at all. In fact, it was a 272 page hardbound book,weighing in at a hefty  4.2 pounds. And it was gorgeous. The photos in in are simply stunning. As soon as I received it, I walked around my office and showed everyone ("Can you believe this?"). Still to this day, I can’t think of any prospective company that’s sent me anything as stunningly beautiful as that book. In fact, while the other architectural firms packages are long gone, this book still sits on my shelves.

Even though it’s been four years since I first opened that book, I can still see my favorite image in my mind’s eye.

Now, think about this. The architectural fees on this project were projected to be north of $1M. Realizing that, don’t you think every architectural firm would want to WOW a potential client with more than a typical report oriented package? Absolutely. But how many do? Not many.

And this is true for most businesses. The typical thought process, usually driven by account types (and yes, I was an accounting major at UW-Madison) is to spend the least amount possible on acquiring a new customer. But spending the least, isn’t always the wisest choice.

As soon as you or I consider the lifetime value of a customer, plus all of the other people they’ll tell about our products and services (provided we actually do WOW them), there’s no question that it’s worth spending a little more to acquire and retain a customer.

So, in your business, what would WOW a potential customer? What can you give them or send them that would take their breath away? Or what might cause them to immediately tell others, "You won’t believe what XYZ company sent me today?" Ordinary companies benchmark their competitors and do something similar. But remarkable companies do something different. They look at what everyone else is doing and say, "We can do better than that!"

Note: While we originally selected David Schwarz, we came to realize that choosing an architectural firm that specialized in large church facilities was a better choice for us so we ended up choosing Beck out of Dallas and were thoroughly happy with them. So don’t read anything into my earlier comments other than that David’s firm’s 272 page, 4.2 pound book was a WOW I’ve never forgotten. I think highly of both firms and would recommend either firm to anyone considering an architect. At the end of the day, selecting the right architectural firm is about fit–and not just the talent fit for a specific type of project but also the relational fit as well, which can’t be determined from a book or a report. That kind of fit is only discovered face-to-face, when you start working together. And in an architectural project, that fit really does matter as you’re probably going to be spending a whole lot of time together :-)

Tonight was one of those kinds of nights. I typically do most of the cooking in our house, but wanted a night off. Since our family likes to eat reasonably healthy, I suggested, “How about Ricky’s Rice Bowl?”
As I was getting ready to head over to pick up dinner I remembered that I had a couple of old “loyalty” cards in my office which would allow me to get one large dinner menu item, which leads to my story.

Back in the early days (under different management), Ricky’s ran a loyalty campaign called “Lucky 7″. If you bought seven rice bowls (large or small), you would get a large rice bowl, plus a free drink for number eight. Even better, Ricky’s ran special double stamp days each month. As a regular fan back in those days, all of us “regulars” were incredibly faithful. Not only did we eat there regularly, we’d plan meetings there, and we’d regularly check the monthly calendar to find out when the double stamp days were. And the result of the old Lucky 7 loyalty program was that the place was packed and it was hard to find a table!

However, as soon as the new management came in, out went the Lucky 7 program and begrudgedly in came the new Lucky 12 program, which killed traffic. Even worse, the new management no longer tells customers about the program, has printed on the “loyalty” card, “All stamps must be on the same card. Stamps can not be collated from different cards,” no longer includes a free drink (even though you have to purchase five more meals than before to get the free rice bowl), and the management makes you feel bad that you’re using THEIR “loyalty” card. Oh, and the result of all of these changes is that the place is empty–though, of course, the one silver lining in all this is that it’s now easy to find a table at Ricky’s (or two or three or . . . you get the point).

Same restaurant. Same food. But simply by changing the rules of their “loyalty program,” one owner was able to pack the place and engender incredible buzz for the restaurant while the other was able to empty it and kill all positive word of mouth. Though I’m guessing that the second owner would say he has a loyalty program, he’s killed his growth by not using it well.

So how about you? What kind of loyalty program do you have in place to facility more frequent purchases and buzz? And if you do have a program in place, is it working for you? Are you committed to it? Does in engender buzz? Are your customers buying more often? Or is it just something you have in place because some consultant told you to have one? I hope not, because if you use it right and make it a key part of your marketing strategy, a customer “loyalty” program (in whatever form it takes) can be one of the biggest drivers of growth for your business.