Mentoring and Apprenticeships

TRUST

I hired a house painter. He is halfway between my age and the age of newly minted graduates of high school or college. He is overqualified from a skill standpoint but looking for a short respite job to counter the toll that time and hard work has taken on his body. A construction day job is not easy. His real motivation, however, in sourcing this painting work is to create a conduit for new business for younger workers. He includes an apprentice to work with him. He gets to bid on many jobs because of his reputation for great work. He has become a mentor to the next generation of house painters and general contractors. This is mentoring at its best. Built on trust that extends to the apprentice.

Recently, I participated in documenting the project a 100-year-young symphonic orchestra created to help the next generation of composers. Believed to be a first, Symphony NH commissioned a new work directly from undergraduate music majors across the State of New Hampshire.

Student Composers

Four student composers were selected from among all applicants based on the quality of their 90 second excerpts. Those four students received guidance from their teachers and members of the orchestra culminating in a world premiere of The NH Concerto performed by the orchestra for a paying public audience. The results were amazing. The comments and experience gained is unmatched. Beats the heck out of TikTok and other digital tools. This too is mentoring at its best.  They created a bridge of connection across the generations and gave an early boost to the careers of aspiring young musicians and composers.

Mentoring and Apprenticeships

Mentoring and apprenticeships are the pairing of someone with a lot of experience with someone with lots of energy but not a lot of experience.  As my previous examples demonstrate, the opportunity to provide mentoring extends to nearly all fields of work. The energy, flexibility and curiosity young people have can be matched up with the maturity well-seasoned humans have with life experiences and human nature. Together, they can amplify strengths and create a winning combination. Mistakes can be avoided and all parties learn something new. This intergenerational alliance creates trust.

ArtVan Program’s 20th Anniversary

This is the 20^th anniversary of ArtVan. A mobile art therapy nonprofit that serves youth in under-resourced communities across Maine.

ArtVan gives local youth a safe space to express their feelings through the creation of art. The therapy part is subtle. It arrives quietly with the paints and brushstrokes of conversations that help young folks who may not yet have the tools or words to deal with the magnitude of what is bothering them. Tangible artistic output together with sometimes intangible emotional needs and concerns get addressed. Trust develops and better life outcomes are insured.

ArtVan is led by caring mentors, guiding youth early on in their life journeys thru some difficult but important formative years. Our midcoast community knows founder Jamie Sylvestri and many of us recognize the richly decorated Art van that delivers services.

As one of ArtVan’s original advisory board members, and a fan for more than eighteen of their twenty years, I have watched it grow from Jamie and her art van to the ArtVan team pivoting to rapidly meet the changing needs of the community they service.

ArtVan keeps it local and they always make it easy for their young friends to participate.

Future leaders – Donate now!

These youth we mentor now will be our future leaders. They will become part of the answers we will need or more of the problems we need to solve. The choice is ours.

Donate now  http://artvanprogram.org/donate  Just $20 for twenty years is not a big ask but the result, if we all do it, is cumulative. We each can make a difference. Ask 20 friends to help as well.

Chickens and Wolves Together, Oh My!

Chickens and Wolves Together, Oh My!

Last month I talked about 6 steps to better media. Included there, was the opportunity gateway to low cost social media. However, sending readers out to embrace social media is like putting chickens and wolves together. Something not to be done casually.

Sure enough, I got a call from an artist who maintains a studio in Brunswick called The Painted Dog. I asked for and received permission from her to share one of her images and some relevant portions of our conversation about social media.

When we talked about Art as a business, she remarked “I often offer a couple kids camps and a few adult art workshops during June, July and August. I am pretty low tech and hope that the Facebook page suffices as a way for people to look me up.”

That sentence triggered an image in my mind of potential carnage. I felt the need to build a chicken pen.

“A chicken pen, often called a run, is an outdoor area that provides space to roam, exercise, and forage. It is important to protect the brood from predators, while providing fresh air and sunlight.”

Chickens and wolves in today’s context equate to small independent businesses online in the same space as multibillion dollar businesses. The “pen” is big organized social media platforms that continue to intentionally intercept and interfere with direct human communications.

The Good News: The internet is the great equalizer. Billion dollar corporations get the same screen size as a micro business. Be it a  2.5 x 6 inch handheld or a17inch laptop screen. Most people use wireless devices and there are ways for artists to capitalize on this trend for whatever their business goals are.

The Bad News: There are predators and a false sense of “easy & free” out there. Many people are used by Facebook and TikTok to sell the platform’s advertising. OK. STOP. Read that previous sentence again carefully. Have you wondered why your friend feeds disappeared and more “sponsored ads” from strangers or “suggested for you” show up?

The Great News for Artists: You can break that cycle. Use the social media feeds rather than be used by them. You have an advantage. Don’t give it away. Transform your outstanding creations into pathways that attract the right attention to your business and fulfill your business and passion goals.  You can make a small or grand vision come to life. Here are just two local examples:

Maria Castellano-Usery’s Brushstrokes with Impact just finished her 100^th donation to a myriad of non-profits. For more than eight years she has created awareness, sales and directed donations to local causes.

Mandy Russell’s The Painted Dog Art and Stitch Studio has provided summer enrichment for a generation of young children who are now teenagers and young adults. She continues to learn, to explore, to collaborate and to teach.

Mandy’s upcoming two person show titled “A Celebration of Animals: Fur, Feathers, & Fangs” and our conversations inspired this month’s column.

If you want to get a sense of our initial conversation, you can find a free downloadable worksheet here: https://keithspiro.gumroad.com/l/SMBworksheet

Use the worksheet to guide your thinking about better marketing and time management decisions. You can also use it as a first step to a consultation with me.

Six Steps to better media results for small businesses

There is a lot of hype around media training these days. Let’s take the mystery out of all this and talk in simple terms about communications and business results. We begin with the term “earned media” something that is associated with old media and old expectations that if you do something valuable enough and important enough, the media (newspapers, television news and radio stations) will be knocking at your door to interview you. That may still be the case for some, but most small businesses won’t have that luxury and more likely will be told to buy their way onto pages (sponsored content) and screens (media advertising packages). This may also be one reason they are becoming less influential and less respected by young people.

Today, engagement and hyper community focus is all important. Hyper community focused and engaging is what they seek. Social media is the low cost space to enter the media world to share your existence and your business values. However, the communications world has splintered into many fiercely competitive entities. Social media platforms abound and the internet which is less free and no longer neutral is a tough place to get attention. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn all have their own priorities for controlling data that we each provide. The basic rule is, free to use – also means you and your data points (everything you share) are used for free by the platform to sell your data to others. Privacy is only an illusion when you share your “likes” and sentiments online.

But one great thing about the connected web is that every special interest can find some satisfying online forum to meet up with other like-minded individuals. If you know where “your people” are online, then you know where to start your media campaigns.  If you are unsure of your market, you can absolutely trust that social platforms today know more about each of us than we ever could gather on our own.

How to start?

Answer the questions “Who are you and what do you do?” and “Who is your best type of prospect and why?”

Then be clear as you frame yourself and your business in what exactly you can do for others.

Use media to advance your business and personal growth goals.

1. Use social media with the end goal in mind –
   1. Deliver engagements, employment, audience, etc.
2. Don’t bury the lead – First words tell the viewer what they get for spending time with you.
3. Do your homework – know where your potential audience hangs out.
   1. Social media – TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, How about Linked In?
   1. Traditional media – why would you be of interest to the media?
      1. Different
      1. Entertaining
      1. Informative
      1. TRANSFORMATIONAL
4. Be Prepared – know what you offer. Know the end goal result you are chasing.              
   1. Is it sales of product or your services?
   1. Why do you stand out?
5. Do the heavy lifting – create your own media and broadcast it with your end goals in mind.
6. Measure and repeat or modify.

Here’s my story:

My name is Keith Spiro. I am a business strategist and community builder. I help individuals and organizations get seen, heard and found by their potential customers and future fans.

If you can keep your message or mission concise, you can win more business and spend less time and frustration going down the many rabbit holes of distractions on your way to success.

B & M Connection: Venturing beyond the world of marketing communications

August 2023

New to Communications and Marketing? Are you charged with the responsibility of delivering signed contracts, sales or bottom-line business results?

Your comfort level and confidence in marketing, communications and outreach will often determine the level of results your endeavor can achieve and stress is your biggest enemy here.

As artificial intelligence and algorithms steal the oxygen from conversations and we confront daily an ever increasing array of tools to communicate “better, faster, more efficiently,” our stress factor skyrockets.

Stress is the not something we impose upon ourselves but is something caused by lack of control. James Williams, a former Google strategist believes “we are all living through a denial-of—service attack on our minds.” We are so inundated by everything trying to get our attention that we become depleted and don’t have the breathing space to let our thoughts work themselves out. Everything around us demands an immediate response. Notifications shout out to us with an urgency that is not based on our needs but on the demands of others. Interruption management becomes a key to slowing down and filtering the noise. Reward yourself with downtime. Just play. Experiment and trust your instincts to guide actions.

The counter to “urgent” is the word important. Don’t get sucked into endless feedback loops of commercial social media. Consider surfing. That is, rather than meet the demands of posting messages every few hours to keep up a barrage of outbound messaging, cherry pick the moments of participation where you can offer something of value to others. Join a trending wave for a day, a week or even several months if it delivers results.

Instead of feeling manipulated by technology systems, choose to be intentional in what you do.  Combine the things you love with the mission you feel and watch your focus and satisfaction levels grow.

Here are two individuals who started out working for others but had a vision of change that brought focus to causes they believe in.

I met Luke Timmerman when he was a reporter on biotech in Boston. He loves mountain climbing and is capable of bringing focus and attention to those who are developing cures to disease. He organized an experience of a lifetime by creating the Everest Base Camp Trek to fight cancer. His mountain climbing campaigns have motivated the biotech community to raise more than 6 million dollars  to fight cancer and poverty. 

Likewise Dave Bjork became The Research Evangelist

 because he wanted to highlight important but not famous members of the research community who performed the slow and dedicated decades of work required to allow breakthrough treatments in healthcare. His interview style is that of a listener. He allows the conversations to unfold at their own pace and the recognition he brings has opened doors that no programmed marketing efforts could effect on their own. The human connection and in-person authenticity builds a foundation of trust. Go forth and do important work in an area of interest to you.

Looking for more ideas or a quick consult? Contact me.

Quick tips on Great Content Creation

October 1, 2022 Boston and Maine Column by Keith Spiro in the Cryer

Last month we touched on the buyer’s journey and the importance of hashtags which are key to being found in relevant topics of interest. Today we will take a look at best practices in creating content that is compelling.

Find Your Customers

I am frequently asked how a business can reach potential buyers when there is so much noise in the marketplace. How do you find customers? In the best of circumstances, you don’t find customers. They find you. This is one of the most important principles driving the new rules of sales and marketing which I’ve learned from David Meerman Scott and some 30 years of practical experience..

Seek Experiences

To get away from the noise of product being pushed at all of us, we seek experiences that speak to us as individuals. To bring your story to a personal level and engage like-minded people is what your ultimate goal needs to be. Engage your audience at every step and know that regardless of which social media channel you use, video will be the most promoted means to deliver your message. Promoted because social channels have learned that video is compelling. Creators of powerful videos know that authentic stories still need good lighting and composition to engage viewers.

Engage Others

https://www.instagram.com/jbrucejones/

Short form video can be done with cellphones. Some of the best storytelling comes from simple concepts. My friend Bruce Jones went on a trip to Europe. He is a graphic artist who also sells “how to” books and pamphlets. By deciding to draw a picture each day of his adventure and sharing it across several social media channels, he engaged his regular followers and friends. When he asked us to choose which piece we liked best and why, he engaged in dialogue with his audience. When someone asked him to imitate the style of a famous artist, he chose three different artists who he admired and began to add his interpretation of their style to his daily sketches. Sharing an initial photo, followed by sketch and video commentary, he drew those most interested in his passions into a sphere of dialogue with him. The project was defined by the length of trip and the destinations visited. The endpoint was known before he started but the surprise encounters that unfolded served as a compelling treat to his engaged viewers.

Learn Key Lessons

Build upon a skill that you have

Take an everyday or recurring task and turn it into a story

Work within the framework of things you are passionate about

Ask for help and engage others in the task at hand

Important Tools

Smart phones, laptop, an easy-to-use camera

Acquire basic photography and video skills

Practice leading good Zoom calls

TALK – PLAY – EXPLORE PHOTOGRAPHY is a program I’ve created to help anyone interested in making compelling images and marketing compelling events. Reach out to me for more details or join me for a First Iteration of this as a workshop at Maine’s First Ship where we will be touching on many of the points in this column.

The Gatekeepers Have Fallen

On April 8, 2020, I posted to YouTube my first pandemic inspired Keith Spiro Communicast video interview. Communicast was the title Ted Rubin suggested I use as a clear indication that what would follow was a series of Community Broadcasts. The pandemic had reached the point where quarantine had become the norm and people feared being in proximity with other humans. The Manchester Ink Link, a New Hampshire based, 100% digital-only, news media became my platform for connecting video interviews and supporting articles to a wide readership. My focus was and continues to be showcasing the Great Things Good People are Doing in their communities. The May 2020 Boston and Maine Connection column I wrote for the Cryer was headlined “One Room Schoolhouse Covid-19 Edition” and spoke to the creative and effective actions real leaders of community take to innovate and help ease the way for others by example.

Gatekeepers include the old school obstacles that present friction between writer and audience, manufacturer and consumer. I have a whole presentation on the categories that exist and how innovative leaders have overcome them. But for right now, think about NFT’s, Web 3 and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO). How will they impact today’s gatekeepers? Where did yesterday’s Google, Facebook and Amazon position themselves?  Realize that the direct access to any audience via the internet is your most powerful on-ramp to success in today’s world. Of course, the question of data collection has created a whole new area of contention between the forces of good and the less than exemplary ones.

Today, life revolves around our hand-held smart devices. Influencers impact decisions and drive sales. Small business can explode with growth with the right visibility if only they can stand out from all the noise. And there is, so – much – noise. Pro tip: Go under and around it. We are surrounded by business concepts that can flourish with the right nurturing. There are no shortcuts but there are many examples of poorly thought-out implementations.

Don’t buy into somebody’s suggested quick fix. Take the time to learn what’s right for your business and test, ask, explore and modify each step of the way forward.

REACH & AUDIENCE are the keys to your success. Reach is what technology has done to make it possible for an individual or an organization to have impact well beyond its geographic boundary. Upstarts dare to be different and are more in tune with what customers need as well as want. Take the time to recognize the difference between needs and wants and educate rather than interrupt to win over new clients. Build your audience and a community of cheerleaders, ambassadors and advocates and minimize the gatekeeping obstacles between you and them.

Keith Spiro Communicast was recognized by the NH Press Association in their 2020 Journalism awards category of best use of social media. Specifically, Communicast was awarded second place for best engagement. Second place put me between a nationally backed TV news company and Public Radio. Good company to be in and the budget differences simply amplify the message that gatekeepers are a target wherever they impede progress.

The judges saw the value and the threat to gatekeepers as they stated….

“Love how this pandemic-related social project didn’t focus on the hard news, but instead pivoted to pandemic-related content that delivers utility, shares stories, and connects the community.”

 Hard news was never the point. Business success is about connecting with your community. Keep your focus on your reader, your customer and your client.

The passions that drive them will guide the way to your mutual success.

My three words for 2022

My three words for  2022. #my3words

TRANSFORM – SCRIBE – FLUID

As a business strategist, I collect and share best practices to help companies and individuals succeed beyond the old-rule bound ways. My Three Words is a practice I picked up from Chris Brogan (author, speaker, digital strategist) more than a decade ago. Chris encourages sharing and many folks now participate in this annual activity. Just search #My3Words and see what comes up. I encourage you to try this exercise yourself.  This is a powerful way to launch into the new year.

The words themselves are meant to act as a trigger for action and for guidance. Choosing three words to guide my year and my actions has long proven to be helpful in both stable and turbulent times and works far better than New Year’s resolutions that quickly fall by the wayside.

The words chosen are not necessarily connected to each other but each will shape my approach to planning and my response to surprises. Having three words as the lens I look through daily, has simplified decision making and eliminated waffling over direction or need for permission to move forward.

In 2020 my words were Community – Leadership – Journalism and they led me to Carol Robidoux and the Manchester Ink Link.

How did I do in 2021?

My three words for last year were Directness – Flexibility – Action and they spurred significant growth for the projects with which I was connected. Of significant note, I received affirmation of my work when the New Hampshire Press Association awarded me 2nd place for Best Use of Social Media for my Communicast series. Communicast used simple tools like video meetings and phone calls to reach out to good people doing great things at a difficult time. The Ink Link garnered 10 awards across many categories and founder/publisher, Carol Robidoux, earned Journalist of the Year.

As we launch 2022, my desire is to be even more effective with my time and more human in how I spend it. Here’s the backstory on my three words for this year:

TRANSFORM

For months now the word transform has been percolating up in my conversations with others. In discussions with Eoin Costello, a digital first champion in Ireland, we have talked extensively about re-use and reinvention. I like this definition I found of  reuse:  “to use again especially in a different way after reclaiming.”  I’ve chosen the word transform because it infuses a power of change and reinvention beyond what we might imagine at the starting point. When I looked back over the last few years of projects attempted and completed, I quickly identified ones that stood out because they transformed situations. Dramatically and in a positive way. Projects where we can transform a process, a business, a relationship are the ones I will seek out.

SCRIBE

In the ways of the internet, we are what we publish. We all are ‘the media.” Photographer, writer, influencer all your work can be found via search.

I have been a content creator for corporate work. I have been project lead in business, advisor and found a niche in photojournalism. We are all feeling the effect of random information coming at us with the full force of a fire hose. What is often lacking is curation.

Scribe is my word to guide me through all the noise. The ancient scribes sought out knowledge and learning. They wrote things down and then shared and taught from that knowledge base. Today I think of editors and teachers in this role. The verb for scribe is “to write” and this sounds like a great way to move beyond any moments of writer’s block. We are already capturing the events, opportunities and successes of our daily lives on social media. Scribe represents insight.

FLUID

I like the Merriam-Webster definition of fluid. An ”[adjective] having particles that easily move and change their relative position. Capable of flowing. Subject to change or movement.”

I think of water and how persistent it is  finding its way from mountain top to the ocean. Over time, water will wear down solid rock. Its motion and form will alter to meet any obstacle. This will be my reminder of how to minimize stress when obstacles present themselves. Be like water and go around, over or simply wear down  the obstacle over time.

THESE ARE AMAZING TIMES. You can make 2022 an amazing, transformational year.

Please do reach out and share YOUR 3 words with me.

https://www.keithspiromedia.com/p/about-me

https://chrisbrogan.com/stories/social-media/3words2020/

Transforming Our Towns and Cities into 21st Century Centers of Opportunity

I am more convinced than ever that we can transform our cities and towns into 21^st Century Centers of Opportunity. The conversation started with digital advocate and friend Eoin Costello. It has expanded thru my Boston and Maine Connection as well as Manchester Ink Link stories. The pathway is almost always the same. Bring like minded people together, amplify a commonly held belief and promote the positives.

Eoin Costello is a digital champion for small business and a leader in the reinvention and re-invigoration of our towns and our sense of community. He is the former CEO and Co-Founder of Startup Ireland and he currently leads Digital HQ, an initiative making major positive impact in his hometown of Dun Laoghaire, a town in County Dublin, Ireland.

Brett Johnson, a 17^th generation Mainer, is owner and Chief Creative Director of Maine Street Design Company (MSDC) whose flagship retail store is in Bath Maine. MSDC re-imagines physical spaces with incredibly beautiful results. They are also showcasing authors and creative artists from student level to master creators. From offerings recently seen, I’ve noted work from ArtVan program, Andrew Xenos Nautical inspired themes and gifts from Sea Bags recycled sail creations.

Maria Castellano-Ursery is an artist living and working in Brunswick Maine who has run a monthly fundraiser for six years. That translates to 72 straight months of awareness and morale lifting donations for various non-profits including many events benefiting ArtVan and MidCoast Hunger Prevention.

Mandy Reynolds and Sean Ireland collaborating on Union + co have created a place that is prime for digital first communities that are steeped in human connection.

What all of them share is a powerful and instinctive sense of how to build community and outreach to help others. Their success emanates from a focus, as Eoin says, of “using what you have for the people and place where you are!”

This pandemic can be a game changer for any community willing to take action.

Eoin and I spoke by Zoom and recently picked up where we left off from our first meeting six years ago in Ireland. I was speaking on a panel on entrepreneurship, technology, investment and communications. My topic was how to go global on a small budget and I believe that is easier than ever to do so.  He started off our conversation by noting that much of built infrastructure reflects the needs of our 19^th-century world and today’s digital first communities are not restricted to Dublin, Boston or other major urban centers. You can live most anywhere, take advantage of the natural and cultural history and resources and create a sustainable future without having to move to a big, crowded city.

Does Despondency …. Sell more Papers?

I called him up after seeing his question posted online. “Does despondency …. sell more papers?” The question goes well beyond newsprint and encompasses all digital “print” including social media.

Indeed, a concentration of focus on bad things negatively affects people and their community. Just look at the revelations around Facebook algorithms. They put emphasis, for financial gain of a very few, on comments and reactions that contain emotions of anger and negativity.

Putting Community Back in Control of Economic Destiny

We have the power to use the digital tools available to focus on the opportunities and solutions that exist right where we are now without leaving anyone behind. Solutions based journalism can focus attention on the path forward. Unemployed, underemployed, job change seekers and veterans have skill sets that can be redeployed to raise up any community in which we all live.

What are the Biggest Challenges and Why Digital First Communities will Win the long game?

The biggest challenges for communities both here and over there are in the high cost of living, the growing cost of housing and the effects of rapidly scaling inflation. Nevertheless, just one person can make a difference. Anyone can get a digital initiative going. Just use your smartphone. You don’t have to make a big investment to start using the tools that are widely available.

“There is a huge democratization of accessibility to the tools to help grow businesses to help communities happening at this moment but the knowledge of how to use them in the right way has been lacking” says Eoin. ““The future can be distributed and local. Thanks to the internet, you can live where you want to live and have a really good quality job, wherever you are.”

You can listen to the conversation with Eoin here.

The world of technology and AI are eliminating many of the repetitive rote jobs at a faster pace than ever. We need to rely on the creative as we evolve now. The social sector and our jobs crisis are connected.

“If enough of us are promoting what is possible – amazing things can happen”

Derailed by a Press Release

BM connection: Derailed by a press release

For immediate Release: Press Releases are Old School

Want a fast way to DERAIL your prospective customer? Just mass blast those press releases to  media resources and hope somebody publishes it.

Press releases are just so old school.Every business knows the press release drill. Write up the who, what, where, when and why of an announcement and blast every media site you know with the information. Sometimes you get lucky and your missive gets printed. More often than not, only a media outlet looking to augment ‘content’ publishes your post to their website community page without editing or any further thought. Go online and you can choose from the many paid Press Release distribution services that are out there.

This behavior is just so Old School. There is already so much noise out there. With every one vying for our attention, the last thing consumers want is to be bombarded by repetitious, random or lame advertising masquerading as newsworthy. Many press releases are blatant self promotion with little reader value. You need to look at the media point of view. Why would we want to publish the identical thing that can be found in a number of other places? Don’t waste our most preciously nurtured resource – that of time and attention.

Today, you have the ability to fine tune and reach the best prospects if only you take the time to understand your potential customers, learn where they get information and then cultivate relationships to those key access points.

The publishers I work with don’t want your random documents. They would rather you build up good will by helping do the hard work of connecting readers with information truly of value to the readership. Befriend a publisher and you’ll learn what is needed for a mutually beneficial approach.

In print media, the focus on educating, informing and connecting also means helping to pay for the ink and paper. Make it a two way conversation and consider exclusive and right to first publish.

The digital world hates identical and duplicate content postings. So do humans. Nobody wants to wade through pages of sameness. We look for the most authoritative voice. Readers also dislike paywalls and are quick to find paywall free alternatives to the information they are seeking.  Have you considered why you create and send out press releases? Is it because that’s the way it has always been done?

Our clients are learning to be savvy and selective in where and how they post information. Here are three tips to growing your credibility and reach in print and online:

1. With the endpoint of value in mind, think EDUCATE – INFORM – CONNECT. Be specific in how  you can show value and to whom and don’t be boring.
2. Forget the spray and pray approach. Choose only one publication that you know is well aligned with your readership and or customer base. Develop a relationship with the people who make the decisions on what gets posted. Learn the criteria for successful listing.
3. Test for reach. Place a paid Ad and get the analytics of results. Do readers share, comment on or reach out to you? If so, go deeper in creating a steady stream of valuable information. Remember that “once and done” rarely works. You need a steady stream of useful information to build credibility as the authoritative voice. Make that your goal. Track and measure your results

Don’t derail your project before you start.

For more specific help on how to be seen, heard and found in a fast changing world, reach out to me by email. I’ll explore some of your best questions here in this community setting.

https://www.keithspiromedia.com/p/about-me

The Boston & Maine Connection: Customer Experience

from the July 2021 issue of The Cryer

CX – The Customer Experience

One of the great business lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is the power of great customer interactions. When many hard good retail doors shuttered and much of human activity moved online, we the customer quickly found the difference between robots and humans, artificial interfaces and human faces.

When schools were pushed into remote learning and administrators made software decisions choosing between iReady and other learning modules, Zoom and Google Meet, the teachers and student families bore the brunt of the learning curve and its impact on education.

When curbside pickup and groceries to go became a thing, it was the customer who dealt with the fallout of missing an available timeslot. When random shortages of toilet paper, cleaning agents and chicken occurred were you nice to the store employees who dealt with your disappointment?

How many of us made the necessary upgrade to computer hardware during the height of the pandemic? With most of these purchases fully online, we had to make our decisions without the benefit of tactile experience. How would the new keyboard feel? Will the screen images be crisp enough and the CPU fast enough to do the job at hand?

As a lifelong student of sales and marketing, I paid particular attention to the transformation of communication from face to face to remote interface. I learned from tele support teams how a kind word and acknowledgment that occasional kid or pet background sounds and sometimes less than optimal audio connections were part and parcel of our new work from home world. Being human and acknowledging it made a huge difference. Language barriers were minimized by asking and confirming on both sides of the line whether clarify of result was achieved. Some did better than others. Some accents both foreign and domestic created opportunities for connection. I asked and learned in different calls that I was speaking to representatives in Oklahoma, Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana and locations in the Philippines.

The best ambassadors of the businesses they represented showed extreme courtesy, shared their name clearly and expressed thanks for any and every nicety or complement. The worst would disconnect the call under some hope of anonymity. My least favorite experiences were prolonged sessions with Bots that would not transfer over to human soon enough when it became clear to me that the menu of choices was inadequate. These were most often the larger corporations that also used disingenuous messages about large call volumes and soundtracks of turning pages as the Artificial human put me on pause while allegedly looking up information. Hmmn, I have never seen a digital array turn pages, so why would I hear those sounds now.

The pandemic has shown me ways to expand customer loyalty and business growth. Leadership sets the pace and that which is inspected (surveys and stats) is respected (by employees and front-line staff). Regardless of a company internal process, the customer exits any interaction with either a positive or negative attitude toward the experience. Make it humane and reap the benefits.

CX worked into every key on this well used, most appreciated ten year old Dell PC keyboard

Three Key Takeaways:

1. Bots that answer phones need to hand off information, so the caller doesn’t have to repeat themselves. If your employee encounters “attitude,” check the handoff process.
   
2. Give your caller a quick exit from prescribed script to an immediate human response.
   
3. Make it easy and clear how the inbound customer can get back to your organization. Delight me as Dell Computer did and let your representative send me an email with their contact information for follow up or for picking up where the previous conversation left off.