How to Make a Customer Feel Welcome 101

I have recently re-taken up hiking. I live in the Valley of the South Fork of the Nooksack river surrounded on just about all sides by the foothills of Mt Baker. (There are at least 25 good trails within 10 miles of my front door.) But Anyway…

On Friday I joined the Washington Trails Association (WTA), a local group that does VERY cool things with the building, using, maintaining and funding of trails of all kinds in Washington State. For the tiny sum of $35 bucks I joined up. That was about 10am on Friday. Now these guys are busy people working for a non-profit so I figure I would hear something back in a week or two, right? Nope. These guys must have some kick ass staff people because I got a freakin’ hand written post card thanking me for joining in my mail box on SATURDAY MORNING! Sure they are only 90 miles away so mail time was not a big factor but this still means that they hand wrote a postcard (and a nice one at that!) within at least 3 hours of my having joined on the website for it to get into the mail and up to me in the Bellingham area from Seattle (where the office of the WTA is located.)

Talk about exceeding expectations! I always figured that any non-profit I donate money to has better things to do than make me feel good THAT fast but when you think about this is brilliant. Nonprofits, just like for-profits, depend on what? Brand Loyalty. Satisfaction with purchase. A connection with the customer that makes them want to do it again some time. With a 50 cent post card, a stamp and 5 mins they made me feel good about my purchase. They made me want to tell people. They made me want to write a blog post about it.

So like with everything else I ever read, ever, I tried to think of how to apply this lesson to the management of a project. :-) The obvious answer looks at dealings between the Project Manager and stake-holders but I think the bonus points answer hits on the dealings between PM and team members. Sure team members are getting paid for their work but lets remove that for a second. Team Members are basically choosing to spend their talent on your project. It is not quite the big time market it used to be but most good people in any field could find another job if they got tired of you. So how do you as a PM make these team members WANT to spend their talent on you? How can PMs inspire brand loyalty in the project and in their leadership? Rapid communications of good news. Well of any news really. Information is everything. The more people have the better they feel, even if that feeling is just a feeling. Sure you could starve your resources and give them just enough for their little section of the product but in my experience that never really works well. They might not NEED to know the big picture (I think it helps often) but keeping people informed makes them feel more invested in the project. It inspires brand loyalty and satisfaction with their purchase and it makes them want to do it again!

OK so maybe the metaphor is not dead on but I think it still works. Oh and be watching for more hiking similies and metaphors in later posts as I get more miles under my belt. :-)

Comments

[Daniel Schutzsmith]

I think its more a combination of honesty and integrity that will bring your team to be loyal and excited about the project at hand. If I say to my team they are doing a "great job" and "keep up the good work!" then it may be misconstrued as flattery with is often met with skepticism and halfheartedness. But if I instead, back up my claims with summer Friday's or free lunch after they've worked a hard shift, then I find that I am met with appreciation and cooperation.

[Jack Dahlgren]

Just trying to generate discussion, and making the point that communication should reflect the actual situation. It has to be more than a postcard approach.

[Brian Kennemer]

Jack,

While your points are all good ones Im not 100% sure what they have to do with what I wrote. :-)

Im not saying over celebrate or communicate only good news. Im talking about quick communication of all information. Im talking about team members often being starved for info about a project and how being different in that way can inspire a kind of loyalty that would make resources WANT to work for you as a PM.

I was not saying be dishonst or put marketing spin on anything and Im not talking about rose and chocolate bribes.

Im talking about creating a dialog between PM and resource that exceeds expectations.

Brian

[Jack Dahlgren]

Sorry Brian, I'm going to have to play the Devil's advocate here:

Hmmm...
We tried the handwritten postcard thing last week, but it didn't help with attrition. :-)

Convincing people that their project has a hopeful future and paying them at least market rate seems to be a stronger bet. Being honest with them about the work and their participation in it is better than a box of chocolate and some roses.

In fact, I have found that an overabundance of good news and celebration is a "BAD SIGN" on a project and undermines confidence in leadership.

Honesty is the best policy. A project is not a first date.

I can only think that you've been reading too much gaping void or one of those other marketing blogs! :-)