Who's minding the store?

When business messaging isn't so haute.

As a communications strategist, I am always looking at business messaging with a critical eye. I see typos and taboos like a hound dog sniffs out a rat. We all make mistakes, but when communicating with our potential customers -- whether in an advertisement, an email or a text message -- what you say or don't can make or break the bond. 

That goes for verbal messaging, too. How you greet a customer when they enter your store or telephone the office is just as important in this sequence of successful communications.

Yesterday I found two rats in the game that were so disturbing I have to blog it out. 

I made a call from the car about a piece of real estate. The path was confusing enough-- the sign in the front yard had four or five names and telephone numbers. I dialed one and was given another number -- verbally -- which is a difficult task when you're driving. From there I was transferred to another number and asked to hold, and while I was waiting my call dropped off. Now I'm back to square one. I looped through the pattern twice before I gave up. 

I still don't have the information I wanted. They don't have the sale. 

Later I was at a block party in an upscale shopping center in Rogers. I visited one store three times, even tried on something, and was never greeted by the owner or staff. Never. Nothing. And, we might have purchased the item we tried on if the situation had been different.

So, who's minding the store?

It's not fair ratting them out without being constructive in return. Here are three points to consider in your business messaging.  

1.  Establish a experience protocol. What you do want your customers to experience when they contact you?  Remember, they've taken the initiative to respond to your stimuli (whatever that is), which you've spent good money to acquire. What's in it for them? Write out the story you want to tell, the experience you what them to have, then make sure every step in your protocol supports it. Test it. Refine it. What will be their final message about your company?

2. Create an immediate bond.  Let's face it, there are some basic dos and don'ts. A company that doesn't greet people who walk in the door simply won't be in business long. Even the sub makers at Firehouse Subs look up from what they're doing to welcome you when you walk in their door. Every one. Every time. Make no mistake, that's no accident. 

3. Find a way to reconnect. Invite people to return to your business at another time. Whether it's a business card, a sample, or news about an upcoming sale, extend an invitation to return. Invite them to join your email list, your loyalty program, your taste of the month club.

If you are on the phone you might ask for their name and number if you must put them on hold. One of my favorite examples comes from my phone carrier's support protocol. Not only do they establish an immediate bond -- an exhange of first names -- but they get my telephone number so they can call me back if (read: when) we get disconnected. And they tell me that's what they are doing. 

So much of business is common sense, and yet it's the uncommon we gravitate to. Remember to be good to your customers... or they are likely to become someone else's!