Jeanne Bliss

Jeanne Bliss

CustomerBLISS
Jeanne Bliss, author of Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action, has spent 25 years reporting to CEOs and leading the customer experience for Lands' End, Coldwell Banker, Allstate, Mazda and Microsoft. Go to her company, CustomerBLISS, to get a Reality Check Audit.
  • 0 comments 543 reads
    Posted on 2011-11-18

    How Zane’s Cycles Grows because they know and respect the lifetime value of their customers.

    With only one retail location, Zane’s Cycles of Connecticut is one of the three largest bike shops in the United States. They sell $15 million each year in bicycles, and bike supplies, with a relationship grounded in customer trust. For example, on any given day you might see a $6,000 bike go out the door for a test drive without any one of Zane’s folks asking to collect the customer’s identification or any type of collateral. “Do you want my license?” is often asked by the customer. The response is always, “Nope, just have a good ride.” Zane’s makes this decision because they want potential customers to know that in this world there’s a store that trusts them, and it’s Zane’s. Made as a decision to embrace customers, this decision also sends a strong message to Zane’s staff. “This is not about protecting...

  • 3 comments 1,631 reads
    Posted on 2011-09-26

    CEO’s no longer need to be convinced of the importance of developing relationships with profitable customers and keeping them around. What they need now is a way to accomplish this feat. Some are considering the creation of a C-level position to drive the action. However, beyond the notion that it’s a good idea, not many know how to structure the Chief Customer Officer role and its place in the organization. Here are some thoughts to help you proceed.

    Suggesting a CCO may seem frivolous to leaders who believe they already focus on customers. There’s often a proliferation of tactics and projects underway…the problem is they don’t amount to anything significant for customers. So first decide: will leaders be okay with someone (other than themselves) driving consensus on customer strategy and deliverables? You may be saying, “We have consensus now.” I’m sure that you’ve had some good meetings, but how much of it stuck? When they were...

  • 0 comments 715 reads
    Posted on 2011-09-13

    In this era of social media, companies who embrace customer feedback and “believe” the words of their customers earn the right to growth. They realize that customers turn to each other more than to advertising and campaigns. Here’s how one “beloved company,” CustomInk fearlessly listens to customers and how it fuels their growth.

    Earn New Customers Through Past Performance.

  • 0 comments 600 reads
    Posted on 2011-07-25

    Creating a Customer Culture Starts with Hiring. You’ve got to know your higher purpose in customers’ lives. You’ve got to know what you stand for. And you’ve got to know what type of environment you are creating.

    If you know the answers to these issues, your ability to find someone to fit and enrich your culture is yards ahead of most. It’s about being deliberate.

    Leaders in beloved companies don’t worry about hiring a great employee and having him leave in three months. Instead they worry about hiring a bad employee and having him stay for three years.

    In last year’s labor market, however, managers were grateful if they got any applicants for a job – let alone highly qualified applications. As of Sept. 2009, the employment rate was at 3%, meaning only 3% of new jobs open out there are new. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 3.0 million job openings on the last business day of May 2011. The rate of hires for U.S. nonfarm jobs...

  • 0 comments 865 reads
    Posted on 2011-06-03

    1. Starting with a mantra, not an action plan.

    a. Often companies decide that they want to get some early traction by telling everyone to “focus on customer experience” What happens next is that people realize this is a big corporate priority and begin taking actions, making plans and creating new scoreboards and taking action.
    b. This proliferates the silo based approach to actions that is contrary to the discipline of experience development and management. A lot of action occurs, executives get a “false positive” that action is occurring and traction is happening, but it eventually stalls out because the actions don’t aggregate up to improve complete end to end customer experiences.

    2. Not first defining the customer experience and gaining alignment on the path of actions.

  • 0 comments 586 reads
    Posted on 2011-05-25

    Give customers peace of mind

    Alma Rettew bought a holiday gift for a friend, and asked L.L. Bean, whom she bought it from, to get it to her friend on a specific date (the company has a service to do this). Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the system, and the gift arrived before the holiday, spoiling Alma’s surprise for her friend. When Alma called in to L.L. Bean to register her complaint, her fear and “dukes up” concern that she might have to fight to get her situation addressed was quickly disarmed by the quick and rapid response she received. Ms. Rettew was offered two options for solving her problem. She could receive a refund, or have a complimentary duplicate of her gift sent to her recipient at the correct time. In addition, she received a sincere apology and a promise that the company would contact her friend and explain what had transpired. The burden would...

  • 0 comments 895 reads
    Posted on 2011-04-25

    The best leaders in my life asked more questions than they gave answers.  Too often we jump to prescribing.  We feel we know what customers want.  We believe we know the answers.  But the real difference between an “everyday” company and a “beloved” company is how they answer questions.  How they make decisions.  It’s the intent and motivation that guides decision making that separates these companies from the rest. 

    Here are five of my favorite questions from my book, “I Love You More than My Dog: Five Decisions that Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad.” In this post I will cover the first three questions, and in the second post, I’ll give you the second two and some actions to take back and work through with your organization. 

    Question 1:  Do You Consider Customers an Asset or a Cost Center?

  • 0 comments 866 reads
    Posted on 2011-03-14

    CustomInk is a $70 million T-shirt shop that prints custom T-shirts for family reunions and group and business events. Because actual people at CustomInk personally review every single order, they know what events their products are being printed for. The company saw so many shirts being created for charities that they decided to become personally invested in these causes. So whenever a T-shirt gets printed by CustomInk for a charity event, they send a donation. Done initially as a casual gesture by Lori Mayfield, a CustomInk order analyst, now, Mayfield says, “we try to donate to every charity event that our customers hold close to their hearts.”

    Giving Back to the Customer’s Cause

    CustomInk wouldn’t feel right printing T-shirts for a charitable organization without giving back to their cause. With this one gesture they let their customers know they back their efforts. What’s most important...

  • 0 comments 614 reads
    Posted on 2011-02-23

    Netflix, the DVD-by-mail service with over 10 million subscribers experienced a severe technology glitch in August 2008 that interrupted and halted shipping of DVDs to subscribers. Netflix confessed immediately on their Web site, saying, “IMPORTANT: Your DVD Shipments Have Likely Been Delayed.” They didn’t sweep the problem under the rug and didn’t try to hide from the blame. Netflix followed up with emails to make sure all customers heard the news. Not all customers even knew that there was a delay. Didn’t matter. Netflix was honest in telling everyone and swift in extending an olive branch, automatically applying a credit to subscribers’ next billing statements. New Netflix subscribers who had their first shipments delayed received this message, “We recognize that this is not a good way to begin your Netflix membership and we’ll automatically extend your free trial.”

    Differentiate with Service

  • 0 comments 876 reads
    Posted on 2011-02-07

    The Headsets.com experience is defined by the attitude of the customer service rep you reach when you call, and how you feel when you hang up the phone from your conversation with him or her. And that experience fuels their growth. At Headsets.com, 52 phone reps work with customers, guiding them through the maze of selecting the product that is right for them. “At the core of that call is respect” says founder and CEO Mike Faith, “The customer deserves our respect. Sometimes they could be wrong. But they always deserve our respect.” And that’s why if any one of those reps rolls his or her eyes, acts exasperated, or does not give customers the respect they deserve, that is the end of that rep’s job at Headsets.com.

    Compromising Culture Hinders Growth

    To ensure that disrespect is a rarity, Headsets.com is very rigorous in how they screen and hire candidates. Before they are hired, candidates go...