Munn-til-Munn

Tenk på dette: Om alle snakket om deg, produktene og foretaket ditt, var det da behov for å kaste bort penger på å annonsere? Sannsynligvis ikke.

Da blir jo bare spørsmålet: Hvordan få folk til å snakke om meg, foretaket eller produktene?

Husk at folk hater å snakke om kjedelige ting, mens de elsker å snakke om det morsomme, store, magiske, forunderlige, sensasjonelle, spennende osv.

iPhone - et produkt som folk snakket om

Start NÅ med å gjøre deg fortjent til respekten og anbefalinger fra kundene dine, så vil de gjøre resten.

Behandler du kundene dine og medarbeiderne dine godt, vil de sørge for å markedsføre foretaket ditt. Og de gjør det gratis!

Vær interessant – eller bli usynlig!

Når folk stoler på deg, er de villige til å snakke om deg. Gjør folk fornøyde. Inspirer dem. Så serverer de sine venner til deg på dørstokken din.

Irriterer du kundene dine, vil du se at de tar med seg vennene sine og går til konkurrenten din.

Din andre mulighet er å være kjedelig. Om folk synes du og foretaket ditt er kjedelig, er det ingen som gidder å snakke om deg. DA har du kun én mulighet; å bruke drøssevis av penger på annonsering.

Valget burde være enkelt!

For 12 år siden besøkte jeg Berlin og gikk inn på en kafé. På veggen midt i mot inngangen var det malt:

Her var keiseren gjest
Her er gjesten keiser.

Disse ordene brant seg inn i hukommelsen min – og har vært der siden. Og sjokoladekakestykket jeg spiste der, er det desidert største stykket og den nydeligste sjokoladekaken jeg noensinne har fått. Selvsagt har jeg fortalt alle vennene mine om dette kafébesøket som satte så store spor.

For noen dager siden besøkte jeg Berlin igjen. Jeg husket hvor «min» kafé befant seg og tok en taxi til «Adenauer Platz». Der skulle «Adenauer Kafé» ligge. Min forundring var stor da jeg ikke kunne se Adenauer Kafé der den lå for 12 år siden. Jeg gikk inn på kaféen som nå lå der og forhørte meg, og ja, det var ganske riktig her Adenauer Kafé hadde vært – for 12 år siden.

Kaféen hadde tydeligvis ikke levd opp til slagordet sitt om å behandle gjestene sine som keisere. Og her ligger vel det alle må være  bevisste på:

Det nytter lite å ha et flott slagord på veggen dersom ikke alle medarbeidere etterfølger det.

For jeg er overbevist om at dersom gjestene på gamle Adenauer Kafé virkelig hadde følt seg som keisere, ja da hadde kaféen levd i  beste velgående den dag i dag – og jeg hadde fått meg en ny og knallgod sjokoladekake.

I stedet for å komme inn på Adenauer Kafé kom jeg inn på en kafé som var dobbelt så stor som Adenauer Kafé hadde vært, så medarbeiderne i den nye kaféen var seg sikkert mer bevisste på å behandle sine kunder på en slik måte at de følte seg vel når de forlot kaféen.

For min egen del – sjokoladenkaken var heller av det mediokre slaget, og den Kaffe Mocca jeg bestillte ble til Espresso i stedet.

Adenauer Kafé – du er ikke mer. men  i mitt hode vil du for alltid forbli.

Det er mer gøy å jobbe med et merke som gjør seg fortjent til den respekt og de anbefalinger det får fra kundene.

Det er også mer gøy å tro på det du gjør – å vite at den innsatsen du legger ned i løpet av en dag har gjort noen fremmede mennesker til fornøyde kunder og noen andre til lojale tilhengere. Da vet du at du har gjort noe riktig.

Mest gøy er det når arbeidsgiveren din støtter deg og setter deg i stand til å gjøre disse tingene.

Her har vel SAS, som stadig er i konflikt med sine ansatte, noe å lære fra Southwest Airlines i USA. Se bare hva Paula Berg skrev til selskapet da hun sluttet i Southwest Airlines etter 10 år:

68 REASONS WHY I’VE LOVED WORKING AT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

1. This puddle.
2. The response you receive when you tell someone that you work for Southwest Airlines.
3. Free flights.
4. The People – There are times when I pass folks in the halls that I don’t even know and am overwhelmed with the feeling that any one of these people would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it.
5. Bags Fly Free – It just feels good to work for a Company that tries to do right by its Customers.
6. The Freedom to move about the Company – I love that several of our VP’s began their careers on the frontline – loading bags, working the ticket counter, and servicing aircraft.
7. On business trips with colleagues, I can look around the dinner table and think, “There’s no one else I’d rather be with right now.”
8. Halloween – how many people can say they’ve seen their CEO in platform boots and a cod piece?
   
9. Having a team of Schedule Planners on hand to “optimize” our Halloween performance schedule.
10. The view from the deck.
11. Having a personal weather man to let you know when to head home or hunker down to avoid bad weather.
12. Lunch in the cafeteria always feels like a high school reunion.
13. The Button Man (sometimes known also as The Magnet Man) – because every Southwest event needs a souvenir.
    
14. Hearing the Southwest Choir practice in the atrium behind my office.
15. Casual Dress.
16. Hand-written notes from Colleen Barrett.
17. Kisses from Herb Kelleher.
18. That Warrior Spirit.
19. Parties in the hanger.
20. Rapping, singing, flipping, and beat-boxing Flight Attendants.
21. Aviation bloggers and enthusiasts.
22. Employee lanes at the airport.
23. Eight percent 401k match.
24. Best corporate blog three years running according to PR News (…and if I do say so myself).
25. The Culture Committee.
26. There is no shortage of peanuts or peanut references.
27. There is never a dull moment.
28. The Spirit Jr. Costume.
    
29. This photo.
    
30. Texas – From the hospitality to the maverick spirit, and all the folks that call you honey, sugar, and darling.
31. Southwest swag – like the Southwest Airlines lint roller, the Cargo koozie with the crab arms (“we ship your catch”), the flip-flops that leave the Southwest logo imprinted in the sand, and the Southwest bike (one of these days, I’m gonna get my hands on one of those bikes).
    
32. Fred Taylor and Proactive Customer Service.
33. Employees first, Customers next, Shareholder’s last.
34. 36 years of profitability.
35. Profit sharing.
36. Free parking in the Employee lot at the airport. With the upcoming renovation of Dallas Love Field, this option in no longer available. And, technically, being that I wasn’t actually an airport Employee, I was never really supposed to park back there anyway. But, oh the good ole days! (NOTE: To the owners of the red Camero and the black Porsche that are still parked over there, you better move your cars ASAP or you’re gonna get towed!)
37. Crazy email strings – Like the one a co-worker accidently sent to hundreds of people that revealed highly confidential information about a new city. Doh! Or the one that someone intended for a few friends, but accidently sent to the entire company, asking what they wanted her to pick up for a Bar-B-Que. Everyone responded. Not everyone thought it was funny. I think you know where I stand on this one. It still makes me giggle.
38. Weekly emails from Carla looking for her missing mail cart (…I love you, girl!).
39. Daily emails announcing that there is queso, Bar-B-Que, or birthday cake in the breakroom.
40. Parking next to a Boeing 737.
41. That new plane smell.
42. Driving into work with the planes taking off on the runway along Denton Drive. Sometimes I want to race them, but the potholes and my less than favorable standing with the police always stop me.
    
43. Stuart Thomas’s abstract Halloween costume illustrating RASM and CASM.
44. Countless “Wanna Get Away” moments – like the time I took a fly ball to the chin at the Customer Relations/Rapid Rewards softball game and had to come to work for a week with a black and blue goatee. Or the time that I split my pants from seam to seam and walked around all day in chaps. Or the time I walked into a plate glass window escorting Jim Wimberly to a photo shoot.
45. The joy of looking up someone’s phone number in the online Company Directory and discovering a ridiculous employee photo.
    
46. The “no drinking before 5p” rule.
47. The Freedom to be yourself – In 2002, while working in the Customer Relations Department, I went nearly three months without washing my hair, just for fun. In the third month, my supervisor called me in to his office and gently suggested that I may want to “keep our Customers in mind.” I love that it took that long.
48. Secret project codewords like Sockeye, Wyatt ERP and Tipper.
49. The crossword puzzle in Spirit Magazine.
50. Brainstorming sessions in the Magic Factory.
51. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride from Headquarters to Dallas Love Field on the Southwest shuttle bus.
52. On any given day you might see a live Texas longhorn, NBA Legend Bill Walton, the Stanley Cup, or a margarita machine on campus.
53. The Southwest cans of water. I mean really…how cute are these things!
    
54. Doug Lawson – our resident “Viv Engineer” who, among other things, studies the movements and behavioral patters of animals (like ants, bees, and herds) and applies that knowledge to algorithms that make our airport operations more intuitive and efficient.
55. Linda Rutherford – without Linda, there would be no blog and no Emerging Media Team.
56. License plate frames that say “my other car is a Southwest 737.”
57. Bob Jordan’s Mustache.
58. Sitting on a plane and listening to the folks around you talk about how much they love Southwest Airlines.
59. Amazing people like Bill Owen, Anne Hancock, Brian Lusk, and Carole Adams, who, for me, will always epitomize the Spirit of Southwest.
60. Dallas Love Field – just 15 minutes from my apartment to the gate.
61. Lunch at the PR table.
62. The view from the window seat.
    
63. Getting a thumbs’ up from Gary.
64. Chetto Drafts in the Landing.
65. James Tibbons and this video.
66. The Southwest Communications Department – I’ve spent nearly every work day for the past six years with the same group of people. They know me as well or better than anyone, and they have loved me, nonetheless.
67. My very good friends, who have taken care of me when I was sick, had me at their homes for holidays, allowed me to loaf on their couches when I didn’t have a television or a home, and were on call to bail me out of jail if I were ever arrested.
68. Bloody Marys on a plane – they’re just better up there.

Much LUV, my friends.