Presentation on how customer service, customer experience and conversations drive business.

1. Commit acts,
not ads.
How R&D, customer service and
conversation-worthy products are the
key success factors for the companies of
the future.
© InSites Consulting
Polle de Maagt for InSites Consulting
Conversation readiness 1

2. Hello. I am Polle de Maagt.
I create impact through
conversations at a pretty cool
company called InSites Consulting.
We work mostly because we’re
committed to take research
forward, but brands like
Ben&Jerry’s, Telenet, Danone and
Philips agreed to pay us for it.
© InSites Consulting
Conversation readiness 2

3. “
Advertising is the fee for being unremarkable.
“
Robert Stephens (GeekSquad)

4. Honestly, sentences like the world has changed,
power has shifted to the consumer, increase your
share of conversation, consumers trust each other
most, shifting power from marketers to consumers,
marketers are no longer in control, social media
strategy and learn to lose control make me puke in
my mouth a bit.
While it is really really simple.

5. People out-converse brands.
People are more authentic, more passionate and have lower overhead cost. Period.

6. Everything a company does is communication.
Products, packaging and customer service are more genuine than marketing. So
leverage that, like KLM did with their KLM Surprise campaign.

7. Conversations are just a part of the consumer journey.
Traditional advertising still works, past experience is really important and real
interactions are the dealmakers/dealbreakers.

8. Create products that make a difference.
Don’t confuse consumers with advertising, put a spotlight on great products.

9. Company culture makes a difference.
Every company has it’s stories and ambassadors, like Nike’s Ekins. Capitalize on
these stories and turn your employees in an army of ambassadors.

10. People out-converse brands, so
you better start create stuff that
is conversation-worthy.
Product development, R&D, customer
service and company culture overtake
advertising as the most important way
of communicating with customers.

11. This is a radical change and asks
for radical changes in the way
brands and organizations
communicate.
It is about acts, not ads.
It is about creating stuff worth sharing.

12. Think stories, not technology. Stories stick.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to cut out all advertising and replace it by art? That is
exactly what Timessquare to Artsquare is about. More at http://ts2as.org

13. Think service, not product.
Do more than customers expect.

14. Start with observing: listening to your consumers.
Observing consumers made them realize some consumers don’t think in weight,
but in calories. So act on that.

15. Use your customers to help you make the difference.
Ben & Jerry’s uses an online platform with brand fans to co-create their marketing
plans. 50% of consumers wants to co-create. More at http://polle.me/ISC-BJ
Photo by jason.dsilva

16. Create products that actually nudge behavior.
Nike used their Nike+ platform to actually change the way people run.

17. Capitalize on the people and products you already have.
Kay Mook gained the Antwerp Zoo 300K extra visitors and almost became
product of the year 2009. More at http://polle.me/ccjSNL

18. Manage expectations. Under-promise. Over-deliver.
Do more than customers expect.

19. What do you want your consumers to tell about you?
Is it about how cool your advertising was? Do you want them to talk about
deals? Or is it about something else?

20. Monetary value versus conversation value.
What are your best customers? The ones that spend the most money or the ones
that bring in the most new customers? Plan for both.

21. Give your customers something to talk about.
Ambassadors just want to tell other, so help them! Choqoa support fans by giving
them chocolate bars and highlighting them in their newsletter.

22. Use your ambassadors to promote your business.
Think how you can make your customers talk about you.

23. Connect with your consumers and use them for reach.
Think how you can make your customers talk about you.

24. Helping people helps.
Exceeding customer expectations builds loyalty (81% repeats, 63% recommends)
and falling below customer expectations erodes loyalty (5%/71%).

25. Create things worth sharing.
Think about small things worth talking about.

26. Make it extra-easy to share or to subscribe.
Make it easy to subscribe of share your content via twitter, Facebook or other
social buttons. Example: http://polle.me/ij19j4

27. Measure.
Measure views, clicks, but even more important: your return on investment.
Extremely simple, but effective: the Net Promoter Score.

28. Not convinced yet?
We wanted to know how connecting with
consumers actually drives revenue.

29. You can forget most of the silly
things I said today.
But please, remember these 3 things.

30. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
The best performing marketers do three things
that make them stand out.
* Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

31. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
1) They start to implement Word-of-Mouth right
away, applying it to their current products.
* Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

32. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
2) They realize Word-of-Mouth isn’t only online.
* Conversation Readiness research amongst 500 European marketers

33. Product
improvement
Offline WoM Road map
WoM
3) They approach Word-of-Mouth strategically.
* ConversationReadinessresearchamongst500Europeanmarketers

34. You can forget most of the silly
things I said today.
But please, remember these 3 things.

35. 1) People out-converse brands. So
you better start creating stuff
that is conversation-worthy.
R&D, product development, customer
experience and company culture make
the difference.

36. 2) To drive conversations, exceed
expectations and create stuff
worth sharing.
Don’t plan only for life time money
value, but for life time conversation
value.

37. 3) Start with observing, but start
with simple ways to engage
consumers and drive
conversations.
Start monitoring, start with pilots and
learn while doing.

38. Read the manual.
Seriously.
Read it.

39. I hope I was worth sharing.
Send me an email at
polle@insites.eu so I can help you
remind of the 48 hours.
Find the presentation at
http://polle.me/actsnotads