People really, really hate contacting customer support – so much so that they would rather spend a night in jail or shave their head. (Source: Gray News)

A recent  survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Twilio Flex asked 2,000 Americans what they would rather do than contact customer service. The poll found that 30% of people would rather do their taxes, 28% would rather go to the dentist, 25% would rather go to the DMV, 24% would rather shave their head, and 22% would rather spend a night in jail.

People are willing to go to those extremes to avoid contacting customer support because, on average, it takes three attempts and more than 1.5 hours on hold to solve just one issue with a customer service representative, the survey found.

Here are some things that a company can do to help their customers:

1. Make sure the issue is resolved on the first call – customers hate having to call a company multiple times to resolve an issue.
2. Don’t transfer the call so that they must repeat all the details again. Give the next person relevant information to their issue if you can’t resolve it.
3. Have more than one option to reach customer service: we have a help line, local and 1-800, and a help@mymediahead.com email our clients can use.
4. Make sure they can reach a live person quickly and not spend too much time listening to bad music.
5. Have a good connection – nothing is more frustrating that getting disconnected or a hard time hearing the representative.
6. Make sure you give your employees the power to resolve an issue so that the customer does not have to wait for an answer.

The survey found that because of these frustrations, the average person waits 16 days to contact customer support about an issue. There are always issues in any business, ultimately, your success depends on how you resolve them.

Got a product or service to sell? Then your company has value beyond the sale. Innovative companies communicate this value, directly and indirectly, every time they send a direct mail piece, blast an email, or design packaging for their products. How do they do that? It starts with creating a value proposition.

Create a value proposition.

A value proposition is what your company promises to deliver should people choose to buy your product. Ideally, it is something distinctive to you.

Let’s say you are a boutique furniture store selling pieces crafted from reclaimed wood, metal, or architectural salvage. Your value proposition might be: “We offer unique pieces that fit your style while reducing the burden on our landfills.” Your customers could buy furniture anywhere. By communicating your value proposition, you are explaining why they should come to you. This concept applies to any market. If you’re a plumber, your value proposition might be, “We show up within a 15-minute window—or your money back.” If you’re a dental office, it might be, “We are the friendliest dental practice in town.”

Fulfill on that promise—every time.

Once you communicate your value proposition, fulfill it every time. Fill your dental office with happy, colorful wall stickers and train your staff to serve with a smile, even when they’re having a terrible day. Always have a backup plan in case a plumbing job runs long. By ensuring consistency between your marketing message and your customers’ experience, you create a sense of trust and loyalty. In a world filled with uncertainty, that has value far beyond the products and services themselves.

Speak to customers based on that value proposition.

Reinforce that value in your marketing images and messaging. “By purchasing from us, you have helped to keep 3,000 pounds of scrap wood, metal, and glass out of the landfill.” Create brochures with images of children with dazzling smiles and parent testimonials about the helpfulness of your dental staff. On your direct mail pieces, add online reviews about the promptness of your plumbing service.

By communicating a value proposition and creating consistency between that value and your customer experiences, you develop loyal customers who trust you—and who keep coming back.

Interested in learning more about MEDiAHEAD’s value proposition? We would love to talk with you!

By Michele Stillwell, Director of Marketing and Accounting at MEDiAHEAD

I am pretty sure we all feel the same about this… Good Riddance to 2020!!!

Never in all my years have I ever gone through anything like this. And I’m sure you haven’t either. But I would like to put a positive spin on this blog. Even if you don’t agree with me totally, I am going to put this out there for us to ponder.

Let’s think about 2021 and all the great things to look forward to.

I am going to try to think positively and hopefully everyone else will as well. We’ll have a vaccine for this horrible virus (fingers crossed) so let’s wipe this thing out. Let’s begin to eat out again and support all our small, local companies and restaurants that are still with us and help them out. Let’s travel. Take the vacations that were put off. Book them and get out and see this wonderful and beautiful world we live in.

How about all the relatives we need to go visit that have missed our faces/hugs that have been so needed for over a year? Book those trips, see those relatives and give those great big hugs. If you have the opportunity to get back into the office, you should do so. Being around people and your friends is a good thing.

Let’s all look forward to:

• Going to a movie in a theater without a mask
• Attending a concert in person (and also no mask)
• Sitting with your best friends and go do whatever you want, go out to eat, shopping… just hang out and no masks.

Then think of all the events like the Olympics, football and baseball games you will be able to do once again. They may not look the same, but I truly believe we’ll get going once again.

I believe that as we look beyond 2020 and the coronavirus, there are things that will make 2021 a better year. A couple of things we know for sure going into the new year is that we know how to test for and treat the virus. Think of all the anti-viral remedies that are out there for other types of viruses that we’ve been successful with. I have complete confidence in this one.

So bring on 2021!

I am so ready, and I am sure you are too.

By Kat McDaniel, Principal at MEDiAHEAD

So many of us have turned to nature to escape and to diminish the many negative emotions stemming from the current state of the country and the isolation we’re experiencing. We’re rediscovering parks and hiking with friends at a safe distance. Our back yards have become our sanctuaries where we enjoy time with family and friends. Even removing your shoes and standing on the grass can reinvigorate your connection to the earth.

Being in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical wellbeing, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones.

My Octopus Teacher is my new favorite nature film on Netflix. The filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest learning about nature as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.

“What she taught me was to feel that you’re part of this place, not a visitor”
– Craig Foster

Foster, meeting the octopus every day for 250 days, learns about healing, caring and growing in a world filled with solace and newness. The eight armed animal touched his soul in a way nobody else did, he felt for her deeply as if it was someone he had to take care of.

We watch the octopus grow from a little animal till the day she gives birth, turns white, and dies. There is something so heart touching about this documentary that you feel some amount of the pain Foster did watching her every day. She has to dodge pajama sharks and other predators constantly. As she fights to survive in this wilderness, you grow so proud of her wit and skills – realizing how smart she is.

The documentary finds its core, in its earnestness – an affection that is beyond the boundaries of science and sea. A bond where their pain feels like a personal loss. At no point do you lose the ground reality where you feel that this is scripted – it all feels genuine and heartfelt.

Indeed, nature is a friend everyone seeks!

 

By Michele Stillwell, Director of Marketing and Accounting at MEDiAHEAD

In case you didn’t know this, MEDiAHEAD is a Woman Owned Business. Yes, 100%. Our fearless leader is Kat McDaniel-Ditch.

There are several steps to take to get certified as a minority owned business. If you’re looking into doing this type of structure at your business, I recommend doing the research first. It’s an extremely daunting task! It ends up being well worth it, but it does take a considerable amount of time to earn this designation.

We are certified in Missouri, Kansas, the City of Kansas City and Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). There are several advantages of being a minority-owned business. One advantage is that many organizations want to do business with minority-owned businesses and prefer to do so.

Making Companies Stronger

Business leaders are aware that supporting minority-owned businesses isn’t just good for public relations, it can also make their companies stronger. Adding more diversity to a company’s supplier base allows a business to better survive an economic downturn, deal with labor strikes or shortages and bring new products to market more quickly.

When you are a minority owned business, you can participate in special government programs, including government contracting opportunities. Federal government agencies are mandated to reward a substantial number of contracts to certified minority-owned businesses. Anywhere from five to twenty-five percent of the money spent on contracts for certain projects must go to minority-owned businesses.

Large companies benefit from working with minority-owned businesses and some have set goals around expanding their partnerships with them. Also, many corporations have a supplier diversity program in place. For most companies, the commitment to minority and women-owned business purchasing is goal-focuses and measured. The pressure for more supplier diversity initially was created by affirmative action; however, most companies now see many benefits when working with smaller, minority owned businesses. Small businesses, women, and minorities make up their customer base. Government contractors understand the importance of supplier diversity for winning contracts.

Supplier Diversity

Most large corporations have sizable staff, large budgets, and large dollar amounts devoted to supplier diversity. For example, roughly 97% of the Fortune 500 companies set percentages or dollar goals on supplier diversity. In those Fortune 500 companies, the staff to support supplier diversity is growing as well, with an average of two to three individuals assigned to this function. As budgets have increased, so have the requirements for personnel, programs, advertising, marketing, training, conferences and seminars.

Secondary programs, such as mentor-protégé and training, are growing as more companies seek to help minority suppliers gain more training and access to contracts.

Purchasing-based association advocates are also gaining clout. The Minority Supplier Development Council, the Women Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and Women Business Development Council, the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Women Business Owners Corporation, the Minority Business Round Table and the Latin American Management Association are gaining influence with corporations.

As more money is spent with suppliers, pressure will increase as interest groups send report cards to corporate CEO’s diversity councils, and Boards. The government and media pay attention to supplier diversity programs, and awards and recognition in this area are on the rise. They actually have a checklist; they have to report on.

Supplier Diversity Program Checklist:

• Total dollars per year
• Dollars spent last year
• Percentage of total procurement
• Executive Support
• CEO
• Executive Diversity Council
• Board of Directors
• Structure and Staffing
• Provide staff leadership
• Provide structural support
• Communicate goals and results
• Publish goals and results
• Use internal and external publications as well as the Internet
• Highlight some of their suppliers
• Ensure accountability for meeting or exceeding the Supplier Diversity Goals
• Measure results
• Award performance
• Penalize deficiencies and goals not reached
• Link to performance evaluations
• Provide periodic reports
• Encourage Special Programs
• Matchmaking
• Mentoring

Best-practice companies should always evaluate vendors to find the ones with the most experience, knowledge, and capability needed to provide products and services that reflect the diversity of their company. A huge factor of these efforts involves nurturing relationships with typically underutilized businesses and working to incorporate these companies into their network of vendors whenever possible.

Growing a diverse supplier base only makes sense. We see increasingly diverse markets that companies serve in this global age. Companies that combine outstanding supplier diversity initiatives and outcomes with other best-in-class diversity and inclusion programs will maintain a competitive advantage, win new business, support local businesses, retain customers, and reinforce their brands.

Support Minority Owned Businesses!

MEDiAHEAD supports diversity in the workplace. What is diversity? It means that a company employs a wide range of diverse individuals. People with different characteristics. Diversity in the workplace includes individuals of varying gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, languages, education and other attributes.

Some of the benefits of diversity:

• Variety of different perspectives
• Increased creativity
• Higher innovation
• Faster problem solving
• Better decision making
• Higher employee engagement
• Reduced employee turnover
• Better company reputation
• Improved hiring results

Please take a moment to learn more about our story and our team. We would enjoy working with you on your next project!