The Customer Experience The Customer Experience

INSIGHTS
F O R
W O M E N
I N
B U S I N E S S
The Customer
Experience
How to Win a
Customer for Life
Are You a
Knowledge Hoarder?
Gender Capitalism
Brings Women
into Focus
Tips & Tools
Personal Growth
Put a Stop to Knowledge Hoarding
From the Editor
Several years ago I was insulted by a highly
regarded restaurant over a reservation
mishap. I will never go there again (despite
it being women-owned). And, when asked
my opinion of this business, I don’t hesitate
to share my moment of truth. I’m a woman,
I feel strongly, and this connection is likely
not an accident.
Conventional wisdom says that women are prone to refer a
trusted provider. In financial services, one study shows that
women over their lifetimes generate 136 percent more referrals
than men. The converse is also true. So, as you ponder the
customer experience your company delivers (the subject of
this issue’s cover story), it pays to consider the gender of
those who decide whether to buy your product or service. Not
only do women have strong feelings about companies they deal
with, the financial power we wield is significant, and not just
over consumer purchases. Exponential growth in the number
of women-owned companies is just one factor pointing to
women as primary decision-makers in business-to-business
transactions as well. And, it’s our experience that the customer
experience matters more to women.
>Don’t roll your chair to the file cabinet. Get up and
walk to it.
>Stand up and stretch every time you finish a task. It will
help energize you for the next one.
>Drink more water. Not only is it good for you, but you’ll
also have to take more trips to the water cooler and
the bathroom.
> 5
8% identify themselves as the frontrunner to try the newest things
|2
> 65% say they are a source of
recommendations to their peers
So it should come as no surprise that this
generation is also more likely to be found
on social media than in front of the evening
news. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents say
they are skeptical of traditional advertising,
A coworker casually mentions she is having problems
communicating with a client whom you know well.
In response, you:
A Offer
to have coffee with your coworker to talk about the
B Email
your coworker a tip if he or she directly asks you
while 95% go online for product reviews and first-person recommendations
before making a purchase. The message
is clear: Brands that stick with traditional
print and TV advertising only to reach this
savvy demographic are leaving potential
customers in the wings.
for help.
C Take
the reins. You’re likely the only one who’s proficient
at dealing with this client.
You’re helping to plan an off-site company meeting at a nearby
hotel. You have a connection at a comparable hotel that could
offer your company more meeting space at a lower cost,
so you:
A Offer to call your connection to get a quote.
68%
VIEWED AS:
FIRST PERSON TO
TRY NEW THINGS
To encourage a knowledge hoarder to open up and share, allaying
his or her fear is key. Demonstrate your trustworthiness by collaborating generously with colleagues
before you need to call on them. Recognize and reward people for collaborating effectively, allot time for them to work in small groups, and make knowledge sharing a regular part of meetings.
Another strategy is to request the information in person. The tone of an email can be difficult to
parse, and many people distractedly multitask
on the phone. A little eye contact can help deliver your request
clearly. Explain to the knowledge hoarder why you need the
information and how it might benefit the business. By showing
your team members that you’ve got no hidden agenda, they’ll be
more likely to share the wealth.
Quiz: Are You a Knowledge Hoarder?
communication strategies you’ve found to be successful
with the client.
Empty Nesters Defy Their Stereotype
> 6
8% consider themselves to be the
first person to try new things
Fear is often the underlying reason for knowledge hoarding.
Knowledge hoarders may be worried about losing the control
that privileged information grants them, compromising their
worth and therefore putting their job security in question.
Or they could just be concerned that they won’t meet their
own deadlines if they take time to help someone else.
>When a coworker stops by for a chat, stand up to talk
with him or her.
>Wear a headset that lets you stand while you’re
on the phone.
Marketers may be too quickly writing off
women over 45 who don’t have children
under 18 living at home as behind the
times and disengaged from pop culture.
But recent research from marketing
firm Influence Central reports just the
opposite. In fact, this group of empty
nesters is embracing independence.
The survey found that:
Knowledge is power, and when colleagues are asked to share
their knowledge, they’re also being asked to empower each
other. In a collaborative environment, it’s easy to remember
that helping the team will benefit everyone, but when
competition rules a workplace, people might
feel the need to stockpile precious information
in order to stay on top. Known as knowledge
hoarding, this practice stifles creativity
and stunts business growth.
Recognize and reward people for
collaborating effectively, allot time
for them to work in small groups, and
make knowledge sharing a regular
part of meetings.
Beth Marcello, Editor
[email protected]
Are You Standing for This?
You may have heard that “sitting is the new smoking.”
While that may be an exaggeration, the health
benefits of simply standing more during the day
are overwhelming. Research from the Mayo Clinic
shows that getting out of your chair and moving
around for just a minute or two every half hour can
improve both your work performance and your health.
But what to do when you’re stuck at a desk all day?
Here are five tips to get you moving.
How to draw information from reticent coworkers.
58%
VIEWED AS:
FRONT-RUNNER TO
TRY NEWEST THINGS
65%
VIEWED AS:
SOURCE FOR
THEIR PEERS
EMPTY NESTERS
OVER 45
B Wait
until there’s a concern over budget before informing
the team of your connection.
C Say nothing. After all, it’s not your money they’re spending.
A new hire asks for help with looking up some data in a
company archive. You’re too busy that particular day to explain
to her how it works. You:
A Quickly look up the data then set up a time later in the
week to show her how to use the archive for next time.
B Quickly
look up the data for her so you can get back to
your task.
C Tell her to ask someone else.
ANSWER KEY
,
MostlyA A s:
You share your knowledge generously, and your company is
benefiting as a result.
,
MostlyB B s:
You’re cautious about sharing your knowledge. Being more
proactive could benefit your whole team.
,
MostlyC C s:
You’re hoarding. Rethink the way you share knowledge at
work, and you’ll see better results.
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Network
Planning
The Right Way to Budget for Trade Shows
Women of Vision: Lynn Johnson
A booth can boost your bottom line.
PLAY THE FIELD
typically consumes 36% of the cost of exhibiting.
Extrapolating from there, your total event budget should be
about three times that cost. Remember, of course, that such benchmarks are merely a general guide.
BREAK IT DOWN
Those other costs include show services provided by the exhibition venue (17%),
travel and entertainment (14%) and shipping (10%), as well as staff training, promotion
and lead management. Don’t forget to consider opportunity cost as well — that is, time away from
your day-to-day business. Should you attend, or just
send a member of your sales team? Savage finds that
her presence at shows is an opportunity to interact with
clients and prospects more fully than she usually can, and feels the cost is justified.
Ask yourself which shows are worth your time and money.
“When I first considered attending trade shows, I spent
a year going to as many as I could,” recalls Nicole Savage,
president of Nature’s Way, an environmental consultant
and contractor based in western
New York. After attending
Most important,
track all
numerous events, “it became
MEASURE RESULTS
leads
generated
by
a
specific
obvious which ones were the
Most important, track all leads show so you can determine
most productive.” Now, she adds,
generated by a specific show so
how much actual business
they
she attends four to five shows per
you can determine how much actual eventually delivered.
year. Since Savage’s business is
business they eventually delivered. focused on a specific geographic
Determining the return on investment region, her travel costs for doing the research were kept
(ROI) is a simple calculation:
in check. And it’s wise to experience local events before
SALES GENERATED / COST OF EXHIBITING
traveling far afield.
SET AN ANNUAL OR QUARTERLY BUDGET
Exhibition expenses will likely come out of your marketing
budget, so you will have to weigh their value against other
promotional efforts. But how much should you spend? One
excellent way to help your investment fall within industry
norms is to benchmark. According to research by trade show
consultancy Red Cedar Marketing & Events, space rental
|4
A good customer relationship management (CRM)
system such as SalesForce or NetSuite can fully automate
this tracking, but Savage finds that a spreadsheet works
just as well.
Trade shows do require considerable up-front investment,
but if you keep costs in check, they can be highly rewarding.
It just goes to show that the most productive interactions
are often face-to-face.
INSIGHTS: Speaking of risk, how do you
cope with the risks in your work?
Lynn Johnson has photographed
high-profile subjects from Tiger Woods
to the entire U.S. Supreme Court, but
her favorite assignments have focused
on ordinary people persevering through
extraordinary hardship. And with three
decades of experience under her belt,
this photojournalist finds herself evolving
from observer to advocate. In the middle
of preparing for a trip to Bangladesh,
Johnson spoke to Insights about taking
creative risks.
INSIGHTS: Why are you headed to
Bangladesh?
LYNN JOHNSON: It’s not for an
assignment, but something I’m doing
MARK THIESSEN / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
for myself. I’m going to follow around a
marvelous scientist, Lisa Jones-Engel, who studies the
transmission of disease across the animal–human barrier.
I feel immense gratitude for National Geographic, but at the
same time I need to grow as a creative person. If you work
only for one publication, your style adapts to that publication.
We all get stuck, and this is a big issue for any of us, whether
consciously creative or not. The challenge to be creative
taps into that deep place wherever you are at any given time
of your life.
INSIGHTS: A lot of business people find it challenging to
communicate a vision. How do you create images that tell
the story you’re looking to relate?
LYNN JOHNSON: I do a tremendous amount of research
before an assignment. You immerse yourself in the subject
matter so that when you go into the field, you’re filled with
information. It’s as though your cells are bathed in that
material, and then you don’t have to think about it consciously.
That gives you more freedom to take the risks you need to
take in order to bring together the creative and storytelling
aspects of the photograph.
LYNN JOHNSON: Certainly I’ve had to
deal with physical risk. I think I’ve relied
on instinct, even when reality proves
it wrong. But what fascinates me are
the emotional risks — putting yourself
out there and into people’s lives so
they open up to you. I’m rewarded by
seeing how people in desperate straits
maintain an amazing spirit. The power
of people’s spirit uplifts and amazes me
at every turn. I work with a wonderful
organization called Ripple Effect Images
(rippleeffectimages.org), founded by
Annie Griffiths. Its mission is to document
the plight of poor women and girls
LYNN JOHNSON / NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
For just about any industry, trade shows
are ubiquitous, and more seem to be
cropping up all the time. Exhibiting
at a show can be a great way to
reach new customers and grow
your business, but it can also be
an expensive proposition. How
can you decide if a trade show
is worth your while? Here are
a few tips:
PNC is proud to sponsor Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment, a traveling exhibition that
celebrates the careers and photography of 11 talented women photojournalists who have made a significant impact with
their images. In conjunction with the exhibition, Insights is presenting a series of interviews with the featured photographers
focusing on subjects at the intersection of their professional lives and those of our readers.
A lively gathering spot for customers, this beauty shop is
a rare example of a woman owning a business in Zambia.
around the world and the programs helping them. Looking
at the negative side of things enables us to celebrate the
positive. It takes us out of that very dire mindset and makes
us hopeful that we can effect change.
To learn more about Women of Vision:
National Geographic Photographers on Assignment,
please visit wovexhibition.org.
pnc.com/women
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THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Para leer este artículo en español, visite pnc.com/women.
How to create and maintain excellence across the board.
Customers today have more choices
in the marketplace and an increasingly
powerful voice through social media —
two factors that make a good
experience key to your success.
“The customer always comes first.” That
mantra has become so commonplace that
you can hardly blame jaded consumers
from questioning its validity from time
to time. But placing the customer at the
center of your company’s focus is more
than just a catchphrase. It’s a critical
business strategy that focuses on how
customers experience your organization
across multiple interactions. How
critical? Consider that respondents to the
Conference Board’s 2014 CEO Challenge
survey of more than 1,000 company CEOs,
presidents and chairmen worldwide
consider “customer relationships” the
second most pressing challenge they
face, up from seventh place just two
years ago. That’s no surprise: Customers
today have more choices in the marketplace and an increasingly powerful voice
through social media — two factors that
make a good experience key to your
success.
But what exactly is customer
experience, and how can you manage
it? “Customer experience is the sum
of all of a customer’s touch points with
your company,” says Karyn Furstman,
VP, customer experience at Safeco
Insurance, as well as vice chair of the
Customer Experience Professionals
Association (CXPA). “This shouldn’t be
confused with customer service, which
is tied to a specific interaction with your
customer. It’s more holistic. It is the sum
of the experiences that a consumer has
with your company over the duration of
your relationship with them. It is making
decisions based on the customer’s point
of view. But even more, I like to think of
it as a way to connect with customers
in a human way, rather than a coldly
corporate way.”
Melissa Murphy, president of Melissa
Murphy Marketing and adjunct professor
at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper
School of Business, agrees, adding,
“That’s not to say that you take your focus
off profitability. Providing a positive
customer experience should be
measurable on the bottom line.”
Customer experience goes beyond simply
providing good service — it’s a systematic
and continuous process that involves
several steps.
With internal and external
research in hand, construct a
complete timeline of customer
experience, known as the
“journey,” which begins the
moment a customer hears
about your company, product
or service.
FIND OUT WHERE YOU STAND
“The first thing that you want to do is
talk to your customers,” Furstman says.
“Start by listening, which you can do in so
many ways.” One of the easiest methods
is to Google your company to see how
customers are referencing it online and
in social media, suggests Furstman. With
regard to the latter, you should not only
be tracking mentions on social media and
review sites, if relevant, but also engaging
in the conversation.
For a more systematic understanding of
customer sentiment, consider surveys,
focus groups and other marketing datagathering techniques. It’s key to follow up
after individual transactions — a purchase
or a customer-service call, for example —
to see what impression your company left
on a customer, and how you might improve
the experience.
In addition to customers, you need to hear
from employees, particularly those who
work on the front lines. “They’re talking
to customers every day,” Furstman says.
“They’re the ones who do the heroics
to try and figure out how to get around
the system so that they can help that
customer.” Ask employees for actionable
feedback about problems you may
be missing or processes that can be
improved.
UNCOVER MOMENTS OF TRUTH
Of the dozens or even hundreds of touch
points that make up the customer journey,
a handful may be considered moments of
truth: key points of interaction in which the
customer will decide whether to stay with
your company or leave. Furstman offers
the example of submitting an insurance
claim. “For customers, insurance remains
in the background until you have a claim,”
she explains. “And then you really need to
rely on that company, and the company
really needs to perform, hopefully beyond
your expectations.” What level of service do
you deliver during those moments of truth?
Fair to good? That may not be good enough.
MAP THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Don’t be misled into gauging a customer’s
experience based on moments of truth
alone. A company that shines during
key touch points can still manage to
underwhelm. How? By overlooking the
picture as a whole. With internal and
external research in hand, construct
a complete timeline of customer
experience, known as the “journey,” which
begins the moment a customer hears
about your company, product or service.
A 2014 McKinsey customer-experience
survey of 27,000 American consumers
found that an exceptional customer
journey has the potential not only to
increase customer satisfaction by 20% but
also to lift revenue by as much as 15%.
continued on page 8 . . .
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. . . continued from page 7
IMPROVE YOUR (SOCIAL)
LISTENING SKILLS
A social media presence is beneficial to most businesses,
so you’ve probably done your best to manage a Twitter
account, a Facebook page, an Instagram feed — and
anything else that seems like it will help. Next comes the
important part: learning from the information you get.
Luckily, multiple tools exist for that very purpose. Called
social listening tools, their goal is to help you glean
important information from your social media feeds, so
you can make more-informed business decisions and find
new opportunities. Look for these features:
S
EARCH QUERIES
Discover how people reached you by seeing a list of
their search terms. Implement those terms in your
future social media posts.
M
ORE THAN HASHTAGS
Use a tool that consolidates and reports on all
activity occurring on your social media accounts —
not everybody will include your business name or use
a searchable hashtag within their correspondence.
M
ULTIPLE SOURCES
A listening tool should be as far-reaching as you want
your business to be. Choose a tool that culls data from
multiple varied sources — news publications, relevant
professional forums, content communities like YouTube
and Flickr — not just blogs and social networking sites.
A
NALYSIS
Many tools offer insights about what the information
means, alerting you to areas of strength as well as
positive or negative trends.
|8
Few companies consider a customer’s journey in quite the same
way as Elf on the Shelf (elfontheshelf.com), an Atlanta company
that sells a book-and-doll set with a complete backstory that
co-CEO Christa Pitts says is intended to create a lasting family
holiday tradition.
“We actually have several layers of customers,” she says. “There
are our retailers, there are parents and there are kids.” The
company, she explains, works differently depending on what each
retailer needs in order to facilitate the makings of a rich customer
experience. “A bookstore will need something different from a toy
store, and an independent retailer will need something different
from a national chain in terms of in-store marketing materials,
events and what its customer is looking for.” And as for parents
and children, everything from mobile apps to web design
and even the company’s voicemail message reinforces the
fanciful story behind the products. “To our customers, we
are the North Pole,” Pitts concludes.
Focusing on the customers’ journey from initial awareness to
their experience with using your product or services can be
a transformative shift in how you view your company. Rather
than taking an internal, operations-focused point of view, you
gain a customer-centric perspective that reveals how internal
processes — even those that aren’t customer-facing or those
that appear unrelated to one another — affect your customer. The
McKinsey study found that measuring satisfaction of customer
journeys is 30% more predictive of overall customer satisfaction
than measuring happiness for each individual interaction.
An understanding of the journey will inevitably reveal a number
of weaknesses that need to be prioritized and addressed.
BREAK DOWN INTERNAL BARRIERS
During the mapping process, it’s not uncommon to realize that
disparate functions within the company are not so disparate
from the customer’s point of view. “When customers call with
a question about their bill, they don’t care which department it
falls under. They just want it resolved,” says Michelle Neidhardt,
SVP, enterprise customer experience at PNC Bank. “If a frontline employee is being asked to answer a customer’s question
or resolve a customer’s issue, do they have access to all the
information that’s necessary to do so? If they don’t, we need to go
about getting it to them or establishing a process where there’s
a clean hand-off to somebody who does.” By opening the lines
of communication and sharing information among traditionally
siloed functions, you empower employees to expedite solutions
for customers.
IDENTIFY AND RESOLVE PAIN POINTS
While solving problems as they arise is great, it’s far better
to prevent the problem in the first place. By tracking service
issues, you can determine root problems and resolve them at
their source. Starting with moments of truth, create a list of
pain points — errors, delays, inefficiencies — as experienced
by the customer, and resolve them one by one. The goal,
Furstman says, is to create as effortless a customer experience
as possible. “When people think about customer service, they
think about the no-expense-spared, bend-over-backwards
Nordstrom model,” she says. “But sometimes as a customer you
don’t want to be lavished with attention. You might just want to
order something quickly and easily online.”
MEASURE RESULTS
Creating a customer-centric organization is a long-term
process, but you should be able to measure your progress,
Murphy says. Depending on your industry, there are a number
of metrics to track, including complaint resolution on first
contact, escalations, response time, delivery time and, of
course, customer and employee sentiment. For B-to-B
companies, tracking profitability by customer will also offer an
indication of how efficiently you’re servicing them. “The metrics
depend on what you’re trying to achieve,” Murphy says. “For
instance, if your production is running at 50% capacity, you
should evaluate customer initiatives on how they grow
that number.”
MAKE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EVERYONE’S JOB
Finally, it’s important to recognize that customer centricity is,
at heart, a culture issue. “It starts with making sure there is a
shared vision for customer experience across the organization.
Regardless of a company’s size, every area should understand
the role it plays in delivering that experience,” says Neidhardt.
“Culture is extremely important to us,” adds Elf on the Shelf’s
Pitts. “We work hard to make everyone understand that we’re
here to create family moments. It’s a responsibility that everyone
takes very seriously.”
In the end, Murphy notes, it comes down to people. “You want
your employees to feel an ownership in the company’s story.
What do we stand for? What do we value? What’s important to
us? How do we treat people? Because regardless of the person,
those things should always be the same. That’s what helps
create a consistent, happy customer experience.”
4 TIPS FOR BETTER
CUSTOMER SURVEYS
Customer experience data is an important way to
understand and improve your customer satisfaction
rate — and eventually your sales. Whether your customer
interactions are happening in person, online or on the
phone, there are many ways to gather data about them.
One tried and true method is to conduct customer surveys.
According to an Oracle whitepaper, “Best Practices for
Improving Survey Participation,” there are a few key
points to keep in mind.
1 C
REATE CLARITY
Questions should be relevant to the customer
experience, short, simple and have clear answer
choices. While too many choices can overwhelm,
too few can frustrate your survey-takers.
2 D
ELIVER IT AT THE RIGHT TIME
Time your survey so that the experience you’re asking
about is still fresh in your customer’s mind. Within
24 hours of the interaction is usually best.
3
K
EEP FOCUSED
Don’t try to cover multiple topics or learn too much in
one survey. If you want people to finish and submit the
survey, studies show that three to 12 questions is the
right number to ask.
4 F
OLLOW UP
Most important, let your customers know that they’ve
been heard. Look for action items and communicate
that you’re listening. People are much more likely
to respond to a future survey if they know that their
thoughts were considered.
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Education
Building Blocks
Widen the Scope of Business
How a “gender lens” is helping reshape the global economy.
Women are flexing their economic
muscles, driving growth, creating
wealth and, finally, receiving the
recognition they deserve from both
the investment community and
policymakers. According to the
American Express OPEN 2014 State
of Women-Owned Businesses Report,
from 1997 to 2014, female-owned
businesses in the United States grew
at a rate of one-and-a-half times the
national average. It’s also estimated
that as of last year, there are 9.1
million women-owned enterprises,
employing nearly 7.9 million workers
and generating more than $1.4 trillion in
revenues.
Globally, Goldman Sachs has identified
investing in women and girls as “one
of the highest return opportunities
available in the developing world.”
Sachs’ research shows that “women’s
higher propensity to use their earnings
and increased bargaining power to
buy goods and services that improve
family welfare can create a virtuous
cycle: Female spending supports the
development of human capital, which
fuels economic growth in the years
ahead.”
These reports are part of a growing
body of research laying the foundation of
“Gender Capitalism.” An analysis of this
phenomenon in the fall 2014 Stanford
Social Innovation Review outlines the
opportunities —and the challenges —
of applying a “gender lens” to investing.
“A ‘gender lens’ helps investors
gain new perspectives, highlight
poorly understood inequalities,
uncover new opportunities, identify
blockages in the system, and find
value where none was found before,”
according to Stanford. For example,
applying a gender lens to the capital
markets highlights
Globally, Goldman Sachs
has identified investing
in women and girls as
one of the highest return
opportunities available in
the developing world.
the fact that women have a much
harder time accessing capital
than men. The publication reports
that women starting and growing
businesses around the world face an
estimated credit gap (the difference
between what they need and how
much they are able to raise) of $320
billion. The opportunity for investors
is that evidence also shows that
women-led companies may deliver
consistently better returns than
their male counterparts.
Applying that same lens to product
development helps identify similar
opportunities by changing the
design process from designing for
women to designing with women,
the article notes.
Consider the example of the Global
Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, an
international nonprofit dedicated to
improving the health of women in
resource-poor countries by providing
cleaner burning stoves and fuels. There
was clearly a need for these products,
but adoption was spotty. When the
Global Alliance used a gender lens
to examine its poor sales figures, it
found that the problem lay in product
design. The stoves were engineered for
the developed world and didn’t fit the
way women in remote areas cook. To
correct that mistake, the Alliance used
gender analysis to identify a series of
best practices, “from product design
(observe women cooking and involve
women in the design aesthetics) and
production (give women the opportunity
to manufacture components), to
financing (support financial institutions
in lending to women and consider
rent-to-own or micro-consignment
strategies) and distribution (use
gender-informed marketing messages
and offer trial periods to female
distributors),” according to the Stanford
research. The gender lens helped the
Alliance improve its business model,
which increased sales and the adoption
rate of its products. Just think how
many new opportunities could come
into focus if you applied a gender lens.
QwithAa
As PNC’s director of supplier
diversity and a PNC-Certified
Women’s Business Advocate,
Maureen Seskey helps ensure
that PNC meets the highest
standards of diversity in its
purchasing activities. “I feel
strongly that our diversity
efforts have to align with our
other sourcing priorities,”
she says.
“Those include saving money and making
sure we have strong, productive supplier
relationships.”
WBA
INSIGHTS: What first steps should a “diverse”
supplier take when looking to gain a foothold with
corporate customers?
Maureen Seskey: Suppliers need to have a unique value
proposition. What do you bring to the table that your competitors
don’t? Price is one kind of differentiator, but it’s not the only one.
Perhaps you have specific experience in our industry, or your
products or services are aligned with our efforts in the area of
sustainability or data security.
INSIGHTS: Are there common errors that small companies
make when approaching large purchasing organizations?
Maureen Seskey: Often a supplier will present
a list of 20 things they can do, which makes
them come across as a jack-of-all-trades but a
master of none. An organization like ours, with
specialized purchasing professionals, wants to
know your core competency.
INSIGHTS: What if I’m not sure my product or
Maureen Seskey: Certification as a WBE
service is appropriate for the organization?
(women’s business enterprise) or MBE (minority
business enterprise) is an essential first step. But
it’s just as important to make sure you’re in the
pipeline of the companies you want to work with.
At PNC, for example, you can register online, which will put
you on our list for upcoming opportunities or outreach events
in your area.
Maureen Seskey: I recommend establishing a
relationship anyway. Like many corporations, we
have diversity, sustainability and other criteria
that our large suppliers must meet. So if we don’t
have a need for your product, we might refer you to one of our
suppliers to help them satisfy those requirements.
>>>
To learn more about PNC’s supplier diversity efforts and
to register, visit pnc.com/supplierdiversity.
A Bright Idea: Using Cloud Technology to Improve Sales
Cloud computing is already a familiar option for email, file
storage and collaboration, but more recently it’s revolutionized
credit card processing. Intrigued? Here’s how it works.
With the cloud, merchants can offer multiple payment options
to customers, while in turn enjoying the simplicity and ease of
a single integrated POS system.
Rather than (or in addition to) relying on a traditional retail
terminal to complete sales, cloud-based card-processing
transactions are handled by payment gateways or
online point-of-sale (POS) systems linked to
merchant accounts. One example is Clover™
Station, offered by PNC Merchant Services®
(pnc.com/clover), which combines the
features of a traditional POS terminal
with the advantages of a cloud-based
solution. Next-generation payment
processing tools like Clover offer a
number of potential benefits:
> A
utomated updates and backup. With cloud solutions,
you don’t have to worry about whether you’re using the latest program version — updates take care
of themselves. Additionally, data is securely and continuously backed up, safe from
equipment failure or theft, which is
good news for both merchants and customers.
> C
onvenience and mobility. When it comes
time to make a purchase, customers want to choose
whether to do so in a store, online or on their mobile devices.
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INSIGHTS: What do you look for in the suppliers you work with?
> Greater business insight. Because all
of your data is collected and stored in a unified system, you can draw timely analytics
across sales points to make more informed business decisions
that benefit you and your customers. Plus, you can access the
data from anywhere with Internet accessibility.
pnc.com/women
11
|
After Five
Tune Out for Your Health
Mobile technology has made it a little easier to be a
career mom. With a smartphone in your pocket, you
can stay connected to work while spending more time
away from the office and with your family. Like ice
cream, though, too much of a good thing often isn’t all
that good. A 2014 survey by TripAdvisor found that a
whopping 91% of U.S. respondents reported that they
check their work email while on vacation, and 77%
worked while on vacation during the previous year.
The problem is that the productivity you think you’re
gaining by being available 24/7 is actually eroding your
effectiveness. A study by the University of California and
the U.S. Army, reported in Psychology Today, found
that being cut off from work email for blocks of
time is actually good for you. It reduces stress,
lowers cortisol levels and heart rate, and
makes you more focused when you get
back to work.
So where can you find help to break your
online addiction? On your smartphone,
of course. There are dozens of apps
available to help you tune out the digital
noise while you focus on the real world.
For help with silencing the time-sucking chatter of
distracting websites (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,
anyone?) without disabling mission-critical functions,
such as your phone and text, try the apps Digital Detach,
SelfControl or Anti-Social.
If you need to check in with the office while you’re away,
establish boundaries between work and play. My Minutes
is an app that lets you set time limits. You can schedule,
say, 30 minutes every morning and every afternoon to
catch up on business, and you’ll get an alert when your
time is up. Similarly, the app Moment allows you to set
a limit and then tracks your daily iPhone use, gently
warning you when you’re on it for too long.
Or you can just download the same parental control apps
you already use to limit your kids’ screen time. Apps like
Parental TimeLock and Screen Time lock the screen when your time is up. Of course, as the grown-up, you have the code to get back in, but hopefully you’ll have learned something from your kids in the process. When the screen shuts off, it’s time
to go outside and play.
articles you have read were prepared for general information purposes only and are not intended as legal, tax or accounting advice or as recommendations to engage
◊ The
in any specific transaction, including with respect to any securities of PNC, and do not purport to be comprehensive. Under no circumstances should any information
contained in this article be used or considered as an offer or commitment, or a solicitation of an offer or commitment, to participate in any particular transaction or
strategy. Any reliance upon any such information is solely and exclusively at your own risk. Please consult your own counsel, accountant or other advisor regarding your
specific situation. Neither PNC Bank nor any other subsidiary of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. will be responsible for any consequences of reliance upon any
opinion or statement contained here, or any omission. The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the opinions of PNC Bank or any of its affiliates, directors,
officers or employees.
Merchant Services provided by PNC Merchant Services Company and are subject to credit approval. PNC Merchant Services is a registered trademark of The PNC Financial
Services Group, Inc. The Clover trademark and logo are owned by Clover Network, Inc., a First Data company. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names
referenced in this material are the property of their respective owners.
PNC is a registered mark of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (“PNC”).
In Canada, bank deposit, treasury management and lending products and services are provided through PNC Bank Canada Branch. Deposits with PNC Bank Canada Branch
are not insured by the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation or the FDIC. PNC Bank Canada Branch is the Canadian branch of PNC Bank, National Association.
Lending products and services, as well as certain other banking products and services, may require credit approval.
©2015 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Editor: Beth Marcello, [email protected]
SPRING | SUMMER 2015 164368