Do you know what Forces of Evil threaten your Metropolis?

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For all of you who are new to The Hero's Voice, welcome! This column is dedicated to showing real-world examples of the ideas outlined in our Hero's Quest, a process which helps companies build loyalty by examining your business in a way that's easy to relate to: how to be a hero to your customer or member.

Today's issue focuses on the importance of knowing what "Force of Evil" (the problem) threatens your Metropolis (your customer or member), and looking at whether you have a "BatPhone" (feedback system) in place to find out.

Recently, my Visa card provider was bought out by another bank -- let's call them "Fees of America." I pay my bills through online bill pay, so by the time I received my statement, changed the info on bill pay and sent the payment, it arrived a couple days late. My next statement was ugly...accrued interest plus huge late fees. OUCH! Worse, the payment cycle had become far shorter, and I realized that to pay the NEW bill in time I'd have to pay by phone. When I called the system, I couldn't get through to a person -- I could only go through the automated system. At the very END of the process, they informed me there's a $15 fee to pay by phone!

By now, I definitely viewed Fees of America as a Force of Evil, and decided to switch to my credit union's Visa instead.

In the meantime though, I realized I didn't know if my online bill payments were made by check (up to a 10 day process) or electronically (a 2-3 day process). I couldn't afford to be late again, and I was unable to find anywhere on the bill pay system that indicated which way a payment is sent. Fortunately, the marketing director at my credit union is a friend, so I had a chance to make him an ally in my fight against the Force of Evil that was making me cranky: the combination of a short payment schedule and not knowing how long the payment would take in transit.

He was great...told me just where to find what I needed and sent me a screenshot. Problem solved! Member saved! He then sent the same info to all his front-line staff so they'd know how to help if the problem came up for other members.

But here's the catch: I "knew a guy" at the credit union, I had my own built-in feedback mechanism...my own BatPhone, my own member-911 system. Do your customers or members have one? How do you know if they're having trouble -- lost business? The time to find out what problems are facing your customers or members is BEFORE it's too late to be their hero.

If you have a "Force of Evil" story or "Bat Phone" mechanism in place you'd be willing to share, just click on the "Share Your Story" link above to submit it. If you'd like help developing your own BatPhone, and communicating it to your customers or members, give Creative Abandon a jingle. We may not have all the answers, but we'll leap tall buildings to help find the answers you need.

Lisa and the Creative Abandon team