The Business Case For Kindness

Social media and marketing expert Dawn Renshaw, founder of Stoney Creek Social Media, makes the business case that kindness is not fluff, it is a real driver of loyalty, repeat sales, and referrals. 

Episode Resources

Stoney Creek Social Media

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Transcript

Welcome And Series Setup

Richard Piet 0:07

I'm Richard Myatt. Welcome back to the Kindness Marketing Podcast. We're talking about kindness marketing in this series of episodes. Dawn Renshaw is our kindness marketing expert, founder of Stony Creek Social Media. Back with us on these episodes. By the way, wherever you get podcasts, search for this. Subscribe. You'll get alerted when these episodes come available. Of course, we're on YouTube as well. Follow Stony Creek social media. Hi, Dawn. Richard. How are you today? Great.

Why Kindness Drives Business Results

Richard Piet 0:40

Thank you. Today we're going to talk about the business case for kindness. I don't know why. I think maybe when we think about kindness, we might not be thinking about business. I it's kind of silly to think that way, but when we think kindness, do we think uh among our personal interactions, maybe we think about it more? It's good for business, right, Don?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It is. It is. Everybody, you know, I wrote a blog post a while back about, you know, a warm fuzzy feeling that you get from a business. You know, you will go back more often, you will pay more, you will look at that business in a different way, as opposed to a business that's that's very sterile and you know, black and white. And I honestly believe that people, kind people also are are happier people. Because when you give kindness, it to me it's it's a it's a win-win situation for everybody.

Richard Piet 1:40

Yeah, that's a a great point. The idea that um, you know, what you put in comes back to you, right? So this is part of that situation. Do me a favor, let's talk for a second from your perspective, the difference between kindness in a business and not using kindness in a business in terms of the interactions that you're familiar with.

A Real Customer Service Switch

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Well, it's interesting because I'm in the process right now of moving um credit unions from a credit union that I've been with for quite a while to another one. And one of the biggest challenges I've had as an adult is moving financial institutions.

Richard Piet 2:19

I was just about to bring that up. This is not a small feat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

No, no, especially in the world where you know we have so many HCH payments coming in and going out, and there's just a lot to it. So I had some situations where I needed a little bit of customer service. And I so I had reached out to uh my rep, and I'm not going to mention any credit unions, and their suggestion for was for me to call the 800 number. Well, I don't have time to call an 800 number and wait on hold and talk to somebody that's probably not versed in business banking. So I reached out and talked to a couple other people at financial institutions and one that had, I had seen um their business development person at a lot of networking events, and I had become uh, you know, good friends with them. And so I reached out to him and said, okay, if I were to call and do this, what would happen? So that was an example of me that I will go through the hassle of switching for um someone who's kind. And I stopped by one of the branches yesterday and I haven't gotten my checks in the mail yet. And so I stop in and she's like, Oh, by all means, I'll print you out some counter checks. And and she did. So that that's what I'm looking for. And like I said, they weren't rude at the other place, it just wasn't the service that that I wanted.

Richard Piet 3:40

Yeah. So it's a uh for you at least, the kindness marketing approach is more personal rather than the 800 number, someone doesn't know you. You want to have an interaction with someone uh who preferably is local, and and this the difference that you've articulated amounts to kindness.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

That's that's the way I look at it.

Small Touches That Build Loyalty

SPEAKER_01 4:05

You know, last week I do some mentoring, and I took uh the the young girl downtown and we made a candle at Kalamazoo Candle, and they're always so nice in there, you know, and then we went to Aroma Labs, and we went to Colors and Cocktails, we went to some places downtown. And I go to those places again because I know when I come go in there that, and it's not just me, you know, you're met with kindness uh as opposed to, you know, going to a big box chain where you walk in and they have no idea who you are. That's just a different level of service. Some people are happy to walk into one of those big box stores, go in, get what they want, get out, and and they're happy. I'm sure there's people that are happy calling an 800 number. To me, I'm not.

Richard Piet 4:49

Yes, uh, I get the point. And and maybe the 800 number, as you say, works out. Uh maybe there's kindness there, but you might have to wait to find out, right? Longer stretch of time. So are there other ways kindness resonates? And by that I mean from the the customer perspective and also from the business owner.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Right. I it, you know, we look at, you know, when you make a purchase, it's something that um, you know, are they putting it in a nice bag? Are they asking you if you want it wrapped? I just think that if somebody comes in into a store and they're they're greeted and you know, they make a purchase and it's put in a nice bag with tissue. Um, when they are in the market for a product or a service like they have, that's gonna come to the top of their mind. Maybe I'm just a little high maintenance, Richard, but um I think that everybody wants to go someplace where you know they feel appreciated. And, you know, I've been in stores before where I felt like I was in the way or I was bothering them, um, and it doesn't make me want to go back.

Richard Piet 6:02

So this requires a person to think carefully about the experience that their customers, their clients are having, and maybe be a bit truthful with themselves about what that experience is. Boy, that could be tough, couldn't it, for some for some business owners to be able to put their emotions aside and see it like it is.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Right, because you know there's different levels of of different service, and there's different, you know, whether you're going to, you know, stay at the Radisson um or you're gonna stay at Super Eight, you know, there's gonna be a a different level of service, um, but it doesn't mean that, you know, that somebody that stays at the Super Eight still doesn't want a good experience.

Richard Piet 6:56

Yeah, and and uh that is under the kindness umbrella. You know, how can you convey your message, whatever that might be, and uh uh make it appeal to the broadest audience possible? Is that a fair way to put it?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Exactly, exactly. You want to look at your target market, you know, and find out who they are and find out their persona, but you you definitely in that process don't want to offend somebody else.

Richard Piet 7:25

Yeah.

Kindness Works For Any Industry

Richard Piet 7:26

So if someone, a business owner, comes to you, Dawn, and says, I want to implement kindness marketing, what are some of the few things you want to know from them while you help them think about that?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Uh we'd like to talk about like the sales process, the return process. If they, you know, like when they someone subscribes to their newsletter, do they get a thank you for subscribing? And and you know, what their hours are and email change or any type of a change that would cause prospects to have an unpleasant experience.

Richard Piet 8:06

All right. Uh so uh be thinking about that before you have this conversation, perhaps, and then uh uh come to the table to Dawn or someone like her who has an uh a purview about kindness marketing, and you have some answers about uh some of these things. You know, I I have a feeling there's someone listening, I'm making this up, but someone listening who says, you know, I I uh I rent carpet cleaners, I sell snakes to snake out a clogged grain. You know, we're we're not fancy here. Right. We we've got a product, they need it, they come and get it, we give it to them. It's no big deal. We don't have to to really go down this kindness path. Do you ever run into folks like that who say that's frilly? I don't need that.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Right. Exactly. But they do they do because often they might not feel that way, but I always tell people that to put yourself in your you know, your consumers, your you know, target audience, who's gonna come buy your product? Because if someone comes to buy, you know, something to unclog their drain, they're probably not having the best day of their life.

Richard Piet 9:18

That's a good point.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

You know, and so a little bit of empathy, a little bit of kindness is probably gonna go a long way with them. And also someone thinks, well, how often would you need to snake your drain? Well, you you know, you can turn that person into an advocate for your brand. Um, I've done it many times. I was just talking, I have a customer that's opening a new business and they need some signage. And I have uh a person that I always refer to, and he always refers to me, and I know his clients and he knows some of mine, but we've actually never done business together. Like I've never bought a sign from him, and he's never bought marketing from me. So even though it might not be somebody that buys from you again, it can be somebody that becomes an advocate for you.

Richard Piet 10:01

That's a great point. Uh, we're making impressions every time we talk with a customer or a client, and uh, we're paving that path to potential referrals, which is great. You talked about this a little bit, the idea of trying to appeal to the broadest audience and trying not to be offensive. Uh, but when we talk about social media and kindness, if someone says to you, Don, I want to convey that we are employing a kindness perspective and we want it to come out in our

Social Media Replies With Warmth

Richard Piet 10:38

social media interactions, what do you want to tell them about that?

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Uh well, in that type of situation, a lot of times we will talk about doing like a meet the team so that when someone called or someone comes through the door, they they hear a familiar voice, they see a familiar face. Um, and you know, oftentimes when people go to a business for the first time, they're very apprehensive. They already have a little bit of anxiety because we have been places that we've been not treated well. And also, if somebody sends a message and says, you know, what are your hours tomorrow? Instead of going, hey, they're on the website or hey, they're on our social media page, you just say, Oh, sure, our hours are such and such, that we'd love to see you, or we hope you can make it in. And so sometimes it's just not answering the question with an answer, it's answering the question with kindness.

Richard Piet 11:27

And sometimes that means answering the question more than once. You know better than I how these algorithms work. But uh, sometimes uh we'll see a post that asks a question or or conveys a message, and folks are inclined or encouraged to post a response, but we don't see in the string of responses that that's been answered four or five times. And so uh we as the poster or the uh the business might be inclined to say, read the comments. You know, well, guess what? That's not kindness. You've got to answer that again and again, perhaps.

unknown 12:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

That's one of my pet peeps because I will have people, you know, and I'll see them. And one of them, I won't mention their name, but I'm married to them. Um, they will be like, I already answered that, or somebody else answered that already. And it's like, you know what? It is not gonna hurt you to type it again. Sometimes you can be right, and sometimes you can be kind, and sometimes they're not both.

Be Right Or Be Kind

Richard Piet 12:32

Whoa, let that uh sink in a second. Yeah, we'll leave you with that one. If you have questions about kindness marketing for your business, this is what Dawn does, Stony Creek Social Media and Dawn Renshaw, the Kindness Marketing Podcast. Contact information in the show notes. Just click on through and stop on by, and Dawn will be happy to talk to you about whatever questions you might have as it relates to these things. Dawn, we'll talk soon.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Perfect. Thanks, Richard.