Consumer Maven

Lovemarks, Love Bytes and Law Office Software

The study of consumer behavior fascinates me.   Doing field observationals on how people shop reveals physical behavior patterns that help understand the purchasing process.  Understanding why and how people buy is important to getting sales.  Despite this, it is customer satisfaction with the product that can make or break a company’s long term success.  Customer satisfaction isn’t just a survey at the end of the purchase cycle.  It is so much more than that:  it is the sum total of the buying or shopping experience.

For business software, usually the shopping experience is about finding the right software, installing it, and learning how to use it with varying degrees of success.  If another package hits the market and we’re not enthralled with what we have, we often look to see what else is out there and often we replace what isn’t completely working to our needs.  Of the business software on the market today, there are few that were the leaders when they first were released.  For anyone who used the predecessors to MS Office Productivity Software in the 1980s, we all remember multitudes of programs that no longer exist today.  The same can be said for most other user applications. 

An exception to this is Needles, a law office case software program designed to manage cases.  The Needles software was first launched in 1985 under the name PINS, which stood for Personal Injury Negligence System.   Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd., a company already familiar with the application needs of business users, was approached by a group of attorneys who wanted customized software for their practice.  The PINS software was the first case management software to hit the market.  Ten years later, when many software companies disappeared from this application’s landscape, the firm launched Needles, which runs on a PC platform.  In 2005, the company celebrated its 20^th year of business in providing attorneys and law offices a product that they love.  Yes, I said LOVE. 

There are few things more unlikely than to think that attorneys and their staff can find love in a byte, until I heard about the Needles experience.  Customer experiences with one company become a sum of memorable events.  When it comes to software, not all companies can provide consistently positive memories.    In February of 2005, Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. sponsored a contest  in which customers were asked to finish the sentence, “I love my Needles because…”  Clearly Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. and Needles have earned much customer love.  When I was given a copy of the book of over 180 responses, (Needles has about 400 client testimonials in total and that number is always growing) I was intrigued at the type of comments. 

Written primarily by attorneys or their paralegals, Needles users proclaimed their love for the software and for the Company.  Apparently the system is so well designed in serving the needs of law offices that it has the ability to capture all pertinent information related to any case and provide any information on any case with relative ease.  Their to-do list, the heart of the system and the love of any calendar aficionado keeps a practice humming and on schedule, without concerns that missed deadlines or statues will be blown.  Needles was frequently credited for: ‘getting my life back,’ ‘being able to provide superior client service,’ and ‘knowing what I need to know when I need to know [it].”  Other comments included outright proclamations of love for Needles, because “Needles loves me back.”  When was the last time you said that about your office software?

In his book titled, “LOVEMARKS,” Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, refers to trademarks that have emotional connections and love. Roberts also makes it clear that where love and products are concerned, love must be also earned.  I was struck at how much of what defined a LOVEMARK also defined the Needles software experience.  Roberts states that companies must be passionate, involve their customers, celebrate loyalty, tell and retell great stories and accept responsibility.  All of these define Chesapeake Interlink, Ltd. and their relationship with customers.  

The firm gives superior customer service in many areas.  The sales staff doesn’t push to “sell” their product.  They help prospective customers understand how Needles can help make their practice better.  The training department doesn’t provide mass training for groups of users, but helps law offices, insurance companies and other users so that the system is set up for their business requirements.  Needles is highly customizable; user configurations then become highly personalized.  Not surprisingly, while Needles has converted customers from other case management programs, they have never lost a customer to a competitor.  Calls to the company will never leave you in voice mail jail.  Are you ready for this??? A person, yes, a living, breathing human being answers all calls and makes sure you get taken care of.  Needles upgrades come primarily from the input of their client user base.  The firm has a Customer Advisory Board.  How much better than that can you get?

You can check them out either at their corporate website, Needles Case Management Software for Law Offices, or their press site, which includes several customer stories about attorneys who love their case managment software programs. 

Whole Foods, Part Inconsistency and that's a good thing!

As a north side Chicagoan, I usually go to the Lake View Whole Foods.  I've been a Whole Foods shopper since they first opened in Chicago.  At one time, when friends or relatives would drive me to the store, I used to always go to the North Avenue store until about 1999/2000.  I liked that store, both for its selection and the management.  While doing a management project in my MBA program, I had met the Regional President and the Regional Vice President (whose name I still remember, Bob Marks, who came from their Fresh Fields buy out).   From around 2000 I started shopping only at the Lake View store, both due to it's closeness in terms of public transportation for me, and the fact that the North Avenue store started to be a not so pleasant experience, especially at the checkout.  The management that I had known back then had left, and the management that came in seemed to contribute to a downward spiral in keeping the energy in the North avenue store "up" and feeling good.  With that in mind, it was not an incentive to even go in there, much less shop there.

I was at the North Avenue store today, and I was really quite happy to see how things have changed for the better.   While I was looking for toothpaste, an employee gave me a friendly "hello" - not the robotic stuff I get at "my" Whole Foods in Lake View, but a genuine, (like Trader Joe's) type of greeting, where the person's energy is open and not closed.  Wow, I was thinking to myself... at least one of the three stores in Chicago has a friendly person in it.  I have to admit that when I first came through the doors of my long missed store, I felt a different energy than I remembered from before.  I momentarily thought that either they hired Dr. Phyllis Light (she does business energy clearings and helps to raise the energy and conciousness in a space to a higher place) or they just had a major change in personnel since I've been there last. 

My mother wanted me to pick up some dried food items, and I could not find it, despite several roam arounds in the appropriate place.  I finally asked one of the guys who was trying to stock some shelves.  He suggested I wait or shop in the vicinity while he goes to find out where it was, and said he didn't want to drag me all over the store.  Since I was bundled up from the cold (having to take two busses and trains), I really appreciated it.  When I returned, he told me where the item was, and walked me over to the section.  I rarely find people who have energy that feels genuinely kind, especially when interupting them while they are trying to do their job, so I was more than floored by this experience.  I was also feeling good that I had one good and one stellar people experiences while shopping at this Whole Foods.  Then came the telltale checkout.  The cashier was a young, funky kind of guy who was on the fun side.  This was the kind of cashier that I used to enjoy having as my last shopping experience when I'd go to the Lake View store (before things got depressing).  I left the store feeling good that at least this location in Chicago hasn't lost its soul.  One out of three isn't great, but it's better than 0:0.