Customer Service vs. Lost Business

When new companies open their doors, they want business. It’s that simple. Most companies go above and beyond with their opening day promotions, some give discounts, and others give away products or free food or drinks. So why would a new store on the day of its Grand Opening turn away business?

On a recent weekend afternoon, I visited an office products store. While I had intended to visit a store near my home, I drove by another store in the same chain with a large sign announcing its grand opening, so I drove into the parking lot eager to see a new store. But what greeted me was a huge disappointment.

I immediately found the item I needed, a printer cartridge, and got in line to pay. There were a few other customers walking around the store, but no one else in line. However, there were about 8 employees scattered around the store. The employee closest to me walked behind the counter and asked, “Are you paying with cash or a credit card?” I was a little taken aback since, again, this was a new store, and the remark I would have expected was something along the lines of “Did you find everything you were looking for?”

I responded that I was going to use a credit card, and the employee immediately pulled out a small device from his pocket. It turned out that the device was a mobile credit card payment device. Since I saw several traditional cash registers behind the counter, I asked if I could use one instead. And then, as if a tornado hit the building, the employee rudely asked, “WHY?”

Apparently, this employee had not been trained on either the new technology or how to interact with customers. If he had, he would have responded in this manner, “Since this is a new store, we’re lucky to feature this amazing new technology to make the payment process easier for our valued customers. If you have any concerns about security, here are the ways we encrypt your credit card data. But if you would prefer, we can still use the traditional register.”

Not every retail outlet can be a duplication of Apple stores. Employees at the Apple stores explain their mobile payment devices and how customer data is protected. And can anyone recall an instance when customer data was breached at an Apple store? None have been discussed in the mainstream media.

However, with so many data breaches in the news, the company (of the store I visited) should be proactive. What is the store’s policy for encryption? When is the data deleted from the store’s system? The customer needs to know how the credit card information is protected from point of sale to saved transaction in the company’s database. All employees should know how the process works. Granted, not all customers may express an interest or concern, but since this is new technology for the store, all employees should be prepared.

While the signage above this store invites customers to “Be a Part of Our New Experience,” perhaps, the company’s leadership team should visit the store as undercover customers. It should come as no surprise that, due to the employee’s attitude and lack of training, I left the store without my printer cartridge.

In the words of customer service expert Shep Hyken, “Customers are smarter than ever and looking for more value. More than just customer service, they want a great customer experience.”

Flipboard As A Branding Tool

While you may be familiar with the big players in the social media arena (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest), there are many smaller or periphery social sites that can be useful when building your brand. If you aren’t familiar with Flipboard, it’s definitely worth your time to check it out and learn more about it.

Wikipedia describes Flipboard as “a social network aggregation, magazine-format application software that collects the content of social media and other websites and presents it in magazine format…According to co-founders Mike McCue and Evan Doll, they devised the idea during a brainstorming session when they tried to imagine what the web would look like if it were designed from scratch. The design they came up with placed emphasis on the social web and the ability to consume content in a graphical magazine-like format.” (1) The application was originally designed for the iPad and was recognized as Apple's iPad App of the Year in 2010. (2) 

In 2012, Flipboard was released for Android phones, and a Windows 8 version was unveiled in 2013. Therefore, in what seems like a reverse technology move but also a way to increase the user base, the app that was initially designed for Apple’s tablet experience is NOW also available for smartphones – with viewing available on desktops too.

It’s quick and easy to create a Flipboard account:
[1] Open the app on a smartphone or tablet.
[2] Click create an account.
[3] Choose a username – it should be your company name or brand name, but be consistent with your other social sites because you will not be able to change the name later (unfortunately, Flipboard does not allow you to change your username, unlike Facebook and Pinterest).
[4] Add an email and contact name for account verification.
[5] Browse through some of Flipboard’s topics and follow some
[6] Create your own magazines – examples include your industry, your employee experts, your industry experts, your product/service news, etc.
[7] Start flipping content into your magazines – this is Flipboard’s terminology to add content.

Here are some of the reasons why Flipboard is a useful branding tool:
[1] Clean interface: screens are not cluttered with too much text and graphics.
[2] Page turning process: users can easily turn the “pages” to read more articles.
[3] Free cost: there is no charge for the app, so users can access the app from smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
[4] Integration with other social sites: other apps are accessible via Flipboard (for example, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, YouTube, etc.).
[5] Comments and sharing: users can easily add their comments to the "flipped" articles and can also email the articles to others.

According to the Flipboard website, “Millions of people use Flipboard to read and collect the news they care about, curating their favorite stories into their own magazines on any topic imaginable. Now magazines created by our readers can be shared and enjoyed on the web by anyone, anywhere…Our mission is to let people discover and share content in beautiful, simple, and meaningful ways.”

While many businesses are starting to realize that they need to pay for advertising on Facebook and Twitter to justify their time investment, Flipboard is a virtual billboard – at no charge. If you keep your content fresh and interesting – not full of sales pitches, you can easily grow your Flipboard following.

So, with all this reading, sharing, and commenting, why wouldn’t your business take advantage of Flipboard’s branding advantages?
_____________ 
 
Image Credit: Courtesy of Flipboard – Branding & Brand Equity Magazine by Debbie Laskey, MBA.

Sources for this post:
(1) Wikipedia: Flipboard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flipboard

(2) Business Insider: Apple Calls Flipboard “iPad App of the Year”
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-calls-flipboard-ipad-app-of-the-year-2010-12 

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Is Your Business Marketing to Millennials?

We live in the “Age of the Customer,” an age that began in 2010 according to Forrester Research. In this new era, the customer matters more than any single strategy. Empowered buyers – whether they’re existing customers or prospects – demand a new level of brand experience.

In the past, brand marketing was a one-way street, but the tides have turned. Due to social media, the process now promotes two-way conversations between brands and customers. In addition, people expect a higher level of customer service because social media makes it easier for companies to go the extra mile in all of their customer touch points.

Millennials stand at the front of this new age. The generation born between 1977 and 1995 is the largest in American history. It outnumbers the Baby Boomers and Generation X. Known as Generation Y and the Millennials, this group boasts 80 million strong, or to put it in terms that all businesses would like to add to their customer base, 25% of the US population.

The book, Marketing to Millennials by Jeff Fromm and Christie Garton, describes the group: “Not willing to be passive consumers any longer, this generation wants to actively participate, co-create, and most importantly, be included as partners in the brands they love…They are social creatures who expect their brands to engage them. [And] if that expectation isn’t met, they’ll leave and spend their money elsewhere.”

Do you know these facts about Millennials?
[1] The number of connections on their social networks is significantly higher than non-millennials.
[2] Social media connections enrich their daily lives: “I feel like I’m missing something if I’m not on Facebook every day.”
[3] They seek out brands in social media and value a social presence.
[4] They contribute and consume more web content than non-millennials (blogs, RSS feeds, websites, and ratings sites).
[5] They shop collaboratively and rely on input from social circles in making product decisions.
[6] They want to experience quality customer service and share their experiences with their connections via Facebook and Twitter.
[7] They want to make a long-lasting positive impact on the world and will support companies that do the same.

Every day, there are millions of status updates on Facebook and Twitter by Millennials. Chris Altcheck recently posed some good questions: How can businesses analyze those updates? How quickly can the updates, ideas, and feedback be reviewed to provide useful and actionable content? These are roadblocks for the Millennial generation to overcome. But your business can be front and center with Millennials if you address these issues.

So is your business marketing to Millennials? If the answer is no, don’t let the Millennials boat leave the dock. Your business may not be around to welcome the Millennials back to shore.
_____________

Sources for This Post:
(1) Marketing to Millennials, Reach the Largest and Most Influential Generation of Consumers Ever by Jeff Fromm and Christie Garton:
http://www.marketingtomillennialsbook.com

Connect on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jefffromm

Connect on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MillennialMktg

(2) “Millennials and the Power of Social” by Chris Altchek:
http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2013/09/the-power-of-social.html

Image Credit: Ambro via FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

A Tale of Customer Experience and Exact Change

Recently, I visited a neighborhood restaurant and placed a take-out order. Easy transaction, you might think, but you’d be wrong. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. With no manager in sight, I decided that a blog post with a copy to the company’s CEO would be my only recourse.

As we all know, the casual dining space is very crowded. While more upscale than fast-food options, such as, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Pollo Loco, there are restaurants that claim they provide a quality customer experience. While these restaurants don’t have white tablecloths, 14 karat gold utensils, or waiters in tuxedos, they offer more than the cookie-cutter McDonald’s menu. At the casual dining restaurants, you place your order by reading a large menu on the wall, pay for your meal, and then find a table. Your food is delivered to your table – often with a smile and a request to bring anything else you might want or need.

Now back to my recent experience: after I placed my order and paid, the employee gave me my change. I immediately noticed an error and asked for the correct change. The employee looked at me and was clearly annoyed. He said, “No one has ever asked for exact change before.”

In the words of Annette Franz Gleneicki, Voice of the Customer expert (@CXJourney on Twitter) and fellow positive customer experience advocate, “Regardless of whether it’s one cent or one dollar, it’s not up to the employee to decide whether you get change or not. Maybe some people don’t care about a penny or small amounts of change, but it’s the principle. Employees should never assume anything about the customer. For that matter, companies in general should never assume they know (anything about) their customers. They should ask AND they should listen.”

According to Anna Papachristos of 1to1 Media (@AP1to1 on Twitter), “To gain the advantage in today’s competitive market, brands must work to understand the customer experience.”

Here’s proof that this restaurant’s employee did not understand the customer experience:
[1] The time of the transaction was 7pm, and the restaurant closed at 8pm. If someone had already emptied the registers, and there was no cash to make change, then employees should have alerted customers at the beginning of any orders taken after 7pm.
[2] If the employee did not have sufficient cash in his register to complete my transaction, he should have explained the situation and asked another employee to share cash from another register.
[3] If the employee did not count the change correctly, he should have apologized and rectified the situation by providing the additional change.
[4] Under no circumstances should the employee have become noticeably annoyed because a customer requested correct change
[5] A customer should never be put in a situation where he has to request change that is rightfully his.

According to Gary Edwards, the Chief Customer Officer of Empathica (@DoctorGE on Twitter), “By understanding the customer journey, brands can quickly identify where they are failing to meet or exceed customer expectations, as well as help identify the key drivers of loyalty on which to focus, ways to change staff behavior, and how to leverage brand advocates when working towards improving overall experience.”

Where was the employee training in this restaurant? Where was the attention to customer service? And where was the attention to the customer experience? This will not come as a surprise, but I will not be returning to this restaurant.

Can you guess the restaurant? Share your guess in the comments section.


Image Credit: Gualberto107 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Marketing Is Taking Charge and Leading the Customer Experience

How does your company respond to customers? Are questions answered in a timely manner? Are problems resolved by return email or phone call? Does your customer service department operate 24/7 or only within specific hours? Do members of your customer service team have the authority to go above and beyond to make sure that customers are happy? Do your customer service reps assume customers are wrong when they complain? As you consider these questions and the overall concept of customer experiences, fasten your seat belt and get ready for some astounding statistics.

“In the United States alone, roughly $83 billion is lost each year as a result of poor customer experiences. (1) That’s more than the revenue for the entire US e-commerce retail sector. (2)”

While some companies understand how customer service impacts and improves financial performance, there are far too many that are clueless. The IBM Center for Applied Insights regularly surveys professionals from around the world and across many industries and recently announced the results of the IBM State of Marketing 2013 Survey. Hopefully, the results will prompt you to re-consider how you treat customers in your day-to-day business interactions and improve all of your customer touchpoints.

“Last year, forward-thinking marketers were working hard to redefine their role and influence within the enterprise. Today, they’ve earned a seat at the business strategy table and are taking on the hard world of “owning” the customer experience across the enterprise. They’re seeking to integrate customer insight and omnichannel engagement – including social and mobile, as well as more traditional channels – to coordinate activities and improve the overall customer experience.”

The data showed that leading companies outperformed financially because their marketing leaders shared three key characteristics:
[1] Know customer context and integrate accordingly – demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness to fast-shifting expectations and circumstances.
[2] Act on insights systematically – make good use of technology to develop customer insights and act on them in a consistent manner.
[3] Take a broader view of the customer experience – use rigorous measurement to guide actions and build customer relationships that grow and strengthen over time.

The survey provided an example from a well-known international brand that many of us will recognize. “Consider how Apple has taken ownership of the entire customer experience by using marketing technology, insight, and engagement in a carefully orchestrated way. When customers want to schedule an in-store service appointment, they encounter a seamless blend of live web information and interaction, relevant in-store displays, and in-person employee interaction that is both customized to them and made more convenient by mobile technology. The entire process flows smoothly. An experience like this does more than employ channels effectively. It sends a powerful message that the brand is invested in building a better customer relationship by making it easier to interact and conduct transactions. This cross-channel illustration displays broad understanding, knowledge of context, and ability to take systematic action, all brought to life through a single customer interaction.”

How about your brand? While your brand doesn’t own the customer experience in the same manner as Apple does, there are definitely ways in which you can improve your process. Perhaps, you can improve your brand’s packaging, distribution channels, pricing model, or promotional strategy. How often do you change your strategy in real-time? Do you combine multiple channels to share your messaging? Are all of your brand messages consistent? What happens with online transactions are abandoned? And do you track your customer lifetime value?

In the 2013 survey, “leading marketers clearly defined the customer context and its value to the business – and created a case for a larger role in the end-to-end customer experience…This expanded role expressed itself if many ways. These range from an in-depth understanding of how different touchpoints affect customer context to deeper involvement in individual channel activities related to customer experience, such as, brand training for call center and sales staff. This broader view of – and involvement in – the customer experience makes leading marketers stewards of their brands, able to bring clarity, consistency, and high standards to every customer interaction.”
 
Leading companies extended the influence of marketing in much higher percentages than their competitors:
[1] They contacted customers to gauge their satisfaction.
[2] They monitored and tracked delivery commitments to ensure fulfillment.
[3] They identified cross and upsell opportunities for sales and customer-facing staff.
[4] They trained sales and customer-facing staff on product and service lines.
[5] They designed marketing offers for point of purchase.

“Leaders use every interaction as an opportunity to enhance the overall experience. To do this well, a company needs to be hypersensitive to not only behavior, history, and preferences, but also the real-time circumstances customers are facing…[And also] a clear vision of the end game. [Leaders] view marketing as much more than a siloed function. Its influence – and responsibility – extends across the entire buy/market/sell/service cycle to bring all channels and all kinds of interaction together.” 

So, what about your business? What have the highlights from this IBM report prompted you to change in your outlook about customer experience marketing – and implement as a result?

__________________ 
 
To read the entire report, here’s the link: http://j.mp/153u8iy

(1) Poor Customer Service Costs Companies $83 Billion Annually:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/122502/#axzz2VqTBpIp

(2) Data from the U.S. Department of Commerce:
http://www.census.gov/retail

Image Credit: Image created on tagxedo.com.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Want to Improve Your Brand? Here Are 25 Ways

If you ask people to define a brand, you’ll get hundreds of definitions. Everything from a company’s main product to secondary products to a tagline to a competitive differentiator can all define your brand. But as customer engagement expert Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) explains, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. The room is the web, it’s getting bigger, and it’s social.”

So, do you know what people say about your brand? Do you monitor brand mentions in social media? What do those metrics mean? Since my favorite marketing discussions focus on brand development, brand equity, and branding strategies, I asked 25 fellow brand marketers to share their favorite marketing tips.

Julie Hunt (@juliebhunt): Branding is becoming more than names, logos, and company identity. Positive customer experience is becoming entwined with brand value.

Bernadette Jiwa (@bernadettejiwa): We think our job is to change how people feel about our product or service. But, in fact, our job is to change how people feel about themselves when they use that product or service.

William Arruda (@williamarruda): Engage all employees in the brand promise from sourcing and onboarding through separation. They’re all brand assets and potent ambassadors.

Doug Rawady (@dougrawady): Make sure that your brand is integrated into your organization’s DNA such that every aspect of the business reflects and is in-sync with the brand’s promise.

Julia Carcamo (@jccarcamo): Know your audience. It will help you understand what the experience needs to be and how to communicate it.

Michael A. Stelzner (@Mike_Stelzner): Create an unforgettable image for your site. We use a cartoon character that people don’t forget.

John Freshney (@WiseCrow1): Focus your branding on what you are great at, not what you aspire to be. Staff will live your brand, and customers will love the experience.

Kent Huffman (@KentHuffman): Focus your messaging on the most significant differentiator your brand offers and what value that brings to your customers.

Jay Baer (@jaybaer): Don’t be afraid to make the story bigger. Engage with your customers and prospects in ways that improve their lives, even if it’s not your products and services. Remember, helping beats selling.

Jeffrey Summers (@JeffreySummers): You build better brands through better guest experiences. You build better guest experiences by adding meaningfully differentiated value at every single guest touchpoint.

Tim Moore (@TimMoore): Build your brand around relationships, not rules, policies, color palettes, or buzzwords. If you do, the “out of business” clock is ticking.

Paul Biedermann (@PaulBiedermann): Be consistent with your branding throughout your various channels and marketing touchpoints, both online and offline.

Brandemix (@Brandemix): Make the brand authentic. It must reflect a company’s actual mission, vision, and values. Otherwise, it’s a false promise.

Karl Speak (@speakk and @brandtoolbox)): Creating and sustaining a strong alignment between employees’ personal brands and an organization’s brand is the most powerful brand strategy.

Neal Schaffer (@NealSchaffer): You are what you tweet – make sure you update your branding guidelines to include your voice for social media.

Aaron Biebert (@Biebert): Always look good. Don’t put out low-level pictures, videos, or designs. People don’t trust outdated or poorly-designed brands.

Sandi Krakowski (@sandikrakowski): Focus on relationships. This will increase conversion.

JD Lasica (@jdlasica): Branding is not about design or logos or look. It’s about positioning and messaging. Your company needs a consistent message to the public, whether it’s your website, social channels, marketing collateral, or banner flying over Giants Stadium. Tell your story across different media and formats, and understand that, in the end, your customers determine your brand. Be yourself and be true.

Brand You Consulting (@BrandYOUGroup): Understand that the market is constantly changing. Position your brand one step ahead so you’re the one affecting change instead of being affected by it.

Sisarina (@Sisarina and @MelanieSpring): Spend time and money on a logo and make sure you hire an expert to pull it out of you.

Fiona Vesey (@FionaVesey): It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. Building rapport with potential customers is all about doing the right things, as opposed to saying the right things. Choosing the right tone of voice, the correct marketing mediums, through to whether you use a giveaway versus a discount – these all affect how people interpret what you say about your brand.

Kathi Kruse (@kathikruse): It’s never been more important to have a customer-centric culture. Everything you say and do – including how you treat your employees – is being broadcast throughout the web. Make sure your culture is ready for prime time. Being able to tell the story of your business in a meaningful way connects your brand to your prospects and customers. By communicating how you do business, you initiate the customer experience long before they walk on the lot or visit your website.

Phil Gerbyshak (@philgerb): Be as consistent as possible in usernames so they can be easily remembered and mention the actual URL.

Anna Rydne (@CoSkills): Find your authentic voice! That’s the most important thing when building relationships with customers.

David Brier (@davidbrier): Cookie cutters are for baking, not branding. It’s one of those points too often overlooked by companies, so to carry the cooking metaphor further, it goes like this: Companies use the same ingredients as one another. These being the same clichés, the same imagery, the same tired formula messages, yet they expect a different result. If two or more chefs used the same ingredients, the only way one would outshine the other would be to apply ingenuity, using one of the ingredients in a different way, using it in some unexpected approach, shaking it up. Otherwise, their cooking efforts would all blend and be impossible to distinguish one from the other, kind of like today’s all-you-can-eat-buffets of endless brand messages. If you omit the ingenuity and the insight to use some ingredient differently, you won’t be branding, you’ll wind up blanding, which is worse (and flatter) than the flattest (and least palatable) soufflé.

And finally, I wish to thank Ken Peters (Person of Interest, Nocturnal Branding Studio) for my favorite statement on this subject: “Advertising shouts at you. Marketing talks to you. Branding connects with you.”

What’s your favorite branding tip? Please chime in.

Image Credit: Thanks to Ted Goff for use of his cartoon with this post. Check out Ted's work at http://www.tedgoff.com. 

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.

Does Your Business Have a Chief Customer Officer?

Department store chain Kohl’s has created a new role as part of its executive team. An executive from Starbucks, Michelle Gass, recently joined Kohl’s as its first Chief Customer Officer.

According to Wikipedia, a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is “the executive responsible in customer-centric companies for the total relationship with customers. This position was developed to provide a single vision across all methods of customer contact. The CCO is often responsible for influencing corporate activities of customer relations in the call center, sales, marketing, user interface, finance (billing), fulfillment, and post-sale support. The CCO typically reports to the chief executive officer, and is potentially a member of the board of directors.”

According to the Chief Customer Officer Council, the CCO is “an executive who provides the comprehensive and authoritative view of the customer and creates corporate and customer strategy at the highest levels of the company to maximize customer acquisition, retention, and profitability.”

Let’s return to Kohl’s. There is no denying that its new CCO has experience with one of the world’s most well-known brands, but can that experience be applied toward apparel and housewares? In addition, how can the development of industry-leading coffee drinks, such as the Frappucino, help to re-energize the customer experience at Kohl’s?

When it comes to industries, the department store chain industry is radically different from the coffee bar/restaurant industry. While Starbucks revolutionized the coffee drinking experience and coffee industry, it’s light years away from apparel. While customers may purchase coffee machines in its stores, the majority of Starbucks customers purchase coffee or other drinks at its locations. And no one makes a trip to Starbucks to buy apparel.

When it comes to target audiences, visitors to Starbucks coffee stores differ from Kohl’s shoppers. While Kohl’s tagline is “Expect Great Things,” no one can say that shopping at Kohl’s is the same experience as shopping at Nordstrom or Bloomingdale’s. At Kohl’s, the focus is “incredible savings, hassle-free returns, and easy shopping.” As a result, the entire concept of customer experience cannot be copied and pasted.

It is admirable that Kohl’s places the same importance on the customer experience as more highbrow companies, but the jury is still out as to whether the company can successfully execute customer experience marketing initiatives that will create the same level of customer experiences as industry leaders such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and Nordstrom.

What about your business? Do you have a Chief Customer Officer? If not, do you have plans for adding one in the future? Why or why not?

________________


Thanks to fellow IBM blogger, Shadra Bruce, for her article’s inspiration for this post.
http://www.midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/gass-to-pioneer-chief-customer-officer-r

Note: Above abbreviations correspond to the following C-Level roles:
Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer/Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Marketing Officer/Chief Branding Officer, and Chief Customer Officer.

This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don't necessarily represent IBM's positions, strategies or opinions.