If they’re smart, they can turn lemons into lemonade.

A Little Background
Today was my lucky day. When I arrived at the Post Office, I found a 5-Minute Parking spot, right on the Avenue. I tried to pull up as far as possible, because I didn’t want to block passersby from experiencing one of the biggest thrills of summer – the lemonade stand!

Boys selling lemonadeSomewhere along the way, I received some very wise counsel, which I’ve since claimed for myself. “Never pass a lemonade stand without buying. Never. Ever.”

I’ll actually make a U-turn if necessary, to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit. There’s something about the watered down goodness that comes from iced lemonade served on a sweltering Virginia day (or Georgia, or Texas, or — you fill in the blank).

I was pretty confident today’s proprietors didn’t have change for a twenty, so I scrounged through my ashtray-turned-coin-purse and found a mere $.85. (I forgot I already swiped the silver coins for a recent Chick-Fil-A sweet tea run, but that’s another story.) The lemonade itself was only $.50, but I always tip at lemonade stands. I thanked the young entrepreneurs, asked if I could take their picture and drove away, thinking.

My mind wandered to all things lemonade. At some point I realized I had some great ideas for the marketing folks at Country Time Lemonade. I’m serious. REALLY good ideas. When I got home, I discovered Country Time is made by Kraft Foods. I set out to write a post. (Kraft, if you’re listening, I’d love to share my idea with you. Did I mention it’s really good?)

Next I turned to Twitter to see if I could find @KraftFoods. Sure enough, they were there. I figured I wouldn’t be able to send them a private message (they hadn’t followed me at the time of this writing), so I went to the Kraft Foods Facebook Page. That’s when I stumbled onto a firestorm! In the last day or so, Kraft Foods has been SLAMMED because of an alleged foreign object in Melissa Wiegand Brown’s Apple Splash Capri Sun (from what I can gather, discovered over Memorial Day weekend).

I’m not here to defend Kraft Foods, nor am I siding with Ms. Brown. I can’t say who’s right or wrong; there are lab technicians and enough folks with strong opinions for such decisions. Instead I propose the following:

Seven Observations for Kids with Lemonade Stands, Kraft Foods and Other Brands

  1. Touch points matter. If you’re a kid running a lemonade stand, you may not know that every time a customer or a potential customer interacts with your brand, it should be a positive, favorable, even memorable experience. It doesn’t matter if the exchange is a quick glance going down a busy street. That driver could make a U-turn at any moment. But if you’re a business, a mega business, you better know how important brand touch points are, and that some of those touch points are happening on your very own Facebook “Fan” page.
  2. Consumers love brands. Especially Kraft brands. What baby hasn’t cut teeth on Ritz crackers? Who could forget Oreos? They’re milk’s favorite cookie after all. Someone please tell me our kids aren’t the only ones who love Kraft mac-and-cheese? And of course nothing evokes fond memories like lemonade stands and Country Time Lemonade (which is how I got here in the first place).
  3. Be ready for when they don’t. Life happens. Sometimes business is messy, and when it is, expect your customers will be fickle and have a short-term memory issues. Maybe there’s no way today’s small business owners selling lemonade on a street corner can adequately anticipate the need for crisis management, but corporate communications/marketing folks best have a plan.
  4. Understand social media’s reach. Disillusioned consumers (real, perceived, or even deceived) have ready-made platforms to tell their stories to listening friends, family members, as well as to people with whom they have no connection. Today’s companies need to prepare for the far-reaching effects of Motrin Moms and the likes of Melissa Wiegand Brown with her Facebook photos of Apple Splash Capri Sun. We used to say dissatisfied customers would tell 10 people about their experience. That number is way higher today, given the number of friends on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. A casual comment on Facebook about the lemonade stand in front of the post office can do wonders for (or wreak havoc on) their customer base.
  5. Engage your customers. Even though the pre-pubescent boys running the lemonade stand didn’t have a lengthy conversation with me, they did take the time to ask me,”Would you like ice in your lemonade? We have clean ice.” How could I turn down such an offer? Smart brands will learn how to fully engage their customers, sometimes on social media, sometimes in person or on the phone. Zappos is a GREAT example! Check out the Zappos Facebook Fan Page to see what I mean. Learn well from them, Grasshopper.
  6. Know the plan. If people are saying bad things about your brand online, especially in your space, know who’s going to address the situation, what you’re going to say, and then do something! At the very least, let people know you’re not asleep at the wheel. (If you don’t have a plan, create one now, whether you’re in the midst of a firestorm or not.) Hmmm, maybe this point doesn’t exactly translate for lemonade stand owners. No matter.
  7. Turn lemons into lemonade. Clearly, this relates to kids selling lemonade. I mean, duh! But for brands, perhaps, the implications are even greater. Turn broken trust (regardless of how/why trust has been broken) into a powerful customer experience. Every customer service expert I’ve ever heard will tell you that if you treat an unhappy customer well, you could very well have a customer for life.

The rewards my be just as sweet as lemonade on a hot summer day!

What about you? What have you learned recently about engaging people?

*Note: at 6:08PM Kraft Foods Facebook page had this note regarding the Capri Sun package.