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Category: Customer Expectations

New Way to Get This Blog

Okay, full disclosure… My wife made me do it, lol.

Over on the right of this blog is a new feature – Follow by Email.

My wife was complaining that she only follows this blog so it wasn’t worth opening up an RSS feed just for me.  She wished she would get the blog via email.  So last night we found this app that allows such a feature.

Note: when you sign up it will ask you to verify by typing in some funny text and then send you a confirmation email.  Just click on the link in that email and you should start getting email notifications of this blog.  I don’t know for sure how that will look (until this post gets published, that is).  But it is one more way for us to stay connected.

Try it out and give me some feedback.

Thanks!

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS One thing my wife mentioned was that she can forward an email quite easily.  And since she is not on Twitter, that is her preferred method of interaction.  One more lesson for all of us… Meet your customers where they are.

Don’t Make Them Guess

Have a different way of doing things?  Don’t make your customers guess.  Tell them right up front.  Here is how we do things.  Put it on a sign.  Put it in a brochure, flier, or even a simple handout.  Make sure every employee tells it to every customer.  Never assume they know.  Never assume they will figure it out on their own.

I took the family to one of our favorite restaurants this past weekend.  They have a lovely outdoor patio overlooking a beautiful lake – great way to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend.  In previous visits we learned that the wait staff will serve drinks on the patio (slowly, but eventually), but not food.  You have to go to their take-out window.  So when we walked in, knowing we wanted to sit on the patio and enjoy the sunshine, we first stopped at the take-out window.

But when we entered the patio there was a server bringing food out to all three of the occupied tables.  Okay, we thought, now they serve food.  Cool!  Drinks ought to come faster now.  Except the waitress never once stopped by our table.  Not. Even. Once.

I ended up going to the bar to get our drinks.


And guess how I felt?  Yeah, shunned, ignored, and confused.  Do they serve on the patio or do they not serve on the patio?  Do they serve only the southern end of the patio or only groups of six or more?  Do they serve if you ask but not if you don’t?

Confusion can be your enemy when you are trying to delight your customers.  For the most part, we only do the things we feel comfortable doing.  Confusion negates comfort.  And not only was I confused, I most certainly was not delighted.

Do things differently.  I strongly encourage it.  But let your customers know plainly and simply how you do things differently so there will be no confusion.  Only comfort.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Ikea is a classic example of doing things differently and letting you know up front through signage and brochures.  In fact, I think their signage is some of the best in the retail world.  Apple is another example who does it through staff training.  You have to interact with the staff to learn their ways, though, and not everyone wants to interact with the staff (men and introverts).

The Waiting Game

Speaking of what to do while waiting…

I took this picture in the stall of the men’s bathroom at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. (sorry for the poor cellphone quality of the pic)

There were animal poop and pee facts in every stall.  (Did you know a blue whale can hold over 55 gallons of urine in his bladder?)

Some of the kids in my group were going into every stall of every bathroom just to read the facts.  Now that is a WOW Factor!

Bathrooms are great opportunities to surprise and delight.  This is just one way.  How many more ways can you create?

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS One of the brilliant things about what the National Aquarium did is that fun facts like this are easy and desirable to share.  And we love to share!  If you’re going to steal this idea, Give your customers something share-worthy

PPS  This is a great project for the staff.  Show them this blog. Then set them free to create a bathroom that gets talked about… in a good way!  (Plus, if they create it, they will take more ownership to keep it clean.)

From the Mouths of Babes

I’m on a field trip with my fifth-grade son to Washington DC.  I get to watch over three young boys this evening.  So I asked them after a full day of touristing… What would you consider to be the best and worst customer service you received today?

The best?  Happened in the Food Court at the Old Post Office Pavilion.  The guy working the Chick-En-Joy stand had a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and passion for his food.  Got the boys fired up for eating chicken nuggets better than anyone this side of Ronald.

The worst? Waiting in line.  We waited to get off the bus.  We waited to get into breakfast.  We waited to enter the National Archives.  We even waited to go through security to enter a food court.  A lot of hurry-up and wait.

Not earth-shattering revelations, but two good lessons, nonetheless.

Lesson #1
No matter what your age, you will always be attracted to the person who has passion and enthusiasm for his products.  If nothing else, you will stop and listen to his pitch for his tasty chicken strips and nuggets even if you opt for the adobe chicken burrito two stands over.

Lesson #2
No one likes to wait in line.  Disney and other theme parks have learned this and found diversions to keep you occupied during necessary waits and delays.

What can you do distract, divert and delight your customers whenever necessary waiting is required?  Do you offer them a chair while you look something up?  Do you hand them reading material?  My chiropractor does that, always offering a new brochure asking “Have you read this?” at every visit.  Do you give them something to occupy their mind to make the wait go quicker?  We didn’t get any of that today, and it showed.

The kids have spoken.  Listen to the children.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  My favorite customer service was our tour guide at Gettysburg (our first stop on the way to DC).  He combined history, storytelling, and passion into a rocked-my-world presentation that makes me want to go back with the rest of the family… soon.  The clincher was the stories.  He knew we were from Michigan so he told us about how the Michigan 16th Calvary held the line against a more powerful Texas group and changed the course of the battle for good.  The details were rich and powerful and credible.  The emotions were palpable.  Tell stories about your business. They will make a difference and make people want to come back.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

You are not in business to make pennies.  You are in business to make dollars, lots of them, over a long period of time.

So why are you getting so upset at the customer who didn’t come in right away to use to the free gift certificate you gave her?  Why are you mad at her when she shows up a year later?  She showed up, didn’t she?

So why are you arguing with the customer over the return she wants to make because it wasn’t the right item for her?  Why are you making her angry just to save yourself from pulling a few dollars out of the drawer today?

So why are you fretting over the one customer who showed a few days after the coupon you sent her expired? Does the fact that 500 other customers showed up on time with their coupons give you a reason to make this one customer angry enough to post on Facebook about you?

Bob Negen of Whizbang Training came to Jackson to speak to our downtown businesses.  He told us a story that has stuck with me a long time.  He was buying an Apple Computer.  He had heard about how great they were.  Unfortunately, his wasn’t so great.  After three repairs, it still wasn’t working.  Never had worked.  They wanted to repair it one more time.  He wanted to start with a new one.  They said no.  And for the cost of one computer they lost his business forever.

Did I mention that his business had 5 computers at that time?
And he had 2 at home?
And he plans to be in business another 20 or so years?
And he needs printers, cables, mouses, too?
And he likes to upgrade to new stuff every three years?

Seven computers times seven upgrades equals 49 computers.  The Apple guy lost 49 sales because of that one sale.  Oh, but he saved the price of one computer (sarcasm intended).

Look at your horizon.  How long do you want to be in business?  When you take a long view of your business you see that every transaction is simply a means by which you get to earn another transaction.  Sometimes you will make money on this transaction.  Sometimes you won’t.  The goal of each transaction, however, is to delight the customer enough so that she will come back and bring her friends with her.  Nothing more, nothing less.

When you begin to look at it that way, you’ll be dollars (and sense) ahead of your competition.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For more ways to delight customers and earn more transactions, check out my free eBook Customer Service: From Weak to WOW!.  

PPS  Thanks, Mary, for inspiring this blog.  Sorry that other toy store didn’t get it.

Not Wide Enough

I pulled into the hospital parking lot.  I had a Daddy Class to teach in 15 minutes.  I hate this parking lot.  Almost with a passion, which seems much too strong a feeling for a patch of pavement with white lines.

My problem is the white lines.  They are too close together.  My Chevy Silverado barely fits between them.  And with the extended cab back doors that swing open, it is impossible to get anything or anyone out of the back seat if a car is parked next to me.

And this is a hospital.  With elderly people.  With wheel chairs and walkers.  With babies.  With car seats and strollers.

If I don’t want to go into this parking lot (and it is empty on Saturday mornings when I go to teach my class, yet I still feel this way), I wonder how many other people get filled with negative thoughts before they even walk through the front door.

If you have control of your parking lot, control the emotions people feel when they pull in to visit you.  Make those lines at least ten feet apart, not nine feet (like the hospital) or even nine and a half like most lots.  Make the spaces wide enough so that moms with strollers and elderly with wheel chairs have plenty of room to maneuver.

Sure, you might have to give up a spot or two.  But a few less spaces filled by happy shoppers who feel good when they pull in is far better for your business than putting everyone in a foul mood before they walk through the front door.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Those lost spaces often only come into play at peak times, and peak times are when people expect parking to be more of a hassle.  This is simply an exercise in managing expectations and feelings, the fundamental principle of Branding.

Grandfather’s Wisdom

Back in 2008 I interviewed my grandfather, Phil Conley, who, along with my grandmother Esther, founded Toy House, Inc. back in 1949.  Check out this exchange about Customer Service and return policies…

Phil Wrzesinski: But, as far as the competition, did you give them [competitors] as much mind or did you say, “We’re going to do our own thing and let them worry about them and we’ll worry about us”?

Phil Conley: Well, I was worrying about us. I wasn’t worrying about them. I didn’t worry about them. They can do what they want, but we wanted to do what we want, the right way, and that is give service, give price, good selection. The other thing, at Hudson’s, they had a very liberal policy. You could take stuff back and get credit, but you might have to go up a floor or down a floor. I wanted to do it better and so I empowered [the staff], in the early days, and it always went, that if there was a complaint the salesperson could make an adjustment then. The adjustment could be “refund the money” or… whatever would satisfy them.

PW: They had the empowerment to do that.

PC: Yes. It would be easier to return something than it was to buy it, because what I know, at Hudson’s [doing a return], it took you an hour or a half hour to go to the other floor, that’s when you’re not going to be spending money. You’re going to be trying to get money. It should be easier to [make a return].

PW: Don’t waste your time. We want you shopping.  You’re here at the store. We want you to spend as much of it shopping.

PC: Yes. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right.

PW: Wonder how many of these stores get that today?

PC: Well, don’t you?

PW: Well, I think I do.  We do our returns right up front at the register. A lot of other stores you’ve got to go to the back. You have to go wait in line.

PC: Do you empower your people?

PW: Oh, yeah. They take care of it. I rarely have to deal with any returns.

PC: Well, it’s just common sense, for Christ’s sakes.  Somebody comes in your store and they’re unhappy, make them happy quick! Then get on to sell them some more. Isn’t that right?

Now you know where I got all my retail smarts.  Thanks, Gramps!

Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS  Let me know if you would like more of Phil Conley’s wisdom.  He gave me a few good nuggets and a few interesting stories in our interview.

Open For Business?

It is 5:26pm as I type this.  My business is still open a little bit longer.  But the local appliance store where I need to go to get the replacement filters I ordered will be closed before I publish this post.

They won’t be open this weekend when I have time off either.

Guess it is a lunch hour trip one day this week.

Are your hours designed around the lifestyle of your customers or your own life?  Are they built to accommodate the primary shoppers for your category?  Or are they designed around the old 9 to 5 work day just because that’s how you always did it?

If you sell large-ticket items like appliances that might require a joint decision by a couple shopping, you may need weekend and evening hours.
If you sell primarily to the bread-winner, you may need weekend and evening hours.
If you sell primarily to working folk, you may need weekend and evening hours.
If you are located in a theater or restaurant district with lots of evening traffic, you may need weekend and evening hours.
If you are located in a region with lots of two-income families, you may need weekend and evening hours.

Hey, I’m guilty, too.  My store is open 7 days a week, but only one night past 6pm.  We may all need to think outside the box in regards to our hours of operation.

Closed Tuesdays but open Sundays?
Open 7am to 2pm and 4pm to 9pm?
Open Noon to 9pm daily?

Our customers are going to the Internet or the big box stores because of one main reason – convenience.  And the main convenience is time of day.  I work until 6pm.  I get home at 6:30pm, eat dinner, help get my boys to bed.  Now it is 9pm and most of the stores are closed.  Yeah, the Internet looks inviting at that time.

If you believe you are losing market share to the big box stores and the Internet, maybe it is time to rethink your hours.  I know I am rethinking mine.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS Some of my mall store friends who are required to stay open until 9pm lament that their type of customer isn’t out in the evening.  That may be true.  It also may be a symptom of the perception of the mall being full of teenagers in the evening.  The topic still merits discussion for your business.

They Aren’t YOUR Customers

You know YOUR customers.  You know their demographics, maybe even their psychographics.  You know their shopping habits.  You know their likes and dislikes.  You talk about YOUR customers lovingly.

But they aren’t YOURS.  Even the evangelists.

Yes, they support you.  Yes, they spread the word about you.  Yes, they defend your good name.

Yes, they bought something you sell from somewhere else.  You know that, right?  You’ve done it yourself.  It was something you needed and it was convenient, or cheaper, or you needed it right away so you bought it from a different store than the one you usually support.

Customers are like that.  Fickle.  Changing.  Or more likely, Practical.

You don’t own any customers.  If anything, they own you.  They decide if you live or die.  They decide if you are worth the hassle to visit, to spend money with, to promote to others.

They own you.  And they can swap you for another store in a heartbeat.

Kinda changes the equation, doesn’t it?  What would you do differently in terms of Customer Service for the owner walked through the front door than you would for just some regular old customer?  Would you treat the owner better?  Would you court the owner harder, hoping the owner keeps you?

You don’t own your customers, they own you.  Treat them accordingly.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS For a great article on how quickly a customer can change click here.

The Price is Right

A recent survey done by The NPD Group states that 85% of customers say that Price will be an extremely important or important factor in where they decide to shop in the future.

I would agree.  In fact, I am surprised it is not higher because almost every single buying decision ultimately ends up being about price.

But before you go around slashing prices, you ought to look at how price influences each purchase.

It starts with what I call the Value Equation.

Does the actual price on the product match the perceived worth of the product?  If it does, the item has Value and you buy it.  That is the decision you and I and just about everyone else makes before we decide to buy an item.  Every single time.  Sometimes that decision takes milliseconds, sometimes it takes days or even weeks.  That is how the buying process works.

You look at an item, decide how much it is worth to you, and then look at the actual price.  If that price is much higher, you are not buying.  If that price is much lower, you wonder what is wrong with it.  Maybe it does not do what you thought? Maybe it is cheaper quality than you thought?  Until you feel comfortable with the reason why it is much less expensive than you expected, you are not yet buying.

The key to successfully pricing your merchandise is to make sure the actual price matches the price the customer has in her mind.  Often you might find you are pricing things too low.

Pricing is important.  So is merchandising (it raises the perceived worth).  So is having the right products.  So is taking care of the customer.

Digging deeper into the statistics from The NPD Group, you will find that…
15% of the population did not list Price as “extremely important” or even simply “important”.
56% said Customer Service was extremely important/important.
60% said Convenience of Location was extremely important/important.
60% said Ease of Shopping was extremely important/important.

Get the price right and the do all that other stuff and the sales and profits will come.

-Phil Wrzesinski
www.PhilsForum.com

PS To learn more about how Perception plays a role in Pricing, download my FREE eBook Pricing for Profit.  You will be surprised at how many pricing mistakes you have made that are costing you real money.