One of the great things about being a business person is that mentorship, lessons, and advice are available every day to you just by observing how other organizations treat you as a customer. See what they do right and wrong and use that information to your advantage. Here are three recent examples that I’ve noticed and will use:
a) I was at the EPIC conference this past weekend. Many natural/organic chocolatiers were sampling chocolate which of course my 3 yearold is crazy for. She was offered a sample by the person working the booth and my daughter accidently dropped it on the floor. Then awkwardness ensued as the sampler stared at us both blankly suggesting: “sorry, too bad, no more samples for you.” We walked away empty handed but with a good lesson: if you are going to offer a freebie and the customer somehow screws up said freebie – make sure you finish the transaction so that the client has a positive experience.
b) My new business partners & hate using couriers and prefer to hand deliver almost all of their swag orders to clients. I am the opposite. I figure if you can pay a courier $7 to deliver two boxes, why would I spend an hour fighting traffic, parking and more. But I’m learning that there is an intangible value to hand delivering some orders – you get to see clients and see how happy they are when they receive their product. This surely leads to increased loyalty. Thanks guys!
c) We just leased a much larger showroom/office and needed everything revised (biz cards, signage, renovations, furniture, phones, etc). For one of these projects I asked a supplier (recommended by a friend) to quote. Unknown to me, one of my partners also asked a second supplier to quote. When both quotes came in, my guy was 40% more expensive than the competitor for same/similar product. When I rejected the quote my contact went ballistic, with accusations of impropriety and I was told to never darken his door again. Lesson: everyone loses business. Its shitty but its life. Being a poor-sport about it reflects badly on YOU not the client. Few people can be brow-beaten into doing business with you for the long-term.
If you are interested in having a great Customer Service experience, contact rich[at]pattersonbrands.com
Comments 4
Rich, these are perfect examples of people who won’t look beyond the calculated bottom-line to determine value. Business is far more valuable when it’s human. Companies that respect the fluid nature of “margin” while capitalizing on the powerful force of positive human interaction will always benefit. It’s easy to think that it takes experience, maturity and business savvy to realize this, but often it just comes down to seeing the customer as a person, not just a wallet. Nice, simple examples above – and there are so many more.
Stephen: Thanks for visiting the blog and your comments. I agree, there are so many more simple examples. We all see them daily. Picking just three was difficult.
I hope all at Octopus Strategies is going well and I’m looking forward to hearing your presentation on June 16 which we are proud to be hosting:
http://www.meetup.com/ByzHub/calendar/13505824/
– Rich
And that is why you will always be successful! Am so excited that you’re going to trek all the way out to the valley to share your wisdom with my Social Media group! You DA MAN!
Indeed,
We seem often to forget that business won’t exist without customers… simply, nobody “has” to buy from you and if you don’t treat your clients with honesty and respect you’ll be out of business in less than a New York minute.
Great lesson to our politicians as well…
Thank you Rich.
MGA