Treating Your Customers Right Online and Off
One of my ongoing mantras when it comes to online reputation management is that you've got to rely heavily on that good old-fashioned business idea about treating your customers right. The basic idea is to show them respect, meet their needs and come up with creative new ways to make them feel valued. It's refreshing to see that I'm not the only one pointing out the benefits of this approach…Pamela Slim has a great post about her personal experience with this very topic over at the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog.
First, she talks about her experience shopping for a new iPod at a local Apple store…
I just want someone to listen carefully to what my intended use of the product will be, use their vast technical expertise to recommend what I should buy, and stick out their hand to accept my credit card.
And that is exactly what happened at the store. This cute, cool techno sales kid got me the exact product that I wanted, put it in my hands in less than 5 minutes, rang my sale with a handheld remote credit card processor so that I didn't have to stand in line to pay for it, and did nothing to hype me into an extended warranty plan.
The good service doesn't end there though…take note of what else was going on in the background…
…while I was being taken care of in the aisle, my husband and baby son were sitting on comfortable, kid-sized beanbag chairs at a low table and playing educational games on Macintosh computers. My husband was so enchanted by the whole thing that he was ready to buy my son a new Mac right then and there. I had to remind him that our son just barely started to walk and talk and that perhaps we should wait until he doesn't try to eat the mouse before buying him a computer.
That's smart marketing on Apple's part and is a powerful example of why Apple is doing such a booming business these days despite selling higher priced items that really aren't THAT much better than their competitors. It's an experiential sale and it works quite well.
But Pamela's got even me to share when it comes to companies that really "get it" in the realm of making customers feel special.
Peet's is not just a place to get coffee, it is a community center. Their coffee is like diesel fuel, just my style. They have good pastries. Their servers are genuine, nice people and they look you in the eye and ask how you are doing. I was voted "customer of the week" by the staff two months after moving to Lake Merritt based on the following wonderfully subjective criteria: "You have to come in a lot and we have to like you." They took a Polaroid snapshot of me and placed it on the counter, gave me unlimited free drinks all week and generally made me feel like a cherished celebrity. It wasn't forced, and I didn't have to punch out 250 boxes of a "frequent buyer card" to attain the honor.
The idea of having a customer of the week rather than an employee of the week is a fairly unique one, but it demonstrates a deeper understanding of the value that a business must place on their customers. The reality is that one woman can only drink so much "free" coffee in a week…and the value of that woman sharing her experience with friends and family is likely to pay off several times over in new and more dedicated customers. We've practiced a similar theory at the Small Business Ideas forums where we sometimes select a poster or discussion thread that sparks our fancy and award them with their choice of some free puppy gear.
It's not just trendy companies and online companies that operate on these principles though. Throughout the world there are small businesses that still get the value of treating customers like they did in the 'good old days.' In fact, a great example of a company that really gets customer service is right here in central Ohio. The aptly named Yum-Ee Donuts located on the square in my little village serves up a hefty dose of old fashioned customer service. My husband, daughter and I head down there every Saturday morning for breakfast before wandering through the local farmer's market. Not only do the shop owners know our names and what we order, but they also set aside my husband's donut each morning since his favorite variety tends to sell out early. Just this last week I made mention of the fact that if I go into labor over the weekend, I may have to send my husband down to pick our donuts up for us. Their response? No need! If we just call and let them know that we've had the baby, they'll drive our donuts up to the house for us. They weren't joking either. It's another example of why we'll be customers there for a long, long time to come.
So this is where you need to ask yourself…what creative idea can you come up with to better meet the needs of your customers? In what way can you offer up thanks or appreciation to your regulars to show them that you appreciate their business? It's not about spending money or running huge marketing campaigns, sometimes it's just about taking the time to say thanks and build a relationship.
To Comment about this article go here
