photo credit: powerbooktrance

It must be all those trees we have. They’re so full of customers that businesses just don’t need any more.

As you know, I strongly encourage folks to buy local.

The flip side of that is that locals have to EARN the business. Not just because you’re here, but because you kick butt at what you do.

Jeepers

I called a couple of stores about getting a sound bar for my son’s Jeep as a gift to acknowledge a major accomplishment he recently completed.

One said: “We don’t have them but we have the speakers for them.”

The Department of Obviousness requires that I inform you that the holes in these sound bars are designed to fit common speaker sizes so that retailers don’t have to stock custom speakers.

After checking the store, another said: “I don’t think we can get anything like that.”

No one said “We don’t carry that, but I can get it here tomorrow and install it for you. When would you like to bring the Jeep in?”

The last answer is what keeps people from buying car audio gear on the internet.

The point

While I’m only talking about a $200 purchase plus installation, the big picture was missed.

The size of this purchase isn’t the point.

What you *must* get across to your staff (no matter what you do) is that the real long-term reason to make a sale is to *get a new customer*. 
After that, it’s their challenge to keep us as customers.

I suspect car audio industry research tallies the average annual spending of customers. If that figure is only $100, at one new customer per week, you’d add an average of $5200 to your gross sales per year.

Your market is no different.

Has dealing with your store become so unremarkable that customers would rather pay for shipping and wait a few days?

Walking to Missoula

I was in a cloth store recently, buying some material so a local business owner could make some custom neckerchiefs for my Scouts.

They had less material than I needed. They offered to order more, advising me that it could take 3 to 6 weeks.

They didn’t mention their corporate-run online store. I checked it myself, finding an in-stock quantity of only three yards. That wasn’t how much the local store had, it indicated (incorrectly, I suspect) the corporate’s in-stock quantity.

Meanwhile, the Missoula store had plenty. I know this because the local store is advanced enough to be able to check this from their handheld terminals (nice!). When I asked them about getting it from Missoula, they said it would take “about 3 weeks”.

I can *walk* to and from Missoula in three weeks.

Trucking in the wrong direction

Recently I was outside of Missoula at a truck stop and bought a small toolkit for a task that had me sidelined on the road. As the cashier finished ringing it up, I realized I’d bought the wrong thing. Yes, my fault.

While standing at the counter, before the salesperson walked away, before picking the item up from the counter, while putting my wallet back in my pocket, I asked to return it, unopened.

Without a second’s delay, they said “We have a strict corporate return policy. No returns.” 
Even if the unopened item has never left the store, much less the cash register.

It’s early on Saturday evening and there is no weekend on-premises manager. She won’t be back until Monday and no one else is allowed to take responsibility.

Stunningly “customer-friendly”.

Earl Nightingale once said something like “To be successful, observe what the majority in your market are doing, then do the opposite”.

These are good examples of his advice.

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photo credit: FreeWine

In four minutes. On a Sunday morning.

Something like that can be hard to find these days, but that’s exactly what Chris Matyszczy found when he contacted Amazon recently.

Sunday morning aside, is your staff providing 9am Monday morning service all week long?

Even at 4:45pm on a Friday?

Think about this – where will he buy his next book, or perhaps, the majority of books in the future?

Now you have a reason to provide service like this, if you didn’t already. If you need motivation for providing this kind of service (you shouldn’t, if you think about it): ask yourself this question…

Why should they buy from you instead of everyone else who sells what you do?

If you own the local bookstore in Chris’ town, what do you have to do to keep him from going to Amazon, Books a Million, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Powells and any of their online counterparts?

That’s a question on the minds of customers who haven’t been given a reason to want to spend their $ in only one place.

At least not yet.

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photo credit: TheGiantVermin

Good question.

The answer? Depends on who answers the question.

Slide over to Scott McKain’s blog for one company’s answer.

Hey, you’re back.

To give AT&T a little bit of credit, you have to admit that trying to predict what was going to happen (and plan infrastructure) for the iPhone release was just about impossible. Especially, as Andrew G says, if you weren’t expecting the runaway freak hit that the phone has become (and continues down that path. He has a point.

Time will tell what seems reasonable in urban areas affected by this issue. Regardless of what’s reasonable, there are a lot of folks out there in these areas that are pretty grumpy about the service they’re getting.

What’s this got to do with you?

What do your customers think is reasonable of your business’ behavior? Maybe you should ask (you should know, but asking beats guessing).

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Trailer, courtesy of Bill Ward

Earlier this week, we talked about how a little thing like the delivery of a sippy cup at the end of a long, hot weekend could change an entire restaurant experience.

Two recent adventures further illustrate how little things could make a difference.

Unfortunately, they involve those gasoline-powered devices / vehicles that so love to toy with me.

Les to the rescue

First, there’s the youngest son’s car which needed tires rather badly. So badly that they were on my short list of stuff to deal with when I return from out of town. Of course, one of them decides to fail *while* I’m out of town.

Because I’m at Scout camp, there’s no way to catch me (no cell, no internet) and of course, my wife was unavailable at the time the tire failed as well.

So there is my 17 year old needing tires, without enough cash in his account to pay for them, temporarily with no access to mom and dad, and (of course), no credit card.

For whatever reason, Les Schwab Tires put tires on it, wrote up a bill and sent him on his way – and he was on time to work.

Maybe that would happen in a big city, maybe it wouldn’t, but the bottom line is that it happened and I appreciated it. Stuff like that is why I buy tires at Les Schwab – they do stuff that they don’t *have* to do.

Tow headed boy

This morning, I wake up after at least 3 cups of coffee (ahem, yes that it more than it usually takes) and realize that another vehicular issue needs to be dealt with.

My trailer light wiring got ripped out from under my Suburban on a leisurely off-road excursion a while back. Also on the “round tuit” list, they remained dysfunctional until this morning when I realize that I need working lights.

See, I have to tow the Montana Federation of Swimming’s Western division timing/scoring trailer back from Shelby MT in preparation for our Divisional swim meet here next week.

It’s a pretty sizable trailer and driving back with no trailer lights on a prime tourist route is a really bad idea for lots of reasons.

Oops.

So I go to a RV sales and repair place on the way back from town and ask if they have the trailer light T-adapter that fits onto the lighting harness. Getting one of these means I just unhook the harness and plug the ends into the T-adapter and whammo, I’ve got lights.

I walk into the RV place and if we were in the South, you could’ve heard crickets. No one in sight. I look around and finally a few minutes later I find a guy walking out of the lunch room.

He proceeds to spend 20 minutes digging in a paper catalog to find a part number, but finds nothing and blames the guy who wrote the index.

Google is your friend

Meanwhile, there is a computer on the counter. I suppose I could have Googled trailer light adapter a little faster, but I thought I’d give the guy a break.

After all this, he gives me the catalog and starts opening a box of mail on the counter. I’m just a little stunned. I go back to the index, use the brand name that is on a similar adapter from the shelf (I brought it to the counter as an example of what I needed).

The brand name is indexed and one of the two entries lists the page where the exact item I need is shown.

He looks up the item and tells me the price ($21) and asks if I want it. Of course I do, as I have 30 minutes invested in it already.

He says (I suggest you sit down)…“We don’t stock these items, do you want me to order it?”

So 30 minutes later, I still don’t have wiring harness and he is just now sharing with me that these items aren’t stocked.

He says the one I found on the counter was mis-packaged and apparently came from the repair department as an ordering mistake. Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out why we spent 30 minutes searching for something that they don’t even stock, despite my telling him I needed it today.

NAPA, take me away

Empty handed, I leave the RV place and head for Columbia Falls. I slide into NAPA and start looking around and less than 30 seconds have gone by when someone approaches me and asks if they can help me find something.

I tell him what I need and they go to the computer (wooo, aint that cool?) and find it.

He digs around for the wiring adapter in the back, then looks on the shelf and finds it. Note that this is different than what a typical store staffer elsewhere might have done. The expectation is that they will point toward the front of the store and say “They’re on aisle 8.”

Instead, in Nordstorm-like fashion, he took me there and found it.

All the time, he is smiling and friendly. The lady up front is also smiling and friendly.

Now to be fair, I should admit that I know the owners of this NAPA and they are more often than not (pretty much always) smiling and friendly. But these staffers don’t *know* that I know the owners. They don’t really know me from Andy Granatelli (I’m taller).

Yet I get service like that $19 purchase was the most important one I ever made. Oddly enough, it is – because you are only as good as your last transaction.

Get recommended

It’s unlikely that I will ever buy a monster RV and probably not even a camp trailer (that RV place sells everything from $10k trailers to $150k “Class A” RVs), but it is likely that sometime, somewhere, someone will ask me which RV place to go to or where to get auto parts or tires, and so on.

Which places do you think I’ll recommend?

Are your people doing what is necessary (or more) to motivate people to recommend your business? Psst: That’s just one form of marketing.

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photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Today’s guest post comes from Barry Moltz, who talks about those people (euphemism) who don’t return calls or emails.

While I’m sure none of us ever do that, all of us know someone who needs a little advice about this – or maybe just a reminder.

Check out “Feedback is a gift“.

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Sometimes the simplest question is the one that causes the most scowls. Or at least, the most hand-wringing.

I’m talking about what later seems like an incredibly insightful question that forces you to think hard about your business, despite the fact that it was annoyingly simple. You don’t get off the hook with a “I dunno” and a shrug to one of those questions.

One such example is… “What’s next?”

It’s not a specific question and might mean different things to different people.

To some, it might mean “What are you doing next for your clients?”, to others “What are you doing next to raise the bar?”, “What else are you going to do to get more clients” or “What are you start doing to keep your clients even more loyal?”

People don’t think about this sort of thing often enough. Many just think about getting the client. Once they have them, THEN what do they do with them after that first sale?

In many cases, nothing. Or at least, nothing special.

People are conditioned to follow a sequence of steps. If they see a ladder, they know they’re supposed to climb it. Are you placing one in front of them?

If there isn’t a next thing in your sales process, how do they know what to buy/do/invest in/service?

Or do they go somewhere else?

What’s next?

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Upsell and follow up.

Simple, right?  You already know this. But are you actually doing it?

Two of the easiest things to do to increase sales without spending even a dime to chase new customers, something you shouldn’t need to do if you are doing things right, are asking for the upsell and following up.

Before you change the channel, note that when I say upsell, I dont mean badger the crud out of your client with mindless “Do you want fries with that?” list of questions.

Instead, I mean ask smart questions that provoke your client to ask for more help, and do smart things that helps keep them out of trouble.

One local example is a nearby Chevy dealer’s Customer Appreciation Day, which just happens to include a bumper to bumper vehicle check.

On a nice 80 degree summer day, you don’t think much about being stranded. In the middle of a cold Montana winter, it’s on your radar anytime you’re out in the boonies.

In the middle of the coldest part of our Montana winters, which also happens to be their slowest time of the year, the dealer examines their clients’ vehicles for problems.

That vehicle check is done at no cost, plus you get breakfast or lunch and a bunch of chances to win door prizes.

They also have extra salespeople around in case clients have questions, but it isn’t a shooting-fish-in-a-barrel sales event.

It’s a service/safety event that even includes a bunch of folks in the heated detail bays washing every car before the client takes it home.

The client goes home with a laundry list of stuff to keep get fixed or just keep an eye on, without any sales pressure. It truly is a courtesy check.

And of course, it’s a gold mine too.

Why? Because people see a bunch of stuff that they know might strand them on the side of a remote rural road at the worst possible time, so they either get it fixed at the dealer, or they take the list elsewhere (or home).

Even for those clients who don’t get a bunch of work done at the dealer, this serves a purpose: It gets that owner and their vehicle into the store once a year no matter what. It gets the service people an opportunity to check over the vehicle for potentially dangerous problems at least once a year. It gives the sales folks an opportunity to chat with former customers (there’s a reason why I call them that), offering them the chance to re-fire the connection with them.

While it would be a great idea for you if you are in any sort of service business, you don’t have to put on a big production like this every year.

You simply have to pay attention and take the opportunities presented.

When I bring my mower in for a new blade like I did earlier this week, you might take an extra 30 seconds to check the oil and see if it is low, or dirty.

You might check the air filter and see if it needs to be cleaned, or re-oiled. Even if those services only cost $5 to perform (plus the oil), that’s $10+ in incremental revenue, PLUS you make the point that you are trying to lengthen the life of my machines.

Trust me, if it burns gas, uses oil and I own it, it’s probably begging for help.

And I guarantee you, I’m not alone.

In many ways, your goal is their goal: Make sure that the client is as prepared to go into tomorrow, much less the rest of today, with as few detours as possible.

Yesterday, I had a pitman and idler arm replaced on my Suburban aka the Scoutmobile. I couldn’t pick them out of a box of parts but I do know they are part of the front end suspension and messed up ones like to ruin tires.

Meanwhile, another lady walked in to get a tire repaired. She was happy to find that the tire repair was free, but had to ask if someone would check her battery.

She shouldn’t have had to ask.

When her vehicle was taken in to fix the tire, it should have been part of their procedure to check the battery, tire pressures, fluid levels, wipers, brakes, shocks and tire tread.

Not just to upsell, but to make sure the client’s vehicle is safe to operate. And of course, to give yourself the opportunity to show the client that you are looking out for them and their vehicle.

But that didn’t happen, even though we were in a place that’s known for offering good service. You can tell they are trained, but they could be doing even more.

By the way, it turned out that the lady needed a new battery. The well-trained car guy offered her choices, let her make a decision and made the sale. But if she hadn’t asked…no sale.

Could you and your staff be doing more, all while being more helpful?

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Yes, it’s a play on the now-untenable “Something special in the air” that American Airlines used to use – back when they really were special.

Southwest Airlines announced changes in their business model that are easy for any air traveler to understand.

Click the image below to see the entire graphic from Southwest.com:

Now I had to admit that flying Southwest used to make me nuts because there was so much difference between the cattle car experience and what everyone else did.

Since those days year ago, they’ve made boarding changes to make things far more normal, and given that everyone else has cut service to the bone, now the other guys are the cattle cars.

Rather than follow the industry – Southwest has always tended to take a page from Earl Nightingale, that is, watch what the mainstream airlines do, and do just the opposite.

That’s just where this is coming from.

Instead of making their business complicated, they’ve made it simpler.

That’s not exactly news. They’ve done simple all along – such as using the same model of airliner across the entire company.

They do simple for a reason: They understand that eliminating all this complexity makes it easier for their staff and their passengers, but that isn’t the real “secret” to all this simplicity.

The key to this latest simplification move isn’t just making the other airlines look like idiots (as if they need help), but that it allows Southwest to chip one more little piece away from their turnaround process (land, deplane/unload, clean, board/load, takeoff) without slowing things down to check for paid tags, or capture a credit card or make change, and so on.

Plus it’s a heckuva lot less annoying to the passenger.

Result: More on time departures, faster turnaround, more flights, less planes, happier customers who met all their connections, and far lower expenses for feeding/housing travelers stranded by their inability to manage their on-time arrival.

Southwest is the Apple Computer of the airline business – except perhaps in price.

Simple is better.

What can you do to simplify YOUR business?

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American Airlines has had only a few advertising slogans over the last several decades.

• We know why you fly. We’re American Airlines. (Uh, because it takes too long to drive?)
• Something special in the air. (It was the dog, really!)
• Doing What We Do Best (and that is?…)

That isn’t where the PR is coming from for AA these days.

Naturally, it’s coming from that “$15 to check a piece of luggage” thing.

To me, the $15 isn’t that big of a deal, *but* the likely possibility is that the law of unintended consequences will strike American and other airlines who follow suit.

Airline travel is already working hard to become an experience right up there with going to the dentist, getting a visit from your brother in law the insurance salesman (noting that my pretty cool brother in law sells insurance<g>), and having someone at your door asking if you need your carpet cleaned.

Making air travel even more annoying is not the answer.

What American might see when the law of unintended consequences comes to visit.

At check in:

• Lines will become longer and slower because people behind the counter will have to take credit cards, make change and so on. Just wait till the person in front of you has a “Take the card” marker on their credit card account and the poor airline check-in clerk is forced to repo their card.
• MORE education will have to take place during check-in because people will not have funds (trust me) to check bags that are too big to carry on. And of course, they will argue with someone that the bag is OK and has been carried on many times before. All of which will take more time, making the line longer and slower.

At security:

• $15 per checked bag will mean more people will carry on even more crap. Meaning TSA will have more stuff to xray and the line at security will be even slower because people will forget that the 3 ounce rule applies to carryons and that 24 ounce native coconut shampoo bottle you bought in Tahiti will have to be poured out.

During boarding:

• Bags that are too big will have to be checked, delaying departure, disrupting the boarding process and oh by the way, will the baggage handlers in the jetway have credit card scanners on them?
• Everyone and their mom will be carrying on more stuff. It’s bad enough as it is, with people bringing everything they own to carry on – it will get worse when every checked bag is now $15.

During deplaning:

• Slower, for the same reasons that boarding will be slower.

During an emergency:

• More crap will be available to trip over as people have more stuff in their lap and stuffed under the seat. One more cabin fire is all it will take for a Congressional hearing on carry ons.

All of this is really not the point of the discussion. It’s simply conjecture.

The real point of this discussion is to motivate you not to let yourself get trapped into doing stupid things that will make it harder and less enjoyable to do business with you, all because you were dumb enough to allow your business to become a price-sensitive commodity.

When the only purchase decision point you give your clientèle is price, you leave yourself with little in the way of strategy.

Given today’s levels of airline service – what other decision points are there? Either that airline goes to your city, or it doesn’t. Everything else is schedule and price. Commodities.

Here’s what they won’t do – and their behavior over time proves it.

• No domestic U.S. airline will raise the price of their tickets so that they can actually provide the level of service that most travelers appreciate.
• No domestic U.S. airline will provide the level of service that makes them the only choice when it’s time to fly.
• No domestic U.S. airline will focus on the most profitable travelers, pamper them so they’ll never leave, price their tickets accordingly and let everyone else fight over the price shoppers who will change airlines for $5 round trip savings.

Don’t fall into the cheap trap. It’s easy to do when the press says that the economy has slowed, even though you couldn’t tell based on how packed the Costco parking lot is.

Be better, not cheaper.

Update: Today, this article about US Air making more service changes in the wrong direction.

Related posts elsewhere on the net:

Church of the Customer’s take on the American Airlines situation.

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photo credit: xiaming

Yesterday, we talked about making it easier for your clients to do – whatever it is that you make them do, hopefully not making them do it at all.

But what about making it easier to do the things that you can’t eliminate? One example is making it easier to reorder from you. You already know what your clients buy, right?

What do you do to remind them it’s time to refill, replenish and reorder? Since you know what they ordered, it should be easy for you to do this.

How do you know? It’s in your order database, point of sale (POS) system or online store order history.

You know how long it has been since they’ve visited your store or ordered online.

Is that number of days getting close? Shouldn’t you send them something (or call) to make it easy to order?

Has that number of days already passed? Shouldn’t you be contacting them to make sure all is well and that they haven’t run out of whatever they buy from you?

Do you have a system in place to get regular reorders pre-authorized by your clients? Makes life easier for them and more fruitful for you.

If you have automated reorders in place, isn’t it that much harder for a competitor to steal your clients from you? And aren’t your clients that much happier with the way you’ve added a little non-stick Teflon to their day to day lives?

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