I think the biggest key to customer loyalty is correct expectation setting. If you consistently meet the expectations of your customers they will return.
Suppose I tell you that I am going to take you out to dinner. We are going to the finest restaurant in the city where I am going to buy you the biggest steak and lobster dinner available. Fine wine and relaxing music will set the mood of the evening.
When I pick you up I tell you that plans have changed a little. I forgot that you have to have reservations two months in advance to eat at that restaurant. Instead, I am going to take you to Panera Bread and get you a nice sandwich.
On a different day, suppose I tell you that I will be providing you a bag lunch. The bag lunch has a pre-made hotdog, chips and a cold drink. We will be eating outside, rain or shine.
It’s raining the day I pick you up. When I pick you up I tell you that plans have changed a little. We had a little more money in the budget than expected. Instead, I am going to take you to Panera Bread and get you a nice sandwich.
The meal was exactly the same in both situations, but, in the first scenario the sandwich was a big letdown where in the second it was a nice surprise.
A real world example of this occurred when I went to get new tires on my car. The sign on the service desk said, “Tires installed in 30 minutes or installation is free.” I checked in, gave them my keys, and then walked around the store.
After 45 minutes I returned to the service desk and told them that I was there to pick up my car. They told me that it wasn’t ready and that I should check back in 2 hours. “Two hours! Your sign says installed in 30 minutes or the installation is free.” He said, “Yea, I don’t know who came up with that, but, we never finish in 30 minutes.”
In the end it was three and a half hours. Needless to say I was not very happy. If the sign had not been on the counter I would have asked how long it was going to take. They set my expectation and did not come close to meeting it. I have not bought tires from them since.
Always under commit and over deliver and you won’t have a problem with customer loyalty.
May 07 2007 | Marketing | 1 Comment »
I have been reading articles in several magazines lately applauding the entrepreneurial success of mothers. These moms had great ideas most of them amazingly simple and they are now running successful multi-million dollar companies. There is even a new word, Mompreneur, to describe these women.
All of these articles got me thinking about what great on-the-job training being a mom really is! Moms are forced to handle all types of situations like school dynamics, scheduling and multi-tasking. A great article by Alyssa Dver (a mompreneur herself with the creation of wander-wear) listed all of the skills that moms develop that make them great entrepreneurs. It makes a lot of sense, so I wanted to share some of it here:
Mom Skill #1: Coming Up With Creative Solutions. After you’ve come up with your own ways of handling everything from diapering to feeding time, put some of those ideas to use in business. Jen Groover, 33, is a mother of 2-year-old twins and CEO of Jen Groover Productions, a $1 million conglomerate brand of products, many of which aim to make a mom’s life easier. In a year and a half, she’s launched two TV shows, a book, websites, a blog and several product lines. The first version of her patented Butler Bags–a line of highly organized handbags, gym bags and diaper bags–quickly sold out before the first shipment even left China.
Mom Skill #2: Never Taking No for An Answer. Once you’ve learned to deal with recalcitrant toddlers, it’s easy to persist in the face of stubborn buyers.
Laine Caspi, CEO of $1.2 million product licensing company Parents of Invention, brought a unique baby wrap from Israel back to the U.S. four years ago to use with her infant. When hordes of people stopped her to inquire where they could get one, Caspi, 37, saw the obvious opportunity. ‘I never would have started my own business if I hadn’t been a mom,’ she says.
Mom Skill #3: Scheduling and Prioritizing.Moms have critical entrepreneurial skills such as patience, stamina and persistence,†says Tamara Monosoff, author of The Mom Inventors Handbook. They know how to prioritize and are master schedulers.
Monosoff should know. She regularly races from QVC to Good Morning America, making cross-country day trips so she can be back home for her children, who are 2 and 4 years old. After a successful political career working in the Clinton administration, Monosoff, 41, became a stay-at-home mom. Frustrated by her daughter’s delight in continually unraveling the bathroom toilet paper, Monosoff invented the TP Saver. The product did well and has inspired many other budding mompreneurs to seek her advice. Now her books, consulting and product licensing efforts are all designed around helping other mompreneurs succeed. She advises mompreneurs to learn about the processes involved in starting their venture before spending a lot of money.
So if you are a mom who has a great idea, don’t be intimidated by starting your own small business. There are plenty of resources to get you going and the potential for success is huge!
May 07 2007 | Marketing | 1 Comment »
