Who is Our Customer

Like the frog who sits in the cool water and when the water starts to heat does nothing; we sometimes continue with a strategy that has worked in the past when all around us is changing.

When you first take a job or start a business your very first consideration is "who is my customer". It may be an internal customer, a department head or a boss. But if you are in sales then it is someone outside of your company. Someone who can choose where they buy what you sell. The old model in our industry was to get a building; fill it with product; go out and find a customer who wanted to buy that product in our market area. Worked. It was based on limited availability of product, brand recognition and competition within a market space.

If the space included unlimited availability, brand parody and enormous competition ..... would you act differently? Wait a minute, that sounds familiar doesn't it?

Large companies perform market research that sometimes work and sometimes yield questionable results. Either way it is expensive and most dealers in our industry wouldn't spend that much if they had it. The DIY market research has as much chance of yielding good data as the expensive kind if it is done correctly. The good news is that it can be carried out while you are doing business daily, by the people you have.

It starts this way. Gather the brain trust .... in most companies that should include everyone that has any contact with the customer. The receptionist, the accounts receivable person, customer service, sales, shipping and yes even the delivery person. It is almost certain this is several separate conversations since you never have the luxury of being able to get everyone together without the phone ringing or a visit from ...... a customer. Everyone in your organization has an idea about the customers preferences. Mine that data.

From those conversations pick the top three things you could focus on to improve your relationship with your customer and increase the likelihood of repeat business. New customers are great but repeat buyers are gold. I am going to use a word that is misused and sends chills down my spine. Survey. A strategic survey should be in place at all times. A survey is a company's quest for information that will please their customer. Don't print a form, stick it in an envelope and expect any real insight into anything.

The best surveys are people to people.....because of the follow-up.

More next time...

Good selling

Kudos to MPIX

A break from my mini-series. We will continue that on the next post...I promise. But first a success story about customer service. We should all think about how we can be this good.

My wife Lee and I are hobby photographers, we have been for 30 years and have the photos to prove it. We decided to enter the State Fair of Texas photo contest this year and have spent the last few Saturday nights crusing downtown Dallas, drinking wine and shooting pictures. A little wine and a lot of pictures. We picked our best to have printed and did the photoshop work on them and were all ready for the deadline....except I misjudged the time and wound up with 4 days left and no prints. What follow here is amazing. First the standard service is set a an increadably high standard.

Wed - 3:30PM I sent an email to customer service asking for custom work with fast service.

Wed - 3:34PM Chevelle with MPIX answered with explaination as to what was possible within that time frame.

Wed - 4:36PM I ask for clarification

Wed - 4:40PM Chevelle tells me that is possible and if after I use the automated ordering system I will send the tracking number that they will shephard it and try to make sure it gets on a FedX truck the next afternoon.

Thurs - 9:36AM Chevelle writes to tell me it is in the mount department and things are looking good.

Thurs - 2:39PM I get an automated notice that my order has shipped and provides me with a tracking number.

Friday - 2:45PM The FedX guy is at my front door.

Here are photos of a happy customer and good packaging...it wouldn't have been a good story if the photos came damaged.

My sincere thanks to Chevell and all the folks at MPIX. If you need photos printed they are definately the real deal.

My Flickr stream can be seen at www.flicker.com/photos/yogiron

What Time is it?

When Traci, my daughter, was about seven years old she brought home a note from her teacher stating that said she could not tell time and suggested that we work with her. I asked her what time it was...she left the room and came back and announced that it was 7:43. We quickly realized that she knew how to read a digital clock but not an analog one.

Overlay that story on the business environment of today. We have multiple generations working together at a time when technology and the tools of the work force are changing every 3 to 5 years. Some of those changes are greater than the previous 2o years. We find ourselves challenged by what is of value....what should we invest in...our time...our money?

In our industry, material handling, the goals have not changed but the way to achieve them have. However, there are some reliable tests that can be applied to our decisions. I would like to discuss them over the next few blogs and I would appreciate your feedback. The first and most important test is "who is my customer and how do they want to do business?" We will discuss that next time.

How much time do you have to make the right decision for yourself or your business? Like the little boy said when he heard the broken clock strike thirteen....."It is later than its ever been".

Follow Up - Trust Your Customer

Well, on Wednesday morning my cell rang and the owner of the business (read last post) was on the other end acting clueless about the events of the previous week. He was not returning my call although later he did acknowledge it. Weird.

To his credit, within a few hours the two workmen and he were in my yard pulling weeds. The job is finished and is acceptable. I will pay the agreed upon price when he presents me the invoice and I will not whine.

However, going in to this transaction I was a loyal customer of his, quick to recommend his services to others. Now, I am still his customer but will not tie my good name to his thru recommendations.

Trust Your Customer

I always try to analyze things that happen around me, judge if it was a success or failure and see how it might make me better. In that spirit I will tell you about something that is not finished but not going well. You will be able to tell by my tone that this is not a rant.

Hot summer, lots of work and some small surgery have come together to make the flower bed around our house look rather natural. Full of weeds, grass and small trees. It makes it hard to make excuses when the trees are 3 foot high.

We decided to spend some money and have a professional service do the job. I am talking about someone who we have used before and not someone I picked up in the parking lot at Chilly Mart. Real business, real trucks with signs on them. I found it odd that the target day of last Monday came and went without any contact so I called late Monday night and left a message. Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday...silent. I called and was told they would be there Friday

Sure enough, 7:45 AM the owner in a shiny truck with a sign on the side and two workers in a not so shiny truck with a sign on the side are parked in front of my house. The owner apologizes and says they will get this done for me. He is going to go to the warehouse and get the fertilizer and spreader and will be right back. True to his word in 15 minutes he returns with the necessary equipment and things are looking good. Then he leaves.

I hear a cell phone ring in the front yard and the boss worker answers it and walks over to the truck, sits down and talks for 10 -15 minutes. He then returns to the spreader which he is working on so they can use it, but is interrupted by his cell phone. Back to the truck, another long conversation. During this time the junior worker was working away but must have been new to landscaping because he was pulling ground cover and leaving Johnson grass. I tell myself to talk with the owner when he returns about his crew....in the distance a cell phone rings.

About 10 minutes after nine, I notice I haven't heard the cell in a while....as a matter of fact I haven't heard anything. Looking outside, I cannot see even one truck with a sign on the side. I place a call to the owner to see if 9:00AM is standard break time but get his voice mail. I leave a message.

Now, this is a blog on customer service. If I told you it is 10:45 AM on Monday morning and I have not received a return call would you see that as a customer service problem. In looking at this from the customers view, I am left to speculate;

• Did he die?
• Will he ever return?
• Do I owe him anything for the little work performed?
• Should I call again?

He has missed two opportunities to make his life easier and to avoid problems on his jobs. Both opportunities were to return my calls. Or better yet, call me as soon as he sees he cannot meet his commitment. I am very reasonable and would have said...just do it when you can.

He might have legitimate reasons why he did not show up when he said he would. There might even be a good reason his workers left after only an hour. But there is no good reason not to call me.....unless he died.

Now excuse me...I have to go to Chilly Mart.