Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on March 16, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Today, my wife Sheri came home and was upset about a customer that called her from out of state. She said the lady wanted a baby gift basket that was on our website. The problem was she wanted the exact same gift basket for ten dollars less than the price on the site.
Since we are a custom gift company, we always work with customers at THE original basket boutique to make the perfect gift that fits in their budget. The problem was this lady didn’t want something different; she wanted what she saw online. Sheri tried to explain the details of the gift basket and sell value, but this lad didn’t want to hear any of that. The lady then proceeded to ask the price on every single item in the basket, so Sheri who is the best at customer service that I have ever known, obliged her by giving retail prices of some of the items so she could customize a gift basket.
In a gift basket business there are other costs built in to every single basket we sell. Like any small business owner, you have overhead. We have a building, utilities, advertising, and various other expenses related to running a business and not to mention we are trying to eek out a living as well! This lady couldn’t comprehend why we wouldn’t meet her price demands or why she couldn’t by three items at retail and still get Sheri to build them in a basket. She did not understand there were other costs involved to build a basket.
We wouldn’t ask a plumber to not charge for his time or a mechanic to charge for parts and not the labor, would we? Why is a design fee for gift baskets any different? Now, 3 years ago, when my wife was just starting out as a small business owner, she might have caved and gave in to the customer. Sheri was used to making decisions like this in multi-million dollar stores where it wasn’t really her money. During our first year, we probably under charged half our clients, but we still survived in spite of our generosity. The point is, as business owners, we have to draw the line at some requests. You can’t make everyone happy all the time!
Needless to say, we have one person out of hundreds of clients that was not satisfied. It’s not the end of the world. As small business owners, we have to consider many factors when it comes to customer satisfaction. We don’t want to anger people or turn away business, but at the same time, we can’t afford to give away everything. We have to look at every situation and ask ourselves; “Is this worth resolving with a discount or free item?” Now, I am not saying that we solve all customer complaints this way. If a customer is upset about a purchase or product, then it is our obligation as business owners to resolve the situation. Sometimes that means giving something up.
The recent tough economy has changed small businesses because it has forced many of us to do what ever we can to make the sales, even if it means discounts or giving something away. At the same time, this has trained consumers to never be satisfied with the listed price. As we are coming out of this recession and starting on recovery, small business owners need to set some reasonable boundaries. We can’t discount our way to success. Small businesses that offer quality work, high caliber products and fair prices will surely succeed during this recovery.
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David Beckham, MBA, is a Marketing, Online Marketing, and Small Business Development Consultant. For more information and services offered, please contact me or visit my web site at http://www.marketpromba.com.
Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on October 30, 2009 at 9:33 am
David Beckham, MarketProMBA Consultant
Let’s face it; your current customers are your business life’s blood. They are generally your primary source of revenue you should be spending a good percentage of your marketing budget focusing on them. A good rule of thumb is that 60% of your marketing budget should be spent on your current customers or marketing directly to them. Remember, it costs far more to gain a new customer more often that it does to keep a current one.
Take the time to get to know your current customer’s better. Phone calls, visits or emails that just check on them and get to know them better will do wonders for your relationship. Do you have a newsletter for your company? Let your customer’s know what is going on with you as well. Of course, you want to get permission from your customer’s to be put on your email list, but most of them will do this without issue.
Newsletters can also be used to let customers know about upcoming promotions and specials within your company. Online eNewsletter programs like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or iContact are excellent marketing tools because they give you important measurements like open rates and click-through patterns. During tough times, marketing efforts have to be scrutinized to ensure they are returning results. The analytics from eNewsletter programs helps you justify your marketing expense and gives you data to help you change and adapt your message to ensure maximum impact and sales. If you aren’t using one, you need to seriously consider doing so.
Recognize special events with your customers. Send them a gift basket on their business anniversary date and just say “thanks for being a customer!” Is there a significant date in your customer’s life or an event that is important to them? If you are getting to know your customers you will learn this information, then you can simply send a card or a small gift to congratulate or let them know you are thinking about them.
Holidays are always a great time to recognize your clients. Be careful though about what you send. Don’t just get something off a shelf and think it will make an impact. Remember, other businesses might have them as clients too and how embarrassing would it be to give them the same gift basket from a “big box store” that some other business gave them. Your gift needs to be unique, original and stand out from others to get you noticed. This will help keep your business top of mind with your customers. Also, brand your gift with your colors and logo whenever possible. This also keeps your business top of mind and extends your brand. Remember, your gift could be seen by other potential clients that may be in your client’s office so make sure you are always branding anything you send. (For more information on gifts that stand out, see THE original basket boutique)
Hold a special event or meeting for your current customers. An open house for your customers will give you a chance to know your customers better and offer an opportunity for them to introduce you to more potential clients. Get with your local chamber of commerce and offer to hold their monthly business afterhours meeting. If you are not a member of your local chamber or commerce, then you should certainly rethink that decision. Local chambers are normally very good opportunities for networking and typically have low annual costs. Larger metropolitan areas might have several chambers. Don’t feel like you need to join all of them. Find out which ones are the most active by asking around and talking directly to the chambers. Then you can make a decision that will give you maximum return for your investment.
Referral business is critical to your clients businesses and yours. Initiate a referral program for your clients. When you refer a client, make sure your client knows you sent them a customer. If one of our customers sends you a new client, reward them with some kind of a thank you. This will help reinforce their actions and let them know how much you appreciate the new business.
These were just a few ideas on customer loyalty. There are many more that you might come up with. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. How do they think? If you were your own customer, how would you want to be treated? Sounds easy enough but you would be surprised at how many small business owners lose track of this. As small business owners, we tend to get wrapped up in the management of our day-to-day activities that we sometimes overlook the simple things that help build our business and keep our customers engaged with us.
In our next segment, we will talk more about marketing ideas that are not going to break your budget and help you generate more sales and build brand awareness.
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Today, my wife Sheri came home and was upset about a customer that called her from out of state. She said the lady wanted a baby gift basket that was on our website. The problem was she wanted the exact same gift basket for ten dollars less than the price on the site.
