On this edition of PT’s Pointers, Paul explains how the worst thing about Christmas and a theory on fried food relate to maintaining customer loyalty
Last edition of PT’s Pointers we talked about how to acquire new customers, this edition will be warning about one of the best ways to lose them.
Firstly I want to apologise for bringing up bad childhood memories but it's necessary to get my point across. For most kids there's one time we all needed a little extra and didn’t get it. That time was Christmas morning and the reminder you weren't getting your extra was BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED. If you didn’t have the right batteries lying around at home, your newest toy with all its lights and sounds was dead. Batteries not included is a great way to dampen what should be one of the best times of the year.
Christmas morning aside, it's already stressful enough to get your kids the presents they desire but batteries not included only adds to it. You now have to worry about whether their toy accepts AA or D+, whether you got the right amount of batteries and the right brand to avoid afternoon meltdowns when the toy fizzles out.
The thing I can’t stand about batteries not included and other up sale tactics is the cost to benefit ratio. You’re costing your customer a memorable time with their family to save on the cost of batteries. It's inexcusable, lazy and selfish.
It’s also a fast way to lose the trust and loyalty of your customers.
My main sales manager has a theory on what separates a good tuck shop making a small profit to a similar shop making a larger revenue.
Is it a cleaner shop? A smile with every sale? An atm in the store?
No, whilst these are all great customer relations practice, his theory is that the tuck shops that make more money give out an extra potato cake.
The idea is that by giving out an extra three cent potato cake, the customer will come back for the five dollar hamburger.
At Super Signs we put this theory to practice. Every sticker purchase comes with a squeegee. The customer pays fifty dollars for the sticker and gets a free squeegee, sounds like an average deal until you have to put the sticker on.
Because the thing about a squeegee is they are a pain to buy, easy to use. If you get new stickers you want to put them on, and without the right tools you can’t do that. By supplying a squeegee we give our customers the tool with the stickers, it’s the potato cake that lasts forever. Why do we do this? Because we just want customers to be happy, and have an easier time installing stickers.
When we sell fence signs it's the same thing, we supply cable ties. They are needed for installation. Without cable ties, they just have a metal sign. Afterall the customer doesn't want a no parking sign, he wants his parking spot to be free. Finding their spot open the next day will make them happy, not the receiving the sign.
Batteries not included and the potato cake theory are both ways to deal with a customer after your service/product has left the building.
One gives you small reward for customer loss and the other gives the customer reward at a small cost to you.
Now whether you want you to give your customers extra potato cakes or make them buy their own batteries is up to you. But from experience, small costs that give big benefits to customers are worth investing in every time.
Next week, I will be talking about consolidation of existing customers and how to grow within your current client base.