Attitudes Market

In order to get the style and color that she wanted, a friend of mine special ordered a new recliner.  After an eight week wait, she received a call from one of the delivery guys at the store.  “Your chair is in,” he stated.  “We can deliver it on Friday.”

“I wanted to ask you to help me move my current recliner,” she replied. 

“We don’t do that,” he snapped back. 

“I expect to pay extra for you to do it,” she responded. 

“We wouldn’t do it for nothing, but we still wouldn’t do it,” he said gruffly. 

Upset with his unfriendly attitude, my friend finished the conversation.  “Friday won’t work for me.  I’ll get back to you.”

She picked up the phone, called a friend, and asked if he would help her by delivering the new recliner and taking her old one to a storage unit.  She wanted to keep it in reserve temporarily in case the new one was not satisfactory. 

He said he’d be glad to help her out.  She called the store and informed the person that someone else would deliver the recliner.  “I want your delivery charge removed before I pay the balance of the bill,” she said. 

Interestingly, the person on the phone did not ask why she was having someone else deliver the recliner.  When she paid the balance a few days later, no one asked then, either.  Evidently, the store personnel didn’t care about deliveries. 

I understand that, although deliveries are a necessary customer service for some businesses, they can be costly.  I also understand and encourage businesses to set parameters of deliveries in order to control these costs.  I do not understand why someone at the business would not ask why my friend had changed her mind about having the store deliver the chair. 

I suggested that she tell someone at the store that she felt the delivery person who called her was rude and had a bad attitude.  She didn’t feel comfortable doing that.  Like most customers, she did not want to be confrontational.  Since no one at the business seemed to care, her comments would probably have fallen on deaf ears. 

However, the attitude of the delivery person will definitely affect her future business with the store. 

This incident is an excellent example of the importance of the attitude of every employee in a business.  Every employee’s attitude markets the business.  A single employee with a bad attitude can negatively affect a customer and possibly discourage that person from ever doing business with the company in the future.  Yes, I know we all have bad days, but we do not have to share them with the customer.  I highly recommend that you impress upon all your employees the importance of treating all customers courteously every day. 

Although you may never hear about it, one employee’s discourteous treatment could destroy all your efforts to get a customer’s business and retain it in the future. 

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What bad attitude from an employee has discouraged you from doing business with a company in the future?  E-mail me your answer.

The Best Choice

Today a client told me about a letter from a competitor that was sent to a customer denying a $40,000 warranty claim.  “The company personnel didn’t even have the courage to call the customer,” he stated.  “They hid behind the distance and one-sidedness of a letter.”

“Evidently management at the company did not care about continued business from that customer,” I replied.

“But the company did solicit more business from the customer in the future,” he added.

I shook my head.  “Study after study has shown that having a problem is not the reason a customer will not do business with a company again.  The response of the company to solving the customer’s problem determines the future relationship.  Giving attention to the situation and arriving at a solution that satisfies the customer makes the difference.  In fact, customer problems are opportunities to strengthen the company’s relationship with the customer.  Customers say that they will do business again with a company that shows an interest in the customer and handles the problem.”

“That’s why I tell all my employees never to leave a message on the phone, via e-mail, or in a letter that is not positive,” he agreed.  “If they have unpleasant news for a customer, I want them to own it and discuss it with the customer.  I want them to talk with the customer and arrive at a solution that works for the customer.”

“Good job!” I praised.

With all the different ways to communicate with customers today, we can easily use text, e-mail, voice mail, or even snail mail to deliver unpleasant news.  We can rationale hiding within one of these forms by telling ourselves that we don’t have the time to call the customer more than once, to wait for the customer to return a call, or to set aside time to reach the customer at a time that works for him.

If we want to retain that person as a customer and, hopefully, do more business with him or her, the best choice to communicate unpleasant news is direct, either voice-to-voice or face-to-face.  This choice offers the opportunity for two-way communication, a give-and-take discussion, and arrival at agreement to settle the situation.

When delivering anything that is not positive, use the best choice, the one that is an immediate person-to-person connection.      

This week's marketing trivia challenge is How do you and your employees deliver unpleasant news?  E-mail me your answer.

The Forgotten Part of Marketing

The upcoming New Year’s Day in 2013 marks the two year anniversary of Oprah Winfrey’s channel, OWN.  The launch of the channel in 2011 was spectacular.  Back then, each week Oprah was counting down to her last Oprah show, and her audience was wondering what they would do without her.  Watching Oprah’s network seemed the solution.  They expected to be able to continue seeing Oprah on her new network.  In addition, they expected to see other programming which would have Oprah’s inspirational touch.   

Prior to OWN’s launch, an enormous amount of publicity was done.  Oprah herself plus notable people who would be having a short series on OWN were guests on daytime and evening talk shows.  In their chats and monologues, show hosts discussed OWN.  You couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing about OWN. 

Opening OWN on New Year’s Day was a stroke of genius, principally because the target market was available in droves.  Since many were not football fanatics, turning on OWN gave them something to watch.  Many, including me, acclaimed this as great marketing.  It was, to a point. 

Unfortunately, that is where the great marketing began to fall apart.  While OWN had a few successful Sunday night programs featuring Shania, Fergie, and the Judds, most of the day the channel offered old TV shows and movies but not fresh content.  Oprah was busy finishing her show and, therefore, did not have time to appear on OWN.  Even after her show ended, Oprah still didn’t make appearances on OWN. 

OWN viewers were not getting what they had expected.

In an interview on Good Morning America this week, Oprah admitted, “I expected it to be a lot easier.  I expected to go into the office every other day or so.  I wasn’t there.  I wasn’t surrounded by all the people I was accustomed to working with.  I asked myself, What have I done?

“Within the past year, I put two people at OWN who had run the production company for my show, and the last nine months OWN has been showing amazing growth.  I am on OWN here and there with a special show.  I discovered what anyone building a business knows:  the business grows in direct proportion to the amount of work you are willing to put into it.”

Her extra effort is not the basis for OWN’s growth, however.  We all know that you can work harder without growth as a result.  Your smart work is what results in growth.  Oprah worked smarter in that she was at the office, brought competent people on board, and got back on the air. 

She is giving viewers what they expected.  She is giving them herself on shows and her touch on programming.  Luckily for Oprah, her fans have a great deal of pent-up demand and still want to see her.

Oprah experienced the forgotten part of marketing.  Marketing is not just a flashy invitation to a party.  Marketing is delivering a good time at the party when the guests arrive.  The proof is in the experience.  If the guests have fun at the party, they will want to return to future parties hosted by the same person.  If they don’t have fun, they will not be back. 

A critical part of marketing is the delivery of the product or service.  If the customer gets what he wants, he’ll be back.  If not, no amount of new flashy invitations will entice him.  Remember to deliver what your customers want.  That is an important part of marketing.