The Lesson in Best Buy’s New Service

In reaction to increasing competition online, Best Buy is kicking off a new service this month.  Designed to unlock latent consumer demand, the service features Best Buy personnel meeting with customers in their homes to answer their questions, assess their situations, and recommend what devices and technology fit their lifestyles.  “This is Best Buy looking at a long-term user-based strategy rather than a one-off, shopper-based strategy,” stated Carol Spiecherman, an expert on retail and brand positioning.  “Something like this is truly solving a need vs. attempting to come up with shiny objects that will appeal to an emerging generation.”

Jeff Shelman, Best Buy spokesman, further clarified the firm’s positions.  “We know that consumers love technology but frequently need help getting the most out of it.  We feel uniquely positioned to serve consumers by offering products, services, and support wherever the customer wants it, including our 1,000 stores, on BestBuy.com, and in homes millions of times a year.”

In researching what Best Buy can do to better compete with online stores such as Amazon, company personnel discovered two important factors.  Shoppers are spending more time at home than in stores, and they are uncertain as to how to use emerging technology.  From this information, management decided to roll out this new service.  

Best Buy has tested this service in five markets, assigning it different names to check on different target markets.  In the Twin Cities, the service was called Assured Living and aimed at assisting adult children in setting up technology in the homes of their aging parents.  The monitors and devices they had installed in their parents’ homes allowed them to keep track of their parents.  The intent was to keep their parents’ independent and provide peace of mind to the children. 

The national roll out of the new service is not so narrowly focused.  With it, Best Buy is offering in-home consultation to anyone who walks into the company’s stores and talks to a sales associate about the store’s products.  The associates are now trained to suggest an in-home visit to customers.  The person doing the visit will be a sales associate who is not paid by the results of the visit but by the hour.  While Best Buy is promoting this service as a way to help customers, skeptics are concerned that these consultations will encourage customers to buy unnecessary products.

If Best Buy management is wise, that will not be the result.  However, one aspect of this service points to that happening.  The service is free.  Now you may think, Isn’t free a good idea?  That’s a way to help customers and get them to purchase what they need.  It’s also a way to differentiate Best Buy from online competitors who cannot from a distance have that person-to-person contact.  It’s a showcase of Best Buy personnel’s expertise, an extension of the Geek Squad. 

While that may all be true, here’s the challenge.  Unlike the Geek Squad whose work can be directly assigned to the revenue generated, these “free” consultations will not be directly assigned to revenue.  The sales associates performing the consultations will be taken off the floor to visit homes.  In doing so, they will not be able to cover the floor.  That means additional personnel will need to be hired to cover those floor hours.  This could increase floor payroll substantially.  If these visits do not result in corresponding revenue gains, management will deem the visits too expensive and likely discontinue them.

Unfortunately, Best Buy management discovered an opportunity and acted on it without thinking it through.  That may herald the demise of the new service.  Had they thought it through, they would have realized that customers who want assistance with technology would pay for these visits.  Rather than treat these visits as come-ons for more business, management would have seen them as new streams of revenue.  Instead they may disappear because they either will not generate enough revenue to support the additional payroll, or they will push unnecessary product onto customers and further deteriorate the Best Buy brand.      

When you find an opportunity for more revenue, think it through before implementing it.  Look at it from all angles.  Get input from your customers. Consider how it can generate revenue.  Will customers pay for it?  Give it the best chance to be successful.

This week's marketing trivia challenge is How did you think through a new opportunity?  E-mail me your answer.

Maximizing an Opportunity

The Blue Angels performed in an air show on the Fourth and fifth of July at an airfield near my home.  The team arrived several days prior to the show and practiced everyday.  These daily flyovers were spectacular.  Anyone with a good view was able to see them perform.   

Their flight path took them directly over a nearby winery.  The owner of the winery wisely informed patrons of the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine and watch the Blue Angels.  Not surprisingly, business was brisk.  Many came from quite a distance because seeing the Blue Angels perform was a rare occurrence.  Some of those were so thrilled that they asked, “Do the Blue Angels perform here every Fourth of July?” 

They were eager to return next year for another “private” showing.

The owner had to disappoint them.  “No, this is very special and doesn’t happen every year.”

I was impressed that the owner tied into the event, gave patrons an opportunity to enjoy the practices, and generated additional revenue that happened because of the owner’s efforts. 

I also noticed that the Blue Angels did a much better job than in the past of maximizing the opportunity the air show presented.  The objective of these shows is to stimulate interest in joining the Navy.  Yes, I know it’s promoted as an awesome event, but the underlying objective on the part of the armed forces is recruitment.  With that in mind, a twenty-some-year-old, vivacious female member of the Navy, spokesperson for the Blue Angels, was interviewed on the local news.  She invited viewers to attend a Friday evening meet-and-greet of the pilots and crew.  In another report, a twenty-something Navy maintenance man who was from my state was interviewed.  In a third segment, one of the pilots was interviewed. 

I don’t remember ever hearing from a pilot during past appearances.  A woman spokesperson and a maintenance man were definitely never in the past loop.  Having all three of them talk, share their stories, and invite viewers to the show was very smart.  Individually and collectively, they maximized the opportunity to reach the objective of stimulating interest in the Navy.

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What opportunity have you maximized?  E-mail me your answer.

A Good Effort

This week I attended one of my rituals of the summer, standing in line to buy peaches off the truck direct from the Georgia peach growers. The location was a restaurant parking lot. Since the restaurant where the truck had been stopping had closed, this year the truck parked for the first time at a different location. I arrived at the starting time, noon, and joined a line of over one hundred people. By the time I left, the line was as long as when I had arrived.

After standing in line for fifteen minutes, I a girl walked up to me and handed me a two-sided, full color 4 1/4 x 5 ½ piece about the restaurant. “What is this?” the lady in front of me asked.

“This is information about our restaurant,” the girl replied. “You might as well stop by for lunch before you leave.”

The lady turned to me and the person beside me. “Well, this is surprising. What a good idea!”

She was right. The piece that the girl handed out was a good idea and a good effort. Management at the restaurant was taking advantage of the over two hundred people in the parking lot to give them information about the restaurant. That was good.

While I applaud that effort, management could have gone from good to better to best with some thought. That would have yielded more profitable results.

If management had thought the situation through from the customer’s point of view, a pertinent question would have been asked. A good one would have been “What do customers standing in line want?” That would have revealed an important point: those in line for peaches were on a mission. They were focused on getting their peaches and taking them somewhere cool. They were very unlikely to sit down for a meal at that time.

However, the day was warm, and the sun reflecting off the blacktop made standing in line at noon even hotter. All of us were hot and thirsty. Looking at the situation from the customer’s point of view would have revealed how those in line would be feeling. Asking “What do customers standing in line need?” would have uncovered an opportunity. That would have lead to a better effort which would have been to sell water to those in line along with handing out the piece. That would have made a good impression on those standing in line and brought in more revenue for the restaurant that day. Water may have even saved the lady who collapsed from the heat and was taken away in an ambulance.

Thinking the situation through from the customer’s point of view could have lead management to the best effort. Considering that people in line wanted to get their peaches and leave would have brought the realization that they would not stop at the restaurant that day. That leads to the question, “How do you bring them back?”

One way to do that would have been to distribute a coupon or introductory special inviting people back another time during the next couple of weeks. Setting an end date on the coupon would use urgency and encourage them to return soon. That would spur more people to come back to the restaurant before they forgot about it.

The combination of tailoring the piece with an offer that had urgency, having water available to purchase, and distributing information about the restaurant would have been a best effort. That would have been reached through thought. Good efforts require action. Best efforts require thought.

Are you thinking through your marketing so that you achieve the best effort?

The Good Samaritan

I discovered Monday morning that the township plow had come down the frontage road and blocked the end of my plowed driveway with chunks of snow. I called the guy who plows for me and asked him to come by and unblock it. His wife said that he was out plowing and would come over. Since the time was 8:30 a.m. and I didn’t need to leave for class until 4:45 p.m., I was confident that he would take care of it.

My driveway is quite long and snakes down the hill with the end of it out of sight from my house. Normally, I would see it when I walk my dogs, but Monday I did not walk them because my schedule was very busy. Consequently, I had no knowledge if the driveway was unblocked or not when I drove down it to leave for class. Since I hadn’t heard to the contrary from my plow guy, I assumed that it was clear.

You can imagine my horror when I reached the end of the driveway to find that nothing had been done. With no shovel and no time, I chose the lowest spot, stepped on the accelerator, and drove into the mess. Thankfully, my car went through undamaged. As I continued down the road, I thought that I would have to shovel my way back into the driveway in twenty below temperatures when I returned home that night.

When I returned, I got out of my car with the intention of retrieving a shovel, but, as I walked through the ruts I had made on my way out, I thought that I just might be able to get back in without shoveling. I repeated my earlier efforts and was successful, leaving the shoveling until morning.

The next morning my plow guy called to tell me that his plow was broken and he was waiting for parts. I did not want to continue to risk going through the mess at the end of my driveway so I picked up a shovel and headed out to clear a path through it. As I was working on the lowest part which I had driven through, several pickups with plows drove past. Watching them drive away through my iced-up glasses, the marketer in me thought, “One of the best marketing actions that a person with a plow could take would be to drive around after a snowfall looking for plowing opportunities. Any of these guys could have picked up extra cash by stopping and offering to help me. They may have even signed up a new customer.”

The mouth to my driveway from the frontage road is very wide. Tuesday morning I shoveled just enough to get out, vowing to finish Wednesday when the temperature would be thirty degrees warmer and not below zero. Wednesday afternoon I went out to do just that. The temperature made a huge difference, and I had moved about a dozen shovelfuls when a pickup with a plow drove by. After traveling just slightly past me, I noticed the pickup’s brake lights. Suddenly, the pickup backed up and came to a stop beside me. Rolling down his window, the driver said, “Would you like me to help you with that?”

I smiled. “I’d love it; thank you!”

With four quick swipes, the truck’s plow accomplished in seconds what would have taken me an hour or more. When he finished, I asked, “Do you have a card?”

“Not with me,” he replied, “but I do have some paper. I’ll write my name and phone number on it.”

“Great! I might call you to plow me out in the future.”

“Call me anytime. I live close by. Merry Christmas!”

After he handed me the paper, I thanked him further, and he drove off. I was reminded of the story of the good Samaritan. Although I know that he helped me out to be nice, in doing so he made a very good impression. As I walked back up the driveway carrying my shovel, I marveled at how many pickups had driven past compared to the one that had stopped. That led me to wonder how many opportunities such as this the average business passes up everyday. How many customers do we pass by and miss the opportunity to make a good impression? Most of us are so absorbed by what we have to get done that we fail to take note of what is happening around us.

When did you last notice opportunity as you passed by it?

Opportunity in Disguise

When you are in the middle of a problem, the last piece of advice that you want to hear is "look for the opportunity." Instead, your reaction is to get "caught up" in the problem and wallow in it. I'm certain that most Packer fans and players felt that way after the game with Dallas last night.

I know. I have been there and done that.

Unfortunately, wallowing in the problem not only sets you back but also prevents you from moving forward. When a problem concerns a customer, this is a dual-edged sword. If you expend a great deal of energy and time reviewing and discussing a customer's problem, your focus remains on the problem rather than on the solution. In doing so, you waste both time and energy, and you very likely lose a customer.

However, if you look at the problem as an opportunity to further develop your customer, you will make that happen. To do so, step into your customer's shoes and look at the problem from his or her point of view. If you were that customer, how would you feel? What would you want to have happen? Ask you customer these questions. Usually, the customer wants a great deal less than you think.

Studies have shown that customers who complain and have those complaints satisfied become even better customers. I was speaking with Deb from Denny's Appliance this week, and she mentioned a customer who had purchased an entire kitchen of appliances from her a couple of years ago. That's a very good customer, isn't it? Recently, the customer came in because of a problem with one of the appliances, a microwave. Since the company which made that particular microwave is under new ownership, the part that would fix the microwave is no longer available, making the microwave unfixable. This problem was not Deb's responsibility, but, if she wanted to develop that customer, she had to assume the responsibility.

What did Deb do?

Deb looked at the problem from her customer's point of view and realized that what her customer wanted was a workable microwave. Her customer didn't care about responsibility or blame. Her customer didn't care if a company had been sold or parts were no longer available. Her customer just wanted a microwave that worked. Realizing this, Deb gave her customer what the customer wanted.

She gave the customer a new microwave. Now, she has a customer for life.

At this stressful time of year, customers seem to want or demand more than ever. Some days many of us feel that they demand too much. And some do. Most, however, just want to be taken care of from their point of view. Usually, they want less than you are willing to offer. While this may make you frustrated, remember that it offers you opportunities to further develop them as customers.

Remember that problems are truly opportunities in disguise.

That's why last night the real winners of the game were the Packers. By losing the game, the Packers are forced to review their problems, thereby discovering opportunities. Dallas, on the other hand, is less likely to see their problems because of the complacency created by winning. Winning doesn't teach you anything. Winning doesn't force you to look for ways to improve. Winning doesn't show you the opportunities. Yes, it's great to win, but losing points to opportunities in disguise.

Whether in football or with customers, capitalizing on those opportunities in disguise ultimately gives you the most profitable win, doesn't it?