Your customers are not clueless
r. Leonard Berry is
a renowned author, lecturer and university professor. His books
on customer service, and the persistent lack thereof in many
businesses, has earned him a national reputation.
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The six most important ideas for every
service business to remember are:
1. Every business’ future depends on
the quality of its service.
2. Value is not price.
3. Disrespect pervades service failure.
4. Service customers are detectives.
5. Service employees are volunteers.
6. Creating a strong service brand is
everyone’s responsibility.
Every business’ future depends on
the quality of its service. Because customers continually
have experiences when they interact with your business, they
filter these “clues” into a set of impressions. The
composite of these clues becomes their total experience.
This experience determines how businesses
are perceived by customers. not for price, but for
“value,” which is much more than price alone.
According to Dr. Berry, value is the benefit customers receive
for the “burdens” (monetary and otherwise) they
endured to do business with you.
Drycleaners know that convenience is a big
part of value. Just having to take a left-hand turn into
traffic can outweigh the benefits of what a store offers to a
customer in terms of value on any given day.
For instance, pay-at-the-pump gas stations
provide a benefit that goes beyond price in attracting
customers. Drive-thru service is a convenience that may attract
customers to your store instead of a lower priced competitor.
It’s important to work both sides of
the street — benefits and burdens. If you focus on price,
you’re only focusing on one part of the equation.
Companies, especially drycleaners, that have low prices and low
value go out of business every day in this country.
The “clues” that customers
consider when seeing your offers determine whether you
ultimately increase market share, either by getting more new
customers, gaining more business with existing customers or
losing fewer customers.
Drycleaners can improve the value they
offer to customers by increasing benefits, reducing burdens or,
best of all, both.
Benefits can be increased through four
kinds of convenience:
Access convenience: The speed and ease
with which customers can do business with you. Such as easy
access to your store, hours of operation, parking and proximity
to other shopping.
Search convenience: The speed and ease
with which customers can identify and select the services they
wish to use. This is facilitated by good signage in your
stores, intelligent store design and having a knowledgeable
staff.
Possession convenience: The speed and ease
with which you complete the services your customers request.
Transaction convenience: The speed and
ease with which customers can affect or amend transactions,
such as efficient checkout (Do you accept all forms of payment:
checks, cash and credit cards?) and convenience of returns.
This last convenience is one of the most
important. Dr. Berry said, “Waiting in line to pay is one
of the most unrewarding things a customer can possibly
do.”
There are lots of stores that are
convenient to get to, but not through. It’s not enough to
excel at only one of these. How would you grade your stores on
all four kinds of convenience?
A common problem that I’ve seen in
all parts of the country is disrespect for the customer. Dr.
Berry says that the top complaints about customer service
— dishonesty, broken promises and inept or unwilling
employees — all stem from a lack of respect for the
customer.
By developing a company culture of respect
for the customer, many drycleaners could take a quantum leap
forward in customer loyalty.
Customers’ “clues” come
from a number of perceptions, both rational and emotional.
Stimuli such as sights, smells, and sounds, along with stimuli
associated with people, such as choice of words, tone of voice,
level of enthusiasm, appearance and body language all
contribute to the formation of these clues.
Good cleaning and pressing are not enough.
They never have been. We are all emotional customers, as much
as we are rational. Dr. Berry says customers want a sense of
control, aesthetic pleasure and enhanced self-esteem.
Additionally, stores communicate without
words. Stores can say so much to customers without a word being
spoken. Even a great store cannot overcome poor humanics.
While all consumers are detectives, all
employees are volunteers. Your challenge, as their leader, is
to keep the volunteers volunteering.
The difference between the maximum
employees can offer and the minimum required for the job is
discretionary to the individual worker, effectively making that
person a “volunteer” if extra effort is given.
According to Dr. Berry, “Excellent companies get more
extra effort than their competitors and it’s appreciated
by their customers.”
Just as customers get their clues from
employees, employees get their clues from leadership.
Organizational values such as respect, joy, teamwork and
innovation help inspire volunteerism.
“Lean and mean” is the wrong
approach, he said, “Great companies are lean and
nice.” The role of leadership is to articulate the
vision, define success, cultivate leadership, challenge the
status quo and encourage the heart.
Leadership is cultivated by promoting the
right people. The best companies don’t just hire for
talent, but also for value, and they promote from within,
ensuring stability and known values.
Finally, step back and take a look at your
business.
Look through the eyes of your customers.
What do you see?
Dennis McCrory is president of The
Golomb Group Inc., a firm that
designs marketing programs for drycleaners. Contact him at The
Golomb Group Inc., 7664 Plaza Ct., Willowbrook, IL 60527
Tele: (800) 679-5856 E-mail: dennismccrory@golombgroup.com
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