More on Dry Cleaners, Poor Customer Service and Bad Attitudes

This is from a local marketing genius who works for a non-profit organization in Charleston, West Virginia. She's a real pro ... experienced and savvy. She gets it. If she sees this post and chooses to identify herself that's great. We'll leave it up to her.

Recently, I have experienced a definite "the customer is always wrong" attitude ... it is day and night between businesses where people really hustle for business. In places like Chicago, there is a lot of competition and a lot of opportunity, and client service is strongly ingrained in the population. In other places, folks sometimes behave like they are in a socialist country, where there isn't any incentive to work hard because the rewards are limited. Such attitude can really hold a place back from progress and growth.

Maybe it's the lack of competition or workforce challenges, but "my give a damn's busted" is definitely the approach of many business owners and workers alike. My husband and I have experienced this with lawyers and other professionals, down to cashiers and waiters.

Here's some recent examples:

Yesterday I went to Petsmart to get some stuff for my cat. One of my items rang up $2 more than the price on the display sign. When I pointed this out to the cashier, she got huffy, accused me of switching prices and then reluctantly said, "OK, I guess I'll refund your $2." I thought this could be a "teachable moment" for the manager, so I very politely relayed my experience and pointed out that they weren't doing me any favors, because the law requires customers to be charged the correct price. She didn't get it either and got very defensive.

My husband took a very expensive pair of pants to the drycleaners. He had just got them from Kelley's and they had been worn once. When he picked them up, he took them out of the bag and noticed that the cuffs were basically shredded at the bottom and the pockets were mangled. The owner of the shop was outraged that he had the temerity to inspect them in the shop and screamed "We do excellent work" and blamed Kelley's, saying they sell crappy merchandise. When my husband said he would be happy with just a refund of the cleaning costs, the lady threatened to call the police.

I'm loathe to pick on my new hometown, and I've certainly had customer service problems in Chicago, but I hate for this region to be held back due to this defensive attitude.

Just blowing off steam.....

Okay, marketing geniuses, what do you think? Have you had similar experiences? What is that difference-maker "ingredient?"

2007 Holiday Retail Report A Mixed Bag

According to this excellent report by ComScore, the Internet economy (or eCommerce if you will) has been quite robust lately. Internet spending was up 19% for the 2007 holiday season over the previous year. That is incredibly strong! For the record 2006 was up 26% over 2005, but that does not dampen the robust nature of the 2007 holiday e-commerce retail spending data.

But what about traditional commerce? How's the old economy doing? Despite a strong, promising start (Thanksgiving weekend traffic was reportedly very strong - measured at 6.5% increase vs. 2006), bricks-and-mortar retail was weaker this holiday season. According to the New York Times, consumer spending for the 2007 retail season was up only 3.6% from 2006. The comparable year-over-year rates of increase were 6.6% and 8.7% for 2006 and 2005 respectively. [The analysis in the article also adjusts for higher gasoline prices to conclude that the net increase in retail spending for 2007 was more like 2%. Still it was an increase. That's not entirely bad.]

Finally, there's more of the overall holiday retail assessment to be gleaned from the following report from Thomson Financial (via ddi magazine online):

According to a preliminary same-store sales tally by Thomson Financial, 16 retailers missed projections, while seven surpassed forecasts and one met expectations. While weak results were posted across all retail categories,apparel retailers, such as Limited Brands Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., were the hardest hit. Limited reported an 8 percent decline in same-store sales--financial analysts had predicted a decline of only 4 percent. However, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. reported same-store sales increases for December. Wal-Mart's same-store sales rose 2.4 percent, surpassing a forecast of 1.8 percent, while Costco posted a 7 percent increase in same-store sales, above the 5.6 percent prediction.

All in all, the 2007 holiday retail season was a mixed bag: somewhat weak overall, with a few bright spots. The notable exception was online retail, or e-commerce.

Any marketing genius who dares to say that the Internet is becoming increasingly important to business success is absolutely correct!

Talladega Days and Nights

Beginning today and continuing through Monday, I will be posting blogs from Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

I am here on behalf of a client who sponsors a race team on the ARCA series. I will be focusing on the sights and sounds of NASCAR, its applications as a marketing platform and lessons we can take as marketing professionals.

Right now, it’s 5:45am. At this hour, you'd think everything would be quiet. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is so much activity, and to get the full experience, I've decided to camp in the infield of the track. It’s a great view, but there is a catch. Once you enter the infield with your vehicle, you can’t leave until after Sunday’s race.

What does that mean? It means the local grocery stores were very crowded when I was there at 3:30 this morning.

One could easily expect the staff of these businesses to be rather anxious, flustered and perhaps even unprofessional at times given the increase of customers in the wee hours of the morning. I was quite surprised when the grocery store I went to chose to be proactive in their approach to customer service.

The store had the feel of a retail establishment. A team of employees greeted shoppers at each entrance. They shook hands, welcomed folks, and engaged in small talk. Staff floated in the aisles, maintaining the dialogue established at the door, and offering assistance in locating items. Their approach reminded me of Kelley's in Charleston, WV, with its personal shoppers helping customers select the perfect suit.

The tactic was very effective. Customers felt at ease despite the large crowds, early hours and fatigue.

If marketing is creating an environment in which sales can flourish, customer service is one very important way of controlling/maintaining that environment.

Something to think about.

Posted by Emily Bennington on behalf of Jim Nester

Mistake Avoided

In marketing, it is very gratifying to help clients grow their businesses ... to increase revenues. Marketing usually operates a the top line of the business, i.e., the revenue. What's even more gratifying is to work at a strategic marketing level and help a client avoid a mistake. Marketing can also have a huge impact on a business' bottom line costs, as illustrated by the following examples from our work at Maple Creative.

Case #1- Mental Health Professional - We helped the Managing Partner to develop a premium pricing strategy for a new service offering. He had envisioned a competitive market pricing strategy with volume discounts. Instead, we proved that clients viewed his services as highest value and that price was not a determining issue. Saved this client $150,000 per year by avoiding unnecessary price reductions.

Case #2- Petroleum Retailer - We helped the CEO explore a potential change in gasoline brands. Discovered that changing from Brand X to Brand Y would have caused at least 32% of customers to leave. Saved this client $3 million a year in lost revenues.

Case #3- Financial Services Firm - helped the management team explore a possible name change and re-branding. Learned that it was unnecessary, enable this client to refrain from wasting $250,000 (avoided cost of change out for signage, collateral, etc.)

Looking for the commonality among these three, great success stories? It's simple: research.

The marketing genius understands how powerful it is to isolate that which we do not know and to get answers via research.

Case 1 - Focus group
Case 2 - Survey - clipboard exit interviews at the store
Case 3 - Survey - telephone interviews