As we all find ourselves sprinting towards the finish line that is the end of the financial year, I'm delighted that you managed to find a few spare minutes in your day to read through my random musings. As you look back on your year, you may well feel like I do - pleased to see the back of it and looking forward to a much better one. You're not alone - none of us are - but things do feel pretty busy around here and perhaps it's a sign that true confidence really is starting to come back to the market.
Here is the UK, people believe that things will pick up after the General Election. Why? Is the new PM (you don't seriously think the current one is going to win do you?) going to wave a magic wand and put extra money in everyone's budget? Remember, it's not about money - it's about confidence. If you believe your firm is worth shouting about, then you will invest the money in doing so, it's really that simple.
This week I want to talk about another favourite bugbear of mine, and that is customer service. The difference this time is that I want to tell you about good customer service - it is still out there and I got to experience it first hand. I'm not talking about some fancy 5 star hotel or a posh restaurant where you can pick up a bottle of wine for the price of a second hand family car. No. I'm talking about a sports shop on the high street.
Recently I had noticed some posters on the London Underground for a particular brand of footwear. Now I am not going to name the brand here because they are not a client of mine and if you want me to do some marketing for you, you're going to have to pay for it (please refer to the archives and the post entitled Stop Giving It Away for more information).
None the less my father had already bought a pair of these shoes and he spoke highly of them. They're not ordinary shoes - they're designed to help improve posture and exercise your legs properly when you walk. I have dreadful posture and often have back and neck problems, so it seemed like a good idea to try these things out.
I did my research and found that the nearest place to my home to get them was an unassuming sportswear shop on the high street. I called them first to make sure that they had my size and the models that I was interested in and, once satisfied that they could help, I set off. It's also worth pointing out that I had Felix with me that day, and that's relevant, but more later.
As I went in I was instantly approached by one of their people asking how they could help. Good start, and in these times, a sadly rare one too. I told him I had spoken with someone on the phone and he instantly knew it was his colleague. How did they do that? I can only assume that once I had hung up, the person I spoke with told his colleague that someone was coming in to try on these shoes - a little detail but impressive.
Now this guy really knew his stuff. He knew that regular sizes didn't work on these shoes and that they had to fit a certain way. He knew the popular models, how best to walk in them, all of the fine details. I actually made a point of asking him if the manufacturers had trained him especially and it turned out that they had.
Remember I mentioned Felix was with me? Well when we first went in he was asleep in his pushchair, but within 10 minutes he was up and ready to play. Whilst I tried on shoes the other people in the store played catch with him and he had a great time.
Where's all this going? Well the fact is that these shoes are not cheap. We're talking three figures here. Recently I've found that my shoes are dying on me far too quickly, so I decided to take a long term view and invest in a pair that would last a long time and actually do me some good. However, because of their exemplary knowledge and customer service, I actually ended up buying two pairs. I spent so much more than I had originally intended and whilst I did suffer the inevitable buyer's remorse, I was able to get over it.
These people did not attempt to up sell. In fact, they really didn't try and sell at all. They answered my questions confidently and asked me some important questions too. Not only that, but we negotiated a good price on my buying two pairs instead of one (you didn't really think I'd pay full price did you?) and they also let Felix have his pick of the mini footballs to take home as a birthday present - he's two next week.
As a parting gift, he also gave me a DVD which explained more about the shoes than he could have done in store. I appreciate that the manufacturer does this, but it's a lovely finishing touch.
Product knowledge is so important, and yet many people working in retail just overlook it. They figure that they can just read the information off of the little display ticket or grab the box and read that. It's just not good enough. When I first started in sales I worked in electrical retail. I was 17 years old and worked on Saturdays and school holidays - I was still in college studying for my A Levels, which in hindsight were a total waste of time but there's no point in being bitter about it now.
Every so often, a new product would come into the store, and as I put the item out on display, I'd take away the instruction manual and read it. My colleagues would tease me about being such a nerd and asked why I was wasting my time on such activity. Each time my response would be the same; "When a customer asks me if this is any good, I want to be able to tell them, and to answer their questions without running upstairs to grab the manual." I was young, innocent and enthusiastic, and I outsold them all every single week!
These days I weep at the state of the high street, filled with apathetic teenagers who make you feel bad for interrupting them as you try desperately to buy something from them. Think about the last time you went into a store and was treated with respect and enthusiasm - a pleasant surprise wasn't it? Now remember the last time you got the opposite of that? No? Of course not - because those experiences will not stay in your mind - you'll shrug them off and move on.
Now I know I preach on and on about the value of good marketing and why it's important to spend money on it. The people in the sports shop are capitalising on the very best marketing of all - word of mouth. You will always share a positive experience with someone. I am more than happy to tell people living in North West London to buy their sportswear from Sportec in Barnet. Now they didn't pay me for an advert either, but they actually earned it by doing such a good job.
The morale of the story? Good service costs you nothing - bad service costs you everything.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
Thursday 18 March 2010
Emotional Merchandise
Hello lovers of the blogosphere, I trust that in your quest for knowledge you feel slightly more informed now than you were when you woke up. Even if it's just that you now know what some stranger in Brazil fed her cat this morning - she felt the need to share and you, like the unsuspecting muppet that you are, chose to read all about it.
Something interesting happened in a meeting recently and I wanted to share it with all of you. When discussing promotional merchandise, the client in question had a wonderful slip of the tongue and referred to it as 'emotional merchandise' by mistake.
At first we laughed, but then it dawned on both of us that this really was a much more accurate description than we first thought. I mean think about it - when you give someone a gift at a trade show - even a.....and I'm going to use the P word here.....pen, that person will have an emotional response, and the chances are that it will be a positive one. After all, everyone loves a freebie, even if the only thing to happen afterwards is that they take it home, give it to their kids and then forget all about it.
AHAAAAAAA!!!!!!! So there's the opportunity you missed. See what if you could take that positive response and really capitalise on it? What does your gift do for you then?
There are a number of ways to do this. The first, and most obvious course of action is to NOT hand out some piece of crap to everyone who passes by. It cheapens your brand, stretches your budget and wastes your time, and if you're not sure how any of that happens, feel free to read some of the archives in this blog - frankly you should be doing that anyway, I am giving you gold here and I'm not even charging for it. You'd think by now I would have been offered some sort of book deal but I still live in hope. Incidentally, if you are a publisher looking for the musings of a salesman with a chip on his shoulder which spurns him into action, then I'm your man.
Back to the point. Think about who your customer is - what he or she thinks about, how they work, what drives them, how they relate to you. Build a profile of your ideal customer and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to come up with the right ideas, but we'll talk more about that in another episode.
One other way to build on that response is to offer a follow up gift, so if you did resort to giving them a pen, perhaps you could send them a pad, or a highlighter, or a pen pot. This way you get to reignite that little spark you created when you gave them that first gift.
Now obviously you don't want to go giving this out to everyone, but if you've planned things properly, you will have built up a database of those people with whom you would like to follow up, and it's not going to be those people that just grabbed a pen and ran!
Of course you could save money here by simply asking them how they're enjoying their gift when you call them. A little jog of the memory can go a long way into developing a relationship with a new customer.
But let's put strategy aside and talk about how you choose that all important gift in the first place. It's easier than you think. Obviously the first thing to do is put down all of those catalogues, pick up the phone and call me. Seriously - those books are not helping you at all, just bin them. Just put my phone number on a Post It Note, attach it to your monitor and free up some space on your shelves.
What you're looking for is YOUR emotional response. When you receive a sample or look at an image of a product that's been emailed to you, take a moment of personal reflection and think about how it made you feel. If you were excited by it, there's a very strong chance your potential customers will feel the same, and you should shortlist it immediately. If you simply said "Yeah, that's quite good" then chuck it - if you can't hand over a gift with genuine enthusiasm, then the recipient will take it with the same lacklustre response. The result? Apathy on both sides and no chance of a decent follow up conversation, so what was the point of that?
Remember, ultimately you need to be USING the gifts that you give in order to generate more business. Anything less than that is a giveaway - it's pointless and costly, and I'm here to make sure you avoid it.
Hope that's made you feel better - have a good week.
Something interesting happened in a meeting recently and I wanted to share it with all of you. When discussing promotional merchandise, the client in question had a wonderful slip of the tongue and referred to it as 'emotional merchandise' by mistake.
At first we laughed, but then it dawned on both of us that this really was a much more accurate description than we first thought. I mean think about it - when you give someone a gift at a trade show - even a.....and I'm going to use the P word here.....pen, that person will have an emotional response, and the chances are that it will be a positive one. After all, everyone loves a freebie, even if the only thing to happen afterwards is that they take it home, give it to their kids and then forget all about it.
AHAAAAAAA!!!!!!! So there's the opportunity you missed. See what if you could take that positive response and really capitalise on it? What does your gift do for you then?
There are a number of ways to do this. The first, and most obvious course of action is to NOT hand out some piece of crap to everyone who passes by. It cheapens your brand, stretches your budget and wastes your time, and if you're not sure how any of that happens, feel free to read some of the archives in this blog - frankly you should be doing that anyway, I am giving you gold here and I'm not even charging for it. You'd think by now I would have been offered some sort of book deal but I still live in hope. Incidentally, if you are a publisher looking for the musings of a salesman with a chip on his shoulder which spurns him into action, then I'm your man.
Back to the point. Think about who your customer is - what he or she thinks about, how they work, what drives them, how they relate to you. Build a profile of your ideal customer and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to come up with the right ideas, but we'll talk more about that in another episode.
One other way to build on that response is to offer a follow up gift, so if you did resort to giving them a pen, perhaps you could send them a pad, or a highlighter, or a pen pot. This way you get to reignite that little spark you created when you gave them that first gift.
Now obviously you don't want to go giving this out to everyone, but if you've planned things properly, you will have built up a database of those people with whom you would like to follow up, and it's not going to be those people that just grabbed a pen and ran!
Of course you could save money here by simply asking them how they're enjoying their gift when you call them. A little jog of the memory can go a long way into developing a relationship with a new customer.
But let's put strategy aside and talk about how you choose that all important gift in the first place. It's easier than you think. Obviously the first thing to do is put down all of those catalogues, pick up the phone and call me. Seriously - those books are not helping you at all, just bin them. Just put my phone number on a Post It Note, attach it to your monitor and free up some space on your shelves.
What you're looking for is YOUR emotional response. When you receive a sample or look at an image of a product that's been emailed to you, take a moment of personal reflection and think about how it made you feel. If you were excited by it, there's a very strong chance your potential customers will feel the same, and you should shortlist it immediately. If you simply said "Yeah, that's quite good" then chuck it - if you can't hand over a gift with genuine enthusiasm, then the recipient will take it with the same lacklustre response. The result? Apathy on both sides and no chance of a decent follow up conversation, so what was the point of that?
Remember, ultimately you need to be USING the gifts that you give in order to generate more business. Anything less than that is a giveaway - it's pointless and costly, and I'm here to make sure you avoid it.
Hope that's made you feel better - have a good week.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Stop saying sorry
Hello everyone. Now even though this will be published on Thursday, I am actually writing this on a Tuesday evening as I return from a series of very interesting meetings with new and existing clients.
I am pleased to say that March is turning out to be just as crazy as it always is, with companies up and down the country desperate to spend the last pennies of a budget that, only a month ago, they told me that they didn't have!
No, I'm not bitter, but I do wish that more people would just be straight with me in the first place. If you've got budget but you'd rather spend it elsewhere then that's fine - I'm a big boy and I won't be offended. All I ask is for the chance to point out to you JUST HOW WRONG YOU ARE!!!!! But of course, that's an entirely different story.
One of my meetings today was very interesting indeed. The company in question have a lot of very strict guidelines and policies in place and, should one of their users miss certain deadlines or file things incorrectly, they are likely to face certain surcharges.
Now as a result of this, quite a lot of these users don't really have any love for this company. Obviously I can't tell you who they are, but right now you might be wondering why the users in question just don't go somewhere else. Well the simple answer is that they can't, so don't concern yourself with it.
But what does this company do about the complaints that they receive? They send them an apology and will include a gift in the hope of bringing back a nice warm and fuzzy feeling for everyone concerned.
Seems like a nice idea, but I think that they're missing out on something here.
Think about the last time you received a gift by way of compensation for a job done badly. Did it yield a positive reaction? Well it might have done but ultimately you may well have felt that you were essentially being paid to shut up and go away. "We know you're unhappy, now here are some vouchers because we love you......There, are you happy now? Are you? Good.....now leave us alone." Not very nice, but let's face it, that's what a lot of these apology gifts really are.
Well how about we change all of that? "Can we Paul?" I hear you cry, "is such a wonderful thing even possible in this dark and dreary world we call business?" Blimey cheer up mate - it's not all bad news!
Of course we can change it. You see a complaint should not be viewed as a negative thing. Oh sure, you want all of your customers to be happy and to love you at all times and for nothing to ever go wrong ever ever ever, but we both know that that's not going to happen, so put down those rose coloured glasses and let's see what we can do about it.
Your company's process improvement should be never ending. That means that every complaint is an opportunity to do things better the next time around. You may have to shift suppliers, alter policies, whatever it might be - you have a real opportunity to improve your customers' experience of working with you.
So should you apologise when you receive a complaint? NO! You should thank them for bringing the news to your attention. Obviously you want to acknowledge that they're not happy and tell them that you'll do what you can to make things right, but just how nice is it going to be when you offer them something along the lines of.....
"We'll get this sorted out for you right away and I'd really like to thank you for taking the time to let me know about this. I realise that a number of people simply shrug their shoulders when things don't go as expected, so it's genuinely refreshing to speak with someone who feels passionately enough to speak up and do something about it. I'd like to send something to you as a token of our appreciation - would that be OK with you?"
KABOOM! I mean who is not going to be blown away by that? You will have totally taken control of the situation and turned an angry customer into an ally. Just what are the chances that he or she will relay what you've said to a friend or associate? Pretty good I'd say, and that naturally could lead to some new customers too.
Sorry seems to be the hardest word? Not really - it's easy and all too often is offered up without any sincerity or follow through, so just stop using it, and make the best of a less than perfect situation.
Enjoy your week.
I am pleased to say that March is turning out to be just as crazy as it always is, with companies up and down the country desperate to spend the last pennies of a budget that, only a month ago, they told me that they didn't have!
No, I'm not bitter, but I do wish that more people would just be straight with me in the first place. If you've got budget but you'd rather spend it elsewhere then that's fine - I'm a big boy and I won't be offended. All I ask is for the chance to point out to you JUST HOW WRONG YOU ARE!!!!! But of course, that's an entirely different story.
One of my meetings today was very interesting indeed. The company in question have a lot of very strict guidelines and policies in place and, should one of their users miss certain deadlines or file things incorrectly, they are likely to face certain surcharges.
Now as a result of this, quite a lot of these users don't really have any love for this company. Obviously I can't tell you who they are, but right now you might be wondering why the users in question just don't go somewhere else. Well the simple answer is that they can't, so don't concern yourself with it.
But what does this company do about the complaints that they receive? They send them an apology and will include a gift in the hope of bringing back a nice warm and fuzzy feeling for everyone concerned.
Seems like a nice idea, but I think that they're missing out on something here.
Think about the last time you received a gift by way of compensation for a job done badly. Did it yield a positive reaction? Well it might have done but ultimately you may well have felt that you were essentially being paid to shut up and go away. "We know you're unhappy, now here are some vouchers because we love you......There, are you happy now? Are you? Good.....now leave us alone." Not very nice, but let's face it, that's what a lot of these apology gifts really are.
Well how about we change all of that? "Can we Paul?" I hear you cry, "is such a wonderful thing even possible in this dark and dreary world we call business?" Blimey cheer up mate - it's not all bad news!
Of course we can change it. You see a complaint should not be viewed as a negative thing. Oh sure, you want all of your customers to be happy and to love you at all times and for nothing to ever go wrong ever ever ever, but we both know that that's not going to happen, so put down those rose coloured glasses and let's see what we can do about it.
Your company's process improvement should be never ending. That means that every complaint is an opportunity to do things better the next time around. You may have to shift suppliers, alter policies, whatever it might be - you have a real opportunity to improve your customers' experience of working with you.
So should you apologise when you receive a complaint? NO! You should thank them for bringing the news to your attention. Obviously you want to acknowledge that they're not happy and tell them that you'll do what you can to make things right, but just how nice is it going to be when you offer them something along the lines of.....
"We'll get this sorted out for you right away and I'd really like to thank you for taking the time to let me know about this. I realise that a number of people simply shrug their shoulders when things don't go as expected, so it's genuinely refreshing to speak with someone who feels passionately enough to speak up and do something about it. I'd like to send something to you as a token of our appreciation - would that be OK with you?"
KABOOM! I mean who is not going to be blown away by that? You will have totally taken control of the situation and turned an angry customer into an ally. Just what are the chances that he or she will relay what you've said to a friend or associate? Pretty good I'd say, and that naturally could lead to some new customers too.
Sorry seems to be the hardest word? Not really - it's easy and all too often is offered up without any sincerity or follow through, so just stop using it, and make the best of a less than perfect situation.
Enjoy your week.
Thursday 4 March 2010
This is really cool!
Well a very hearty and happy hello to all of you - I trust that the day finds you well. Does it? Good. Me? Well thanks for asking - I'm great, despite the fact that young Felix has decided to start skipping his dinner and then waking up at four in the morning feeling a little hungry.
You'd think after a couple of weeks of this he'd have figured it out by now but NOOOOOOO!!!! Why should his loving parents sleep when he's awake and needs something? I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love him but sometimes he's an idiot.
It's been a fantastic week for Merchandise Mania. On Monday, we were awarded Distributor of the Year for London and the South East 2010. This is award granted by Promota - the UK trade association that gives you the peace of mind that its members aren't some bunch of cowboys selling dodgy merchandise made by five year old Vietnamese children each being paid a weekly wage of three cents and a packet of Fruit Pastilles.
It's an important award because it's actually voted for by our manufacturers and importers. It tells us that we are practising good business with them and that they like to deal with us, and that's great, because the more they like us, the better a job they do and that's the service that we get to pass on to our customers.
Incidentally, it's not the only award we have here by the way, and you're more than welcome to visit our office and stare at our trophy cabinets. That's right - cabinets, plural, because we've got too many trophies to fit into just the one.
OK, enough gloating, I mean it's not like I do it all that often is it? Last week I told you that I was going to tell you about some of the more popular products from this year's Confex show, so here is my personal favourite.
Now for quite some time, various gadget companies have been making different types of speakers for your MP3 player. Some of them are quite cool and some of them are frankly laughable. In fact, I saw a pair last week that proudly boast that they don't need a battery - sounds good, until you try listening to them and realise that you'd get more volume taping a couple of empty toilet roll holders to your earphones.
However, something has come along which I really love. It's called the Anywhere Speaker and the clue is very much in the name. It's a small white box with two attachments. The first is the headphone jack - no prizes for guessing where that goes - and the second is a small adhesive pad that you can stick (and here's the clever bit) anywhere. Stick it onto any flat surface and, using vibration technology, that surface instantly becomes a speaker!
We've tried it out on various different surfaces and we've found that shoe boxes, drinks cartons and bottles work particularly well. The very best surface is my fridge, but I'm afraid that it's not for sale. I mean I say that, but you can always make me an offer.
To see it in action, you can go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DVKg6pw77Y&feature=related
No don't click it yet! Finish reading this and then click it.
Now this box has a really great printing area and you'll be delighted to learn that prices start at less than £10 including branding.
It's a truly novel product and think of the marketing potential - I have one and I make a point of showing it to all of my friends, not because I am trying to sell it to them, but because I think it's cool. Can you imagine your own brand name spreading like that? People talking about your company with their friends and all because you gave them a really interesting product - just imagine what that could mean for your bottom line.
Now remember what I told you. I don't get excited about merchandise that often. I'm a cynical old git and I've seen it all before, so when I tell you that there's a piece of merchandise that got me excited, you'd best believe it's knocking sliced bread off of the top spot.
Seriously, what's the big deal about sliced bread anyway?
You'd think after a couple of weeks of this he'd have figured it out by now but NOOOOOOO!!!! Why should his loving parents sleep when he's awake and needs something? I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love him but sometimes he's an idiot.
It's been a fantastic week for Merchandise Mania. On Monday, we were awarded Distributor of the Year for London and the South East 2010. This is award granted by Promota - the UK trade association that gives you the peace of mind that its members aren't some bunch of cowboys selling dodgy merchandise made by five year old Vietnamese children each being paid a weekly wage of three cents and a packet of Fruit Pastilles.
It's an important award because it's actually voted for by our manufacturers and importers. It tells us that we are practising good business with them and that they like to deal with us, and that's great, because the more they like us, the better a job they do and that's the service that we get to pass on to our customers.
Incidentally, it's not the only award we have here by the way, and you're more than welcome to visit our office and stare at our trophy cabinets. That's right - cabinets, plural, because we've got too many trophies to fit into just the one.
OK, enough gloating, I mean it's not like I do it all that often is it? Last week I told you that I was going to tell you about some of the more popular products from this year's Confex show, so here is my personal favourite.
Now for quite some time, various gadget companies have been making different types of speakers for your MP3 player. Some of them are quite cool and some of them are frankly laughable. In fact, I saw a pair last week that proudly boast that they don't need a battery - sounds good, until you try listening to them and realise that you'd get more volume taping a couple of empty toilet roll holders to your earphones.
However, something has come along which I really love. It's called the Anywhere Speaker and the clue is very much in the name. It's a small white box with two attachments. The first is the headphone jack - no prizes for guessing where that goes - and the second is a small adhesive pad that you can stick (and here's the clever bit) anywhere. Stick it onto any flat surface and, using vibration technology, that surface instantly becomes a speaker!
We've tried it out on various different surfaces and we've found that shoe boxes, drinks cartons and bottles work particularly well. The very best surface is my fridge, but I'm afraid that it's not for sale. I mean I say that, but you can always make me an offer.
To see it in action, you can go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DVKg6pw77Y&feature=related
No don't click it yet! Finish reading this and then click it.
Now this box has a really great printing area and you'll be delighted to learn that prices start at less than £10 including branding.
It's a truly novel product and think of the marketing potential - I have one and I make a point of showing it to all of my friends, not because I am trying to sell it to them, but because I think it's cool. Can you imagine your own brand name spreading like that? People talking about your company with their friends and all because you gave them a really interesting product - just imagine what that could mean for your bottom line.
Now remember what I told you. I don't get excited about merchandise that often. I'm a cynical old git and I've seen it all before, so when I tell you that there's a piece of merchandise that got me excited, you'd best believe it's knocking sliced bread off of the top spot.
Seriously, what's the big deal about sliced bread anyway?
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