Timing is Everything

I recently read that blogs get most of their readers early in the morning.  So I guess I should be posting in the morning – not when it is convenient for me.  Clearly, I need to heed my own advice and write blogs when they are convenient for me and post them when it is most convenient for readers. 

Timing is of utmost importance in so many aspects of business and marketing is no exception.  Take these two great marketing examples as proof on the power of the RIGHT timing. 

Cruise lines did extensive research and found most people were at the height of their cruise enjoyment on a given day – I believe it was day three for a seven day cruise.  At this point in the cruise, customers were ‘use to things’ and had found their way around the ship etc.  Cruisers were also far enough away from the end of the experience they were still relaxed.  On this third day of the cruise, customers were given special offers to book next year’s cruise, once the cruise line found this optimal point in the cruise, their sales close ratio greatly increased. 

This next example is also a brilliant example on marketing timing, maybe not so hot on marketing ethics.  Infant formula companies found there were key periods when new mothers would most likely be frustrated with the breast feeding experience.  Then they tracked birth announcements by watching local newspapers and sent out samples of their product to new mothers on those key dates.  The infant formula was then conveniently in home when new Mother’s would be most receptive to trial. 

Are your marketing efforts carefully planned to suite the best time frame for your customer or do they tend to happen when they fit in your schedule or maybe in response to the competitions efforts?  If you can align with customer head space you’ll have a much easier sell. 

Until next time

Melanie

Customer Experience on Shaky Ground

The restaurant ambiance was great – after all we were outside on a patio on a summer evening – any meal tastes better al fresco.  The server did a great job and the food was excellent, yet the entire experience was on shaky ground, as the table tipped back and forth when weight was put on either side. 

At one point, the server noticed our discomfort with the wobbly table and commented “oh ya, that one is a bit wobbly’.  I was dining with a friend and we choose just to put up with it, despite the odd scare that a drink would spill on one of us. 

While I am sure the wobbly restaurant table is just another thing for restaurant employees to think about – if they don’t think about it, it affects the dining experience.  Could servers not check these tables before seating customers?    It seemed a shame, to put a negative slant on an otherwise very positive meal.  Looking for a few more tips for enhancing the restaurant customer experience, check out this article on the New York Times site  http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/one-hundred-things-restaurant-staffers-should-never-do-part-one/

Until next time

Melanie

Today’s Raving Fans

Have you heard the term MFCs before?  You should know what they are and who they are because they are extremely important to your business.  What about the term Raving Fans, or perhaps you’ve even read the book Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service: Amazon.ca: Kenneth H. Blanchard, Sheldon M. Bowles, Harvey Mackay.

MFCs are really your raving fans online.  The acronym stands for Most Frequent Contributor.  You may well be aware that in the social space most people are just listening and a very small percentage actually contribute to blogs, and social networks.  This phenomenon explains about 90% of people are passively taking it in, never commenting, and about 10% are contributors with an even smaller percentage being regular contributors. 

Until Next Time

Melanie

Building a Beary Loyal Following

Have you been to Build a Bear Workshop (BBW) lately?  Whether you have kids or not BBW is a must experience for anybody in the service or retail sector.

I often use BBW as an example of excellent customer experience when I deliver Workshops – they just get it.  They inspire me first because they came into a crowded marketplace and excelled.  They aren’t just selling bears – they are selling the experience of creating something or as they say, ‘bringing a bear to life’.  Enhanced customer experience takes the focus off price. 

BBW does it right in store – but also in their follow up.  We (my daughter and I) are on their email newsletter list and mailing list.  Children don’t get much mail these days, so each colourful mailing from BBW is very well received.  These mailings are, without a doubt, very intentionally thought out, they almost always include a time sensitive offer and a coupon.  Madison considers these coupons to be like ‘really money’ that must be spent before they expire.  And they don’t let up.  Just this week, Madison reminded me her coupon was about to expire this week and the day after it did another one arrived.

Well done BBW – thanks for continuing to inspire me and for an opportunity to regularly open my wallet. 

Until next time

Melanie

What are Yellow Pages

My children surprise me on a daily basis, it is far more rare when they provide me with a business insight.  The other day my eight year old daughter was visiting my office.  I asked her to pass me the yellow pages.  I was completely astonished when she said ‘What are Yellow Pages’.  True enough, I don’t use them much anymore myself, but I thought the term yellow pages would make as much sense to her as a stapler, or pencil sharpener.

We had quite an insightful chat about the Yellow Pages, and Madison even asked why I wouldn’t just go to their site.  At age 8,Madison has a bank card and doesn’t know of days when you had to see a teller to get cash, she knows how to download and upload files, email and text and is quite clear that her preferred gifts are cash and gift cards.  It won’t be long before Madison and her friends make up an important segment in the market, so I was genuinely interested in her take on things. 

I doubt Madison and her friends will ever use the Yellow Pages, she might not even go to a physical computer to look up where to buy the latest trends, she might only ever use a hand held device.  Perhaps she has more business insights to offer.

 

Until Next Time

Melanie

Need a Coffee? In an instant…

When I first saw Starbucks launch Via Instant Coffee I was very curious to see how they would do in this category. 

Starbucks and instant coffee seemed about as far apart to me as McDonalds and Gourmet Food.  After all, in my mind Starbucks was all about hand crafted beverages customized for you, not an instant powder coffee.  But if anybody could change perceptions of instant coffee it would be Starbucks, but I thought they had their work cut out for them in North America.  Instant coffee is actually quite well accepted in many other parts of the world. 

Long before Starbucks, in the 1970s, many North American coffee makers launched various instant coffee products without much market uptake.  Extensive market research was done at this time.  Countless blind taste tests showed that customers couldn’t tell the difference between instant and brewed coffee.  Further digging revealed that although instant coffee might taste good, people missed the brewing experience – smelling coffee brewing enhanced the experience.  

As for results, the numbers speak for themselves.  In less than a year, Starbucks VIA has hit $100 million in sales and were noted as one of the best selling new products. 

Until Next time

Melanie

Creating Loyalty Through Convenience

It’s almost time to head back to school.  Over the next few weeks I’ll spend more time in store than I do throughout much of the year.  I must say, I prefer the years when I could write one cheque to the school and they did all the supply shopping for us.  On the flip side, retailers, all these back to school shoppers, offer you a wonderful opportunity to attract new customers and grow your average sale.

I must say I love how our local Staples store helps to make the back to school shopping easy.  They provide print outs of all the local schools supplies lists.  So if I show up without a list, I am still in luck.  This simple gesture is a brilliant service to customers.  At a time when all the major retailers are having price wars on everything from pencils to protractors, these guys step up on service instead—really in keeping with their positioning….  That’s was easy.   

Wishing you ‘easy’ back to school shopping. 

 

Bearly An Excuse

This summer while travelling as a family we had a bit of a hiccup.  My daughter’s dearly beloved Honey Bear was left behind in a hotel.  I knew this would happen one day as he is a very well travelled bear. 

It wasn’t until bedtime that we realized Honey Bear had extended his stay in PEI.  I was fairly sure it was my fault and I had left him in the hotel room rolled up in the sheets.  I called the hotel just after 8pm to explain to the gal at reception that we thought we’d forgotten this very special bear.  I was surprised when she told me she couldn’t access lost and found until morning that it was in fact locked up. 

Ok, so this was just a bear – but it was a very special bear and just knowing he was there would have gone a long way towards helping this little gal get to sleep.  But what if it was heart medication that was left behind or a passport I needed for a flight, would lost and found have been closed for that.   I wasn’t so sure.

After Madison continued to get more upset, I called back and pleaded my case – but still the gal stood firm and said lost and found could not be checked until morning.

We survived the night without Honey Bear and within a few days we were all reunited, but I did wonder why Lost and Found had to be an 8 – 5 department at this hotel.  Given my passion for social media, this hotel received some negative ‘buzz’ during the time they wouldn’t look for our missing family member.

Until next time, keep your bear safe while travelling

Melanie

Monumental Customer Experience

Today I drove past one of our city’s historic buildings covered in scaffolding. I couldn’t help but notice a number of tourists who were missing the beauty of this building.  Have you ever travelled to a much anticipated destination only to find that one of the major sites was under construction or closed.  This happened to me as I spent part of my honeymoon in Rome.  We were only there for a few days and we were trying to cram so much into each day.  We planned to visit the Sistine Chapel on our last day… Monday.  I still haven’t seen the Sistine Chapel (despite the fact that the honeymoon was more than 15 years ago).  I hadn’t realized at the time, in Europe many museums and monuments are closed on Mondays.  I learned my lesson and now warn friends travelling in Europe not to plan to do museums on Mondays.

Last summer we had a very positive experience with a monument that was being refurbished; it demonstrated excellent customer experience is possible even during a refurbishment. Last summer we took our children to Europe taking them back to many special places we have lived and visited when younger.  For many years I longed to show my husband and children my favourite chateau in France.  I have lived in the Loire Valley and loved all the chateau’s but Chenonceau held  a dear place in my heart.  Who would have thought my believed chateau needed a facelift at the same time as our holiday?  Chenonceau has many beautiful sides too it – the long tree lined entrance, the part of the chateau that spans the river, the interior rooms, the maze and the garden.  Yet, I had envisioned a family photo in front of the chateau – the exact area that needed a little TLC, and that would be covered in scaffolding for our visit.

Chenonceau did not disappoint.  As the photo below shows, the scaffolding was covered with a screen print of the part of the building that was under renovations.  You almost wondered if you were seeing through the scaffolding.  While it was a little detail in their refurbishment plans, it was much appreciated by these visitors and I am sure by many others.

Factors that determine if a shopper becomes a customer?

It’s summer time!  What does summer mean to your retail business?  For some of my clients, it will be a slower period.  Certainly some of our customers are packing their bags for holiday homes.  Yet many new customers will also walk through your door this summer – weather they are looking to escape the heat and embrace some air conditioning or perhaps visiting from away, you will no doubt have some new customers through the door.

Do you know what the single biggest factor of whether or not those customers buy something is?  It is how long they spend in store.  The longer you can keep those customers in you store, the greater the chance they will buy something.  And if you are in the clothing business, the biggest factor on whether or not they make a purchase is, if they take an item of clothing into the dressing room or not. 

I hope that right about now you are wondering how you could keep your customers in your store longer.  Here are few things to consider:

• Think carefully about the merchandising layout grocery stores put all the fresh stuff on the perimeter of the store so you need to cover as much as the store as possible even if you only need milk and produce.  How can you lay out your store in such a way that you are exposing the most merchandise to potential customers? 
• Use Product demos that engage customer keeping customers in your store longer.
• Engaging product experience.  Allow customers to customize things or make it their own, get them involved in your product.

Look for excellent retailing examples within or beyond your industry, always focus on ways to keep people in the store longer.  I think Build a Bear Workshop does a great job of engaging customers and keeping them in store.  Think too about Cosmetic Counters, they are a very profitable part of any department store – always given highly prominent space.   The Cosmetic companies do an excellent job of getting customer highly involved with product which leads to higher sales.    So if your strolling through a new mall on your summer vacation, look for retailers that make you want to hang out a bit longer and ask yourself what you can learn from them.

Until next time

Melanie