Mantra for Growing Business
Sometimes I really wonder what matters most to the customer; is it cost of a product/service or the actual service element associated with it?
Consider this scenario – you go to a shop; you see that nobody is there to serve you; you wait for a few seconds/minutes and then call for someone. When someone appears, you ask for something and you do not get a proper response. Instead, the person just ignores you and goes to another customer just like that or with a curt response.
Or look at this scenario – you go to a shop and shopkeeper is on phone. The other sales men are busy and don’t make it a priority to serve you as a customer. You ask for something and even after waiting patiently you don’t get any response/service from anyone.
Or consider this – You asked a product manufacturer/vendor to build some unit and he has built it and delivered it to you, you paid your entire amount but you feel that he has not delivered to you as per your need. You have been approaching him repeatedly to get it done and you don’t get a response.
In all of these scenarios, how would you feel? Annoyed ?! Frustrated?! Would you prefer to go to these vendors again? Or recommend these vendors to anyone?!
Is there a cost element associated with this? Would you buy anything from these vendors? Will you not go to these shops because of cost?
Most people would remember all these (bad) instances/experiences and never go to these vendors again. They would also quite likely relate these experiences to their acquaintances, thereby putting off people who have never even visited these stores.
Take another instance –
There is a grocery shop in my locality. In fact there are four more grocery shops around this same shop providing the same products but I always see more crowds to this shop? Why?
- Quick Access to Service:
I get the service from the start of my day, from the time I wake up and till the time I go to bed. If I want to get something and I go to this shop and I get it.
- Value Added Service:
I go to this shop and just call the name of the product (even in the crowd) and I get the product in my hands in next few minutes and also get offers of another related products. For instance, if I ask for bread , the reply I get is – “What else you need? Milk, butter, jam spread, tea powder?” Also a question - “No items in your list that you might have forgotten?” - With a smile on a face.
- Professionalism:
If you don’t have the necessary change to settle a transaction, he would reply “You owe me 5 bucks, pay me the next time”, with a smile (and he really never forgets this when you go to shop next time!)
- Maintaining the relationship:
If you criticize some aspect of service, he would promptly reply with humor and fix the issue immediately, valuing customer input.
- Customer satisfaction:
He makes sure that every customer leaves with a smile and satisfaction with the service.
I have seen many customers talking to him openly and friendly and as a customer I also observed myself that I always open up and discuss /argue freely with the faith that he will not cheat me.
During all these instances as a customer, the following questions come to mind:
- Do I really think of cost when I go to him?
- Why do I feel that I can freely discuss/argue/demand for something on a given service?
- Why people are not going to other shops instead of to him even if they are closer?
- Why there is such a high amount of trust in him?
At the same time, the questions from the perspective of a service provider are:
- What makes the customer happy? Is it the service with promptness, with a smile on your face or cost of a product?
- Will a customer really come back to you even if the quality of your product is not the best but the quality of service is high and guaranteed?
- If the customer is unhappy with the product upon delivery, but you honor the customer’s complaint and provide a great solution (if even if you charge for it), will the customer look to you for repeat business?
Thinking ahead – how much of these principles are we really applying today? As a person first and also as a customer – one always records bad instances in memory more easily than good experiences - it’s human tendency.
So, in my opinion, the mantra for growing a business lies in satisfying customers and building strong relationships, and not the just the cost or even quality of the product.
