19. July 2009 by Bob Griffin.

I have gone many rounds with franchisees, small business owners, and fellow employees on this one question.  If you think everyone is a potential customer, you may be right.  You also may be wasting time, money, and energy in the pursuit of everyone and get no one.

The funny thing is most people don’t think about who a customer really is and then act on it.

Is a customer someone who thinks about your business when they have a need to fill? No!  Just thinking about your business is nice, but not very profitable. They aren’t anywhere near your business to spend money and you have no way to sell more to someone just thinking about your services (although technology is advancing daily).  This is point where you can get good word-of-mouth advertising - as long as the words they are saying make someone want to visit your business.

Is a customer someone who enters your store?  Nope, sorry. That is still a POTENTIAL customer and can just as easily walk right back out. To that point, are you sure you really know how many people walk in and do not buy anything? You always hope you do, but there can be a number of customers who are ignored, seen but not talked to, or even talked to with the useless phrase, “Can I help you with something?” In any case, this is not a customer.

How about when a customer pays for a product or service? We are getting closer, but this is still not a customer. How can that be? Many people just visit a location to “check it out” and see if the service and the products are good. But, they may be shopping around for a store to buy from and not be a customer yet. Buying from a business once just makes you a spy. They come in, look around, take a mental note of the quality of the operation and then leave. This person can not be considered a customer.

Since the readers of Business Bulldog are above average, I can now confirm what you are already thinking.  A customer is a person who spends money with you repeatedly.  This also implies that you must keep the customer coming back.  I asked a manager recently, “If a celebrity were to walk into your establishment how would you treat him or her?”  The answer was that she would so everything imaginable to make it an amazing experience.  I then asked who a regular customer is and how do you treat him or her?  The reaction I got was decidedly different.  Many people say, “Why spend money on people who are already going to come in?” The answer is clear when you consider that they may not come in if you do not treat them well.  Also, think about the money they spend trying out your competition. 

A customer is only a customer when they come back.  Treat them well, give them reasons to come back, go beyond their expectations, and ask them to come back often. You may only have one chance at a good first impression, but you have many more chances to lose a customer because you have not defined what a customer is.

Posted in Marketing, Customer Service, Creating the Culture, Training, Making Money | Print | 74 Comments »

18. June 2009 by Bob Griffin.

I was reading a great book on hunting techniques of predator species of animals and it occurred to me that there is a real correlation between the way animals get their next meal and the way businesses try to get customers.  Nature has a great way of showing us how to do it right and to help us match our style to the technique that makes the best sense for getting customers into a store.  By using predators as a means of examining the ways to get to an end result we are demonstrating a way of looking at your business that has been perfected and in use since anything roamed the earth. There are three main ways that animals hunt - Sit and Wait, Attack, and Infiltrate.  Any one of these can be a good way to add customers, but the use of these three forms of hunting (or for us, marketing) should be blended and used often.

Are you a spider Sitting and Waiting in the right location so your customers can find you? Is that the main point of your business plan - to sit and wait for customers to walk in and be drained of their money? This is, of course, not a bad plan. A Business Bulldog stands where the business is. This requires planning and to have the right plan you need to think like a customer.

Let’s spin it around.  What if you started thinking like you were the one being hunted.  What attractive web would have you as the customers fly into the store?

• Where would you go to spend money?
• What do you think about when you travel to a certain area?
• Do other businesses in this area compliment your plan to spend money and keep you in the area longer?

Now let’s look at Attack! Bears use this aggressive method for getting what they want. Get a scent, leave the area, and grab what you need. Many companies used this technique to get started. Fuller brush salesmen and encyclopedia salesmen were everywhere in the middle of the last century. They would get a whiff of prey and they go charging after it like it is their last meal before Winter. This is a rough way to gain market share and a big way of getting your presence known in an area. It is also very tiring and can wear on customers fast.  This is guerrilla marketing - bear style!

Time to turn it around. What would make a business come charging after you like they had nothing to lose? Some would say just being in the area is enough to set of the sensors on these crazy for a sale attackers. There is something more to it. 

• You need to be a participant -someone who looks like their customer.
• You need to be in the territory.
• You need have the means of satisfying their need (to make a sale).

The last method is to Infiltrate.  Jaguars are masters of this way of hunting.  They look like their surroundings and no one notices them until they are caught.  They look like they belong there.  Ever been at a party and someone makes a suggestion that later on you realize was just to benefit them at your cost?  That is the way to infiltrate.  Be a part of the scene and then move around until you find what you need.  Be quick, smooth, and act with style.  This is a skill and a trait that many people do not have, but can learn.  It takes being patient and waiting for the right time to act.

Spinning this around again; what would make a jaguar want to spend energy on you? 

• Do you have what they want?
• Have you said or done something to make yourself a target as a customer?
• Do you really know your surroundings to know if their is a hunter in the midst?

Since many business owners find a “Customer Hunting Method” and stick with it there is a bewilderment that happens when the customers are no longer there.  All it takes is to have more than one way of getting customers to eat well daily.  Combine the methods.

• Be in the right place

  • Location is one of the pillars of any good business - if they can’t find you, they can’t buy from you
  • Have a place that draws customers in
  • Act fast when the customer is in your web
    

• Go get the customers

  • Know what a customer looks like
  • Know where customers are in your area
  • Hire the right people who want to go after customers

• Be prepared to be in the background until the right time hits

  • Ask more questions than you answer
  • Be prepared to listen to your customer’s needs
  • Find ways to make what you want their idea

Posted in Marketing, Creating the Culture, Training | Print | 83 Comments »

27. May 2009 by Noel Guilford.

In a continued effort to remain competitive in a shrinking market many brands have resorted to invading the coined territory of their competition and enticing their customers away. As disposable cash is slowly becoming extinct, desperation has become the best fuel for innovation. I’m sure many will say their version of a desired product or service is better than the one currently offered by the market leader. Well, in the best interest of your core demographic it better be better than what you can offer. Tackling the challenge of expanding your business model to attract more customers can be an exhausting task even if done correctly. Some might consider this type of evolution to be more of an offensive than defensive tactic to emerge out on top.

Keep in mind that your venture to draw in new customers with another businesses core product or service will be heavily scrutinized. Direct comparison with the original will be made even before the consumer has an opportunity to experience it for themselves. The upside is the increase in customer traffic if for nothing else than sheer curiosity, giving an opportunity to impress those that would never otherwise patron a business. Trust me I understand that many brands are fighting for their lives, and it’s extremely difficult not to believe that if you could out do the other guy then the customers would come but that’s just not the case. Battle with your individuality and make what you do best your greatest weapon, improve on that and let the other guys run around.

Posted in Marketing, Being the Boss | Print | 1 Comment »

27. March 2009 by Bob Griffin.

I managed a dry cleaners during college to help pay the bills. Not an enviable job, but finding a decent job when there are thousands of other students looking for work isn’t easy. I considered myself lucky just to have the job.

It was a back-to-basics customer service kind of work. There were six or seven other dry cleaners on the same road, so being the service leader was vital to staying in business (and keeping my job). I would get to know each customer and have their clothes ready when they pulled up.

One night I was called by the owner. He told me there had been a fire and the entire store burned down. This was a real nightmare. You only bring your best clothes to the dry cleaners and now they were burned or smoke damaged - definitely not very clean.

The owner, not being the brave one, gave me the job of calling all of the customers and letting them know we lost their good clothes to a fire. I had to get the price they paid for the clothes to give to the insurance company and other information so they could be paid for their loss. On top of that, I had to sit outside the burned ruins of the business and talk with the customers who drove to the store to talk. This was a perfect time to use some of those crisis management skills I had learned.

Overall, customers were supportive. I had spent the prior year getting to know them, their families, and the story behind a lot of the stains on their clothes. I had a ready question about their family, work, or vacation when they visited to drop off or pick up clothes, so letting them know how sorry I was that we burned their nice clothes was made easier because they also knew me.

There were customers who were not so nice. I still vividly recall those people in my mind. The screams of, “How dare you burn my clothes!” and “What are you going to do about this!” were ringing in my ears for weeks after the accident.

Once the insurance company paid the claim was when things really got moving rebuilding the store.

Think about that for a second. We were going to get back into the same business where just months earlier we had lost all of our customer’s clothes. A business that was out of business and sent customers to our competitors. How in the world was I going to attract customers back and keep them after an accident like this?

I gave them BBQ!

Bulldog Rule # 7 - Remember to dream about where your business can go and then make it happen

When it came time to reopen the store, I wanted to take some of  mystery out of dry cleaning. After all, how do you clean something without getting it wet? I also gave the customers a chance to look around the sparkling clean, new store. I sent invitations to our “Re-Grand Opening” and made it look like a party.  We had music playing, toys for the kids, and BBQ sandwiches to eat. I decorated the outside of the store with balloons and streamers and made a sign to hold at the street.

Now, I want to mention the BBQ sandwiches again.  This was my moment of genius. Since customers are always worried that stains on their clothes would not come out, I made sure to feed them something that was guaranteed to cause stains. Once they dripped that tasty BBQ sauce on their shirt, I would bring them back to the new machines that would remove the stains and show them how it worked. If it was possible, I would use some of the cleaning fluid and remove the stain while they were still wearing the shirt. On top of that, I gave them a coupon with a steep discount to use on their next visit.

Customers came back because they could see how nice the store was and that we truly wanted them to come back. I re-instituted  the customer service that we were known for and customers even brought new customers.

In the end, a fire made things look overwhelmingly dire, but taking advantage of the good customer service I had provided along with a plan to transparent business model gave us a chance to come back stronger than before. A year later, other dry cleaners on that same street started to close. We had taken too many of their customers to keep them going.

If you think like a Business Bulldog, there is always a chance to bring your best efforts. You just have to want it, plan for it, and make it happen.

Posted in Marketing, Customer Service, Being the Boss | Print | 108 Comments »

25. March 2009 by Noel Guilford.

A successful marketing campaign isn’t as complicated as some might believe. It really just takes a little homework, creativity and guts most of all. Try to view marketing as the best way to communicate with your customers. No marketing, no communication. Bad marketing, bad communication! I have seen more money wasted on marketing than in any other part of a business. It is the black hole that many businesses with good intentions fall into daily.

Most small business owners have realized that there is no magic wand to wave when it comes to marketing. Much of it will be trial and error until the right combination of tools for each market can be identified and utilized. As much as I or anyone would like to be able to give you all the answers on what will work for you, it simply doesn’t exist. What I can offer is a few tips to consider when making your decision.

                               11 Keys to Marketing Basics

1. If you are not sure what to do with your marketing dollars stop and ask someone who does.                                        

The money spent speaking with someone familiar with your market and your demographic could save you valuable resources. It is well worth the investment.

2. If there simply isn’t any money to market you won’t be in business long

Marketing is a necessity few businesses can survive without it

3. Excellent marketing falls short in the face of bad operations

Without solid operations to support a strong marketing plan, many of the customers gained will be lost.

4. Never start a marketing campaign that you can’t stop

Remain in control of your promotions at all times. Use phrases like “limited time only” to allow you to pull the marketing at your discretion.

5. Aggressive incentives aren’t always the best road to take

When going aggressive, make sure that there are other products and services that interest the customer. Being less expensive will work till someone else is cheaper.

6. If it’s not new it better look new, sound new, or taste new

No need to remake the wheel, but you might need to shine it up every once and a while.

7. Know what your customers want and market to your demographic

Don’t waste time and money. Focus your efforts on what your customers want and deliver the message where those customers can see it.

8. Give it some time before you move on

Before any marketing campaign can be judged a failure or success there needs to be an appropriate time in which to evaluate the program. Start with a 90 day commitment.

9. Be willing to negotiate

The first time using a marketing vehicle is a great opportunity to negotiate an introductory   rate, so take it. Or maybe the last time you used it the response was unsatisfactory, now is a good time to negotiate a better rate so they can keep your business.

10. The only way to gauge your marketing success is with detailed records

How many responses to your marketing program did your receive daily, weekly, monthly. How many were new customers, existing customers, or return customers. This is just a portion of the information needed to judge your marketing plan.

11. Always know what and where your competition is marketing

Never miss an opportunity to size up the competition and the types of marketing they are using. This will save you lots of foot work. They have already pinpointed what types of marketing reach the customers that you share.  

Posted in Marketing, Being the Boss, Saving Money, Making Money | Print | 68 Comments »