August 25, 2010

That Uncomfortable Feeling

I recently had the opportunity to present my book, BE DiFFERENT or be dead to an energetic group of book lovers at Village Books in Bellingham, Washington. As an aside, this store REALLY understands how to promote this type of an event and make the Author feel welcomed and valued.

After my formal presentation of the highlights of my book, an engaging conversation ensued over the BE DiFFERENT Practice of selecting WHO you want to SERVE in your strategy and then treating these folks in a special way - unlike the way you would treat the rest of your customers. The notion here is that you need to carefully select the customer group that you want to apply your scarce resources to - typically the group that has the greatest potential of satisfying your growth goals - and then loving them to death in order to create raving loyal fans.

This one particular woman was very uncomfortable with the prospect of varying the way she treated her customers and in particular doing something ‘out of the ordinary’ for any particular group. In fact she said she wouldn’t feel right doing it.

Of course, to many businesses selecting a particular group of customers to treat in a special way is a new approach. Retailers generally don’t do it. Everyone is treated the same way whether they are high value customers (i.e. people who generate significant wealth for the business) low value or no value.

I think there are a few reasons why they choose not to vary the way they treat their customers:
> they don’t know who their high value customers are. They are not able to identify them.
> if they DO know who they are, they don’t spend any time trying to discover the ‘Secrets’ of this Class A group. If you don’t know their Secrets it’s tough to give them extraordinary treatment.
> they don’t have a great deal of repeat business so they don’t think the discipline is worth it.
> it’s way easier to treat everyone the same.

Regardless of the reason, creating unique experiences for those customers who give a business a disproportionate amount of revenue deserves DiFFERENT treatment. If you don’t, expect your ‘Lowest Common Denominator’ strategy to see many of your top customers opt-out of your business. You’ll be left with the vagrants and an unhealthy bottom line.

My message to this retailer:
>> know your high value customers.
>> keep track of how much all of your customers spend with you. Focus on the precious few that give you 80% of your revenue.
>> keep records of what products they buy. The more you know about their purchase behavior the better you be at delivering dazzling service to them
>> get to know your Top Guns by name. And their spouse. And their children.
>> discover their Secrets. Be a note-taking maniac.
>> ask questions. Show an interest in them as human beings and what they are all about.
>> LISTEN to them.
>> problem solve. Amazing what happens when you help them out.

The ‘Worthy’ deserve your special attention. Do it and separate yourself from most others who won’t do it cause it’s too much trouble and takes too much time. You will be astounded by the return!

Cheers, Roy

Remember to follow me on Twitter
Do the BE DiFFERENT Quiz

Related Blog Articles:
Customer Secrets
Dazzling Customers

Serving Customers | Permalink
Posted 8.25.10 at 08:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment