Tim Jensen's Marketing Blog

My youngest son came over for the weekend.  We decided to go to my mother-in-law’s farm to visit.  On our way, we stopped at a local establishment for a snack.  I won’t identify the place, as it isn’t relevant to my story.

We were all ordering the same item at this place, but we had a special request.  Carrie wanted to have some of the toppings from her item put on my item.  The clerk was ready to say ok, when a lady behind him turned around and quickly stated that “No, we don’t do that!”  Carrie replied that “Well, you have in the past for us,” to which the lady replied, “no, we don’t do that” again.  Finally, Carrie said that the lady should make sure her staff knows this policy.  Then, we got our items and left.

From the customer’s side of the table, I can tell you that we were not impressed with the lady manager.  I understand that by moving the toppings from one item to another creates a different product for my item than I originally ordered.  But so what?  We were all getting what we ordered….the same amounts.  It didn’t take any extra product to do what we asked, and for that matter, it didn’t take any extra labor.  Yet, the lady manager stated to us that “if we did that kind of thing every time….” etc. 

So let’s stop here for a minute and think about this….

Our products were made for us with the same materials that we would have received if we would not have had the confrontation.  We paid the same amount of money.  We spent essentially the same amount of time in line waiting to be served.

The difference was the level of service that we received.  We did not come in to the place upset, angry, frustrated, or anything like that.  But because what happened with the lady manager, our experience was not enjoyable.  And it didn’t have to be. 

I am really not sure why the manager lady was so unpleasant with us in this situation.  Maybe she was just having a bad day or shift at work.  Maybe she just got into an argument with someone before she came in.  Or maybe that is just how she is.  It doesn’t matter.  When your customer is patronizing your business, you as an employee/owner of that business MUST serve your customer no matter HOW you are feeling that day.  Your business/job relies on the repeat business of your customers, and they may not come back if their experience is not fantastic.

Also,  I really don’t understand their policy, becuase there was no loss to their business.  Our request would have taken the same amount of product and time for the employee to prepare.  Most policies which are not customer friendly are not business friendly, either.  To be sure, I say “most” because there are customers out there who are looking for something for nothing when they don’t deserve it.  Just be sure that you look at your policies from the customer’s perspective to make sure there is a positive experience for your customer.

In the online world, make sure you do everything in your power to make it easy and pleasant for your customer to buy.  Instructions should be obvious almost to the point where they are redundant.  Have someone who is not in your business look things over and give you their thoughts.  If it is confusing to your customer as to how they should make their purchase or how they should claim your product, your customer is not the one at fault.

You are!

Customer service requires ACTION!  It is a verb, not a noun.  It is not a department that someone goes to when they have a problem.  Customer service is EVERYONE’S department!  Everyone in your business is in the customer service department.  This goes with your online business AND your offline business.  It doesn’t matter if you stock shelves, clean, sell, manage, deliver, receive, etc.  EVERYONE is in customer service.

For those of you who are curious, Carrie got her item without that topping and I did not get her topping on my item.

And if someone knows why this manager lady was wearing blue jeans, please let me know why this is ok.  Thanks.

More another time,

~Tim

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I love watching the TV show “Pawn Stars” on the History channel.  The main owner of the store, Rick, gives a regular clinic in negotiating on the show.  There is HUGE value for marketers….heck, there is HUGE value for EVERYONE who watches the show by taking note of the negotiating tactics that Rick uses.  Rick’s father and son (Corey) are also shown negotiating on the show, but Rick is the true master when it comes to demonstrating “true” negotiating skills.

Let’s take a closer look at what Rick’s example teaches us about negotiating and how we can apply these tactics and skills to our own lives.

1. Never jump at the first offer.  Regardless of what the other person offers, NEVER accept the first offer.  One of the key parts of negotiating isn’t so much on the final settlement that you reach with the other person/people.  The real key is HOW you say yes.  If you jump at the first offer quickly, the other person is thinking two things:  1.  The feel cheated.  They fell like they could have gotten a BETTER deal than what you agreed to and 2.  They wonder what is WRONG with the sale/settlement.  Always agree slowly and reluctantly.
2. Find out what the other person wants out of the deal.  One thing that I have learned in life is that people don’t necessarily want the same things out of the deal.  Find out from the other person what exactly their criteria for a fair settlement is.
3. Gather as much information as you can.  Try to gather information about the person and the product/issue.  You may not like what you find out, but you HAVE to find it out so you can make an informed decision.  Sometimes on the show, Rick will call in an expert (he calls them his friend on the show) that will tell him more about what he is looking to buy.  Sometimes he finds out that the product is worth a LOT more than he thought, sometimes a lot LESS than he thought.  You can see on his face when the product is more than he expected to pay, but he still negotiates because he knows there is something of great value on the table. 
4. Counter the other person’s offer with something that is lower than you expect to pay.  Of course, if you are a seller, counter the other person’s offer with something that is HIGHER than what you expect to get.  In either case, you can expect to NOT get your first offer.  If you reveal your final price on the first offer, you are guaranteed to NOT get what you are looking for.
5. Reach a win-win compromise.  Neither party should feel like they “lost” in the negotiation.  You want the other person to want to work with you again in the future.  Remember, someone may win and someone may lose.  The point isn’t who wins and who loses, but rather that both parties FEEL like they won in the negotiation.  Rick  makes sure that the other person understands that he has to be able to sell the product and make a profit or he will not be able to buy it.  Once the seller realizes this, he is more willing to accept Rick’s lower offer and be happy about it.
6. Learn walk-away power.  If you ever reach the point in a negotiation where you can’t walk away (because you HAVE to sell or you HAVE to buy or whatever), you lose right then and there.  You no longer have any negotiating leverage.  Rick gives us a great example of walk-away power when he cannot reach price and terms that he can live with.  It doesn’t matter if the price is $50 or $50,000, he knows when to buy and when to walk away.  Never put yourself in a position where you can’t walk away from the deal.

That’s all for now. 

~Tim

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Earlier today, Carrie (my wife) and I, along with 2 of my kids, went to the local mall.  We stopped at Barnes and Noble for a while, which is one of the anchor stores in our local mall.

After spending some time looking through some books, we all started to make our way through the mall.  There must have been some kind of crafting theme for the weekend, because there were several vendors strewn out between the kiosk stores throughout the mall. 

The first one that caught my eye was a guy selling coasters made of marble.  He had a sign that said “$2.50 each, 5 for $9.95″ etc.  He had different designs painted on the coasters.  Being a Green Bay Packer fan, I picked up the Packer one and set it back down.  The guy was sitting in a lawn chair with his feet up and chuckled at me when I missed putting it back on it’s stand at first (I wasn’t looking).

We moved on to see other tables.  Some of the vendors were sitting on their chair, others were standing and interacting with customers.  I have to admit that I took notice of the standers and the sitters.  The sitters looked bored and indifferent to the multitude of people passing them by, as if they were there to watch people.  The standers were involved and interesting, as well as interested in their customers.

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