My friend, fellow speaker and consultant (actually guru), Steve Epner, just sent me a story that made a good point. Some might feel this lesson could fall under the “Law of Reciprocity.” I personally call this the lesson of …
“Give it away and they will buy!”
One of Steve’s clients in the construction industry asked for help in revising a number of procedures to take wasted costs out of their system. One of the ideas he came up with was to establish minimums for sales that were to be invoiced. The client was worried about telling a good customer that their order isn’t large enough. The client asked, “What happens when one of our customers need to replace a $15.00 saw blade at a construction site?”
“Simple,” Steve told him. “Give the client the blade for free. It would cost the company less to give the customer the part than to process the invoice.” Of course the transaction was captured on their internal Customer Report Card, so they could track anyone taking advantage of the process. Guess what? The top customers became even more loyal. They appreciated the special treatment and realized they had a partner in business, not just a supplier. This went a long way with customer good will – and it saved money in the process.
Steve’s story about his client reminded me of the bicycle shop on the east coast that doesn’t charge for the “little things” that cost less than a dollar. The owner’s philosophy is that it simply takes too much time and costs too much to ring up the sale of a valve or other inexpensive item. They actually have these items on the counter for the customers to take as they need them. The shop has the highest reputation for customer care and service, which is one of the reasons it is so successful.
I recently had a client book me for a speech. I thought it would be nice to send/surprise their top five executives copies of my books. The costs to me were negligible compared to the contract fee for the speech. It was a gesture of good will. The client appreciated the surprise and guess what? They ordered 200 of each book for their sales people!
“Give it away and they will buy!” Great service is about taking care of the customer. Sometimes it is managing the customer experience with the right attitude. Sometimes it is doing little things – or giving away little things. Sometimes high levels of service take extra time, or cost a little bit of money, but ultimately the payoff far exceeds the expense in terms of future sales and customer loyalty.
To wrap all of this up, let me share with you one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Theadore Levitt of Harvard Business School. In the first chapter of his book, “Marketing Imagination,” he talks about the purpose of a business. Too many times companies think the purpose of a business is to make money. Understanding the following quote will lend credibility to the above lesson of “Give it away and they will buy.”
“Profit is a requisite, not a purpose of business. The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer.” -- Dr. Theadore Levitt
Shep Hyken, CSP is a professional speaker and author who works with companies who want to develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees. For more information on Shep's speaking programs, books, tapes and learning programs please contact (314) 692- 2200. Email: shep@hyken.com Web: www.hyken.com