1% is all that Matters

I love the 212 degree analogy.  What, not familiar with that one?  Here it is in a nutshell.  At 211 degrees you have hot water.  At 212 degrees water boils.  1 degree makes all the difference.  1 degree takes you from hot stuff to enough power to influence yourself and others in many wonderful ways that are as unique as you are.  Let me give you a couple of examples of how I was impacted by this over the last week by people involved in sales, just like me.  It created some WOW! moments for me and some additional sales for them.

I got a call from the owner of a store I shop at a few times a year.  I am certainly not one of his best customers but enjoy shopping with him on occasion.  He called me last week to inform me that they were having a trunk show on Saturday by one of the vendors for which he knew I had an affinity.  While it was a nice gesture I may or may not have attended based on how busy my day was.  What sent me over the top was that he tied in this vendor with a national charity and had the vendor create a special item for which the proceeds of the sales would go to benefit the charity.  New clothes for a cause!  Reel me in.  Not only did I go out of my way to get there last Saturday but I took my oldest son with me and he found several items that he wanted both now and in the future.  Let's just say I spent more than I planned to and felt good about it.  WOW!

There is a local store that we ocassionally shop and buy some very high end merchandise from in order to show it to our product development team and factories for various applications within our business.  During a recent visit (in which we spent a good bit of money) we met the manager and exchanged cards and pleasantries.  She made some promises that she would stay in touch - to which I assumed was much the same as hundreds of other retail transactions that I have made in the past.  You know, the ones where they ask for your e-mail address so they can fill your in box with lame e-mails and sale announcements, etc., etc.?  Last week I got a personal e-mail from the manager thanking me (again) for our last visit and advising us that based on our last visit and purchases she had personally selected some new styles that she thought we would be interested in.  Not only that, she sent pictures of the styles and offered to deliver them to us directly if it would be easier than us taking time to come visit her at the store.  WOW!

So I ask you, where do you think I'm going next time I need some new clothes?  The next time I need to shop a store to see what the latest European fashions are?  Here's the beauty...how long did it take for these two people to personally get in touch with me and not just try to sell me something but make it personal and meaningful to me - so much so that I am writing about them?!  A minute or two each?  Sure, some planning went in to both events but by going 1% more they turned me from a customer in to a fan.  WOW!

So I ask you, where and how can you give 1% more?  In your job?  In your relationships?  In your kindness towards others?  In your communities and neighborhoods?  What else? 

I invite your feedback and ask you to share how and where 1% made all the difference for you in the coming week.  Happy Memorial Day!

What is $1,380 Worth?

Yesterday I was working late and took a phone call from a customer after everyone else had gone home.  Usually these calls are not very productive or profitable but I reluctantly answered the phone.  The call was from a customer that we have done business with for a long, long time but as I looked up in our system while I was talking to her on the phone I discovered we hadn't earned any business from her since 2008.  That was just the beginning of the lessons I learned in a brief 10 minute phone call.

In a few short minutes the customer purchased $1,380.50 worth of merchandise while talking to me and viewing styles on our website (many lessons there).  It wasn't the largest order we got yesterday but it certainly was not the smallest.  I asked why she hadn't purchased from us in a while and she said sh really didn't know that she had missed us at the recent shows and no one had called her to check in recently with her.  WOW!!! and UH-OH!!!

How could we let this happen?  In a market where we are fighting for every dollar and every customer how do we let someone who has good credit, is a long-term customer and apparently has enough affinity for our products to go seek us out on the internet just disappear into the abyss? Carelessness, laziness, taking our eye off the ball....fill in the blank but it violates every customer service rule we believe in and everything we say we stand for.

So whether you work for me, work for yourself or work for someone else here are some questions to consider no matter who your customer is and what you are selling.  I would love your feedback as well - what other questions (and answers) does this bring to light for you?

• Are you really connected to your customers?
• Do they really feel valued and appreciated by you and your company?
• How much does it cost you to take each day to reach out to inactive or lost customers? and How much business have you lost as a result of not doing so?
• Do you have a plan, strategy or goal to reach out to others and offer to help even if they are not currently your customer?
• Others?

Maybe the thought crossed your mind - why all the verbiage about $1,380?  Yea, right! 

• How much business have we lost in the last three years that we ignored this customer? 
• How much business will we earn from her the rest of this year now that we lucked in to getting her back and made a commitment to her that we won't EVER let that happen again? 
• How many other customers have we forgotten, ignored, written off or (gasp) said no in the past that we stopped pursuing?

Wonder if we all shouldn't be going through old customer files and picking up the phone to call them or getting in the car to go see them?  I'll race ya....