Silence all around: no ringing phones, no incoming faxes, no complaint emails to respond to. That silence may be the result of the best customer service tool in the world. It could mean that your customer has bought your product and has no problems with it. It could mean that you have expected it. Waiting is the science of constantly striving to exceed your customers’ expectations. Every customer has certain expectations when purchasing a product or service, and proper planning could prevent a customer service problem or nightmare. Each Marketing Plan selects a Target Market for its Marketing Mix (4-P’s) but many times, the client is forgotten when integrating the marketing mix. One of your goals is to exceed your customer’s expectations when they call. In other words, you will do everything in your power to quickly and efficiently accommodate that customer if they have an order or if they have an issue or problem with your product. In basketball, a coach often criticizes a referee for calling a foul against one of his players. What the coach doesn’t realize is that that same referee prevented several more infractions by telling this player, “Don’t touch your hands” or “Out of the lane.”
Similarly, customer service violations can be prevented or eliminated by factoring the customer into the Marketing Mix. Enter the fifth P– The Buyer. Keeping it in the center of the mix is vital. Understanding your expectations in this part of the Marketing Plan is essential. In each of these facets, the buyer has certain expectations.
Let’s examine in more detail:
Product: Do you design the product based on customer needs and wants, or because R&D believes it is innovative design? Do you fully understand that the customer is buying your product because of its durability, or do you change materials in an effort to save costs? This, along with many other “if you build them, they will come” mentalities, could be devastating. However, in a highly technical and engineering-laden company, these practices are part of the norm.
Place: Do you only use traditional channels to get your product to the customer? Do you keep using the same distributors just because they have been around forever? Are you diluting your brand equity by creating dealer conflict and customer confusion by having a dealer on every block? Or do you stop and decide what is the most effective way to meet your customers’ expectations? It begins by asking the customer how and when they want the product delivered. Then you’ll find the dealer that will meet and hopefully exceed your needs and those of your customers.
Price: Is your product or service precious for the value it represents or simply to be competitive? Keep in mind that Price is often the weapon of the underdog. Companies lead on price when their product or service has no other perceptible advantages. Which one are you? If you don’t analyze price based on value, you may be giving away a margin. The product may be priced below the value it represents.
Promotion: Do you spend money trying to break up the clutter only to create more clutter?
Do you do a coupon promotion in the newspaper? Now, let’s say a customer comes in to make a purchase and doesn’t have the coupon. Have you ever considered giving that coupon to your customer at the point of purchase? Another example would be a supermarket giving you the price of the club even if you don’t have your card. In both cases, it is an opportunity to build customer loyalty. After all, you put the coupon on the paper hoping your customers would use it. Waiting leads to customer loyalty, which in turn leads to repeat orders and additional business. A diagram showing the Buyer at the center of the traditional 4 P’s should be kept on every Marketer’s desk. Contact the author for a copy.