Putting Your Small Business In The Frame
Consumers are fickle. We all know it. Many of us has experienced it and all of us have been a fickle consumer at one time or another.
5 weeks ago, I embarked on taking a picture that I had painted in 2007 to be framed as a gift for my best girlfriend.
5 weeks ago, I embarked on taking a picture that I had painted in 2007 to be framed as a gift for my best girlfriend.
The first place I went to said it would take 6 weeks for the picture to be framed. The second said 3-4 weeks and the last one I went to said 4 weeks. I gave up. The picture then sat in my car for weeks.
Then last week, I arrived at the stage of embarrassment. I needed to have this picture framed for my friend as it was meant as a birthday gift. I had already given her the picture in 2008, and now it was time to frame it to ensure that it was shown in its best light on the wall of her beautiful home.
So, I went down to Eckersley, which is a store that I buy all my painting products from. It took 20 minutes to be served even though there was no-one in the store. I was very frustrated I can assure you. In the end, with another mention of 4 weeks, I decided to have one last go of looking elsewhere. The waiting to be served was the deal breaker for me.
I drove down the road, to this store that I drive past every day when I am in Melbourne, but have never noticed before. AG Framing. Situated at 48 Commercial Road, Prahran in Melbourne, the store looks like your typical artist abode.
As I walked in, the owner Linda Fonda, immediately greeted me, even though she was in the process of serving someone else. She asked someone to assist me straight away, so within seconds someone was asking how they could help me. I explained that I wanted the pictured framed. They said, "no problem - it will take a week". I was over the moon. Great! Finally, a place that takes only a week.
We picked a frame out and she promised to send me a quote via email before the day's end. She did and it was on par with the other quotes I had received. I gave her the go-ahead and a few days later, I received a text message to say that it was ready for collection.
Today, I went in to pick it up, and her business partner Andrew Green greeted me. I explained that I was there to pick up the picture, and he knew who I was straight away and he brought out the picture to ensure that I was satisfied with it before he took my credit card. Very polite. Fast. Efficient. No time wasted. Happy customer!
What's the difference between one small businesses customer service and another?
Simply, it is how they make a customer feel. The second point that is of interest, is in all the other places I went to, the people serving were employees, whereas at AG Framing, they were the business owners. Time was of the essence, so they 'made it happen' in a tighter time frame than I expected. I am sure they could sense that I was frustrated and they wanted to make it as easy as possible.How can a small business manage a fickle consumer base?
In this case, all I needed was for someone to serve me in a reasonable amount of time and not wait 5 minutes to finish a conversation with a colleague. Another point is that at one place, the person serving me proceeded to tell me that his children had picked up scurvy at kindergarden that week. Seriously, as a customer, we don't want to hear that. Immediately I made up an excuse and walked out. When you are in the face of consumers, being polite, listening to their needs and ensuring that you are using your expertise to give them the best option possible is paramount. Consumers also don't want to wait 4 weeks or more for a simple picture framing. That is ridiculous. Hire more staff!Good customer service leads to referrals
When you experience particularly good customer service, then the chances are that you will mention it to friends, colleagues, family and anyone else that is willing to listen to your story. This is a much cheaper way of promoting your business than advertising and way more powerful. Advertising is the price for being boring according to Word of Mouth Guru Andy Sernovitz.In Andy Sernovitz book "Word of Mouth Marketing" - How smart companies get people talking, he talks about how word of mouth marketing should follow a simple philosophy with one golden rule: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers, and they will do the rest. Treat people well; they will do your marketing for you, for free. Be interesting, or be invisible.
When people trust you, they are willing to put their words on the line for you.
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comments ( 7 )
Rochelle
29 Sep 2016Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared
Replyto be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of.
I say to you, I certainly get irked while people consider
worries that they just don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the
top and also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people can take a
signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Robert Osterhoudt
13 Dec 2014Regards for helping out, excellent info .
Replybirthday gift ideas
30 Oct 2012Birthday gift ideas for your loved ones
ReplyI think that you will agree with me that there is a lot of coffee
lovers worldwide. My sister is a giant coffee lover, too.
And she will be celebrating her birthday within a few weeks.
I was thinking about a truly beautiful birthday gift for her.
She has almost everything, so I was interested in a gift,
which will make her stunned.
I was searching a lot of gift stores on the internet for
over a week. And I was lucky enough to find the company which is selling a stunning coffee set in the secession style.
Wow, I realized that this coffee set will be a beautiful birthday gift
for my sister.
So I ordered this coffee set from the on-line store which
is owned by WEXONMART Inc. I placed the order, and
I received the package from WEXONMART for two
days. These guys are pretty fast, for sure.
I ordered a coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer and four smaller mocca cups and four larger coffe cups, too.
I think that my sister and her family will certainly love this
gorgeous coffee set.
As I have said my sister is the giant coffee lover, and she can’t imagine to survive even one day without her cups of the finest coffee.
She usually needs 6 - 8 cups per day. Drinking of the finest coffee gives a lot of
pleasure to her, for sure. However, there is another key thing which gives her such dazzling feeling when she is drinking a cup of her coffee
each time. Yes, you are right. A lot depends on a cup which you are using for your coffee.
This lovely coffee set in the secession style contains
totally delicate mocca cups, delightful coffee mugs, a lovely
sugar bowl and a amazing coffee pot.
So, if you are such coffee addict as my sister then this superb coffee set in the wonderful secession style will give you such delightful feeling when you will
be drinking your coffee every day.
Regards to all coffee lovers
Graig LANGRIDGE
Santa Barbara, CA
birthday gift ideas
30 Aug 2012Birthday gift ideas for your loved ones
ReplyI think that you will agree with me that there is a lot
of coffee lovers worldwide. My sister is a giant coffee lover, too.
And she will be celebrating her birthday within a few weeks.
I was thinking about a truly beautiful birthday gift for her.
She has almost everything, so I was interested in a gift, which will make her stunned.
I was searching a lot of gift stores on the internet for over a week.
And I was lucky enough to find the company which is
selling a gorgeous coffee set in the secession
style. Wow, I realized that this coffee set will be a beautiful birthday gift for my sister.
So I ordered this coffee set from the on-line store which
is owned by WEXONMART Inc. I placed the order, and I
received the package from WEXONMART for two days.
These guys are pretty fast, for sure.
I ordered a coffee pot, sugar bowl, creamer and four smaller mocca
cups and four larger coffe cups, too. I think that my sister and her family will
certainly love this superb coffee set.
As I have said my sister is the giant coffee lover, and she can’t
imagine to survive even one day without her cups of the finest coffee.
She usually needs 6 - 8 cups per day. Drinking of the
finest coffee gives a lot of pleasure to her, for sure.
However, there is another key thing which gives her such stunning feeling
when she is drinking a cup of her coffee each time.
Yes, you are right. A lot depends on a cup which you are
using for your coffee.
This delicate coffee set in the secession style contains totally fascinating mocca cups,
admirable coffee mugs, a lovely sugar bowl and a amazing coffee pot.
So, if you are such coffee addict as my sister then this delicate coffee set in
the wonderful secession style will give you such magnificent feeling when you will
be drinking your coffee every day.
Regards to all coffee lovers
Graig LANGRIDGE
Santa Barbara, CA
Raihan
29 Mar 2012Spot on with the word of mouth! If someone comments on how a business/service has done them good, I am instantly conviced.
ReplyI'm not too familiar with framing, but I have gone through endless, and sometimes frustrating experiences with salons. Before, I wanted to save up and still get a decent job done on my hair but most of the time, i would have to fork out another 50 or so in a month to repair it again, so I've learnt a lesson to pay a little bit more for a professional and not have to go in and out of the salon to repair a damage.
When a company provides a good service and is friendly by nature and the customer is satisfied, surely they will come back themselves plus referrals.
Ren
28 Mar 2012Word of mouth referral, its the type of referral that keeps all business running. Especially small businesses. I think, yes if you can earn the respect of your customers then you will be able to reap the benefits of customer referrals.
ReplyIf a business does not follow this philosophy, then they will not succeed in the industry. It's how the story goes.
An unhappy customer, is a customer who will want to complain about their experience.
Linda Fonda
27 Mar 2012Thank you for your lovely words Mellissah! We really do try and make our customers happy for exactly the reasons you outlined above, but also, because it makes us feel good. Job satisfaction is a wonderful thing.
ReplyWe know it's working as we often get referred customers.
My only regret was the shop is looking rather empty at the moment...I am working feverishly to get a new window display up and running (all goes towards 'visibility'!), so keep an eye out next time you're whizzing by.