It’s the Experience, Smarty!
Say hello to your ultimate one-to-one marketing opportunity
BY JACK MACKEY
A great customer experience matters. A lot. More than ever.
Why?
For one thing, because there are a lot of coffee chains in the
world. Comedian Dennis Miller has a rant about how Starbucks
has started opening Starbucks stores inside existing Starbucks
stores. Well, it’s funnier when he says it.
The point being this: In a world where it’s conceivable to have
Starbucks stores inside Starbucks stores, along with a Lattéland
down the street or a Port City Java or a local coffeehouse chain—or
maybe all three—well, in that world, those businesses better be
offering something more than coffee. Because they all have coffee.
So what’s to cause traffic counts and sales to grow at one place
rather than another? Simple: a superior customer experience. An
experience “so cool” or “so convenient” or “so fast” or “so high
quality” or “so customized to fit me” that once I experience it, it
makes an impression on me—and I want to experience it again.
So much traditional marketing is about grabbing attention. What
about giving attention to the live customers who are transacting
business with you right now? Advertising is buying impressions on
people that you don’t even know. Creating and delivering a superior
customer experience is about making positive impressions on the
people you serve now. Impressions so remarkable that your current
customers will talk about (remark, get it?) your business.
People trust recommendations from their friends. So I’m talking
about designing a customer experience so remarkable that you
stimulate positive word-of-mouth advertising. That’s a good thing.
People like to be informed that way.
But guess what? People mostly don’t like the other types of
advertising! Six in 10 Americans think advertising is out of control.
They feel they’re constantly bombarded with messages they don’t
want or enjoy. They favor more controls over advertising. Seven in
10 Americans are interested in products like Tivo or pop-up
blocking software so they can skip advertising entirely. Advertising
mostly turns people off.
But a great customer experience—that’s always attractive, isn’t
it? When they shop or dine out or get a haircut, people just never
get tired of feeling special or having fun, or being delighted. Isn’t
that what makes the “popular” places, well, popular?
Gone are the days when big media advertising campaigns drive
big increases in business. Broadcast and cable media are now
divided by 500 TV channels and 500 radio stations. So good-bye
to the “mass” in mass media marketing.
Say hello to your ultimate one-to-one marketing opportunity—
the interaction you have with customers when you serve them!
Think of your customer’s experience as a triple-threat marketing
opportunity to 1) increase the business you do with this customer
on this transaction, 2) win repeat business from this one customer
and, 3) generate positive word-of-mouth advertising and multiple
referrals from this customer.
So here is the $64,000 question: Exactly how does a multiunit
operator create such a high-impact customer experience? The
answer I can give you in one word is: execution.
To be the best area developer in your concept, be the best at
execution. Franchise concepts don’t succeed if they don’t offer, at
least potentially, a great customer experience. I say potentially
because the difference in execution between the best and worst
franchise operators is vast. Where do you rank?
Who decides?
Who decides if your units are delivering a superior customer
experience? Unit managers? Mystery shoppers? Franchisor
executives? No, no, and no. Only real customers decide!
Specifically, the customers that you serve in your area decide if their
experiences are worth repeating.
If you want to know how you’re doing at execution, don’t wait
for the sales numbers to come in. Check your customer satisfaction
numbers today. Sales is a lagging indicator of business performance.
Customer satisfaction is a leading indicator.
That’s why it’s so important to listen to your customers. Instead
of telling them how great you are, try asking them how great you
are. Every well-managed franchise concept measures customer
satisfaction for franchisees. Get with the program! Lead the field in
customer satisfaction first. Sustainable, profitable growth will
follow.
This might sound like business blasphemy, but your goal should
not necessarily be to achieve the highest gross sales. Ever seen a
business open with a bang and close the doors a year later? High
sales can disguise a lot of execution problems.
A much better measure of your leadership is the percent of
same-store sales growth. Same-store sales growth means you are
