Do we accidentally lose customers?
Most times we are over complacent, over comfortable and we get carried away because we offer grade ’A’ product or service, because our product or service is in high demand or because we have the market lead or in some cases the market monopoly. We easily overlook the little but integral things in business transaction, like customer relation, packaging, brand consistency, customer retention incentives (Bonuses, Discounts, prizes etc), customer evangelism, community building, etc.
I would like to share an experience I had with a business owner. This wasn’t a multinational company or a blue chip, this was a small scale business, of which we all agree that the customer relation and client communication should be better and more comprehensive, due to the fact that it would be mostly face-to-face communication. Well, I guess it is not always so, your customer relation can be bad whether large or small scale business.
It was a Saturday, I decided to eat ice fish. It's been a while, I thought to myself. So I headed for the market to buy the fish and other foodstuffs just as usual. Oh yes! I cook my meals, I mean, what do you expect from a well home-grown single guy who wouldn't do the daily bukas or restaurants? And now you're wondering if I cook well or I just give myself daily purge substances in the name of food. Oh well, I've received enough compliments in the cookery industry that I could easily put ‘culinary skills’ in my CV, but for the love of my kitchen, I don't want to brag and sell out, lol.
So I got to the market, and as usual, I smiled at the market women who call out to me, “oga buy o”, Fine man, come buy na” (I actually get to blush for that) lol. I bought all other foodstuffs from my customers, went to the fish line to get my ice fish. The first woman on that line had good-looking ones (who cares if fish is good looking or not, we just buy fish to eat joor) lol. The price for one fish was N300. “The price is fair”, I thought to myself with a shrug. Just as I was about stopping at her table to buy, I heard “ice fish 2..200, ice fish 2..200” from three tables away. Sharply I heeded and I headed towards that money-saving call, who doesn't like things that are less expensive? Lol. Getting to her table, I noticed that the fish were about same size with the first woman's. Cool, I felt it was like the best deal of the century (for that moment though) lol. I wanted to buy two but an extra fish for same price won't do any harm, so I asked her to cut three for me. When she finished, she packed it in one waterproof and handed it to me. I put it in my market bag that had the other items I bought and headed home.
When I got home, while unloading the market bag, I saw that the fish and its liquid had smeared the other items in the bag. I was sad about that because inside the bag were some veggies, fruits and stuffs that wouldn't go well with the ‘fishy effect’. Well, I took the blame for the foodstuffs-buying disaster, if only I had asked her to double the fish waterproof the smearing wouldn't have been that bad.
Fast forward to some weeks later, I decided to take a break from chicken and get fish, oh sweet ice fish, lol. Straight ahead, I went to that same woman, and as before her fish was cheaper, errrrrm sorry, I mean, ‘less expensive’ (before you start saying that I like cheap things a lot) lol. While she was packing the fish she had cut for me in the waterproof, politely I said to her “madam please double the waterproof”. I didn't want what happened the last time to repeat, once bitten, twice shy. The woman pretended she didn't hear me. She finished packing the fish in the waterproof, tied it and stretched her hand to give it to me. I repeated my request, but in Pidgin English this time, “madam abeg use another waterproof tie the fish”. She replied in a slightly hoarse tone “abeg take your fish, shey you carry bag?” In my surprised state I replied “madam double the fish na, make the water no spoil other things wey I buy”, she snapped back “take your fish o, make I sell for other customers, because of N600 market na im you want make I give you extra waterproof”, she just dropped it on her table closer to where I stood. Shocked and not wanting to make a scene, I picked my fish. I got to find out that that waterproof is sold for N200 for a pack of 100, imagine.
At this point, do you think I would ever patronize this woman again?
Now, this is a businessperson who could attract customers (good advert), her product was cheaper at the same price (value proposition), but she wasn't customer focused and she didn't know how to keep a customer happy. Because of one waterproof, which is N2, she would be losing N600, and potentially, I could have referred others to her. This is more like exchanging your ‘queen’ for a ‘pawn’ in the game of chess, and that is very bad for business growth. Winning the hearts of those who patronize you is a sure way to win the market. I am not disputing the fact that you cannot please everyone and some people are difficult to please, but doing extra (not to your detriment though) to make sure your customers enjoy your service would surely help your business grow.
Most business managers should know that a happy customer/client would always return, sometimes they come back in ten folds, those tens could return with their individual ten folds, which is hundred, and the amazing ripple effect could go on and on. Isn’t it magical how one happy customer can bring you more than a hundred business deals?
Always remember, there is no better salesperson than a happy customer.
....Tony Nwamarah