Are You in the "NO" Business?

Early in my career, I had the opportunity to hear a new McDonald’s CEO introduce himself to a large group of franchisees. Prior to his announcement, he told of spending four weeks on the road, visiting McDonald’s restaurants, franchise and company owned.

No one knew who he was and in each restaurant he’d ask for an Egg McMuffin with a tomato. Without exception, in each restaurant, served by a manager or crew person, he’d be told “no.” He would also order an Egg McMuffin in the afternoon, and was told “no” by everyone, every time.

His point was that each McDonald’s location had tomatoes and easily had the ability to add a tomato to any sandwich. He wanted McDonald’s to stop being in the “no” business.

“If you tell me no, you are telling me you don’t want my business.”

Later in my career I worked for a retail CEO who always repeated a phrase he had read: “If you tell me no, you are telling me you don’t want my business.” It would drive him crazy when he would hear a customer tell of being in a checkout line and having one of our cashiers say they couldn’t get the $2.00 off $20.00 deal because they only spent $19.95. The associate saved us $.05 and we annoyed a customer.

After I heard him repeat: “If you tell me no, you are telling me you don’t want my business” a thousand times, I always thought of it when companies would tell me “no” for the simplest requests. Like the McDonald’s tomato, associates could easily do it, but believe they were only empowered to say “no.”

This past weekend, the customer behind me in the grocery store express checkout line had more than 13 items. Lots of different ways my cashier could have handled it when she noticed. She chose to embarrass the customer and very quickly told her (who had a full cart full of profitable items for purchase), that she didn’t want her business. 

The next time you visit your local post office during lunch and see the sign on the door saying they are closed for lunch – they are telling you “no,” they don’t want your business.

Is Your Center of Gravity Around "No"

Many companies talk of how important customers are, but the center of gravity is elsewhere. If you are in the “no business,” your front-line associates center of gravity is in following rules, making sure they don’t get into trouble, and not “letting the customer get away” with anything. If your associates are truly empowered, they are enabled to make a decision when an exception to the rules is what's in the best interest of the customer and the company.

My friend Jack Mackey (https://jackmackey.net), who has a career working with the top retailers in the country on customer experience gives keynote speeches on creating inspiring experiences for customers. He always says the best customer service comes from companies that treat their employees best.

The last time I opened up a bank account, the associate who signed me up provided great care and took a personal interest in me and my family. Over the next 20 years, whenever our family needed a service or had a question, she was super responsive. I got very used to having my own “personal banker.” After she retired, I asked the branch manager who would be handling my banking needs. He didn’t know what I was talking about until I described the type of pro-active excellent service I had received over the years. Embarrassed, he said it wasn’t the bank, it was the associate. 

Are you in an industry that’s in the “no” business? Some categories have evolved over time to reduce staff, institute rules, and create arbitrary ways to increase margin – all by telling the customer “no.” Example – would you rather take a test drive with a car salesman in the car with you, or take the car home for the weekend and drive it by yourself. If the goal is to trap you into a sales presentation, the answer is obvious.

In his book “Never Lose A Customer Again,” author Joey Coleman talks about the cost of losing a customer. Talk to any successful entrepreneur and they will tell you how hard and expensive it is to gain and grow a customer. We’ve all rented apartments – it usually costs a landlord 2-3 months rent to re-lease an apartment vs. keeping an existing tenant (usually with annual rent increases). The marketing strategy (customer retention strategy) writes itself.

When I was in the hardware business, I was always amazed at hearing how passionate our store managers were at creating what they called “driveway moments.” That was when a customer returned home after being at the hardware store. They stood in their driveway and told their spouse how helpful the person at the hardware store was. It was standard practice for them to give out their business card and tell the customer to call them when they were in the middle of their project, got stuck, and had further questions.

A few years back I was doing research for a client and I asked the front-line employees why customers left a competitor and came to them. Without hesitation, they all said “responsiveness.” When I asked why they lost a customer, they said the same reason. Later, in my research, I talked to a company that monitors customer satisfaction at each stage of the customer journey to purchase. They verified that responsiveness was the #1 reason potential customers leave the purchase funnel. I was so impressed when the COO I was working with took this information and changed compensation and staffing to be “customer-responsive” centric.

You always hear inspiring stories come out of companies like Nordstrom, Zappos, Chick-fil-A, Southwest Airlines, and the Ritz-Carlton because they are in the “yes” business. Each has a company culture full of sharing stories where the employee went above and beyond to anticipate a need or respond to a opportunity to help a customer.

When you dig deeper into Nordstrom you uncover their foundational belief that the employee experience determines the customer experience, and that when you attract and reward people who are comfortable in a service-oriented culture, then everyone succeeds—both individually and collectively.

Zappos believes they are in the customer service business and it just happens to take the form of an online shoe retailer. Founder Tony Hsieh’s philosophy allocates marketing money into customer experience, thereby allowing repeat customers and word-of-mouth be their true form of marketing. He also believes that once you get the culture right, everything else - great customer service, long-term branding - will happen on its own.

Dave Patrick teaches advanced brand strategy, marketing, competitive strategies, and entrepreneurship in the MBA programs at the University of Missouri and University of Kansas. He’s the President of WizeWebz (www.wizewebz.com) a business growth consultancy that helps clients get to their next stage of growth through smarter marketing and more effective technology solutions. Dave is also the CEO and Co-founder of High Performance Marketing Boot Camps which helps companies improve their marketing effectiveness. https://highperformancemarketingbootcamps.com

 “David Patrick is masterful at understanding the strategies that unlock growth. He’s able to apply those learnings to a variety of industries and help executive teams approach marketing in a new way to achieve greater results.” Laura Scobie, VP Strategy & Innovation, H&R Block

"David Patrick's knowledge and experience in marketing is deep. I find he has wisdom and case studies for almost every conceivable situation. Always a pleasure to spend time with David and listen to his insights and perspective on business and marketing challenges. If you are considering David and his team to help with your marketing strategy you should do so with confidence." Grant Gooding, CEO & Founder of Proof Positioning