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A brickbat today…
I live in a small town and I needed a few A3 sized color photocopies. Not too many options here unfortunately – there is the news agency or the copy shop . The latter is run by Jessie (not her real name) and she has something of a reputation for being disorganized. The reputation is well deserved.
But I go back to Jessie time and again because in a twisted sort of way her I find her disheveled, disorganized and chaotic behavior entertaining. And after 5 years there is still that optimist inside me that thinks maybe she’ll have her act together this time. I’m kind of internally cheering her on hoping she gets to experience a modicum of success. She’s basically a nice person who’s created a shambles of a life and a business.
She’s also short sighted … both visually and mentally, hence the big thick glasses and the reputation.
While I was waiting for Jessie to figure out how to press the “copy” button one one of her sophisticated looking machines an older gray haired woman walked into the shop and stood next to me at the counter. In my little town, if I don’t actually know a person I’ve probably at least seen them a bunch of times so I tend to say hello to people I bump into and so the gray haired woman and I exchanged greetings.
Jessie then rushed past the counter muttering to herself on her way to a second machine because the first one wasn’t co-operating. Not a unique experience.
There was a quick glance from Jessie at the new arrival in between mutterings but no pausing to say “I’ll be with you in a couple of minutes, is that OK or is there something quick you could leave with me?” Jessie failed to acknowledge the woman with even so much as a slight nod of the head.
The woman turned to me and rolled her eyeballs as if to say “business as usual”.
A few minutes later, Jessie is still mumbling and cursing and delivering swift kicks to the second non-compliant machine when the gray haired woman quietly makes her exit.
A few more minutes and Jessie is pushing buttons on a third machine with as much success as she had with the previous two.
She turns to me to offer another apology and notices the woman has left.
“Has she gone?” she asks.
Kind of obvious I would have thought. “Yep” I reply.
“Was she pissed off?”
“Roger that”.
“Ah” says Jessie in exasperation. “She probably only wanted a single copy anyway”.
She then turns back to cursing the copy machine.
What Jessie fails to get is that one 50 cent copy job is not just one 50 cent copy job. It’s a new customer. And the purpose of a sale – even a 50 cent one – is to get a new customer.
That’s because it’s 5 times harder and 80% more expensive (American Marketing Research Association figures) to get a new customer than it is to sell an existing customer again.
Unlike myself, the gray haired lady will probably not return for a second dose of Jessie.
Back to you and me. It’s fair enough if you decide not to offer a service or product because there’s not enough margin in it. But if you do choose to offer 50 cent photocopies (or whatever your equivalent is) then please give that customer with the same courtesy, empathy and respect that you would like to be treated yourself.
This is for all sorts of reasons, including but not limited to the golden rule “do unto others …” as well as sound commercial reasons.
A 50 cent copy request can be the first step in establishing a relationship of trust and a highly profitable, multi-sale, bag-of-referrals, life long relationship.
Worth thinking about.