Posts Tagged ‘Customers’
Reluctant Customers was first published on Women in Focus
Women in Focus is a recently launched website and initiative by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It is a place for women to be inspired, informed and connected with other women in business in Australia and around the world. Angela Vithoulkas, CEO of VIVO Cafe Group, will be the Guru on the Business Beat section and will be providing weekly articles on all things small business.
How often do we have the opportunity as business owners to observe other businesses’ customers from the inside out? I would be willing to bet not often. I had the opportunity this weekend.
I was MC and facilitator for an expert Wedding Panel at an expo showcase day. Apart from my all consuming day job as a café owner, I also do a lot of speaking and presenting. This time was different because I spent time with the suppliers interviewing them, and observing their customer from their perspective. It was fascinating. Read the rest of this entry »
People have many faces but that’s not to say that they are liars, some just present different parts of themselves at work or in negotiations or even in the day or night. Some people find it hard to blend their personal views with their business agenda and hospitality is a perfect example of that, in fact retail or sales in general as well. Take for example waiters (non gender specific); their job is to be hospitable, welcoming. They are in charge of your customer experience. When they look at you, do they make eye contact? Does their face reflect their feelings or their words? Are they sincere, going through the motions or openly bored and can’t wait to finish their shift?
I was very lucky to see George Michael on Friday night, something I had looked forward to for many months. I hoped it was going to be fabulous, that it would live up to all the moments that I had played his songs through the milestones of my youth and my not so youth. It was beyond fabulous.
Now this may seem a strange blog topic, not very businessy on the surface. But while I was standing and clapping and singing and going nuts along with the thousands of others, I began to think about his market. I know it sounds as if I should have been too busy to think, but I guess I can’t help myself. I looked at this lone man on stage - yes he had back up singers & a band, but they were not the focus. They were behind and away from him. It was all about him, and so it should be, but it also meant that he was going to sink or swim alone. That the satisfaction of his customers depended solely on his delivery of his product. Success or failure was on George Michael. No gizmos, no half naked troupe. Just him and his history. And the fact that the market had just been shredding Whitney, we would not have been shy on our verdict about him. Does a successful past automatically give you a successful present? Not if your name is Whitney. Read the rest of this entry »
I suppose its easy for me to comment on customer service since that is my business, but it appears to me that a lot of lip service and not customer service is taking place.
The art of serving a real life flesh and blood person seems to either scare people or totally disinterest them. The retail sector is the worst because the evidence is in our face so to speak. Not so obvious via telephone or email but just as frustrating and unsatisfactory. The whole customer experience seems to have been relegated to the bottom of the bottom of some unimportant strategic list. It also seems that most business - big or small, operate in this way.