by Aaron ShieldsJul 15, 2010
The subtleties of fine food preparation and service suffer from bigness and the all-seeing eye of the proprietor.
- Stanley Marcus
Dining at Trader Vic’s, Stanley Marcus was presented with wet towels by a waiter exclaiming, “Hot towels!” But, they weren’t hot, they were cold.
Trader Vic’s was a pioneer in the American restaurant industry and one of the first to offer the Japanese oshibori (the hot towels) at the end of the meal.
But, expansion without attention to detail reduced the quality of the service and food. It became more important to go through the motions than make sure the original purpose was behind them. As long as the waiter exclaimed, “Hot towels,” his manager was happy.
Settling for going through the motions will dilute the brand and can even kill it.
Is there something your company is doing that lost touch with its original purpose?
by Aaron ShieldsMay 26, 2010
How far are you willing to go to help your customers get what they want?
Zappos will check other retailers for a customer if the merchandise is out of stock and refer them to a competitor. You can be sure that customer will come back to Zappos again and tell all her friends, because Zappos always makes sure she gets what she needs.
In Quest for the Best, Stanley Marcus, the former chairman of Neiman Marcus, descrbes an encounter with a customer he ran into at the symphony: The customer told Marcus that his pipe stem broke, but that Neiman Marcus was not getting anymore for 3 months. The next day Marcus called the buyer, found out that was untrue. When the man got to his office, he found a message that Neiman Marcus was delivering a replacement by noon.
A month later the man purchased a $50,000 diamond ring.
Exceeding customers’ expectations by delivering great service reaps great rewards.
How far do you go to meet and exceed your customers’ needs?
by Aaron ShieldsMar 28, 2010
Never in my retail experience have I seen a “consumer” enter a store. I’ve seen lots of “customers,” for that’s what they call themselves…The development of the whole consumer movement came as a result of the failure of retailers and manufacturers to give adequate attention to the physical and psychological needs of the customer.
- Stanley Marcus
Rather than focus on what a customer really wants, marketers have focused on what the average, hypothetical, composite customer — “the consumer” — should want. But the consumer isn’t a person, it’s a statistic on piece of paper; it’s a poor simulacrum of a real person.
Treating customers as the statistical consumer results in initiatives that some people may like, but nobody ever loves.
Instead of focusing on averages, look to what your real customers, preferably the best ones, love about you and forget how they fit into boxes on a piece of paper.
