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Added for You - Small Business Marketing Solution - Surprise Upgrades and Customer Respites
If you leave a star player sitting on the bench, you could be the loser.Look at it this way. Because you push hard to reach your sales and marketing objectives, you need the help of your top external audiences.If you agree, what are you doing to insure their support? At the least, you need to prioritize those key target audiences and work them hard from the top down because few of us can do them all at once.When
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
The Best Workplaces report (Financial Times, April 28, 2005) notes many factors in common with Managing Creativity and Innovation.Material reward is not the sole factor in determining satisfaction. Microsoft UK offers acupuncture and deep tissue massages. OC&C Strategy consultants offer skiing trips and Computer Future Solutions have BMWs and Porsches as company cars. Yet people rarely mentioned these perks when they rated their company.
Customer Respite means creating either a physical space for the customer to relax, or at a minimum making the environment inside your store less rushed so they can mentally relax.
Surprise Upgrade is creating a pleasant and unexpected reward for your customer. Classic rewards-driven marketing tells us that the primary way to upgrade or reward customers is to tie the upgrade to a purchase. The simple but effective punch-card at the corner donut shop or coffee house is the most common means for small business to achieve this. This is an effective and cheap way to build some customer loyalty.
But you can also upgrade customers randomly. If done consistently, a high percentage of your good customers will experience these upgrades. The overall impression of your business as a company that cares will increase both among the current customer base and the new customers who visit your shop.
The first thing to do is brainstorm a mix of both Customer Respite Areas and Surprise Upgrades. Here are five examples from various businesses:
Type of Business: Home-based Daycare.
Customer Respite Idea: Serve a cup of hot chocolate in a to-go cup once a week during the winter when parents pick up their kids. Inexpensive, plus it’s a very much welcome treat on a cold day.
Type of Business: Retail Maternity Store in a mall.
Customer Respite Idea: Once a week order cookies in the afternoon and hand out a couple to all moms-to-be that browse the store.
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
There are many reasons to jump into a franchise business, and most people can find success in a variety of industries. Different retail and service businesses can be designed to operate successfully through a franchise business. Still, not everyone has the wherewithal, stamina, and business mindset that is required for a successful enterprise. Do you have what it takes to be a successful franchisee?Franchising operates under a turnkey
But you can also upgrade customers randomly. If done consistently, a high percentage of your good customers will experience these upgrades. The overall impression of your business as a company that cares will increase both among the current customer base and the new customers who visit your shop.
The first thing to do is brainstorm a mix of both Customer Respite Areas and Surprise Upgrades. Here are five examples from various businesses:
Type of Business: Home-based Daycare.
Customer Respite Idea: Serve a cup of hot chocolate in a to-go cup once a week during the winter when parents pick up their kids. Inexpensive, plus it’s a very much welcome treat on a cold day.
Type of Business: Retail Maternity Store in a mall.
Customer Respite Idea: Once a week order cookies in the afternoon and hand out a couple to all moms-to-be that browse the store.
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
Network marketing is a system in which marketing messages are transmitted through a network of distributors. Each person in the network is a marketer who attempts to find customers as well as other network marketers to expand the marketing net.The compensation system in the network marketing is such that a network marketer earns not only from sales initiated by him but also from sales brought in by his sponsored network marketers. Therefalso upgrade customers randomly. If done consistently, a high percentage of your good customers will experience these upgrades. The overall impression of your business as a company that cares will increase both among the current customer base and the new customers who visit your shop.
The first thing to do is brainstorm a mix of both Customer Respite Areas and Surprise Upgrades. Here are five examples from various businesses:
Type of Business: Home-based Daycare.
Customer Respite Idea: Serve a cup of hot chocolate in a to-go cup once a week during the winter when parents pick up their kids. Inexpensive, plus it’s a very much welcome treat on a cold day.
Type of Business: Retail Maternity Store in a mall.
Customer Respite Idea: Once a week order cookies in the afternoon and hand out a couple to all moms-to-be that browse the store.
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
If you were given the task of setting up a new Human Resource Department in a small company where would you begin? Such a task would be extremely daunting, but not impossible, if you follow a few tips. To begin, you need to answer some basic questions:Why do you want to set one up? What’s changed to make you or the organization believe that an HR department is needed now? What do you want the HR department to do? How will this function cpgrades. Here are five examples from various businesses:
Type of Business: Home-based Daycare.
Customer Respite Idea: Serve a cup of hot chocolate in a to-go cup once a week during the winter when parents pick up their kids. Inexpensive, plus it’s a very much welcome treat on a cold day.
Type of Business: Retail Maternity Store in a mall.
Customer Respite Idea: Once a week order cookies in the afternoon and hand out a couple to all moms-to-be that browse the store.
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
The franchise business has been around a long time, in fact they go back as far back as the 1850’s. The notion of selling off a business or a part of a business in order to expand into new areas usually came from the lack of investment funds from the business owner. Through their creativity they were able to keep the business alive by selling franchise opportunities to would-be entrepreneurs.While the business of franchising has grown ovtomer Respite Idea: Once a week order cookies in the afternoon and hand out a couple to all moms-to-be that browse the store.
Type of Business: Convenience Store.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a year, in the middle of winter, throw a “spring breeze” day where all gas purchases (not just the fill-ups, but all purchases) receive a free hanging car deodorizer.
Type of Business: Shoe Repair Store with sidewalk frontage.
Customer Respite Idea: Place one small wooden bench in front of store, close by the door--in the most shaded spot, if possible.
Type of Business: Dry Cleaners.
Surprise Upgrade Idea: Once a month just as a surprise pass out a coupon for one free dry-cleaning of a blouse or shirt. Nothing fancy--and the customers don’t have to do anything to “earn” the coupon.
Another idea for any business is to add some easy listening music playing in the background so that your customers relax while waiting in line.
OK, we came up with five ideas in about than twenty minutes. Obviously, you know your business better than we ever will. You should easily be able to come up with a half-dozen ideas of your own that will surprise and delight your customers.
Here’s a great exercise:
Create a Surprise Upgrade and Customer Respite “Idea Matrix”.
Goal: Take 30 minutes and think up 7 ideas!!!
Take a piece of paper, or use your computer to make a simple table. You’ll have four columns, labeled (from left to right):
- Idea
- Best Guess: Dollar Cost
- Best Guess: Time Required
- Target Implementation Date
Then underneath, draw seven lines…and create those seven ideas.
After you’re done you’ll want to--you guessed it--discuss with your Bloom Team and then implement the best.
Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and e
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