I am lucky enough to have had a grandfather that was at one time (in the 40's thru the 50's) a small grocery store owner in an old part of N. Lansing, on Grand River Ave. on the eastern end of what they now call Old Town. Old Town is an area where businesses have recently banded together to create a little oasis of commerce and recreation. An eclectic mix of art galleries, small restaurants, a micro brewery, and unique boutiques. They also have several Festivals that bring people in from all over the Lansing area. More info can be found here: http://www.iloveoldtown.org/.
What these wonderful folks/businesses may not know or remember is that this is not the first time their particular little part of Lansing has gone through this type of transformation. Which brings me back to my Grandfather, Arthur Victor Choiniere who in 1943 decided he had had enough of building trucks for Diamond REO and wanted to go into business for himself. Of course everyone in the family told him he was crazy to quit the factory with the threat of world war looming over the United States. But my grand father said "even in war people have to eat", so he bought the little store from a gentleman that was leaving to go to Europe to fight in the war.
Now my grandfather didn't know much about running a store but he had a natural ability to "read" people. To listen to their problems and find a way to help them in some way. Even if he never sold them a thing. This of course is what we call "Customer Service" today. Though I don't think what my grandfather did could be compared to what we now expect from businesses as customer service. Not by a long shot. You see, he never was happy with the quality of some of the products he could get to resell to his customers. Especially the meat products. He used to smoke his own meats in a homemade smoker out behind the store because he could never get a good enough product for his clientele. He made his own sausages, hams, bacon, and hot dogs. People would come from as far as Detroit to buy meat from Choiniere's Grocery. Alfred P. Sloan Jr., CEO of General Motors used to buy his meat from that little store when he was in town for meetings.
That was just one of many little things he used to do to keep his customers coming back. Things like bartering with local businesses when they needed groceries but had no cash. He would barter with the pharmacy, the Dime Store next door, the owners of the A&W Rootbeer stand down the street would barter meals and rootbeer floats for supplies from the store, and Doc Porter (and his wife/nurse Gladys) would barter medical services for groceries. Doc, bye the way, delivered yours truly and all three of my sisters over a span of eighteen years and was the only doctor I ever went to until he retired the year I turned fourteen.
When my wife Wendy and I were running our printing company, one of the questions I used to like to ask groups of business owners was "What is the best form of advertising you currently have?". I would get everything from radio and TV to newspaper ads and the internet. Thinking back to my grandfather I would always say "Yes, those are all legitimate forms of advertising in use today but you are overlooking your greatest form of advertising you already have, Your Current Customers!". It was as true in my grandfather's time as it is today.
Word of mouth advertising is still the best and least expensive type of advertising you will ever have. Now how do you cultivate this form of advertising? The first step is great customer service. Any company can make a client happy when things are going smoothly. The truly great companies are the ones that realize when things go wrong you have got to make it right with the customer. No matter what! I don't care if you lose money on the transaction. If you treat them right they will come back. If you cheap out on them or try to hold a tough stance on your company policy you will not only lose that customer, you lose every potential customer that person could have referred to you! Try to balance that sheet in the long run. If you want to really see word of mouth put to it's full potential look into the local chapter of BNI (Business Network International) http://www.bni.com/ in your area. It is quite probably the best kept secret in your town.
The second step is thank your customers for doing business with you. I know it's considered old fashioned and out of date but a simple thank you card is still the best way to thank your customers. If you don't want to go to the trouble of hand writing a card there is a company that specializes in sending cards using an online interface where you can create and send your own custom cards called Send Out Cards. If you want further information about them use this link: www.sendoutcards.com/larry_wendyaustin . Let me know if you are interested in trying a free test by sending out a card to one of your customers. I'd be glad to set it up for you.
As the old saying goes "That which is old is new again." Or as my grandfather use to say "Treat your customers as good or better than you would want to be treated and they'll be your customer for life". There is a lot of wisdom to the simplest of customs, now isn't there.
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