When we usually think of networking, we first think it is how to find a way to find a way to get more customers. ?When we think of customer service, we think it is about receiving good service at a fair price on time. This story is about how these two somewhat unrelated topics can truly come together, as well as the importance of community for small business owners.
I live in a smaller town outside the Toronto GTA, where we moved to get away from the hustle and bustle from the city, which we love. ? When I moved out here, unlike many of those from Toronto who continue to use services outside of town, we felt it was important to support the local community in which we live. We buy food locally and support the farmers here, eat in restaurants locally, shop locally, and we even moved personal services such as dentistry, eye exams, and even hair salons to local providers. I never think about going outside the community if I can buy locally.
The problem is not all of the businesses in a local community are supportive of the people that live there and from what I hear from a friend of mine who has lived in my community for over 30 years; this has been a long standing problem with a few suppliers in my town who complain to the city council on a regular basis, that many of us that moved here do not buy locally. ? By supportive of the local community, I mean that the suppliers provide the same level of service and equitable pricing to local customers, so they do not have to drive outside the community to get better service and pricing. It is important to understand that just because you have a local business, it does not mean you do not have to work just as hard to attract and keep customers locally as you would do if were to market to those outside. ?Do not assume because they live here, they have to buy here.
My daughter recently had a small car accident in a parking lot which we thought would cost us around $1500-$2000. ?I didn?t think twice, I knew there was a local body shop in town and I went there feeling I would get a very fair and equitable deal. ? When I walked in, I was asked by the owner how this would be paid for and I made it very clear that even the police woman said we should not put it through insurance since my daughter was a young driver. ?My daughter and I sat down and waited for the estimate and during that time the owner asked who my insurance company was ?just in case?. The owner then tells me that works well as he is the estimator for my insurance company which rattles around in my head, but I still continue to wait, as I am vaguely ?thinking ? conflict of interest. ? As the next 10 minutes goes by, he keeps adding on parts and tells me I am most likely going to need a new car rim that is $1350.00 and who knows the damage underneath the fender and panel that got hit. ?He knows this is a parking lot incident where there was no speed involved. ?He then tells me he will need the car for 2 days to see inside to truly know the costs and then another week or so to fix it. ?By this time we are up to around $5000.00 if you include the rim. ?Keep in mind, this is before he takes the car apart. I then unfortunately decided to leave the rim with him to check the viability of it with another vendor and my daughter and I leave. ?He either must have mistaken me for stupid, for someone who wanted to rebuild a car, wealthy , or someone once the bill was high enough ? would end up putting it through insurance ? even after I made it very clear the goal was to pay for this ourselves. When I left, my level of trust in this supplier dropped significantly.
I am a member of the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade and one of the members who I know well has a vehicle repair and maintenance business. ?His business focuses around picking your car up, working on it, and returning it to you. ? I am always kidding him that he will not come up to my area as it is a little bit out of the way, but I decided to call him for a second opinion, as he was someone who I trusted. ? He asks me if I am able to take detailed pictures of the damage and send it to him and is aware this was an accident in a parking lot where the car was not moving at any speed. ?He also understands that I do not want to put this through insurance. ?He tells me it is very unlikely that the rim is damaged and has to be replaced and asks if I can get it back. ?In the meantime, he calls and sources a used rim of the same type just in case. He tells me that he does not believe there is any further damage underneath and is cosmetic based on where it was hit. ?The estimate is $2250 which includes the rim, just in case it is damaged. ?He asked if I could call the local guy and ask for my rim back. When I call the local supplier, he now tells me he has found out it is not damaged after I tell him I have found a better way to address this. He tells me he can fix the rim for $175.00. ?I tell him I am not interested and I want to pick up my rim. ?In the meantime, my ?car was picked up by the business owner I knew that afternoon and was told I would have my car back by the weekend.
The local supplier calls my house to let us know they forgot to pick up the rim, so they didn?t have it and would be late in the day. ?My husband goes to pick up the rim the following day and the owner has a quote prepared for $1900. ?This is interesting since he had told me he would need to take the car apart for 2 days. ?My husband tells him we have gone elsewhere and he tells my husband he is going to charge him $50 for getting the tire couriered back from the other vendor, even though it was his mistake to have not picked it up the previous morning. ? My husband decided to pay him and just be done with it.
The rim was now delivered the other supplier. ?He says there is nothing wrong with the rim. There is just a scuff on it and was obvious from just looking at it and there is absolutely no damage or bending needed. ?He tests the rim as well which confirmed his findings, so there is no charge for a used rim or even fixing, so the bill is further reduced. My car was delivered back to my driveway by lunchtime on Friday after being only gone a total of not even 4 days and it looks like brand new.
As a small business owner, customer service is the most important piece of the puzzle especially if you are in a business that is focused on a local or regional market. ?It is very short sighted if you think that people are stuck and will not go elsewhere. If you want to service and support customers in your local market, it is very important to keep this in mind. ?This is the first time I have gone outside my local community for a service that I could get locally.
I trusted the vendor before I called him as I have known and networked with him for over a year. ?We have served on committees together and I know many people who have used his service. ?It just so happened that I most likely was not ever going to be able to use his services because I lived outside his geographic region. ?Many times when people network, they are only thinking about focusing on the customer they can find now. In this instance, I was not a target customer for the vendor, but through the personal interaction and trust that was built, I knew when I called him he would give me solid advice. Instead of telling me I was outside his area, he came to my rescue.
This supplier listened to me, the customer, and understood my requirements. ? He did not try to rebuild and sell me a new car because I was in a bind and needed help. ?Thinking you have a captive customer is not a way to think about a customer ? it about retaining a customer and having that customer refer additional business to you in the future. ?Who knows based on current events, this supplier might even widen his reach to my local area, as I am fairly certain that he can find additional business here.
If you have a local business, do not assume you have a given local customer base. ? Even if there are some customers that will buy local once ? do not kid yourself into believing they will be back if they felt they were not listened to, were overcharged, or were given poor service. It is important to give the best customer service you can ?locally to keep them from googling to find out their options.
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The business I used is also local/regional as well, ?but has a very different way of doing business. ?The business owner does not have to advertise, as all of his business is referral and word of mouth and now I know why. ? Though his business model is to come pick up your car and he doesn?t service my area ? I was fully prepared to take it to him and then worry how I would get back ? so not being local was not a deterrent. Customers will go to businesses they trust and where they are serviced appropriately ? even if it out of their way. ?My view is that local businesses have to be at least as good and not just mediocre to keep people local. ?As a local business and member of the community ? you should have local customers at the forefront of your mind and how to keep them there instead of feeling they owe it to you to buy in their neighborhood.
There is the saying, you have a good customer experience you tell one person and if you have a bad experience you tell ten. ?In this case I am probably up to five on the latter ? so am going to turn the tables and tell more than one. ? If you are in Durham Region and if need to have your car serviced or repaired and are looking for someone you can trust with A1 service ? ?call Ed Lam at A1 Automotive in Whitby. ?In this case, networking was key to the initial transaction and he has never tried to sell me his service as I was not in his territory. The level of customer service he provided ensures that even if I had to take my car to him ? I will continue to use his service and he is guaranteed that I will refer him business in the future.
Source: http://rkfischer.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/network-customer-service-and-community-a-good-combination/
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