Advice: Customers
Introduction
Quite simply your business cannot survive without them, and despite the fact that most high street retailers in the UK have forgotten the saying – 'Customer is King'.
If you do it right - they pay you, they give you feedback, and they sell for you. What could be better?
If you get it wrong though, they pay you, then the tell people how bad your 'holiday experience' is, and they advise their friends where not to go!
We subscribe to the Jack Welch (former CEO of GE) point-of-view in that people – in this case customers fall into the 20/70/10 divide. That is:
- The top 20% of your customers will be very loyal, come more than once, and actively sell your holiday experience to all of their friends and acquaintances through word-of-mouth. These are the people to really look after and become friendly with. Seth Godin (Author of Permission Marketing, amongst others) calls these people ‘sneezers’. They are loyal and effectively work for you in that they are spokespeople for what you are selling.
- The middle 70% are the masses. They may become one of the top 20% (especially if you incentivise them) but the chances are that they enjoy their experience at your holiday home then come back and that’s it. They didn’t dislike the experience but they were not that bothered (for want of a better word) about going home and telling everyone about it.
- The bottom 10% contain the customers we can all imagine we would not like. They cause problems and nothing will ever be good enough for them. Let’s be honest, you are bound to get them. Be as nice as you can but know that your best will never be good enough. Let them do what they have to do then move on.
Love the top 20%, nurture the potentials in the middle 70% and then forget about the bottom 10%, but make sure if they come back, you turn them away – you do not need the hassle. You have spent lots of time building up your business. You don’t need these people.