Customer Service Information |
|
Invalid Excuses for Poor Business Results - The Weather
Note to Kmart: It wasn't about the weather In the 1970s Kmart was the retailer to beat. No matter what happened, they seemed to turn profit. Customers were loyal and prices were hard to beat. The chain was opening more store each year than some of their competitors had in their entire chain and sales were growing at admirable rates. Things were good. Then sales began to slump. By the middle of the 1980s Kmart was beginning to be report poor sales. The main reason they gave: the weather. With each disappointing sales report, Kmart blamed the weather. "The bitter cold hurt business." "The blizzard moving through the Midwest kept customers away from the stores." "The unseasonably warm fall decreased demand." Whine, whine, and more whine. At first, investors bought the excuses. They overlooked the fact that in each sales period Wal-Mart would report record or near-record results. Observers noted that Kmart's merchandise mix was more weather driven than Wal-Mart's because Kmart had more lawn and garden and apparel business than Wal-Mart's merchandise assortment which relied on more consistently selling consumables and commodities. As time went on, the whine became tiring. Analysts began to grow weary, with one eventually noting that Wal-Mart was apparently having different weather than Kmart. Top management had become so engrossed by the weather as the reason for poor sales that they did not even look at other possibilities. Prices were less competitive. Weekly ads were not bringing people into the stores. Customers were finding empty store shelves. New products were taking longer to get to Kmart's shelves than at Target and Wal-Mart. To make matters worse, executives at Kmart decided to upgrade the merchandise mix, thinking their customers would appreciate higher quality merchandise and be willing to pay more. Customers didn't agree. Weekly reports showed customer counts were continually dropping, so management decided to drop the report. The chain was out of control, disconnected to their founding principles, and so convinced that if they could just get Mother Nature's favor everything would be okay. Kmart is not alone in blaming the weather. Resort areas have long used them as an excuse for a poor season. Home and Garden businesses regularly point to the weather when results fall short. Sporting goods stores and athletic venues say weather controls results. Although one might say there is validity in their claims, it is nothing more than whining, whining, and more whining. During the fall of 2004, Florida was hit with no less than 4 hurricanes. Orlando's Walt Disney World and Sea World certainly could have complained that sales and profits were hurt because of the hurricanes. Neither did. Why? Both businesses understand the nature of weather on their business. They have designed their businesses in such a way as to protect their bottom-line. They have done so by connecting to their customers and understand exactly what their customers wanted yesterday so they can accurately predict what customers will want tomorrow. It is not about the weather, it is about understanding what your customer wants and delivering it to them in the manner they desire. Wal-Mart understands, Sea World understands, and Walt Disney Theme Parks understand. More importantly, their employees understand. They are so focused on the customer that the customer will reward them time after time, no matter what the environmental conditions. To be successful, your first second, and third business focus must be on what the customer wants. Rick Weaver is President of Max Impact, a national leadership and organization development company based in Rochester Hills, Michigan. Rick is an accomplished business executive with experience in retail, market analysis, supply chain and project management, team building, and process improvement. He has worked with hundreds of companies to improve sales, processes, and bottom-line results. MaxImpact offers leadership and organizational development services along with employee assessments and background checks. Contact Rick at 248-802-6138 or via email, rick@getmaximpact.com. MaxImpact is on the web at http://www.getmaximpact.com
MORE RESOURCES: No, GPT-4o isn't going to kill teaching or customer service Business Insider NTTA customer service, Tarrant County district clerk spar over mistaken charge The Dallas Morning News Availity Wins Two Bronze Stevie® Awards in 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Yahoo Finance Frost & Sullivan and SOCAP Forge Strategic Partnership to Elevate Customer Care and Experience Yahoo Finance How did customer service get so bad? Financial Times Senate passes bill improving air safety and service for travelers, a day before FAA law expires The Associated Press New York State Alerts New Yorkers of Temporary Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Outage on Sunday, May 19, for ... Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance Availity Wins Two Bronze Stevie® Awards in 2024 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service Business Wire Integrated solutions empower productivity for SMBs Insights by Samsung Verizon sharpens GenAI tools to impro... Mobile World Live Verizon unveils human-assisted GenAI tools for customer service Telecompaper EN Cognigy Named a Leader in 2024 “Conversational AI For Customer Service” Report The Bakersfield Californian What Consumers are Saying About AI and Customer Service Customer Think CommBox Launches Connect Partner Programme, Offering Market-Leading Automation and AI Capabilities to ... Business Wire Opinion: If it's not dead already, customer service is certainly on life support • Asheville Watchdog Asheville Watchdog Frequently asked questions and customer service CSPI Newsroom Poll workers emphasize election confidence, customer service • Indiana Capital Chronicle Indiana Capital Chronicle Top Banks Offering 24/7 Customer Service in 2024 Business Insider Customer Service & Support Hillsborough County (.gov) For 13th Consecutive Year, Wolters Kluwer Customer Service Wins NorthFace ScoreBoard Awards Silicon Canals Senate Passes FAA Bill on Air Safety and Customer Service – The Presidential Prayer Team The Presidential Prayer Team They've got your back: Meet American's system customer service managers - American Airlines Newsroom They've got your back: Meet American's system customer service managers American Airlines Newsroom Rebuilding the IRS Improves Customer Service and Reduces the Tax Gap Center For American Progress The Marriott Maze: Navigating Customer Service Over $11, When Does It Stop Being Worth It? View from the Wing AI enhances flexibility and efficiency for customer service centers, new research reveals | Binghamton News Binghamton University Porsche claims first place for customer service among premium car owners in J.D. Power Study Porsche Newsroom How to contact Amazon UK Customer Service About Amazon.co.uk Lee Michaels’ Scott Berg: How to make unhappy customers happy Greater Baton Rouge Business Report The correct airline customer service numbers to help avoid scams The Washington Post Welcome to Riverside Public Utilities City of Riverside (.gov) Forbes Recognizes Regions Bank for Best Customer Service Regions Financial Corporation Customer Assistance Programs DC Water Customer Service Administrator | Professional Security JTC Associates Ltd Genesys & ServiceNow join forces to revolutionise customer service ChannelLife Australia Taxpayers let down by Poor HMRC customer service www.contact-centres.com Contact SEA Customer Care portseattle.org Customer Support GE Aerospace Senate passes bill improving air safety and service for travelers, a day before FAA law expires Chicago Tribune Buccaneers Continue to Excel in Season Pass Member Customer Service Experience, Voted No. 1 for Sixth ... Buccaneers.com Gen Z prefers AI chatbots over phone calls, says Affirm's CEO Business Insider Britons Spend 800 Years Waiting to Speak to HMRC Business MattersBusiness Matters Recent Developments That Could Impact How Companies Offer AI-Based Customer Service Chatbots | Insights Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Billing and Insurance WellSpan Health At some point, construction gave up on customer service – but it's far from a lost cause New Civil Engineer |
RELATED ARTICLES
What To Do When Youve Blown It It's bound to happen sooner or later - yes, even to you and your business. Sometime or other, you will make a blunder that upsets a customer. At the Carwash; The Customer really is always Right You have no doubt heard the saying that the customer is always right. When you are a customer you happy with this position, when you are the owner of a small business, sometimes you see this is like opening Pandora's box. Communicating Value Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about. And The Difference is... Attitude I returned a rental car at an airport yesterday. As the person who was going to check me in approached, he smiled (which shocked me) and said, "Hello Mr. Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing A couple of years ago I had a call from a Customer ServiceManager working in the paper industry. He wanted me to run aseminar for his team, on "How to Deal with DifficultCustomers". Saying Thank You to Your Clients "Thanking your customers" - Why you should do it and how.. Why Communication Skills Dont Work In Customer Service Every time my firm conducts communication skills training, we know someone is going to object."That doesn't work. Quality vs. Quantity There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are Quality vs. 10 Customer Service Quality Statements to Measure up Against It might sound quick and simple, to say how well your business does in satisfying it's customers. Hearing such as:-"We're increasing our turnover by 14% year to date""Our customer complaints are now less than 4% or our transactions". Say It With Humor When you own a business, you may find yourself in situations that may be a little tricky to handle. Dealing with customers who steal is one of them. E-Business's Best Friend: eCRM From Ebay to the smallest home-operated start-up, e-businesses of all sizes struggle to accurately answer a common question: who are my customers? If you can't answer that question, chances are you're also in the dark about the following questions. What customer demand trends can I expect in the future? How can I improve customer retention? What can I do to build long-term relationships of trust with customers? Knowing the answer to these questions can mean the difference between long-term growth and profitability and crashing and burning. Empowering Customer Service Vital It never fails to amaze me how many companies have employees who are empowered to offer former customers wonderful incentives to lure them back, yet their customer service representatives have the ability to offer virtually nothing to convince an unhappy customer to stay.Powerless, these CSRs often actually ignore customers' requests and declarations of their intent to leave, even encouraging them to seek out another company!They often repeat the few phrases they're allowed to say over and over again, further infuriating the customers. Listening to Customers - 5 Tips In a strange juxtapositioning of articles, this month's UK 'Management Today' has three pieces, relating to the importance of listening to customers.Susan Rice, CEO of Lloyds TSB makes it clear how vital it is for great leaders to listen and hear. Boomerang Customers- What You Might NOT Think Brings Them Back! With all of the calendars and PDA's and lists I make I recently did a really dumb thing. I forgot my best friend's birthday and her anniversary. Are You Putting Technology Before Your Customers? Which is more important the technology or the customer?The one thing about the online world you can be sure of is change.It seems like every day there is a new technology being addedwhich will make the internet more accessible. Have You Hugged a Customer Today? It all started a couple of weeks ago when a friend asked me if I could scan and print some of her slides. No problem, I said. 5 Golden Online/Offline Business Rules To LIVE Or DIE By Whether online or off, if you plan on running or maintaining any type of credibility within your business, there are some guidelines that are safe to say any existing or potential customer expects if they are to do immediate or future business with you.As an online entrepreneur for over 3 years I have found that even though I don't have the pleasure of meeting face-to-face with my customers, ones perception of you and your business can be viewed as good or bad all depending on the way you handle questions or comments posted by people interested in your product. Customer Service and Marketing that Works Go into many businesses today and try and get service, its sometimes impossible! The customer service officer is on the phone talking about personal issues, there is not enough staff, and they are disinterested and distracted.The old days of customer service is where you the customer were viewed as valuable and important and you received service from a person and not a machine. Making the Connection: Customer Relationships That Build Your Business Have you ever wondered why you often find a coupon tucked inside your cereal box, or get invited to a customer preview sale at your favorite department store? Those companies know that their existing customers are the best - and most profitable - customers they'll ever have. So it's not surprising that they'll do whatever they can to keep these customers happy and coming back again and again. All of the World of Business Is a Stage One of the basics of acting taught to me in grade school was the important principle of "staying in character." Staying in character means holding the image and personality of the character you are assigned to portray without letting your own personality leak through. |
home | site map |
© 2006 |