{Personal Image}
How do you choose what grocery store to buy your groceries from?
Do you pick the closest to your house? The cheapest? The one with the shortest lines? The one with the healthiest options?
I live in Blacksburg, Virginia, and I’ve got plenty of choices. I can go to Kroger, Food Lion, or to a health food store like Eats or Annie Kay’s. I could also drive a little further and shop at Walmart.
I have to consider my diet when I’m picking a grocery store, because only certain stores carry the vegan and gluten-free ingredients that I need. One might think that I do most of my shopping at the health food stores in our area, but that’s not the case.
Don’t Copy This
My husband and I do most of our grocery shopping at Kroger. Not the Kroger closest to our house—the Kroger on the other side of town. I say the other side of town like it’s a 30 minute drive, but it only takes 10 minutes to get there. The difference between these two stores is BIG. The one that we drive an extra five minutes to get to is much bigger, has more gluten-free and vegan options, has much better customer service, and seems cleaner.
It’s like walking into two completely different places. This isn’t something you should copy. You always want your customer to have a good experience with your company whether they order from you when you’re super busy during the holidays or when you’re super slow during the summer. Otherwise, you lose trust and it’s hard to gain trust back once you’ve lost it.
Copy This
Even though the Kroger near our house turns me off, I still shop at the other Kroger first. Then, I head to the health food store to pick up the stuff that Kroger doesn’t sell such as delicious gluten-free, vegan ciabatta rolls that rock my world. Don’t get me wrong—I love my health food stores, but they don’t have as many options as Kroger.
I shop at the farther Kroger for many reasons, but one reason that I continue to love Kroger is that they reward loyal customers. One holiday they sent a fruit basket. Another holiday they sent a gift card. And, last week they did something that compelled me to write this blog post. They sent a booklet of coupons.
At first, this doesn’t sound like anything extraordinary. How often do you get coupons from stores? All the time? Me, too. What made this extraordinary is that the coupons were handpicked for us. Every coupon in the book was for something that we buy regularly. This really stood out to me, because my husband and I rarely find coupons that we can actually use since we’re vegan and gluten-free. We can’t comb through the Sunday paper and prepare our meals according to what’s on sale and what we find coupons for which makes me incredibly jealous of the Extreme Couponing people.
I love to save money and use coupons. I grew up in a household of clipping coupons. I remember my mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table cutting out coupons, organizing them in an accordion folder, and planning the grocery list around them. Getting this customized booklet of coupons made me feel special. It made me feel like someone was paying attention, and it made me even more loyal to Kroger.
I’m not suggesting that you send your customers customized coupons. Instead, I’m suggesting that you pay attention to your customers and try to make them feel special at every opportunity. It’s more than worth your time and effort.
I’m loyal to places where the quality of the item or service is always consistent. Even when they’re having a lot of success (more clients or sales).
And I like friendly people 🙂
Agreed! It’s so important to treat your customers really well even when the money is rolling in.
I’m loyal to a small livestock/ health food store 15 minutes away. Their bunny feed does cost a dollar more than the one 5 minutes away but they have more options and will order in anything I want.
One of the health food stores that I frequent will order special gluten-free products when I find something online I like–and we always go to that health food store over the other one! It makes a difference.
Customer service really is so important! There are several stores I love, and shop in regularly, not because they sell different products, but because the service makes me feel that I’m a valued customer. I’m a very loyal customer at a store which I have a loyalty card for. I collect points on my loyalty card and frequently get coupons which allow me to collect extra points while doing my regular shop. I can quite often treat myself to a little treat or luxury on points, meaning no guilt for overspending!
I love this example. It goes back to rewarding loyal customers which is incredibly important. In creative businesses, this could mean sending a free print to a customer who has ordered from you three times or sending a special thank you note along with the purchase letting the customer know how much you appreciate her business.
Customer service is why we use the Walmart across town (15 minutes away versus 5) and why we shop at a local boutique before places like Toys R Us or even Target.
As a parent of two toddlers, I don’t necessarily expect our kids to be “noticed” but at these two places are kids are royalty. Stickers, hellos, how can I help you, and did you know kind of attention that makes me feel that I am noticed as a shopper. And the small business owner in town remembers our names!
Erika
Artful Rising
Isn’t amazing how it comes back to customer service? This really shows that if we go above and beyond with customer service in our own businesses, we’ll be rewarded!
There’s a Mexican restaurant a town over from where I live that I’m obsessed with. Nearly every time we go out for dinner, we head there even though it’s not the closest or most convenient. The first time I went in, the owner came over and told me that any of the regular, meat filled items on the menu he’d be happy to make into vegetarian options for me, all I had to do is ask. We’re always greated with “Hello, my friends!” when we walk in the door and get our food so quickly, we’re usually headed back home within 45 minutes. It’s such a happy and inviting environment that I can’t help but love and look forward to visiting!
Really love this example. Like you, my husband and I have diet restrictions and we frequent the restaurants that will work with us which usually isn’t that hard. Thanks for sharing!
I am attracted to a business that seeks to do the best for their customers, not just make a sale. I went to our local sewing shop last year ready to buy a new sewing machine. I had money in hand and was prepared to buy something at the top of the line. After talking at length with the sales associate, she convinced me to instead bring in my old sewing machine (which wasn’t doing what I needed it to do) for repair. Instead of making a $1000 sale, she brought in $30 for a machine repair, but earned a life-long customer. And I am always spreading the word about what great customer service the store has!
Reading this post also brought back fond memories of being in Blacksburg this summer (you live in a beautiful place!) I had a great shopping experience at Annie Kay’s, as well as the wonderful toy store next door (whose name escapes me). Kind, friendly service always goes a long way in earning customers!
I really enjoyed reading your example. It makes a big difference when you can trust a business and know that they want the best for you.
Isn’t Blacksburg wonderful? I love living here, especially during football season. Go Hokies!
I live in Michigan and have the same exact experience with our Kroger stores. The one that is closest to my house and in route from my drive home, is a very scary place – not one that I like to frequent at night or alone with my childern. The other Kroger 2 miles up the road is wonderful with more health food choices, three people helping you check out and extremely clean.
I understand that having speciality items or “Value” in an area that will not support it is foolish but your experience from store to store are totally different. Maybe they should spilt the compay (similar to what Gap does between it brands) that way there is no guessing game “is this a good Kroger or a scary Kroger”
Great post! It’s nice to know I am not the only one who feels that way about them.
I think it’s pretty bad that two Kroger’s in the same place would be so different. I don’t think they should split the company–I think they should get their act together and make sure they provide the same level of customer service and cleanliness at all of their stores. I know that’s a pipe dream right now, but I think they need to work on it.
You’re definitely not the only one who feels that way! I’m with ya.
Well, I’ve got a story from the company side of good customer service!
Just recently a woman contacted me about a necklace she’d received as a gift. The clasp on the necklace had broken, so she’d transferred the stones to a different chain and just wore them like that.
Until one day, two of the stones got lost! Oops! She wondered if I could replace the stones with similar ones and how much I’d charge.
Well, I figured that the clasp never should have broken for her in the first place, so I told her to just send it back and I’d fix everything including clasp and stones and send it back to her as it was intended to be. (I know a of lot of sellers who’d be fussy about fixing a broken necklace or accept the offer for the customer to pay to have it fixed, but that didn’t feel right to me.)
She was overjoyed (of course) and the next day ended up buying another necklace from my shop for me to send along when the broken one was mended. I wouldn’t be surprised if she keeps me in mind in the future when buying gifts for friends.
Most importantly: that is NOT why I offered to fix the necklace. It’s a pleasant surprise, but even if the customers don’t reciprocate, good customer service is just being a good person. A more than good person.
Love this Jenny. Thanks for sharing. It’s such a good example of how good customer service pays off and the best part about it is that you weren’t expecting anything from your goodwill. And, it feels so much better to do the right thing.
I love this post! I’ve started sending follow up emails to my customers to check on the service and get feedback. Both the good and bad have been extremely helpful and they have seemed to loved the follow up!
Customer service should be always at priority of any business that offers products or services. ‘*.”.
See all of the latest short article on our own blog
http://www.melatoninfaq.com/melatonin-overdose/