Free money

For this assignment I will go to different venues where people are gathered and typically busy with other things.  I am staying at hotel this weekend so I will use someone there, drive-thru window, a kids play area, someone walking down the street, and an organized function.  The people I will approach will be based on which location I see them at such as a parent at the play area, whoever gives me my food at the drive thru, a parent at the organized event, a guest at the hotel, and the person in the street will be random.  I will start the conversation with excuse me or hello.  I will keep it short and to the point.  I noticed that when dealing with customers it is best to be direct and straight forward.  And that is what I intend on doing.  My goal will be to have each encounter last less than 20 seconds.  I do think that I will give away all five dollars.  My reflections on the exercise are not positive.  I did not feel that this is a good example of delivering value to a customer.  Customer service and value is very different than giving something away to a customer.  In fact, I feel that a lot business get problem solving and customer service mixed up or consider them the same thing and will in turn start to cause problems later down the road.  Providing good customer service has nothing to do with monetary value it is about making that person feel special.  For instance something as simple as walking to the bathroom when they ask where it is instead of just pointing.  Knowing if that need a radio replaced in their vehicle great customer service would be writing down their saved presets and then after the new radio is put in programing them back in for the customer.  These things don’t cost any money and will make a profoundly deeper and more memorable impact then discounting the cost of something.  Giving the dollar was about what I thought it would be.  It was quick and ran into very little resistance.  I did not give all 5 away though.  The parent at the kids play center did turn me down, but I was not surprised.  In that setting parents are typically on a little higher alert and less trusting.  

  

Elevator Pitch No. 2

My idea is pretty straight forward.  People do not like bringing their vehicle in for service and at the same time they have no choice, it has to be done.  I firmly believe that a customer will pay a little extra for the convenience of not having to actually go to the facility.  We will come to pick your vehicle, leave a loaner for you, have you sign the repair order, take your vehicle to have the service completed, bring your vehicle back to you, take payment, and of course thank you for your business.  Now your vehicle is serviced and your life was not interrupted.  The feedback I am receiving has been very positive and everyone seems to agree that it is a service they would be interested in.  I had one comment stating they are not sure if people would pay extra to have someone pick up there vehicle and I understand that position but if people did not want to pay more for convenience then businesses like valet service would never work.  My idea did not change really from my first pitch, but I am still trying to figure out the price point, logistics, and liability issues.  

 

Week 6 Reading Reflection

I love the diagram right at the beginning of the article.  I think that is spot on, in regards to how the business world works.  In todays retail world it almost, to me, that the bargaining power of the buyer far outweighs that of the seller.  With the internet and easy access to ads and everything loyalty is something that has seemed to fall by the wayside. On page 7 it speaks of substitutes in the market and I think we have become so oversaturated with substitutes that customer service now has to go to the extreme or a business will not be successful.  With all of the barriers of entry for a new business that already exist the oversaturation of substitutes makes it even worse.  Something that I would ask is if eliminating rivals is not always a good decision, what is best way to accelerate your business while not incurring too much attention from rivals?  Something else I would ask is, with the evolving world and technology can a business over use technology to the point where it is a turn off for customers?