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THE THREE KEYS TO DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER - OWNING EXPERIENCE
Donald Cooper is a respected business speaker and award-winning manufacturer and retailer with a passion for marketing, service and business excellence. His unique insights into customer "ownership" are respected by clients in 40 industries throughout the world. He recently shared his views with Kraft on the challenges facing foodservice operators as they strive to add more and more value AND better service to their customer experience.
Whether you're offering fine dining or quick-serve convenience, your success will ultimately depend on your ability to consistently deliver VALUE and SERVICE.
After 11 years of studying and speaking on these critical success factors, I've determined that there are only three kinds of value:
- Functional value
- Emotional value
- Financial value
... and "service" is anything that delivers the value that your target customers need or want. If they don't need it or want it, it's not service and it's not value.
What's the functional value of food? First, food is fuel... proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fats. If we don't eat them, our body will run out of fuel and we'll fall down.
Your other functional value is convenience. The convenience of not having to shop for groceries and preparing your own fuel. So, functionally, you're in the "convenient fuel" business and in our very mobile and time-compressed society, that's real value.
But there are thousands of restaurants, kiosks and even street carts offering convenient fuel. So, how do you stand out and build lasting and profitable relationships with your target customers? You do it by delivering emotional and financial value.
You deliver emotional value when people feel better about themselves and the world when they do business with you, or interact with you in any way. Emotionally, food is a break from our busy lives, a reward, a celebration and an adventure. It's through a shared meal that we start and nurture relationships, acknowledge special people and special days, and thank those who have made a difference in our lives. If you're not delivering emotional value with every meal, you're missing the point.
You deliver financial value when customers believe that they paid a good and fair price for all of the functional and emotional value that they received from you. If you're not delivering functional and emotional value, there's no price low enough to be good enough.
Service, Food & Great Design
How do we deliver emotional value? By serving food that delights the senses and doing it in a way that uplifts and honors our customers. This shouldn't be rocket science. We've been serving food to each other on this planet for a few thousand years now. So, here's the three keys to delivering a customer-owning experience - service, food and great design.
Service
Service starts with a greeting that welcomes everyone and acknowledges repeat customers as being extra special. Attentive service throughout and an appreciative "thank you" at the end will go a long way with your customers. As I was paying for underground parking a few days ago (not generally an uplifting experience), the young man in the booth said, with genuine enthusiasm, "Thank you for parking with us. Have a great day and please drive carefully!" I just about fell over. Imagine receiving emotional value from a parking lot attendant!
Search for great staff as if your life depends on it... because it does. Find people who can add emotional value to every transaction, people who are passionate about your standards and your values. On my website (www.donaldcooper.com), we offer a valuable article on The Essential Steps to Finding & Keeping the Best Staff.
Make the waiting time to be seated or served as short as possible. When we make people wait, we tell them that they're not important, and they hate that! Really important people never wait. If the reality of your business is that customers will have to wait, offer them something to do that they'll like more than they hate waiting. For example, why don't pizza take-out places have a 30-inch TV mounted high on the wall playing CNN? Fifteen minutes would fly by! Put simple processes in place to make the right thing happen every time. "Everything that happens between intent and delivery is process!"
Food Food that consistently tastes good will keep your customers coming back - quality ingredients, carefully and creatively prepared and served. I was recently served fake, chemical-flavored mashed potatoes in a hotel dining room. With the choice of fresh produce and quality, value-added products available today, there's no excuse for this. I'll never go back. They've lost me as both a food and a lodging customer not just in that one location, but across their whole chain!
Great design
Great design of your premises has the profound possibility of uplifting people's minds and hearts. Bad design just stresses and depresses us. What look, mood and ambiance will differentiate you, make emotional connections with your target customers and bring them back? There are designers out there who know this stuff. Find one!
Whether you're a four-star restaurant or a quick-serve operation, how would you rate your business on the three critical factors of service, food quality and ambiance? What does this tell you about what needs to be fixed to create customer-owning value and service? Answer these questions and you'll be well on your way to delivering the kind of value and service for which your customers are looking.
SOURCE: Donald Cooper, MBA, is a world-class manufacturer (Cooper Sports Equipment), award-winning retailer and international business speaker. For more articles, business tools or interest in booking Donald for a speaking engagement, visit www.donaldcooper.com or call (416) 252-3704. |