Love going to my local antique flea market. It’s once a month, opens later than other flea markets (8 AM!), and you can go through it in about an hour, depending on how many vendors are there. My eyes get a workout as I take in the sights; my brain processes all I see and weigh the odds of purchase on the “want-o-meter”. My phone, in my right hand, swings upward occasionally when a vendor isn’t looking to sneak a photo of something interesting. If they’re sitting in a chair staring at me, I’ll ask if I can take a pic while pretending I’m very interested (sometimes, I am!). When shopping at a flea market, “need” is usually not an overwhelming factor when considering a buy. It’s more of a “ooh I like that” or “hey, I had one of those when I was a kid”. How much does customer service play a role in a purchase? For me, a lot! I remember shopping in a mall many years ago in December when I was about twenty years old, wearing worn out jeans and overall looking a bit tattered while hiding a thick wad of bills in my pocket, ready to spend. A makeshift holiday store was offering nifty Lucite paperweights with carvings in them. The snooty folks working there made me feel smaller than a pea. Though hurting from their attitude, I wanted that paperweight as a gift to a certain someone, so I plunked down my hard earned $40 (just under $150 in buying power today). Nowadays, I don’t put up with that sort of behavior and I’ll turn around and walk away, no matter how much I want that item. Recently at the flea market I spied a box filled with Life Magazines from the Sixties. I love old ads; they tell the story of how we lived and what the product, style and color trends were; many of those trends come back! The box clearly said on it in large letters “Mags 50 cents”. I decided to swing back later. Returning to the magazines I inquired “How much for the box?” The response was “I just sold 3 for 10 dollars.” Then she walked around to them and started counting the magazines. She said “There’s about 32 of them in here.” I said “It says 50 cents” on the box. “That’s wrong” she quickly replied and added “I sold 3 for 10 dollars. That’s just a box.” I then said “It says mags on it.” She restated “That’s just a box.” Then she said “25 dollars.” I said “22”. She said “25. I sold 3 for 10 dollars.” During this conversation I also injected a prime benefit to her: She wouldn’t have to lug a heavy pile of magazines back home. And then I realized she wasn't going to play fair. “You know, never mind; that’s okay.” I slowly walked away. She made no attempt to counter my offer. What happened here?
Lack of concern for the potential buyer. Her surly attitude indicated that she didn’t care whether or not she was going to make a sale. Excuse me for making her get out of the chair!
Stubbornness. My offer was fair. Her air of “putting one’s foot down” rubbed off on me and I was annoyed.
Improper signage. Technically, based on the price on the box, I should have carried those magazines away for $16. She should have honored the price and if it indeed was incorrect, take away the learning of what NOT to do the next time.
And while this is a flea market situation, it could easily apply to a small business. Customer service can indeed make or break a sale. While being nice and working with the customer to arrive at something they both feel fair about is an obvious action, “yeah, yeah, I know”, why are there so many sellers not doing it? Where does customer service fit in for you when making a purchase? We promise to treat you real nice at our website, or on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
This is part 2 of a 2 part'er. For part 1, click here.
Soon after Lexus’ introduction I had the pleasure of experiencing an LS400 for an evening (a nice little perk; evaluating vehicles from a consumer standpoint all for the sake of research). I remember sitting in the car, starting it up, and two minutes later pulling over in a parking lot because I was overwhelmed by all the workings on the dashboard. I reached into the glove box and pulled out the owner’s manual and started reading. Important data stored in my brain, I continued my test run.
That vehicle was priced at $35,000; at that time a Mercedes E Class was around 50K. Hope I got those numbers right; pulled them from my cranium! Lexus, by the way, was Toyota’s debut into the U.S. luxury market.
Infiniti, Nissan’s new brand, intro’d with products similar to the two Lexus models. The Infiniti styling was perhaps not as modern as Lexus but let’s remember that the overall look of most vehicles was still rather square with some rounding on the corners. However, Infiniti’s flagship, the Q45, may have suffered some loss of sales simply for lacking a grille.
At any rate, Lexus took Infiniti to the cleaners. And Toyota showed us how to something bad and make it into something good. Turns out those $35,000 LS400s had a few quality issues out of the gate. This could have been devastating for the brand; instead, Lexus came forward towards the end of 1989 and voluntarily recalled 8,000 vehicles that were already in consumer’s garages.
Okay, you’re thinking, so what? Car manufacturers have voluntary recalls every day. True. Now here’s where an important word comes in. Expectations. Would you, as a consumer, expect an automotive company to take care of you with customer service that would far exceed your expectations?
Hello marketing opportunity! Not only could Lexus fix the problem by sending service technicians to consumer’s home or place of work to pick up and return a repaired car to those consumers, they could generate some positive imagery about the brand. According to a Los Angeles Times Article, LS400 owners in more remote locations were reached via flying in the technicians! I’m sure the media latched onto some stories surrounding those extremes!
Lexus quickly became known as THE automotive brand for customer service. It’s no surprise that they’ve topped studies such as the JD Power Initial Quality Survey many times.
Simply put, those initial buyers got more than a car. And Toyota cleverly found a way for their new brand to gain a foothold in the states. A standard was set for other automotive manufacturers and perhaps others outside of the car industry to aspire to.
LinkedIn could take a lesson here. Yes, they admitted that password security was breached and that’s great. However, the issue had already spread like wildfire via Twitter, blogs, and other social media sources. Why not “save face” by being upfront right from the start, accept the issue head on, and then resolve it in a way that leaves a path for moving forward again.
Brands, take some lessons from Lexus! Keep your hands on the wheel and enjoy the Lexus commercial from 1989 below. For Part One, click here. Oh, and ...say hello! There's thewebsite, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ ...I'll say Hi back.
For me, a lot! I remember shopping in a mall many years ago in December when I was about twenty years old, wearing worn out jeans and overall looking a bit tattered while hiding a thick wad of bills in my pocket, ready to spend. A makeshift holiday store was offering nifty Lucite paperweights with carvings in them. 
