I was so pleased to receive the message from the hire car firm in Noosa
- had I lost a watch? Yes indeed, I thought it had gone missing in the sand but
it turned up under the car seat. I thanked them, by text, and asked for it to
be posted to me, I would pay for all expenses.
But no. They were too busy, it would take too much time, I must send a
proper, stamped, self-addressed envelope and they would then post it. OK, no
big deal - but it did sour, a little, what had been a warm exchange. I brooded
on this. What would Winston say?
For many years, my friend Winston Marsh has lectured thousands around Australasia , and beyond, about the value of a customer. I
had just spent $600 with the firm and been very contented with their car and
service. How should they treat me?
Warming to a favourite subject, he mused: "Where did it come from,
the idea to ring you? It must be down from the top, an attitude running in the
firm. It's management that has the responsibility to make policy that's then
passed on by the middle managers.
"Can you imagine what Richard Branson would do? He'd send you the
watch and a voucher to make up for the time you were without it!" he
smiled.
In our business you spend a lot of time communicating the obvious. Like
- how much is a customer worth? It's quite simple to calculate. Just take the
money you spend every year on marketing, advertising, mail outs, sales staff,
rep calls, submissions and tenders - and then divide that total by the number
of active customers on your books. That is, someone who has spent something in
the past year. The figure is your cost per customer. Frightening, isn't it?
Of course we all know that eighty percent of the business comes from
twenty percent of the customers - but that remaining eighty percent of
customers still cost a massive part of your expenses.
Getting back to hire cars, what's your rule of thumb on the value of a
customer, Winston? "For a big firm like Avis or Budget, who've got
counters at the airport and big corporate contracts, I'd guess ten to twenty
dollars a sale - probably more."
But for a little off-site firm like I quoted? "Every customer comes
through advertising or other media," he explained, making the job much
harder. "For a small hire firm a customer has to be worth at least
$100."
Which is pretty good justification for spending $1.20 in stamps, a
padded envelope and the evening drop-off at the post office.
In return, they would have gained an advocate amongst the business
community. Whenever a colleague was going north for pleasure or trade, I'd slip
in my story about this car hire firm that was so honest they charged me what
had been quoted, to the cent - and immediately sent back a watch I'd dropped
under the seat.
Word of mouth is the strongest form of advertising you can get. These
days you can extend this to Facebook and Twitter.
The way to win - and keep - customers is by talking to them, on any
excuse. A friendly note in the bubble bag, hoping I had enjoyed my stay and
looking forward to my return, would have been a perfect touch. Ask Winston and
Richard.
