If your service says delivery, don’t offer DiGiorno!

by Money on June 15, 2010

If you run a service business, then you know that delivering a service that exceeds your customer’s expectations is the key to business growth and success. On the flip side of that, offering a service that you cannot provide is one of the fastest ways to hurt your business.

I had an interaction today with someone that provides a service to me. I’m a recurring customer. I pay this service a monthly fee. I contacted one of their support reps today, and asked them how much it would cost for an additional service. The support rep informed me that they would be able to provide me with the service for free. I was instructed to e-mail the information to him, so he could promptly take care of it for me.

I was excited. I expected to pay for the service, and it was great news when I was told it was free! He exceeded my expectations.

I complied. The first e-mail response that I got was that the first rep who I spoke with wouldn’t be able to complete my service request, because of its complexity, and that the next level of support would assist me.

Subsequently, I was informed by the next level of support that the service is in fact not free, and that I would need to pay $35/hour for it. This was after an hour and a half of my time had been wasted. I was tempted to write back, “Well, my billable rate is $50/hour, and you wasted 1.5 hours of my time, so you owe me $75.”

I didn’t.

Let’s imagine this in a real-world scenario.

You’re extremely hungry. You’ve worked all day and you’re exhausted. You love the buffalo chicken pizza at Phil’s Pizzeria. You pull out their menu, and under the BIG BOLD LETTERS that say FREE DELIVERY, you find the number.

You dial the number and you’re informed that your pizza will be delivered in 15 minutes. 45 minutes later, your pizza arrives. The delivery driver announces that you owe $48.97.

*blank stare*

He tells you there is a $35 delivery fee. After screaming about how the menu says FREE DELIVERY and your pizza is already 30 minutes late, and cold, he apologizes.

He ensures you that they will change their menus, and points out that you probably have a frozen DiGiorno pizza somewhere in your house that you could easily heat up in the microwave for free… then leaves.

Phil’s Pizzeria has wasted your time, and provided you with nothing but aggravation.

Make sure you’re exceeding your customer’s expectations. If your service says delivery, don’t offer DiGiorno.

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Give me $30 and I’ll give you $1 Million a Year for Life!

by Money on June 14, 2010

Sounds like a pretty good deal, huh? There are certain things that motivate people. Large sums of money is one of them. When you are looking to sell anything to anyone, you want to appeal to your customer’s needs. This goes without saying. This is a basic principle of sales. It goes further than that, though. Promise them the world, and deliver. Give them hope that you’re going to improve their quality of life.

My title refers to a New York State Lottery Win for Life scratch-off ticket. They sell a ticket that costs $30, but will give you the opportunity to win $1 Million a year – for life! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal, huh? We all know the statistical likelihood that the ticket you purchase will be a winner. For those dreamers out there, though, it’s worth it. The rush that the customer gets when they are scratching the ticket is what they’re actually paying for. The $1 Million would just be a bonus. Now, let’s think about what the New York State Lottery is doing in reality.

If I said to you… Give me $30 and I’ll give you a piece of paper with scratch-off paint on it, that is probably worth less than $30, would you do it? Probably not. If you would, I’d be happy to provide you with my PayPal address. You’re selling the dream. You’re selling the experience. This goes for a lot of businesses. This is where some advertisers, marketers, and even business owners fall short. They are trying to sell the product – not the value behind the product.

A masterpiece painting is worth paying $30 for a piece of paper and some paint.
A chance to win $1 Million is worth paying $30 for a piece of paper and some paint.
An artist who creates the masterpieces would probably also be willing to pay $30 for that piece of paper and paint.

Telling someone you want them to buy something that is statistically likely to provide them a value that is lower than their initial investment? Good luck with that.

Make sure you’re delivering the value to your customers. Make your customers millionaires!

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