Tracking Customer Feedback -- Good and Bad

Last month, the Gourmet Retailer had a great article on paying attention to customer compliments as much, if not more so, than complaints.

What I like about this article is that it makes a point of identifying happy customers and keeping them happy.  While it's important to fix customer complaints in a satisfactory manner, customers who are currently satisfied are more likely to be promoters of your brand.  Knowing these customers and what they like about you helps identify ways to improve or change your offerings to better fit their needs.  In the book The Ultimate Question, the authors state that the single most important question to ask customers is "would you recommend us to a friend?".  Knowing how many satisfied customers you have is even more important than knowing how many unsatisfied customers you have; these customers will bring their friends, who then are more likely to turn into customers themselves.

For the most part, I agree with the article, but there are a few caveats:

Positive feedback doesn't outweigh negative feedback.  Unhappy customers can't just be ignored, unless the company is purposefully redlining them, as in those who don't pay bills or who are too unpleasant to work with.  Even then, redlining customers must be done carefully, as social media can create a wildfire of bad publicity.

One thing that kept coming up in the Kitchen Nightmares series, run by Gordon Ramsay, is that business owners use customer compliments to lull them into complacency.  If sales are dropping, if people aren't coming into the shop, then all the compliments in the world don't change the fact that the business is suffering and needs to change, especially if those compliments aren't recent.

I enjoyed reading the article, and especially like the stories of how this company grew more connected to its customers through the use of positive feedback.


Sources:
Bayless, M. (2014). Build on What's Working.  The Gourmet Retailer, Feb / Mar 2014 issue.

Reichheld, F. and Markey, R. (2011).  The Ultimate Question 2.0.  Harvard Business Review Press: Boston, MA.

Image via landsandlots.com

A Successful Farmers' Market: 3 Defining Aspects

In the United States, there are currently 8,144 farmers' markets.  However, how many of them are truly enjoyable, entertaining, and exciting?  What defines a good market from a great one?  After visiting many of the local markets in the Bay Area, I came up with these defining characteristics:

Exclusivity

Kika's strawberries are the best in the valley.  Photo via realtimefarms.com.

One key ingredient is a variety of exclusive offerings. A few years ago, when it was impossible to find pluots at grocery stores.  People had to go to the farmers market or a farm stand to buy them.  Some may think that this idea is limited to specialty crops, or even prepared and processed foods -- after all, a strawberry from the farmers' market is the same as a strawberry from the store, right?  Wrong.  Just having a special variety of fruit will draw people in and keep them coming back.  At a local market, there is a strawberry grower that everyone looks forward to seeing when strawberry season starts; their strawberries are have such a great berry flavor, and are so sweet.  Unusual offerings, even if only a bit special, will expand customers' horizons and keep them thinking about the market.

Location

Baltimore Farmers Market and Bazaar -- Under an overpass.  Not the worst location, actually.  Photo via examiner.com.

Yes, yes!  Location, location, location.  This might seem silly, but it's really not.  I've seen enough markets placed in inconvenient and confusing locations to know that this is important.  Sometimes this is because of finances; it's cheaper to place a market somewhere a little out of the way.  At the same time, if a market isn't well marketed, no one will know it's there.  If it's difficult to find, then less hardy prospective customers will turn around and go to Whole Foods.  Even those that do arrive may do so in a less than happy mood -- I know, I've been there.  Similarly, close and plentiful parking are important, though less so if the area is metropolitan enough.  Another aspect of this is permanence; a market that's constantly moving just creates confusion.  One local farmers' market has moved nearly every year its been in existence; this means, every year, the market has to work hard to inform the community of its new location, and convince them that its still worth going to.  Customers shouldn't have to question whether a market will be there the next week, so a sense of permanence is extremely important.

Community

Create spaces for people to socialize.  Photo via missioncommunitymarket.org.

This is perhaps the hardest aspect to develop in a market, but nonetheless, the most important.  It's a touchy-feely, ever-shifting point that depends very heavily upon the participation of those who come to the market, both the vendors and the customers.  Having vendors who truly understand and believe in their product helps significantly; it means that they can create real dialogue with customers, which helps build relationships.  Entertainment and events can help build a sense of community, too; chef's demonstrations, sampling days, a children's area, and holiday celebrations are all events that can foster a sense of community.  If the market has hot foods or other offerings that are ready to eat there, then a café are with tables and chairs would be beneficial to encouraging people to gather and socialize.


Sources:
Planck, N. (2004). Some thoughts on selling at farmers' markets.  Rodale Institute.  Retrieved from http://www.newfarm.org/features/0504/farmmarkets/index.shtml

USDA (2014).  Farmers Markets and Direct-to-Consumer Marketing.  Retrieved from http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets

What-What?! Week of April 27th

Yesterday was my first day working the Kidzone area for the YMCA.  The Kidzone is a childcare area that parents can use while they work out or take a class at the YMCA office.  It was pretty low key, and I spent most of the time working on things for a special event the office was having that day.  To be honest, getting paid to paint banners is pretty fun, and I also spent some time looking through books, so now I have some great ideas for upcoming curriculum.

Earlier this week, I did a post about concept artwork from Disney's Frozen, and how it looks similar to a lot of other Disney films.  If you missed it, check it out: Disney's Frozen Concept Art versus Other Disney Films.

News:  Amazon, in Threat to UPS, Tries Its Own Deliveries via WSJ.com

Amazon is now testing a plan to take over delivery services of goods in the "last mile"; that is, the final part of the journey from warehouse to consumers' homes.  This bid to forward integrate has advantages and disadvantages to it; on the one hand, it can help facilitate the goal of more efficient 1-day shipping, and helps Amazon control shipping delays, preventing some of the customer service pain that happened this past Christmas.  The biggest advantage is cost; with the United States Postal Service and UPS increasing prices by 3-5 percent a year, it gives Amazon an incentive to invent cheaper modes of delivery.

The disadvantage is the risk itself.  Amazon is just not very good at making profits.  If this doesn't work out for Amazon, and that is a big if, the company stands to lose a significant amount of investments that it doesn't have the ability to absorb.

It'll be interesting to see how it works out for Amazon.  I don't expect it to become a widespread service for at least a few more years, even with the company already in the testing phase.

(img via aim.org)

What-What?! Week of September 22nd

Unfortunately, since I am now gone for dinner five days a week, I haven’t had much time to cook anything interesting.  My husband, on the other hand, has done a great job in my absence.  He has made the most delicious mushroom and onion sauce, cooked in a red wine reduction, served over breaded pork chops and baked potatoes.  Somewhat an odd mix of flavors, but delicious nonetheless.

Talk Like a Pirate Day
This past Thursday, the 19th, was Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is a brilliant holiday celebrating all things piratical.  In honor of it, before I went to work, the husband and I did some fun games and crafts with the children.

First up, we played Ship Captain, a game that worked out far better with my kids at home than my class at work.  The kids particularly enjoyed running around when there was a shark, or an island with treasure (my middle son pretended to carry a giant treasure chest back on the boat).

 

Then, we did a pirate character craft; at first, my son wasn’t interested in it, and instead made a ship with pirates on it.  My daughter, though, was all for it, and quickly put together a face.  We used q-tips for the crossed bones on the hat, and simple construction paper for everything else. (Saffron's is left, Corey's is right).

The last thing we did was have “sailboat sammies” for lunch, which were simple turkey sandwiches with cheese “sails”.  This is one of the few times recently that my son has eaten a turkey sandwich without complaint, and may lead to this entering the regular rotation.  Next year, I hope to be a bit more extravagant with the activities, maybe even being a bit factual and teaching the kids some history.

News: 3 Ethical Ways to Boost Positive Online Reviews via Entrepreneur
This article features three vignettes showing strategies that companies have taken to increase online reviews, and the benefits of increased consumer trust, notoriety, and success.  The only thing that I dislike about this article, that the comments section points out well, is that one of the companies recommends not responding to negative comments in public.  In my opinion, that is just backwards.  When I see a review on Amazon (or Yelp, or wherever), if someone from the company has taken the time to reply to a negative review, even if it’s just a “I’m so sorry, please contact me at…”, it tells me that the company actually cares.  That someone has a job monitoring comments, and that feedback is appreciated and important enough to garner a public response.

Music: Captain Bogg and Salty’s Waltz of the Waves via Youtube.com

I was re-listening to the Emphatical Piratical album and think that it’s probably the most grownup song on there.  I read one review of the album that described this song as “wistful”, which is very apt for this romantic view of the pirate life.

'Til next week!

What-What?! Week of June 30th

So, how about rejection?  It sucks.  This week, I had an op/ed piece rejected from two newspapers, and also heard that I am no longer being considered for what would have been a nice job.  I’m not so upset about the newspapers, but the job is pretty disheartening.  However, from what I was told, they had thousands of applicants; that I got an interview is somewhat an achievement by itself.  I am seriously considering taking a few classes this Fall, and picking up some extra accounting skills, especially in QuickBooks and PeachTree.

Otherwise, this week went pretty well – other than being hot.  I did get more items to list on eBay, some of which have already sold.  I also signed up for iWriter, a place for freelance writers to find work; the reviews for this website are mixed, but it seems like a good way to get some general experience, as well as a greater variety of sample work.  I’ve written about half a dozen short articles for clients on there, and so far, so good; I’ve been rated 5 stars for all my work.

News:  The Grocery Competition You Never Saw Coming via The Motley Fool

This article is actually pretty hilarious, because this is really old news.  Back when I wrote Trader Joe’s versus Whole Foods Market, I read industry reports discussing how warehouse stores were creeping into the specialty grocery industry.  What’s interesting about this article, however, is the point that Costco’s fresh food offerings are what its using to compete against Whole Foods; I’m more inclined to think that it’s Costco’s increasing selection of natural food brands, as well as its private brand products, many of which are also organic or “all natural”.  I’ve always considered that Costco’s main specialty grocery competitor is actually Trader Joe’s; the private brand offerings are very similar.  Costco, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s all have very similar target markets.  Looking at demographics, the customers are very similar; older, married, educated, well-heeled, and interested in quality.  Whole Foods’ customers are more interested in saving the environment, while Costco and TJ’s customers are more interested in saving a buck.

Whole Foods will continue to have convenience, specialty products, and the nice eatery area over Costco.  When you walk into Whole Foods, the store is large, but still not as large as a Costco, and checkout is pretty fast all the time (oh my goodness, the lines at Costco sometimes!).  Whole Foods still has specialty items that are difficult to get anywhere in-person, though that number will dwindle as pharmacies, discount retailers, and conventional grocery stores stock more of these items.  The number one thing that Whole Foods offers is the feel of the place; the stores feel special, like heading to a local market.  Unfortunately, that specialness is expensive to produce.  Whole Foods needs customers who aren’t price sensitive, which has been difficult for them to achieve – this is why the company has added coupons, sales and specials in recent years.  I don’t know how effective that strategy has been for them, but I really think that it undermines the charm of the stores.

What I would like to see is smaller Whole Foods stores with a tighter selection of in-demand items.  This would lower overhead while increasing profit per square foot -- Trader Joe's manages to have  a better profit per square foot, and, as you can see above, their stores are much smaller than a conventional Whole Foods.  I think that sizing down would be an effective strategy for the company, especially in that it would allow them to develop stores in more areas, especially in big cities where space is at a premium.

And Now, Something Completely Different, via The Chive

Look!  A llama in a minivan!  It reminds me of my youth – our alpacas used to ride in the back of our minivan.  I was one of the kids that sat in the back with them, and I can safely say that they had terrible breath.

Shopping:  Kokeshi Dolls via Amazon

While I was looking for craft ideas to do with the kids, I came across these adorable kokeshi doll erasers on Amazon.  Kokeshi are Japanese dolls that are distinctive in that they always lack legs, and usually lack arms.  Most kokeshi that I found were kind of expensive, but these erasers are pretty cheap, and very cute.

Until next week!

(images via twitter.com, thechive.com, amazon.com)

What-What?! Week of May 19th

Thursday, I completed my final presentation of the strategic analysis of Monterey Language Services.  It went wonderfully!  My team mates were fantastic, totally spot-on with their parts.  After the presentation was over, we didn’t get many questions; I think partly because our presentation was very complete, and partly because of the confidence we expressed while discussing it.

Saturday was the commencement, which I didn’t attend.  But still and yet, I have graduated!  I now have my bachelor’s in business administration.  Now to figure out what I’ll be doing next.

Cooking: LOL, What?

This week, I didn’t do much cooking at all.  Sunday I made a beef, asparagus and mushroom stir-fry.  Monday, we had barbequed try-tip at my parent’s house, and Tuesday we had leftovers of that.  Wednesday, we ate pizza.  Thursday we had dinner out.  Friday, the husband cooked.  Saturday, we ate leftovers and fast food.

But I did make mushrooms on toast, which is a classic British breakfast food.  It’s very simple to make: Just sauté mushrooms with a bit of butter, and then served on toast.  It’s usually topped with a poached egg, but we had ours with fried eggs instead.  I really liked the earthiness of the mushrooms contrasted with the eggs; Peter thought it could use a little something, but he’s not sure what.  Either way, it was a hearty, delicious breakfast.

News: Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and a Social Media Meltdown

This happened about mid-week; a business that Ramsay was working with on the United States version of his Kitchen Nightmares show was so awful and backwards that he refused to work with them.  One of the things that came about was a social media war against their detractors, who had gone onto Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Yelp and trashed the business for their misleading practices.  I bring this up not so much because of the connection to Ramsay, but because I keep seeing this happen to small businesses, even good ones.  I think that the issue here is that these businesses are built by the blood and sweat of the owners, and they are very defensive, even when they are wrong.

I’ve seen this happen to Franklin Goose and Help Remedies; they do something wrong, and rather than admitting that they’ve made a mistake and trying to fix it (or even just apologizing), they blame customers.  It turns into a huge flaming internet war, posts complaining about the company are deleted from Facebook, and so on.  I think one of the most important things to remember in situations like these is that humans are fallible; people make mistakes, and companies make mistakes.  Customers are much more accepting if a company owns up to its mistakes, acting constructively, rather than destructively.  Blaming your customers and acting rudely to them does you no favors, no matter who is wrong.

Forbes even published an article describing lessons that can be learned from the dabacle.  Pretty spot-on.

See you next week! :D