Your Customers are Ploygamous!

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Cliff Wilson

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I took a session by the owner and founder of PostcardBuilder at the PPFA conference. One of the things he said was, "Your customers ARE polygamous!"

Meaning that they will visit other like businesses. His background was marketing and marketing research and he stated that in every study he performed or knew about, in every field, customers visited like stores at different times. The percent of "polygamous" customers was something extremely high like 80%! (This is from my shocked-at-the-time memory and may be a little off, but the order of magnitude isn't!)

He said, "Your customers ARE visiting your competitors! Count on it!"

The data came up during a discussion centered around marketing to your existing base as opposed to mining for new prospects.

Yesterday I had a lady in that "thought she'd try somewhere else." She was a "regular" at one of my nearby competitors and said, "they don't have the right thing for this piece." (She knew this without bringing the piece in! And, she selected a moulding that I know they carry!)

I was recently talking to some framers and the reaction was basically "Not MY customers!"

As Bob Carter often says, "Why do we think we are so different than every other retailer in the world?!?!"
:shrug:
 
I once had a customer tell me that they always bring "the good stuff" to me, but go around the block to frame posters and their kid's drawings. I derived from that that they perceived that I was too expensive on run of the mill framing but they didn't mind spending "the big bucks" for quality pieces.

I knew I wasn't more expensive on the economy jobs than my competitor but realized I had either a problem or an opportunity with perception.

I could either work to change the perception or raise my prices to the level much of my customer base perceived me to be at.

With this particular customer I asked them to let me quote on their "lesser jobs" the next time and was able to garner all their business, but I never successfully found a way to change the perception that I was pricey but delivered a quality product ...and I wasn't sure it would work to my advantage to try to change that perception.

The overall outcome of this realization was that I overcame my fear of pricing myself at what was needed to be profitable. I no longer worry too much about what the guy down the block charges. I need to charge what I need to charge to produce the quality of product I want to produce and remain profitable.

This doesn't mean that I totally ignore the competition or market prices. What it does mean, however, is that I don't let my competition set my prices. When I do compare prices I just as often find that I'm leaving money on the table for certain services as I do that I am higher than the competition on others. Comparing prices serves the purpose of forcing me to re-evaluate my internal structure to make sure I am charging appropriately and I don't let my competitors cause me to do any knee jerk price changes.

Dave Makielski
 
Dave, I think we have to be careful NOT to think price is the driving factor!

You'll note that in the example I gave, price had NOTHING to do with it.

She came to me because of a mistaken perception that my competitor did not have what she needed.

The gentleman giving the talk implied that the "why" they visited other shops was more an attention problem. Hence "you must aggressively market to your existing base."

P.S. just noticed I mistyped the title. Could someone fix it? thanx
 
Cliff, you're right ...price is only one reason customers "shop around". Often the reason is as simple as they want to go somewhere else simply out of curiosity or to "spread the business around".

I've found the same motivation in buying from my suppliers even when one supplier has done nothing to cause me to not buy from them. It's not necessarily a rational motivation, but since I recognize it in my own behavior I must acknowledge that it happens with my customers too. Maybe it stems from a feeling that I don't want to depend on only one supplier of any product or service.

I think one point you brought up is crucial in this case ...

How many of us have customers that for a period of time seemed to be extremely loyal and almost always had something in our shops being framed, yet somehow they've faded away and we haven't seen them in some time? Have we even made the effort to contact them and find out why they haven't brought in any work lately?

I admit being guilty and lackadaisical with respect to several customers that come to mind. I just assumed they had nothing to be framed at the moment.

Whether the reason is that they "ran out of wall space", were for some reason unhappy with my work, moved, found someone else they developed a business relationship with or, God forbid, died ...for some reason I have failed to follow up and find out. Shame on me.

It is much more difficult to garner new customers than to keep the customers we have. We lose far more to indifference than any other reason.

Dave Makielski
 
You know if I am buying a car i will visit several dealers that have that exact same car. I compare bananas to bananas, as I think they are better than apples. So I do this on a car, I do this on a flashlight, I do it on items to fix the house, gas, clothes, shoes, office supplies, everything I can think of I compare prices. I will go for the cheaper paper when it does not matter what I am printing off for home use.

I have a connection in the care world where I get the family discount, but I still shop around. It is in poor taste to be an uneducated customer in my opinion. Yes I waste time looking, but I get a price that i am happy paying.

We are more frugal now, or atleast i am the one in my relationship. We need to think of that. I would do an informal survey with your customers. Ask, have you visited any other frame shops lately, for what reason, and were you happy with what they did for you, then why did you come back to this shop. Hey Bob is about the data. This is about knowing, head between knees is not a strategy. Like Joe saids, "Knowing is half the battle, go Joe! G.I. Joe a real American Hero!!!"

Yes I did just quote a cartoon, but it made sense in this little mind.

PL
 
I totally agree that customers go to more than one shop. I learned this first hand. When I worked for "mall framer" for many years I knew which customers were "friends" with the owner. Then I spent time, or did time at a downtown, "small higher end framer". This is a big small town, everyone seemsd to know everyone. When customers would recognize me from the first place, it was quite humerous, be cause first off they looked like they got caught. But what I learned is many of them brought the pieces they cared less about, that they wanted done cheaply to mall framer, and brought their more valueable art work to high end framer.

If only "mall framer" knew his good friends cheated on him! Its hard to take, but never assume your customers are all loyal, many will be , but not all.
 
With at at least three others offering framing within a couple blocks and plenty of others within a few miles I'd never think they wouldn't. I sometimes think framers outnumber the customers. They seem to be everywhere (framers that is)
 
Hi Cliff-I just posted on the Business Issues Forum (What I learned...thread) almost exactly what you just posted-a real Deja Vu moment

Your post is right on (especially since we agree LOL)

I must apologize thatI haven't sent you those easels of which we spoke. My "personal assistant Cinderella" left my computer bag in Vegas in which I had your card. It has been found and is being sent back (minus the $2000 in Blackjack winnings) so I'll get those in the mail right away

My insurance company is having a "slight problem" with my claim, however
 
This is a legit question. What difference does it make?

If I think my customers only come to me, so!

If I assume they price every shop in town before they come here, so!

Is this something we are supposed to spend even more resources to fight? Is it just one more thing to confuse an already confusing topic?
 
One in the hand is worth two in the bush...

Jay, I think what we can glean from this is that we need to market to our existing customer base just as aggressively, if not more aggressively, than we do when we prospect new customers.

It takes less resources to retain customers than to find new ones.

We lose more customers to complacency than any other reason.

Dave Makielski
 
Loyalty program?

Maybe this is an instance where a loyalty program is in order. You want to capture more of each customer's business. You are confident that you can handle the inexpensive, simple jobs as well as the higher-end work. So reward the customer for giving you more of her business -- place five orders, and get 20% off on order Number 6. Place ten orders, and get 50% off on the moulding for order Number 11. And so on.
 
Another real life example of customers using more than one framer...

When we were framing in a downtown location there was another framer who often was confused with us and we shared mutual customers.

One customer was famous for forgetting where she dropped off her framing such that whenever she came in if we had any difficulty locating her order we automatically called our friendly competitor and invariably she had dropped it off there. The reverse was also true.

At first it was cause for embarrassment but after a while we all just laughed it off.

Dave Makielski
 
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