Your business has three types of consumers to deal with. They are the promoters, the passives and the detractors. They look like this:
- Promoters love you
- Passives don’t care about you
- Detractors actively campaign against you
Who should you care about? If you are like many businesses out there, you might struggle with answering this question. Let me quickly share a story with you about my days as a 16-year old working as a bagger in a local grocery store.
The store I worked in had a policy that said something like we were supposed to provide all of our customers with excellent service. For the most part, all of the employees did a good job. But there were moments in every day where you saw who was really being cared for. It looked like this.
The angry customer walked up to the customer service booth and threw a fit. She would go on about how horrible the store was, how dirty everything was, how mean the employees were, etc. The store managers ran to her side, begging and pleading with her not to leave. And then they helped her with her actual request – she wanted to use a 50 cent coupon that had expired a month prior.
This situation seems like a no brainer, right? Hey, it’s only 50 cents, the store isn’t out all that much. But the long-term reality of the situation is quite different. The customer is a detractor. She has no respect for you or your business. By giving into her demands, no matter how small they might be, you are setting the stage for an endless progression of these same type of interactions with her.
Here’s the bigger problem with this situation. While this detractor threw her fit, the store’s most valuable customers (promoters and passives) were being ignored. Look at it this way. If you run a good business, you should have at least 20% of your customers that are promoters. Guess what? Promoters are your best customers, making up about 80% of your sales. You need to take care of these folks.
What about the passives? They matter and your goal should be to slowly convert them into promoters by providing them with consistent, quality service, great products, and doing so in an environment that is safe and friendly.
What it comes down to is that you need a plan for all three shoppers:
- Promoters – treat them like gold, reward them consistently, offer them exclusivity on certain opportunities and provide them with the occasional surprise
- Passives – be consistent, find simple ways to delight them, thank them for shopping with you, be sincere, allow time and your confidence to win them over
- Detractors – be firm, nice, consistent, but don’t be a pushover
