If ever a time we need relationships with our customers its now, the bean counters making the "case-ready" decisions are far removed from retail, the store managers, district managers, and vp's need to hear the importance of what retail cutters do every day - here's a suggestion- we are coming up on the holidays pre-pack wal-mart gets ZERO special orders- you may have 20, or 400 special orders, do some "follow up" calls and ask how the special order was - you will get mostly compliments- write down this positive feedback and give it to your store manager and district managers -pages and pages - this is tangible reasoning/support of how important you are to the stores, you are dollars and cents (high payroll) to the vp's making these decisions
I agree with you mainemeatman, for us that still cut meat in-store we should track our customer and see if our service is meeting their needs. the big box stores could care less about happy customers they think they have no where else to shop with but them. Our market does try to know the names of out regular customers and call they by name when they come in, that along has helped us from losing them to the big box stores.
Do we do that on the clock or on our time. just curious.
If I know the customer well and they spent a lot of money with us I would have no problem calling them when i'm off the clock
over the years i've done a lot of things off the clock, it always came back to me in the form of money or meat
my lil 2 cents...(which is only worth about 1/2 a cent)
at my store our customers become repeat customers... we custom cut for anyone who asks, we go that extra mile cause in ms. customer service is almost non existent anymore ...go anywhere and ask a question or for something and people act like it to much for them to do ..they just want that paycheck with the least amount of work possible, its sad yes but a driving factor in our meat dept. give them what they want and make them feel important, and go above and beyond when you can, I personally have people ask for me , if im off they wait till I come in to get what they wanted, its the only way to keep the money coming in, if managers, vps ect, ever figure that out stores would be more profitable in the end.
I agree with you mainemeatman, for us that still cut meat in-store we should track our customer and see if our service is meeting their needs. the big box stores could care less about happy customers they think they have no where else to shop with but them. Our market does try to know the names of out regular customers and call they by name when they come in, that along has helped us from losing them to the big box stores.
Do we do that on the clock or on our time. just curious.
If I know the customer well and they spent a lot of money with us I would have no problem calling them when i'm off the clock
over the years i've done a lot of things off the clock, it always came back to me in the form of money or meat
I think I'm in the kind of market you're describing or longing for Mainmeatman
For sure the market where I work is in the top 01% of customer service in USA. Some, a few may equal us, but very very few are better. We're even willing to have sex with some customers, but I guess that the same everywhere. :)
We already know we're great. We don't need to ask. Our owner knows it too. Why are we great? The owner hires enough people to enable us to be great. That's the "secret". Labor. We'd never consider this idea. Possibly, we'd call one person every few years. I can't think of why. Maybe if they ordered something and we never saw them again, we'd worry, did he move and not say goodbye? Did she die? We may call if a new person didn't write down enough info, or we can't get the item, lamb caul fat for example. But NEVER a follow up "how was it" call.
As great as we are (because of enough labor), we still get the same money as all the other union cutters in the local. Most stores are union in my county.
I actually think I'd get in trouble if I called all these people without prior approval, which no one would ever get.
I have worked off the clock, a lot. Hundreds of hours since 78, I bet. Don't tell the union. But I can't imagine anyone I know doing this sort off thing on their own time or the companies. A person would be the laughing stock of the company, and in the dog house forever if he/she ever tried this where I work.
As for large chain stores, it's nice that you're thinking, trying. But I doubt anyone will take you seriously with this. It can be nice to ask a customer next time you see them, "how was the _______" that you bought last week? But don't call them on the phone.
Has Mainemeatman ever actually done what he is suggesting here or does he know someone who has cold called all the customers who put in special orders and documented their responses and then took those responses to the decision makers? If so how did that work out for him? Can we find out?
For those of you who say you do this or did this. Did you do it at the level he is suggesting? Cold call, document, present "pages and pages" to your supervisors? If so how did that work out?
I don't think many people would be comfortable using their own phones for this so I am wondering how would the company feel about using the companies phones to cold call special order customers? Do they allow that? Does it tie up the lines or anything?
Do you ask for permission first or do you just do it?
Just curious.
Cold calling is a very common tactic in the sales and marketing field as I am sure those of you who sell parts and supplies will agree. But, the idea is to call and ask if they received the products they ordered and then inform them of something else they may be interested in. Its an attempt to generate more business.
The tire dealer doesn't call you to make sure you are happy with the tires you bought for your car, but they might call or rather send a letter informing you of a sale coming up on tires you might consider for your other car.
However this topic reminds me of those surveys stores, restaurants and hotels sometimes pass out and ask customers to fill out, but I don't think this is quite the same thing. Those surveys can easily be ignored or tossed in the trash. You can't do that with someone on the phone unless you are a jerk. So my opinion cold calling just for feedback only puts the customer in an uncomfortable spot and they won't appreciate that and will likely NOT come back to your store to avoid this uncomfortable situation in the future.
As a retailer for firearm parts and accessories I often contact my customers to make sure that their item arrived safety in the time of arrival i gave them. Then I tell them it was a pleasure to do business with them and to feel free to contact me if there is anything else I can do for them. But I never ask them directly if they are satisfied with my service or the product. If they aren't they will tell me. If they come back to me I will know anyway.
I believe that if they don't complain consider that a your feedback. If they are happy and content with it then they have nothing to say. They may compliment you next time they see you or they will call and say thanks I personally get emails from my customers just thanking me for suggesting something or shipping it so quickly but didn't have to ask for them. Asking for it in my opinion puts a bit of pressure on them. They will feel compelled to say "Oh yes it was great" because you are asking and they don't want to hurt your feelings.
The feedback that demonstrates that they are happy with you is when they come back to the store and continue shopping with you. If they don't do that then something might be wrong on your level and you could evaluate that.
-- Edited by fdarn on Thursday 6th of November 2014 04:03:29 PM
when giving a special order to a customer, you can say - "I prepared this myself" and may give you a call to see how it was- 99% of the time, the customer will say sure!
(they give us their number when ordering)
in the last 5 years, I've been trying to get email addresses, for "unadvertised specials" and many will give you that
if you have never done anything like this and feel uncomfortable, you can easily ask (when you give them the special order)
"please call me back , id love to hear some feedback on this- or "please call back , with some feedback, we are always trying for perfection!"
when giving a special order to a customer, you can say - "I prepared this myself" and may give you a call to see how it was- 99% of the time, the customer will say sure! (they give us their number when ordering)
in the last 5 years, I've been trying to get email addresses, for "unadvertised specials" and many will give you that
if you have never done anything like this and feel uncomfortable, you can easily ask (when you give them the special order) "please call me back , id love to hear some feedback on this- or "please call back , with some feedback, we are always trying for perfection!"
Occasionally, maybe 3 times per year, I'll say "next time you come in, I'd like to know how this came out". If they order something odd. Like recently a guy had a pork tenderloin and a slab of fresh side meat. He ordered the meat and seasoned and tied it himself. I gave him free string. He was really interested in sharing what he was gonna do. THIS is when you ask later "how was it?" Someone else bought a whole pig and had us butterfly it down the inside of the back with a cleaver. On those items I'm curious. I truly want to know. On every day items, a thicker steak, a thinner steak, a turkey, a standing rib roast, no need to fish for compliments, at least not by phone.
To ask for permission to call is a little weird IMO. Don't you think there is a chance that sometimes some people could misinterpret that as an inappropriate come on?
I think the provided phone number is not for that sort of thing. You take the number in case the customer wants you to confirm that it's in/ready. Usually you don't call and confirm. Only if they request it or it's an item you almost never have or might get shorted on. Maybe lamb brains. Another reason is sometimes, some of us don't get the order taken correctly. Once in a while, a dummy will not get enough info when taking an order. In that case, you must call and straighten it out.
-- Edited by Burgermeister on Monday 10th of November 2014 01:55:13 PM
I work with independents, and independents have to try harder
one strength of an independent is that the store personnel knows 80% of the customers that come thru the door
many are friends acquaintances and even relatives
I preaching to my stores that we have to go from "passive" marketing to guerilla/creative /target marketing
when I observe customer in front of a meatcase ....most do not have an ad in hand,,,they look for sale item signs, they look for cost per package and they look for there habitual favorites, and quality of product
50% of the time most meat cases just have sale item signs,,,, and then complain about low margins
how often to we SUGGESTIVE SELL to customers??? most customers listen to butchers..
for target marketing here is two examples
I will have two items per day that the crew is going to upsell as a team. I will set a reasonable goal it could be a chuck roast, sirloin steak or corned beef- anything
sampling really helps too, but not a necessity,,
on a Thursday, I went to order one smoked picnic and received 5 cases- not on sale, our fault on the handheld
so I put picnics as an upsell ,,, and when dealing with a customer we said "did you notice our smoke picnics over hear, they are delicious for a boiled dinner" no hard selling just suggesting,,,well we sold three cases, which we normall sell 2 pieces the power of suggestion is huge!!!
I have been asking customer I know, if they will give feedback on video- and i'll play it back around the store on tv monitors,,,your customers can be your best adverisers,, they can say stuff we cant -the last lady I put on video said she use to shop at (competition) and does not - because there burger is pre-processed and they know its bench trimmings here- the real stuff
and yes, I tell them I will sharpen two of there kitchen knives for doing this - they are fine!
one of my stores has almost 4000 friends on facebook in a town of 2500 that's impressive- and we sent out friend requests and no one got offended but the upside is- we send out blasts and put terrific pictures from google on there- and people are ordering over the internet from the blast
every store has to ask themselves where is tomorrows customers???
its the younger generation 20-35 yrs old,,,they are I-phone peole,,they don't buy a newspaper, but they are on social media and they get notices fron stores on fb
I read a lot on marketing, word of mouth, and customer service
if you can get customer participation, engagement, that's awesome,,,,they will go word of mouthand talk youup
when I call customers with warehouse overruns- they love it,,,many now I email and they email right back to reserve for them
I know about 15 mt managers that will call the first week in December - the customers that gave a special order from the year before- and at least 60% will order again, right then and there on the phone customers feel they are in a quality process- they tell there friends about it
-- Edited by Mainemeatman on Tuesday 11th of November 2014 09:13:29 PM
