Last week I headed to Office Depot to buy a wireless card for my computer. Glancing at the shelf, I saw a model I liked. The big yellow price card on that shelf listed a sale price with which I was happy.

I grabbed the box and proceeded to the checkout. The total price showed the regular price and not the discounted sales amount. I protested that the card should be on sale according to price sticker on shelf.

Another employee appeared after the cashier called for a price check. I walked him to the row and showed him the sales price right below my desired network card.

The employee says: “Oh, this sale ended last week.” He then took the sales card down and said, “It looks they they forgot to take these down when they put up the new ones,” pointing to several other yellow tags.

Lesson 1: It is OK to admit you or your company made a mistake.

He offered a weak: “Are you just looking for any networking card?”

Lesson 2: Recover from mistakes by offering the customers options. You can always ask the customer what she wants or have a set backup plan for such occasions. If you don’t act, the customer will have to do it for you. This could mean they leave without a purchase, or ask for something you can’t give.

I responded: “Will you honor the posted price?”

Lesson 3: Why did I have to ask? Be proactive in making amends with customers.

Employee: “Just a minute.”

He returned to say that yes, indeed they would honor the price. He then walked back with me to the cashier and assisted in the transaction. He apologized for the inconvenience as he left me to pay for my purchase.

Lesson 4: Don’t lose a customer over a few dollars. The future value of a repeat customer is worth more than the difference in a posted versus actual price.

The end result was that I was happy and saved a few dollars even though the process could have gone a bit smoother. Nevertheless, Office Depot did perform better this time than on my previous encounters with their bad products and call center problems.

Every week we get a handful of retail advertising fliers in the mail. Every week it seems the sames stores are offering the “lowest prices of the season.”

How can you keep offering the lowest prices of the season every week? Either your prices will rapidly approach zero dollars or you’ve got a crazy scheme for identifying seasons.

So what is wrong with this approach?

You’re setting the expectation with customers that prices will always be a little better next week. So why should they go buy from you today?

You start to lose credibility when “sales” don’t really match the hype you’ve placed around them. Can I believe your claim this week if you said the same thing last week and told me I’d never hear it again?

Aside from undermining trust in your advertising and marketing claims, gimmicks like “lowest prices of the season” turn the focus away from the true value of your product and hinge everything on the lowest-price-wins-all mentality.

Newlin’s Shopportunity talked about focusing on value instead of price. You’ll never be able to win on price alone since someone can always undercut you. The true value, in terms of benefits, of your product should be your unique advantage.

I called my credit card company to activate the new card I got in the mail. The automated process was smooth and stated that if I needed any help, I could be transfered to a “customer satisfaction specialist.”

Really? As the consumer, I’m all for “customer satisfaction.” This title is effective for several reasons. It is:

• easily understood
• hints at the resolution you can expect
• puts the employee in a positive light
• reduces customer anxiety of speaking with the company
• forces the employee to be customer-centric

Setting up positive expectations with both the employee and the customer help guarantee a higher percentage of happy customers at the end of the call. If the title successfully works its magic, neither party comes into the call being defensive or angry.

These are quite a few benefits from a simple three word title. What is your title? Does it accurately reflect what you can do for your customer? Does your title strike fear and uncertainty into the heart of customers or does it welcome them with open arms?

Successful real estate tycoon Donald Trump shared some of his innovative process in a recent Entrepreneur magazine article:

Sometimes I ask myself, “What else can I include in my thought process to make it more comprehensive? Is there anything I can add that might enhance the project or idea I’ve got spinning around in my head? Many times, I will tell myself that something isn’t quite right yet, because that automatically opens the door for more ideas to enter. I ask myself, “What am I not seeing? What else is possible? Sometimes the answers wind up being innovative ideas. It’s not necessarily some secret process, but it is a process, and it requires concentration.

Closing your mind after your initial idea leaves too many good options still on the table. Keeping an open mind and asking questions has certainly worked for Donald Trump. Question your decision or idea. Will it hold up over time? Is it absolutely as good as it can be?

Don’t close yourself off to good ideas that may be right in front of you. Even after you have made a decision, stay flexible because inspiration may strike and give you a reason to change your decision.

On my last trip to electronics store Fry’s, I had to return some merchandise. While I waited in the customer service line, I saw two employees standing against the wall doing nothing.

Every few minutes one of the employees helping customers would yell “customer service” and the mystery person against the wall would come over, type a few things in the computer, and return to his or her post against the wall.

The only task this wallflower had was to approve a return. While this may be a necessary step in Fry’s process, it isn’t for me as their customer.

I have to wonder why I’m waiting in such a long line when I see employees standing around doing nothing. Can’t one of you go open a new register or help me find something?

If your employees are idle, don’t let customers see them. Better yet, leverage them to increase customer throughput.

Think about why you’ve got idle employees. Maybe you’re overstaffed. Maybe you’ve got a bloated process. How can reducing idle labor save you some money and increase your efficiency?

Kate Newlin’s Shopportunity! dedicates a chapter to infomercials. These common late night television staples are amazingly effective in grabbing people’s attention and money.

Newlin quotes successful marketer Greg Renker:

“Part of the power is in the myth,” says Greg. “We want the story, the narration, we want to know the creation story of the product. Customers want to know its genesis: Who created this product and why. Who uses it? … The best product is the one that delivers the best story. Our way of looking at it is to say ‘Feel, Felt, Found.’ In other words, I know how you feel, I felt that way too, until I found…

Feel and Felt

Empathize with prospective customers. Instead of simply broadcasting your message to the masses, focus on the individual and on the particular situation. This will resonate with prospects and drive them towards the purchase.

Found

Your company is the solution. Your product is the answer. Once the customer realizes the problem and that you understand her needs, you need to provide the answer.

Perfect Match

When you sync up with potential customers using these three powerful hooks, you’re using the power of emotions to make the sale. People buy based on emotion but justify it with logic. So take those first steps and reel in the customer with a great story.

As you may recall, I sent an email to the makers of Silk Yogurt asking several questions. After some delay, they responded:

Thank you for your recent e-mail to Silk®. We appreciate your interest in our products.

Thanks again for contacting the Consumer Affairs Department.

Sincerely,
Jesus Lopez
Consumer Response Representative

I don’t think he even read my email. This type of response could just have easily come immediately from an email auto-responder. But it didn’t. It came from a third-party customer service provider after several days of waiting.

Don’t Hide

I’m disappointed that Silk has chosen to insulate itself from customers by routing all feedback through a third party. To add to the frustration, if you visit casupport.com, from which Jesus’ email originated, you get this message:

OOPS!!!! If you are trying to reach a consumer products company, you’ve come here by mistake!

To send an email to that company via AOL, simply click on “Write” in the upper left corner of your screen.

Follow the company’s instructions by either entering the company’s name or the product name followed by “@casupport.com” in the “Send To” box.

For example, if you are instructed to use the company name and you are trying to reach “XYZ Company,” type “XYZCompany@casupport.com” in the “Send To” box. If you are instructed to use the product name – say “ABC Product” – type ABCProduct@casupport.com.

Write your message, click “Send Now,” and your email should arrive at the appropriate destination!

Thanks for following these directions!

Good luck with those directions. Not only do you not respond to my questions nor my follow-up email but I can’t even tell who you are or how to escalate my issue.

After a little sleuthing, I found Telerx, a customer care outsourcer, owns the casupport.com domain name. Unfortunately, even they don’t live up to their own hype where they state:

Handling [customers] expertly enhances brand value. Anything less and you run the risk of creating ambassadors of negativity, not to mention lost business.

So this very post has become an ambassador of negativity. Don’t let it happen to your company.

Make it Personal

Keep in direct contact with your customers. Losing that connection will lead to you living in a false reality while customers angrily leave your business for better opportunities.

Craigslist‘s founder Craig Newmark is a great example to follow. He personally handles customer service emails. If he can do it, why can’t your company?

Answer Questions

Answer each and every question in your customer’s emails. The customer took the trouble to ask, you can take the time to answer. Don’t ignore questions you’re uncomfortable answering. Don’t respond with just a link to a help page on your site. Answer the questions.

Tell Me Now

If you aren’t going to tell the customer anything useful, tell them sooner rather than later. Customers will understand a slight delay in answering questions if you give good answers. If customers had to wait for you to simply respond with generic babble, then you’ll just make them mad.

Conclusion

Customers require proper customer care. Don’t neglect them, ignore them, or outsource their care to the lowest bidder. Take the extra time and resources to nurture your existing customers and they’ll be yours for many years to come.