I don’t talk about “b word” too often, but branding is really what a lot of our discussions are ultimately about.
One of the more incisive definitions of branding that I’ve seen is “What people think when your business name is mentioned”. If that doesn’t cut right to the bone, I’m not sure what does.
A recent branding discussion between Justin Kownacki, TD Hurst and myself eventually settled into talking about businesses using “looking like we care” as a tactic as opposed to actually showing that they care.
I call it “tactical caring”.
Take a moment
Consider the places you do business with. What’s the first thought you have when you think of them? One of the things that comes to mind for me is “Do they care about my business?”
In other words, is my business important to them? No, my business probably doesn’t keep the local watering hole or pizza joint open all by itself, but do the folks who run and work in those places (and others) give me the impression that they know I could have gone somewhere else.
Not far from my parents’ old place in Plano Texas, there’s a pizza place owned by a Greek family. My parents would almost always take us there when we went to Big D to visit. No matter how busy that place was, the owner always made a point of taking a moment to come out from behind the counter to greet us at our table, welcome us to his place and “visit”, as my grandmother called it.
While this wasn’t necessary, it was a painless, cost-free way to recognize a regular customer by simply being friendly without being mechanical. It only took a moment, but it meant a lot. How do you know? I haven’t visited Dallas in almost ten years. My parents moved.
Yet almost 10 years later, I still remember the impression left by a balding Greek patriarch who was proud of his place and happy we chose to have dinner with him.
If you’re the recipient of this kind of attention, you’re aware of the night and day difference between that and the “tactical caring” you’re used to receiving.
Which kind of care does your business serve up?
Do they or don’t they?
About those places you considered earlier…Do they care? Or do they do things to look like they care?
What’s the difference?
- Looking like you care: Including a photo of a USB cable on the instructions included in my new printer’s box so you can save the 48 cents per sale that the cable and its packaging cost.
- Showing that you care: Including a USB cable and charging a dollar more for the printer to save your client a 20 minute trip to the store.
- Looking like you care: Saying a mechanical “Thanks for coming” as I leave. “Mechanical” because I hear you say the same words to everyone, right after the bell above the door frame jingles.
- Showing that you care: Thanking me before the bell jingles, and doing so by using my name or some other personalized message that doesn’t get repeated to the next 41 people who leave after I do. Also…thanking me later, via email, a postcard, text message or by somehow rewarding my visit – even with something that costs you nothing. Remembering that I’ve been there before and making note of it, even if you don’t remember my name.
- Looking like you care: Smiling at my four year old granddaughter when we enter your store, even though you sell nothing she’s interested in.
- Showing that you care: Smiling at my four year old granddaughter, kneeling down to her level and saying “Hello, young lady”, even though you sell nothing she’s interested in.
It’s OK
Training your staff to look up from the cash register and grunt when a customer enters is transparent, repetitive motion, tactical caring. Stop it. If people needed random grunts to make their lives more fulfilling, they’d install iGrunt on their phone.
Training your staff to take a brief moment to greet someone personally is scary. Do it anyway. Yes, it’s common sense. So why aren’t your people doing it?
The election cycle is behind us. It’s OK to care again. Just don’t grunt.
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