Our last enewsletter addressed the subject of How to Handle Online Customer Complaints. It included suggestions on what not to do, as well as best practices to follow. In the course of researching that issue, I came across a superb example of using customer comments to your advantage. To have a look, (click on the headline for more…)
Insights Into How Customers Rate Garden Company Shopping
In my last blog post, I emphasized the importance of following best practices in all your customer touchpoints if you want to maximize your sales without increasing your marketing budget. As I mentioned, the Secret Shopper Survey sponsored by the Mailorder Gardening Association earlier this year uncovered an astonishing number of opportunities for improvement in this regard. A new program at the next MGA conference is sure to provide even more ideas for low-cost improvements. (Click on the headline for more…)
Can You Increase Your Sales Without Increasing Your Budget?
These days, every company is looking for ways to get more out of their marketing budget. Experience suggests that an internal review of how you handle information requests and your ordering process is likely to uncover a wealth of opportunities. A couple shocking examples illustrate why I say that: (Click on the headline for more…)
Penetrating Customer Insights From 3 Simple Questions
Clients sometimes tell me they’re interested in doing a customer survey, but don’t know what to ask. From Fred Reicheld’s book The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth comes three of the best questions anyone could ask their customers: (click on the headline for more…)
Secret Shopper Survey Reveals Missed Opportunities
Twenty-six Mailorder Gardening Association members recently participated in a Secret Shopper Survey to evaluate and benchmark their ordering systems. Tom Beddows of THB Direct performed the survey and reported the results at last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference. Boy, do we as an industry have some work to do!
A number of Tom’s findings represent significant missed income opportunities. For instance, for the telephone orders placed: (Click on the headline for more…)
