Tip 21 - Meet Their Great Expectations

Up until a decade ago before the advent of compact vending— the refreshment supplier called the shots. They put a Pepsi machine
in, you got Pepsi. If the candy bars were stale, so what? They’d be along eventually with fresher candy. Maybe. We were pioneers in the idea of compact refreshment services with custom-tailored menus, and guess what? It worked fantastically well.

The entire business market has changed from being supplier-driven to being consumer-driven. Competition is not just about lower prices anymore; it’s about service, quality, and customer expectations.

A recent independent survey of hundreds of smaller businesses with 10 to 50+ employees yielded some interesting results (by the way, these were general questions not specific to vending, and were answered by managers as well as employees): The number one reason to purchase a product or service was the benefits it offered—simply put, because it got the job done. The second reason was the product itself (reputation, quality, etc.), and the third reason was the selling company’s attitude.

When the survey asked about reasons for refusing to buy a product, or terminating service, the number one reason was bad attitude, followed by a bad product, and followed by bad service. It’s interesting that while attitude plays a minor role in purchasing, it’s a major reason for firing! And ‘firing’ it is—make no mistake about that. Over the last ten years America has developed the habit of suddenly firing anything or anybody that fails to meet their criteria.

Here’s an obvious example: Over ten years ago it was unthinkable to ‘fire’ a doctor or ‘fire’ a bank, yet people do that everyday now. We’ve all known people who switch doctors because the new one’s closer to home, or switch banks for a better interest rate. We just never think of it as ‘firing’. How about your long-distance telephone carrier? You might be with AT&T until Verizon calls up with a better plan, so you switch to Verizon—thus ‘firing’ AT&T. Let’s face it; if consumers aren’t afraid to fire a huge company like AT&T, they won’t be afraid to fire your refreshment service if you fail to meet their expectations!

So how do you meet the challenge? By meeting their expectations, by offering quality product, and by providing cheerful, efficient service. You already know that you offer top quality equipment, you offer the most popular national name brands of snacks and beverages; and you give good service with a smile. Remember that survey? You’ve shown them your great attitude, great product, and great service right from the start—so now you’ve got to keep meeting their expectations.

Think how simply (and sometimes unreasonably) we switch banks, phone companies, and so on. This is even more obvious when we think how quickly we switch plumbers or TV repairmen—both major service industries. Now imagine that mindset in your customers! When you first installed your equipment at a location, the management held a certain level of expectation that you have since met or exceeded. The catch is that you’ve ‘raised the bar’ of their expectations through your good service, and must continue to meet or surpass it, and you must do so consistently, month after month.

This isn’t as hard as it might seem, and often can be accomplished through details. If there’s a problem, fix it promptly but also call to make sure everything’s working and everybody’s happy. If you have a pager, let them know you have one and can be there quickly to service their needs. The beauty of this approach is that the equipment is reliable and the product was requested by the customers, so your pager will almost never beep, but will assure the location that their happiness is important to you. And it is, isn’t it?

Dana Bashor