So… why will people pay for what they can get for free?

It’s all about the marketing, and boosting perceived value.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So I was getting my nails done. And I had my mp3 player on, as usual, listening to actual music for a change (Dave Matthews rocks!) instead of the usual Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins, or Rich Schefren. When a very atypical and very loud customer came into the shop. This woman was, well, robust. And, well, loud. She had a chip on her shoulder and she was letting us all know about it.

Normally I’d turn up the mp3 player to hear about “all the little ants are marching,” but this time I had to listen. Because underneath despite her boisterous nature, this woman was teaching a serious lesson in marketing 101. Here’s her story:

She had moved from New Jersey to the Atlanta area, to Gwinnett County, a few months ago. She was in need of a place to get her nails done, and she was a very regular customer, coming in every week for some sort of service. Since there are like a million nail places on every corner in suburban Atlanta, she had no trouble finding a place convenient to her.

–KEY POINT: Great positioning by the nail salon brought her in as a customer. They placed themselves in the position to be noticed by people with a need that they could fill.

She began to patronize this business, and enjoyed their level of service. They really gave her the royal treatment and made her feel special. She referred friends, and started buying more services, since they made her feel good.

–KEY POINT: They took a walk in customer and began to cultivate loyalty through excellent service and over delivery, resulting in repeat business, additional business, and referred business.

Suddenly, the “honeymoon” was over. To this business, she was a “gimme.” A reliable staple. They stopped doing the “extras” she had gotten accustomed to. And worse, they started acting like she wasn’t even a customer anymore, and they started *letting loose* in front of her, complaining about their long hours and b*#chy customers. The result, she got LESS service for her increased patronage. She got less pampering (what she was there for in the first place) for her loyalty.

Was this their attempt at letting her into “inner circle?”

WHO CARES!!!!

She was NOT there to enter their world, she was there to TAKE A BREAK from hers!!

–KEY POINT: This business, built around pampering, around taking a break from your world, made a CRITICAL mistake. They may have felt that they were reaching out to this woman, including her. But that was THEIR PERSPECTIVE. They failed to look through HER eyes, and deliver on their promise to her.

–THE RESULT: She felt devalued, defrauded, and disgruntled. And took her business elsewhere. And she was extremely verbal in her indictment, and no doubt bad mouthed them far and wide.

Her bottom line, she said it best. “When they had a great customer that gave them a lot of business, they just stopped caring and they treated me like they had me and I didn’t matter anymore. Well, now they don’t.”

Wow. Any business can learn A TON from this customer.