Common Sense - Part 2

A follow up to last week’s blog posting on Common Sense is appropriate. If common sense was more common, then there would not be a need for people like me to write blogs on Appreciation Marketing. But it is not common at all, no matter what we say and do. Therefore, here we are again discussing something which we all should know, and practice. Common sense should be much more common than it is.

This past week, I was returning a purchase to a major retailer of bed, bath, and kitchen accessories. While waiting in line I overheard the sales person talking with a lady from California who was making a purchase at the register. This sales person was proclaiming her belief that no one should live in California, that it was too expensive, too hot, and too full of strange and undesirable residents.

This diatribe continued for over 5 minutes, and the customer who was on the receiving end became very uncomfortable. The person in line behind me looked at me with a look of amazement on his face, as we both could not believe what we were hearing. Finally, the sales person finalized the sale, and the customer left. I completed my return and also left, thinking that I was smart to keep my mouth shut.

What I heard and watched was marketing, and it was very poor marketing. Marketing is everything that we do every minute of every day, from the time we wake up until we close our eyes at night. If we have done our marketing correctly, it will continue to work even after we go to sleep. Marketing can make our businesses succeed, or it can help them fail. Which should we prefer?

This sales person does not realize that the customer in question was putting money into her pocket by purchasing something from her employer. She does not realize that the customer should have set her purchase down and not paid for the item, leaving it on the counter. She also doesn’t realize that the customer will probably tell her friends and others about this negative experience, probably naming the retailer in question.

In addition, the sales person does not realize that her dissertation was heard by myself and several others, all of who might be influenced by her behavior in our future purchasing of products. Furthermore, all of the persons who overheard her comments may well tell other people about the event and her comments. I am including the situation in this blog, not naming the store, but I have told the story to several others who have figured out who the retailer is.

We all must understand that our marketing is more than what we publish to the public. It includes everything that we do, what we say, and all of our actions during our day. It is about how we treat others, whether they are customers or prospects or just the public in general. Common sense should make us understand what types of actions we should engage in and the ramifications, good or bad, of all of them.

Treating our customers, prospects, and everyone else like we would want to be treated is just good common sense. When we don’t, it is bad marketing and will lead to business problems later. Making it easy and enjoyable for customers to do business with us will bring prosperity. Please leave me your comments, or email me at Jim@JimTeasley.com, or call me at 360-314-8691.