Customer Service: Marketer vs. Merchant

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Think what a small touch that would have been for other businesses; how little it would have cost; and the word of mouth that would have spread because of that "nurturing" gesture.

• Go through your policies and procedures and manuals and lists of "do's and don'ts." Empower your frontline, customer-facing employees. Be relentless about cutting out those rules that make your frontline folks have to bounce back and forth between themselves and a manager to take care of a customer or extend a special gesture they feel is warranted.

Take a page from Zane's Cycles that gets rid of the rule book for customers, or from Wegman's that gets rid of the rule book for employees, telling employees that the major rule they all live by is "No Customer Can Leave Unhappy." Some companies feel that in a down economy customers are more likely to take advantage of them, and they need to pump up the rules on exchanges and refunds. Do people's morals really go out the window just because they have less money in their pocket? Be the company that trusts your customers. Remember, a marketer moves from the mind, a merchant from the heart.

• Get out from behind your desk, out of your warehouse, or away from the computer screen and be where your customers and the folks who serve your customers are.

Be agile, be on the lookout for what people are asking for, and then be responsive. If you do something for one customer in need, spread the idea through your employees to extend the gesture, too. Being responsive and empathetic and adjusting how you do business for your customers now will pay off as the memory of your kindness stays with them. The word will get out, and your customers will become vocal advocates for your brand. Remember, the marketer is logical, a merchant is perceptive.

• Be in your community, where your customers live and shop, and know what is going on at a personal level in their lives.

Care enough to find out what will make a difference in their lives. Be creative and deliberate in figuring out a way to respond. Remember, a marketer does business across the world; a merchant does business across the counter.

• Decide to be the company that tells your customers, your employees, and the marketplace about who you are and what you value—in your decisions and actions.

When you make a decision, it results in action. And the accumulation of those decisions and actions becomes how people describe you and think of you. It becomes your story. So decide what story you want told about your company and your people. Your "storefront" is the accumulation of your decisions and actions. Remember, a marketer bets his all on his system, a merchant bets his all on his store.

Love is irrational. Customer love is a reward for what some consider irrational business behavior. Companies who grow because of their bonds with customers do so because they aren't always looking over their shoulder at what each decision will get them. In fact, sometimes they decide to look out for their customers in spite of what it is costing them. In their minds, elating the customer is first.

Reevaluating in the Downturn

The rest of the business story (profitability, productivity, stock price, market share, etc.) will take care of itself. Two years of research for my newest book proves this point. The research was nearly completed in 2008 when the economic downturn hit, and every company's performance needed to be reevaluated and validated as differentiating in the marketplace. I found they all sustained growth in 2008 (and subsequently 2009) or they stayed considerably ahead of their competitors.

Good decisions and deliberate conditions on which these companies run their business sustain them in good times … and bad. This list includes the No. 1 home health-care provider in Canada, "Nurse Next Door," Griffin Hospital in Connecticut, the Container Store, W.L. Gore, Edward Jones, Trader Joe's, and Zappos, to name just a few of the companies.

So what story is emerging about who you are and what you value? Having customers who love you tell your story will make your business grow. Make decisions that will earn you the kind of story you want told.

Jeanne Bliss is the author of "I Love You More Than My Dog:" Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad. She is also the president of CustomerBliss, a consulting firm whose clients include Johnson & Johnson, Costco, and Symantec.

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