I just got back from a large supermarket chain to do some grocery shopping.  I don’t usually shop at this location of the chain, but it was convenient for me today.  Aside from the expected minor annoyance of not knowing the layout of the store, all went fairly smoothly until the end.  At the last minute, I remembered that I needed some sandwich meat to make for school lunches tomorrow.  At the location that I usually shop at, they have ready made bags of the popular deli meats already sliced by the deli counter and there for the taking. This store did not.  That’s alright, I thought, I see two uniformed staff behind the counter, and as luck would have it, nobody was in line.

Staples had a sale on computer remotes. Regular price $74.99, on sale for $19.99 — a $50.00 savings. I already had one, but at that price, it made sense to get a back-up.

I dropped by on the way home — unfortunately I arrived at 5 minutes past closing time. The doors were open, people were shopping and cash registers were open.

It has been my believe that what customers really want is EASY. Make it easy for them to do business with you and you will have a customer for life. Even in tough economic times most people still value convenience over price.

Do you put barriers in the way of your customers that prevent them from giving you their money?

My wife and I recently dropped by our local Blockbuster video to rent a movie. There was a special on previously viewed movies that offered 4 movies for $20.00 vs. $6.99 each. They had a large selection and we noticed there were a number of movies that either we hadn’t seen or thought they would be good to add to our home library — so we decided to purchase some.

The Delta regional jet was packed.  As the flight backed away from the gate, the flight attendant began her ritualistic safety spiel about seat-belts, sudden turbulence and smoking.  She ended by saying, “The flying time to Grand Rapids will be two hours…no, it will be an hour and a half…no, actually, I don’t know.”  The cabin erupted with laughter and applause.

What jolted the half-asleep plane-full into cheering?  Unscripted, raw honesty!  We all  loved her confident authenticity!

Recently I deposited a cheque from a US client into my US funds account. I then immediately transferred a portion of that deposit into my current account which is in Canadian dollars.

Two interesting things happen.

I like to leaf through catalogs to and tear out the pages on which I like to buy things. I tore out two pages: one to buy a portable table and another item which was a item to cook smores at a campfire. Pretty diverse.

As I was about to order from both companies, I decided to check to see if Amazon sold these items. When I check, they did at a few more dollars than the other catalogs.  However, I purchased from Amazon because:

I was in New York City for a business trip a week or so before my 10-year wedding anniversary. One afternoon, I stopped by the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on 6^th Avenue to look at anniversary rings.

A thoughtful representative named Duncan showed me several rings as he explained some of the nuances of color, cut, clarity, and carat weight.

I recently received duplicate copies of an e- newsletter. The arrived within  minutes of each other and it was obvious they were the identical. It was a computer glitch with the email server that distributed the email that was out of the distributors control. I am sure we have all experienced a similar situation where the tech gremlins seemed to operate with a mind of their own. I simply deleted 1 and continued on with my day.

In these interesting times, you may be trying to figure out how to successfully weather this storm. This marketplace seems to be demanding change so it is a good time to ask tough questions. Let me add a few questions to add to your list.

“You never have a second chance to make a first impression.”

How true this is!  It takes only a few seconds for people to make a customer service judgment about you and your organization.  Make the first impression count in a positive way.  Here are a few of the top deal makers or breakers that you and your organization should live by: