Having a flexible service is key to respond to the changing needs of customers. But how can you adapt your service? The best ideas can appear as soon as you understand the degree of prominence you have in what occupies the mind and attention of your customers.
The end of the year is coming, and we all get involved in a whirlwind of parties, family reunions, gifts, entertainments… They are abrupt changes in our routine, our interests and needs as consumers, so much so that it is worth adapting each service to the particular environment of December.
The proposal of this article is that you analyze the changes that you can implement in your service for these special occasions, depending on the role you play in relation to the end of the year events.
Having a flexible service is key to respond to the changing needs of customers. But how can you adapt your service? The best ideas can appear as soon as you understand the degree of prominence you have around the end of the year parties.
For this, we can classify services into three categories:
- Leading services Complementary services Marginal services
Main services
They are those that consumers seek to meet the specific needs of these occasions. Among these we can find:
- Communications. Can you imagine a New Year's Eve in which you cannot greet your loved ones who are far away, or in which you cannot communicate to coordinate their family gathering? Especially all the products that are usually chosen as gifts for the holidays: toys, clothes, etc. Meals. Depending on the customs of each culture, the type of celebration may vary: cooking at home, celebrating in a restaurant, or ordering a home delivery service. In whatever form is chosen, festive foods are protagonists in our end of the year needs.
Complementary services
They are those services that, although they are not at the center of our consumer attention, are necessary to carry out our celebrations and meetings.
- Financial services. Can you imagine running out of funds in your bank account, just before buying food for Christmas dinner, and not having a way to request overdraft from your Bank? You are going to visit your relatives in another city, and you have booked in a hotel near their house, but on the afternoon of December 24 they tell you that there is no hot water! Transport. You had planned a remis service to return to the hotel after Christmas Eve dinner, but the vortex of orders has caused yours to be misplaced, and the car never arrives…
Marginal services
Finally, there is a group of services that are totally left out of the thoughts that haunt customers on these dates. They just aren't on your agenda. Some examples:
- Training. Do you think about the leadership course between December 24 and January 1? Construction. Your real estate investment project has been stopped these two weeks. Does it take away your sleep? Sports club. Your hockey teacher will not be teaching on December 26. It worries you?
What is the role of your service at these parties? In which of these three categories could you include it? Once you identify it, you will be able to know how to adapt your service to satisfy your clients in their needs, which have changed on these special dates.
How to adapt your service based on the role you identified?
The main services have everything to gain (and to sell!). Although this is a great advantage, there is usually a problem that spoils the occasion, and even the reputation of the company beyond these parties. Which?
Not adequately dimensioning the responsiveness for the large volume of sales you have attracted. Generally, a lot of work is done in marketing to attract sales, but little in how it will be answered so that these customers are well served, in a timely manner, and with the dedication they deserve, both that day and any other day of the year.
The complementary services, on the other hand, are there to support and make everything work perfectly. Their role is to "not hinder". They will be like good health, which is not felt when it is present, but which brings us many inconveniences when it is missing.
And what remains for marginal services? Simply, humbly acknowledge that they are. Claiming prominence on an occasion when they do not have it, will only manage to annoy customers. The smart thing to do will be to step aside and adapt the service so as not to interfere with the interests and needs that these occasions arise.
Mine is one of these services, and I've already taken steps to step aside. For example, the interactive lecture for one of my shows fell just on December 26. What did I do? I gave the option to my students to change the date at their convenience, because I knew it would become a hindrance, something they could not take advantage of.
And you, what can you do to adapt your service to the particular needs of your clients during these Holidays?
