Instant Gratification

Your Customers still want Instant Gratification

I often wonder how some small businesses stay in business
with erratic hours. Even today, a business will tape a note to the door that
states “Back in 15 min.” The Horror!!!---15 minutes from When?

How would you feel if you drove up to McDonald’s or Wal-Mart
and discovered the store closed because “it was slow today”? Sound Crazy? It is.
If you’re a business owner, don’t do this to your customers. If it’s slow,
that’s a sign that there is an opportune moment to work on marketing to grow
your business to fill the gap for that time of day or day of the week.

If you let your staff do this, or if you are prone to do this, you are hemorrhaging dollars. The world is passing you by.

Consumer behavior demands “instant gratification”. These tactics are not ‘cute’ anymore. When a potential customer stops by a business today, they expect it to be open (at least 9am-5pm) and they expect to be serviced. Our time is way more valuable, and the consumer has much better ways to track & tell: the internet. 'Word of mouth' can spread like wildfire; that’s where social media nightmares are born! 

 A business that has sporadic open hours, for example: Mondays & Wednesdays open certain hours and Tues-Fri. different hours and Saturday late hours…….etc. This is crazy. Why would anyone expect the public to memorize your hours?  Customers will go into a rage and never come back, if you’re lucky.

If you’re going to be in business, BE IN BUSINESS. If you have other things to do that are more important, don’t try to run a business, get a job; with flexible hours. No need to frustrate the rest of us. It makes no sense to work hard to provide good products and services or customer service if you are willing to enrage your target customer base by not being available when they expect to do business with you. Going into business for yourself is not for everybody, but once you make the decision to do it; it’s not about you entirely anymore.

We are a very mobile society. Even if you don’t ‘buy-in’ to
the mainstream on all of the technical advances (i.e. Smartphone), in order to
be successful, a business owner must understand that to be in business is to be
available. The attitude of ‘your business, your way’ will work up to a point
but hours are a deal breaker with the consumer. 

Mature businesses understand the need to make a good impression. Closing
early, letting employees walk away and leaving a note on the door, or even
owners who are not consistent will erode the trust of the community and
customer base and will eventually drive a small business owner out of business. Make the investment and commitment to run a good business and we're all the better for it. Remember: Feed the consumer need for instant gratification (I want it and I want it now), and you can be king of the hill.