The customer’s viewpoint.

One of the best stories I ever ran across on how to drive the customer’s perception on the service they received was something I read years ago in Readers Digest. It detailed the story of two clerks at a local dime store. At that time most dime stores had candy in bulk and you ordered a certain amount by weight. At this particular dime store there were two clerks who regularly handled the sales of bulk candy. The manager noticed that one clerk regularly outsold the other. In fact, kids would wait until she got near the candy and would then quickly go up to the counter to place their order with her.

Upon closer observation the manager noticed the key difference that was already obvious to the savvy young customers. One clerk would place a generous scoop of candy on the scale and then remove enough to get to the desired weight. The second clerk would start with a smaller amount of candy and would add candy until she got to the desired weight. Both clerks gave out exactly the correct weight as ordered by the customer but you’ve already figured out which one had the higher sales.

Now if we want to increase sales should we focus on the facts or on the cusomer’s perception of those facts? Your choice.

It’s a matter of time…

Just participated in the 40th Annual Wo-Zha-Wa Run in Wisconsin Dells. The festival held in this tourism destination point on the 2nd weekend after Labor Day is wildly successful. Thousands of people invade the community over the weekend and every homeowner that chooses to do so can park their lawn full of cars at $5 a pop. The town is that full.

But that wasn’t always the case. I know, because I’ve run in 37 of those 40 events. In the early years, Wo-Zha-Wa (which is a Ho-Chunk term for “fun times or to have fun” was just a local end-of-season clearance sale for tourist related businesses as they closed for the season. Local service clubs ran brat & beer stands to make a few bucks which they hadn’t been able to do during the Summer because all their members were working 7 days a week to take advantage of the short tourist season which was the community’s only industry. And it was a chance for the locals to relax and celebrate the end of another hectic, anc hopefully successful, season. If several hundred people showed up that was a big deal. In fact, after three years there was a discussion about cancelling the event because of its small draw. ‘No one was going to come to the Dells after Labor Day’ was the oft repeated local mantra.

The most powerful tourism center in the entire state couldn’t create a successful event after three years of trying so what hope do any of us have when it comes to changing customer habits. Right? Well something obviously changed. But what was it? Over the next few entries I’ll share my view on what happened and why.

The first lesson learned is that everyting takes time. Just because something is a good idea or has potential doesn’t mean it will be instantly successful. Word of mouth is the key. The hot term today is ‘viral marketing’ but it’s really the same thing. But word of mouth takes time…..more time today than we might think given our belief that everything is ‘instant’ in our electronic world. Now go back to 1968 when this festival started and consider how much time it would take for word-of-mouth to work its magic, especially when you have a festival name that noone can pronounce.

By the way….Wo-Zha-Wa is pronounced…….Ah, you’ll get it. It’s just a matter of time.

Who’s gonna run the food stand?

Service clubs have played a major role in almost every small community in the United States. I’ve been a member of several and the direction they seem to be heading is a concern to me. This past weekend provided a great example.

I volunteered to work the food stand at our county fair for a club I used to belong to. I’ve worked there several times over the past few years and it is one of the best organized food stands I have ever seen. (Some restaurants could take lessons on how well this it run.) It’s a profitable venture for the organization and every dollar raised is turned right around doing great things for the community. I’m a habitual volunteer so saying ‘Yes’ was easy and I worked (’enjoyed’, actually) two four-hour shifts.

So what’s the problem? The fair lasts four days and finding enough people to run it is a real challenge! I know most of the club members and you couldn’t meet a greater group of dedicated volunteers. Many of them are long-time members who have served their community well and have made terrific contributions over the years. But that “over the years” bit is the rub. Many are well into retirement and frankly can no longer handle a work shift. Being on your feet for 2-4 hours can be tough, especially when you’re really busy and while they want to do the work, the reality is it’s more than they can handle. So what do you do?

In this case the club hired another group to work the stand under club member supervision. The local two year campus of the University has a strong foreign exchange program and members of that group were enlisted (and paid) to help. And since it’s so well organized, stepping in isn’t too hard. Problem solved….at least for this year.

But what about the future? Hopefully some of these students will consider joining the community service club but past history doesn’t make that very likely. The club members themselves continue to age and while there are a number of ‘younger’ members the term ‘younger’ is a bit relative. If I were to rejoin the club I’d be one of the ‘younger’ members…..and I’m 59. The fact is, 20 somethings aren’t joining traditional service clubs.

So, in future years, who WILL run the food stand??

The Missing Link

Had the pleasure last night of participating in a focus group planning for the future of our local technical college. Southwest Wisconsin Technical College is essential to the future of our area.

I’ve worked with them very closely in the past while I was involved as an economic development professional and again as the community relations coordinator for Boscobel Area Health Care. The services they offered were a critical element in the decision of several companies to locate or expand in our area. And at BAHC I would estimate that between 40-60% of our staff of 270 had received training through SWTC. Without them we would face a much tougher time staffing our facility.

While the session went well I did some reflecting on the process after it was over and I found one key element missing. I knew most of the people who were in attendance. In fact, most of them were my age….and suffice it to say, I’m on the leading edge of the “Thundering Herd” (The new name I coined for Baby Boomers…..we’re a long way from the ‘baby’ stage…..that title needs updating.)

Where was the under 30 crowd? Many of the issues raised concerned them but they weren’t there to present their perspective.

Were they the missing link?

Rural Advantage Lost(?)- Part One

Ok, I put the question mark there because what should be the #1 advantage for businesses and inhabitants of rural areas is #1 in one area….and that’s ‘hype’. The advantage? That’s simple. In rural areas everyone knows everyone else? Everyone knows that! Right? Or at least that’s what the purveyors of rural legends would have you believe. And if everyone knows everyone else it should be easy for local businesses to sell to their neighbors because they know them so well and it should be easy for organizations to get volunteers because they can easily call on that neighbor they know so well just down the street.

Well if that’s the case, how come rural businesses are struggling as consumers regularly shop in ‘the city’ and why are the service groups that formed the backbone of rural volunteerism struggling for existence? Could it be that residents of rural areas have become as distant from their next door neighbors as we’ve always so smugly assumed was the case only in the big cold impersonal urban areas?

Once upon a time, not too long ago, we really did know our neighbors. Heck, we were probably related to most of them. We worked with them, not always because we wanted to but certainly because we had to. It wasn’t a matter of convenience, it was about survival. Threshing crews were the most noted example but it didn’t end there. You helped your neighbor with most everything and they returned the favor. Sometimes the neighbors knew your fields or your herd almost as well as you did. But then something happened. Actually, lots of things happened. The equipment changed. It became better and more affordable. One person could now do a task single handed with the right machinery and the right machinery not only became more availalbe, it became so affordable that even the smallest farm had a complete line that would make any John Deere dealer proud.

I still waved at my neighbor while he worked in the field next to mine but we weren’t working together anymore. Once in a while when we were both close to the fence we might stop and shut the tractor off and jaw for a few minutes but then it was back to work in our own separate worlds. I still knew who my neighbor was, but in those few minutes I didn’t learn as much about him as I would have if we had worked side by side for several days.

And something was lost……

Rural Planning

Attended a “Smart Growth” planning meeting for the Town of Brigham (Barneveld) the other night. There were 55 people in attendance representing a real cross section of interests. My message (Skating to Where the Puck Will Be) focused on the perspectives we all bring with us and how planning should be a guideline and not a straight jacket.

The good cross section of perspectives ranging from lifelong residents to people who moved in within the past 5 years will prove invaluable to this process but only if the participants really get to know one another.

What use is perspective and knowledge if we don’t know of them and don’t actively involve them in the mix. Dangerous things happen when we the base for our plans is rooted in assumptions rather than reality.

We can’t compete

Too often I find that leaders in rural areas feel they can’t be competitive with other more urban areas. They feel that the urban areas have too many advantages, more money and more talent. But that’s not always the case. In fact. when a rural area takes the time to identify their own advantages they often find that they have weapons that are unique to them or are as good or better than what other areas can offer.

Take available land or space for instance. Compare the cost of raw or even developed land in rural areas. Advantage rural. Compare the cost of renting business space. Advantage rural. Compare….well, you get the idea.

There are many time when we can say, “Advantage Rural”, but we have to be thinking along those lines.

Rural Perspectives

Most economic development and business info is great for large companies and urban areas. But what about rural America? No, not the area just outside of Detroit or a fast growing suburb of Austin. I’m talking about real rural areas where farm animals are still likely to outnumber people. These musings will focus on issues that relate to rural areas and how growth…or the lack of it…will affect the future of people who live there. I invite you to jump in with your comments. After all, that’s what this is supposed to be all about.