A friend and small town resident, Ken Girty was taking a woodcarving class. The teacher sells rough outs (pre-shaped wood blocks to get your carving started) at his class. Ken bought one to work with in class.
As the teacher came around to work one-on-one with Ken, he looked at the rough out Ken was using.
“Is that mine? That’s crappy wood,” the teacher said. “I’m sorry I sold this to you. I should fix that.”
He did fix it. But it reminds us to sample what we sell before it gets in the hands of customers.
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
I make a point of sleeping in our guest rooms and using the whirlpools or showers during the slow months. How else would I have discovered that the wonderfully cleaned tub had a safety hand rail that was starting to rust on the bottom? Only someone in the tub would see it. The rust destroys the idea that the bathroom is spotless but isn’t something that a guest would mention to me.
That may be the perfect example. Thank you!
I think many small business owners, and I am not excluding myself here, have made that mistake at one time or another. Either they don’t sample their products – or their processes. Case in point, I am often surprised when I find a business that makes paying them – yes paying them(!) – hard and complicated.
We should all take a page from Apple’s playbook. While their products are nice and slick, their total customer experience is great. And ultimately, we all sell a customer experience.
Marco, thanks for extending the idea into our entire customer experience.