The Element of Surprise in a Customer Centric Culture
By Paul Mabray, CEO - Inertia Beverage Group
Surprise!
Welcome to another edition of the WineMarketer.com newsletter.
My first mentor once told me that the best way to elevate your customer’s experience is not just to establish a relationship, but also to SURPRISE them (in a good way). Today I recognize this great piece of advice as central to a “Customer Centric Culture.” The Customer Centric Culture is one that aims to nurture trust for you and your brand by communicating authentically with your customer at all touch points. By including the element of surprise in this approach to sales and marketing, you can greatly enhance the impression your customer has for you and your brand and go a long way toward building an ambassador for your products.
Some Tips
Among the wonderful surprise any wine company should consider are:
- Call your top 50 customers to just say thank you.
- Send a wine club member a personal card for being with you 1, 3, 5, or 10 years.
- Have someone from your staff call a customer after a large online purchase just to say “thank you.”
- Try having your wine maker sign random bottles that get shipped out consumer direct with the message “thank you.”
- Drop a random bottle of wine into a package and say, “Please enjoy this complimentary bottle. We believe it is so good that you will order more.â€
- Ask your customers to help you name your next wine?
I could go on and on listing other great examples of low cost, high impact efforts that create loyalty in your customers. But it’s the personal outreach that is best. Can you imagine how great a customer would feel to get a call from Heidi Barrett or a store owner even if it was a 5-minute call? Imagine the surprise on their face when they find an additional bottle of wine with your note. The element of surprise is easy to incorporate into your customer relationship efforts if you plan for it.
It Takes a Personal Touch
Committing to a Customer Centric Culture does not mean you do anything you possibly can to please all customers (that sometimes costs you unnecessary money since some customers just are not able to be satisfied). It means you structure your business and give the tools to your staff so that allow you to easily carry out surprises, easily interact with your customer and easily plan carry out a campaign of surprise and appreciation that in the end is guaranteed to lead to a deeper relationship with your customer who will proselytize on behalf of your brand and products.
I am always amazed at how little effort it takes to create a Customer Centric Culture and always pleased when I see friends and colleagues do it well. Today I received a catalogue/newsletter from Brooks Winery (one of our partners at Inertia Beverage Group). It is a mass mailing and starts with “Dear Friends.” Brooks is a small winery, with a VERY small staff, great marketing and even better wine. On my newsletter the “Dear Friends” is crossed out and instead there is a hand written “Paul” in the header and at the bottom a signature from the owner, Janie Brooks Heuck, with a small note saying, “hope you are well.” I was happily surprised and now I am spreading the word. Hats off to Janie for creating a customer centric experience. Janie’s example, shows how you can do a great job at the little things that are nice surprises and in turn make your customers loyal ambassadors.
Until next time, cheers!
Paul Mabray, CEO - Inertia Beverage Group
Paul Mabray has been in the wine and spirits industry all his life. Paul founded Inertia Beverage Group in 2002 with the goal of building the premier Direct Sales Services company, leveraging innovations in technology to bring Wineries and Wine Consumers closer together. Since then, Inertia has helped over 500 wine brands profitably implement Direct to Consumer and Direct to Trade initiatives.
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