Business Taking its Own Medicine

It wasn’t unusual when the taxi driver to gave us his card, “Call me when you come back” he shouted as he waved us off.  It was unusual to be left with a card showing a semi-clad woman next to the phone number, an advert for bespoke underwear maker; apparently. With a 1-in-6 chance, we could have been left holding the details of a fitted kitchen maker, jeweller, take-away pizza delivery service or baker, as our taxi driver chose to share his business card costs with other local businesses. With a fold out complicated affair six businesses shared a cost which, quite clearly, wasn’t such good value on this occasion as said card was tossed aside – it was too complicated for us to be bothered with.

How the taxi driver thought this was a helpful way for a customer to recall his number baffled us, yet he’s not by himself when it comes to confusing potential people in using a business. We surely can’t be the only ones who’ve come across the business flyer that’s out of date, the magazine ad that’s forgotten to include a phone number and the business that hasn’t got a website to refer to; even for the most basic of details?

Coming out of a local Pharmacy it struck us that not only had a welcome up-selling opportunity been missed but, more importantly, the main objective for using the pharmacist was a disappointing experience to which next time we’ll be looking to an alternative. Calling in for someone who had symptoms which didn’t warrant a Doctor’s appointment, it was surprising not to be asked any questions about the very basic symptoms described to the person behind the counter, the simplest medication that had already been tried was offered, then an alternative offered but no explanation of how it might applicable or helpful. There was little enquiry about the effects, possible cure or remedy, and a supermarket shelf would have held more conversation. From our experience, this person couldn’t possibly have been a qualified pharmacist but might be a potential death knell for that business.

We could go on but feel that two examples of our experience seems sufficient to question how many business owners have ever been their own mystery shoppers? In an effort to do themselves a service and taking a look at what it’s offering its customers? It could be the best 10 minutes or so to give much needed perspective to  the little things that magnify potential for a rate of return and make the difference in adding value.