HELP! I can only think in marketing terms.
Do you remember that Far Side cartoon where there is a kid with his hand raised saying "Can I go home now? My brain is full. That is what I feel like right now.
For those of you who don't know I have spent the most part of the last three days in Phoenix at the Direct Marketing Association Interactive B-to-B Marketing conference. I paid a lot of Decagon money to go and as I flew down I was worried that it would be money well spent. Now I have to worry about if I have what it takes to use everything I learned to increase business to Decagon. Of course I never sleep very well on the road and so the overwhelming feeling may be due to exhaustion.
I had two experiences on my way to the Airport that made me want to apply what I have learned. The first was at the gas station. I LOVE pay at the pump. In fact I have left gas stations I have pulled into that don't have it. Why do I use pay at the pump? So I don't have to take time to enter the gas station--it's in and out in a highly efficient manner. So I pulled in tonight and filled up. It asked me if I wanted a receipt. I said "Yes". It then informed me that if I really wanted one I would have to GO INTO THE STATION and talk to the cashier. Isn't this defeating the purpose of the pay at the pump? So what is Decagon doing in their business that is the equivalent of not having a receipt available at the pay at the pump. I think this is important because the negative of the no receipt took away all positive of their having pay at the pump.
The second experience involved the rental car return. There were actually two parts of this. I have been to Phoenix before and the car rental was just across the access road from the terminal. Airport property entry to check-in approximately 8 minutes. Now they have a "State of the Art" rental car facility. Time from airport property entry to check-in appoximately 30 minutes. I was VERY glad I was not in a hurry. I has made me want to encourage the trade show people we work with NOT to consider Phoenix as a destination. Part two was having to visit the rental counter to get my car receipt. I have always thought Alamo had a distinct advantage because they had little printers that they could hand you a receipt as you turned in the car. Apparently they still have this but it was "broken" today. What are the things that Decagon does that may fit into these categories--making regular business more difficult to conduct or not having back-up systems that will keep our customer interactions running smoothly.
For those of you who don't know I have spent the most part of the last three days in Phoenix at the Direct Marketing Association Interactive B-to-B Marketing conference. I paid a lot of Decagon money to go and as I flew down I was worried that it would be money well spent. Now I have to worry about if I have what it takes to use everything I learned to increase business to Decagon. Of course I never sleep very well on the road and so the overwhelming feeling may be due to exhaustion.
I had two experiences on my way to the Airport that made me want to apply what I have learned. The first was at the gas station. I LOVE pay at the pump. In fact I have left gas stations I have pulled into that don't have it. Why do I use pay at the pump? So I don't have to take time to enter the gas station--it's in and out in a highly efficient manner. So I pulled in tonight and filled up. It asked me if I wanted a receipt. I said "Yes". It then informed me that if I really wanted one I would have to GO INTO THE STATION and talk to the cashier. Isn't this defeating the purpose of the pay at the pump? So what is Decagon doing in their business that is the equivalent of not having a receipt available at the pay at the pump. I think this is important because the negative of the no receipt took away all positive of their having pay at the pump.
The second experience involved the rental car return. There were actually two parts of this. I have been to Phoenix before and the car rental was just across the access road from the terminal. Airport property entry to check-in approximately 8 minutes. Now they have a "State of the Art" rental car facility. Time from airport property entry to check-in appoximately 30 minutes. I was VERY glad I was not in a hurry. I has made me want to encourage the trade show people we work with NOT to consider Phoenix as a destination. Part two was having to visit the rental counter to get my car receipt. I have always thought Alamo had a distinct advantage because they had little printers that they could hand you a receipt as you turned in the car. Apparently they still have this but it was "broken" today. What are the things that Decagon does that may fit into these categories--making regular business more difficult to conduct or not having back-up systems that will keep our customer interactions running smoothly.
posted by tams at
6:53 PM
2 Comments:
Yaay!!! You posted!! And I love this post, because it shares some of the things you're really thinking. I think that's what blogging is all about. I have a couple of other things to add to your list. Tom won't shop WalMart for philosophical reasons. I won't because their just in time inventory system means that they were OFTEN out of something I made the trip for. BUT these experience happened a few years ago. WalMart may have changed by now. They did that to me one time too many, though, because I'm not in the mood to EVER give them another chance! When you break a customer's trust, you've broken something tough to fix. A grocery store, Cost Cutter, did that to me too. They always run out of their loss leader specials. Fred Meyer doesn't. Finally I stopped even reading Cost Cutter's ad. Their specials are better, but NO special is worth two trips (one to get the rain check, one to buy the item). Done with Cost Cutter. Haven't shopped there in a year. Always shop Fred Meyer now, even though they're sometimes a bit more.
By
Jules, at 10:01 AM
Good points Tamsin!
By
Kersten, at 10:11 PM
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