Sales/Selling

Jersey Mike’s Manager Conducts Master Class in Humanity & Customer Relations

Harvey Chimoff 1 Comment

This is a true story from this week.

A woman who has technically been a senior citizen for some years now yet who is quite robust and spry for her numerical age, wearing a face mask, walked into a Jersey Mike’s sub shop in suburban Denville, New Jersey on a weekday afternoon shortly after lunch time.

“My husband hasn’t been doing well and we’re on our way home from a doctor’s appointment. I asked him what he’d like to eat and he said Jersey Mike’s. Done, I said. We’d like a number 7, Giant, with Mike’s Way, and if you can make it a good one I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.”

The man behind the counter listened, looked at this woman and responded: “This one’s on me.”

The woman did not understand. “What do you mean? The employee explained: “I’d like to treat you to your sandwich. It’s on the house. No charge.”

Clearly taken aback, the woman declined. “Thank you very much. That’s very kind and generous. I appreciate it. However, I’m able to take care of this. I’ll tell you what. How about you pay it forward. One day someone else will come in who’s truly in need and you can give them a free sandwich.”

When it was time to pay the bill, the woman noticed the total was much lower than what that sandwich would normally cost. “Excuse me, I think you may have made a mistake ringing up my order. This sandwich usually costs much more.”

He replied: “Yes, you’re right. Since you wouldn’t let us treat you to the sandwich, we took 25% off.”

Credit: Jersey Mike’s Facebook

It turns out that the man working at Jersey Mike’s is named Tom, and he’s the manager. This particular location has only been open a month or so, and perhaps he’s keen on building positive word of mouth. I’d like to think he’s just a good human being.

So why am I sharing this story? There is important meaning, both for business and in life.

4 Business & Life Takeaways
from
Jersey Mike’s Manager, Tom

  • Listen to your customers. Okay, you’re not going to provide free products or services too often, if ever. That’s not the point. If you really listen and pay attention, you might learn something that helps your business. If not today, then down the road. You may also decide to take an immediate action based on what you’ve heard and how you assess the situation.
  • Lead and develop. Give your employees and team some operation and decision-making freedom and flexibility. Teach them how to apply the values and business practices important to you and your company.
  • Small things matter. This woman is going to tell the story to all her friends and family. She started doing it on the ride home from Jersey Mike’s. This is goodwill and super positive word of mouth for this Jersey Mike’s shop and for the Jersey Mike’s brand. It may not tally up as ROI on a spreadsheet, but it’s still good business.
  • Be a good person. Whether in business or in life, try to do the right things. We all make mistakes and none of us are perfect, yet over time it’s usually easy to tell who the good people are versus the “fill-in-the-blank adjective” people. When you try to do the right things, good things often happen. Plus, you’ll just feel better.

Thank you, Tom, for the kind gesture, providing an uplifting experience to someone who could use one and for being a good person! I hope your Jersey Mike’s store is a great success.

Harvey Chimoff is a customer-focused global business leader who connects marketing across the organization to drive performance and achieve business objectives. His marketing expertise includes B2B, CPG brand management and consulting. Contact him at harveychimoff.com.

In Sales & Marketing, Remember: It’s About the Customer, Not You!

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Your prospect or customer wants to know: What can you do for me?

If you really want to breakthrough with prospects and customers, you’re going to have to be prepared to demonstrate what’s in it for them. That means asking the right questions, listening well, doing your research and skillfully crafting a story that shows how your products or services make the customer and his company winners.

The concept of strategically collecting and applying information for positive customer engagement is nothing new. Knowing about the concept is one thing. However, being able to successfully deploy it is something else.

Marketers should know and understand the key points about strategic and consultative selling.  (There are numerous articles and guides than can be read.) Further, marketers should provide sales teams with the necessary tools and materials to successfully engage in this type of selling (e.g., examples of how the products and services can help customers and prospects succeed in various usage applications, end-user research, etc).

Dynamic and Fun Example

This example takes the practice of strategic selling to a whole new level of proficiency. It provides a discussion springboard for what can be applied at your company.

In this story, the seller wants the customer to have an excellent experience. One member of the selling team takes extraordinary action to go beyond making that happen. His objective is to cater to the customer’s specific interests and tastes instead of simply fitting the seller’s standard offerings to the customers. He creates an amazing, unique experience. For that sales team member, it is customer first.

To begin, let’s introduce the main characters.

■ The seller is an industrious restaurant wine director.

■ The customer is Greg Popovich, coach of the NBA team San Antonio Spurs. Under his leadership, the Spurs have won five NBA championships. Popovich also serves as the head coach of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. In addition to his basketball coaching prowess, describing him as a wine enthusiast is an understatement. He is a true oenophile. Popovich, often referred to as simply Pop, has created a bit of legend and mystique around the dinners with wine that he hosts for his team, colleagues and friends. They are food and wine combination events designed with a business leadership and teamwork purpose.

When Greg Popovich scheduled one of his team dinners at a Sacramento, California restaurant for a group of 40, wine director Jeremy Threat went into action. Continue reading →

Execution Breakdown: Sales Team Sent to Trade Show with Defunct Email Address on Business Cards

Harvey Chimoff 1 Comment

What separates the winners from everyone else when it comes to successful business execution?

Credit: iStock

Attention to details, or put another way, making sure the operational nuts and bolts are in order. Plus, doing that with a customer-focused mindset that’s spread across the entire organization.

It’s not surprising, with so much emphasis on high-tech tools, that the basic “low tech” stuff that keeps the trains moving can be overlooked or even dismissed. Sometimes, the new tools are positioned in sexy wrapping paper and target (take advantage of?) those always looking for the next shiny new object. Of course, others offer real utility and have staying power.

To be clear, technology and related wow tools can provide amazing ways for marketers and business people to succeed in their jobs. For example, last month I attended a presentation on artificial intelligence and machine learning, geared as an introduction for marketers. Cool stuff and important to know more about that.

The basics aren’t sexy but get the right things done well!

Last week, I reconnected with a former colleague at an industry trade show. It was great seeing him and we exchanged contact info.

The next day I sent him a short note, using the email address on his business card. The message bounced back undeliverable. Strange. Fortunately, I located a second work email address on LinkedIn (we’re connected), and resent my note. Someone he met at the trade show would not have been able to do that.

He responded as follows: “Sorry, we just changed our email addresses and we don’t have new cards yet.” Then, prominently marked in bold red at the bottom of his message was the real “NEW EMAIL ADDRESS” to be used going forward.

I share this story to reinforce my message about the nuts and bolts required for best execution. Continue reading →