Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience: In the Dairy Section
Our thanks this month to guest blogger, Kathy Blumenstock. Kathy currently writes Animal Planet’s “The Mole” blog http://blogs.discovery.com/the_mole. A career journalist, she has been a reporter and writer for The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC News and Entertainment Tonight. Kathy also contributes feature stories to Knitchmagazine.com and Knit ‘N Style magazine.
Ever find a new product you absolutely love, then suddenly you can’t find it anywhere? Sometimes, you CAN find it again, if the right person hears your plea. It happened to me, a longtime yogurt lover, when a company introduced a crop of new flavors. A favorite prompted me to think about stockpiling as many as I could get, fearing it would vanish. “Oh it’s a regular flavor, not a seasonal one,” the cashier assured me. “It’s here for good.”
Two days later, no pear yogurt. Where’s the pear? I lamented. In three supermarkets, the same result. A fourth didn’t even carry that brand. “Please, is there anyone I can talk to?” I practically shouted. A sympathetic customer service person listened as I poured out my yogurt tale. “We just don’t get that brand,” he said. “But we COULD, if there’s enough interest in it.” I wasn’t sure if I’d need 1000 signatures on a petition—could I round up enough pear-yogurt-loving customers?
I didn’t need to. “Since you made the request,” the regional manager emailed me a month later,”I’m happy to advise you” that two area stores in his chain would begin stocking that brand. When I showed up to fill my cart, I praised everyone in the dairy department. “You’re the lady with the pear yogurt!” said one. Such fame! And such a grateful me: I’ve got 11 containers of pear yogurt right now, and I’m happy to share.
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