Learning lessons from retail
Dear businesses of the world: If you can provide a useful service and minimize the hassle, you, too, can earn new friends. Just consider QuikTrip and Little Ceasars Pizza.
Why I like QuikTrip:
Generally speaking, you pay for the convenience of convenience stores. Motor oil, bottled drinks, food … they’re all marked up. For a lot of products, that’s no different at QuikTrip. But there’s one small thing that keeps me coming back: free air.
Have a tire that’s low? Where I live, you pay 50 cents to $1 at most convenience stores to use their air compressor. If you have a tire with a slow leak, that adds up after awhile. At QuikTrip, it’s free. That means I’m saving money … and I don’t have spend that extra minute or two trudging inside, waiting in line and getting change, either. I get to drive in, air up my tire and get moving.
I’ll bet 80 percent of the time I’ve visited QuikTrip to put air in my tires over the years I haven’t bought anything. But every time I visit, the opportunity to earn a few dollars is there … an opportunity other convenience stores don’t have.
Why I like Little Ceasars Pizza:
When it comes to pizza, low cost and convenience rarely go hand-in-hand. With their recent Hot-and-Ready pizza special, Little Ceasars has seemingly achieved the impossible: They took the biggest benefit of ordering pizza (convenience) to the nth degree … and threw in an unbeatable price to boot.
Here’s how it works: From 4-8 p.m., you can walk into a participating Little Ceasars completely unannounced and immediately pick up a large cheese or pepperoni pizza, an order of crazy bread and a two-liter of pop for $10. They literally have them ready and waiting in the oven, ready for you to head out the door.
No need to fumble with the phone book, no need to call ahead, no need to dig out fliers or coupons, no wait for the pizza to be made or delivered, nothing. That means I get to drive in, pick up my pizza, and get moving.
Clearly, not all retail practices are immediately translatable to the world of B2B. But whether it’s the concept of free air, ready-to-go services or the classic fast-food suggestive selling technique, it never hurts to look there for inspiration. You might just give a boost to your customer’s brand loyalty.