Ever since the David Marr report about Tony Abbott in the latest issue of Quarterly Essay made the news this week we have had the title in prominent display with newspapers. We will sell out of the initial allocation and have ordered more stock.
We made a sale today to a customer who had come to us after another newsagent had told her they had not heard of the title. While I am thrilled we won the business, I am disappointed to be connected to someone who did not even take the time to provide even basic customer service.
This story represents the weakness of our shingle, that our business is tied to another providing such poor customer service. Businesses with the shingle are only as good as the worst operator. We let ourselves down yet we ignore this and complain about our suppliers as the cause.
Not every newsagent has the demographic to have heard of this title and be familiar with it Mark. Not too long ago you were posting how you had suddenly decided to expand your Tattoo titles from approx one to approx five. Some newsagents, me included, handle 12 to 25 tattoo titles.
Each to their own.
Best practice however is to LISTEN to your customers, when they ask for something, see if you can get it and
other like titles. Even better, a Putaway.
If this is too hard for any particular newsagent, then they need to realise that their neighbour newsagent will get the customer in the end.
h, I didn’t suddenly decide to expand my tattoo range. The decision was done on the basis of an assessment of sales data – as part of a regular business performance review.
But my post was not about that.
Anyone who comes to my counter asking for a title we do not carry is helped. We look up the title and offer to get it for them. We do not treat the customer as this newsagent did today. Yes, they have lost a customer. They have also damaged the newsagent name.
We agree with the sentiment, but it works both ways. e.g. We have made a conscious decision not handle partworks and we courteously refer partwork enquiries (the few that we get) to a neighbour newsagent who we know handles them. It’s never been a problem to us or them.
Azeem I understand that. Your approach is considered and good.
Do you know the full story? Do you know what the newsagent actually said to the customer? As we all know sometimes the customer is not always right!!From your first comment all the newsagent said was that they had not heard of the magazine, what else was said in the conversation?
Maybe you should not broadcast runaway comments made by customers.
Why would you post a story about affecting the newsagent brand which is in turn damaging the newsagent brand?
If we look closely at what Mark wrote, he is making a telling point about the weakness of the newsagency shingle, which, while not really news, is very pertinent to the difficulties the whole industry now faces. Only as strong as the weakest link etc. There is room for a conversation about groups and group member compliance.
Chris – yes, the customer came straight from them to us. I post material like this in the hope of newsagents realising that we are as strong as our weakest representative.
Bruce – yes!
Ha, I have just read this article and am a little bit bemused.
As one agent said above, not every agent would be familiar to this title. In fact it is very “niche”. On top of that the front page has Tony Abbot, who even Liberal voters cannot stand.
I am a little bemused, because i read another blog article on a magazine called “What’s it Worth Now”. The blog was negative towards that particular title. In my store i sell 4-5 every issue of “What’s it Worth Now” to the same people. So I am very familiar with that title. They also purchase from me magazines such as Collectables Trader and other mags along those lines, so generally speaking I am getting repeat business.
I have twice given this particular title good positioning next to newspapers and at the counter. (mostly with the optimism of a $20 sale). To which i have never sold a copy. Yesterday i had a customer come in-store to “look” at a copy, he was sporting a “Young Liberals” badge. Still no sale!
Horser for courses i guess.
Except that the two blog posts had completely different purposes. This one was all about customer service. The other post was about wanting to be respected by magazine distributors.