Thursday, August 11, 2016

Customer Satisfaction: 9 "CLVOs" to get customers booking your offer in advance


By Virginia Mburu
Photo courtesy Brian Cliff Daily Nation August 20, 2015

Imagine this scenario  as narrated by BRIAN CLIFF in the Daily nation August 20, 2015
“ A commotion, which at first, sounded like a rush to witness the stoning of an unlucky pick-pocket turns out to be a scramble to board a matatu that had just arrived.  
“Is that the Blackberry,” I ask a casually-dressed young man who seems elated at the arrival of the minibus.   He gives me a barely coherent answer as he dashes to board it. And within just six minutes of the matatu’s arrival, all the seats are occupied and the minus bus leaves for Nairobi on its first trip of the evening shift. I’m lucky to have found a seat as they are often booked.”
According to the  proud  Blackberry driver, “Many of our clients call me or my conductor to book seats even before the bus arrives at the stage.”
Now, Passionate entrepreneur, would you not wish this was your matatu?
 What about turning your business into  “The Blackberry, the best matatu on the Ongata Rongai route”.

Let us explore the strategies that propelled Blackberry to the enviable, 'most popular, most liked and most-talked-about matatu plying the Rongai Town-Nairobi CBD Route NUMBER 125 in August 2015'
 CLVO 1......Right targeting....
****CLVO .... Customer Lifetime Value Optimizer
This matatu owner must have clearly identified the niche in the matatu market to serve and therein was the basis for the business model and all other strategies. The branding, the pricing, the marketing, sales, employees including the route (distribution or placing) etc.- all are based on the customer you decide to serve.
...And so it came to pass that the Blackberry owner identified the niche- college students and young professionals. “Blackberry is always full of 'teeniez' (Sheng for young people). I would be so uncomfortable riding in a mat full of baby boomers,” says one of the' teeniez' passenger”.
Come to think about it... while the young professionals take off early, the college students would be traveling throughout the day as they go to college at different times depending on when their lessons start and therefore for blackberry, there is no ‘on peak’ or ‘off-peak’ hours !
Over to you Passionate Entrepreneur..... Are you that clear on the niche you are serving? And what are the benefits  of that niche  over the others......
CLVO 2.....Unique branding
Whereas Blackberry is a well-known mobile technology brand, the ‘blackberry’ is a unique name for a matatu.... and the owner completely brands the matatu with the brand colours and themes. By the way... could they be partnership with the real ‘blackberry’?
According to the article writer , “As soon as you look at the matatu, you immediately recognise a unique theme used for its artwork, craftily airbrushed images of a Blackberry mobile phone’s QWERTY keypad and screen icons blend well with the matatu’s predominantly black exterior, itself a reflection of the staple colour of all Blackberry mobile phones.”
Lesson... Brand it and make it unique and obviously identifiable.....but watch out for trademark infringement!  
CLVO 3.....An  all-round  Comfortable and Enjoyable ride......
In tandem with the needs of the  target market--- college students and young professionals , this matatu was fitted with features to match. The writer experienced “‘trendy music played through state-of-the-art multi-media entertainment systems, festival of lights, speakers and screens embellishing the passenger cabin, a conspicuous 42-inch plasma screen in the passenger cabin displays live video feed of the road ahead through CCTV cameras mounted on the matatu’s windscreen.”
Well that is it.......
Now to you Passionate Entrepreneur....What is the ‘trendy music’, ‘festival of lights’ or even a ‘live feed of road ahead’- what  are the features  that make your product or service a ‘must use’?
CLVO 4....Predictable pricing  ....
You know the norm every rush hour----the fare hikes. It gets worse if it rains!  The Blackberry crew  “never” hiked the fare during peak hours  thus endearing  them to many college students and young professionals operating on a tight budget.  But Blackberry can get away with it.... remember they have no ‘offpeak’. 
Can you, Passionate Entrepreneur?
CLVO 5....Excellent customer service....
The Blackberry crew was famed for courteous and professional handling of the young target group especially the female passengers who reckon that they have “never been sexually harassed”- seemingly implying that harassment is the norm in ‘other matatus’!
They also anticipated the niche market need for information and entertainment and as such “The driver uses controls on the dashboard to toggle between real-time, live video feeds of the road ahead and booming music video mixes.”  Furthermore though the music is predominantly secular, it’s not overly raunchy thus acceptable by a wider clientele.  
The crew even books seats for clients!  “Many of our clients call me or my conductor to book seats even before the bus arrives at the stage”, says the proud  Blackberry driver.
Over to you Passionate Entrepreneur..... what can you borrow  from this  crew?
Over to you Passionate Entrepreneur;

  • How do you ensure your customers book your products or services even before you place them on the shelves?
  • What can you learn from this Blackberry Enterprise?

Share your experiences, suggestions or questions in the comments section below. Who knows- We might be the ones to do advance booking of what you sell……..

Whatever you do, make sure it results in less work, more money and positive impact.

Update

 Virginia Mburu
The Work Less, Make More Money Passionate Entrepreneurs Coach

Virginia empowers and motivates Passionate Entrepreneurs to realize their purpose and pursue it. She then assists the entrepreneurs to clarify, prioritise and focus on management and marketing strategies and action plans that will get them to work less, make more money and positively impact within one year.    Download some of her gifts- absolutely free lessons on www.biasharacoach.com

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