Every business needs to define its basic products and then figure out the ‘toppings’ based on customer preferences
I love buying fruit salad from fruit salad vendors. You know the kind where there’s an umbrella and a seat for customers to enjoy as they interact? That one! The best thing about fruit salad is that you can eat it at any time of the day. I usually like going to the fruit stand around lunchtime so that I can get that extra boost of sugar without the burden of a heavy lunch that demands a nap to digest.
When I arrive at the stand, I notice that the lady has already partially filled three to four containers with some fruits like watermelon, mango, pawpaw, and pineapple. As soon as I place my order, she offers to add avocado or banana on top to fill the container to the brim. Some people, like my husband who cannot stand watermelon, will need a totally new batch made for them; and she indulges them because they’re only a handful who seem to want their orders switched up – less of the base fruit – more of the toppings.
The three things that I look for in my order are; sweet fruits, an excellent mix of the variety of fruit and good portions.
Every business has a core product, in the case above its fruit. It is the business owner’s responsibility to know their core product and how to package it for customers to buy it. For the fruit stand business, the lady knows the fruit in season, selects the sweetest variety, and knows what to serve as her base and how to delight her customers with the extra toppings.
While I love a good lemon squeeze over my fruits to make them zing, I don’t demand it from the fruit stand lady, nor does she offer it because many people associate lemons with bitterness. She also doesn’t go out of her way to put exotic items like chia seeds or raspberries, plums, raisins, and cantaloupe. The aim of the standard mix is just that – standard items – that are readily available to customers looking for additional items, and know exactly where to go to get them.
Good portions are determined from the packages available to customers for selection. Right off the bat the fruit stand lady informs her customers that they can pick a ksh 50/- bowl or a 100/- bowl. Additionally, if customers want to take away, they add an extra 20/- for the dish. Clear options make customer service easy, it leaves the lady enough time to do her actual work, which is select fruit, slice, and dice it for our pleasure.
3 key lessons we can learn from the fruit stand lady about business and delighting our customers:-
- Standardize your product by being clear on the base solution and the toppings.
- Mass market solutions require knowledge of what the basic items the masses want, if you’re not offering a niche solution, focus on what is readily available to delight your customers
- Clarify packages from the onset to help customers with decision-making. When customers know what’s available, they are more prepared to engage.
While selling products like fruit salad is quite different from selling professional services like PR, I’d like to challenge us to draw the similarities, especially as we count down to celebrate this year’s customer service week that the lessons on delighting customers can cut across.