By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon
In the last year, we’ve experienced the joy of moving. Twice.
Yes, twice on purpose.
Apparently our lives are in such dire need of adventure that one move wasn’t enough.
Census you asked
Why do I bring up these moves?
According to U.S. Census data from 2010, Americans move about 12 times in their lives – and younger generations are trending toward moving even more often.
Moving is not an inexpensive or easy affair. It can stress families heavily at a time when they are already under substantial pressure. Since we do it about a dozen times in our lives, it would seem obvious that there’s lots of incentive to create an experience that encourages repeat business and good word of mouth.
Let’s talk about a few examples.
U-Haul vs. Penske
I’ve rented from Penske once, 16 years ago. I had to drive their truck from Missoula to Cheyenne to return it. In retrospect, this was not the most time and cost efficient plan, but a prior U-Haul experience had me avoiding them.
Despite the crazy return location, I’d rent from them again tomorrow – if they had a local store in the places I was moving from and moving to. Why? 16 years later, I still have good vibes from that move, the rig I received and how they handled the process on both ends.
I’ve since used U-Haul twice. As they were 16 years ago, the trucks are spartan in features, still use gas (less power, lower mileage) rather than diesel and often give you the idea that you’re the last person to drive it before they sell it off.
The reason I’ve used them twice is because they were the only local choice at both ends of a move.
Eliminate concerns to earn repeat business
Despite my issues with their trucks, the people who work for U-Haul (and their dealers) have proven to be friendly and service-oriented.
As with many other large businesses, there are roses and thorns with each experience, and once in a while you’re fortunate to meet unique people who set the standard for everyone else you deal with in a particular market, such as Hungry Horse Montana’s Kasey Faulk and her crew.
The thorns usually relate to little issues that point to management’s attention to detail. A recent example is the truck I picked up. The windshield appeared that it hadn’t been cleaned. It was covered with bugs.
Thing is, the bugs weren’t whole like someone hadn’t touched the windshield at all. Instead, it looked like they’d been “sort of” cleaned but hadn’t finished the job. I suspect U-Haul has someone clean the windshields in every truck at check-in time (or before it goes out), but that they don’t have their people hop in the truck to check their work when the cleaning is done or when the truck is rented.
Yes, these are little things
Little things. Trivial things. But they make you wonder about the attention paid to other little things, like oil, lube, u-joints and wheel bearings.
You see, after you’ve paid a crew to load a truck, the last thing you want to do is find yourself stranded in the middle of Eden on a broiling hot day in the sun.
Actually, that’s the next to last thing you want.
The last thing you want is to have to unload the truck and load your stuff onto its replacement – particularly if it was loaded by a crew as good as Kasey’s. You don’t really want to do that even if it wasn’t loaded by her crew.
Fortunately this wasn’t part of our experience and there was no mechanical issue on either trip, despite the ill-cared-for appearance of the rig.
Earning return business requires creating the right memories
While nothing went wrong for us, these kinds of things are on your clients’ minds when they ponder coming back to you.
- Have they cleaned the truck / bedspread / bathrooms since the last time I was here?
- Am I going to have to deal with grease on this and that and that again?
- Will the tub be dirty again?
- Will they track in dirt and not clean up the sawdust and drywall dust again?
- Is that guy behind the counter going to ogle my daughter again?
If these are the memories you’re creating, how likely is it that they’ll return?
Depend on being the best game in town, not the only one.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him at mriffey@flatheadbeacon.com.
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Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him atmriffey@flatheadbeacon.com. Check out the Flathead Beacon archive of all of Mark’s blogs.