ARE YOUR MARKETING DOLLARS GOING DOWN THE TOILET?

Most businesses have two distinct groups; Marketing and Operations.  Basically you have the "doers" and the "sellers".  It has been my experience that these two groups are always at odds with each other.  Operations blames marketing for not delivering customers and marketing blames operations for losing customers because they are not delivering a great experience or product.  I have often had the conversation; “I cannot justify spending marketing dollars to bring in new customers when they are going to have a bad experience”.  Customer retention is a big part (or at least should be) of your marketing plan.  It is far less expensive to keep a customer then acquire a new one.  So why are these two groups always at odds? 

I think a big part is due to human nature.  It is easier to blame someone else for a problem then admit you don’t have a solution.  The other part is not having a true understanding of marketing.  I would argue that everything is marketing.  The appearance of your business (on and offline), how you treat your customers, the product you deliver and even how you treat your employees. 

This is easy for me to say because I am a Marketer….Of course I am going to ask Operations to do my job for me!  The real question is how you get Operations to understand that all of these things have an impact on sales.  Having worked in retail, one of the first things I would do when I visited a store is use their bathroom.  Not because I have an overactive bladder but because they are usually disgusting!  When I went into a bathroom that was clean and well maintained, I knew the rest of the store would deliver.  I knew this because the fact that the store manager dedicated precious labor hours (in this economy they are precious!) to keeping the bathrooms clean meant he or she “got it”. 

Now that I have a child I use a lot of public bathrooms, not because I am checking on the operations but because I don’t want to have to leave the store.  There are some stores I have left without making a purchase and won’t step foot in again because their bathrooms are so gross.   This is what you have to make the operations folks understand. 

It all comes down to the Toilet……  Not always but I think it is an excellent example that anyone can understand.  I don’t think there is a person on the face of the earth that has never been faced with using a public restroom.  In this economy when every single dollar counts it seems an easy place to cut corners but it has a huge impact on the consumer. 

Whatever your metaphorical “Toilet” is, before you ignore it first think of the impact it will have on your customers.  Will it make them leave or never want to come back?   Maybe it is worth your time and money after all….