Service as Marketing

I read an interesting article in Advertising Age recently about how Apple is blurring the line between marketing and customer service. It got me thinking about our industry and the same question. Are we seeing our customers from the right point of view.

First off you can read the full article here. Now let’s look at sales in general. Every time you sell a customer a product you are helping them solve a problem. Now that problem may be as big as finding the right gown to make a size 24w look great or as small as finding bubbles for a wedding exit; but it still is a problem you can solve. That makes it customer service.

Every single potential client that calls you or walks through your door is doing it because they have a problem. Solve it and they are yours and so, not inconsequentially is their money. All it takes is a shift in your point of view.

Too often we see a customer and think “What can I sell them?” Instead why not find out what their problem is first. So how do you do that? Well you engage them in conversation of course. One thing about women is that they delight in sharing their problems with any one, shouldn’t it be you?

Think of any purchases you have made, from that quart of milk to your home. Each one had a problem at the root of it that you believed the purchase would solve. The milk solved the problem of your kids eating dry cereal for breakfast and the home solved the problem of getting them into their own rooms or a better neighborhood. That pack of gum you bought at the check out at Target solved the problem of, “I’m afraid I have bad breath.’ Silly, but still a problem.

Now let’s translate that to bridal. A potential client isn’t just hiring a photographer they are solving one or many problems. They need to capture the moment, they are concerned that they won’t look good in the photos, they are afraid they will miss something or forget a moment. Their problem is that they want you to make sure that they never forget this day and that (in most cases) they look as good in the photos as they do in their mind.

Or their problem may be that they don’t want a photographer to get in the way of their good time. Their problem is again that they don’t want to forget a moment but they don’t want their whole memory of the day to be of your lens in their face. You won’t know if you don’t engage the conversation. It is up to you to get to the root of their problem and then solving it is an easy thing.

How about bridal salons, you know as well as I do that you aren’t so much selling a piece of fabric as you are selling a feeling. Find out how she wants her gown to make her feel. You can parade out 50 gowns but if you don’t know how she wants that gown to make her feel you may never hit the one. Find out what her problems are, seek out her insecurities and solve them. Remember, what you perceive as her flaws may have nothing to do with her insecurities. You may see a butt the size of Montana but what she worries about is a distinct lack of cleavage. Find out her problem and solve it.

It all rolls back to customer service. You have to be there and engage the client on a personal level. If you can successfully uncover the root problem they are trying to solve you will be the savior that solved it for them. You are the expert after all, they have come to you to fix something. Rather than put on you sales hat put on your customer service hat and find out the problem first.