The other day I received a direct mail offer from a local paint/design store chain here in Connecticut. In the envelope was a letter from the President and a plastic wallet card that I should keep and use to redeem my special offers.
The letter congratulated me on becoming a new homeowner (thx very much) and said I am entitled to a special offer which includes a 10% discount on all paint purchases PLUS an at-home consultation with an interior designer for just $100. Great - sign me up!
I stopped by the store where I was ignored by the paint department staff and encountered many unfriendly "DO NOT TOUCH" hand made signs on various items on the shelves. Hmmmm....
Then I wander over to the decorating area where a friendly (yet non-design staff) woman explained to me how the service worked. She took my business card and said a designer would call me to set up my in-home consultation. That was 4 days ago. Hmmmm....
As I write this I am looking around at my new space which due to various demo projects looks sort of like a living room having a really bad day. I have paint trays, rollers and blue tape all ready to go but NO PAINT.
They completely blew it. I was ready (in fact, eager) to buy right then & there (had my swatches with me) and they lost me. Their marketing took me from a name on a new homeowners list as a lead, to a prospect, to an "I want to buy from you" [almost] customer.
So, in the end (pun intended) the moral of the story is be absolutely sure your back end supports your front end marketing dollars. After all, isn't that why you're spending lots of money on creative, print, graphics, postage, etc.? If your employess don't support your marketing efforts you're wasting your money, but more importantly, your customers time. Perhaps I should send the President an invoice for my time along with a proposal for my marketing training services?
What are your thoughts?
