“Personal Experience Factor (PEF) is entirely the business owner’s turf. Good advertising cannot be expected to erase the customer’s memory of a disappointing experience or reverse the impact of a bad reputation. Conversely, the positive momentum generated by good advertising will be accelerated by a customer’s happy experience. Is your company careful to deliver all that your ads promise? - Roy H. Williams, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads
“Do you offer your customers a positive experience, or do you just sell products and services. If you wish to increase your sales, you now more than ever need to create an amazing customer experience.” - Craig Arthur, Wizard of Ads Australia
“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” -Walt Disney
It is the overall Personal Experience a customer has with your business that will determine if that customer returns. And it is always easier to look at someone else’s business to see the flaws and strengths.
With that in mind guest writer Matt Shavikin tells of a few things that upset his experience with Townsville’s football team, The Fury.
Note: Matt wrote this article last week… yesterday’s local paper front page shouted, “Fury crisis.”
‘Fury’ous at the Football: Part 1
By Matt Shavikin
I recently had my first Fury experience when a few friends and I ventured out to see what Townsville’s new soccer franchise, or ‘football’ as apparently we are supposed to call it now, had to offer. Unfortunately it didn’t take long for our excitement to turn to annoyance as a number of things had a severe impact on our experience.
My experience began well as my friends and I were pleased to discover that traffic congestion was almost non-existent compared to that normally associated with a Cowboys (Townsville’s Rugby League franchise) home game.
However, we were shocked then to find that at the end of our leisurely stroll we were unexpectedly greeted by a huge line of people waiting to buy tickets. No traffic build-up, but then huge queues? I was perplexed! Upon a brief discussion we decided to walk around as the stadium has numerous points of entry.
Eventually we had walked to the opposite site of the stadium to main gate only to be faced again with a queue of similar lengths as before. Mind you we had also passed a gate along our way where the ticket office was completely closed to our amazement and nuisance!
A long and tedious ticketing process seemed to be the cause of the elongated queues, perhaps a serious planning flaw on the part of organisers. We later found out that the crowd peaked at around about 7,700 people, compared to the maximum capacity of 22,000 people that the Cowboys frequently attract. That being said, I have never waited in line at the Cowboys for over 20 minutes to buy a ticket though that’s for sure, no matter big the crowd!
Obviously due to the crowd numbers being well down on stadium capacity meant that organisers were forced to reduce expenses in other areas like food stalls and liquor outlets! Less than half the bars were open and even though there were only a third of the people that would frequently be at a Cowboys game, we found ourselves missing large chunks of the game to quench our thirst!
The team does attract a faithful army of supporters called the F-troop. Unfortunately this group seems to have a mostly detrimental, rather than positive impact on the atmosphere. Particularly considering the club no doubt wishes to attract families to the games.
So as you can see these small things began to build up and damaged my overall experience of my first live game of soccer. A number of these things I outlined in this article could absolutely be controlled and rectified by club management, which presents an opportunity rather than a problem.
However, far too many business owners focus on the numbers; revenue and turnover, and seem to forget that all of this is directly related to the experience their customers have with the business, product or service.
Summary: The smallest things can have a severe impact on the overall Personal Experience Factor of a customer. And you must keep the overall customer experience in mind when shaping your product or service offering. You must consider everything that customers will encounter during their experience with your business.
Stay tuned for part 2: What Can Happen To The Personal Experience Factor When You Lose Control?
The Editor: Have you looked at your business lately through the eyes of a customer?
Lack of Store Traffic… Some Questions for You
Not Enough Customers? Low store traffic is only a symptom, not the disease.