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Who?s really cheap?

by Gerard Vroomen

June 21, 2011 - Filed under: Company

Comments (5)

When you fly with “cheap” airline EasyJet and you arrive early for your flight home, they will put you on an earlier flight for free if there is space. A nice gesture that costs them nothing (in fact it’s positive for them as it gives them a – be it slim – chance to sell the seat you just opened up on the late flight, whereas surely nobody was going to buy a ticket anymore on the flight that is just about to leave). But the point is, it costs them nothing, it’s a nice gesture, the customer is happy.

Try to do that at “full-service” airlines Swiss or KLM. If the person at the check-in is nice, you may be fine. If he/she follows the official rules, they’ll send you to the ticket office to BUY the change. The ticket office will then display the flexibility of a concrete wall, lecture about how your class of Economy doesn’t allow this, etc, etc (don’t get me started on how there can be a dozen classes of Economy that are neither logical nor clearly explained nor have any resulting effect on what the customer gets, except for how difficult you make life for him/her and how much you charge).

Anyway, the point is, if you have a business and there is something you can do that doesn’t cost you anything and makes the customer happy, do it. Yes, give some thought to whether the customer can game the system, but the vast majority of them won’t and will simply appreciate your gesture.

What could a bike company do to make your life more enjoyable? Let me know on twitter.

5 responses for this Entry

RS says:

June 30, 2011

when I had a frame replacement for a crack in the top tube of my SLC I was happy, when they said I couldn't get a fork at the time I was unhappy so they put my old black fork on the white S2 frame and waited, then they called and said a white fork was coming, happy, arrived at bike shop to discover because my frame was a 2010 it had a single red stripe, the fork that arrived (I guess nobody thought to ask) has a red and black stripe, so I have a mutt S2... what I would have liked is someone to say sorry, made a mistake and replace it with the next step up in the fork or the right colour fork... sounds like a low cost effort to make a happy customer, sort of like a seat upgreade or a free seat on a plane to me!

Mark says:

June 29, 2011

I had a bad crash !! My R3 was totalled, along with many ribs and arm :-( I inquired with my local Cervelo dealer if there was a crash replacement policy ? HAAPPY ! there was, 30% off MSRP on any frame and the chance to upgrade to an R3 SL for the cash difference.. I was happy, shop was happy (as they made profit on the upgrade section) and it had cost them nothing. It cost me a fortune in all, not to mention the pain.!!

So where can Cervelo HQ giving something that costs them nothing or nearly cost them everything ?? well, through all this Cervelo made their full profit as a result of my crash. The 30% discount comes from the dealer, not Cervelo, or so I am told. I’ll be honest, I almost bought a new Trek instead as they have a 1:1 100% crash replacement policy. So how about it Cervelo.. 50% off i.e. 30% from the Dealer and 20% from you i.e. forego your profit.. (of course I’m just guessing that 50% left is cost and shipping etc) you’d still be 50% more expensive than your competitors !!

Best Regards

Mark

p.s. nothing in this world depreciates faster than an empty aircraft seat once the door close !!

RWH says:

June 26, 2011

What makes customers really happy, is I guess to get an automatic upgrade when purchasing a new frameset/bike (S1 S2). Yes please :).

But seriously, perhaps you could show on your webpages, what happens with the feedback you get from riders, both from the teams and customers) through e-mail/forum to improve service/quality of your products/organisation. Especially customers would feel more involved and would more likely stick to Cervélo when having to replace their current rides. Or new customers would get over there threshold and get a Cervélo as they feel they will be taken very seriously.

Mike says:

June 22, 2011

I would say give a factory tour or some place where fans can see where the bikes are made. Hide the sensitive R and D stuff obviously, but factory / Cervelo HQ tours would be amazing for us fans of the bikes and a true Canadian success story.

Don says:

June 21, 2011

Don't hide behind the wall of authorized dealerships (the equivalent of the airline counter). Put in place the New Focus For Cervelo Consumer Sales that was announced last October.

Cervelo has a niche in small sized bicycles but the Company does not seem to have a strategy on how to utilize that niche. Many manufacturers have small sized bicycles but typically the reach is much longer than what Cervelo offers. To become better educated, dealers and consumers need more information about sizing and fit especially at the extreme ends of the range of sizes - both small and large.

Hire a mystery shopper and do a tour of your dealerships. You will learn what the consumer faces and how your product is presented. Visit small market areas as well as large.

I don't twitter so I placed my comments here.